Nahum 2:13: I Am Against You

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Okay, so it's been a while feel it feels like an eternity since I last spoke to everyone here

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And we're on Nahum chapter 2 and we're going to specifically concentrate on verse 13

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So let's get ready if I can get my computer working in here we go, okay

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So we'll read the verse the whole chapter really to get the context and then go through our lesson

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Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news who announces peace Celebrate your feast so Judah pay your vows for never again will the wicked one pass through you

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He is cut off completely the one who scatters has come up against you man The fortress watch the road strengthening your back summon all your strength for the

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Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob Like the splendor of Israel even though devastators have devastated them and destroyed their vine branches

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The shields of his mighty men are colored red the warriors are dressed in scarlet The chariots are enveloped in flashing steel when he's prepared to march and the cypress spears are brandished

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The chariots race madly in the streets. They rush wildly in the squares their appearances like torches

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They dash to and fro like lightning flashes He remembers his nobles they stumble in their march.

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They hurry to her wall and the mantlet is set up The gates of the rivers are open and the palace is dissolved.

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It is fixed. She is stripped She's carried away and her head means are moaning like the sound of doves beating on their breasts

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Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days now. They are fleeing stop stop

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But no one turns back plunder the silver plunder the gold for there is no limit to the treasure

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Well from every kind of the desirable object. She's empty. She is desolate and waste

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Hearts are melting knees are knocking also anguish is in the whole body and all their faces are grown pale Where is the den of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions where the lion lioness and lion's cub prowled with nothing to disturb them the lion tore enough for his cubs killed enough for his lionesses and Filled his lairs with prey in his dens with torn flesh

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Behold, I am against you declares the Lord of hosts I will burn up her chariots in smoke a sword will devour her young lions

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I will cut off your prey from the land and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard

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Now I used to think Matthew 7 21 was one of the scariest verses in all the scripture

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You know there would be many who come to me on that day say Lord Lord didn't I prophesy on your name cast out demons perform miracles and Jesus is gonna look at them and say depart from me you workers of iniquity.

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I never knew you and that is an incredibly frightening verse But this verse today

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When we read God himself the Lord of hosts which we're gonna get go through and explain exactly what that means the

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Lord of the Armies says I am against you Gosh What chance what what possible chance would we have if God was against us?

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So let's quickly recap where we went a couple of weeks ago God taunted Nineveh using their own illustration of being like lions.

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Where's the den of the lions? Where's the feeding place? Where's the lioness the Lions clubs cubs with nothing to disturb them?

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God will treat them a Syria Nineveh the way they have treated others their security their provision and their power

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Will all be stripped away from them everything that they trusted in everything that they were counting on God is gonna strip it all away

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God will now act as the lion with Nineveh being the prey the tables are turned

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The ferocity of Nineveh would end the Lord himself would deliver the people of Judah by destroying the lion of Assyria Names message would provide great hump hope and comfort for Jerusalem again.

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That's what Nahum means comfort Okay, so this is the the prophet who brings comfort to his people

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The silence of the Lions would be Nineveh's demise at the hands of God why?

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God is against them Okay, so let's get into the verse We start off behold

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I am against you declares the Lord This closing section is a taunt song in which the striking image of a pride of lions that meets with destruction is

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Employed to describe the imminent reversal of Nineveh's fortunes God is the author of Nineveh's humiliation and disappearance

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Similar to a lion's den Nineveh had been a place of security for its people as well as a repository filled with the plunder of Conquested people conquered peoples now

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Nineveh It's will itself be destroyed and robbed of people and wealth again what they what they?

