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It's a little different. We're digging into a sermon series from Cornerstone Church.

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And let's just say the topic is spiritual warfare.

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Oh, wow. Okay. I'm intrigued already.

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Pastor Daniel, he's the one leading it. And you can just feel the shift in the room, you

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know.

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And you know, that feeling, it's something a lot of us can probably relate to. Like,

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have you ever felt like that? Just like a weight, but you can't quite put your finger

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on what it is.

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Exactly. And that's exactly how Pastor Daniel kicks things off. He's talking about those

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times when something just feels off that like you're in a battle you can't quite see.

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This morning, we're going to do something that we've never done at least, at least since

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I've been here.

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And here's what I want you to hear from me. I believe that we are on the cusp of God doing

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some really great things here at Cornerstone. I believe he's going to just blow us away

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here soon.

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And we have so much to look forward to. So we have so much to celebrate in regards to

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what God is doing amongst our church. But throughout my ministry, I've seen God move

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in the most powerful ways right after a difficult season of testing. And I have no doubt that

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we are in one of those seasons right now.

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This past week during our staff meeting, we all discussed the ways in which we feel like

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the enemy is coming against us. We wrote them all down on the board. And then we began to

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categorize them and how we're seeing the enemy come against us. And it was a lot. It was

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a lot.

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And those are the things that we are going to be looking at this morning and praying against.

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It's one thing to talk about spiritual warfare and recognize spiritual warfare. But I want

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us to fight spiritual warfare in this place together.

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And after we wrote all the ways the enemy is coming against us, we also wrote down all

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the good things that we see going on in our church. And the encouraging moment for me,

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the pessimist in me, is that there was so much more good going on than that. And we celebrated

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that together.

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Which makes sense to me because when God is doing great things, we expect the enemy to

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come against us.

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So this morning we're going to pray for things as much as we are going to pray against things.

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When Jesus sends out the 72, he tells them that he has given them power over the power

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of the enemy. He's given them dominion and authority over the enemy. And as a believer

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in Jesus, we need to understand that we have been given that same power. We have authority

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over anything that comes against us. No weapon formed against this church shall prosper.

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So we're going to spend some time this morning praying against the works of the enemy in

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this church. And as we pray, there will be a slide on the screen to show you what we

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are praying against in case you get distracted and you forget what we're in the middle of.

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There will be a slide on the screen with some scriptures that go along with that that maybe

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you just kind of want to pray through. If you don't know what to pray, maybe just pray

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for these things to happen.

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I want you to hear me when I say this might be the most important service that you have

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been to in a long time. This is not a time to take a nap, but for you to engage with

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us as we fight off spiritual attacks. I am fully expectant this morning to experience

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the Lord in a powerful place that he will move amongst his people. And you being here

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on this day in this service is not an accident. I believe it's a divine appointment for the

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Lord to do a work in you just as much as he is going to do in me.

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So our first topic that we're going to pray against this morning is false expectations.

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False expectations always lead to disappointment. And when we are disappointed, it's easy to

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blame others for that disappointment. And that creates a wedge between the people of

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God. It keeps us from being content in who we are in Christ. We have seen a lot of disappointment.

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We have seen a lot of offense being taken because of that disappointment. And if you

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have been disappointed in this church, if you've been disappointed in your life, or

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if you've become offended by something that was said or done to you, know that that's

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where the enemy wants you to sit. That's where he wants you to be. He wants you to be in

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a state of offense. He wants you to be in a state of discontentment. So we're going to

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spend a few minutes to pray against the false expectations and the spirit of offense this

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morning. This might be a time where you need to repent before the Lord. This might be a

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time where you need to come to the altar. This might be a time where you will come and

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have an elder pray with you or over you. However, the Lord leads you in this time. I want you

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to walk in obedience. So we're going to spend a few minutes just praying and then I will

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come up and close us with this section. Let's pray against the spirit of false expectations.

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Father, I confess before you that I have walked in disappointment and I have walked in offense.

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Father, we're not going to let the enemy win. So Father, we ask you to bind that spirit in

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this place. We pray, Father, that we will seek after holiness and faithfulness and righteousness

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that we will delight in you, that we will find all of our comfort in you and not what others

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can give us. So Father, we ask you and we trust and we claim victory over the spirit of false

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lies and expectations and offense. We claim victory over that in this place. And Father,

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I pray that you will move in us, that we will hear your voice as we continue to just pray

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against the works of the enemy. We believe that you are about to open up the floodgates.

