How to Emerge Victorious Over Your Enemies (02/18/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Amen. There is no joy. There is no joy like the joy of spending time in his presence.

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There's no joy that even compares to that. Matter of fact, that's what John said in 1

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John chapter one, verse four. After he said, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us.

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And truly, see, hopefully from this day forward, we'll all be able to say, truly our fellowship is with the

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Father. Hopefully, we'll be able to say that truly, I'm walking in fellowship, in koinonia, in oneness with God.

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I'm walking in a passionate relationship, an intimate relationship with my heavenly Father. Hopefully, we'll be able to say that.

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At least, we ought to be, we can pursue that. Why? And these things right we unto you that your joy may be full.

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That's where the joy comes from. The joy doesn't come from the things that he does for you.

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The joy doesn't come from where you're going or where you're not going. The joy comes from him. The joy of the

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Lord is your strength. So we're gonna get back into the message this afternoon.

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Lord, I just pray that you'd help us to get our minds on the message. Give me clarity of thought. And I pray,

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Lord, that you'd open our eyes and show us, Lord, how we can draw closer to you and get more intimate with you.

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In Jesus' name, amen. We talked this morning about how

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Christ saved us or he created us to please him. That's the purpose of our existence. We talked about the purpose of our election to be at one with him.

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And then lastly, we got into the practice of our enemies. And the enemies being the world, the flesh, and the devil or the lust of the flesh, which is my desire to do something.

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The lust of the eyes, which is my desire to have something. And the pride of life, which is my desire to be somebody.

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And all of those things, those three things that we named, they are at odds with us becoming one with God.

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So what we're gonna do, hey, and I don't really know that much about it. I was a kid when it happened. But the

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Vietnam War, one of the problems they say they had in the Vietnam War was they didn't know who the enemy was.

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And if you don't know who the enemy is, how can you deal with the enemy? But knowing who the enemy is is not enough to defeat an enemy.

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We not only have to know who the enemy is, but we have to know what the enemy's objectives are and how the enemy works if we're gonna have, hey, if we're expecting somebody to bring a knife and they bring a gun, we're not ready.

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You know, like people say, don't bring a knife to a gunfight, amen? You don't wanna do that.

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I'm sure in Texas, y 'all can relate to that. Out here in the Wild West, amen? Amen. But we gotta know, we gotta discover the practice of our enemies.

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We've discovered the purpose of our enemies. And now we need to discover the practice of our enemies.

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The lust of the flesh, please get this. This is so critical to the Christian life. The lust of the flesh, think about it.

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For all that is in the world, the Bible says the lust of the flesh. What is the lust of the flesh? The lust of the flesh is anything my flesh likes.

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Everything my flesh wants to do is at odds, for the most part. My flesh, I'm gonna be honest with y 'all.

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My flesh don't like to pray. My flesh don't like to read the Bible. My flesh don't like coming to church, singing

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Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, or I come to the garden alone. My flesh wants to get something with some, you know, some flesh in it.

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Y 'all know I'm telling the truth. You know, there are things that I don't like that my flesh likes.

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And we live in an age where the world is trying to appeal to our flesh to conjure up, if you will, appetites in us, to cultivate in us appetites for those things that are against God.

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The Bible tells us in James chapter one, the Bible says, let no man say when he's tempted, that I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when, hey, when the

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Bible says every man is tempted when, we better find out what comes after when, if we want to endure that temptation.

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Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. Now the word drawn away is a fishing term, and I like the fish, and I know

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David likes the fish, and there are probably some more of y 'all who like the fish, but drawn away means to entice by allure.

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You know what I know? I know if you throw a spinner bait in front of a frog, he ain't gonna go after it. You know why?

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Frogs don't like shiny things that flicker, but bass do, and the things that we go after, the things that detract us away from truth are those things that we already have an appetite for, or a lust for, but when we think of the word lust, we always conjure up something sensual.

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Well, the word lust means more than that. I'll tell you what, my body lusts for sleep,

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David. Right there, my body lusts for sleep. My body lusts for food, my body lusts for water.