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prided in what they would they boasted in was the people and the the numerous amount of people that were brought into Assyria and their wealth would now be stripped away from them

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Using rhetorical questions and comparing Assyria to lions secure in their den after killing others

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Yahweh talks as though their judgment is complete already Those who think they have nothing to fear will cease to exist

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Yahweh is against them. They will have no more victims They will be erased and the judgment would continue as Yahweh later issues a woe oracle against them at the climax

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Climax of this section comes the awful and unalterable Declaration of the Lord of hosts behold

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I am against you This expression is found 28 times in the Old Testament and is used when

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God is set to act against people that have steadfastly refused to submit to him No matter how powerful or how numerous or how wise a nation is no matter what precautions they take

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These words would spell certain doom for them But for those who trust in God and seek refuge in him the words of 1 7 apply it is fixed

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She is stripped. She is carried away. That would be very comforting for for the

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Israelites to hear The voices of the messengers with their haughty and arrogant demands of submission and tribute with their taunts and reproaches against God Will never again be heard

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God always always Gets the last word And we have to remember as people who are children of God following the

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Lord wherever he takes us We're in a situation right now in this country where God again will have the last word

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You need to plug in we need to be people of faith in the midst of the darkness

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Because just like a Syria God can wipe out the wicked nation known as America.

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I hate to say it We are a wicked nation. We do not follow God's laws. I don't think

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God gives a lick about America God cares about the kingdom. He cares about his children his people remain

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Faithful it is here that the the real secret of dinner was full and final downfall is revealed

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Confrontation with Israel's Almighty Covenant. God is fatal to the Assyrian Empire Confrontation with Israel's Almighty Covenant.

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God is fatal to any nation that would oppose him including America Including Russia including any nation you can think of no nation is going to be

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God. God is ultimately going to be victorious So here's that word behold and pastor likes to ask about what does behold mean, right?

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The word translated behold is a way of attracting attention to the hearer or reader It's hardly used in modern

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English and a number of modern versions and a B any B and IV simply omit it

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Tev, I think that's the English version tries to give the effect of the Hebrew word by translating The rest of the phrase as a separate sentence with an exclamation mark.

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In other words, I am your enemy Right that's designed to get your attention

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However, many languages have words or phrases similar to the Hebrew that are used to attract the attention of the hearer or reader

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Such terms certainly should certainly be used here and elsewhere examples are look think carefully or hear this

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What is Jesus used in the New Testament over and over again? Truly truly.

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Amen. Amen. Now hear this that when Jesus says amen. Amen That's time to perk up your ears

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Not that all of the words of Scripture aren't important, but this is something Jesus wants us to know

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The words I am your enemy are simply a modern way of saying I am against you

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The speaker here is the Lord of hosts This title for the Lord emphasizes his military help in the history of his people and is very appropriate

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Here in a passage dealing with the downfall of Judah's greatest enemy God is the one who's in charge.

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He is our commander And he says I am against you Here it is.

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God himself who stands against the tyrant known as Nineveh The full weight of this divine antipathy must be appreciated

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I am against you up to this point Nahum has served as a spokesman for the Lord But now the

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Lord himself steps forward to reinforce his own determination The Lord's Word comes as the voice of a committed aggressor.

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He is set against them and The outcome of this confrontation between God Yahweh of hosts and the king of Nineveh already is determined by the simple allusion to the fact that Yahweh stands as the head of the heavenly hosts a

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Single representative of his mighty servants could utterly devastate all of the armies and chariots that the king of Assyria might muster

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But the Almighty stands so appalled by the atrocities committed by the kings of Nineveh that he declares that he himself

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Shall war against them so God could have sent an angel down to destroy Assyria The Lord of hosts says

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I will come down. I am against you. He's the one who's going to make this happen

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I am against you says the Lord of hosts. So where is that in the scriptures? Oh, we got a bunch of places

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Ezekiel 38 behold. I am against you Ezekiel 13 therefore behold I am against you

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Jeremiah Nahum Ezekiel Ezekiel Jeremiah Ezekiel Most of the times that God says

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I am against you are found in the in the major prophets We have another whole string of them again mostly from Ezekiel Jeremiah again

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Nahum Ezekiel Ezekiel behold I am against you and this is what

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God says against all of his enemies All of the enemies that come up against God God is against them.

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They have no shot at winning So you have to ask yourself, where am

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I with regards to the Lord? Am I for God or am I against God? Have I repented of my sins?

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Have I trusted in Jesus his son as my Savior? Oh, I might say he's my

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Lord, but is he your Savior you? Need to recognize that your sin is an offense towards God and there is only one way to be in union with with God And that's through Jesus being not just your

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Lord, but also your Savior You have to recognize that you can't work your way to God. You've excluded yourself many many many times over You need to go through Jesus.

