Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Well, earlier this spring, Christine and I got to
go on a cruise for our five-yearanniversary.
Now, a whole nother part to thatstory, let's just say uh before
we got on the cruise, werealized we didn't have our
passports and had to have ourelderly neighbor break one of
our windows and then break intomy thing.
But that's a different story,right?
The cool thing about this cruiseis that it was the exact same
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cruise that we were supposed togo on uh for our honeymoon.
But we got married in 2020, andso you can guess what happened
to the cruise that we weresupposed to go on, COVID, right?
Nixed it.
The only difference was this uhthis cruise, uh, or sorry, the
original cruise left out ofGalveston and this cruise left
out of New Orleans.
And so no big deal, right?
We planned to go through Houstonwhere Christine's family lived.
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Uh, we dropped off the kids andwe spent a night in New Orleans
because you know it's a cooltourist city, right?
We'd never been there before, wewere interested to check it out.
And so we really kind of wantedto spend some time looking
around the city, but we werehungry, right?
Because we've been driving.
And so we stopped and we weregetting pizza from like a
domino's in like the middle ofthe downtown area, like near
near Bourbon Street area.
And I'll say, so we got out andwe're navigating our way there
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and we're walking to get, atleast on this night in New
Orleans, there was just thisheaviness.
There, there was this uh likedarkness that you could feel.
You couldn't quite put yourfinger on it.
And yeah, it could have been um,you know, the same homelessness
and drug problem that a lot ofbig cities have, right?
Like cities in general feel alittle bit different, but but it
was something a little bit morethan that.
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And you see, like you see someshop windows and things selling
like these voodoo dolls and likepalm readers and things, because
there is kind of a historyaround that type of stuff in New
Orleans.
Uh, and while that stuff wasbeing sold as souvenirs, it it
felt like there was somethingreal there, like something dark
behind that.
And I've felt it other placestoo.
I've felt it uh at times inNashville.
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We were there for a trip and wewere walking the street where
there are all these bars andconcert things going on, and
there was just this likedarkness that you could almost
feel.
And you almost wonder in thatmoment, like, what is this?
Like, why does it feel heavy?
Like, what's going on here?
Well, that's tonight's topic.
Reason is last week we startedour Yahweh series, Exodus 34,
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67, and we talked about how Godrevealed his name to Moses, and
not just his name, but hischaracter, who he is.
And really, we learned that bygiving Moses his name, what God
was saying is, I'm a personalGod and I want to have a
relationship with my creation.
But we're actually going to campout on that name, Yahweh, for
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one more week because we'regonna try to answer the
question, why does God need aname?
And that goes back to that wholespiritual thing, because what
we're gonna see is that there'sa God who made everything and
every being in the universe.
But what we're gonna see isthere's also other created
spiritual beings at play aswell.
And we're gonna see this inscripture, and knowing that will
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shape how we live.
And so I'll give you thedisclaimer.
This is gonna be a little bit ofa weird, different sermon.
We're gonna be talking a littlebit about spiritual warfare,
some things that we know stuffabout, but we're not certain on.
Uh, and it's just gonna feel alittle bit different, but
promise, uh, yeah, I promiseyou, if you'll stick with me,
hopefully there'll be somethinghelpful at the end.
So, Exodus 34, 6 through 7,we're gonna read the verses one
more time and then we're gonnadig in.
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All right.
Then the Lord passed by in frontof him, talking about Moses, and
proclaimed, the Lord the LordGod, compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding inloving kindness and truth, who
keeps loving kindness forthousands, who forgives
iniquity, transgression, andsin, yet he will by no means
leave the guilty unpunished,visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children and onthe grandchildren to the third
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and fourth generations.
And so remember last week welearned about God's name.
Y'all tell me, what's God'sname?
What did he tell Moses?
Yahweh, right?
I am.
And we talked about how thatmeans that he's personal, he
wants to relate to us, but thinkabout this.
Why didn't God just tell Moses,hey, I'm I'm personal, I want to
relate with you?
Why does it have to be a name?
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Well, there's a really importantreason, and it has to do with
that Hebrew word that we usuallytranslate God, because normally
we just typically call God God,and we have ideas that we latch
on that conjures up in our mindwhen we think about the word
God.
But in Hebrew, it was much lessof a name and more of a
category.
That word is Elohim, and it'stalking about um really any
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invisible but real spiritualcreature.
Like you see the word Elohim getused about a lot more things
than just uh the uncreatedcreator gods.
So hear me, I'm not saying thatthere are multiple gods, right?
There's one uncreated creatorGod who made everything and
every being in the universe.
He's all powerful, he's allknowing, he's all present.
Nobody's anywhere near hislevel, and that is Yahweh.
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But then there are these otherElohim.
You could call them little Ggods, you could call them angels
or demons, but they are createdspiritual beings that exist and
actually interact and have apart to play in the universe.
And so we we have to kind ofwrap our heads around that.
Of that title, that term God isthought of differently in the
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Bible.
And so when we read this here,we have to try and think about
how they're thinking about it asa category, whereas Yahweh is
God's actual name.
And so then we have to ask, whatare these spiritual beings like?
Right?
They're not all powerful orall-knowing like God is.
Remember, when it comes to howwe think about the one word God,
like that is God, but they theyare real.
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And there's a lot that we don'tknow, but there's a lot that the
Bible does tell us.
One story is from Exodus, andMoses has just come to Pharaoh
and he's let my people go.
And Pharaoh says no.
And so Moses starts performingmiracles to prove that he's been
sent by Yahweh.
And so he throws down his staffand it turns into a snake.
But then it says, Pharaoh'smagicians manage to do the same
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thing.
You read this, you're like,what?
Like, how are they like I getMoses?
It's it's God, but how are theydoing it?
Right?
And then God starts to bringcurses on Egypt, and he brings
uh Moses turns the Nile Riverinto blood, and again it says
that the magicians are able toreplicate the miracles.
