"Enemies" Pt.5

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Well, it's a privilege for Terry and I to be here too.

Thank you so much for trusting me to speak every now and then.

How many of you wondered, do they rehearse this little bit they always do every Sunday?

Like the kibbutzing that goes on.

I was looking at the teleprompter and they were sticking closely to it, and it says John O interrupt Nicole now.

And then yeah, it's it's quite amazing.

Well, they are who they are, and we're grateful and we love you guys.

Thank you so much.

So good morning, Evolved family.

Peace be with you, and Evolved family and friends who are watching online.

I want to take a second, if it's okay, I want to say hi to Merrick.

He's watching on TV, and I want to say hi to Cossette and Lewis as well.

Because my wife, Terry, is in Calgary taking care of them, so I'm here, and I got nothing better to do than to speak.

Well, I get to, I assume I'm finishing the series.

I John O told me that he may have to clean up the pieces after I speak, so next week be prepared.

Oh, he trusts.

Yeah, okay.

Anyways, enemies, what an amazing uh series it's been.

The enemies of our peace, of our soul, of our spiritual health, of our evolving growth, for sure.

Growth can be stunted, or effectiveness can be halted or impeded.

And uh, so this series, I think, has been very helpful for us to have our eyes open a little bit or to be reminded for some of us who are more veterans in the faith, of uh the unholy trinity that is out there, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Now, I'm not sure why John O did him backwards, because he started with the devil, and then he did the flesh, and then he left me with the world.

So I've got a I've got a big task ahead of me.

So I'm gonna do a quick recap, then we're gonna pray and then we'll dive into this.

So, regarding the devil, the devil, we believe, is a real supernatural being.

We totally believe that he was a powerful angel who rebelled against God and has worked to destroy, to undermine, to twist, and to pollute whatever God has created.

Last week, Pastor John talked about the flesh.

God did create us with various appetites.

He did.

Our appetites are necessary, they're good, but so easily our appetites go awry.

We cater to our whims, to our entertainment addictions.

Do you have any of those?

Our coddling of self, the theme of many of our lives, at least we battle it, is because I can, I will.

Delay gratification for all of us is wisdom, but it's a challenge.

And sometimes I believe that gratification or self-indulgence is a mountain of sorts that we all need to cast into the sea with our faith.

Put off the former self with his or her ways and put on the new person that all of us are, that is constantly being renewed in the image of Jesus.

That's in Colossians chapter 3, verse 10.

Colossians 3:10

Let's pray.

Father, as we take some moments to figure out, to have our eyes open, to be reminded of, to be encouraged about this world and our place in it.

Holy Spirit, would you have your way in Jesus' name?

Amen.

So the world.

It's an enemy.

But how and in what way is it?

So what I'm gonna do is first of all, I'm gonna address what the world is not, then I'm gonna address what the world is, that is, as in the world, the flesh and the devil.

And in so doing, I'm gonna be painting a pretty dark picture for a few minutes.

All right?

But you gotta hang in there because I really appreciate it if you were here for the uh the team meeting that we have at 8:30 here.

And Pastor John, oh, you kind of stole some of my thunder because you talked about being a presence and you talked about us having to shine.

And so, little teaser, spoiler alert, that is the antidote for the world that is being talked about.

Shining and be in his presence.

So the world is an enemy.

So, first of all, what is not meant by the world, every time you see the term world in scripture, it don't always think that it's something bad.

Because sometimes the world is simply what?

It's the world, the physical world.

Now, I'm going to first of all uh let's put up that uh, yeah, here we go.

Our three enemies, the unholy trinity.

Thank you.

And so what's the first one?

Of course, we see the the world, then we have the flesh, and then we have the devil.

And you can see how the three of these overlap, all right?

And if I was doing the, and this is exactly the way I wanted it, but really the devil, maybe his circle could be a little bit bigger, overlapping the world and the flesh, because he knows how to use all of these systems.

All right?

So there is overlap.

