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Welcome to Life Church. We're so glad you're here. Be

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sure to stick around until the end because we

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have some great resources for you. Now, here's this

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week's message. Well,

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several years ago, I attended a Navy

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SEAL training exercise where I got to

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watch a team take down a building

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filled with enemy combatants holding hostages. And

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it was a simulation, so they were using simunition

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rounds, paintballs, but they're

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shot out of real guns, so they go fast and hard and

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hurt. Now,

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it was my understanding that I would be watching all this from

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the safety of an observation deck. But

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I remember as the team approached the door, I was standing with

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their commanding officer and he motioned with me to

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start coming with him towards the door. And

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then at one moment, he stopped and he goes, you know, I wouldn't get any

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closer than this if I were you. Sometimes

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when they blow that door, the handle comes off like a bullet. I'd

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stay right here. And I was like, yeah,

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great. But I wasn't planning on

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being this close. But

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sure enough, they blew the door. They went running in and

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then he hit me in the chest and said, let's go. And he

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went charging in. And so I followed him in

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jeans and a T-shirt. And

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I remember as soon as I passed through that door, two

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things hit me immediately, metaphorically

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speaking. The first thing

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was the chaos of the situation. I

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mean, it was flash bang, smoke everywhere, shots fired,

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it was bedlam. But then

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the second thing that hit me was the

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beauty of their strategy, that

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they were aggressive, but

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graceful. They were purposeful, but patient.

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I mean, two of them would come

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to a doorway and with barely a nod, they would

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both swing out to eliminate all threats while never being

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an open target themselves. And within

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seconds, they had eliminated all threats, rescued

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all hostages and brought peace where there was chaos.

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And I remember looking at that and

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thinking, this is a Christian life. We're

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supposed to be. And you

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go, what do you mean by that? Well, I

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don't think you have to honestly pursue God for

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very long before you start to realize that the

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pursuit of intimacy with God that God happens in

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the context of adversity, that it's

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a struggle, that sometimes it's something

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even as simple as I wanna read the Bible, you

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go, I'm gonna start to read his word, and as

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soon as you try, all manner of competing thoughts rise

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and rival affections, and you can't do something simple like

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focus. Or some of

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us, honestly, we live in Romans seven. The

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good I wanna do, I'm not doing. And

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the evil I don't wanna do, I keep doing

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that. And the truth

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for many of us is we're discouraged by

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the situation. And then you show up

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in places like this, and maybe we have testimonies up front, and

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a guy will get up front and say like, I just want

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you to know, I was addicted

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to every drug made by mankind, that

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I put my faith in Jesus, and was

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never tempted again. He pulled up the

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entire struggle by the roots, and that's amazing, God

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does do that. And yet for

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some of us who are sitting there and going, he

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uprooted your struggles, he

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didn't even prune mine. They're as

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robust as ever. And

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for some of us, let's be honest, you don't sing with

2:58

a great passion. Because the

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truth is the wet blanket of your

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besetting sins and consistent failures is just

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muting any fire of passion for the

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Lord. And you're just discouraged by

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the situation. And yet

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I know some of you may be going, you know

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what, Ben, I know the situation's a struggle. I know

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there's a spiritual battle going on. Like, I'm not discouraged

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by the situation. I know it's hard, but I need

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a strategy. I wanna

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look more like the seals and less like you.

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I wanna be trained and equipped and eliminating all

3:27

hostiles. I don't wanna be running around in flip-flops

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going, it's smoky in here. And

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the methods I've been using aren't working.

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Like, I don't know about you, I grew up going to camp. In

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the camp I went to, the first couple of

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days, man, everybody lived crazy. We were smoking, drinking

3:43

40s, it was wild. That's

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not a joke. But on the last

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night of camp, man, everybody

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got saved. After

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a couple nights of little sleep and malnutrition food,

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we were all in an emotionally volatile state. And

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then the band would get us all fired up. The

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speaker would get us all dialed up, and

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by the end of the night, everybody's crying, locking

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pinkies, thinking friends are friends forever. And

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then right at the emotional pitch, it

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was open mic night. And one by

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one, we'd get up and make these big promises of what

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we were gonna do for God. It's

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what I want to know. I'm never

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gonna sit again. And you're like, I don't think he is.

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He's had such a good week at camp. I think it's

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over for it. I'm

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fortunate to know. I'm gonna tell

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the whole world about Christ. And he is prophesying

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right now. And on and on we would go.