Like, what?
Like, how?
And then lastly, or at least inthis uh how I'm sharing it here,
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Moses calls up frogs from theNile and they cover the land,
and it's this big, like, pest,just not great thing.
And it says the magicians wereable to pull that off too.
And I remember reading this,just being so confused, like,
how in the world are they doingthis?
Well, if you think about it,it's likely that they are
conjuring or channeling someactual spiritual power that's
not from Yahweh, the creatorGod, the uncreated God, the one
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true God, but is from theseElohim, these spiritual beings.
Maybe you would call them demonsor principalities or rulers, but
but there's a power there thatthey have in the real world to
even perform these types ofmiracles and things.
And then there's another passagein Daniel 10.
Daniel's been praying for threeweeks and it's gone unanswered.
And an angel comes to him andsays, Hey man, sorry I was held
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up.
The prince of the kingdom ofPersia withstood me for 21 days.
You're like, What in the world?
Like, prince of the kingdom ofPersia?
Like, what is he talking about?
Seemingly a created spiritualbeing that has some connection
to an actual place.
It's not a physical prince.
This is an angel talking.
Like, this is a spiritual beingthat's connected to this
geographic area and people.
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And I know that sounds crazy,but think about it.
Now, there's there's a countrycalled Haiti, and if you know
the history of Haiti, there'sjust been a lot of brokenness,
like time after time, uh just alot of struggles and things.
And, you know, some people willblame it on poverty, some people
will blame it on other sorts ofthings, but you really start to
think about it and you start tosee that there's a lot of
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history there with differentreligions and different calling
on gods and things, and there isthis spiritual darkness.
And so while we just look at theearthly things that contribute
to the brokenness that's there,who's to say that there's not a
spiritual force behind that?
And it's not just othercountries, right?
That America is this shiningthing.
Think about a place like LasVegas.
If you've ever been to LasVegas, there's just this kind of
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spiritual like darkness.
When you walk those streets, youfeel the brokenness there.
On the outside, it's all shinyand bright, but there's this
heaviness that's caught up withall of the addiction, uh, the
bankruptcy, the loneliness, thebroken families, the
exploitation and trafficking.
You start to wonder, is theresomething spiritual that's
behind what I see?
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And look, I can't for sure saythis is this or this is that,
but there is some biblicalevidence that there are these
spiritual strongholds in certainplaces.
And so these Elohim seem to havesome supernatural power.
Two, it talks about how they usethis power.
In verse one, uh, God ispictured in this divine council.
And it says, God has taken hisplace in the divine council in
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the midst of gods, he holdsjudgment.
And the word translated godshere is again Elohim.
So he's not talking about Godhow we think about it, but he's
talking about these createdspiritual beings, demons,
angels, whatnot.
And so it says he's judgingthem.
But what is he judging them for?
Verse 2, how long will you judgeunjustly and show partiality to
the wicked?
So these spiritual beings aredoing bad and evil stuff.
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Like these spiritual beings havea will, they can choose to do
things, and they're choosing todo evil stuff and hurt people.
And so I know that's a ton ofthings, and I really try to move
through that quick because youcan get in the weeds, and
there's some things that we haveto infer, and we want to keep
our hands open.
Like I cannot tell you, GarrettMcCord for sure knows this is
how it works.
But if you look at the evidence,what you start to see is that
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there is one true creator, God,who made everything in the
universe.
He's all powerful, he'sall-knowing.
There's nobody his equal, he'sin control of everything, but he
created not just human physicalbeings, he created spiritual
beings.
Call them angels.
Uh, those angels fell and becamedemons, call them
principalities, whatever.
There's these spiritual beingsthat have limited supernatural
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power.
They can influence people andplaces, and they can use that
power to either honor God, youhave angels who bring God's
message, and you have demons whobring injustice.
And so, why does God need aname?
Because there's other spiritualbeings at play.
And I know you're probablyasking, like, why does any of
this impact me?
Well, there's actually somereally important implications.
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Like, there's some stuff that,hey, if this is true, this means
some things for us in today'sworld.
Specifically, how we think aboutthree things how we think about
evil, how we think aboutspirituality in general, and how
we think about idols.
One is evil.
One of the most commonobjections to God is how could
God be all-powerful yet there beso much evil in the world?
And it's hard to wrestle with,right?
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Why does God allow evil tohappen?
And one of the most commonexplanations for that uh is
because evil is a product offree will.
Well, why do we have free will?
Because God desires a genuinerelationship with us.
He wants us to love him andfollow him and worship him
genuinely.
And for that to happen, rememberwhat we said in our last series:
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real love requires a realchoice.
And a real choice requires freewill.
And as a product of that freewill, that means that we can
choose to use our free will todo hurtful bad things.
There's people who use theirfree will to kill people, to
steal things, to hurt people, todo terrible things.
And so some of the product, someof the evil in the world is a
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product of humans using our willto do bad stuff.
But then, like we just saw,there's also spiritual beings
who also have a will.
And the reality is that we livein a world, then there's a whole
spiritual war going on that wecan't see, that we don't have
all the details about.
And so here's the point of allof this.
When some right, when you faceevil, when somebody's done
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something really terrible toyou, my plea is don't be so
quick to point the finger atGod.
God is not the author of evil,it's the story of Job.
That when Job goes through allof this and the answer he gets
from God, God does not give himall of the reasons, he does not
give him the A, B, C, D's.
He just says, Hey, Job, there'sa lot going on that you don't
know about.
But here's the beauty when weacknowledge that, hey, there's a
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whole spiritual thing going onthat we don't know about, all
these things behind the scenes,like God is not at fault, he did
not cause this evil to happen.
It frees us up to just sit inour hurt and our pain with God.
To not blame him, but to just behonest with him about your
suffering.
If you read the book of Job inits entirety, Job says a lot of
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kind of harsh things about God.