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You need to bow the knee to him the Lord of hosts. Where do we see this?

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This is interesting Exodus 15. The Lord is a man of war The Lord is his name

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Do you ever think of God as a man of war? Huh? He's a warrior a

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God is not a man be pambi sit on the sidelines. Oh, yeah Don't just don't be be nice He's a man of war

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If you're a man here in this room or listening to this recording, are you a man of war?

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Are you gonna stand up for what is right? Are you gonna defend the widow orphan in the outcast?

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Are you gonna defend the church and his people? Are you gonna defend your bride if you're married?

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You need to be a man of war right now is not the time to sit on the sidelines and wonder what's happening

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Now's the time to get into the fight and be a man of war The vast majority of nearly 300 uses of the word the word army in the

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Bible refer to a literal physical army Either of Israel or of Israel's enemies, but a network of powerful images gathers around these literal references the starting point is

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Exodus 15 3 where the Lord is described as a warrior literally a man of war as A warrior the

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Lord has just defeated the armies of Pharaoh by drowning them in the Red Sea while Israel stood by and watched

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This conception of God as a God who fights is something that Israel had in common with her neighbors who all had lively traditions of holy war the essence of holy war ideology was the close association between earthly and heavenly forces an

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Association all from a clear Literally by taking the gods into battle when the

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Ark of the Covenant arrived in the camp of Israel's army The Philistines were terrified who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods

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They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert be strong Philistines We have to remember and I told you this last week from the pulpit.

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Do you know who you are? Do you know who you belong to? Do you know who he is?

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He's like a man of war We have to have to get our mindset, correct

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We cannot look out at the the culture and society and say oh gosh, we're scared

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Mm -hmm. Now is not the time for fear. God didn't give you a spirit of fear Right when you come up against your enemies know that the

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Lord goes before you know that the Lord goes behind you and he's the One who's going to bring about the victory.

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All you need to do is stand Stand on the rock the

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Lord of hosts is also called the Lord of the armies Jehovah Sabbath oath a phrase describing

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Yahweh's role as the Lord of the heavenly armies the commander of the cosmic forces The head of the

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Divine Council and the leader of Israel's army and if you're a Christian, that's your father

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That's your father The phrase Lord of hosts communicates God's role as warrior who fights both in the cosmic conflict against divine forces and Through human historical events for his people

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Israel The phrase appears 285 times in the Old Testament with a high concentration in the prophets

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Especially Isaiah Jeremiah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi the Septuagint most often translate the

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Hebrew term hosts with the Greek term Almighty the expression

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Lord of hosts is also connected to Jerusalem as is the case in several hymns and laments

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The liturgical fragment in Psalm 24. Let's go through some of them some 46 1 through 7

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God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way

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Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble at its swelling say

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Allah There is a river whose streams make glad the City of God the holy habitation of the

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Most High God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved

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God will help her when morning dawns the nations rage the kingdoms totter

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He utters his voice and the earth melts the Lord of hosts is with us

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The God of Jacob is our fortress This needs to be settled in your mind now

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Now we are in a war. We didn't think that way 10 years ago 20 years ago

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We said we were in a war, but that was distant future. Nah, we're not really in a war well, now you can see it we really are in a war with people who are trying to distort and Redefine everything that God has defined already and his people need to stand up and they need to remember that the

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Lord of hosts is with us He is our fortress Be bold the righteous are as bold as a lion.

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I Encourage you again to read to listen to Chris's message last week.

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Excellent Let's continue Psalm 24 lift up your heads

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O gates and be lifted up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in Who is this king of glory the

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Lord? strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle

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Lift up your head O gates and lift them up. Oh ancient doors that the king of glory may come in Who is this king of glory the

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Lord of hosts the Lord of the armies? He is the king of glory That's who you belong to if you're a

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Christian That's what we're fighting for. That's who fights with us as we fight

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Isaiah 10 therefore the Lord God of hosts the God of the armies will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors and under his

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Glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire The light of Israel will become a fire and his

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Holy One a flame and it will burn and devour his thorns and briars in One day the glory of his forest and of his fruitful land

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The Lord will destroy both soul and body and it will be as when a sick man wastes away He's the

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Lord of hosts in Deuteronomy God tells his people

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Not to be afraid when they face mighty enemies because he is with them if you go out to war against your enemies and you

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See a horse and a chariot and an army larger than you. You shall not be afraid of them. Why?

