TLP 369: The Spiritual War in Your Home, Part 15 | the victorious family and the Conquering King

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If any of the information we discuss today seems nice or cliche or it doesn't fill you with a deep sense of joy, gratitude and hope,

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I want to lovingly challenge you to re -evaluate your relationship with Christ. Welcome to Truth.

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Love. Parents. Where we use God's Word to become intentional, premeditated parents.

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Here's your host, A .M. Brewster. We know the world is in turmoil right now. Jobs have been lost, sickness seems to be lurking around every corner, families are still trying to figure out their new normal, and we seem to be more aware of the fact that every day people are dying from one thing or another.

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And so many of us are just longing for normalcy. Well, Lord willing, churches will be up and running the way they used to be, but hopefully this time there will be more personal involvement and investment.

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But still, so much of that seems to exist in an unknown future. Let's be really honest. The idea of attending a family camp or parenting workshop or marriage seminar isn't even in our minds.

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Well, I hope you'll consider just for a moment the possibility. Team TLP is equipped and ready to conduct anything from informal virtual TLP meetups to all -out parenting conferences.

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Whether it's for your personal parenting community or church, Team TLP and I don't want to stop equipping parents just because life is uncertain.

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Virtual teaching is significantly less expensive than live conferences, from a monetary and time perspective, and we think you'll be surprised how easy it is to set up.

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Just go to TruthLoveParent .com and click on the Conferences tab to learn more. And while you're there, you can download our free episode notes and read today's transcript.

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And if you're new to the show, we welcome you. This is the last installment of our 15 -part series called The Spiritual War in Your Home.

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We've been studying the Bible to discover who our spiritual enemies really are and who they're really not. We've talked about the nature of spiritual warfare from the battlefields to the weapons, and we've combed through relevant and practical material for you and your family so that you can have better chances of winning the spiritual war raging in your home this very minute.

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And today we end on a climactic note as we discuss the victorious family and the conquering king.

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Months ago, as I started researching this topic, I collected various passages from all over the New Testament that I wanted to use during this series.

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What's interesting is that most of the verses I discovered early on are the ones I haven't even mentioned yet, but I am so excited to share them with you today because they perfectly describe the victory we all want for our families.

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I know our statistics conversation may have been a bit discouraging, but I believe that today's content will be infinitely more encouraging.

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So let's get going. The spirit realm is just as real as the physical realm, but it's eternally more dangerous.

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Yet because it exists outside of our physical senses, it's easy to ignore, neglect, and forget.

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For these reasons, we get too tied up fighting physical battles against physical foes with physical weapons, all to the detriment of the spiritual war in which

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God repeatedly calls us to engage. Instead of fighting our families, God wants us standing against Satan, the world, and the flesh.

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Satan is powerful and can be scary as we consider demonic possession, but even though he may be the temporary king of this world, and even though he masterminds the world system to overwhelm our family with lies, our sinful flesh is the enemy that will ultimately plunge a knife into our backs if we let it.

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Through all of this, the spiritual war is a battle of the mind. Will we believe the lies of Satan, or will we rest safely in the truth of God?

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Multiple times a day, every day, every member of our families faces this decision. This is why heading off our own flesh and helping our family members do the same is the grand and glorious calling to which

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God has planned each parent to pursue. In a broader sense, it's called discipleship. Through salvation, prayer, the scriptures, truth, righteousness, the gospel, and faith, we destroy fortresses and slay enemies, we equip our fellow soldiers and call others to join us.

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But what does spiritual victory really look like? Is it even attainable? In episode 87, we asked, what is successful parenting?

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The perfect follow -up question then is, what is a successful family? And wouldn't the answer to that describe how we can be successful in our spiritual warfare?

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Well, that's the focus for today's discussion. Now, many of you either know where this conversation is headed, or you're going to figure it out pretty quickly, so allow me to caution you.