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You may, maybe some of you used to drink, maybe your body lusts for alcohol. Maybe you like it, I don't like it, but that doesn't make me any better than you.

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Different people just have different appetites. The world would conjure up, there are

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Christian men all over the world who have appetites for pornography. There are

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Christian women who have appetites for slop operas, I mean, soap operas, they call them soap operas, which is basically the same thing in the mind of a woman that pornography is in the mind of a man, and we conjure up appetites for those things, but those things, those appetites that are conjured up are at odds with our oneness with God because they are against all that God stands for.

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So let's look at the practice of our innocence. The Bible's name is first, the lust of the flesh. What does the flesh want to do?

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My flesh wants to detain me, the word detain, like Rogers Brothers, a police officer.

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When they take you, they put one hand behind your back, another hand behind your back, they take you down to the detention center because they want to detain you from society.

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Well, I'm telling you, your flesh and my flesh wants to detain us from coming into that oneness with God.

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Our appetites are in opposition to our oneness with God because my flesh, the

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Bible tells me in Romans chapter seven, the Bible tells me that my flesh must, or not in Romans chapter seven, but in Galatians chapter five, my flesh must be against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh.

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These are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you would. My flesh wants to detain you from that oneness,

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I don't know. Do you know that the number one reason that I would ask anyway, and you maybe can agree with this, that people cannot know the truth about a certain matter because they have an appetite contrary to oneness?

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They have something that they already like that's opposite of what they're trying to learn. They already like it a certain way so they can't learn the truth about it.

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So they couldn't find it. Well, let me show you something. When we think about the lust of flesh, we often think of, you know, adultery and fornication.

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You know what's amazing to me, Brother Dave? It's amazing to me how it seems like every couple of months

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I hear about another preacher running off with some woman. Isn't that amazing?

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Now, I mean, I know it's always happened, but it's not been as rampant as it is today.

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Why is it so rampant today? Well, I'll tell you why. I believe the reason is because we get in the habit of letting our flesh rule, and when our flesh rules, our flesh rules.

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Our flesh ain't gonna say, well, I wanna rule today, and you can rule tomorrow. You know what?

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When I talk about, when I think of the lust of the flesh, you know one of the, I believe one of the strong, biggest strongholds in the church is the lust of food and appetite.

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Now, don't, bear with me now. I know y 'all know that I'm into health food and all that, but that's not what I'm talking about. So don't anybody get nervous.

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I'm gonna tell you something. I have never, I have never gotten on this subject, well, with the exception of two times, never gotten on this subject in a church where after I got done, the preacher didn't get up and make a joke.

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Now, hey, folks, I'm as doctrinally sound, I don't try to make a law in the church, but do you realize the devil has been using food as one of his main weapons since the beginning of time?

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Matter of fact, when you look at the Bible, you see that Eve, Adam and Eve, they got, the first sin they committed was a sin that had to do with food.

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Their first temptation was a temptation, a food temptation. Jesus, the first temptation that the devil gave to Jesus was a food temptation, after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights.

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We know when we look in the Bible that one of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah was fullness of bread, the

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Bible says. These were sins of thy sister, Sodom. Fullness of bread, abundance of idleness was in her, and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

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Esau sold his birthright for food. Israel went down to Egypt for food. Naomi went down to Moab for food, and before Amnon raked his half -sister

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Tamar, he had her prepare him some food. I'm not saying food's wrong, food is good.

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I like to eat, I'm a Baptist, I like to eat. Samson broke his

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Nazarite vow for food. I'm not against food, but here's what I'm against. I'm against food being in control.

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That's a problem, and most of us, most Christians today, just like the world, food is in control.

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The Bible says, blessed art thou, O Lamb, when thy king is the son of nobles, and when thy princes eat in due season, at the right time, for strength, that's for the right reason, and not for drunkenness.

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Isn't it amazing that the Bible says you can eat for drunkenness? Now, when we think of drunkenness, we think of a guy walking around with a bottle.