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For Yahweh your God is with you the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt God supports this statement by reminding the

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Israelites of his past deeds for them in particular his rescue of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt He goes on to assure them your

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Yahweh your God is going with you to fight for you Against your enemies to help you now, this is

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Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 1 through 4 Okay, I have this on a sheet of paper

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Taped to my bookshelf. So then when I sit down in the morning and I read and I pray

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I stare at that. I Can't read that enough. I need that to become ingrained in who

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I am Because if it's not ingrained in who I am, I'm gonna flee

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I'm gonna run when the battle comes. I need to know who goes before me. I need to know who fights with me

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I need to know who my commander is. I need to trust in what my father says and Not believe what the father of lies says you're nothing.

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You can't do this. I'm in trouble. I'm in charge No, no, my father's in charge

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The conflict between David and Goliath further illustrates Yahweh's leadership over human events as the

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Lord of hosts David taunts Goliath just think about that for a second You're a little kid 13 years old taunting the seven -foot

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Guy in front of you guys all the armor on while all the armies are like in the bushes like oh don't get us

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You got this little boy coming out Who are you? Who who are you to come against the

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God of My God, right? David says you are coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with the javelin

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But I ain't coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts the God of the battle lines of Israel whom you have defied

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Who is this who comes up against the the army of the Living God? Are you out of your mind?

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Goliath I'll give you an option run now, and I won't kill you That's what we should be doing when we look at a society leave

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Surrender don't let my father come into this and and hurt you, but what about the believer, right?

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We've talked about God being against his enemies God opposing those who oppose him

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You know this verse, and I love it. You're gonna. Love it in a second and We know we know

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Do you know and We know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose

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For those whom he foreknew he also be predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers

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And those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified

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This is what we commonly refer to as the golden chain of redemption Okay, and it's God doing each one of the verbs in that sentence.

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This is not something that man does God is the one working things together.

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He's the one calling. He's the one for knowing He's the one predestining. He's the one conforming

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He's he's calling. He's the one justifying and he's the one glorifying this has nothing to do with man's ability

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Will Efforts, this is all God Right, and the question is and we know do you know this is this settled in your mind?

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Or is there a question mark? Right. I'll tell you again one of my favorite illustrations

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You need a certified check to buy a house Right, the attorney's not gonna let you give just pass off a regular check.

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The money may not be in the account Jesus is God certified check on the cross to prove that the payment was made in full you look to the cross

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Then you know You trust in Jesus, then, you know, and this is you watch

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And what shall we say to these things if God is for us who can be against us?

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When God says I am against you bad news But when you trust in Jesus if God's now

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God is now for you now who could be against you Do you remember what

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God said to Saul when he knocked him down? It's a soul soul Why are you persecuting me as far as I know

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Jesus was ascended into heaven? me his bride When you're in covenant with God, you are one with him an attack on the bride is an attack on the king

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If God is for you who can be against you you are his bride you are his child

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Be bold and courageous Fear not little flock. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom

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We need to start get moving in our minds. We're being attacked But they're gonna lose all we have to do is stand up and be faithful He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all

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How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect or God's chosen all your sins have been paid for?

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The only one like Satan is known as the accuser. He's the one who comes to make Accusations against you when he comes to make accusations against you you go here.

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He says You just say who can bring a charge against me. Jesus died for my sins. He paid for my sins

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You can't bring any charges against me paid for Who is it to condemn?

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You have no one to condemn you Right. What is Romans 8 8 1 start out with therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Your sins are paid for You've been predestined right all your days have been ordained

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You can't die one day sooner than God Ordained go into battle you can't die before he allows you to Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of God who indeed is interceding for us

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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation shall distress

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Persecution Famine nakedness danger or sword as it is written for your sake

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We are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered No in all these things.

