Sermon

From Hunted to HUNTER: How to BATTLE a Stronghold | Pastor Drew

Collective Church Omaha

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. We are in the middle of a series called

  2. Hunting Phoenix and it is all about

  3. defeating the the lies and the sins that

  4. just keep on coming back. These are

  5. strongholds in our life. And this is our

  6. opportunity. And it reminds me about

  7. when Morgan and I first got married and

  8. I was so excited about marrying my best

  9. friend. Y'all marry your best friend,

  10. okay? Like it is just it's so fun if you

  11. can learn how to be friends as you

  12. before you even start dating. It's such

  13. a joy to get like I love spending time

  14. with my wife. And one of my expressions

  15. of this when we first got married was uh

  16. when we lived in this little 700 square

  17. foot apartment. Any time that we'd be

  18. walking somewhere within the apartment

  19. from one room to the next, I would sneak

  20. around the corner,

  21. wait for her to come, and then

  22. and guys, she gave the best reactions.

  23. She would scream. She would right like

  24. slap me. She would hold nine yards. It

  25. was so fun. And then she'd say, "Stop."

  26. And then I do it again 30 seconds later

  27. and again and again and again. And

  28. eventually then what I started doing is

  29. I started sneaking around the corner and

  30. then running over to the couch and just

  31. doing nothing. And she's like, "Drew,

  32. don't you don't you dare scare me around

  33. this corner. Stop it. Don't do it." She

  34. and she sees me and I'm just sitting on

  35. the couch silently. So she doesn't know

  36. where I'm at. She's like, "I hate you."

  37. Right? And she eventually she came to me

  38. and she said, "Babe, I want you to know,

  39. I don't like that."

  40. And it's not like a cute little, "Oh,

  41. stop it." Like that. It's like, "I don't

  42. like that at all. It's not funny to me.

  43. It's not cute. It's not I need you to

  44. stop." And I reluctantly stopped

  45. because I recognized that it is kind of

  46. like like we live our lives with sin

  47. like that. Like I don't know when it's

  48. hiding around the next corner. I don't

  49. know where like am I about to get am I

  50. about to get attacked? Am I under attack

  51. right now? Like I I always have this

  52. thing that feels like it's about to come

  53. at me again. And that's what we're

  54. talking about today. We're talking about

  55. the the moving from hunted to hunter and

  56. moving from this idea of I the this

  57. giant flaming phoenix bird is coming and

  58. hunting after me and now instead I am

  59. flipping the script. And we've talked

  60. about this in a few different ways.

  61. We've talked about first of all coming

  62. broken, coming weak. that you cannot do

  63. this without Jesus. You will not be able

  64. to overcome the strongholds, the things

  65. that just keep coming back without

  66. absolutely soaking this thing in prayer.

  67. And then last week, we talked about how

  68. to catch our sin or the triggers, how to

  69. identify the actual power, the

  70. authority, and the lie that's going on

  71. inside of my heart, and then how to

  72. confess that not just to the Lord, but

  73. to an ally. If you missed the message

  74. last week, please go back and listen to

  75. that one. If you want to see a victory

  76. in your strongholds, in your life, you

  77. can't skip that step. It's the most

  78. uncomfortable one. It's the one that you

  79. will have the most excuses to avoid. And

  80. I promise you, that's because the enemy

  81. wants to be able to keep this stronghold

  82. in your life. And then we talked uh

  83. about the whole idea of like sins or

  84. sometimes it even just looks like a

  85. trigger that causes me. Uh but I I want

  86. I want for us to have this if you're if

  87. you're going through this and you're

  88. like this series is for me a thousand%

  89. in whatever capacity it may be. It may

  90. be an addiction that you have. It may be

  91. a stronghold that you can see. It may be

  92. a trigger that just keeps on showing up.

  93. I want to encourage you to take a little

  94. inventory

  95. on these trigger moments on what's

  96. happening when suddenly the temptation

  97. is strong. What am I experiencing? Am I

  98. experiencing stress, anger? We're going

  99. to talk more about this about how to

  100. take that inventory. And then the

  101. inventory of the lies. What's the thing

  102. that I'm believing? What's the thing

  103. that I'm comforting myself with with

  104. this idea that ah it's not going to

  105. happen because you're not good enough.

