The Mission of the Church Pt 3

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor.

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Though I'd love to be, I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again, as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

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You can partner with us, and I want to say one last word about that. Do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards Apologia Church interferes with your giving, your worship, your tithes, your offerings to a local body of believers in your area.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, this is a weird but cool setting.

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I happen to wear my Jungle Print shirt today, and I didn't intend on matching the background, so I'm probably just a floating face right now, but for those of you watching.

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But anyways, I'm glad to be here, and I'm grateful for the time we've had here with everyone and getting to know

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Christ's bride here in Kawhi a little better, and thankful for this opportunity to preach this series, and I know we've just been really amazed at how

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God's even orchestrated this conversation. I think everybody, well you weren't here, but everybody else was here Thursday night at Bible study, and it was funny because we were talking, and I was like everything we're talking about tonight is going to be in the message on Sunday, so stay tuned, and I'm also super grateful and encouraged by Pastor Claudia and Shelly, the time they've put in here, and just getting to know how each of you have been blessed by them, so I'm grateful.

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But I'm really excited for this message tonight. It's the last part in this three -part series that we've been on, and so before getting further,

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I'm going to go ahead and read the passage for tonight. It's John 15, 18 through 25. It says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before I hated you.

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If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know who sent me.

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If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

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Whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they must have seen and hated both me and my father.

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But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause.

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So before I pray, I got a quote from Spurgeon I'm going to start with. He says, the fact is that most of us are vastly inferior to the early

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Christians who, as I take it, were persecuted because they were thoroughly Christians, and we are not persecuted because we hardly are

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Christians at all. Yep, that one, that's like a two by four to the face.

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Well, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, I'm just, again, so thankful for this opportunity to be here and just to bring the word tonight.

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Lord, I ask you to speak through me, get me out of the way, and that you'd be glorified in Christ. Let me pray.

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Amen. So quickly, I'm going to recap what we've been talking about. Again, this is a three -part series on the mission of the church.

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Latin is missio ecclesiae. So part one was what is the mission, part two, what is the church, and then tonight, what to expect.

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And again, this is loosely inspired by a short little book called Four Mission by Joe Boot.

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So recap, what is the mission? Simply put, per the great commission of Matthew 28, we're to go make teach with all authority delegated to us by Christ, both in heaven and on earth.

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So Christ is reconciling the world to himself, and we have been entrusted with the same ministry of reconciliation.

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And our mission is not just saving souls from hell, but also submitting all things under the lordship of King Jesus.

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So the last week, the, we talked about what is the church, right? So again, as a recap, there's four basic distinctions and the use of the term church that we've discussed.

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And again, I define these in the first two parts, but number one is the universal church, which is the

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Catholic universal bride of Christ, not the Roman Catholic, but Catholic meaning universal. It's the past, present, and future

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Christians, all of them together, all who have and all who will turn to Christ for salvation.

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The second one is the church militant, and that's the living, breathing, actively fighting church.

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That's us today, right? It's Christians we presently see throughout the world. And the third then is the church triumphant, and that's the portion of the church that's no longer with us, those in heaven who have triumphantly finished the race.

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And then the fourth is the institutional church, which is what we have here today, is we're gathered as a church, as an entity or organization.

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And again, it's like Apology of Kauai, Apology of Mesa, like Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho.

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So the next point then to recap is do not retreat, right?

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So as I mentioned, the gates of hell will not prevail against the power of the gospel, but this indicates a gospel offensive attack.

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It is not a defensive front. Again, the gospel is going forth. It is overcoming, not being overcome.

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It's overtaking, not being overtaken. And the church institution was not designed nor intended to serve as a bunker, and neither is the church organism designed or intended to serve as a last line of defense.

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It's quite the contrary. The church institution is designed to serve as a war academy, preparing and equipping soldiers to go forth into war.

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And likewise, the church organism is intended to advance in war until the enemy is defeated.

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And again, if we look back at the book of Acts, the early Christian church did anything but retreat. They were always active, always fighting, and never portrayed as comfortable.