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We are more than conquerors Through him who loved us for I'm sure that neither the death nor life angels no rulers

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Nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation

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Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord Be bold your sins have been paid for your commander goes before you with you behind you

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You will be victorious even if you lose your life You will be in the presence of the

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God who saved you who ordained your life. You have nothing nothing to fear

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But what about Nineveh what about a Syria right the Lord of hosts for three centuries the

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Assyrian line Assyria had cruelly crushed and torn the armies and the peoples of the nations around About him and had brought the booty and spoils of his conquest to his lair

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Nineveh to feed his lionesses his young lions and his whelps all of these terms have reference to the people of Nineveh and Had filled his dens and holes with the booty that was left with none to make him afraid

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But now the Lord of hosts the one who actually has the power to carry out these threats says he is against Assyria and He will burn her chariots

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Which were her dreaded instruments of conquest the chariots are the things that they use to conquer all the other nations

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God's gonna burn those He's gonna destroy her young lions. That's her children her people

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With the sword again another war instrument that God is going to bring to nothing

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He's gonna cut off her prey in other words scatter her accumulated spoils of wars all the treasures that they brought into their city walls and and and loved and cut off her messengers

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Who have been sent ahead of the armies of Assyria to demand submission and the payment of tribute from the cities of the nations?

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Right this is the God we serve God is like a man of war.

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He's the Lord of hosts After all these things come to pass

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Where will Nineveh the dwelling place of the old lion be in fulfillment of Nahum's prophecy?

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Nineveh was so completely destroyed in 612 BC that for many many centuries the location of the former city was unknown

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Archaeologists couldn't find it. It was unknown if you remember

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Back when we started this study we talked about how the Judah was paying tribute to to Assyria and the

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Kings and one particular King sent the messenger to threaten

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Jerusalem and said in in in doing so he says look your walls are going to be destroyed and he began speaking to them in Hebrew and The Israelite says please don't speak in Hebrew everybody's gonna hear you right so he didn't want them to know what he was saying

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Rab Sheka once Rab Sheka had asked where are you going to get any help that will be able to stop me and my armies?

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Where are you gonna get help Jerusalem? Where are you gonna get help Israel? He and Assyria will now have their answer their help would come from Yahweh the

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Lord of hosts the enemies of the

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Lord will never win and The friends of the Lord of hosts will never lose

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We need to remember that Psalm 34

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The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears are toward their cry The face of the

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Lord is against those who do evil Listen to cut off the memory of them from the earth

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How many times people love to quote John 3 16 for God so loved the world and he does right excellent

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But don't stop there His face is against those who do evil

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To what cut the memory of them from the earth? They will be remembered no more you will either be found with God or opposing

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God If you're opposing God if you haven't bent the knee bent the knee and trusted in Jesus There is no such thing as neutrality and we're going through that if you're not if you haven't been around on Wednesday nights

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We're going through Greg Bonson's book and one of the things he teaches you with regards to apologetics is that there is no neutrality

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Jesus says you are either for me or against me. There's no middle ground

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There's nobody who says hmm. Well, I'm not really for God, but I'm not against him either if you're not for God You're against him.

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That's it. That's what Jesus says. There is no neutrality so when someone who's supposedly on the fence

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They're not on the fence. They're on the wrong side Why Romans 1 says?

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Everybody knows that God exists Right, they're gonna be held without excuse God cannot hold someone without excuse if they had a legitimate excuse

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That would make God unrighteous So God says he's given them enough to know that God exists

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They're suppressing that knowledge of that truth in unrighteousness and that word suppressing

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It's like it's summertime now You guys probably know you get a beach ball and it's on on top of the water and you push it down And is that constant pressure wants to come up?