  106. What's the idea that that and what's the

  107. counter truth? And use your ally in

  108. this. Use the people alongside of you

  109. that that can help to ask the wise and

  110. help you to discern. Use a Christian

  111. counselor to come alongside you, a

  112. therapist, use a pastor or a spiritual

  113. leader, uh a a group host to be able to

  114. come alongside you and help you to

  115. discern what's going on in this

  116. spiritual battle. Uh because Genesis 4:7

    Genesis 4:7

  117. describes sin like this. says, "Sin is

  118. crouching at your door right around the

  119. corner, right? It desires to have you,

  120. but you must rule over it."

  121. So Christ, his death, burial, and

  122. resurrection gave us the authority to be

  123. able to, but it is still now the

  124. authority is in your hands to rule over

  125. the sin that is in your life. the

  126. triggers, the things that are that that

  127. cause me to submit to the plans of the

  128. enemy instead of the plans of the

  129. father. And what we need to recognize is

  130. that this is not an addiction issue.

  131. This is a spiritual issue. This is not a

  132. habit issue. This is a demonic there's a

  133. a spiritual component to this. And

  134. here's the unfortunate reality.

  135. The reality is Satan is bigger than you,

  136. stronger than you. He's smarter than

  137. you. He's more devious than you. And

  138. he's been doing this for a lot longer

  139. than you have.

  140. You don't stand a chance trying to fight

  141. the demonic on your own.

  142. This is why in Ephesians chapter 6

    Ephesians 6:10

  143. verse 10, this is what the Apostle Paul

  144. says when he's talking about spiritual

  145. warfare, overcoming these things in the

  146. plans of the enemy. Final word, be

  147. strong in the Lord. Be strong. Fight the

  148. enemy on your own. Uh-uh.

  149. This is way too big for you. Be strong

  150. in the

  151. >> in the Lord and in whose

  152. his mighty power. Put on all of God's

  153. armor so that you will be able to stand

  154. firm against the strategies of this

  155. powerful enemy, the devil. For we are

  156. not fighting a battle against flesh and

  157. blood. We are not fighting something

  158. that we can attack with swords and guns

  159. and gloves. We can't do that. This is

  160. not We can swing as much as we want and

  161. it's not going to do anything. In this

  162. battle, we are not fighting against

  163. flesh and blood enemies, but against

  164. evil rulers, against authorities of the

  165. unseen world, against mighty powers of

  166. this dark world, and against evil

  167. spirits in the heavenly places. I don't

  168. even know where to aim if I'm punching

  169. right. And my punch, even if it lands,

  170. it ain't going to do a thing. The whole

  171. reality of I've got to learn how to

  172. fight this thing in a different way.

  173. I've got to move from the one that's

  174. being hunted, sin is crouching at your

  175. door, but instead now I will overcome. I

  176. will be the one to carry authority over

  177. the sin in my life in the areas that I

  178. want to see victory in. And that's my

  179. prayer collective. Why are we talking

  180. about sin for an entire series? Because

  181. I desperately want to see you, every

  182. single one of us living in freedom.

  183. sin. There's there's this correlation

  184. between sin uh the the the sinful life

  185. and the life of righteousness. And Paul

  186. says, "Ah, this isn't a great

  187. illustration, but it's kind of like

  188. being a slave either way." You're either

  189. a slave to sin and you're bound with

  190. these chains inside of a cell that you

  191. can't get out of by your own power. Or

  192. you choose righteousness and you're

  193. like, "No, no, no. Now I've set my I've

  194. got these boundaries of righteousness,

  195. of following the Lord. I've got these

  196. new ways that I do things and I it

  197. sometimes feels almost like slay like

  198. I'm stuck doing just this stuff. But

  199. here's the thing, the keys always in

  200. your pocket at all times where God's

  201. like, you can leave. You can abandon

  202. this thing whenever you want. You can

  203. ditch this whenever you want. That is

  204. true. I got freedom over here. I am

  205. stuck and trapped and being led into

  206. death when I submit to sin and allow for

  207. it to have authority in my life.