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But there wasn't a one of us that two weeks later

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hadn't broken every promise. And

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we laid alone in our rooms surrounded by

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the same addictions going, what's wrong with me? Maybe

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there's some spiritual people out there somewhere, but I don't know

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if this counts for me. And I'll tell you what I

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want to do with the time we have left is I

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don't want to give a pump up speech, almost in an

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unemotional way. I want to look at the

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situation we're in and then talk about

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our strategy. If life is a

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struggle, how do we struggle well? And

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so to look at our situation, it

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feels like a war because it is a

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war. The pursuit of

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intimacy with God happens in the context of

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adversity. Jesus Christ, as much

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as he's presented as a lamb and

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a shepherd, he's presented as a warrior.

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That his arrival was a landed invasion.

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First John three says the son of God

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appeared for this purpose to destroy the works

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of the devil. That Jesus

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came to destroy something. His first introduction

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in Genesis chapter three, when

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our first parents broke faith with God, when they

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had the stain of their sins

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still on them, God announced

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the solution to our sin was a savior.

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The seed of the woman will crush the

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head of the serpent. His first introduction was

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a warfare. I will destroy the one

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who has deceived you. And it

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wasn't just a landed invasion, it was a

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rescue operation. That when Jesus arrived

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on the planet, he was announced

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by his father, this is my son, and

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then immediately tempted by the devil. And when

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he emerged, from that, his first

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sermon. He marched into town, grabbed the school

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of Isaiah and said, the spirit of the

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Lord is upon me because he's anointed me

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to proclaim release to the captives. I'm here

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to set people free. One

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of my favorite explanations of Jesus. He was

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asked to explain his work. And he said,

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picture a strong man with a bunch

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of armor and no one will mess with him. He

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said, now picture someone stronger than him beating

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him up and stealing his things. That's

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me. Try that

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next time in your evangelism efforts. What

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does Jesus mean to you? He's like a big dude

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that beats up a guy and steals his gear. That's

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my king. Read

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Luke 11. When a strong

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man fully armed guards his house, his possessions

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are undisturbed. But when someone's stronger

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than he attacks him and overpowers him,

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takes away his armor on

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which he relied and distributes his plunder.

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Some of you are caught up in temptations and

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addictions and they're stronger than you. But

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the good news of the gospel is the stronger one

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is here. He's here to destroy what

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you cannot and to set you free. And

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he did it not by perpetrating violence but

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by taking it upon himself. That

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he who knew no sin became sin for us.

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That I will take your sin in death and you

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get my life. That's what our king has done. And

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in doing that, he transferred us out of the

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kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved

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son. And so not only

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was it a landed invasion and a rescue

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operation, it's an ongoing mission. The

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mission's not done. C.S. Lewis

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said it this way, enemy occupied territory. That

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is what the world is. He

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said, but Christianity is the story of how the true king

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has arrived. You might say in

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disguise, it is calling us all

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to take part in his great

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campaign of sabotage. That

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we are in a war spiritually, but one in

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which our king has won the decisive victory. And

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because he's been victorious, so can we. It's

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like Israel. Do you remember

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when the Philistines attacked the Israelites? They were

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powerless until David stepped

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forward. And when he defeated

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their champion Goliath, what happened? The

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Israelites who were terrified now shouted the war

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cry and could drive the Philistines out of

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their land. That's like us. We

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are powerless before sin. But

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when the son of David came and beat

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sin and death and hell on our behalf,

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when we saw that he beat death, now

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we can shout our war cry and drive

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the Philistines of sin and lust and pride

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out of our own hearts. And

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so it's interesting, I talk to people who, they'll

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say, man, I thought when I came to Christ that

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I wouldn't have these same struggles. And

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so maybe if I do, this didn't work. I

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said, man, you don't understand. You haven't

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been freed from the fight. You've been freed

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for the fight. Before you

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were just a victim, now you can be

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a victor in Jesus' name. That's where we

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are. You've been liberated to struggle. See

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it? So for those who are

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in Christ, the spiritual life is

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now one movement with two parts. It's

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one movement with two parts, a movement away

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and a movement towards. And

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a movement away from ways of thinking and

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ways of living that isolate us from the

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intimacy with God that Christ purchased. And

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it's a movement towards the intimacy with

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God, ways of thinking and living that

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promote the intimacy with God that Christ

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purchased with his blood. And a movement

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away and towards. Old

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school theologians had a word for this.