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Bottom line is as Christians, we are all part of Christ's bride, whether visible or invisible. We all make up the living, breathing, fighting, militant church organism.

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And we should be connected with and accountable to a local church institution.

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We are called and commanded to boldly and courageously, with all authority in heaven and on earth, go forth into all the world, make disciples of all nations, teaching all that Christ has commanded.

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As ambassadors of the ministry of reconciliation, actively reconciling all things back to God.

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Anything less than putting all things under the subjection of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a failure of the church's mission.

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So today, what to expect? And again, I'm just going to go back to the passage

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I just read. I'm going to kind of work through it here a little bit. So John 15, starting verse 18.

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If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

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If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for the sin.

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Verse 23, whoever hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my father.

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But the word that is written in their law must be fulfilled. They hated me without a cause. So brothers and sisters, this is a promise.

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It's as good as gold. You can take it to the bank. If you are being faithful to the mission, you will be hated.

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The world at that time and in that culture when Christ was speaking, they actually saw Christ.

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They saw his works in person and they still hated him. So how much more will they hate us when they have not personally seen

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Christ? So prepare to be persecuted. Christ said, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

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Persecution may come in different ways, but it will come nonetheless. It may look like China right now where you have pastors and Christians being thrown in jail.

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It may look like the Middle East or Nigeria with mass numbers of Christians being murdered and mostly women and children.

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This just was in the news this week. It may look like persecution here. Maybe like a baker being sued by homosexuals for not baking them a pretend wedding cake.

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It may look like Facebook or Google suppressing any conservative or Christian content. Or even worse, it may be someone calls you a name like bigot, fundamentalist, bully, or big meanie.

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That was supposed to be a joke. It's not really worse. But the point is like that's the persecution we experience here.

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Someone calling you a name or unfriending you on Facebook, right? Spurgeon said, shall the head be crowned with thorns and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the dainty lap of ease?

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Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the crown? And are we to walk to heaven dry shod and silver slippers?

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However, it looks faithfulness to the mission is guaranteed to bring some form of persecution.

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He was 412 through 13 tells us for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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So if we're holding the world accountable to the standards of God's word, they will be because scripture is sharper than any two edged sword.

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It divides the soul and spirit exposing sin, exposing idolatry, exposing thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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No man is immune to this and no man can escape this discernment. The hearts of all men are our love.

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How it says it's laid open, it's bare, it's naked by it before Christ, the

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Lord, our king and ruler of all. And if you are wielding this sword appropriately, again, it's a promise, it's a guarantee you will be hated.

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So let's look at John 3, 16 through 21. We all know John 3, 16, right? Every person in every football game ever knows

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John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes the believing one in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be safe through him.

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Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.

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And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

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For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.

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In verse 21, but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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So again, everybody knows John 3, 16, but we usually just stop like we know that verse in this passage, but that like we don't know the rest of the passage, right?

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The point here is that you either love Christ or you don't. And Christ says, if you don't, it's because his light exposes your darkness and your evil works.

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Those who whose evil works are exposed, hate the light and they hate truth and will therefore hate you.

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And again, in John 7, 6 through 7, Christ said, my time has not yet come, but your time was always here.

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The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it, that its works are evil.

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So again, we have the same idea that the world hates Christ because he exposes their wicked works.

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And then I want to look at Matthew 10, 34 through 39. Here Christ says, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

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I have not come to bring peace, but a sword for I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

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Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

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And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it.

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And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. But this sounds harsh, right? Christ said,

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I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword. I came to cause division amongst families. But why is this? Why did

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Christ bring a sword and not peace? The answer is because submitting all of life to all of Christ is a real commitment that even divides family.

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The gospel demands so much more than just saying a prayer to get out of hell. It requires a holistic submission of all things to Christ, all of body, all of mind, all of strength, and all of soul.

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We see this all the time with the Mormons back in Arizona. I've honestly lost count of how many times a

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Mormon has come and said to us, I know what you're saying is true. I know that Mormonism is false, but I'll lose my family if I leave this.