  208. For me, I've shared this a little bit

  209. and I want to dive a little deeper into

  210. this. I've got a lot of areas in my

  211. heart that has had triggers, that has

  212. had uh lies that I believe from the

  213. enemy. But probably one of the biggest

  214. surface area sins, addictions that I

  215. have faced in my life was with

  216. pornography from 7th grade to uh

  217. sophomore year in college. And uh I I'm

  218. going to talk openly about this. And so

  219. I always say, I've said this before, we

  220. have an amazing kids ministry. Uh if you

  221. if you're like, I don't want my kids to

  222. be hearing this, check your kids in

  223. right now. Say, Pastor Drew told me I

  224. could, even if it's too late, right?

  225. Like uh because I want to talk openly

  226. about one of the more shameful uh

  227. struggles that I've had in my life. So

  228. it was seventh grade and I was

  229. introduced to pornography and by a

  230. fellow athlete uh uh friend of mine,

  231. acquaintance of mine and it started this

  232. I probably it liked pornography for

  233. about like three months

  234. and then I started to see the decay of

  235. my soul from it

  236. and I I felt the conviction

  237. I felt the the death within in me and I

  238. go, I don't want this thing. And I

  239. started to fight it. And I fought it a

  240. lot of different ways, all of them

  241. unsuccessful. For seven years,

  242. I tried. I'd have seasons of success and

  243. then I'd fall back into it. I had I I

  244. started to see success uh with with this

  245. church group that I was in and these

  246. other guys that were helping to be

  247. allies together. And then we moved and

  248. I'm stuck in this place where I don't I

  249. don't know if I have as many Christian

  250. friends and and I just feel really

  251. depressed and I'm just all this stuff

  252. and I fell back into the sin and I just

  253. I submitted to that thing and I would

  254. fight it again and again and again and I

  255. remember my sophomore year of college I

  256. was talking with someone about this

  257. addiction about this problem about how I

  258. couldn't get over it and I'd always find

  259. ways around these these little cheats

  260. and and I went to a Christian college

  261. and so on the the Wi-Fi network there.

  262. You couldn't even access this these

  263. sites. And I'd try to find ways to get

  264. around that. And and all and and this

  265. person I was talking to, a mentor, a a

  266. kind of a a a leader that I looked up

  267. to, a student that was older, and they

  268. were talking about it, and they said,

  269. "Do you want to get rid of this sin?"

  270. And I was like, "Yes."

  271. And he said,

  272. "Do you really

  273. truly

  274. with everything in you want to never

  275. look at that again? want to never see

  276. that again. I need you to look in your

  277. heart and ask yourself that question.

  278. And I looked in my heart and the honest

  279. answer in my heart was I think I want a

  280. three-w weekek break.

  281. The honest answer, if I'm serious about

  282. transparency,

  283. it was

  284. I want to feel like I'm overcoming, but

  285. I think I kind of want to go back to

  286. that thing again. I think I kind of want

  287. whatever you're s I think I kind of want

  288. like I I want to stop drinking but but I

  289. don't know if I I want to stop the

  290. poison that the sin brings but I want to

  291. hang on to the benefit that I feel the

  292. lies that it it promises me and I don't

  293. know if I fully want to let go of that

  294. and this this became this struggle that

  295. I was like I've there's my problem

  296. I don't actually want to kill this

  297. thing. I want to kick it out for a

  298. little bit. That relationship like, "Oh

  299. man, that was a bad relationship. I keep

  300. going to these bad unhealthy things and

  301. I got to stop that and I'm going to say

  302. goodbye to that until maybe someone else

  303. comes along and they say the right

  304. things. They look the right way and they

  305. promise the right promises and it's just

  306. like, "Oh man, I see some of the same

  307. signs, but this one's going to be

  308. different. This one's going to be

  309. different." Right? It's the like, man,

  310. food has had a vice on me. And whenever

  311. I'm stressed, whenever I'm in trouble,

  312. that's where I go. And I just I feed and

  313. I eat away my problems and I and but but

  314. I'm going to stop doing that. I'm

  315. finding this diet. I'm doing this stuff

  316. and all this. It's starting to work out.

  317. And then guess what? Guess what? Did you

  318. hear what that person at work said?