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They called it sanctification. Sanctified

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means to be set apart. And you can hear those two

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pieces in it. Set apart from and

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set apart to. So in

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the Old Testament, there were utensils that were

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only used in worship in the temple. Set

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apart from common usage and only in worship

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from the Lord. My wife

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is like that. She is holy unto me. No

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other man may date her. Some

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of you have coffee mugs like this. They

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are only unto you. No pagan lips may

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touch them. You get the idea, right? Old

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school theologians had words for each of these

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pieces. They call this mortification.

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There are certain things that were in

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my life. I must now mortify. I

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kill, they can't be a part of my

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life anymore. And they call

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this piece vivification, but there's other ways of

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thinking and feeling that I want to vivify,

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I want to cultivate to bring to life.

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If we were using gardening illustrations, this

10:14

would be the pulling up of weeds. This would

10:16

be the planting of flowers and trees. Dating,

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this would be doing things that promote intimacy

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with my wife, like taking her on dates,

10:24

preferably to restaurants that don't have TVs so I can

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listen with my face. And

10:29

this would be not dating other

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women. I don't

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do this, I do this, you see it?

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Now, for clarity's sake, what I'm not saying is, so

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this is the devil's side of the stage, and that's

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the God's side of the stage. So you gotta get

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on that God's side, kids. That's not what I'm saying.

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Because that makes it sound like God's over here waiting for

10:48

you to get your act together. That's not

10:50

the gospel. If you've put your faith

10:52

in Christ, you said I'm never gonna leave you or forsake you. But

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here's the reality. I can be standing next

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to my wife, knowing she'll

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never leave me, but I

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can feel miles apart because

11:03

we haven't done the work to cultivate

11:06

the intimacy our covenant affords. That's

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what I'm talking about here. The

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Christian life is a fight for

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an unrestrained intimacy. So

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what Paul told Timothy, I flee-ful us,

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pursue righteousness along with those who call out

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to God out of a pure heart. There's

11:21

a big no, but it frees

11:23

us up to a better yes. And

11:26

yet, this does not happen in a vacuum. We

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have an enemy who hates our king, so

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he hates us. So

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I remember my first day of middle school. I was very

11:35

excited. Because I was gonna ride the bus with my brother,

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who by every count was endlessly cool.

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And so when we got on the bus, I remember he walked to

11:43

the back of the bus, because that's where the cool kids sit. And

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I began to walk to the back of the bus as well,

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because I'm related to him, thus cool by proxy. So

11:51

I'm making my way, and then this kid jumped up

11:53

between us and put his face right in my face.

11:56

And this is before I understood that that's what some people do, they wanna fight.

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I just thought he had one. proximity issues. I'm like, why are our

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noses touching? And he

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said, are you Cole Stewart's brother? I said,

12:06

yeah. He said, I hate your brother. And

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turns out this kid, Marvin was a bully. Some

12:13

emotional needs met by picking on little kids.

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The problem was he decided to play football and

12:19

so did my brother. And there was

12:21

one day at practice, my brother was running with

12:23

the ball and Marvin attempted to tackle him. And

12:25

my brother hit him so hard that

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Marvin flew through the air and

12:31

made squealing sounds like a piglet, which

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when you're a bully kind of cramps your style. Right? So

12:38

fast forward back to the bus. He says,

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I hate your brother. And then he said,

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so I hate you. And then

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he put his finger on my face and said, you

12:47

look good with a cigarette burn here. He pushed my

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face. And then from

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behind him, we heard my brother's voice go Marvin. He kind

12:53

of straightened up and he sat

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down. But I remember he looked

12:57

at me and he said, it's going to be a long

12:59

year little brother. Now

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question, why

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do you hate me? I didn't do anything

13:06

to I'll tell

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you why. Cause I looked like

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the one who shamed him. And

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the gospel tells us that Jesus made a

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public spectacle of the enemy when he triumphed

13:17

over him. So Christian, you were not immune

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to temptation. In some ways you may even

13:22

be a bigger target because you look like

13:24

the one who shamed him. So

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I want to talk about our strategy, but let's look at

13:28

his first. I want to look at what he knows and

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then what he does. And then we'll look at what we

13:33

do in response. What he knows is

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he knows you particularly your

13:37

wiring and your tendencies. He

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knows your wiring, that you have a mind to think

13:42

with, that you have affections,

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likes and dislikes. And he knows you

13:46

have a will decision making faculty. And

13:49

he knows your tendencies. He's watched the game film

13:51

on you. So what does he

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do? What he wants to

13:55

do is to get you to willfully step

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away from the intimacy with God that Christ

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purchased. He can't attack God

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with an affrontal assault, but the way to twist

14:04

the knife in our king is to make his

14:06

kids walk away from his love. Why

14:09

would you participate in that? Why would

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you take part in such a suicidal option? Well

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he's got to figure out a way to make this

14:16

look attractive. And so what he

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will do is solicit thoughts to the mind

14:20

to stir the affections so that you will

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enact the will and

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move to places you were never meant to be. Now

14:28

the Bible calls this act of the will sin.