So again, the world can refer to, of course, the world of mankind.

All of you in here, it's no negative connotation, or it can refer to creation, to the physical world, this place of beauty and wonder, especially here in the fall.

This still is my father's world.

Do you remember that hymn?

This is my father's world?

Beautiful.

So, what is then meant when the term world is used negatively?

When it is one of the unholy trinity.

Well, before I give you a sort of a definition, let's go over to the dark side for a moment.

I'm gonna read you a quotation, listen carefully.

Our nation's greatest problem, this is referring to the states, is not one of ecology or pollution.

A pine tree produces more hydrocarbons in a day than an automobile does.

93% of our pollution comes from nature.

Moral pollution is our greatest problem, not physical pollution.

Now, you can dispute that, that's okay.

I just wanted to throw that out there as a little bit of a uh get you thinking a bit.

That was written in 1978.

And so you can see this whole ecology stuff.

I mean, it's always been there.

When I was in high school, actually in junior high school, uh a long time ago, uh, one of our uh teachers he basically said the world wasn't gonna last another 15 years if we keep going the way we go.

So we hear all this negative stuff, don't we?

The uh, by the way, how did you know that trees left such a carbon footprint?

And apparently, I don't know if this is true, maybe it isn't, that our country is gonna start taxing trees.

So if you have one on your property, you might want to reconsider.

Okay, I'm teasing, that's not happening.

Although I don't want to give the government ideas.

So, what a world we have.

We have all this, let's start to talk about this.

We have climate change, and we wonder how much of it is emotionally charged, fear-mongering.

We have our carbon tax.

Yes, amen, good to that.

We have over the last number of years, political correctness, unbelievable.

We have woke, we have canceled culture, we have antifa, we have social media, we have all this virtual bullying, we have COVID with all of its truths, but all of its conspiracies as well, splitting families, costly unintended consequences that we still are going to be living out and healing from, the unintended consequences of the shutdowns.

We have the childish nature of partisan politics.

I don't know if you follow politics at all.

But one party is the enemy with nothing to offer and no credit should be given any party, even if some of their policies are good.

Let's think about the states a few years ago when what's his name got elected?

Not President Biden, the other guy before him.

Do you remember something called Trump derangement syndrome?

Did you watch the news when when Donald Trump was elected?

And people are weeping and wailing.

It was like the end of the world.

And across campuses and universities and colleges in the states, they started coming up with safe places on campus.

And now we still have, I don't know if we have them at the U of A, but safe places, so you can go and and uh I'm not sure what you do there.

Universities that were once bastions of free speech and the interaction of ideas are now caving into the pressure, and they're banning and censoring speakers who don't fit the liberal mold.

They get they can try some of them and they get shut down, they get yelled, and it doesn't go anywhere.

In the two days ago, in the Jewish News Syndicate, listen to this, I'm quoting nine different law student groups at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law have begun the new academic year by amending bylaws to ensure that they will never invite any speakers that support Israel or Zionism.

This is Berkeley.

Okay, so this is not some hokey little college.

A traditionalist, a conservative.

We can't disagree with anything going on in society, any of the trends, or we will be bullied with the term phobic or worse.

And so what's going on with this great big stupid world?

What's going on?

And we wonder how can it possibly get any worse?

I'm gonna show some pictures now of some book covers, uh books that I would recommend.

But here's we we've got some of these trends now.

We got Richard Dawkins with The God Delusion.

Keep going.

We've got uh Neil Postman, by the way.

This is a classic, and if any of you are readers, I highly invite you to read this book, Amusing Ourselves to Death.

This is written by uh a secular author, but boy does he nail us good.

Amusing ourselves to death.

That is not new.

This is an old book.

Next one, we see more of this.

God is not great, this movement of the new atheists.

And then next we have the Christian atheist.

We have another trend in the world in our churches of people who are deconstructing so-called their faith, right?

We've got quitting church, this trend as well, that church isn't important, it's it's harmful, it's toxic.

