Ephesians 6:10-24, War and Peace

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Ephesians 6:10-24 War and Peace

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Ephesians chapter 6 be reading from verses 10 to 24 Hear the word of the
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Lord finally Be strong of the Lord and the strength of his might
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Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places
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Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and As shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith which with you can
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Extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the
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Spirit Which is the Word of God praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the
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Saints and Also for me their words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim
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The mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak
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So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister of the
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Lord will tell you everything I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts
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Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the
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Lord Jesus Christ Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love
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Incorruptible May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well is your faith about war or peace?
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That is do you believe what you believe in order to? harmoniously
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Coexist seeing the bumper sticker right coexist the kind of symbols of various religions making up different letters in it
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Is that what your faith is for to coexist or do you believe? To help you fight
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To help you win a war Now many people assume faith should be about peace, you know tranquility
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Harmony adjusting to the universe and living acceptingly with all you know again coexist We normally don't think of the church is where we get prepared for combat like a boot camp or maybe a briefing room where?
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Commandos are getting the information that they need for their next raid getting their marching orders The assumption of many is that Christianity is about about adjusting and finding the insights to master of the
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Secrets for successful living it's about a way to peace
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It's like Taoism Right Taoism is a religion that's all about harmony finding peace
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The name Tao is Chinese for for way Literally in English it would be way ism
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It's the belief that there is a way to all the forces of the universe to people to nature to spirits
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And if you can find that way Then you could have harmony you could have peace you couldn't coexist
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Often you find the way by balancing opposites which are not really in conflict But are but but complement each other, you know, like male and female the yin and the yang
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The heaty the hot and the cold or the flow of forces like in Feng Shui design a house
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So that the good will flow in Taoism is a religion a kind of spirituality all about peacefully
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Harnessing all of life for your good finding the right way You don't have to go to war if you're in conflict.
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You've probably gone the wrong way I would assume they would they would think now soon after Mary was converted her mother
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Consulted a Taoist or a similar kind of priest and he advised The priest advised her mother not to bother
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Mary About her new convictions because that would be a conflict. That would be a clash of the gods
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Now when it comes to death, especially Chinese people often turn to Taoism Even if they don't practice it
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At other times they will call on the Taoist priest to come to help their departed loved one to find the right way
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Through the nether regions at a funeral we all want assurances of peace And so it's natural that traditional
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Chinese people often turn to Taoism for their funerals. What about Christianity? Are we a war or peace?
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You know people complain sometimes about preachers who will quote preach someone into heaven. Someone just lives really just a immoral
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Despicable life and yet at their funeral you'll hear how great a person they were a believer and the preacher will Say he's gonna be in heaven people sometimes people to scorn that Often that's because there's pressure particularly at a funeral to be about peace and harmony.
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Everything's good and lovely But look at the way the church is often represented in art Thomas Kinkade we have slides got rich off of selling paintings often churches in the woods
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They look so beautifully harmonious with nature this around them You look at the pictures and see what he is assuming about the relationship of the church
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And so therefore Christianity with the rest of the world. There's a kind of spirituality coming through in these paintings
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He became America's most collected artist For such works. He was especially popular among Christians before dying in 2012
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Dying by the way at the age of 54 of accommodation of being drunk and an overdose of Valium While living with his girlfriend before the divorce was finalized from his wife.