14:32

This moment, the soliciting of thoughts to

14:34

the mind to stir the affections, the

14:37

scriptures call temptation. And you

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go, Ben, where are you getting this from? From

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the passage we just read, James 1,

14:43

14 says, but each one is tempted

14:45

when he is lured that your mind's

14:47

attention and enticed that your heart's affections

14:49

by his own desire. And then

14:52

when lust is conceived, it gives birth to

14:54

sin. And sin, when it's fully grown, brings

14:56

forth death. And you end up in a place

14:58

you were never meant to be. So

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ladies, let's say we have

15:03

a lot of single women in our ministry say

15:05

that you're getting ready for school or work. And

15:08

while you're getting ready, the thought is solicited to your mind, I

15:10

am single. And as you think about that

15:13

thought, you go, that is true. I

15:15

am neither married nor currently dating someone. But

15:18

then a Taylor Swift song comes on about

15:21

how you belong to me. And

15:23

you go, but I don't want to be alone. I want

15:25

to be with someone. And then

15:27

as you drive to work, you see couples walking

15:29

hand in hand and you see the

15:32

animals going two by two. And you

15:34

go, everyone has someone but

15:36

me. And

15:38

as those thoughts are solicited to your mind and

15:40

your affections are stirred, then an idea will come

15:43

into your head and

15:45

you'll date a loser who's

15:49

beneath you morally. And

15:52

you know, he doesn't have an allegiance to your king, but

15:55

you're so caught up. You honestly

15:57

think this is the best you can do. and

16:00

a whole cascading world of tragedies are waiting

16:02

for you. Do you see it? I'm

16:04

not trying to shame you. Shame impedes strategic thinking.

16:06

I'm trying to show you how it works. What

16:09

the devil knows is what you think about is

16:12

what you care about, and what you care about

16:14

you will chase. So beloved, what do you entertain

16:16

in your mind? It will determine

16:18

what you love and what you become. So

16:22

guys, you'll be getting ready for bed. And

16:24

the thought will be solicited to your mind. You

16:27

should look at naked things online. And as it

16:29

consults your affections, you go, naked things? Okay. And

16:34

that's about it for you. Each

16:38

one is tempted. He's coming for all of us.

16:40

Some of the best self knowledge you can have

16:42

is how does he come at me? Paul

16:45

told Timothy to keep watch on your

16:47

doctrine and yourself, keep watch on yourself,

16:49

Timothy. Know you, right? He's gonna come

16:51

at you, know how he does it.

16:53

He calls it a lure. What

16:56

do you do with a lure? You

16:59

present it and you wanna get the

17:01

fish's attention. And not just his attention,

17:03

you wanna stir his affections, right? You

17:05

wanna break him off mid conversation with

17:07

his fish buddies. So maybe

17:09

you get one that looks like a frog and swim

17:11

it by so it looks wounded

17:13

and delicious. And

17:16

you want his attention and his affections. And

17:19

when he enacts the will, you

17:22

got it. And he never even saw

17:24

the hook. And he had no

17:26

idea there was a sentient being behind this whole operation.

17:30

But some of you may go, a frog?

17:34

That's what turns you on? Gross.

17:38

Like you're into that. I don't even know how you can really call yourself

17:40

a fish if you're into that because

17:42

that's disgusting. That's fine. He just gets a different

17:44

lure for you. And you go, ooh, shiny. And

17:46

off you go. Each

17:49

one is tempted. The best self knowledge

17:51

you can have is how does he come at me? Sun

17:54

Tzu said in the art of war, if you

17:56

know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the

17:58

result of 100 battles. If

18:00

you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you will succumb

18:02

to every battle. This is how he works.

18:05

So what do we do in response? Let me give you

18:07

three things. Number one is

18:10

we eliminate the moment. Jesus

18:13

said to his disciples in Matthew 26, watch

18:16

and pray that you may

18:18

not enter into temptation. Notice

18:21

where he draws the battle line. If

18:23

this, the soliciting to my mind to stir

18:25

my affections, always leads to hear me stepping

18:27

away from the intimacy with God I was

18:29

made for. If this leads to this, then

18:31

I'm going to get out of here. I

18:34

eliminate the moment. Do you see it?