And towards the end, he he'salmost accusing God of being
this monster who did all thesethings and is unjust.
But at the very end of the book,when God finally comes and
answers Job, he rebukes all ofJob's friends who gave him
terrible advice.
And he says, Only Job, myservant, has spoken rightfully
about me.
And you read that and you'relike, What do you mean?
Like Job said some crazy stuffabout you, God.
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Like, why are you commendinghim?
Because Job did the one thing.
God, Job gave God the one thingthat he was asking for, and
that's honesty.
See, God's a lot less scared ofour honesty than we are.
And in the middle of the hardestmoments of Job, Job to put on a
face was not for Job to justrecite things the perfect way.
He just wanted Job to be honestbefore him, to say, God, I don't
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know why this is happening, thatthis is hard, this is painful.
Lord, why me?
Why these things?
And God met him in the middle ofthat.
And God restored him.
And it doesn't always happenthis way for us on this side of
heaven, like it doesn't alwaysget fixed on earth, but it will
be fixed in eternity.
And so the whole point of thatis when we understand that
there's a whole spiritual realmbeyond us that we can't see, it
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frees us up to not just pointthe finger at God for every evil
thing that happens in the worldbecause God doesn't cause evil.
There's so much going on that wecan't see.
But we do know that God willmeet us in the middle of that
and he'll give us freedom, he'llgive us hope, and he'll give us
joy, even if things don't changeright away.
And he's in the process ofpushing back that evil little by
little.
More on that here in a minute.
Two, it changes how we thinkabout spiritual stuff.
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Um, a lot of times you'll hearpeople say, hey, I don't go to
church, I'm just like reallyspiritual.
Or we see things out in theworld like Ouija boards,
crystals, astrology,manifesting.
A lot of stuff on TikTok is allabout that right now.
Uh, even think about some of themedia that we've seen, like
horror movies, more and moremusicians are using demonic
imagery lyrics.
Uh, there's literally a songcalled Demons by Doja Cat,
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Unholy by Sam Smith, Little NossX put out Satan shoes.
Uh, and a lot of times we justlaugh that stuff off like it's a
joke, like it's no big deal, andwe certainly don't need to be
afraid.
But if we believe, hey, there'sbeings that are not for us and
who want to harm us, then wehave to take that stuff a lot
more seriously.
Right?
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We have to be careful what weinvite.
We don't want to mess aroundwith stuff.
We want to pay attention to whatwe pay attention to.
What are we listening to?
What are we watching?
What are we reading?
Because that stuff shapes us.
And there's a darkness behindsome of it that's not good for
our souls.
Again, I'm not trying to makeyou afraid, but we should be
aware.
And then thirdly, it changes howwe think about idolatry and
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idols.
Uh, most of the time, you'reprobably not going to be running
into some explicitly demoniclike possession or something
crazy like that, right?
I'd say most of the time whenthis issue pops up, it's
actually with idolatry.
And there's a pastor and anauthor who passed away recently
named Tim Keller, and he definesidolatry as this.
He says, if anything becomesmore important to your
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happiness, meaning in life, andidentity, then it's an idol,
which is how most of us thinkabout it, and it's absolutely
true.
But idolatry goes a little bitdeeper than that, even.
And for the biblical offers, anidol was an actual thing.
It was a statue that was meantto represent a God.
Remember, we talked about thisin Genesis 1, right?
It's the visible image of aninvisible God.
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And when we're made in God'simage, we're supposed to be that
visible image of God.
But look at what Paul writes in1 Corinthians 10, 14, and then
19 through 20.
He says, Therefore, my beloved,flee from idolatry.
And then later in verse 19, hegives some reasons.
What do I imply then?
That food offers to idols asanything?
No, I imply that what paganssacrifice, they offer to demons
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and not to God.
I do not want you to beparticipants with demons.
And see, for Paul, the biggestissue with idolatry is not just
that your priorities would beout of whack, but that you'd end
up in a relationship with somespiritual demonic power.
That there's a spiritualpresence and force behind all
this stuff that we see.
And look, we might not interactwith like a physical idol, but
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that doesn't mean that we're offthe hook.
To explain what I mean, I pulledthis quote from one of my
favorite authors and have kindof reworked it, but this is what
he says.
In a culture like ours, thegods, little g gods, don't
always look spiritual anymore.
They look like money,popularity, sex, success,
influence, better bodies, morefollowers, anything that takes
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God's place in your heart.
And the temples aren't made ofstone.
They're shopping malls, gyms,concert arenas, even our social
media feeds.
And worship looks like thesacrifice of your time, your
health, your family, yourpurity, whatever it costs to get
what you think will make youhappy.
But here's what we can't forget.
Behind these so-callednon-spiritual little g gods,
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there's often a very realspiritual power.
Just like in the ancient world,behind the idol wasn't just wood
or metal, it was somethingalive, something dark, and
something with real influence.
And then he goes on to quote adifferent author in this
passage.
He says, When we worshipsomething that isn't God, we
give it power over us that wewere meant to have over it.
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And here's the big point.
So every time we idolizesomething, whether it's success,
a relationship, or approval wewere meant to carry, and that
thing starts to master us.
Think about how true that is.
If you idolize how you look, allyou're gonna be able to think
about is a number on the scaleand an image in the mirror.
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If you idolize popularity,you're gonna be consumed with
anxiety about what people thinkabout you in comparison.
If you idolize sports, all ittakes is a slump or a bad game
to cause you to spiral.
If you idolize a relationship,you'll do or give away anything
you can to keep that person'sinterest.
I could go on and on and on, butwhatever it is for you, the
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point is whatever you worshipwill eventually rule you.
And we all worship something.
And so ask yourself, what do youspend your money on?
How do you spend your time?
When you're struggling orhurting, where do you run to?
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Where do you look to findmeaning and purpose and
happiness in life?
Have you ever thought about anyof those questions?