Uh, keep going.

We have religiously transmitted uh uh diseases.

Next one.

This is a powerful book.

It's actually a very good one, this one.

So you don't want to go to church anymore.

It's kind of a more of an encouragement to reconsider that stuff.

Then we have uh more by either psychologists or sociologists.

These are secular books, but they will they are hard-hitting.

Generation me.

Next one.

I generation.

Look at the subtitle Why Today's Super Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy, and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.

Next one.

The Dumbest Generation.

I uh I read that one probably eight years ago, and uh there was a college and career student who saw the book, and uh she was at our cottage at the lake, and she took offense at the book title.

Next one.

I'm not lying about that one.

And then we have endangered minds.

Look at the subtitle.

Um, let me get closer here.

Why children don't think and what we can do about it.

All right, another one.

What the internet is doing to our brains, this book called The Shallows.

Again, secular works that Christians need to pay attention to.

The Parasitic Mind, another great book.

Um, How infectious ideas are killing common sense.

Right?

This more of political correctness and and censorship, the rest of it, and then keep going.

Empire of Illusion, the end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle.

Next one.

Okay, that was it.

Good, thanks.

Appreciate you doing that.

I had so many more I wanted to put up, but Jonah won't let me.

Okay.

You read these things and by secular writers, and you have to believe that God is raising up people to write that kind of stuff.

And church, we need to listen to some of these voices.

Is this still my father's world?

Is he still my shepherd?

Well, I believe he is, but I sometimes wonder where is he leading us?

What is our response to be to all of this stuff?

Well, let's get into some scriptures here.

I've got a number of them, and you've seen them before in this series.

But let's begin with John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

This is a prayer of Jesus, a powerful prayer.

Praise to the Father.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them.

What does the world think about you in the church?

For they are not of the world anymore than I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world.

Remember that.

But that you protect them from the evil one, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

That's a powerful statement, too, right?

Sanctify them by the truth.

Your word is truth.

And then this is huge.

As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

You have been sent, church.

First John chapter 2, verses 15 through 17.

1 John 2:15–17

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

Think about that.

Anything?

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for everything in the world.

And here's sort of a biblical definition, actually, of what the world is.

It's the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does.

It doesn't come from the Father, but from the world.

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

So let's just wait a second here.

Earlier it said, do not love the world or anything, anything in the world.

Video games, oilers, fall colors, do not love the world or anything in the world.

Well, what does John 3.16 say?

For God so loved the world.

So how come God gets to?

As God sent me, I'm sending you.

Over and over again, yes, the Bible uses the term world, but not always in the same way as we recognize.

The world as a place is the place we live out our mission.

The world is our mission.

And perhaps another helpful hint is to substitute this phrase that the world is, we refer to it as the world's system, which is contrary to God's system.

Wherever appropriate, just substitute that.

Wherever it's contrary to God's.

Again, let's go back to this.

Do not love the world or anything in the world.

Well, the message translation is actually quite helpful there.

It says, do not love the world's ways.

Okay?

Practically everything that goes on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important with likes on Facebook has nothing to do with the Father.

It just isolates you from him.

The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out, but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

So let me say this: it isn't just the youth that is the me generation.

We all are.

We're all the me generation, and we have to battle that world system that is in us.

We all wrestle with varying degrees of self-indulgence, of coddling, of catering to ourself, of taking the easy road when we're called to something higher, something more noble.

What is that calling?

Jesus encapsulated it.

Well, here's your calling.

Do you want to follow me?

Deny yourself.

Take up your cross and then follow me.

Because whoever wants to save his life, whoever wants to coddle himself, herself, is going to lose their soul.

Now, I don't know precisely for any of you in here what God is asking you to deny yourself of.

I don't know what your cross has been, is, or will be.

But I do know that we as the church are the people of the way, which is what Christianity was called.

In Acts chapter 17, there's this kind of a humorous little thing mentioned here.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

The early church was accused of turning the world upside down.

This is from a pagan source.