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If any of the information we discuss today seems nice or cliche, or it doesn't fill you with a deep sense of joy, gratitude, and hope,

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I want to lovingly challenge you to reevaluate your relationship with Christ. This is not some pie -in -the -sky -and -the -great -by -and -by -when -we -all -finally -die type of highfalutin doctrine designed to be appreciated by monks and rabbis, but have no practical application to our daily now and now.

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The content of today's episode is the very stuff of everyday life. This should be the very center of how we think concerning our parenting and marriages and work and friendships and entertainment and eating.

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Today's topic is it. It's our hope, our goal, our purpose, our strength, our reason for continuing on.

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So, be challenged by this, not disappointed. Be revived by this, not discouraged.

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Now, some of you are wondering what I may say in a discussion of spiritual victory that would tempt a person to be discouraged.

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Well, in my counseling, I regularly interact with people who don't practically believe the Bible has any real relevance.

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They don't spend much time, if any, in it, and when they do, it's more of a religious experience designed to make them feel good, but they don't believe it has any practical, life -changing value.

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There's not much I can do for those people. All of my counseling is rooted deep in God's Word. If they don't want that or don't believe it can help, all

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I can do for them is try to prove them wrong. So let me say from the outset that those of you who cherish

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God's Word and understand its power and authority and relevance will be overjoyed by this final episode.

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And those of you who don't, I confront you as a child of God. There is nothing more important to your life and parenting than God and the truth

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He communicates in the Bible. So with that, let's set a framework for our discussion. If we're talking about victory in spiritual warfare, then we have to assume that the spiritual weapon will be used the right way.

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The battleground successfully won and the enemies defeated. So number one, our spiritual weapon works for only one reason.

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The spiritual weapon exists to help us win against temptation. The only way we could ever overpower temptation from Satan, the world, and the flesh is

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God. First Corinthians 10 .13, No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

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And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

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Ephesians 6 .10 -20 was the passage where God outlined the various pieces of the spiritual

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And what was their genesis and power? Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

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Put on the whole armor of God, take up the armor of God, take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the

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Spirit. And 2 Corinthians 10 .3 -5 makes it clear that though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

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We are destroying speculations and every thought, lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.

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And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Did you catch the tense of those verbs?

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Paul said we are destroying and we are taking. Not we might or we can.

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We are. The spiritual weapon works every single time because it flows from God and it embodies all that He is.

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Let's pick apart every piece of the weapon. A. Salvation comes from God. Titus 2 .11 -14 teaches,

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For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great

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God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

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We saw the exact same thing in our discussion of Ephesians 2 .1 -10. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which

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He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

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The ability to leave the satanic army and enter the conquering regimen of Christ is solely an act of merciful love from God, and it's a guarantee to anyone and everyone who accepts

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God's call. b. Prayer is powerful because of God.

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I love the wording of 1 John 5, 14 -15. This is the confidence which we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will,

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He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him.

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In addition to that, Romans 8, 26 -27 reveals that the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the

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Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words, and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the

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Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And then add to that the fact that Jesus taught us to pray and prays for His people.

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He did it in John 17, in Luke 22, we hear Jesus say to Peter, Simon, Simon, behold,

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Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

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And 1 John 2, 1 -2 reveals that if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

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The ability to request the spiritual weapons we need is only possible because God is who

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He is. Letter C. The Bible has value because it was inspired by God.

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As we saw earlier, Ephesians 6 -17 refers to the sword of the Spirit as the Word of God. We also talked about how

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Jesus Himself quoted the Old Testament to Satan for 40 days, and Matthew 4 -11 says the devil left him.

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The great liar can't stand against the Bible because it's everything he's not. It's truth. We have access to ultimate truth because God gave it to us in the

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Scriptures. D. Truth exists and never changes because it's rooted in the character of God.

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Psalm 119, 160. The sum of your word is truth. In John 8, 31 and 32,

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Jesus says, If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

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The truth fired from our spiritual weapon is the only thing that can undo the lies and change minds.

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Hebrews 4 -11 promises, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two -edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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We have salvation because of God, prayer because of God, we have the Bible because of God, and we have access to the soul -reviving power of truth because of God.