Like maybe tonight, it's thefirst time where you're really
asking yourself, like, where doI turn when things get hard?
When I'm sad, when I'm upset?
How am I spending my time?
If you've never thought aboutthose questions, I would highly
encourage you to because they'regoing to tell you what you
worship.
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And so is it some janky little gGod?
Or is it Yahweh?
And so to sum everything up, Iknow this has been a lot and
it's kind of hard to wrap yourhead around.
I hope it was helpful, butthere's one true God, Yahweh.
He created everything, he's allpowerful, he's all-knowing, he
is the one God.
But there are these createdspiritual beings that have some
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power and influence, and someare evil.
And so we have to be aware, wehave to guard our hearts, we
have to protect what shapes usand remember that what we
worship will end up ruling useventually.
Is it God or is it somethingelse?
And I want to close with this C.
S.
Lewis quote, though.
He says this there are two equaland opposite errors into which
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people can fall about devils.
One is to disbelieve in theirexistence.
So to think the devil's notreal, demons aren't real, the
spiritual stuff is all hokey.
Like you're setting yourself upfor failure.
And that's what we've beentrying to talk about tonight.
But the second error, and thisis what C.
S.
Lewis says, the other is tobelieve and to feel an excessive
and unhealthy interest in them.
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And so the other ditch on theother side of the road is that
you walk away from this sermonand you're terrified looking for
Satan under every rock.
You don't need to be afraid.
You don't need to spend everyhour of your day, could this be
a demon, could this be a demon,this, that, and the other?
We need to be aware, but wedon't need to be afraid.
Why?
Because Colossians 2.15 saysthat Jesus has disarmed the
rulers and authorities, thesespiritual beings that are not
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for us, that are evil, and he'striumphed over them by the
cross.
Because 2,000 years ago, Jesuswas hung on.
Jesus exposed these spiritualpowers for what they are.
So wicked that they would killthe one innocent man in history.
And on that cross, he took onthe full force of sin and death.
Because before that point, allof humanity, and past that
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point, all of humanity hadsinned.
And sin leads to death.
And so death had a claim oneveryone.
We all deserved death.
But then Jesus submitted himselfto death.
And he took that wave of guiltand wrath and death that we had
earned, and he took it onhimself, absorbed all of it so
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that we wouldn't have to.
And in that moment, he defeateddeath and he defeated Satan.
He defeated all the evilspiritual powers because at that
moment Satan lost his leverage.
Because the only power Satanever had over any of us was to
accuse us.
Was to say, Hey, God, you'rejust and these people are
wicked, wicked, you need todestroy them.
He was not winning, he's justtrying to take as many people
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down with him as possible.
And so he could accuse and hecould say, Well, look at him,
look at him, look at him.
They deserve punishment.
God, if you don't punish them,you're not just.
And then God says, No, I'm gonnapunish their sin, but I'm gonna
take it on myself.
And so Satan lost the one thinghe had against us.
And on that third day, Jesusshowed the whole world that he
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had defeated death because theyput him in a buried tomb, but he
didn't stay dead.
He got up and walked out.
So Romans 10, 9 says that if youconfess with your mouth and
raise him from the dead, youwill be saved.
And you get to stand in thevictory that Jesus bought for
you with your blood with hisblood.
And what can be true of Paul ashe writes can be true of you.
Paul says this neither death norlife, nor angels, nor
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principalities, nor thingspresent, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth,nor any other created thing will
be able to separate us from thelove of God.
So, yes, is there a spiritualwar going on that we don't have
all the answers for, but doesaffect us in some way?
Yes.
But if you are in Christ, youhave the victory.
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Not by your own power, not byyour own knowledge, but by the
blood of Jesus.
And so if you made him yourking, are you his child?
And man, I'd encourage you, ifyou don't know the answer to
that question, I would figure itout tonight.
Don't put that off anothermoment.
Step into the freedom that Jesushas bought for you.
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Just surrender.
Right?
Because here's the thing.
We talked about this thismorning in a Bible study.
When we talk about faith inJesus, that's so much more than
just like mentally acknowledgingthat God is real.
Like I believe that God is realjust like I believe George
Washington was real.
No, faith is a belief, but it'salso a position of your heart.
It's to say, I don't onlybelieve God is real, but I'm
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gonna surrender to him.
I'm gonna make Jesus king of mylife.
I'm gonna stop doing it my wayand I'm gonna start doing it
his.
My life's not about me anymore.
And in that moment, when you laydown all of your attempts to
earn holiness or get your ownway into heaven, when you lay
down at the feet of Jesus, youare saved.
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And then you can walk out infreedom.
And so I'd encourage you, ifthat's something that you want
to do tonight, if you've nevermade that decision and for the
first time you say, I'm gonnalay it at the feet of Jesus, I
want to surrender.
God, I'm done doing it my way.
I want to do it your way.
Stay after, find a leader, havea conversation.
We would love to help you walkthrough that decision.
And we're actually about to havea time of response here in a
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second.
The worship band's gonna comeup, and um, that would be a
great time to do that.
You can just stand up, slip offto the side, slip off to the
back, and have a conversation.
I'll be over here, we'll haveleaders around the room.
And so if that's you and says,Hey, I've never made a decision
to follow Jesus.
I've been to church my wholelife, my parents have raised me
here, maybe they've drugged mehere.
But if I'm honest, I've neverdone this for me, I've never
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chosen to surrender.
Tonight can be the night.
Well, earlier this spring, Christine and I got to
go on a cruise for our five-yearanniversary.
Now, a whole nother part to thatstory, let's just say uh before
we got on the cruise, werealized we didn't have our
passports and had to have ourelderly neighbor break one of
our windows and then break intomy thing.
But that's a different story,right?
The cool thing about this cruiseis that it was the exact same
(00:53):
cruise that we were supposed togo on uh for our honeymoon.