They wanted to persecute the church.

Why?

Because the church is turning the world upside down.

They were agitating, or another way to translate that is they were subverting the world system that everybody was comfortable with a pejorative accusation against the church, but it was a true one.

And so we, church, were called to be subverters.

Do you like that?

Some of you have the gene of rebel in you.

Guess what?

Let the spirit use that gene.

We're agitators.

We are counter-culture people.

We are counter-world system people.

Alright, so we looked at some of the darkness, but I want to turn it to something pretty positive.

Do you know this verse?

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

We are overcomers, church.

We are not here gathered as a flock of pessimists.

Are you ready for me to give you a mission?

Actually, it's not gonna be me, but it's the apostle Paul.

And actually, it's not even the Apostle Paul, but it was the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul, and this is it.

It's coming up on screen.

So here's what I want you to do.

Okay, here's your mission.

God helping you.

Take your everyday, ordinary life.

You're sleeping, you're eating, you're going to work and walking around life and place it before God as an offering.

You guys were singing that you were gonna do that earlier, weren't you?

You can have it all.

Liars.

No.

I'm teasing because as we were singing that, uh the Holy Spirit He's just telling me, Brian, are you really giving, you know, can you sing that?

You can have it all.

Anyways, let's keep going here.

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.

Don't become so well adjusted to your culture, the world, that you fit into it without even thinking.

That's why I gave you those book titles up there.

Give some food for thought.

Instead, fix your attention on God, you'll be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, to its me generation mentality.

God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Growth.

Hope, belong, grow.

Now back to my question: are you ready for a mission?

You might have missed the mission theme found back in one of the passages we previously read, John 17, 18.

As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

And that statement for me raises two what for questions.

God sent Jesus into the world.

What for?

You ever think about that?

What for?

Well, you're gonna have the good Sunday school answers.

To die on the cross?

Yes, of course.

To provide forgiveness, to give his life as a ransom for many?

Absolutely.

I believe that.

To teach about God, to show us the way, to give us the truth?

Yes, absolutely.

And as well to glorify the Father Jesus prayed, I have glorified you.

As you have sent me, I've sent them.

So, which of the above check marks for Jesus being sent in apply to us?

What for?

Why are we being sent?

John 17, 4.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Jesus was called to bring glory to the Father.

Among other things, certainly.

You have been called to bring glory to the Father as well.

And so keep the term glory in mind.

Jesus was sent to bring glory to God through his mission of setting the captives free, preaching liberty, healing, and all the rest of it.

And we too are sent out to bring glory to the Father through our faithfulness.

Now I don't know if any of you were raised with catechism, but the Western or the Westminster shorter catechism has the question and answer stuff.

So the question is, what is the chief glory or chief uh end of man?

And the answer beautifully is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

It's short, but it's powerful.

By the way, uh I can't remember if it was Dallas Willard.

Uh I'm trying to remember some reading I did a number of years ago, but he says, why don't you substitute it this way?

To glorify God by enjoying him forever.

Because you will glorify God when you enjoy him and his ways.

Anyways, that's a little aside.

Back to giving glory.

Do you ever wonder what songs with lines like, you deserve the glory or we give you glory, what that really means?

Or thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.

What are we doing when we say that to God?

You you deserve to receive glory.

Say this.

Singing, we give you glory, is meaningless.

No, there's not a period there, there's a comma.

It's meaningless if we aren't on our mission.

Let me explain.

Did Jesus ever give God a bad name?

Did he ever bring reproach to the Father?

Did Jesus ever give his father a bad name?

Isn't that part of what thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain is about is bringing him glory?

Did Jesus ever fail to show the light of God to anybody around him?

Well, we do know there were some negative consequences, certainly, because light can be welcome, but it can also expose some stuff, some issues.

And eventually Jesus was hated for what he exposed in some lives, and he was killed for it.

But he was still the light of the world, even though the world didn't understand it and it tried to extinguish that light, John chapter 1, 5.