18:37

So I had a buddy years ago, told me

18:39

that a friend confided in him that he and

18:41

his wife had been fighting, it had become yelling,

18:43

and it even at times become physical. And

18:46

my buddy told him, man, you never lay hands on

18:48

your wife in a hurtful way. Look, the church is

18:50

coming around you. The elders are coming around you. Counselors

18:52

are coming around you. We need to solve this. But

18:54

then as they continued to talk about it, he asked

18:56

him, hey, look upstream. Where is this coming from? What

18:59

gets you here? And as the

19:01

buddy considered it, he was like, you

19:04

know, there's this bar we go to on Tuesday nights, and

19:07

she never wears as many clothes as I

19:09

want her to wear, and guys

19:11

hit on her, and she doesn't rebuff their

19:13

advances the way I want. And so I get

19:15

mad, and she gets mad that I'm mad, and

19:17

then it begins an argument, and we go home,

19:20

and it escalates, and off we go. And

19:23

my friend told him, look, there's a lot going on here

19:25

that we need to work out. But

19:27

maybe it's a first step. You

19:30

just stop going to that bar. If

19:32

this leads to that, maybe the first step

19:34

is, we don't go here. And

19:37

his friend never thought about it. He's like, it's

19:39

Tequila Tuesday. That's

19:41

not what we're sitting over. So

19:44

I talked to young men all the time who were struggling with

19:46

pornography. And let me tell you something. I hate it. And

19:49

it's not because I hate you. See, opposite. I

19:51

really love you. And young women are struggling

19:53

with it more and more too. It's coming at you

19:55

when you're young. I hate it

19:57

because I watch it steal life and agency out

19:59

of... of young people and I want that to

20:01

stop. But I hate it because I love you.

20:04

And yet what I ask guys, don't let shame impede strategic

20:06

thinking. How does it get to you? Trace it back, where

20:09

does it come from? And so many of them say, you

20:11

know what? It's my phone, next

20:13

to my bed, late at night. I

20:15

succumb to it. I say,

20:17

yeah, Romans 16 says make no provision for

20:19

the flesh. That's ample provision. You're

20:21

putting the world wide web next to your

20:23

head at your most vulnerable moment. That's

20:26

like an alcoholic pouring a glass of scotch every night

20:28

and put it on the nightstand going, now I'm not

20:30

gonna drink to you. That's a bad strategy. So

20:34

if this leads to that, get all the screens out

20:36

of your bedroom. And

20:38

I talked to so many guys, they're like, but

20:40

it's my alarm clock. Who get an alarm

20:42

clock? It's not what's sitting up.

20:44

They're basically giving them away now. I've

20:50

never fought a lion, but

20:52

if I do, I wanna fight a baby one. You

20:55

attack sin when it's small. Don't

20:57

wait till it gets fully grown. And so

21:00

if temptation leads to sin, I eliminate the

21:02

moment, do you see it? Second

21:05

thing James mentions is I paddle

21:07

downstream. Before I jump

21:09

into the boat and participate in a certain act, let

21:12

me turn my ear downstream to hear of

21:14

the crashing waterfall. Notice

21:16

the way James says it in verse 15. He

21:18

says desire when it's conceived gives birth to

21:20

sin. Sin when it's fully grown brings forth

21:23

death. The interesting thing

21:25

about the imagery he's using is it's actually not

21:27

fishing imagery. Greek has

21:30

gendered language in the same way Spanish does. And

21:32

so desire is a feminine word. And

21:35

so he says when you unite with your desires,

21:38

she conceives and gives birth to

21:40

a baby called sin. Sin's

21:43

a female word too. And so he

21:45

says when sin is fully grown, she brings forth

21:47

death. It's a shocking imagery.