  319. Did you do you know how stressed I am? I

  320. just need to I just need to step back

  321. into this. Right? It may be things that

  322. that you're like, "Oh man, I have been

  323. addicted to my phone. I've been addicted

  324. to whatever it is." And then suddenly

  325. when anger comes and I'm like, I don't

  326. know what to do. I'm over stimulated.

  327. I'm just going to and I'm back to doing

  328. the same thing. How, oh my goodness,

  329. it's been hours and I've just been stuck

  330. here, stuck on a screen, whatever it may

  331. be. And I find myself in that same

  332. place. And I got to ask, do you really

  333. want to kill this

  334. That's got to be the first thing that

  335. you change. Not just take a break, but

  336. actually kill this thing

  337. and actually figure out how to battle

  338. this stronghold. That's what we're going

  339. to be talking about today, battling a

  340. stronghold. And so, this is Jesus gives

  341. us the key to this in the Lord's Prayer.

  342. In the Lord's prayer, he gives this line

  343. and it says, "Lead us not into

  344. temptation, but deliver us from evil."

  345. And this is actually in prayer. This is

  346. actually how we fight the enemy. This is

  347. actually the step first step is to we've

  348. heard of fight and flight, right? This

  349. is the first step is actually obvious.

  350. First, it's flight and then it's fight.

  351. First, this is the problem. This is what

  352. I found in my addiction and my problem.

  353. I would try to I I would try to fight

  354. this thing first every single time. And

  355. I remember countless times I'd be in the

  356. basement of our house growing up and

  357. there was a computer act that I had

  358. access to down there. And I'd go, "You

  359. know what? It's late. Everybody else is

  360. upstairs. Everybody else is in bed." And

  361. uh and I'm just going to I'm just going

  362. to go on and play solitire. That's what

  363. I'm going to do. And I'd lie to myself.

  364. I can fight this. I can fight this. And

  365. I'd put myself in the middle of a

  366. battlefield when I'm weak. And guess

  367. what? I would lose the battle 10 out of

  368. 10 times because I chose to first fight

  369. it before flight and avoiding it. The

  370. very first thing if I'm being attacked

  371. by an enemy, I've got to get away first.

  372. Lead me not into temptation. This is

  373. what this is is this is setting up this

  374. idea of flee.

  375. Run away. Okay. 2 Timothy 2:22, we see

    2 Timothy 2:22

  376. uh that that Paul says to his son in the

  377. faith, he says, "Flee all these youthful

  378. passions and pursue righteousness. Run

  379. away from darkness. Pursue

  380. righteousness, faith, love, and peace

  381. along with those who call on the Lord

  382. from a pure heart. Seek him. Seek godly

  383. accountability. Run away from this." 1

    1 Corinthians 6:18

  384. Corinthians 6:18 says, "Flee. run. Get

  385. out of the way when you are in

  386. temptation with sexual immorality.

  387. Every other sin, did you know the Bible

  388. actually highlights some sins as worse

  389. than others? When it comes to salvation,

  390. it doesn't matter. The tiny little white

  391. life, that's all you've ever done,

  392. you're done. Right? In terms of

  393. salvation, all sin is the same. Sin

  394. separates us from God. But some sins are

  395. more egregious against the Lord. And

  396. this sexual sin is one of those. Every

  397. other sin a person commits is outside of

  398. the body. But the sexually immoral

  399. person sins against their own body, the

  400. temple of the Lord. So it's like a

  401. double sin in one. And it creates this

  402. offense against the Lord. And so this is

  403. in fact the New Testament has eight

  404. different vice lists like flee, get away

  405. from this stuff, all this darkness. And

  406. did you know sexual immorality, sexual

  407. sin is the only type of sin found on all

  408. eight lists. Oftentimes it's either the

  409. first in listed or the last in

  410. emphasized. It is described in even many

  411. times it's described with multiple terms

  412. within the same list. It is such a

  413. powerful vice and that is why we s see

  414. sexual sexuality and sensuality

  415. throughout all of the world around us

  416. all the time which is why we have to set

  417. up boundaries.