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But the Bible says, blessed art thou when thy princes eat, not for drunkenness. The Bible says, be not among wine -bibbers, nor among riotous eaters, gluttonous eaters of flesh.

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In the same verse, for the drunkard and the glutton shall lie down together. Now, we don't hear preaching like this, because the fact is, we don't think about it.

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When I got saved, you know, when we get saved, we give the Lord our music, we give him our clothes, we give him our old friends, the places we used to hang out, the deeds we used to do, and we say,

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Lord, don't mess with my place. Isn't that right? But the

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Bible says, in Proverbs, chapter 30, verse seven through nine, two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die.

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Remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the

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Lord? Wow, that's an awesome verse. When we think about the fact that the devil uses appetites, and I'm telling you, it is such a stronghold in the church, that it gets,

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I see more conviction when I talk about this one little simple thing than any other thing. I'm not saying it's wrong to eat any given thing, but I'm saying it's wrong to be brought under the power of those things.

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We talk about people being addicted to cocaine, and people being addicted to their drugs, and people being addicted to their alcohol, but I'm telling you, people are addicted to food substances.

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People are addicted to Coca -Cola. People are addicted to coffee, and people are addicted to sugar, and people are addicted to salt.

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People are addicted to caffeine. Now, here's how you can tell if you're addicted. All you have to do is let it go for a couple days.

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On the second day, you wanna kill somebody? That'd be a good sign that you're addicted.

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Paul said, hey, hang in there with me, y 'all. I am not trying to establish a dietary norm in church. What I'm doing is

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I'm trying to show you how your flesh likes things that are even against itself, and certainly against your oneness with God, and if we don't get to the place where we don't let our appetites rule, we can't walk in that oneness with God.

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Because my flesh tells me I gotta eat this, this, this, this, and this, and drink this, this, this, and this, and then it says, well, you might as well not pray either.

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Well, if I listen to it all those times, I won't listen to it again. Paul said, all things are lawful for me.

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I can drink as much coffee as I want to. I can drink as much Coca -Cola as I want to. But the fact is, Paul also said, all things are not expedient.

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All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

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And when I see people digging their grave with a knife and fork, and eating, and eating, and eating, and drinking

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Coke, and I hear Christian people saying, oh, I don't like water. You ever hear somebody say that? I just don't drink water. Jesus didn't say he was the living

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Coke. He said he was the living. He said, no,

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I don't like fruit. Jesus didn't say I'm the living Hershey bar. He said, I'm the first fruit, not the first Hershey bar.

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It's the first fruits. But we are so perverted in our, and I'm not talking about, this doesn't have anything to do with the food.

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See, if y 'all think I'm talking about the food, you're missing the point. I'm talking about the flesh being in control of your life.

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And when your flesh is in control, not only do you not want those things that God made for you, but you don't want

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God. I'm just telling you, you know what happens when I eat a whole bunch of sugar? If I get up and eat some pancakes and syrup first thing in the morning, you know what happens?

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I get real sleepy in about 23 minutes. And praying ain't even on the agenda.

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Y 'all know what I'm talking about. You see folks come to church on Sunday morning, they cannot even keep their eyes open.

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Why? They stuffed all kinds of garbage and goop down in their temple before they got there. And I'm not, hey folks, don't get nervous.

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I ain't trying to take nothing from you. I'm trying to get you to the place where it doesn't control you, but you control it.

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And I'm gonna give you this real quick, and I'm gonna get on to the next point. And for which I'm sure some of y 'all can't wait. but the fact is this, do you know everything man touches he perverts?

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When we breathe oxygen in, it's as essential as oxygen is for life. When we breathe it in, when we breathe it back out, if we try to breathe it in again, after if we breathe into a plastic bag, we'd be dead in a couple of minutes.

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Just by coming in contact with it. Do you know what? Those things that come freely from the hand of God, we reject.

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Like water and fruit and vegetables. I'm not saying that's all we should eat, but wouldn't, I would wanna think that as a child of God, I would wanna eat more food from the hand of God than I do from the hand of man.