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You just keep holding it down Because you're created in the image of God the truth of who

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God is comes out whether you realize it or not You recognize right and wrong because you got you have

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God's law written on your hearts You watch things on TV. Oh my goodness. That's an atrocity

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Why is it an atrocity because human beings were killed and you feel for them because you are a human being

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The the knowledge of God is written in our DNA Okay, such that we know it and to suppress that truth in unrighteousness

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Means that you're not neutral if you're suppressing that you are against God You will lose you will lose

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We need to turn from that thinking change the way you think your sin is an abomination in God's sight

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Recognize that he's not gonna Hold those guilty who misuse his name Okay, you can say you're a

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Christian all your want But if you're not born of God's Spirit and trusting in him exercise evidenced by good works

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You're none of his right faith without works is dead now your works don't count towards your salvation

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They're an identifier of what you really are So when I look at an apple tree, and it's got no apples on it, how do

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I know it's an apple tree? Well, somebody told me well, that's not that's nice, but it needs to bear fruit if you're a

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Christian You're gonna bear fruit How will you be known they shall be known by their fruit?

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So your fruit is not what gets you into heaven Okay, but we don't want to minimize what our works do okay?

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God uses us his church to transform the society what comes in through our head needs to come out through our hands

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If it's not coming out through our hands something's wrong You have to check ourselves to see if we're in the faith

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Okay I want this message to be one of encouragement to you to recognize who your father is

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Who stands behind you goes before you and wins the battle? All right, this is not the time right now for wishy -washy lukewarmness

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You have to put that stake in the ground and say I'm Planting my feet my whole life on the rock of my salvation

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I'm going to build my house on the rock, and I'm gonna fight We need to fight

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God has blessed us. We live on Long Island one of the most affluent places in the country if not the world

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All right a second to Dubai all right. No. You know I'm saying we live in a beautiful area.

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God's given us so much What we have to do is now start making an influence start influencing the people around us

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Standing up for what is right not be scared the righteous are as bold as a lion the fear of man is a snare

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Don't be caught in that snare Okay, any questions yes, sir

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Yes It does Absolutely Absolutely, and and you know think about how many times he was shipwrecked how many times he was left for dead

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I mean all those those yeah, he went through all those things and he's like and We move forward

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You know we don't we don't cower You know we have we have to be bold we have to make that decision now though Okay, the longer you wait the more you say well.

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You know maybe we fight Maybe we flee maybe we this if that's in your mind, okay?

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That's called double -mindedness Double -minded man is unstable in all his ways you've got to drop your stake in the ground and say

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I'm God planted me here I'm gonna stay here, and I'm gonna fight to the very end

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Steve Amen amen right we got

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God living inside of us. What on earth are we afraid of? You know it's it's it's really a matter of the flesh

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Bringing your flesh under submission to the to God's Word Right it's very easy to get scared you you look on the internet you read the paper

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You look you watch TV. There's so many things going wrong in the world so many things

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But God is in the midst of it bringing things in the right direction We had a couple of victories lawsuit victories over the past week row overturned and all these kind of thing and that's great

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That's great, but that's just a tip of the iceberg and those laws are not going to change people's hearts

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Okay, it's through the proclamation of the gospel and God's Holy Spirit that changes the heart that shapes the culture the church

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Has now got to get up rise up and do what it's been commanded to do Unfortunately we've been asleep.

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We were lulled to sleep by pleasure comfort entertainment Which is what the world seeks after?

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Right we need to seek the things of God we need to immerse ourselves in the scripture We need to be in fellowship.

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We need to be a tighter group now than we've ever been before We need a strong prayer group on Wednesday night did

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I mention prayer Just checking we need All kidding aside.

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I know I know some people can't make it for good reason I get it But we need to be people of prayer I'm gonna propose even starting a

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Tuesday night prayer meeting in in the event somebody can't make it for Wednesday night We need to be a people of prayer.

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We need to be fasting prayer and fasting Right we're in a crossroads.

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We say that all the time. We're in a crossroads every generation has been in a crossroads But look where we're at I mean people don't know what a woman is

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People don't know what a baby is people don't know when life begins people don't know what truth is If we continue to sit on our hands

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It's gonna get worse Right we have to sew into the next generation. We have to build them up and make sure that they become mighty warriors

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Following the Lord of hosts he he is gonna conquer and win the battle All right, you got to be got to ask yourself.

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What side am I on? All right, do I stand with the Lord of hosts or I did or am I standing against him?