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He was not at peace But people love that feeling of a church surrounded by nature
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Idyllic the church buildings are peaceful. The nature of the world around them is is Coexisting with it the church doesn't all and so Christianity therefore doesn't look at all like a fortress
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Under fire in enemy territory, does it? Well here in Ephesians, we've seen that Jesus does bring peace
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Earlier in chapter 2 you remember he himself is our peace First peace with God and in peace with all the other kinds of people that he has made peace with But we also see at the very end here
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That our life in this world is one of war We are at war
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We see that here in five parts first the orders then the enemy the armor the arms and finally the army
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First in verses 10 to 13 the Apostle Paul tells us about the orders the final marching
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Orders here the general order be strong in the Lord the final marching orders be strong in the
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Lord That is be formidable and conquerable in your faith in your attachment to what God has done in the
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Lord Jesus don't be the kind that easily loses faith Because of some temptation the allure of some short -term pleasures the love of money to live for the dollar
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Gaining more wealth or the intellectual snobbery of some professor at college the scorn of those who ironically say, you know
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You're bigoted your beliefs are bigoted even though actually he's the one who never seriously considered that he might be wrong
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Or just the boredom that sets in when everything is not new anymore So that you you start to slide back into the world instead of succumbing to any of that the orders
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Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might
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We're strong in the Lord by relying on the strength of his might that is that is not a call Just to kind of grit your teeth and hang on With white knuckles just for a little bit longer
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Hang in there. We have to be strong in the strength of his
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Might if we're strong in ourselves and our strategies our religious disciplines, then we're in trouble and that's what he gets up particularly in the book of Colossians where he says that some people's idea for the religious life is
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Following a bunch of rules. You're not handled. Don't taste don't touch Do this Don't do that And that appears to make so much sense, right that appears to be the way to win this battle find some strategy
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Maybe some way like Taoism by the way some strategy. This is how you be strong and overcome follow these regulations
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Don't drink any alcoholic beverages. Don't watch any R -rated movies Don't dance not even to one
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Jordan stormy banks. We still have Christians telling us Not to eat pork some some
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Strategies that they think are the key to to spirituality a few weeks ago. I told you about Bill Gothard Remember Bill Gothard tell you about him
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Institute for basic life principles when I was in college the church house went to just big on that So it goes to hear this guy is the principles and I was we went to see him
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Okay, I'm twice actually he would I don't know if he sold it out but he's done these big Indoor Coliseum's a lot of people go and he would reduce the
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Bible to these list of principles and disciplines and he found Supposedly from them and you follow them and that's how you overcome.
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That's how you win your spiritual warfare That's how you be a victorious Christian following these rules
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Okay, try to learn from it and when I interviewed him about five or six years later. Realize that this is the
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Bible doesn't teach this He's just tying different things together interpreting the way that's why
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I told you when it came out and I think in 2012 that he was fired from his position is the head of that ministry because of sexual harassment many complaints
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I wasn't at all surprised Because he chose a strategy about the flesh Trying to overcome and the strength of his might and that just doesn't have the power.
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Are you supposed to overcome by God's might? Some say with a strategy, you know, you got to get early got to follow these disciplines follow these rules
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That's the way to please God and overcome but it doesn't work We can be severe to the body, but still be indulging the flesh and that's just by disappealing to our pride
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Look how disciplined I am I do this and that by relying on the strength of our might but we're not ordered to be strong in our might
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Or to be strong in his might Specifically that means in verse 11 that we put on the whole armor so that with it we might be able to stand
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First though we need to know who we're standing against That is he shows next that is what he shows next in verse 12.
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So second the enemy for that is because he's strong the strength of his might because we need to be strong with the strength of his might by putting on the whole armor of God because we do not wrestle with flesh and blood
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That is our fight is not with people Now think how incredible for this is for Paul to say
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Yeah, he's already twice mentioned that he's a prisoner in this letter. I Paul a prisoner of the Lord and Here in verse 20.
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He says he's an ambassador Sent from heaven in other words to represent Another kingdom
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God's kingdom. It's an ambassador in chains Flesh and blood has put manacles on him
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Now you'd think if he were he were like me What I'll be tempted to do is because he's a prison.
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So they're probably Looking at everything he's writing, but I'd be tempted to send out secret coded messages.
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You're saying we got a band together Overthrow this despotic regime. These Romans are chaining me up.
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They're threatening to cut off my head. The Romans are the enemy But even when people are against us they are not our ultimate enemy our fight is not really again against them
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It is instead he says in verse 12 with the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness
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Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places There are spiritual beings with power and we call them demons or whatever against whom we are
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Fighting we're at war Notice that they have power over this present darkness
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That's where we live in this dark age where there's so much rebellion against God This is their fallen world
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But into this world the kingdom of God has invaded a greater authority King.
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Jesus has bound Him Satan that is restricted that strong man so that now
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God's kingdom can push forward Advancing liberating captives and the gates of hell can't stand up against it but those enemies will push back
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The gates of hell will try to prevail against us. So that's why there will be war and often sometimes that pushing back will come through Flesh and blood through other people
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Sometimes cutting off the head of ambassadors like Paul of course to the materialistic person who thinks everything is just There's just atoms and energy merely nature.