  418. How do we avoid sin in our life? We got

  419. to set up boundaries. Boundaries are

  420. convictions that I create that are not

  421. sin, but I must treat as such in order

  422. to protect from the strongholds that the

  423. enemy has. One thing I noticed when I

  424. was in college and I was like, you know

  425. what, I actually want to defeat this

  426. thing. I noticed that when I would just

  427. go online and look up like sports

  428. articles and stuff like that, that that

  429. was one of the ways that would actually

  430. introduce me into the laziness and into

  431. the mindset that would then lead into

  432. pornography.

  433. Is there anything wrong with looking up

  434. sports articles?

  435. Probably not.

  436. But for me, that became a sin. And I I

  437. went, I need to take it. I I need to

  438. stop.

  439. If you see me and I told my

  440. accountability partner, I told my

  441. roommate, I say, "If you see me looking

  442. up articles about Nebraska football,

  443. anything like that, that's not bad. But

  444. I know what it leads into. So, for right

  445. now, I'm setting up this boundary and

  446. I'm not going to cross that." And as at

  447. at this point now, because I don't want

  448. to walk over the edge, I'm not going to

  449. get close to the edge.

  450. >> I'm not going to I I had lived my whole

  451. life right here going, I think I'm going

  452. to be fine. I'm probably going to be

  453. okay. I think I'm going to be just just

  454. okay. and I'm living right on the edge,

  455. right? Flirting with sin, looking like

  456. sin. And then guess what? I would fall

  457. again and again and again. So, how do we

  458. set up boundaries? We got to look at our

  459. our our areas of our life that we go,

  460. these are the access points that the

  461. enemy has. And one of the best ways to

  462. see uh I I call them red flags. I call

  463. them like I'm just finding these red

  464. flag moments. These are the times when I

  465. find that the Lord is trying to attack

  466. me spiritually. These are the time or

  467. sorry that the enemy is trying to attack

  468. me spiritually when usually it's because

  469. the Lord is working. When God's starting

  470. to do something good, I expect the enemy

  471. to come in and try to do something

  472. against me, right? There's times when I

  473. see that I'm like, I know when I'm weak.

  474. I learned this this uh acronym years

  475. ago. Halt.

  476. Stop. Wait. Halt. What does it mean?

  477. Hottie, angry, lonely, tired. Hottie

  478. means prideful, stuck up. I think I've

  479. got this. I've got this thing figured

  480. out. It's on me and I'm doing it right.

  481. It's this idea of like, I think I look

  482. good. I think I feel good. I think I'm

  483. in this. Guess what? That's an area

  484. where I'm already giving Satan a a

  485. foothold in my life. And so now he is

  486. going he's probably going to that's a

  487. point of weakness. And I got to look at

  488. this. When I'm angry, I can't believe

  489. what that person did to me. Guess what?

  490. I've already got a door cracked open for

  491. Satan to then enter in. I'm lonely. I'm

  492. all by myself. I'm going onto my

  493. computer late at night when no one else

  494. is looking. Watch out. Right. No one

  495. else knows. Everybody else in the house

  496. is if you're living alone. Like, that's

  497. hard. You got to learn how to fight this

  498. and get yourself surrounded by community

  499. again and again and again because you're

  500. going to be by yourself a lot of times.

  501. And you got to learn how to find purity

  502. in the midst of that. So part of it may

  503. just be don't be alone. Be alone for as

  504. little as possible, right? Get a godly

  505. roommate to come in and live with you.

  506. Like whatever it may be, things like

  507. that. Hotty, angry, lonely, tired. And

  508. when I say tired, just think low energy.

  509. Sometimes it literally is I'm physically

  510. tired. I need to take a nap. Sometimes

  511. it's I'm exhausted after a long day.