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And so Father, we pray against anything that's going to stand in that way. We come together

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as a church this morning to fight off that spirit, protect our people, surround them

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with your presence. We ask all these things in your name.

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Let's Pastor Scott to come lead us in the next section.

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When we hang on to our hurts and our disappointments and our anger, our root of bitterness can

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spring up in our hearts. And the Bible says that that root of bitterness poisons our soul

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and defiles many. When we share our bitterness with others, it poisons them and it defiles

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them. And so that bitterness must be put away. The other thing that happens when we allow

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bitterness in our heart is that it gives a devil a foothold. The Bible says that if we

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let the sun go down in our anger, if we hold on to our anger, it gives the devil a foothold

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in our lives. Bitterness in our heart is like putting out a welcome mat for the devil. Come

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on in. Set up camp. Establish a base of operations here. And he will because that defiled ground

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gives him a right to occupy that defiled ground. And from that base of operations, he can cause

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all kinds of mischief and do all kinds of harm individually and to our church body. So what

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do we do? First, we repent. We repent of that bitterness holding on to those hurts and disappointments

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and anger. And then secondly, that defiled ground must be cleansed. And it can only be

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cleansed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we apply the finished work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, to cleanse that ground that had been

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defiled by bitterness. Once that ground is cleansed, then we can command the enemy to

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leave. He has a right to stay on defiled ground, but not on cleansed ground. So then exercising

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the authority that's given to us by virtue of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ and

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His death, resurrection and ascension, Satan, I command you to flee. I command you to depart

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and seize your work. And then finally, we invite the Holy Spirit to occupy that cleansed ground

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and then to manifest his presence and his fruit there. So that's what we're going to

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do now in prayer. We're going to repent of any bitterness in our hearts. We're going

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to apply the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse that defiled ground. We're going

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to exercise our spiritual authority and command the enemy to depart. And then we're going

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to invite the Holy Spirit to occupy that cleansed ground. Let's go ahead and go to prayer right

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now.

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and

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the

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the

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the

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the

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the

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the

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The anger that we have been clinging to, we repent,

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of any bitterness that we have allowed to take root in our hearts and souls.

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We ask for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, including

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all the bitterness that has been in our hearts.

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Cleanse us with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Cleanse that ground that has been given over to the enemy through our bitterness.

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Cleanse that ground with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Then exercising the authority that is ours by virtue of our union with the Lord Jesus

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Christ and His death, resurrection, and ascension.

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Satan we now command you to depart from us, to cease your work among us.

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You may not remain on cleansed ground and you must leave.

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You may not carry out that work against us that defiles many and defiles our church body

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and poisons our souls.

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You may not stay, you must leave in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And now, Heavenly Father, we pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that

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the Holy Spirit might occupy that reclaimed ground and manifest among us His presence,

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His love, His joy, His peace, His humility, His gentleness, His forbearance, His forgiveness

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that we might be made whole.

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I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

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Unity in this body means that we're all pulling in the same direction.

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That we're all pulling in the direction of loving God and loving each other and reaching

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out and making disciples who make disciples.

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Why does God hate this unity?

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But because it will get us, keep us, it will distract us from loving Him.

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It will distract us from loving others.

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It will distract us from making disciples who make disciples.

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The evil one loves it when we focus on ourselves.

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When we lose focus on building His kingdom and becoming internally focused, that's where

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He loves and disagreeing and getting upset about decisions that people have made, making

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this even worse.

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When we vent our disagreements, when we vent against somebody, it creates this level of

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disunity.

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Worst case, teams form and churches split.

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If you've been in church long enough, you've experienced this and we're going to fight

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against it.

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Biblical unity does not mean that we will always agree, but it does mean that we address

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our concerns the right way.

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This includes just recognizing that although the decision is different than what you would

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do, you'll just live with it, support it and move on.

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Or it may be a situation where you need to talk to that person who has made the decision

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to discuss your concerns.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity and let's pray for unity, asking God to help us be humble,

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giving others the benefit of the doubt, handle disagreements in a way that honors the Lord

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and ultimately not lose focus on working together to build His kingdom.

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Let's pray against the spirit of disunity for a few months.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Let's pray against disunity.

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Father, we pray against the spirit of disunity in this place.