21:50

To give birth to death, it's

21:52

weird, but it's meant to break

21:54

the spell. The reality

21:56

is that temptation is tempting. It

21:58

always sounds good. And yet before you

22:01

jump in the backseat with it, you gotta go, wait, what

22:03

kind of baby are we gonna make? And

22:05

do I want that to be true in my life,

22:07

right? Like they say in Alcoholics Anonymous,

22:09

I'm gonna think through the drink. If I start here,

22:11

where will I end up and is that a place

22:14

I want to be? I've

22:16

got a pastor friend that in his prayer

22:18

closet, he's got newspaper clippings of all these

22:20

pastors who have fallen out of ministry for

22:22

moral failure. It's a

22:24

very morbid wall. And I'm like,

22:26

what is this here for? And

22:29

I know what he's doing. I

22:31

know that he realizes that there will be moments

22:33

where ministry is so hard and emotionally draining that

22:35

the enemy will begin to whisper to him to

22:37

find an oasis in the arms of a woman

22:39

who's not your wife. He says, and

22:41

I just know that happens. And

22:44

he said, so what I do is I put these pictures

22:46

up to remind me, I see them at

22:48

the press conference. One of me had

22:50

a picture of the guy's wife with a circular under head, and

22:53

he wrote next to her, look at her eyes. Because

22:55

in that moment, this pastor was still trying to spin

22:57

the story of what he had done, but

23:00

her face betrayed the real story. And

23:02

he said, man, sin looks a

23:05

lot less sexy in the cold lighted day. So

23:07

before I start listening to this whisper, I'm

23:10

gonna see this temptation leads to destruction.

23:13

And if I don't wanna go there, then I'm not going here.

23:17

The last thing James says is not just

23:19

paddle downstream. He says, paddle upstream.

23:23

What is giving my temptations their energy?

23:25

What's giving them their strength? Why

23:27

is this activity that I know is destructive so alluring to

23:30

me? For many of us that struggle with addiction, it's I

23:32

wanna obliterate bad feelings, I wanna manipulate my

23:34

chemicals to feel good. What are you trying

23:36

to get away from? What is happening here?

23:38

Well, James points back ultimately in verse 16

23:41

and 17. He says,

23:43

don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. He

23:45

says downstream from temptation is destruction,

23:48

but upstream from temptation is deception.

23:51

What's the lie? He

23:53

says, don't be deceived, my dear brothers,

23:55

every good and perfect gift comes from

23:57

above, comes from your father. and

24:00

whom there's no shadow or variation to sin, according

24:03

to change. The

24:05

lie that launches a million

24:07

sins is that God is not

24:09

a good dad who will take care of me. And

24:12

when I begin to doubt the love of God, I

24:15

will go to many broken streams to find

24:17

life. It's the same lie

24:19

of the garden played over and over

24:21

again. And so we have to

24:23

fight the battle here. It

24:26

says of his own will, he brought us forth.

24:28

Sin's not the only one having babies. God

24:31

brought forth a new people and he loves

24:33

you. I

24:36

remember for me, if I can be honest, for

24:38

years I just didn't like the song, How He

24:41

Loves Us. I don't know if it's safe to say that in

24:43

a church context. Didn't

24:45

like the song. And finally at one point I

24:47

just questioned myself, why don't I like it? Is

24:50

it the lyrics? Yeah, I'm not a tree.

24:53

Is it the Doppler effect way we sing

24:55

it? How we love the, I

24:58

was like, is it that? No. I'm

25:01

like, what's my issue? And

25:03

I realized as a child from

25:05

a divorced home, I didn't believe it. I

25:08

mean, I would get it right on a theological quiz, but

25:11

they make you say it over and over again. Oh,

25:13

how he loves me. Oh, how he loves me. Oh, how he

25:15

loves me. And it began to sound like a cruel joke. And

25:19

then I had kids. I

25:21

remember there was one night I was holding our little baby girl

25:24

and I felt this sudden pain

25:26

in my chest. I was caving in. I'm like, what

25:28

is happening? I was like, it's love

25:31

for you. And

25:34

then I instantly felt the limits of language. I was

25:36

like, there's no song there. I'm like, that about sums it up. Like there's

25:39

no word that you grab it. I was

25:41

like, this is so crazy. You've done nothing.

25:43

You're nothing but noise and need. And yet

25:45

I would instantly die for you. Even that

25:47

sounds cheap. And I remember thinking, I wish

25:49

there was some way to get into this little

25:51

brain, what's exploding in this father's heart. I just

25:53

wish you understood how cherished you are. And in

25:55

that moment I felt like God just snuck around

25:57

and said, Ben, do you think your capacity. to

26:00

love your child supercedes my capacity to love you.

