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Speaker 1: Let us pray hereby perceive we the love of God,

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Speaker 1: because He laid down his life for us, and we

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Speaker 1: ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. First

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Speaker 1: John three sixteen. Lord, help me comprehend the kind of

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Speaker 1: love that is willing to lay its life down for another.

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Speaker 1: I know your death on the cross paid the price

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Speaker 1: for my sins, but the reality of that sacrifice is unimaginable.

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Speaker 1: I feel like a selfish child when I get upset

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Speaker 1: things don't work out the way I want them to.

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Speaker 1: I am concerned more about being the center of attention

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Speaker 1: than honoring and making others a success in your kingdom.

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Speaker 1: Jealousy rises in my heart when others are exalted and

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Speaker 1: I see how limited my love is. Show me how

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Speaker 1: to lay down my life for others. Help me recognize

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Speaker 1: your kingdom rewards humility and loving kindness. Heymen, thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening to today's daily prayer. For more inspiration and

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Speaker 1: an incredible message from our feature pastor, stay tuned to

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Speaker 1: pray dot COM's Sunday service.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to pray dot Com.

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Speaker 3: I'm Ben Peterson, the CEO and founder of Engage Your Destiny.

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Speaker 3: Please follow this profile for more engaging content. That we

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Speaker 3: have crafted specifically for military veterans.

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Speaker 2: And the warriors at heart.

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Speaker 3: Also head to our website to see how you can

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Speaker 3: support ministry to our activeduty military. Now, I charge you

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Speaker 3: to take today's message and use it to engage your destiny.

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Speaker 2: I live, breathe, sweat, and bleed for soldiers because I

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Speaker 2: am one. And that's why cond to it.

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Speaker 3: Tonight, I'm gonna train you to become a soldier for Christ.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna pull up the scripture. It's Isaiah sixty one,

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Speaker 3: verse one. Now to set the tone for this scripture,

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Speaker 3: Jesus as he is starting his ministry, he goes into

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Speaker 3: the synagogue and it's this first time that he is

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Speaker 3: going to read the scroll and he's going to begin

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Speaker 3: the first phase of entering into his ministry. And he

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Speaker 3: stands there and he reads this verse. He says, the

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Speaker 3: spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has

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Speaker 3: chosen me.

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Speaker 2: Say chosen.

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Speaker 3: He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor,

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Speaker 3: say poor, to comfort the broken hearted, and to proclaim

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Speaker 3: the captives say captives will be released, and prisoners say

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Speaker 3: prisoners will be freed. Let me read that again, to

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Speaker 3: proclaim that the captives will be released, and prisoners will

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Speaker 3: be freed. Mike drops sets the scroll down, goes and

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Speaker 3: sits down. The most powerful man in the history of

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Speaker 3: the world, who started the greatest movement that has impacted

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Speaker 3: over two points sixty zero three seven eight one four

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Speaker 3: billion people, founded his ministry with these words, I am

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Speaker 3: here to set captives free.

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Speaker 2: That was his mission.

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Speaker 3: In warfare. There is nothing more terrifying or horrifying than

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Speaker 3: becoming a captive to be taken prisoner when Hitler. When

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Speaker 3: Hitler began invading countries for the purpose of world domination,

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Speaker 3: it emboldened country after country to begin to do the same.

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Speaker 3: And on December seventh, nineteen forty one, a day that

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Speaker 3: will live in infamy, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan.

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Speaker 3: The move to attack Pearl Harbor was really a power

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Speaker 3: move by Japan to take more land and to expand

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Speaker 3: their kingdom. They really didn't have the plan of entering

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Speaker 3: into a full scale war with the United States in

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Speaker 3: nineteen forty two. They then attacked the Philippines on the

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Speaker 3: island of Krigador, which was a two day battle where

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Speaker 3: the Japanese overwhelmed the American and Filipino soldiers.

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Speaker 2: There and took seventy five thousand of them captive.

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Speaker 3: Now, none of them could have possibly imagined the horror

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Speaker 3: that they were about to experience. You see, the Japanese

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Speaker 3: wanted to take all of these soldiers and bring them

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Speaker 3: back to Japan so they could serve in prison camps

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Speaker 3: for slave labor. But they had to get them to

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Speaker 3: the other side of the island to load them onto

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Speaker 3: their ships. And so it was a sixty five mile

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Speaker 3: journey through the jungle which they decided to line the

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Speaker 3: men up and march them for fourteen straight days. Fourteen

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Speaker 3: straight days was a crucible that will forever be remembered

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Speaker 3: as the.

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Speaker 2: Baton Death March.

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Speaker 3: For fourteen days, they march day and night, no rest,

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Speaker 3: no food, no water. If you stopped to rest, you

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Speaker 3: would be shot. If you tried to drink water, you

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Speaker 3: would be bayoneted. If you couldn't go on, you would

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Speaker 3: be killed or left for dead. Sixty five miles without stopping.