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I'll lose everything. And we're talking about this at Bible study, right? It's the same thing here too. This is precisely the idol of Ohana, right?

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Christ brought a sword to even divide Ohana. Christ says, if you do not hate your father and you do not hate your mother, in other words, if you do not love

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Christ more than them, then you are not worthy to be my disciple. Christ told his disciples in Luke 6, 22 through 23, he said, blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name is evil on account of the son of man.

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Rejoice in that day and leap for joy for behold, your reward is great in heaven for so their fathers did to the prophets.

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So again, if we're being faithful to our mission, people will hate us. And Christ tells us we are blessed for it.

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Also, again, this is a promise. Christ does not say if people hate you, but when they hate you, when they exclude you, when they revile you, when they spurn your name is evil.

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And we should not respond with discouragement or fear or retreat, but we should rejoice.

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We should jump for joy. I got a funny, I guess it's funny, but maybe not funny, but a story from Doug Wilson.

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We spent time with him. I think Claudia and Shelley were actually there at that time. And Doug's got a history of people that don't like him and say nasty things about him and his family.

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And so we said, we just asked him, how do you handle situations like this? And they all kind of laughed. Like the whole family was there.

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They laughed and said, we party. And I was like, oh man, like I never thought about that way, but that's what Christ is saying.

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Like rejoice, throw a party when someone reviles you and spurns your name for my sake.

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So further down in verse 26, Christ said, woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

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So Christ is so committed to this promise that he actually says, woe to you if everyone speaks well of you.

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The point is this, if you are not hated by someone for your faithfulness to the mission, then you are not doing it right.

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Okay. Think about that. If you're out there and you think you're proclaiming the gospel and you're being faithful to the mission and there's not at least one person that doesn't hate you and that doesn't like you, then you're not doing something right.

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So all that to say, if we're being faithful, we should be hated for the message because of Christ.

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However, we should not be hated because of us. So last week we discussed our first Peter 3 .15,

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which of course, again, is apologias or apologia for those that want to be particular about the

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Greek in this verse. But it's where we derive our name, right? So starting in verse 13, Peter tells us, now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

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But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.

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But in your hearts, this is verse 15, honor Christ the Lord as holy. So start there, honor

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Christ in your heart as holy. Honor him as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense, that's an apologia, an apologia, a reasoned defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

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Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

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For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Okay, so again, the point is you're doing this with gentleness and respect.

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So if people hate us because we have been anything other than gracious or loving or gentle or respectful, then we have failed, right?

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If they're hating us when we're bringing the gospel, and they're not hating us because of the message, they're hating us because of the way we've then we've failed.

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So let God's word and the gospel be the sword that divides soul from spirit, not our actions or our words or our spirit.

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So I want to look at the example of Gideon here in Judges 6, 1 through 32.

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So if you guys want to turn there, we'll be camped out here for a minute. This is one of my favorite stories, actually, in all of scripture.

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So again, that's Judges 6, starting in verse 1. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the

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Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. So right off the bat, we see that the

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Israelites, they were evil, right? They weren't obeying God and his law and his word.

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So God gave them over to their enemies. Verse 2, in the hand of Midian overpowered

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Israel, and because of Midian, the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.

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So they were fleeing and making holes in the mountain to survive, right? Verse 3, for whenever the

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Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.

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For they would come up with their livestock and their tents. They would come like locusts in number, both they and their camels could not be counted, so that they laid waste the land as they came in.

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And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out to God or cried out for help to the

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Lord, right? So they, again, they were sinful. They weren't obeying God. God gave them over to their enemies to the point where they would come in and just completely clean them out, wipe them out.

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It's like I was talking to Claudy yesterday about the hurricane that came through in 92.

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I was just saying how like it looked when it hit in Poipu, it looked like there was nothing that had ever been there. Just took everything with it, right?

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And that's like what Midian would do to the Israelites. They came and just took everything with it, like they didn't exist. So Israel had enough, right?

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They're crying out to God for help. Verse 7, when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the

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Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel and he said to them, thus says the Lord, the

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God of Israel, I led you from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the

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Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you and gave you their land.