But we got married in 2020, andso you can guess what happened
to the cruise that we weresupposed to go on, COVID, right?
Nixed it.
The only difference was this uhthis cruise, uh, or sorry, the
original cruise left out ofGalveston and this cruise left
out of New Orleans.
And so no big deal, right?
We planned to go through Houstonwhere Christine's family lived.
(01:14):
Uh, we dropped off the kids andwe spent a night in New Orleans
because you know it's a cooltourist city, right?
We'd never been there before, wewere interested to check it out.
And so we really kind of wantedto spend some time looking
around the city, but we werehungry, right?
Because we've been driving.
And so we stopped and we weregetting pizza from like a
domino's in like the middle ofthe downtown area, like near
near Bourbon Street area.
And I'll say, so we got out andwe're navigating our way there
(01:37):
and we're walking to get, atleast on this night in New
Orleans, there was just thisheaviness.
There, there was this uh likedarkness that you could feel.
You couldn't quite put yourfinger on it.
And yeah, it could have been um,you know, the same homelessness
and drug problem that a lot ofbig cities have, right?
Like cities in general feel alittle bit different, but but it
was something a little bit morethan that.
(01:59):
And you see, like you see someshop windows and things selling
like these voodoo dolls and likepalm readers and things, because
there is kind of a historyaround that type of stuff in New
Orleans.
Uh, and while that stuff wasbeing sold as souvenirs, it it
felt like there was somethingreal there, like something dark
behind that.
And I've felt it other placestoo.
I've felt it uh at times inNashville.
(02:20):
We were there for a trip and wewere walking the street where
there are all these bars andconcert things going on, and
there was just this likedarkness that you could almost
feel.
And you almost wonder in thatmoment, like, what is this?
Like, why does it feel heavy?
Like, what's going on here?
Well, that's tonight's topic.
Reason is last week we startedour Yahweh series, Exodus 34,
(02:42):
67, and we talked about how Godrevealed his name to Moses, and
not just his name, but hischaracter, who he is.
And really, we learned that bygiving Moses his name, what God
was saying is, I'm a personalGod and I want to have a
relationship with my creation.
But we're actually going to campout on that name, Yahweh, for
(03:03):
one more week because we'regonna try to answer the
question, why does God need aname?
And that goes back to that wholespiritual thing, because what
we're gonna see is that there'sa God who made everything and
every being in the universe.
But what we're gonna see isthere's also other created
spiritual beings at play aswell.
And we're gonna see this inscripture, and knowing that will
(03:23):
shape how we live.
And so I'll give you thedisclaimer.
This is gonna be a little bit ofa weird, different sermon.
We're gonna be talking a littlebit about spiritual warfare,
some things that we know stuffabout, but we're not certain on.
Uh, and it's just gonna feel alittle bit different, but
promise, uh, yeah, I promiseyou, if you'll stick with me,
hopefully there'll be somethinghelpful at the end.
So, Exodus 34, 6 through 7,we're gonna read the verses one
more time and then we're gonnadig in.
(03:45):
All right.
Then the Lord passed by in frontof him, talking about Moses, and
proclaimed, the Lord the LordGod, compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding inloving kindness and truth, who
keeps loving kindness forthousands, who forgives
iniquity, transgression, andsin, yet he will by no means
leave the guilty unpunished,visiting the iniquity of the
fathers on the children and onthe grandchildren to the third
(04:06):
and fourth generations.
And so remember last week welearned about God's name.
Y'all tell me, what's God'sname?
What did he tell Moses?
Yahweh, right?
I am.
And we talked about how thatmeans that he's personal, he
wants to relate to us, but thinkabout this.
Why didn't God just tell Moses,hey, I'm I'm personal, I want to
relate with you?
Why does it have to be a name?
(04:28):
Well, there's a really importantreason, and it has to do with
that Hebrew word that we usuallytranslate God, because normally
we just typically call God God,and we have ideas that we latch
on that conjures up in our mindwhen we think about the word
God.
But in Hebrew, it was much lessof a name and more of a
category.
That word is Elohim, and it'stalking about um really any
(04:50):
invisible but real spiritualcreature.
Like you see the word Elohim getused about a lot more things
than just uh the uncreatedcreator gods.
So hear me, I'm not saying thatthere are multiple gods, right?
There's one uncreated creatorGod who made everything and
every being in the universe.
He's all powerful, he's allknowing, he's all present.
Nobody's anywhere near hislevel, and that is Yahweh.
(05:12):
But then there are these otherElohim.
You could call them little Ggods, you could call them angels
or demons, but they are createdspiritual beings that exist and
actually interact and have apart to play in the universe.
And so we we have to kind ofwrap our heads around that.
Of that title, that term God isthought of differently in the
(05:33):
Bible.
And so when we read this here,we have to try and think about
how they're thinking about it asa category, whereas Yahweh is
God's actual name.
And so then we have to ask, whatare these spiritual beings like?
Right?
They're not all powerful orall-knowing like God is.
Remember, when it comes to howwe think about the one word God,
like that is God, but they theyare real.
(05:54):
And there's a lot that we don'tknow, but there's a lot that the
Bible does tell us.
One story is from Exodus, andMoses has just come to Pharaoh
and he's let my people go.
And Pharaoh says no.
And so Moses starts performingmiracles to prove that he's been
sent by Yahweh.
And so he throws down his staffand it turns into a snake.
But then it says, Pharaoh'smagicians manage to do the same
(06:16):
thing.
You read this, you're like,what?
Like, how are they like I getMoses?
It's it's God, but how are theydoing it?
Right?
And then God starts to bringcurses on Egypt, and he brings
uh Moses turns the Nile Riverinto blood, and again it says
that the magicians are able toreplicate the miracles.
Like, what?
Like, how?
And then lastly, or at least inthis uh how I'm sharing it here,
(06:38):
Moses calls up frogs from theNile and they cover the land,
and it's this big, like, pest,just not great thing.