26:10

And I had to repent of an unbiblically

26:13

low view of the love of God. Oh,

26:17

the things of this earth grow strangely dim

26:19

in the light of his glory and his grace. Fight

26:22

the battle here. If

26:24

you hated me, let's say your

26:27

goal was to destroy Ben Stewart. I'm

26:29

to how to do it. You

26:31

taking your hands the face of one of my little

26:33

kids and tell them I don't care about

26:35

him. I'd be better off if they

26:37

left. You tell him to go find

26:40

life somewhere out there in the streets. You'll

26:42

unleash a fury in me and

26:44

let me be clear family. That is what the

26:46

enemy is doing to you. Father

26:48

doesn't love you. Look at what you've done. For

26:51

sake the stream of living water and go

26:53

find broken sisters fight that

26:56

lie from hell fight to

26:58

believe that the love of God surpasses

27:00

all understanding and all of our sin

27:02

because let me tell you something. The

27:04

things of this earth will grow strangely

27:06

dim in the light of that glory

27:08

and that grace. And that's the end

27:10

of it. Honestly, the best defense against

27:12

our sin is a good offense that

27:15

I'm going to enjoy the surpassing value

27:17

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. That's

27:19

what we're meant to do. How

27:22

did Romeo get rid of Rosalind? How

27:25

did Romeo get rid of Rosalind? Do

27:29

you remember Rosalind? Shakespeare.

27:32

I'll summarize at

27:34

the beginning. Romeo is pining

27:36

away for Rosalind. Oh, Rosalind. I miss Rosalind.

27:38

I want Rosalind and it goes on for

27:40

so long. It starts to annoy his buddy

27:42

Benvolio. And so Benvolio tells him dude, I'm

27:44

going to take you to a party and

27:47

there's going to be like a thousand girls.

27:49

They're hotter than Rosalind. It's a

27:51

rough translation. Okay, but just read it. It's there. And

27:56

Romeo says the all-seeing

27:58

son has never been. met

28:00

her match since first the world

28:02

begun. There is no one hotter

28:05

than Rosalind. But

28:09

then he goes to the party and

28:11

he sees Juliet and

28:13

that night he sneaks into her

28:15

yard and goes, but

28:17

soft what light through yonder

28:19

window breaks? It is the

28:21

east and Juliet is the sun, arise

28:25

fair sun and kill the envious moon

28:27

which is already sick and pale with

28:29

grief that thou her maid are far

28:31

more fair than she. Rosalind

28:34

who? The

28:40

Puritans used to say it this way, how

28:43

do you dislodge a beautiful thing from the

28:45

human heart? You

28:47

replace it with a more

28:49

beautiful thing. Use

28:51

that same mind and affections and will

28:53

to chase knowledge of God, to

28:55

stir affections to God, to run hard after God.

28:58

That's what you are made for. Augustine,

29:02

one of the greatest thinkers, probably the

29:04

second only to the Apostle Paul, was

29:06

a sex addict. Scared to

29:08

let go of his comforts but knew he had

29:10

to because of Christ. And

29:13

when he finally did he wrote in his confessions

29:16

how sweet all at once it was for

29:18

me to be rid of those fruitless joys I went

29:20

so feared to lose. You

29:22

drove them from me, you

29:25

who are the true sovereign joy, you

29:27

drove them from me and took their place,

29:30

you who are sweeter than all pleasure. Father

29:34

thank you that you don't want to shame us because of

29:36

our sin, you want to set

29:38

us free and you don't offer

29:40

us just discipline, you

29:43

offer us love. And I

29:45

pray God that we would forsake our broken systems

29:48

because we have a fountain that will never

29:50

run dry. We're grateful Lord in

29:52

Jesus name, Amen. Pastor,

30:06

thank you. I

30:09

feel like this is genuinely a holy moment that

30:11

God wants to do a work in someone's life.

30:14

There's something that is time to step away from

30:16

and there's a savior

30:18

to run toward. And so

30:20

I'm just going to ask

30:22

very, very point blank. You just heard a

30:25

masterful theological sermon on how

30:27

we do spiritual war against

30:30

temptation. We

30:32

have to admit when and where we're tempted.

30:35

And many of you know right now there is something in your life.

30:38

There's a stronghold. You

30:40

keep going back to the same old thing and

30:42

you know there may be something very, very extreme that

30:44

is your next step. It may

30:46

be that you confess it, confess your sins

30:48

to one another, pray for each other that you may be healed.

30:51

It may be that you get rid of that phone

30:53

that you keep going back to. Like literally you can't

30:55

have a smartphone. You need a dumb one. It's

30:58

what you need. It may

31:00

be that you need to check yourself into rehab. It

31:03

may be that you need to reach

31:05

out to someone else and help ask them to

31:07

help you be a part, help you

31:09

get over whatever it is and move on. So let's just call

31:11

it what it is right now. If there is something in your

31:13

life that you know is not honoring God and you want to

31:15

step away from it and step toward Jesus, would you lift up

31:18

your hands right now and say, God help me. God

31:20

help me. Lift up your hands and say yes online. You

31:22

can just type in the comment section. God help me. I

31:24

need to get through this and

31:27

Father I pray in the powerful

31:29

name of Jesus that

31:33

God you would give us the

31:35

resurrection power, the same spirit that raised Christ

31:37

from the dead. God give us that power

31:40

to overcome the temptations of the evil one.