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So God's saying, sent him a prophet, said, as a reminder, guys, it's me that rescued you, that has brought you here, that drove away your enemies.

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It's me that you're not listening to, that you're forgetting. Verse 10, and I said to you, I am the

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Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice.

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So again, they hadn't obeyed God. They didn't get over, given over to idolatry. They were worshiping false gods.

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So he condemned their idolatry, right? Verse 11, now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the

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Terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the

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Abizrite, we're going to say that, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press to hide it from the

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Midianites. So Gideon's actually beating this wheat, right? And he's going to hide it from the

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Midianites so they don't come in and steal it. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.

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And Gideon said to him, please, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?

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And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?

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But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us to the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian.

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Do not I send you? Verse 15, and he said to him, please,

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Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.

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And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midians, Midianites as one hand, one man, excuse me.

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So then I'm going to skip down to verse 22, basically between 16 and 22, then Gideon does a bunch of testing of God, right, to see if God's for real.

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And so verse 22, then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for now

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I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. But the Lord said to him, peace be to you, do not fear, you shall not die.

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Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it the Lord is peace, and to this day it stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the

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Abizrites. So the angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, and this actually is a

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Christophany, or it's a pre -incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament, before he came as a man in the

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New Testament. So notice Gideon's response in verse 22, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.

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Nobody's seen the face of God the Father and lived, so this is just further evidence that this is Christ.

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So the angel of the Lord then calls Gideon, a almighty man of valor, and says,

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I am with you. And Gideon's response then is to say, if God is with us, then why has this happened to us?

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Our fathers have told us of God's mighty works, like deliverance from Egypt, but now God has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of our enemy.

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Remember God's response to the cries from the Israelites earlier in verses eight through nine, right, he said, it is

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I who delivered you from the slavery in Egypt. So Gideon's like, why, if you're really with us, you know, we hear these stories of you, you know, so -called like delivering us, why are we in this mess, right?

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And like when I read this, I'm like, this sounds so much like our culture, right, like Christians in our culture now.

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We're like, if God is with us, then why is he delivering us over to the culture? We once had a great

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Christian nation, right, but now it's gone to hell. We're America, right? God's chosen nation.

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Where's God now, right? Now, if you ask me, the reason we are where we're at is because God has handed us over to our enemies, just like he handed

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Israel over to the Midianites in judgment, because we greatly lack mighty men of valor who will carry out the mission because we have feared the gods of our culture and we have not listened to God's voice.

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There's a saying, as the church goes, so goes the nation. This could not be more true.

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We desperately need more courageous men to preach Christ's total lordship from the pulpit.

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The church has failed its mission and therefore failed the culture, and this starts in the pulpit.

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But back to the text. So the angel of the Lord then tells Gideon, go in might to save Israel.

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Aren't I the one who's sending you? So in fear, Gideon replies, how can

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I save Israel? My clan is the weakest and I'm the least of my household. The angel of the

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Lord's response then in verse 16 is simple. Do not worry, I will be with you. And then later in verse 23, again after Gideon tests the angel of the

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Lord, he says, peace be to you. Do not fear, you shall not die. So that brings us to verse 25 then.

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So that night the Lord said to him, take your father's bull and the second bull, seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the

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Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here with stones laid in due order.

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Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.

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So Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord has told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

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So notice before he was talking to the angel of the Lord, right? And now it says the Lord speaking.

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So this is Jehovah, it's Yahweh, right? And again, further indication of this being a

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Christophany and the deity of Christ. So the Lord commands

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Gideon to pull down his father's altar to Baal and to cut down the

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Asherah pole next to it and not only that but also build a new altar to God, probably from the same stones he just tore down from the old one and use the wood from the

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Asherah pole to offer a sacrifice to God, to burn it, to kill one of the bulls and offer a sacrifice there.

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So friends, this is so important. God told Gideon to literally tear down and burn his culture's idols and to do so as an act of worship.