John 1 · chapter mention

Did you know that there was another son?

Another son who failed in their mission to be God's light to the world, to bring glory to God.

Do you know who that other son was?

Well, we might want to say Lucifer, and you know, I'll give you part points for that one.

Lucifer was light bearer.

But here's the answer.

I'm going to read to you from Isaiah chapter 49.

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

Who is this?

It was the nation of Israel.

Israel throughout scripture, Old Testament was referred to as a son.

Out of Egypt, I've called my son, just for one example.

So here's Israel, the son that was called to bring glory to the Father.

And unfortunately, that son misunderstood why God chose them.

You see, there is a vast difference between being a holy nation, being set apart, and being separatists.

Obedience in Israel was always to be a vibe, a fragrance that would attract other people, not to repel outsiders and to build walls with holy shunning and pious sneers.

And Old Testament history shows that they didn't do so well with that holiness stuff, anyways.

And so Israel, that son, failed on two accounts.

They engaged in idolatry while trying to keep the worship of God going too.

God brought them out of Egypt, but Egypt, the pagan system of Egypt, was so deeply rooted in them.

Secondly, they also failed on the holiness thing because they had this legalistic intolerance for other people.

They didn't want to show God's glory to the nations, or they perverted what that really meant.

Let me tell you this: that the God of John 3.16, who so loves the world, was the God of the Old Testament.

He loved the world in those days too.

He loved all those pagan nations because those pagan nations were composed of people like us.

And so the Father wanted Israel to imitate his heart.

And it proved too much for them to be holy.

It proved too much for them to open their arms to outsiders.

And so consider this phrase of Romans 3.23.

You know it pretty well.

For all have sinned and what?

Fallen short of the glory of God.

So, yes, of course, we all fall short of the perfect mark, that is, we sinned, but I want you to consider another aspect of this.

We have all fallen short of displaying the glory of God to others who need to see it.

In other words, we haven't always represented well.

From Harry Kahn out of the book Four Trojan Horses, he says, to glorify God includes to render him excellent by our conduct and manner of life.

That's how we bring glory to God, the way we live.

And so what is the opposite of taking the Lord's name in vain?

Anybody, what's the opposite?

Not taking it in vain, but making his name meaningful in a world that needs to know this.

Make the Lord's name meaningful, fill it with Christian meaning, with purpose, with the imitation of Jesus Christ.

For when we do that, we are battling the world's system.

We are battling this enemy.

And every step we take, following the footsteps of Jesus, is ground that is taken from the world system.

It is an in-your face to the principalities and powers who are luring us into adopting the culture of our own Egypt.

1 Peter 2.21.

This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Jesus lived.

He suffered everything that came his way.

That is, he took up his cross and followed the Father.

So you would know that it can be done and also know how to do it step by step in his steps.

Now, much more could be said about the world's system and its ways, about how to resist the world, and we could become discouraged with the world's system, how it's infiltrated our societies, our families, our schools, and dare I say, our churches.

I could talk about the evils of the entertainment industry and how we Christians are totally bought into the entertainment world.

We've seen the gift of the Sabbath subtly transformed into you deserve a break today.

So go ahead, cater to yourself.

Let me ask you this.

Could it be that chasing the breaks we think we deserve and how we want to chase them, we're actually breaking our souls.

One of the devil's strategies is to get us to think it's hopeless.

There's it's just too much, it's too big, and so pessimism, the spirit of pessimism, but you know that the Lord did not give us a spirit of fear or of pessimism.

We're not gonna write everything off because we know that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

The devil wants to think that our priority is to do what?

To change the culture of the world.

Did you know that?

Because then it becomes too big, it becomes too general.

We're supposed to change the world.

Such strategy, however, what does it do?

It potentially turns us into haters, prideful judgers, and agenda-filled unloving people.

That's not what we're called to do.

Over and over we hear that we are supposed to make Canada a Christian nation.

Well, maybe that's not really our calling.