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I'm not talking about vegetarian, miss that, skip that. I ain't done, eat what, if you wanna eat a hamburger, if I want a hamburger,

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I'm gonna eat one. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about not being brought under the power of food, not letting food control your life and soda pop control your life.

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Or anything else, any other substance. Here's what's interesting to me. Bible says in first Peter, I'm gonna say that one for last.

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What I'm saying is this, Paul said, Paul said, Paul said, I bring under my body,

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I bring under my, I buffet my body and bring it into subjection. You know what the word buffet means? It means to beat it black and blue.

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Bring it into subjection lest by any means while I've preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. He said,

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I want my flesh to know who's running things and it ain't my flesh. The flesh, the lust of the flesh wants to detain me from that oneness.

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The lust of the eyes, which is the world, wants to distract me from my oneness with God.

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Y 'all with me? The Bible says, when he talks about the parable of the soils, he said there are four kinds of soil.

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That soil is the seed that fell by the wayside and the birds of the air swoop down and snatch the seed.

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That's what happens to so many people. They come to church, the preacher preaches, they go home and they turn on the television and say the birds of the air swoop down, snatch the seed from their mind and they're never to be remembered again.

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The Bible says some fell on shallow ground and didn't have much depth of earth and sprung up real fast and some folk come to church and they make confession of salvation, man, they're out of the gate and the first trial of tribulation comes and they're back where they came from, they said, in nine quarters.

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The third one fell among the thorns and the Bible says the thorn came up and choked the seed.

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And the Bible says the thorns were the cares of his life, the lust of the flesh.

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It wants to detain me from that loneliness I have. The lust of the eyes wants to distract me from that loneliness

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I have. And that's why it's so important that my purpose lines up with his purpose because when my purpose lines up with his purpose,

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I only have ambitions for those things he has ambitions for me to have. The world wants to distract me, wants to get my mind so much on getting the bills paid and making ends meet and buying a new house and a new car and making sure my kids have all they want and my wife has all she wants.

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The world wants my mind so distracted that I don't have time to meditate on him who apprehended me.

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The lust of the eyes wants to distract me from that loneliness by my ambitions.

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I'm not saying ambitions are wrong, but they're wrong when they are not surrendered to him. And thirdly, the devil wants to destroy our oneness by our attitudes.

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Do you know how the devil works? The devil works by putting thoughts in your mind, making you think those thoughts are your thoughts, but God wants you to think again.

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Did you know that? The devil put a thought in your mind, you think it was yours. The Bible says, the

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Bible says, I fear this might, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

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The word device there comes from the Greek word noem, which means thought, mind, and evil purpose, or that which thinks.

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The Bible says Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. David thought that was his idea.

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The Bible says about Ananias, it's about when Ananias came to Peter, Peter said, hey, Ananias, why would

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Satan kill my heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? He's not lying to Peter, that's a guy. Ananias thought that was his idea.

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The Bible says in John chapter 13, verse two, the Bible says, the devil had now put into the heart of Judas Iscaeus, Simon's son, to betray him.

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Judas thought that was his idea. The Bible says over in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, I think it's verse three, but I fear thus by any means, that as the serpent beguiled me, so your mind, devil, must destroy your minds.

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Whenever your kids say, I don't know why I can't do it, so -and -so can do it, you know where they got that from?

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They thought that was their idea. No, that was the devil's idea. I just don't have it as good as Peter.

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Adam and Eve had all the food they wanted to eat for free. Now, that's a good thing, especially if I'm a girl, baby.

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And the devil got their mind off all they wanted in God, got their mind on one little thing they couldn't do, aging, free real estate, free real estate is expensive now.

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Not the initial, that's the promise. I don't care if you just let it be. The devil said, but God said, don't take anything.

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That verse said, you leave everything there for me, and he said, well, you know, that's half a month's drive. I'll give it up. It's not the way I work,

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I don't have the money. And then that gold, that looked good in my IRA, and then I put the silver in my portfolio, and God in his mind, all that God had given him, free real estate to raise his children, give it to his children and his children's children, destroyed his oneness by that, but I'm saying this,

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God wants us to come into oneness with the world, the flesh, and the devil, are at odds trying to keep that oneness from happening.