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There's nothing over nature There's no Super nature. No supernatural to them
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That all sounds like fairy tale stuff Sounds medieval. This is superstitious and so they'll scoff at it.
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Every war has its propaganda They'll do the lies that the enemy tells to break down morale
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Like Tokyo Rose beaming messages radio message Radio messages from Japan trying to discourage and confuse
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US soldiers during World War two. Our enemy has propaganda to discourage and confuse us
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So we don't know where the enemy is who he is One of the biggest pieces of modern propaganda of the enemy is what
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CS Lewis warned about he wrote that there are quote two Equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devil's two errors
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He says one error is to disbelieve in their existence. There's none of that spiritual. That's all superstitious stuff
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That's we know better than that now that kind of attitude That's the attitude of the materialist the arrogant assumption that my perception of things encompasses all things
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That if I can't see it Then it must not really exist But as Shakespeare said there is more to heaven and earth that is dreamt of in your philosophy
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The other error who said there's two errors. The first error is the is the materialist just believe all that stuff the second error
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CS Lewis said is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in Them in the demonic you could get obsessed with these rulers you read that rulers authorities cosmic powers you just Obsessed with that and want to think about you speculate you guess you make all kinds of fictional guesses about what they're like maybe are these cosmic powers these ranks
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Well these levels there's different kinds of demons and you just speculate and speculate you could think as was common among Some Christians about 30 20 30 years ago probably is still in Some places that what we need to do is to address these
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Demons directly these cosmic rulers and heavenly places. We need to rebuke them. It's up to us. We need to order them around We need to bind them and that's that's the way to do spiritual warfare.
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It's up to us to bind them Jesus said he bound the strong man. Why don't we need to do it? But anyway, that's what they'll say even though juden verse 9 specifically tells us not to do that Do not address
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These demonic powers. It's not up to us. Don't presume to think that you have the authority to do that But it's common human instinct first to believe in demons and evil spirits and to think that somehow our strategies our powers some way
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That we found we think we found as tau Magic astrology
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Voodoo for a Christian misusing the name of Jesus some talisman some item across the crucifix
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Whatever anointing oil, whatever it is that we can manage these evil forces Maybe for some evangelical
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Christians put a magic Bible verse put on a bumper sticker on your car It'll keep you from getting a rep won't work
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God doesn't work that way in Chinese funeral rites intertwined with all the Taoism is common to burn paper items that they believe through the process of burning transfers to the deceased
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Whatever they that they whatever they are burning or whatever. They're supposed to look like and it becomes real for them So they'll burn paper cars paper houses even paper cell phones
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Most commonly though, they'll burn paper money not usually real paper money Well, sometimes I'll do a little that but what they call quote hell money
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Printed to look like a kind of money and that is somehow supposed to become legal tender When burned for the departed so that they can use to pay off the demons and get around and my father -in -law's funeral
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I was looking through some stacks of this hell money It's stacks of hell money there that they were gonna burn for him
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And so they it's like transferring to his account so he can use it there my sister -in -law Mary's brother's wife new wife at that time approached me to explain what it was
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I already knew what it was, but I'm just kind of looking through it and she said when they burn it It will go to mr. Yo Now since she was no more closely related to Mary's father than I was
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I thought I could be brutal and simply said it doesn't Go anywhere. It just gets burned up She responded. Yes, you're right
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Not because she really agreed with me because she didn't want a conflict especially the funeral don't have conflict Taoist faith it's not about conflict.