  512. Sometimes it's I'm hungry and I'm just

  513. weak. Right? These are all different

  514. things that we got to think of this

  515. because if I'm full of myself hottie,

  516. then I'm empty of God. If I am lonely, I

  517. got to get I I I find that the only

  518. person that I give permission to to

  519. enter into that room often times is the

  520. enemy. I got to choose who I'm allowing

  521. in. If I'm tired, sometimes the best

  522. thing you can do for your spiritual walk

  523. is take a nap, go for a walk, get a

  524. healthy snack. You know, that's what God

  525. did with Elijah after the fire came down

  526. from heaven. And he runs away and he's

  527. like, "This is terrible. Everything's

  528. miserable. I hate all this. This is so

  529. bad. I just Everybody's chasing me. They

  530. all want to see me die." And he's like,

  531. "Shut up. Take a nap. I'll get you a

  532. snack when you're when you wake up,

  533. okay? Everything will be better after

  534. that promise." Right? And it was

  535. suddenly had a clear mind, right? Just

  536. get up, go for a walk, go do something

  537. else. It doesn't feel that spiritual,

  538. then turn it into prayer. Make it a

  539. prayer walk. Do it. Right? Sometimes

  540. it's just learning how to utilize the

  541. body that God has given me, the mind

  542. that God has given me, and to counteract

  543. the plans that the enemy is trying to do

  544. in that moment. Okay. So, here here's

  545. homework for today. Put a list of

  546. boundaries and access points. What are

  547. the access points that the enemy has?

  548. Start to build a list of this all and

  549. then the boundaries that you want to set

  550. up and share these with your ally. is

  551. part of that vulnerability, that

  552. transparency about going, hey, here's

  553. the things that aren't sin, but to me

  554. right now, they are sin.

  555. Here's the things I'm going to avoid so

  556. that I don't step into this lie in the

  557. stronghold that the enemy has had over

  558. me. And there's so many different What

  559. we need to do is we need to learn how to

  560. get uncomfortable with these boundaries.

  561. If I'm going, ah, that just seems really

  562. inconvenient,

  563. right? There's some apps. I got an app

  564. on my phone called Covenant Eyes. It's

  565. all It used to be called Covenant Eiz.

  566. Now it's called Victory. It's a great

  567. app that will report. It'll screenshot

  568. my phone and it'll send it'll send those

  569. to my wife. It'll send, "Hey, if there's

  570. anything that's concerning, watch out."

  571. Why? Because I dealt with the same

  572. addiction for seven years. And I don't

  573. want to find myself standing out,

  574. putting myself in the midst of a

  575. battlefield. And am I going to find out

  576. that I'm just as despicable of a human

  577. being that I always was for those seven

  578. years?

  579. I don't want to find out

  580. because I've let my I've trusted myself

  581. too many times. I've let myself down too

  582. many times. I'm not even going to find

  583. that out. I'm not even going to do that.

  584. So, I got these inconvenient apps that

  585. take up space and make my phone slow and

  586. like get frustrating like ah and like my

  587. screen time and like all the like all

  588. that like if it's inconvenient, you're

  589. doing it right.

  590. >> Right. I got to delete all these apps

  591. and I can't download these apps unless

  592. someone else puts the code and the

  593. password into my phone. That's annoying.

  594. That's a nuisance. That's good.

  595. >> These are boundaries that make it hard

  596. to be able to access. So, first we got

  597. to fight. We got to run away. We got to

  598. avoid it. Second is we got to fight. We

  599. got to actually defeat this enemy. Once

  600. I've run away, you will undoubtedly

  601. face times of temptation that you did

  602. not enter yourself into. The battlefield

  603. will follow you. The enemy will follow

  604. you. sins crouching at the door. And

  605. it's not just the door that I need to go

  606. out. It's the door that that that that I

  607. that I'm flirting with. It's the door

  608. that I actually I need to cross. I need

  609. to go across this thing. And and guess

  610. what? The enemy is going to keep on

  611. coming. But if I've spent my whole life

  612. battling him, then when he comes and he

  613. attacks on his own accord, guess what?

  614. [music] I'm going to be tired. I'm going

  615. to be weak. I'm going to fail again. But

  616. I've spent time avoiding him, seeking

  617. the Lord, setting up boundaries. Then

  618. when the fight comes, I go, I'm ready.