It sounds noble, but it's so broad that we think we can only do it by legislation or by bashing the government leaders.

Well, that's a plan.

Why bother praying for them when we can pray upon them through social media with our anointed acerbic cynicism?

1 Timothy chapter 2.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

I urge them, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone.

This probably wasn't in the original text.

For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

This is good and pleases God, our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to an understanding of the truth.

So might it actually be that God the Father wants us to intercede for and not necessarily against politicians?

Do you think that maybe God wants us to give him thanks for leadership?

And maybe if we do that, we might see something change.

Thanks be to God for our province of Alberta and for our nation of Canada.

As imperfect as it might be, it is still one of the best lands in the world.

We are so fortunate you have no idea.

Well, maybe you do.

But give God thanks for where we live.

So let's not think our big job is to change culture.

Our mission is to be changed one by one, little by little.

It's the fruit of the Spirit stuff.

And as we ever grow more faithful to following the way instead of getting in the way of God, we will see his truth, his light heal our souls and heal our land.

You see, not all enemies are best fought in hand-to-hand combat.

Some are fought secondhand, if you will, by having our hand firmly in the grip of the hand of the Father.

And so maybe fighting the enemy referred to as the world system is best fought with our eyes focused on walking in his steps, living like Jesus, loving like Jesus, and taking his message everywhere we go.

That's how we beat the world's system.

Because if you focus on all the bad stuff, all the trends in this world, you will diminish displaying the glory of God.

Greater is he that is in you.

Something out of Deuteronomy 28.

Maybe this is still true.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail.

If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, but never at the bottom.

John 8 12.

I'm the light of the world.

And I wonder, could it be that Jesus is still the light shining in the darkness of the world system?

Not just exposing the darkness, but showing how what has been twisted can once again be made straight and level again.

It is not hopeless.

And so guess what?

Just as Jesus proclaimed that he was the light of the world to do this kind of stuff, what does he say in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5?

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

He looks at each one of you and he says, You are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle and put it on, or I'm quoting from the King James here, let me do this one up here.

Instead, they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see what?

Your good deeds, not your bashing, not your walls, but your open arms.

And praise your Father in heaven.

We know from 1 John chapter 3.8 that the reason the Son of God appears, this is what it says in the text.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Jesus was sent to do that.

Guess what?

We get to participate in cleaning up some of the destruction, or finishing it off, if you will.

And how do we do it?

We do it by following closely, waiting daily at his door, fellowshipping with God, practicing the way.

And this is why I'm so excited about the initiative that Evolve is going to be taken over the next several months.

As we study, as you study, as you have conversations in small groups about things like Sabbath and scripture and hospitality, generosity, and all that stuff, you are going to be destroying the world system piece by piece, church.

We will be taking back turf that the enemy has stolen.

We will begin rebuilding what the enemy has destroyed.

And you know what?

Maybe we'll even see resurrected.

What the enemy has managed to kill in our lives.

So I believe that it takes the greatest strength to be weak.

Weak is our weapon.

What I mean by that is to avoid using our strength to buy into the world system.

It takes great strength to deny oneself and the flesh, our appetites for the improper or the twisted, when it's so demanding on us, but it takes great strength to say no, I'm not going to use my ability to say yes to the flesh.

It takes great strength to say a resounding no to the devil.

When his speech is charming and it's persistent.

And I know pastor quoted Britney Spears the other day, and so maybe I'll do Debbie Boone.

How can it be wrong when it feels so right?

Those are the words of the enemy.

But when we are weak, emptying ourselves of our strength, then we are strongest.

Zechariah says, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord.

And he's saying that to you this morning, church.

By my spirit evolve family.

Will you buy in?

That's the power of your name.

Just a mention makes away giants fall and strongholds break.

The strongholds of the world system.

So let's be honest: the world, the flesh, and the devil, it's a battle.

It is a battle, it's no picnic.

But you know what?

It is God's work.

And so are you up for the challenge?

Are you available?

Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.