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It's about finding a way around to get to peace, but I'm not a materialist I I do believe that there are demons their cosmic powers over this present darkness
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I just don't believe that we can deal with them outside of the strength of the Lord's might I Don't believe we can pay them off Somehow get money to them and somehow they need it there or Satisfy them with sticky cakes that stop them from saying bad things about us
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CS Lewis concluded that the devils are quote equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight
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Our enemies are not just moral or mental or bad Lifestyles or bad ideas or lack of discipline that we can combat with rules and force and shouting louder than them
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This is what separates us from Islam Muslims believe that their struggle their jihad is
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Against flesh and blood and if they can make those people That they see with morals and beliefs that they believe are bad if they can make them submit to God's morals and ways
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And the battles won they think Their fight their jihad is against flesh and blood
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If they can get them to submit however, how they can do it Well, then the struggle is over So if it takes a sword or a gun or a bomb to get people to stop what they want stopped
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But they believe God won't stop Then that's okay Because it wins the battle but for us
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Our fight is not with flesh and blood Now sure the fight of the government may be with such people
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The government is supposed to be wrestling with flesh and blood and put evil doers in jail or terrorists where they belong
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But our fight as Christians is not Ultimately with them. That's why we don't deal with politics
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Directly here. You know, we have more important things to be talking about the real enemies our real warfare after all if we did say we sold out to politics and We made our fight with flesh and blood and say we even eventually succeeded
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You know, we took over we got enough people to vote our way and we took over and we are able to pass laws
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And impose what the Bible says is right by the strength of our might now We're able to make the police go out there and enforce what we believe the
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Bible teaches What would happen I'll be the result of that A Perversion gap may not be openly celebrated anymore.
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You might not have it on TV anymore Our faith may not be attacked by rulers in academic places
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Scoffing doubting professors may not feel free to say what they really believe They may have to suppress themselves and sound say the right words, but all those people
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Would still in their hearts be just as rebellious Just as sinful just as trapped in This present darkness, they wouldn't be saved we might make them obey
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But they're still part of the darkness. We can't dispel that darkness with our might
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Only with Jesus's light to do that we need the whole armor of God starting in verse 14.
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So the third part our armor You need armor Notice twice
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Paul says whole armor versus 11 and 14, so don't neglect any part of it.
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You need every piece if You're a more facts and doctrine kind of person. You think all you need is truth.
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You have your theology down pat That's all you need or if you're more touchy -feely You know you think y 'all you need is faith.
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You need that sense of the Spirit know You need all of that you need it all if you're going to withstand or resist on that Evil day that is when the heat of battle comes directly against you when you're being tempted
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It's easy in the army I would guess to go through boot camp and march in a parade with the rest of the platoon put on the dress uniform and present
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Arms and be a soldier What's hard is when the enemy presses right against you
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When they're shooting at you when you're in battle when you've gotten bored with the
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Bible and prayer seems dry and useless and church seems like a waste of time and the temptation
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Seems so appealing Then we'll know whether you are standing in the strength of his might
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The evil day is the day of trial the heat of spiritual battle when you're under fire from temptations or doubts
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To stand on that evil day. He says Do all
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You notice that do all Do all that you can Now some are falsely taught
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You're going off what I was saying earlier But reducing the Bible to this list of rules and disciplines and regulations that if you keep them somehow you get victory
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Some have gone to the other extreme and and taught it to be spiritually mature To be growing and resisting
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Satan to overcome What you need to do is let go and let God You know just abide
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Whatever that means abide dude got no dude in there They probably use parts of this passage to teach that be strong in his might not of your own by simply abiding doing nothing
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Like a Taoist in meditation, you know, you clear your mind or Buddhist clear your mind to let it flow be enlightened
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You know hum some sound some syllable that really doesn't mean anything To stand
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That's not what you do that's not right to stand you must at the end of verse 13 having done all
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Stand again third time in verse 14 Having taken up the five defensive pieces of armor first the belt or the girdle of truth
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That is it holds everything in place for a soldier so that he can move quickly without parts of his armor or equipment
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You know falling off for the Christian truth truth Ties everything together to have a knowledge of a belief in the truth
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And that's why we do much of what we do here in church, especially this right now the sermon so you will know and believe the truth so that even if you're right with God and you're saved and you've you know, but had
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Great feelings of worship with God great encounters with the Lord, but all of that then doesn't go flying apart
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When you are attacked because you have no understanding you have no convictions You forgot what you forget what you're supposed to believe deep in your heart about the truth.
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You need truth You need God's truth this flighty feelings
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Emotions are like having a belt of twine It's gonna break When the battle gets rough
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Well second to stand in the heat of battle, you'll need to have to put on the breastplate I guess we would call it
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Bart body armor today or Bulletproof vest whatever breastplate of righteousness to protect your vital organs against against the attacks during the fight.