  619. I'm going to conquer this thing. I'm

  620. going to fight this temptation. I'm

  621. going to see this thing defeated. James

    James 4:6–8

  622. 4:6-8

  623. says, "God opposes the proud but gives

  624. grace to the humble. Submit yourselves

  625. therefore to God. Resist the devil. He

  626. will flee from you. Draw near to God and

  627. he will draw near to you. Cleanse your

  628. hands sinners." Right? phys. This is

  629. these are the outward things. Purify

  630. your hearts, you double-minded. The

  631. inward things that are leading us into

  632. that, right? This is this is the whole

  633. idea of learning how to then fight this.

  634. But because it's a spiritual

  635. it's a spiritual battle, I got to fight

  636. it with different weapons. In Ephesians

    Ephesians 6 chapter mention

  637. chapter 6 13-20, it goes through a list

  638. of the weapons that we use in spiritual

  639. warfare. And nowhere [music] on this

  640. list is your will.

  641. Try harder performance. Do these things.

  642. Want to know what else is not on this

  643. list?

  644. Fight against the enemy. Like go to

  645. church. Read your Bible. Pray more.

  646. [music]

  647. Join a group. Join a team. Here's the

  648. problem with that. All of those things

  649. are great. They've increased proximity

  650. with the Lord and with community. These

  651. are the things that you actually see

  652. listed. How do what are the weapons I

  653. use against the enemy? Truth.

  654. I stand on truth because there's always

  655. a lie being presented, right? We talked

  656. about that. I stand on righteousness. I

  657. actually I'm pursuing righteousness

  658. within my heart. Not just against this

  659. thing, but just in all areas. I just

  660. want to become more like Christ today

  661. than I was yesterday. readiness for the

  662. gospel of peace. I want to be the type

  663. of person that's on mission and not on

  664. mission like, "Hey, you need to get

  665. saved or else you're going to hell." But

  666. the gospel of peace, right? Not the

  667. gospel of attack, and the gospel of

  668. aggression, the gospel of peace,

  669. readiness. I want to be on mission for

  670. the gospel of peace. I want to have

  671. faith. I'm believing more for what he's

  672. going to do, and I focus on that more

  673. than what the enemy is doing. On

  674. salvation. No, no, no, no. I've been

  675. saved. I've got victory over this. And

  676. so I already know I've got this helmet

  677. of salvation that protects my mind of

  678. going, "Wait, wait, wait. I got

  679. authority over this temptation." The

  680. word of God is the sword of the spirit.

  681. Do not try to I promise you, don't try

  682. to battle with your own words. Battle

  683. with the Bible.

  684. Battle with the Bible. God's words are

  685. so much better than your words. I

  686. promise you, it comes with authority

  687. that you do not have. Have some verses

  688. that you capture in your heart that you

  689. can't let go of. Psalm 119 9-11. [music]

  690. I'll think about this. How can a young

  691. person keep their way pure in this world

  692. that's surrounded by all this sin, by

  693. all this depravity? How can they do it?

  694. By living according to your

  695. word. I seek you with all my heart. Do

  696. not let me stray from your commands.

  697. That's righteousness. I have hidden your

  698. word in my heart so that I won't sin

  699. against you.

  700. Then the last weapon that we see is

  701. prayer. Specifically talking about

  702. praying in the spirit. Using a spiritual

  703. battle against a spiritual enemy.

  704. Don't expect to win a spiritual [music]

  705. battle with natural weapons.

  706. And I promise you what I [music] want to

  707. do. Uh Romans 6 12-14. I want to

  708. highlight [music] this as we get ready

  709. to leave. Can we stand up in here?

  710. Do not let sin control the way you live.

  711. Do not give in to sinful desires. Catch

  712. it. It doesn't say do not have sinful

  713. desires. That's what temptation is.

  714. The Lord Jesus himself was tempted.

  715. Sinful desires aren't sin. It's giving

  716. in to them is the sin. Right? Do not

  717. give in to sin uh sinful desires. Do not

  718. let any part of your body become an

  719. instrument of evil to serve sin. This is

  720. letting things in. What am I listening

  721. to? What am I allowing in through my

  722. eyes? Who are the people that I'm

  723. surrounding myself with that are feeding

  724. certain spiritual aspects of my soul?

  725. Right? What am I surrounding myself

  726. with? And how do I need to build

  727. boundaries? [music] Instead, give

  728. yourselves completely to God. For you

  729. were dead, but now you have new life. So

  730. use your whole body as an instrument to

  731. do what is right for the glory of God.