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And if we are going to enter into an intimate relationship with God, then we've got to get past those enemies that are trying to block our path.

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Well, how do we do it? I'm done, I mean, I'm close to it, almost. First thing we need to do,

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I'm gonna give this to you real quick. We need to remember the promise of our Emmanuel. You know what

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God tells, you know what the Bible tells in Romans chapter six, verse 12? The Bible says, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey him unless thereof.

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So many people are walking in defeat. You know why they're walking in defeat? So many people, that sin has ruined, that besetting sin that does so easily beset them has ruined their life.

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Why? There's only one reason. Because he's a saint. The Bible says, let not sin reign in your body.

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That tells me if sin's reigning in my body, there's only one reason, because I'm letting it. And God, you know, I ain't gonna,

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I ain't gonna let it. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, there is no temptation taking you, but such is the common demand that God is faithful.

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He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear.

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And I'm gonna illustrate this to you, and I know some of you have seen it before, but you probably forgot. Besides that, I'd like you to come up to the stage. I'm sure you're gonna be happy.

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Who do I need to come help me? Uh, yeah, yeah. What's your name,

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Jonathan? What's your name, Jonathan? I want you to come up to the stage. Jonathan. David. Jonathan and David.

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Okay. Okay. You guys stand right here. Stand over here, please. Nicole and Nathan.

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Now get in line. There you go.

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Okay, get back there in line behind me. All you guys in line behind me. Now, Michael is a world champion prize fighter.

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Lean, lean fighting machine. Bad ass to the bone. 185 pounds, a rock with a stomp to the death and destruction.

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Never lost a fight. You like that? Yeah. That's it. Perfect. Never lost a fight, and I'm just making it up.

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You ain't never gon' lose a fight. Okay? Never lost. And now, all these guys in line, if you wanna fight the champs, man,

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I wanna fight Mike. Say it. You wanna fight Mike. Okay. And I look at this student, and I look at Mike, and I look at Mike, and then

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I look away, and Mike. Can you look at somebody real quick You wanna fight

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Mike. What I was hoping you'd say, Yeah, you just look like he might win.

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But you look like you have some line opening up.

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You say, well, what's the point of that when in fact they would digoize as a viable uniform competition.

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dicoglized in a did not temptation to crunch your way into Olympic territory.

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I was mighty tough when my big brother was there brother

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Dave you say what don't you see my brother he bad now you better be careful hey

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I'm telling you whenever temptation comes my way I go into the temptation with confidence knowing that I can have the victory but I don't want to have too much confidence because let him think of the ecstatic he missed me fall

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I want to make sure I'm leaning on the one who already gave me the victory now not only do we need to remember the promise of our

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Immanuel but we need to we need to realize the process of our emergence do you know we defeat the devil differently than we defeat the world differently than we defeat the flesh did you know that there's three different enemies that fight three different ways how do we know he wants his purpose above the most high he wants his agenda to be higher than the most high he wants his agenda to be higher than the most high watch this he's already been defeated in that area so what did you do you try to be you know what your purpose your plan your agenda your your deal everything you got he wants you to make that more important than what you got you know what was manifested?

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you know how to manifest? manifested when I realize that God's plan for me is perfect with the good the bad and the ugly it doesn't matter what comes down the pipe

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I say Lord thank you Lord thank you that I'm broke

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Lord thank you that I'm sick Lord thank you that I'm tired Lord thank you

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I'm having family problems Lord thank you for the good stuff and the bad stuff that's hard the

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Bible says everything you can do with God and Christ Jesus concerning you but that's not all it says look what it says in Ephesians Ephesians chapter 5 it says not only do you give thanks in all things giving thanks always what's that next word?