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You'll need a right relationship it's a it's a breastplate a bulletproof vest of Righteousness, so you need a right.
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That's what righteousness is being right with God You need a right relationship with the Father that results in a right life
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Righteousness is vital. It covers your vital organs to neglect living right for God It's like going into the line of fire
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With your body fully exposed. Well, you're an easy target but third in verse 15
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Have the shoes of the gospel of peace shoes are a very important piece of equipment
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To fight the war you need to be standing on stable ground your footing gives way you collapse
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You're gone stable ground means your footing is secure. You're stable You're at peace peace with God bought by the blood of Jesus on the cross now, so we go out with these shoes
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To all kinds of people out of our fortress here into enemy territory offering amnesty to all the traitorous rebels that they too can have peace with God if they will believe and Bow the knee the gospel like a good pair of combat boots
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Gives you solid footing Traction so that you're ready to move quickly and you go ready to go it
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Anywhere without falling the gospel gives you that foundation of peace so you can stand and it's with the gospel that you can
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Go, you know, how beautiful are the the feet of those who bring good news the gospel
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That's one reason why we spend so much time talking about the gospel what it is that saved you
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So that you'll you'll know what it means so they'd be well equipped So that you'll have good footing
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Well, the fourth piece of defensive armor in verse 16 is the shield of faith This one he emphasizes we need in in all notice that we need in all
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Circumstances take it at all. Don't don't figure it's a kind of an optional piece. I can put this aside. I don't need it today
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No, it all circumstances all the time Take that shield of faith. Don't go anywhere without it
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Because with faith you can intercept the flaming arrows That the enemy shoots at you
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Maybe of lust of greed Of thoughts that you could give into this temptation this once That the doubts about God and his word that maybe they really are true
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Maybe we really are just matter and time and chance so we might as well just seize the day now
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No How that shield that intercepts those darts a living faith in the
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Lord will stop those those shots From wounding you so take your faith with you at all times all circumstances the fifth and final defensive piece of armor in verse 17 is the the helmet of Salvation now helmets are the most important piece of armor because the head is the most vital vital and vulnerable spot
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Sitting in a baseball game and someone yells ball. I cover my head You know if my arm gets hit with a baseball
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I'm not too worried first could happen to get broken arm, but if my skull gets fractured, that's that's much worse So to cover the head even today we put on some of the strongest armor so salvation like a helmet covers the most vital and Vulnerable part of us
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God's saving help will protect us from the power of sin. So those are the defensive pieces of armor
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But we are not merely hunkered down against attack. We're not just on the defensive, you know holding out Till the
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Lord comes and gets us out of here. Now. We're on the offensive and so we have not only armor
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But we have arms weapons so fourth part our Arms, I don't mean these
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I mean weapons we have two offensive weapons arms the sword of the Spirit is the
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Word of God and Prayer and he explains for us what the sword of the Spirit is.
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It's nice to know We don't know exactly what he means. It's the Word of God the words that the Holy Spirit inspired through the prophets and the
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Apostles the Bible And again, that's why we're doing what we're doing right now
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Equipping you with the sword of the Spirit. That's why we try to get as much scripture as we can
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Into the service, you know, so we we sang it in our first song taken from two verses of the psalm
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We read it we sing it again. We read some more of it Scripture is your sword.
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So you'll have the sword of the Spirit to use when you go back out into enemy territory This is what we're doing right now
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Isn't just a sweet meditation on Lovely tranquil thoughts that are supposed to just kind of relax you just don't worry about anything
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Open you up to new insights that unlock the ways to again coexist with the world.
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No, this is sword practice You're getting ready for war.
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So today especially we're trying to slay false ideas of spirituality. So you don't think
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That your faith is like Taoism, it's about letting go and letting God you can just coexist with everything
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Or or on the other hand that you have to fight by your own Power with white knuckles hanging on.