And it says the magicians wereable to pull that off too.
And I remember reading this,just being so confused, like,
how in the world are they doingthis?
Well, if you think about it,it's likely that they are
conjuring or channeling someactual spiritual power that's
not from Yahweh, the creatorGod, the uncreated God, the one
(07:00):
true God, but is from theseElohim, these spiritual beings.
Maybe you would call them demonsor principalities or rulers, but
but there's a power there thatthey have in the real world to
even perform these types ofmiracles and things.
And then there's another passagein Daniel 10.
Daniel's been praying for threeweeks and it's gone unanswered.
And an angel comes to him andsays, Hey man, sorry I was held
(07:23):
up.
The prince of the kingdom ofPersia withstood me for 21 days.
You're like, What in the world?
Like, prince of the kingdom ofPersia?
Like, what is he talking about?
Seemingly a created spiritualbeing that has some connection
to an actual place.
It's not a physical prince.
This is an angel talking.
Like, this is a spiritual beingthat's connected to this
geographic area and people.
(07:44):
And I know that sounds crazy,but think about it.
Now, there's there's a countrycalled Haiti, and if you know
the history of Haiti, there'sjust been a lot of brokenness,
like time after time, uh just alot of struggles and things.
And, you know, some people willblame it on poverty, some people
will blame it on other sorts ofthings, but you really start to
think about it and you start tosee that there's a lot of
(08:05):
history there with differentreligions and different calling
on gods and things, and there isthis spiritual darkness.
And so while we just look at theearthly things that contribute
to the brokenness that's there,who's to say that there's not a
spiritual force behind that?
And it's not just othercountries, right?
That America is this shiningthing.
Think about a place like LasVegas.
If you've ever been to LasVegas, there's just this kind of
(08:26):
spiritual like darkness.
When you walk those streets, youfeel the brokenness there.
On the outside, it's all shinyand bright, but there's this
heaviness that's caught up withall of the addiction, uh, the
bankruptcy, the loneliness, thebroken families, the
exploitation and trafficking.
You start to wonder, is theresomething spiritual that's
behind what I see?
(08:47):
And look, I can't for sure saythis is this or this is that,
but there is some biblicalevidence that there are these
spiritual strongholds in certainplaces.
And so these Elohim seem to havesome supernatural power.
Two, it talks about how they usethis power.
In verse one, uh, God ispictured in this divine council.
And it says, God has taken hisplace in the divine council in
(09:08):
the midst of gods, he holdsjudgment.
And the word translated godshere is again Elohim.
So he's not talking about Godhow we think about it, but he's
talking about these createdspiritual beings, demons,
angels, whatnot.
And so it says he's judgingthem.
But what is he judging them for?
Verse 2, how long will you judgeunjustly and show partiality to
the wicked?
So these spiritual beings aredoing bad and evil stuff.
(09:30):
Like these spiritual beings havea will, they can choose to do
things, and they're choosing todo evil stuff and hurt people.
And so I know that's a ton ofthings, and I really try to move
through that quick because youcan get in the weeds, and
there's some things that we haveto infer, and we want to keep
our hands open.
Like I cannot tell you, GarrettMcCord for sure knows this is
how it works.
But if you look at the evidence,what you start to see is that
(09:52):
there is one true creator, God,who made everything in the
universe.
He's all powerful, he'sall-knowing.
There's nobody his equal, he'sin control of everything, but he
created not just human physicalbeings, he created spiritual
beings.
Call them angels.
Uh, those angels fell and becamedemons, call them
principalities, whatever.
There's these spiritual beingsthat have limited supernatural
(10:15):
power.
They can influence people andplaces, and they can use that
power to either honor God, youhave angels who bring God's
message, and you have demons whobring injustice.
And so, why does God need aname?
Because there's other spiritualbeings at play.
And I know you're probablyasking, like, why does any of
this impact me?
Well, there's actually somereally important implications.
(10:36):
Like, there's some stuff that,hey, if this is true, this means
some things for us in today'sworld.
Specifically, how we think aboutthree things how we think about
evil, how we think aboutspirituality in general, and how
we think about idols.
One is evil.
One of the most commonobjections to God is how could
God be all-powerful yet there beso much evil in the world?
And it's hard to wrestle with,right?
(10:58):
Why does God allow evil tohappen?
And one of the most commonexplanations for that uh is
because evil is a product offree will.
Well, why do we have free will?
Because God desires a genuinerelationship with us.
He wants us to love him andfollow him and worship him
genuinely.
And for that to happen, rememberwhat we said in our last series:
(11:19):
real love requires a realchoice.
And a real choice requires freewill.
And as a product of that freewill, that means that we can
choose to use our free will todo hurtful bad things.
There's people who use theirfree will to kill people, to
steal things, to hurt people, todo terrible things.
And so some of the product, someof the evil in the world is a
(11:41):
product of humans using our willto do bad stuff.
But then, like we just saw,there's also spiritual beings
who also have a will.
And the reality is that we livein a world, then there's a whole
spiritual war going on that wecan't see, that we don't have
all the details about.
And so here's the point of allof this.
When some right, when you faceevil, when somebody's done
(12:04):
something really terrible toyou, my plea is don't be so
quick to point the finger atGod.
God is not the author of evil,it's the story of Job.
That when Job goes through allof this and the answer he gets
from God, God does not give himall of the reasons, he does not
give him the A, B, C, D's.
He just says, Hey, Job, there'sa lot going on that you don't
know about.
But here's the beauty when weacknowledge that, hey, there's a
(12:26):
whole spiritual thing going onthat we don't know about, all
these things behind the scenes,like God is not at fault, he did
not cause this evil to happen.
It frees us up to just sit inour hurt and our pain with God.
To not blame him, but to just behonest with him about your
suffering.
If you read the book of Job inits entirety, Job says a lot of
(12:47):
kind of harsh things about God.