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E. The gospel has no meaning outside of God. We discussed this when we talked about salvation, but there is no new birth, no good news for salvation from sin, no promise of eternal life outside of the promises made by God.

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F. Faith in truth can only come from God. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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Grammatically speaking, faith is the gift God gives us that doesn't come by works. Romans 10, 16 -17 tells us,

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They did not all heed the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?

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So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. The ability to actually use the spiritual weapon in your homes and on yourself and with your family comes only from God.

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And what's the method and result of using the spiritual weapon? Righteousness. Well, guess what?

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Gee, righteousness is only possible through God. First Timothy 6, 11 -16, But flee from these things, you men of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

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Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of eternal life, to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

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I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the proper time, he who is blessed and only sovereign, the

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King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man can see, has seen, or can see.

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To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. According to Galatians 5, righteous living is only possible through the working of the

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Holy Spirit. And in regard to the Holy Spirit, in John 14, 25 -31, Jesus says,

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These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the

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Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

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Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives do I give to you.

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Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, I go away and I will come to you.

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If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

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I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me, but so that the world may know that I love the

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Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded me. The Holy Spirit has come to help us better understand the

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Word of God as well as help us actually live it out in our lives. So because our spiritual weapon only works because God is who

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He says He is, number two, therefore the ability to defeat the attacks we experience on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are only possible because the

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Lord empowers us. In 1 John 2 .16 we learned about the three battlefields and how they're passing away, and then verse 17 tells us that those who do the will of God live forever.

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And 2 Peter 5 .8 -11 commands us to be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

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But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

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After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, He will

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Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever, amen.

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When we use the spiritual weapon as God commands, He not only empowers us to use it, He also is the driving force that makes it so potent against the enemy.

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So because our spiritual weapon only works because God is who He says He is, and because the ability to defeat the spiritual attacks comes from the

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Lord, number 3, therefore Satan, the world, and the flesh are defeated for only one reason.

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A. The flesh is defeated because of God. Galatians 5 .24 promises that those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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And Galatians 5 .16 reads, Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. In a very similar way,

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Romans 8 .13 tells us, If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

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Lastly, and there are so many more passages we could reference, in Romans 13 .14 we are commanded,

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Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

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We can only defeat the flesh through God, and the same is true about the world system. B. The world is defeated because of God.

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John 12 .31 -32 Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out, and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

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John 16 .33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you will have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage.

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I have overcome the world. 1 John 5 .1 -5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the

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Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love

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God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

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For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

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Who is one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So God helps us to overcome the world and our flesh, and see,

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Satan is defeated because of God. 2 Thessalonians 3 .3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

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James 4 .7 Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Matthew 6 .18

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Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Ephesians 1 .18

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-23 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

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These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised

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Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

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And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is the body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

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Revelation 20 .10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone were the beast and the false prophet also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

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Romans 8 .37 -39 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

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For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. And we could just go on and on. Are you not encouraged? Are you not overjoyed?

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Your family will only ever be victorious through the character, and love, and power, and guaranteed victory of the conquering

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King of the universe. And if you move in Him, and live in Him, and have your being in Him, victory is your promise.

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Now, this truth is a two -edged sword. On one side, we have the confidence that when we use the spiritual weapon in our lives and our individual family members submit to it and use it in their lives, we will all experience spiritual victory.

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But on the other side, if you're not going to use the spiritual weapon the right way, if you're going to cherry -pick

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God's law, if you're not going to believe His promises, if you're not going to obey His commands, there will be no spiritual victory for you or anyone who follows in your footsteps.

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We have been warned. We have been promised. May we trust and obey and teach our children to do the same.

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Now thank you for your attention today. I want to wrap this whole series up with one amazing passage that beautifully describes the joy of spiritual victory through the conquering

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King. It's a passage we took eight episodes to unpack back in our Peaceful Parenting series.