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I rejoice that your salvation has united me in separately, not only with yourself,

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but also with every other believer. I long and pray for the bringing together of your

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born againings. We have been terribly wounded by those things that have divided us.

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Thank you, Jesus, for planning for unity rather than uniformity. The diversity of your body is

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part of its beauty and appeal to the lost. It adds to your glory. Help us to love one another in our

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diversity. Father, I recognize that Satan and his kingdom are relentless in their efforts to keep

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believers divisive towards one another. As the accuser of the believers, he continually plants

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suspicions in believers' hearts. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pull down that work of

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darkness and bind our enemy that he might not succeed. I ask the Holy Spirit to supplant all

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divisive works active in believers. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen.

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The things that we pray about this morning are important to our spiritual growth individually

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and as a body. And the area of spiritual warfare that I want to speak to is a critical spirit,

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having a critical spirit. The fruits of a critical spirit are not hard to spot. Satan

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assigns a critical spirit to a person or to a body for one purpose and that's to divide.

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A critical spirit, Jesus said a house divided cannot stand. A critical spirit differs from

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constructive criticism which we embrace and encourage. But a critical spirit differs in

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that it doesn't speak for something, it speaks against something. In a negative and often

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destructive way, it doesn't offer solutions. It's targets may be a situation, a person,

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a new idea, leadership, and just change in general.

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As said before, a critical spirit is also inwardly focused. It will convince me that what I think,

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what I believe, what I need, and what I want is more important than how I act.

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Let me say that again. A critical spirit will convince me that what I think, what I believe,

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what I desire, what I want is more important than how I act and it will justify my actions.

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It places my opinion above my responsibility to walk in love, to extend grace,

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to forgive, and to think of others more highly than myself.

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You know, we live in America and as Americans, we are used to having our needs met.

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We enjoy many freedoms and rights and we fight for our rights.

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However, these rights come with responsibilities.

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While we are used to getting our needs met, the church, the body of Christ, was established

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to meet the needs of others. Herein lies the potential conflict with the American church

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where a critical spirit can come in. In America, everyone has an opinion

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and some opinions are very strong. It's not wrong to have an opinion.

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It's a matter of what we do with our opinion.

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Ephesians 4.27 says, nor give place to the devil.

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One way that we give place to the devil is with anger.

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When we don't agree with something or with someone or we become offended by someone,

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the temptation to get irritated and angry is there and maybe even lash out.

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The word says, be angry and sin not. There is a righteous anger to which God says, be angry,

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but he also calls out another anger when he says and sin not.

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Anger that leads to sin is how we give place to the devil.

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This anger will cause you to take your ball and go home to quit.

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And I say this morning, don't quit. It can start very innocuous,

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but when we share our discontent with others, we facilitate Satan's plan for division.

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Camps form, cases are built against others, accusations made, feelings are hurt,

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offenses abound, and we get off mission. That's Satan's plan.

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So before we go to prayer this morning, I'd like to give you a word of encouragement.

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When something or someone rubs you the wrong way, notice I said when, not if.

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Notice I said when, not if. When something or someone rubs you the wrong way,

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before you say anything to anyone else, I encourage you to talk to God about it first.

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Don't talk about the problem to God. Talk about your response to the problem.

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He will always lead you to act in a righteous way, grounded in love.

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In this, we will preserve our unity. These are times of change and in times of change,

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it's opportune for a critical spirit to arise among us.

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We are not to give way to it. James 4 7 says therefore submit to God,

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resist the devil and he will flee. That's on us. That's a command to us.

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Let's resist a critical spirit in Jesus' name and give each other the benefit of the doubt. Amen.

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Amen. So as we go to prayer this morning, let's give account for our own attitudes

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towards the ministry, towards the leadership, towards whatever distracts us from getting off

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mission and let's make a stand to resist a critical spirit. Amen. Amen.

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Heavenly Father, you have not given us a critical spirit,

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nor have you given us a spirit of fear, but one of love, power and a sound mind.

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You give us a spirit to love and to love one another. This is what you called us to.

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Satan, we're aware of your devices to bring a critical spirit among us. We call you out in

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the name of Jesus. We command you to leave now in Jesus' name. We do not embrace you. We give

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each other the benefit of the doubt. We speak love over one another. Father, I thank you, Lord, for

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causing us to consider our others above ourselves and for providing a way forward,

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Father, as we work through things and sometimes hard things where conflict is possible.