31:42

If we need to die to the sin,

31:44

we die to it. If we need

31:46

to flee from it, we flee from

31:48

it. If we need to confess it, we

31:50

confess it. God whatever you call us to

31:53

do, give us the courage and the faith

31:55

to obey you and the power to

31:57

overcome the temptations of the evil one and

31:59

all. honor you as

32:01

you empower us to live

32:04

a life that reflects Jesus.

32:07

As you're reflecting in prayer right now,

32:09

some of you, it's gonna be time

32:12

to take a very real step. God

32:15

has spoken to you and now respond

32:17

to what he's saying to you. As

32:20

you keep praying today, there's some amazing news. There are

32:22

some of you that God brought here for an

32:25

even more special moment, that even

32:27

long before you were born, God knew this would be a

32:29

moment. If you are

32:32

real honest about your spiritual condition, I

32:34

said, where do you stand with God? You might say, I'm

32:36

not sure. You might try to say,

32:38

I'm trying to do the good things, try not to

32:41

do the bad things, but I ain't doing the bad

32:43

things. Scripture tells

32:45

us that every single one of

32:47

us have sinned. We've

32:50

all fallen short of God's standard. You know it,

32:52

you do things, you're like, why'd I do that?

32:54

You feel guilty, you feel dirty, you feel ashamed.

32:56

But the good news is, Scripture tells us that

32:58

if we confess our sins

33:00

to God, he is faithful

33:02

and just to forgive our sins and

33:05

cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Some

33:07

of you right now, you're what the Bible would

33:09

call like dead in your sins. What

33:11

do we do? We step away from them.

33:15

Old school theologians would call that repenting. We

33:17

turn away from that which is lower, we

33:19

turn toward that which is higher, and we

33:21

call on the name that is above every

33:23

name, the name of Jesus, who is Jesus?

33:25

He is the sinless son of God who

33:27

is perfect in every way, who died on

33:29

a cross. He paid the penalty for our

33:31

sins and God raised him from the dead

33:33

so that anyone, and this includes

33:36

you, it doesn't matter how dark your life

33:38

is, how bad you've been, how ashamed you

33:40

are, anyone who calls on the name of

33:42

Jesus, your sins would be forgiven. And

33:45

more than that, you would have the Spirit

33:47

of God move into you, you would be

33:49

new, the old would be gone, and

33:52

you would be completely new today. Wherever you're

33:54

watching, those of you that say, that is me,

33:56

this is your moment to step away and

33:58

say, yes. Turn from my

34:00

sin, yes. I surrender all of my life to

34:02

you, Jesus. Be the savior of my life, be

34:05

my Lord. If that's you today, wherever you're watching

34:07

from, and say, I'm ready, Jesus, I give you

34:09

my life. Forgive me of my

34:11

sins, I step away. I give my life

34:13

to you, that's your prayer. Would you lift

34:16

your hands high right now? All of our

34:18

churches and say yes, praise God. We have

34:20

people today saying I surrender to Jesus in

34:22

all of our churches. As we have people

34:24

calling on his name online, just type

34:27

in the comment section. I'm

34:29

turning from my sins and I'm turning

34:31

toward Jesus. I'm turning toward Jesus. Would you

34:34

pray with those around you? Pray, heavenly Father.

34:37

Forgive me of all

34:40

of my sins. Save

34:42

me. Jesus,

34:44

be my Lord. Be

34:46

first, my Redeemer, my

34:49

King, my Savior. Fill

34:52

me with your spirit so

34:55

I can walk according to your word, so

34:58

I could know your love and

35:00

show your love. My life

35:02

is not my own. I

35:04

give all of it to you. In

35:07

the name of Jesus, I pray. All

35:10

God's people said amen and celebrated new life in Christ.

35:13

The angels in heaven rejoice and we praise

35:15

God for new life in Christ. We're

35:18

celebrating with those of you who just made the

35:21

decision to follow Jesus. Make sure you

35:23

check out the show notes for helpful resources and

35:25

next steps. No matter what you're facing,

35:27

we'd love to pray with you. To

35:29

submit a prayer request, go

35:32

to life.church.getprayer, or you can

35:34

find the link in the show notes. We'll see

35:36

you back here next week for another encouraging message.