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Gideon was so afraid of the repercussions from his family and from his neighbors that he and his crew that he assembled together, did it under the cover of darkness.

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It's like zero dark 30, right? Like we're going in, no one's going to see this and then we're out. So verse 28, when the men of the town arose early in the morning, behold the altar of Baal was broken down and the

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Asherah beside it was cut down and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, who has done this thing?

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And after they had searched and inquired, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash has done this thing.

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Then the men of the town said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the

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Asherah beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against him, will you contend for Baal or will you save him?

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Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. And if he is a God, then let him contend for himself because the altar has been broken down.

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Therefore, on that day, Gideon was called to rub a ball. That is to say, let Baal contend against him because he broke down his altar.

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So Gideon's neighbors woke up in the morning to quite a surprise, right? Their altar, their idol of false worship was completely destroyed.

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And not only that, but true godly worship had been offered in his place. And apparently,

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Gideon's fear of his neighbors was not misplaced. They were so angry that they demanded his father,

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Joash, bring him out so that we may kill him. I just want you guys to picture that.

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I was like, putting this together, I was like, can you even imagine like someone like coming to your door and being like, hey, where's your son?

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Bring him out. We're going to kill him. You're going to be like, you're going to do everything you can to protect your son, right? But I love

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Joash's response. Whom don't forget, own the altar. This is his altar, right?

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That Gideon tore down. But his response was basically like, why are you contending for Baal?

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If he is truly a God, let him fight for himself. Now there's so many applications we can do from this story here.

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I think I have five I'm going to do quickly. So number one, if we are faithful to the mission, we will literally be tearing down our cultural idols as well.

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Like ending abortion and homosexual mirage, like confronting our culture of death with the culture of life.

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So if we're faithful to the mission, we will be actively tearing down these idols. Number two, attempting to reform false worship will cause the culture to hate you and maybe even want to kill you.

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We're not quite to that level here in the US, but obviously we mentioned other places in the world where they are at that level.

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Number three, we cannot tear down these idols unless we submit them to Christ's authority.

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So tearing them down does not involve simply removing them, but also replacing them with true worship.

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That rooster is really loud, I apologize. I'm going to tear you down, rooster.

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Number four, let us have the audacity of Joash.

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We should have full confidence to scoff at the culture's false idols.

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If the God of death is so real, then let him contend for himself. Five, God protected

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Gideon. God told Gideon to fear not because he would be with him. And as usual,

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God kept his word and will do the same for us. We should not fear the culture because God is with us.

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So my next point then is we should expect spiritual warfare. So we're all familiar with the armor of God in Ephesians 6, 10 through 20.

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So again, if you guys want to turn there, we'll be there for a few minutes. Again, it's Ephesians 6, starting in verse 10.

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Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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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.

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Verse 14, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and his shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

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And all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can distinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

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And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the 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 saints.

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And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which

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I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

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So number one, and I think I have four points here. Number one, notice the context of this passage.

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It is in reference to boldly proclaiming the gospel. This fight, and therefore the necessary armor, is needed for faithfulness to this mission.

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Second point, Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord, be alert, stand firm, and put on the full armor of God in order to withstand the schemes of the devil.

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Three, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. This is a spiritual battle against cosmic powers and heavenly places.

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And then four, this full armor of God is not a physical one, right, but serves to protect us spiritually.

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So we're told to fasten the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, put on our feet the readiness of the gospel of peace.

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How beautiful are the feet that bring the good news, right? Take up the shield of faith, extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one.

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So the idea is like the enemy's sending flaming darts at us all the time, and we're constantly having to put up the shield and protect ourselves.

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Take the helmet of salvation, of course, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. If anybody in here has ever seen the new

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St. Andrews, the college up in Moscow that Doug started, their logo is a sword and a trowel or a shovel.

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And I love the idea, and the idea behind it is that in one hand they have a shovel because they're building, they're trying to change things, they're actively working to improve the culture with the gospel, but the other hand they have a sword, right?

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So one hand they're digging, but in the other hand they're fighting, they got their enemies behind them, they're fighting off.