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for all things man I tell you what that's one of the hardest verses

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I ever had to travel deal with it I gotta give thanks for all things you mean when my car breaks down in the middle of the interstate and it's 110 degrees and my kids are hot and sweating and my wife's mad at me

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I'm supposed to say Lord thank you? yep we must willfully surrender to God do you know what the

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Bible says? the Bible says in Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none no matter how much money you have no matter how big you are no matter how smart you are no matter man or woman boy or girl none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou that means none of us have a right to say to God God what are you doing?

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don't you know who I am? Lord says yeah I know who you are and I'm trying to let you know who you are you ain't nothing and you ain't nobody

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Jesus said without me you can do nothing but through me you can do all things well we must willfully surrender to defeat the devil but we must walk in the scripture to defeat the world you know what the world's philosophy is total opposite from this?

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the world says if your wife don't do right you just beat her that's what the world philosophy says the

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Bible says husbands love your wives Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that's different than the world the world says no you can't spank your children if you beat your children you'll stunt their growth the

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Bible says fathers the Bible says if thou beatest him with a rod if thou beatest him with a rod he will not die he might say

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I'm dying no you're lying the Bible says he won't die the world's philosophy is totally different from that you know what the world says?

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the world says the way to get is to get all I can can all I get and sit on my can but the word of God says give and it shall be given unto you good measure press down shake it up and run it over shall men give unto your bosom and when

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I replace the thoughts of the world that I've learned all my life from my teachers and from my parents and from society from the television and from the radio and the magazine and when

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I replace all the thoughts all the things I've always learned when I take that out and I renew my mind with the word of God I get victory over the world

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I beseech you I beg you therefore brethren by the mercy of God that you present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto

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God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed molded after the image of the world but be transformed metamorphosized from the inside out by the renewing of your mind

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I'm going to tell you something that I've learned by the grace of God or am learning you change your mind you change your life too many people are trying to change their life without changing their mind and it don't work and then lastly the last two sub points under the sub points under the sub points are these in order to defeat the lust of the flesh we must do two things number one we must walk in the spirit well what's the bible say in Romans chapter 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus comma not period comma who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit turn to Galatians chapter number 5

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I want to show you something this is one of the most exciting things here that I've ever the Lord's ever shown me what I'm about to show you man this is so mmm this is mmm this is good look at verse 16 through look at verse 16 through 21 the bible says this

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I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lusts against the spirit the spirit against the flesh these are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you would but if you be led of the spirit you are not under law now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these let's count adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envying murderers drunkenness revelings and such like how many things was that 17 things and then he said and such like any other thing that even looks like any of these things notice what he says after that he says and such like of the witch

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I tell you before I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God what is the kingdom of God that's

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God's rule in my life see bible tells us in Romans chapter 14

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Romans chapter 14 17 and 18 the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but it's righteousness that's when

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God rules in my example peace that's when God rules in my experience joy in the Holy Ghost that's when God rules in my expression and if I've got these things going on in my life

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I have not inherited the kingdom of God God's not ruling in my example if I'm committing adultery that's a bad example

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God's not in control of that if I'm if I've got hatred

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God's not ruling in my experience I don't have peace I don't have joy in the

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Holy Ghost I've got guilt well the bible says notice what he said though I named 17 things and such like he said in verse 16 this

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I say then walk in the spirit and you will not feel the bustle and bustle he said if you will just do this one thing right he said if you will just get this one thing done you don't have to worry about those 17 things ain't that exciting where's

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Jason at Jason come here come on brother

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David can you come out don't get any distance I'm telling you you know what we made everything so hard that makes it simple and the reason we missed so much of the bible is because we're trying to overcomplicate my statement amen we're going to let

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Jason be a Christian hopefully that's what I asked we're going to let David be the spirit

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I'm going to be the flesh so Jason is a

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Christian and you know what I know about Jason I know that since he is a Christian the spirit of God and his flesh talks to him all day every day so Jason wakes up in the morning wake up in the morning please good that's probably how he does it so he wakes up in the morning and as soon as he wakes up I'm going to start talking to him