And towards the end, he he'salmost accusing God of being
this monster who did all thesethings and is unjust.
But at the very end of the book,when God finally comes and
answers Job, he rebukes all ofJob's friends who gave him
terrible advice.
And he says, Only Job, myservant, has spoken rightfully
about me.
And you read that and you'relike, What do you mean?
Like Job said some crazy stuffabout you, God.
(13:09):
Like, why are you commendinghim?
Because Job did the one thing.
God, Job gave God the one thingthat he was asking for, and
that's honesty.
See, God's a lot less scared ofour honesty than we are.
And in the middle of the hardestmoments of Job, Job to put on a
face was not for Job to justrecite things the perfect way.
He just wanted Job to be honestbefore him, to say, God, I don't
(13:30):
know why this is happening, thatthis is hard, this is painful.
Lord, why me?
Why these things?
And God met him in the middle ofthat.
And God restored him.
And it doesn't always happenthis way for us on this side of
heaven, like it doesn't alwaysget fixed on earth, but it will
be fixed in eternity.
And so the whole point of thatis when we understand that
there's a whole spiritual realmbeyond us that we can't see, it
(13:53):
frees us up to not just pointthe finger at God for every evil
thing that happens in the worldbecause God doesn't cause evil.
There's so much going on that wecan't see.
But we do know that God willmeet us in the middle of that
and he'll give us freedom, he'llgive us hope, and he'll give us
joy, even if things don't changeright away.
And he's in the process ofpushing back that evil little by
little.
More on that here in a minute.
Two, it changes how we thinkabout spiritual stuff.
(14:17):
Um, a lot of times you'll hearpeople say, hey, I don't go to
church, I'm just like reallyspiritual.
Or we see things out in theworld like Ouija boards,
crystals, astrology,manifesting.
A lot of stuff on TikTok is allabout that right now.
Uh, even think about some of themedia that we've seen, like
horror movies, more and moremusicians are using demonic
imagery lyrics.
Uh, there's literally a songcalled Demons by Doja Cat,
(14:38):
Unholy by Sam Smith, Little NossX put out Satan shoes.
Uh, and a lot of times we justlaugh that stuff off like it's a
joke, like it's no big deal, andwe certainly don't need to be
afraid.
But if we believe, hey, there'sbeings that are not for us and
who want to harm us, then wehave to take that stuff a lot
more seriously.
Right?
(14:58):
We have to be careful what weinvite.
We don't want to mess aroundwith stuff.
We want to pay attention to whatwe pay attention to.
What are we listening to?
What are we watching?
What are we reading?
Because that stuff shapes us.
And there's a darkness behindsome of it that's not good for
our souls.
Again, I'm not trying to makeyou afraid, but we should be
aware.
And then thirdly, it changes howwe think about idolatry and
(15:19):
idols.
Uh, most of the time, you'reprobably not going to be running
into some explicitly demoniclike possession or something
crazy like that, right?
I'd say most of the time whenthis issue pops up, it's
actually with idolatry.
And there's a pastor and anauthor who passed away recently
named Tim Keller, and he definesidolatry as this.
He says, if anything becomesmore important to your
(15:40):
happiness, meaning in life, andidentity, then it's an idol,
which is how most of us thinkabout it, and it's absolutely
true.
But idolatry goes a little bitdeeper than that, even.
And for the biblical offers, anidol was an actual thing.
It was a statue that was meantto represent a God.
Remember, we talked about thisin Genesis 1, right?
It's the visible image of aninvisible God.
(16:02):
And when we're made in God'simage, we're supposed to be that
visible image of God.
But look at what Paul writes in1 Corinthians 10, 14, and then
19 through 20.
He says, Therefore, my beloved,flee from idolatry.
And then later in verse 19, hegives some reasons.
What do I imply then?
That food offers to idols asanything?
No, I imply that what paganssacrifice, they offer to demons
(16:23):
and not to God.
I do not want you to beparticipants with demons.
And see, for Paul, the biggestissue with idolatry is not just
that your priorities would beout of whack, but that you'd end
up in a relationship with somespiritual demonic power.
That there's a spiritualpresence and force behind all
this stuff that we see.
And look, we might not interactwith like a physical idol, but
(16:43):
that doesn't mean that we're offthe hook.
To explain what I mean, I pulledthis quote from one of my
favorite authors and have kindof reworked it, but this is what
he says.
In a culture like ours, thegods, little g gods, don't
always look spiritual anymore.
They look like money,popularity, sex, success,
influence, better bodies, morefollowers, anything that takes
(17:05):
God's place in your heart.
And the temples aren't made ofstone.
They're shopping malls, gyms,concert arenas, even our social
media feeds.
And worship looks like thesacrifice of your time, your
health, your family, yourpurity, whatever it costs to get
what you think will make youhappy.
But here's what we can't forget.
Behind these so-callednon-spiritual little g gods,
(17:27):
there's often a very realspiritual power.
Just like in the ancient world,behind the idol wasn't just wood
or metal, it was somethingalive, something dark, and
something with real influence.
And then he goes on to quote adifferent author in this
passage.
He says, When we worshipsomething that isn't God, we
give it power over us that wewere meant to have over it.
(17:47):
And here's the big point.
So every time we idolizesomething, whether it's success,
a relationship, or approval wewere meant to carry, and that
thing starts to master us.
Think about how true that is.
If you idolize how you look, allyou're gonna be able to think
about is a number on the scaleand an image in the mirror.
(18:08):
If you idolize popularity,you're gonna be consumed with
anxiety about what people thinkabout you in comparison.
If you idolize sports, all ittakes is a slump or a bad game
to cause you to spiral.
If you idolize a relationship,you'll do or give away anything
you can to keep that person'sinterest.
I could go on and on and on, butwhatever it is for you, the
(18:28):
point is whatever you worshipwill eventually rule you.