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Yes, Nehemiah, exactly. So this armor is protection for the battle we are fighting. It's ultimately a spiritual battle, so therefore we need spiritual protection.

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First Peter 5, 8 through 9 reminds us of who we're up against. It says, be sober -minded, be watchful.

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Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour somebody, right?

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So he's actively hunting someone to devour. Verse 9, resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

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So this battle that we're up against, it's not unique to one person or one area or one culture, it's

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Christians around the world. And then 2 Corinthians 11, 14 through 15 says, and no wonder for even

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Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

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Their end will correspond to their deeds. So the point here is that Satan even disguises himself as someone that looks good maybe, he looks holy, and his servants do the same.

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The demons, the spiritual warfare we're up against can disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. So I wanted to quickly discuss the difference between oppression and possession.

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Because Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we know that we can never be possessed by demons.

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However, we can absolutely be oppressed by demons. So the difference here is possessed is being controlled inwardly by demonic forces.

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Oppressed is being inflicted outwardly from demonic forces. So here's the point, because this is a spiritual battle, because we are attempting to defeat idolatrous strongholds, because the gates of hell will not prevail against the gospel, if we are being faithful to the mission, just like the world, the enemy will also hate us.

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The enemy will do everything in its power to take us down. And I specifically wanted to bring this this part up in the message, because I know it's something that has affected people in this room.

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There is absolutely a demonic stronghold on this island, through the cults, through the

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New Age, through the occult. This church, Padre Joaquin, has been faithful to the mission here, and therefore experienced demonic oppression.

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It has, and it can manifest itself in different forms. But there seems to be a trend, dark thoughts of victims not their own.

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And when I say dark thoughts, I mean random, strange thoughts of fear, sadness, depression.

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People have even experienced suicidal thoughts. Revelation 12, 10 through 11, calls

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Satan the accuser, right? He says, So the enemy we are up against is the accuser of the brethren, and attempts to accuse us before God day and night.

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But be encouraged, because we have already conquered him by the blood of Christ, and by our testimony.

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The most telling sign to me, that here on Kauai, that Apology has been faithful to the mission, is that our team has experienced accusatory thoughts, right?

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Thoughts like, you're a fake, you're a fraud, you'd be better off dead. But ultimately, we have nothing to fear, because we have already won.

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Strange things like these thoughts, like hearing voices, like seeing dark figures at night, like hearing noises, like waking up with scratches.

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These are what Pastor Jeff has called parlor tricks, right? They're nothing more than parlor tricks.

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These forces have absolutely no power over us, and are simply acting as schoolyard bullies.

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Have you ever noticed that there are very few instances of demonic activity in the Old Testament? But the moment

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Christ arrives in the New Testament, you see demons everywhere, right? Specifically, in Matthew 8, you see a demon -possessed man.

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He approaches Christ, and he cries out, So why do you think this is?

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It's because they know what the arrival of Christ means. They know what the implications of the proclamation of the gospel is for them.

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It marks the undoing of their temporary reign over this earth. Christ made it clear in Matthew 12 that he had come to plunder

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Satan's house. Being faithful to this mission means trying to regain Satan's territory.

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So do not be surprised when Satan and his minions attempt silly intimidation tactics.

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If you experience demonic oppression, that's an honor. It means that the enemy knows your name, and is fearful of your faithfulness.

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So next point, and this is one of my favorite things to talk about, is the imperial gospel.

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So I realize that might sound strange if you've never heard that before. Let me explain. The gospel is imperialistic.

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Simply, all that really means is that the gospel is designed in such a way as to eliminate all rivals, to dethrone all idols, and to defeat every area in which sin resides.

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Quick history lesson, the writers of the New Testament were not the first to use euangelion.

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That's the Greek. It's the evangel, the gospel. It literally means good news.

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My oldest daughter's name is Evangeline Grace. The good news of grace. Euangelion, charis.

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This was an imperialistic term already being used primarily for the emperor.

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Just like the gospel of the kingdom of Christ, it was literally the good news of the emperor or of the king.