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I'm going to tell him in the same way my brother David Jason you've had enough go back to bed and the spirit of God says no you don't need to go back to bed you need to pray pray and I'm saying look all that praying stuff you need to get some sleep right now so when you pray you keep your mind and you'll pray alright you got it alright night or sleep it's day time get up and pray he's telling you to go to the paraphragm

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I'm telling you to go back to bed the spirit starts walking toward the paraphragm no no no and I start talking to him no

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I said you follow me he walks that spirit is walking and my brother says it's not saying walk in the spirit but my brother says you're here for a number of reasons you're here to pray

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I said I can't go back to bed so now it's 5 minutes before time for 10 minutes before time for him to go and his mom said have you gotten up yet Jason and the spirit said yeah

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I'm up I'm up so he said

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I said

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Jason come on get dressed get dressed real quick eat real quick and the spirit said friend he's so far from the spirit so go ahead and eat your mom says hey is your room clean he said get off my back mom laughter did you see my dad is here right now he goes he's got a bad attitude he goes to school he's got a bad attitude his teachers get him on the nerves his brothers get him on the nerves why he's walking after the flesh and not after the spirit you know what

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I'm trying to leave you with health, education, grad, all the rest of that I'm trying to leave you with all that so I'm here on the day of defeat so the next day he wakes up the next day he wakes up and you know what the spirit starts talking to him go ahead and I say man come on go ahead laughter let's go back over here man you're tired still tired and this time he walks after the spirit and not after the flesh the flesh is going to go over there and throw hey you know what now he's been listening for and listening to the spirit all day long when the spirit talks he's so far from the flesh that the spirit is going to need to awake from all that you've walked into the spirit listen to it more listen to it again your infinite spiritual relationship thank you thank you gentlemen appreciate it we must walk in the spirit to defeat the flesh and then the last thing is we must weaken in order to defeat the flesh there's something else we got to do because our flesh has been ruling for a long time how many of y 'all were older than 20 when you got saved how many of you were older than 15 when you got saved okay well

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I'll tell you why I was 16 you know what our flesh has learned to rule for a long time and it developed a lot of bad habits along the way for days so you know what we got to do we must weaken our sensuality that's what the bible means when it says in 1

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Corinthians chapter 9 verse 25 and everyone that striveth for mastery is temperate what's temperate mean self -control is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible we an incorruptible

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I therefore so run not as uncertainly I don't run around like I don't know where I'm going so fine I not as one that beateth the air

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I'm not just shadow boxing but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection

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I put it under make it obey me I make my body the servant instead of the master hey that's what the bible's talking about in Romans chapter 6 we are a servant our body we can we are a servant who gets to choose our master whether we're going to obey sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness we get to choose that everyday he said

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I bring my body into subjection lest by any means when I preach to others I myself should become a castaway and I'm telling you all these preachers that go running off with their secretary and they go running off with a different woman all these

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Christians go committing adultery and fornication and all the rest of it they didn't intend to do that their flesh was in control for so long and they never weakened it they never made their flesh suffer and when the flesh said let's go they said oh alright they went right after it we must weaken our sensuality the bible says in Isaiah 58 6 -7 is not this the fast that I have chosen oh no fast only thing we baptist do fast is eat fast amen so we can get back in line before anybody else amen is not this the fast that I have chosen notice what he says to loose the bands of wickedness fasting looses the bands of wickedness

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I can't quit smoking I can't quit smoking I can't quit drinking I can't give up my I can't give up my dad

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I can't give up my cigarettes I can't give up my coffee I can't give up my coca cola I'm not saying that's all wrong but you know what the bible says more about food than it does about cigarettes well

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I think about my caffeine some of y 'all think well

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I'm not overweight hey you know what I know there's skinny gloves just as well as there's fat now what he said

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I'm saying we get in that bond with the bible says God will by fasting it will break the bands of wickedness you know what

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I know for a fact when you fast every physical appetite you have is less than that every one of them when you fast it doesn't just weaken your appetite well see here's what happens when you fast the first day man you still hungry you'll eat anything woe be unto the chicken that crosses the road in front of you the second day you want to kill somebody but the third day you won't care if you never eat again because once you starve that flesh for so long it says man