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Philippians 4, 4 -14 has always been one of my favorite passages of Scripture. If you're not already familiar with it, hopefully you'll understand a little of why

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I love it so much when we're done in a couple minutes. I do want to encourage you to listen to the

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Peaceful Parenting series because it really digs into the passage far more than we can do right here. Let's start in verse 4, recognizing that everything to follow is a direct command with the assumption that we can obey it and we will obey it.

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Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men.

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The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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And then verse 7 communicates the expected spiritual victory we will experience because of our obedience, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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And then comes another command. I love this one. This command is so pregnant with meaning because it addresses the very core of our spiritual conflicts.

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Spiritual warfare is a battle of the mind, the same mind that the previous verse promised that Jesus would guard.

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We will win the war when we reject the lies and embrace the truth. We win the war when we think

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God's thoughts after Him. We win the war when we choose to believe Him. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell, that means to think, reckon, consider, ponder on these things.

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That verse right there is not merely a promise that we will be victorious in our spiritual warfare. It's actually a command to be victorious.

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If we're thinking on these things, we are winning the war, and God is commanding us here to win the war because He's commanding us to be thinking on those things.

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And then God adds another direct command to win. He says, through the hand of Paul, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.

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To win the spiritual war is to reject temptation and live righteously. God's not merely promising us it can be done if we do a bunch of other things.

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He's flat out telling us simply to do it. And then he ends with another promise of spiritual victory, and the

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God of peace will be with you. Now, most people are familiar with those verses, and they're familiar with at least one verse from the following passage, but I think too often we don't appreciate the connection between the two.

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Paul then transitions into a discussion of God's provision. Paul says, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance as I am.

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I know how to get along with humble means and how also to live in prosperity. In every circumstance,

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I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

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It doesn't matter what physical experiences Paul had. He just outlined how to have victory in every spiritual situation.

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One of the blessings of spiritual victory is peace, soul rest from God. But another of the blessings is contentment.

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Biblical contentment is another indicator that we're experiencing spiritual victory. And it's in this context that Paul says in Philippians 4 .13,

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I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. I know people quote this passage in various ridiculous contexts.

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The confident ones quote it before competing in sports, the less confident quote it only after they've won. And though yes,

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God is the one who brings all success into our lives through His grace, this passage is not a promise that I can make a million dollars through Christ.

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It's a promise that we can do everything He expects from us. And more specifically, it's a promise that we can obey the command to rejoice in the

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Lord, not be anxious, pray to God about everything, think biblically, obey God's law, be at peace, and be content.

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Those are the things we can do through Him who strengthens us. It's actually a promise that we can have victory in this spiritual war.

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I can do all things. I can obey God, all of His commands through Him who strengthens me.

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I can have victory in this spiritual war. And when you think about it, that's all we have to do.

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God is promising to strengthen us, to obey as He commands us, to overcome in our spiritual war. That's it.

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The conquering King, the great God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only way we can have victory in this spiritual war.

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And it's not merely a promise. We're actually commanded to be victorious through Him.

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How awesome is that? My friends, it has been a joy to walk through this study with you.

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But though this particular series has come to an end, please know that Team TLP and I are dedicated to the promise that every resource we produce and share is designed to help you and your family be successful in the spiritual war you're fighting every single moment of every single day.

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We want to walk alongside you, lift your arms, strengthen your faith, help you when you fall, teach you, reprove you, counsel you, and train you.

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We long to equip you to be the masters of the spiritual weapon. We desire nothing more than to prepare you to see this life the way

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God does and think His thoughts after Him. Please subscribe to this ministry, interact with us, let us know how we can serve you better.

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Please email us at counselor at truthloveparent .com or call us at 828 -423 -0894 if you need specialized help for your family.

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We want your children to grow up into Christ. We want you to parent in truth and love.

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To that end, join us next time as we meet a new author with his new book. We'll be talking with Aaron and Elena Sharp about Aaron's book,

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You Got This Dad, and we'll be having another giveaway. Truth. Love.

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Parent. Is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional premeditated parent.

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Join us next time as we search God's word for the truth your family needs today.