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So an example is the emperor would return in victory from battle. So he would send his good news bearers before him.

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They would precede him to tell everyone the good news, the emperor has won. He's coming back.

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So my good friend Andrew Sandlin said this, the emperor issued good news, his gospel.

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He himself embodied the good news. He was deemed in some sense divine. He healed. He performed other miracles.

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He was the world's savior. He as a God protected the state. Great signs accompanying his birth and life.

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His words became sacred writings. He granted great power to humans under his care. No wonder his life and actions and words are celebrated as gospel.

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The emperor himself was good news. So we talk about this on at the

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Bible study. The early Christians were not persecuted for their faith in Christ. The Roman empire actually welcomed other religions.

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They were persecuted because they would not call Caesar Lord. They would not declare

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Kaiser Curios. Caesar is Lord, but instead no king but Christ.

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There was a religious principle of the Roman empire regarding Caesar Augustus. It went like this, salvation is to be found and none other save Augustus and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved.

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Does that sound familiar? It should. It sounds a lot like Acts 4 .12, which says, and there is salvation and no one else for there was no other name under heaven given among men by which they must be saved.

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So this was a direct affront to the imperial worship of Caesar. Peter understood exactly what he was saying.

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He understood that the gospel is not simply a private matter. It's not just in the privacy of your own heart or your own home, but that it had cultural and political implications as well.

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He was overturning Caesar's authority. Christ is the true Caesar of the universe.

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He's the only good news, the only way of salvation, the world's rightful ruler. I have a little note here.

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I actually, I first talked about this in Ireland and I said, I said, I have nothing against the queen, right?

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I think she's a nice lady, but unlike her, Christ is not a paper monarch.

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He has real true authority. He has all authority and we should be preaching the gospel as if we believe this.

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And if we do, the gospel should directly affect politics and the culture. It should be confronting unrighteous rulers, unrighteous laws, unrighteous cultural desires and lifestyles.

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And if it is not, then we're not doing it right. Again, here, I'm going to quote

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Sandlin. He says, it is imperative to understand that battling for religious liberty and protecting the family and championing biblical sexuality are not the results of faithful gospel ministry.

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They aren't tasks in addition to the gospel. They are a part, an indispensable part of the gospel ministry.

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Every time we litigate to protect street preachers, we're preaching the gospel. Every time we influence legislators to vote for marriage, we're preaching the gospel.

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Every time we lead churches to speak biblical truth outside the walls of the church, we've been talking about that, we're preaching the gospel.

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Every time we expose human trafficking, we're preaching the gospel. Every time we work to limit abortion, both by persuading a woman not to get one and influencing the government to limit and eventually abolish it, we're preaching the gospel.

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So my next point then is how should we respond? This is also another one of my favorite stories in the

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Bible. It's David and Goliath. We all know the story very well, but we should respond with courage, right?

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Again, we know this story, but I think we often overlook what was actually said. So David first comes to the camp.

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He sees Goliath for the first time. Goliath is breathing threats. It literally says breathing threats against the

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Israelite army. First Samuel 17, 26. We'll be here for a little while if you guys want to turn there.

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He says, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living

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God. So notice David's immediate boldness and courage, right? This is some little shepherd boy comes up here.

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So while the whole entire Israelite army is like shaking, hiding in their tents, they've retreated.

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They're looking for their bunker to hide in. He's not at all impressed by Goliath, right?

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So he forgoes the armor, right? He didn't want the armor they tried to give him. He goes, he finds the five smooth stones for his sling and he approaches

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Goliath. Goliath's reaction then to David in first Samuel 17, this is 43 through 44.

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He says, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

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It says Goliath actually disdained David and cursed him by his gods. So I love

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David's reply then. This is verse 45. You come to me with a sword and with a spirit with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the

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Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day, the

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Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the

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Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a

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God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the

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Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.

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So the point I want us to get here is how often do we have this courage that David had? How often do we face the enemy with that much confidence?

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Goliath really is a perfect picture of the culture we're facing, right? The same spiteful,

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God -hating attitude we're up against. When the big, mean, haughty culture is bearing down on us, our response should not be to duck and to cover and to run and hide.