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I'm eating too much energy screaming for food I might as well just sit here and be quiet until you decide to give me some after you fast for a couple of days before you know it your appetite for everything you know what

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I know it's when I'm fasting I only need about 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night my body just wakes up it's like to loose the bands of wickedness what happens when you live in wickedness too long you get a heavy burden of guilt on your back he says to undo those heavy burdens when you're walking in victory the burden is gone to let the oppressed go free walk under that guilt for so long

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I've got depression I need some some Prozac I don't got depression

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I need to go lay on somebody's couch and have them tell me it was my mama's fault Bible says this is the fast that God has chosen to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke you know what the yoke is something that binds you together my flesh was bound up with me but you know what when

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I start fasting my flesh that yoke gets broken my flesh ain't moving around anymore but watch this is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry when

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I start fasting I'm not so selfish I'm not caught up with me I be my disease to deal thy bread to the hungry to bring the poor and they are cast out into thy house when thou seest the naked thou dost cover him that thou hide thyself not from thine own flesh and then shall thy health spring forth speedily isn't that amazing what's a dog doing get sick eats grass and nothing just waits to get better I'm telling you we need to weaken our sensuality we need to weaken our fleshly appetites by fasting

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Bible says in 1 Peter and this is the last verse I'm using chapter 1 I mean chapter 4 verse 1 through 4 for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh don't miss this

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I'm almost done y 'all hey I ain't gonna be like Paul I ain't gonna preach till midnight but don't miss this okay for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves likewise arm myself to suffer in the flesh why would

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I arm myself to suffer in the flesh with the same mind for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin isn't that an amazing verse that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men or to the appetites of men but to the will of God does that sound like the lust of men and the will of God are in opposition with each other for in the time of for the time past of our life may suffice us how suffice us to have wrought the will of the

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Gentiles in other words before I got saved I walked like the Gentiles when we walk in lasciviousness unbridled lust lust, excess of wines, revelings banquetings before I got saved

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I don't do that now abominable idolatries before I got saved wherein they who those people who are still lost think it strange that we walk not with them to the same excess of riot isn't that amazing when

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God saves us he's changed our appetites we're not the flesh ain't ruling anymore we're going to make the flesh suffer why?

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so we can walk after the will of God and not after the will of men what's the will of God we might have that oneness that intimate relationship with him where my where I consider his word to be more than my necessary food when

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I consider his word to be better than thousands of gold and silver when I want him more than I want anything

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I used to wonder how can people be earning the stake and singing songs cause they ain't thinking about the stake they ain't thinking about the suffering they got their mind on him that's what it means great peace

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God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee we have a hard time as Christians in 2001 getting our mind on him let alone keeping our mind on him don't we folk

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I'm talking about walking in an intimate relationship with the father I'm talking about being passionately consumed with God and you can't be passionately consumed with the lust of the flesh with the appetites of your flesh passionately consumed with the lust of the eyes or the world and passionately consumed with your bad attitude wanting things your way and still be passionately consumed with God it don't fit it's either one or the rest it's either

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Christ or the adversaries of the Messiah the Antichrist which is it going to be for you are you going to be able to say a year from now three months from now a week from now two days from now will you be able to say and truly truly my fellowship is with the father father in heaven

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I thank you for your word Lord I know your word won't return void but it will accomplish that would you please

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Lord I believe there are some of us here today that need to check ourselves out and see who's in control whether it's you or our appetites whether it's you or our ambitions whether it's you or our attitudes because those ambitions appetites and attitudes are trying to keep us from walking in oneness with you

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Lord I pray for my brothers and sisters here they might experience that victory that you've already given they might go in and claim the promised land that you've already given and not to be afraid of those giants called ambitions not to be afraid of those giants called attitudes not to be afraid of those giants called appetites but to know they already have the victory all they have to do is go and claim it help us to walk in oneness with you it's about nice clothes what