And we all worship something.
And so ask yourself, what do youspend your money on?
How do you spend your time?
When you're struggling orhurting, where do you run to?
(18:49):
Where do you look to findmeaning and purpose and
happiness in life?
Have you ever thought about anyof those questions?
Like maybe tonight, it's thefirst time where you're really
asking yourself, like, where doI turn when things get hard?
When I'm sad, when I'm upset?
How am I spending my time?
If you've never thought aboutthose questions, I would highly
encourage you to because they'regoing to tell you what you
worship.
(19:10):
And so is it some janky little gGod?
Or is it Yahweh?
And so to sum everything up, Iknow this has been a lot and
it's kind of hard to wrap yourhead around.
I hope it was helpful, butthere's one true God, Yahweh.
He created everything, he's allpowerful, he's all-knowing, he
is the one God.
But there are these createdspiritual beings that have some
(19:34):
power and influence, and someare evil.
And so we have to be aware, wehave to guard our hearts, we
have to protect what shapes usand remember that what we
worship will end up ruling useventually.
Is it God or is it somethingelse?
And I want to close with this C.
S.
Lewis quote, though.
He says this there are two equaland opposite errors into which
(19:55):
people can fall about devils.
One is to disbelieve in theirexistence.
So to think the devil's notreal, demons aren't real, the
spiritual stuff is all hokey.
Like you're setting yourself upfor failure.
And that's what we've beentrying to talk about tonight.
But the second error, and thisis what C.
S.
Lewis says, the other is tobelieve and to feel an excessive
and unhealthy interest in them.
(20:15):
And so the other ditch on theother side of the road is that
you walk away from this sermonand you're terrified looking for
Satan under every rock.
You don't need to be afraid.
You don't need to spend everyhour of your day, could this be
a demon, could this be a demon,this, that, and the other?
We need to be aware, but wedon't need to be afraid.
Why?
Because Colossians 2.15 saysthat Jesus has disarmed the
rulers and authorities, thesespiritual beings that are not
(20:37):
for us, that are evil, and he'striumphed over them by the
cross.
Because 2,000 years ago, Jesuswas hung on.
Jesus exposed these spiritualpowers for what they are.
So wicked that they would killthe one innocent man in history.
And on that cross, he took onthe full force of sin and death.
Because before that point, allof humanity, and past that
(20:58):
point, all of humanity hadsinned.
And sin leads to death.
And so death had a claim oneveryone.
We all deserved death.
But then Jesus submitted himselfto death.
And he took that wave of guiltand wrath and death that we had
earned, and he took it onhimself, absorbed all of it so
(21:20):
that we wouldn't have to.
And in that moment, he defeateddeath and he defeated Satan.
He defeated all the evilspiritual powers because at that
moment Satan lost his leverage.
Because the only power Satanever had over any of us was to
accuse us.
Was to say, Hey, God, you'rejust and these people are
wicked, wicked, you need todestroy them.
He was not winning, he's justtrying to take as many people
(21:42):
down with him as possible.
And so he could accuse and hecould say, Well, look at him,
look at him, look at him.
They deserve punishment.
God, if you don't punish them,you're not just.
And then God says, No, I'm gonnapunish their sin, but I'm gonna
take it on myself.
And so Satan lost the one thinghe had against us.
And on that third day, Jesusshowed the whole world that he
(22:04):
had defeated death because theyput him in a buried tomb, but he
didn't stay dead.
He got up and walked out.
So Romans 10, 9 says that if youconfess with your mouth and
raise him from the dead, youwill be saved.
And you get to stand in thevictory that Jesus bought for
you with your blood with hisblood.
And what can be true of Paul ashe writes can be true of you.
Paul says this neither death norlife, nor angels, nor
(22:24):
principalities, nor thingspresent, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth,nor any other created thing will
be able to separate us from thelove of God.
So, yes, is there a spiritualwar going on that we don't have
all the answers for, but doesaffect us in some way?
Yes.
But if you are in Christ, youhave the victory.
(22:45):
Not by your own power, not byyour own knowledge, but by the
blood of Jesus.
And so if you made him yourking, are you his child?
And man, I'd encourage you, ifyou don't know the answer to
that question, I would figure itout tonight.
Don't put that off anothermoment.
Step into the freedom that Jesushas bought for you.
(23:06):
Just surrender.
Right?
Because here's the thing.
We talked about this thismorning in a Bible study.
When we talk about faith inJesus, that's so much more than
just like mentally acknowledgingthat God is real.
Like I believe that God is realjust like I believe George
Washington was real.
No, faith is a belief, but it'salso a position of your heart.
It's to say, I don't onlybelieve God is real, but I'm
(23:26):
gonna surrender to him.
I'm gonna make Jesus king of mylife.
I'm gonna stop doing it my wayand I'm gonna start doing it
his.
My life's not about me anymore.
And in that moment, when you laydown all of your attempts to
earn holiness or get your ownway into heaven, when you lay
down at the feet of Jesus, youare saved.
(23:46):
And then you can walk out infreedom.
And so I'd encourage you, ifthat's something that you want
to do tonight, if you've nevermade that decision and for the
first time you say, I'm gonnalay it at the feet of Jesus, I
want to surrender.
God, I'm done doing it my way.
I want to do it your way.
Stay after, find a leader, havea conversation.
We would love to help you walkthrough that decision.
And we're actually about to havea time of response here in a
(24:07):
second.
The worship band's gonna comeup, and um, that would be a
great time to do that.
You can just stand up, slip offto the side, slip off to the
back, and have a conversation.
I'll be over here, we'll haveleaders around the room.
And so if that's you and says,Hey, I've never made a decision
to follow Jesus.
I've been to church my wholelife, my parents have raised me
here, maybe they've drugged mehere.
But if I'm honest, I've neverdone this for me, I've never
(24:27):
chosen to surrender.
Tonight can be the night.
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