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We should not retreat. I mentioned, I think in the first message, we shouldn't stop to tie our shoe, right, and ignore everything that's going on.

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Our response should be, who are you, uncircumcised culture, that you should defy the armies of the living

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God. When the culture spits and hurls insults and threatens us, our response should not be to find the nearest bunker and to wait it out.

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Our response should be to confront them in the name of the Lord of hosts and to let them know they have defied the armies or defied the

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God of the armies of Israel. For what purpose that all the earth may know that there is a

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God in Israel, and to declare that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. So I know we have a small group here tonight, but who will be this island's

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David? Kana 'a will. Who will be this island's Gideon, right?

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Who will admonish the church to take courage because the battle is the Lord's? Who has enough fortitude to tell the culture, he will give you into our hand.

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So the conclusion here is being faithful to this mission will bring persecution. It is promised.

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Attempting to submit all things under the submission of Christ, including false cultural worship, will cause people to hate you.

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Reclaiming territory for Christ from Satan will generate spiritual attack. But we are not alone.

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We must not be fearful. We must be bold. We must be courageous. And we must be faithful.

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So lastly here, I'm going to close with Romans 8 31 to 39. What then shall we say to these things?

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If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

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Who shall bring any charges against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

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Remember, Satan tries to accuse us day and night. He has no business bringing up charges against us.

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Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

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As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

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Verse 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

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For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God and Christ Jesus our

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Lord. So in closing here, lastly, I want to leave a short little quote from Spurgeon.

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He said, if we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by his enemies.

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Let us be more like Christ. Let us be more hated. Let's pray.

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Lord, I again am so thankful for this opportunity to be here for this message, Lord, and I'm thankful for this church, for the people here,

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Lord, for this island that you've allowed us to come to to proclaim your gospel. Lord, we ask that you would give us this island,

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Lord, for your glory and for your kingdom. Lord, we trust you for that. We know that you can do it.

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We ask for faithfulness, Lord. We ask that you give us strength through persecution and to not be bothered by hatred,

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Lord, to rejoice and to party when we're hated for being faithful to your mission. And Lord, again,

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I'm just grateful, Lord. I just ask that you would use this message for your glory. I ask this in Christ's name. Amen. All right.

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So we're going to go ahead and take Communion. It's right there. Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and read this and then we'll pray again.

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Oh, come to this table in humble and grateful remembrance and humility as a recognition that we have received what we do not deserve and gratitude as appreciation for this unmerited gift, the gift of life with the price of blood, perfectly righteous blood that we could never pay, that only one man could pay, the

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God -man, the Son of God and God the Son. He was mocked, beaten, betrayed and hated on his behalf and for his cause we are promised the same and for this we shall rejoice humbly and gratefully.

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We rejoice in this wine as a representation of his royal blood shed for our provincial sins.

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We rejoice in this bread as a representation of his sinless flesh broken and beaten for our sinful souls, righteous for the unrighteous, holy for the unholy, undeserved for the deserved.

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As a reminder, membership at Apologia is not required to partake in Communion today but faith in Christ and the obedience of baptism is.

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Please take a few moments to prepare your hearts before God and if you need to repent of sins to God or to others in this room, please do so now.

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Be careful not to take of this table in an unworthy way. Faithfulness to the mission means fidelity and suffering.

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Let us nobly and valiantly embrace persecution. Prepare to be hated, prepare to be slandered, prepare to be reviled, all for Christ, all for the gospel and all for his kingdom.

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O come let us remember. And Lord again I thank you for this opportunity now to partake of the table together.

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Lord we thank you for Christ and his sacrifice for our sins. We thank you Lord for saving us, for allowing us to be a part of this mission

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Lord. We ask that the wine and the bread would be a reminder to us of the price that Christ paid for us and that we would leave here

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Lord just ready to take on the culture Lord to be

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Gideons and to be Davids and to fight for your kingdom and for your cause and for your glory Lord. And we ask all this in Christ's name.