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No, we're trying to get you prepared so that you'll have what you need if you feel tempted
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By whatever might tempt you sexually immorality live for money like a materialist Are you ready for war if some pseudo intellectual
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Starts attacking your faith Are you ready for that? Are you it's a fight back? You need the sword of the
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Spirit You need to know what the Bible says to read it every day to meditate on parts of it to hear it explained
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You also need he says the second offensive weapon through everything in verse 18 prayer
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Prayer whether Praise and repentance and listening Conversation and especially he says petition or supplication that is request
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Ask him for things Prayer, he orders us here as part of our warfare to be constantly asking him
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For what we need for things for communicating with him for intervention for wisdom for support
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For a way of escape if we're being tempted for salvation for loved ones for power
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For a breakthrough for a revival We're in combat
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The enemy is coming right at us and to stand we need to keep the lines of communication
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Open with headquarters ask for air support Tell him where you're feeling weak Tell him if you're wounded
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Now Paul knew about modern warfare. He would probably continue the armor metaphor here and say
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Take up the radio of prayer Prayer is so important. He tells us to do it emphatically.
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You notice he repeats it through all things By prayer and petition that by request praying at all times
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Notice the emphasis all things all times in The spirit both the
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Word of God in prayer are weapons that the Holy Spirit makes effective for us prayer works by his might
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So be strong in it So we have the orders be strong in the
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Lord The enemy is not flesh and blood The armor is truth and righteousness and faith and salvation
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If the arms the Word of God in prayer and finally the fifth thing We have the army
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Did you notice that there's no armor for the back? Do you notice that? No, nothing. No armor covering your back and Roman warfare they dealt with that the
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Romans dealt with that by the soldiers standing so close together locking their shields together
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So you couldn't get to the back of an individual soldier assuming that the platoons or the whatever they call them phalanxes that they held together the soldier next to him covered his back
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Now from the second half of verse 18 to the end of the letter. He is concerned about Christians Locking shields together covering each other's backs and that's what the church is
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Not just a preaching station. It's not a spiritual entertainment It's not a restaurant where you consume what we serve.
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The church is a band of brothers and sisters watching each other's backs
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Keep on praying he says Make supplication request for all the
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Saints that is for all of God's people And think how this implies what we call church membership
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To obey verse 18 Making supplication for all the Saints you need to know who are the other
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Saints who are God's people You need to know what's going on in their lives Right, you're gonna make supplication for the you got to ask them for things guys got ask
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God for things for them You need to know what to ask for You need to pray for them
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Ask God for the things they need So I plan on sending you a prayer points email later this week
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So you can fulfill this if you can't come on a Wednesday night at the church you commit to is your platoon
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That you are locking shields together with And so you're praying for them.
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You're watching their backs And that's what church is for it's grouping together so we can cover each other's backs.
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And so we asked him to stand with him He asked him for prayer for himself notice that now you think being in prison and change facing a possible execution
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That he'd be asking for for prayer. Get me out of here for release for acquittal and Freedom, but instead he asked that they pray for him that he not waste his opportunity to witness in verse 19 pray for me cover me
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That I might have the words to say and the boldness to say it Boldness to declare the mystery of the gospel that has been hidden from these people
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Until now he says I'm an ambassador in chains Verse 20 so pray for me and I might do my duty being an ambassador being a representative boldly
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And then he wants them to know more about him. Notice that he said did this man take against to them? So you'll know more about me
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Once he want them to know more about him, so they'll pray for him. So they'll stand with him. They'll lock shields
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They'll cover their backs He's not a Lone Ranger Paul. The Apostle Paul is not a
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Lone Ranger So neither should you be? He needs the army the church
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You do too Finally to the whole army the brothers the sisters the church
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Are we about war or? peace Yes, we are at war we have enemies of our soul or are trying to destroy us with with deceit with strategies
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We're surrounded. We're in enemy territory this present darkness
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It will take everything from you to survive this war and it will take
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What is not from you? his might but at the conclusion among each other
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While we're here we should be at peace peace among us he says and love and faith
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Because peace and love and faith Come from God the Father and the Lord Jesus then one final quick prayer for them for us still to grace to all you who love the
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Lord Jesus grace To you who love Jesus with an incorruptible that is an undying love
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Do you have an undying love That's how we can be a united army covering each other's backs.
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God gives us grace that supplies us with faith and love and peace and so we love
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Jesus in a way that can never spoil or expire So if you want peace in the midst of this war