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Lord, may we walk worthy of the calling that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ,

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that let our actions speak louder than our words.

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And when our actions get out of line, Father, may we stand back from our words,

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Lord, in yield to the spirit of truth. I ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.

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This morning we're going to be speaking about false assumptions.

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False assumptions are those negative thoughts that we might harbor in our minds and our heart

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against somebody or something, a situation, a decision, something that was said,

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or maybe something that we thought should have been said but wasn't. And so we hang on to these

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negative thoughts, we hang on to them and accept them as being truths even though we haven't fully

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examined or confirmed what the intention of that individual or that situation was.

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I think the root of these false assumptions can be found in several lies that Satan speaks to us.

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Subtle lies that are built upon our own fears, our insecurities and doubts, maybe on our pride

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or our selfish desires even. I think it's very telling that when Satan wanted to

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lead the first man or woman into sin, he didn't use great hardship in suffering like he did with Job

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or he didn't take them to a mountainside and show them vast kingdoms and riches and honor

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and glory like he did Jesus when he tempted him in the wilderness. Instead, he just simply planted

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a little seed of doubt in Eve's mind. He got her to question the intent that God had for her in Adam

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to question what was it that was really said, what was the intent that God had for you.

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And from that she drew false assumptions and she followed them where those assumptions led her.

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And so likewise Satan is trying to plant those doubts, those false assumptions into

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our minds. He wants to divide us, he wants to discourage us, he wants to separate us.

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He wants to hinder our fellowship with one another in our unity as a church

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because he knows that as a church that stands together that we are strong but as a church divided

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that we are weak and then he can take us on individually one at a time.

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In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians Paul writes,

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but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray

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from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. And that's what happens when we focus on

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these negative thoughts and lies of false assumptions. We are led astray from our devotion to Christ.

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And so this morning as we pray, I ask that each one of us ask, has or is Satan trying to plant a seed

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of doubt, of distrust or discontent in my mind about a situation or a person or something that's

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going on in our lives? Or have I allowed this false assumption to take hold of me to the point

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that I am even speaking out these two others? As Bucky said, James 4 tells us that resist the devil

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and he will flee and draw near to God. And so today that's what we need to do is resist the devil,

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draw near to God, confess, repent, and step into God's light.

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ASMR

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Father God, we draw near to You today, Lord, because we know that You are near to us.

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Your Word tells us that if we resist the devil, he will flee.

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And so in Your name, Lord, we resist.

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In the name of our Father, we command that the devil flee.

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So we resist lies and doubts and deceptions.

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We pray that we will search our hearts and minds and that we will continue to serve and

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honor You as our Lord and Father.

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And in doing so, we will honor one another in Christ-like love and that we will stay

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unified and we will not let deception separate us.

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We thank You, Lord, for loving us and as we together love You.

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In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

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Amen.

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I'm going to invite the worship team to come back as we close out our service, fully believing

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that we've done everything we can, that we can now step forward into what God has for

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us.

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As we declare this truth, my prayer all week has been that we would lay these things beforehand.

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Every single one of us that is held on to something would lay these things before Him

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and keep our eyes focused on Him who is the author of our faith, who is the perfecter of

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our faith.

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And so as we close out this service, if I can pray with you, if any of the elders can

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pray with you, we invite you to come.

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If you need to lay it at the altar, we invite you to do that.

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We're going to move forward believing that we're moving forward in unity in all things.

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So let's do that.

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Surrendering our will to God's will, surrendering our fears to His love, surrendering our doubts

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to His truth.

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Okay, so it's not about giving up, but about giving it over to a higher power, recognizing

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that we don't have to fight these battles alone.

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Exactly.

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And in that space of surrender, we open ourselves up to a level of peace and strength that we

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could never achieve on our own.

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Wow, this has been such an eye-opening conversation.

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Thank you for diving deep with us today.

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My pleasure.

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I always enjoy our chats.

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And to our listeners, we hope this deep dive into spiritual warfare has given you some

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things to think about, some tools to use as you navigate your own journey.

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Remember, you're not alone in this battle.

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We have a God who loves us fiercely and is always fighting for us, even when we don't

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realize it.

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So stay connected to Him, stay rooted in your faith, and never be afraid to step into the

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light of His love.

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Until next time, keep seeking, keep growing, and keep the conversation going.