  732. Your whole body, physically, my mind,

  733. mentally, right? All of it. Sin is no

  734. longer your master. For you no longer

  735. live under the requirements of the law.

  736. Instead, you live under the freedom of

  737. [music] God's grace.

  738. So this is what I want us to do. I want

  739. I just want this is super practical.

  740. Look at your access points. Begin to

  741. take notes of these things. Maybe you

  742. got a big sin that's super clear and you

  743. know your access points. I know people

  744. here who've dealt with uh addiction,

  745. with alcoholism, and they said, "You

  746. want to know what I had to do? I had to

  747. add an extra 10 minutes, 15 minutes onto

  748. my drive home because the way I would

  749. drive home would I'd pass by my bar, the

  750. bar, and I'd have to go this way, and

  751. [music] I have to go around it. And it's

  752. really annoying. It's really

  753. inconvenient, which means I'm doing it

  754. right. [music]

  755. And I would avoid. So, what are the

  756. entrance points and then what are the

  757. uncomfortable, inconvenient boundaries

  758. you need to set [music] up? Share that

  759. with your ally. Talk with your ally

  760. about the areas in your life that you're

  761. like, I still I'm trying to discern the

  762. lies that I'm believing here and the

  763. truth that Lord the Lord is speaking

  764. over this. And then use the word, right?

  765. This is where like I I want I want you

  766. let Google let AI lead you to the word.

  767. Don't [music] let that become your word.

  768. AI is a terrible counselor. It'll it'll

  769. just support whatever you want to

  770. believe all the time. Okay? So, stop

  771. doing that. Right? I let the but I I

  772. will let it. But I may go, hey, help me

  773. find some verses that deal with this

  774. type of addiction. And then I'm going to

  775. go away from that and I'm going to get

  776. into this and I'm going to okay, I'm

  777. going to read the whole context around

  778. it. I'm going to let this thing soak

  779. inside of me and I'm going to let this

  780. change me, right? I'm going to let the

  781. word impact my heart. I'm going to let

  782. that become my battle. I'm going to

  783. memorize some verses so that when the

  784. temptation comes back up, I'm ready to

  785. fight it. [music]

  786. Okay. Lastly,

  787. use the community, the body of Christ

  788. [music] around you. Find these

  789. boundaries. Fight the enemy. Flee from

  790. temptation. Run towards the father.

  791. Resist the devil. He will flee from you.

  792. Draw near to God and he will draw near

  793. to you.

  794. >> I believe that this is going to be a

  795. church full of victory, full of freedom.

  796. Amen. Amen. Heavenly Father, I pray

  797. right now in the mighty name of Jesus.

  798. Lord, I believe that there's going to be

  799. victory in this place. [music] Lord, may

  800. we live in the practical discipline of

  801. saying, "I refuse to let this sin in my

  802. life anymore. I refuse to allow this. I

  803. want God, I pray for a change of hearts.

  804. I pray for a change of minds. I pray for

  805. a change of practice. And I pray for

  806. clear boundaries to be set. I pray for

  807. powerful accountability to be made. And

  808. Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus, I

  809. pray that victory would start to be seen

  810. again and again and again, the [music]

  811. stronghold released more and more and

  812. more as we follow through according to

  813. your word. In the mighty name of Jesus,

  814. we [music] pray. Amen. Amen. Come on,

  815. can we give a hand for the word of the

  816. Lord?

  817. >> [applause]

  818. >> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

  819. [music] message. Our prayer is more than

  820. the words that were spoken in the

  821. message [music] that you would remember

  822. the things that God spoke to your heart.

  823. >> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

  824. spoke to you, I know that part of your

  825. journey is other people being in a

  826. community because we [music] are better

  827. together. So, if you made a decision to

  828. follow Jesus today, would you click the

  829. link below and fill out the form?

  830. [music] This is going to help us so that

  831. we can celebrate with you and equip you

  832. with some tools so that your next steps

  833. are [music] great steps.

  834. >> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

  835. praying for you. We're cheering you on.

  836. We believe that the best days are

  837. [music] ahead of you.

  838. Heat. Heat. N.