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Speaker 3: Some of the soldiers went mad with thirst, sprinting towards

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Speaker 3: nearby streams or local ponds and desperation to drink water,

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Speaker 3: only to be killed by the Japanese. The only way

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Speaker 3: that soldiers could survive is if they tried to, if

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Speaker 3: they could sneak water when the Japanese weren't looking by

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Speaker 3: nearby streams, or to drink water out of puddles of mud.

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Speaker 3: After the fourteen day journey, seventeen thousand captives were dead.

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Speaker 3: They were then loaded into the hulls of what were

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Speaker 3: known as hell ships, and these were large transport ships

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Speaker 3: that offered no reprieve from the march that they had

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Speaker 3: just endured. They were crammed tightly into hardly lit cargo

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Speaker 3: holds with little air ventilation, food, or water.

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Speaker 2: For a journey that would last for weeks.

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Speaker 3: Many died due to asphixius, starvation or dysentery. Some POWs

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Speaker 3: became delirious and unresponsive in their environment of the heat, humidity,

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Speaker 3: lack of oxygen, food, and water. Once they reached the

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Speaker 3: island of Japan, they were sent to the prison camps,

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Speaker 3: where they worked sixteen hours.

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Speaker 2: A day three hundred and sixty five days a year

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Speaker 2: as slaves for four years.

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Speaker 3: The story is very personably personal to me because I

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Speaker 3: grew up in a family where the greatest thing that

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Speaker 3: you could do with your life is to service nation

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Speaker 3: in combat, and when I was thirteen years old, my

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Speaker 3: dad started working with a Baton Deathmarch survivor named Alf Larson,

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Speaker 3: and my dad spent two years going to Alf's house

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Speaker 3: once a week, spending hours with him as he was

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Speaker 3: processing and working through all of this horror to get

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Speaker 3: it all out. Alf told my dad that the greatest

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Speaker 3: day of his life was not his kids being born.

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Speaker 3: It wasn't getting married, It wasn't building a business, it

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Speaker 3: wasn't building a life. It was the day when he

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Speaker 3: was eighty five pounds after being in a prison camp

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Speaker 3: is a captive for four years, that he saw an

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Speaker 3: American soldier come and say, brother, let's go home. This

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Speaker 3: is a picture of where our world is today. Our

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Speaker 3: world today is.

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Speaker 2: Suffocating in hellships. They are being worked to death.

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Speaker 3: In their minds, in their hearts, from the torture of

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Speaker 3: this world, from the constant barrage of social media, from

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Speaker 3: the drugs, from the alcohol, and from the lost messages

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Speaker 3: that is bombarding our generation. This world is captive. And

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Speaker 3: what kind of people go in and set captives free? Soldiers?

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Speaker 3: You see, it takes a soldier to set captives free.

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Speaker 3: If scripture makes that clear, Because my friends, we have

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Speaker 3: to realize tonight that we are.

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Speaker 2: Not in a physical world war. What we see on.

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Speaker 3: The news, what we see among people, what we see happening,

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Speaker 3: is not the war. What's happening in with moths and

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Speaker 3: with Israel, and with Ukraine, and with our generation and

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Speaker 3: young people, that is not the war.

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Speaker 2: The war that we fight is unseen.

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Speaker 3: Reading from Ephesian six, it says, now, my loved ones,

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Speaker 3: I have saved these most important truths for last.

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Speaker 2: Do you think they're important?

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Speaker 3: Be supernaturally infused with strength, Say strength through your life

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Speaker 3: union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious, Say victorious, Say victorious.

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Speaker 2: Let's go church. With the force of his explosive power

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Speaker 2: flowing in and through you.

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Speaker 3: Put on God's complete set of armor provided for us,

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Speaker 3: so that you will be protected you as you fight

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Speaker 3: against the evil strategies of the accuser. Your hand to

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Speaker 3: hand combat, say hand to hand combat. Your hand to

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Speaker 3: hand combat is not with human beings, but with the

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Speaker 3: highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms.

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Speaker 3: For they are a powerful class of demon gods and

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Speaker 3: evil spirits that take.

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Speaker 2: And hold this dark world in bondage.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Church, Church, we are soldiers and our mission

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Speaker 3: in life is not health, wealth and happiness.

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Speaker 2: It is to set captives free.

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Speaker 3: So our duty as followers of Christ, not needing to

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Speaker 3: be the leader of a nonprofit, not needing to be

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Speaker 3: the pastor of a church, not leading to be on

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Speaker 3: the mission field as followers of Christ, period is to

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Speaker 3: be about the Father's business and to set captives free.

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Speaker 3: So the question is how do we wage war to

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Speaker 3: set captives free? As a soldier for God, we can

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Speaker 3: do this in four ways. One, we have to believe.

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Speaker 3: We have to believe that we are a soldier. You

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Speaker 3: have to believe that God has called you to be

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Speaker 3: a soldier. On July fourth, nineteen seventy six, a flight

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Speaker 3: was taking off from Tel Aviv to Paris, and a

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Speaker 3: group of Palestinian terrorists took that flight hostage, filled with

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Speaker 3: Jews and Israelis, and they re routed them to Entebbe

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Speaker 3: in Uganda under the covering of the dictator Edie Amin,

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Speaker 3: and they sent a message to the Israeli government and

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Speaker 3: they said, we have two hundred and twenty of your

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Speaker 3: people and we're going to begin executing them unless if

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Speaker 3: you set our brothers who.

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Speaker 2: You've taken hostage free.

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Speaker 3: And these were all Palestinian terrorists that the Israeli government

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Speaker 3: had taken captive, and they wanted to set these men

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Speaker 3: free for the purpose of destruction and death. So here

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Speaker 3: are these men and women being held hostage. And Israel said, Nope,

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Speaker 3: not going to happen. And in seven days they trained

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Speaker 3: up and prepared a mission for one hundred soldiers and commandos,

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Speaker 3: and they went in to that situation, took down the enemy,

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Speaker 3: and set the captives free seven days. On November fourth,

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Speaker 3: nineteen seventy nine, a hostage crisis took place between the

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Speaker 3: United States and Iran. Fifty two American diplomats and citizens

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Speaker 3: were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college

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Speaker 3: students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took fifty

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Speaker 3: to Americans hostage. They made their demands, they wanted people released,

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Speaker 3: they wanted money. And the US government did not train

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Speaker 3: up soldiers, they did not activate the military. They negotiated,

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Speaker 3: they used diplomacy, They were a lot on politics, and

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Speaker 3: for four hundred and forty four days, those people were

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Speaker 3: held in bondage captive, four hundred and forty four days.

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Speaker 2: Because they didn't send in soldiers.

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Speaker 3: Diplomacy didn't work, politics didn't work, negotiations didn't work, all

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Speaker 3: because they didn't send in soldiers.

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Speaker 2: That's why to.

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Speaker 3: Be a soldier, we have to believe that we are

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Speaker 3: a soldier, and we have to believe that the works

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Speaker 3: of a soldier are going to set people free.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 3: The Bible says, anything not done in faith is sin.

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Speaker 3: Say sin, Anything not done in faith is sin. This

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Speaker 3: doesn't mean just looking at porn. This doesn't mean lying, cheating, stealing,

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Speaker 3: this doesn't mean idolatry. I'm not talking about any of

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Speaker 3: those sins. I'm talking about anything not done where you're

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Speaker 3: not using your belief, y'all, tracking Anything not done in

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Speaker 3: faith is sin. And God is calling us into a

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Speaker 3: place of believing who we are in Christ, who he's

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Speaker 3: anointed us to be the man that's living inside of us,

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Speaker 3: realizing what He can do through us. Amen, We've got

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Speaker 3: to believe. We've got to believe that if we call

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Speaker 3: on heaven, Heaven will answer. Number two, we have to train.

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Speaker 3: We have to train as a soldier. If I were

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Speaker 3: to send any of you all into combat, would you

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Speaker 3: go without a gun? No, you wouldn't. I wouldn't either.

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Speaker 3: Would you go without protective body armor, would you go

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Speaker 3: without a helmet? Would you go without combat boots go

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Speaker 3: on your stocking feet?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely not.

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Speaker 3: And that's why Paul is using this language, because he's

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Speaker 3: calling to the average Christian and he's calling him to

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Speaker 3: be a warrior for God. He's saying in Ephesian six thirteen,

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Speaker 3: because of this, you must wear all, say all. You

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Speaker 3: must wear all the armor that God provides, so you're

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Speaker 3: protected as you confront the slanderer. For you are destined

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Speaker 3: for all things and will rise victorious.

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Speaker 2: Say victorious, Come on you, I'll say it.

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Speaker 3: Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you as

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Speaker 3: you stand in triumph. Put on holiness is your protective armor,

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Speaker 3: that that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert,

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Speaker 3: and you'll always be ready to share the blessings in

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Speaker 3: the Gospel of Peace in every battle.

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Speaker 2: Take faith as you wrap around.

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Speaker 3: Shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows

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Speaker 3: coming at you from the evil one. Embrace the power

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Speaker 3: of Salvation's full deliverance like a helmet to protect your

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Speaker 3: thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor sharp sword

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Speaker 3: of the spirit, the spoken word of God, these are

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Speaker 3: the tools that we have to train with every single

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Speaker 3: day because our war is not a deployment to Iraq.

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Speaker 3: Our war is not on some foreign battlefield. It is

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Speaker 3: right here in Williamson County.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 3: And we have to gear up every single day putting

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Speaker 3: on the armor. So what does this mean? Putting on truth?

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Speaker 3: The Roman soldier needed to wear a belt because their

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Speaker 3: pants could not be held up without belts. It was

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Speaker 3: essential it held everything together. The belt also had armor

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Speaker 3: on it that protected the family jewels.

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Speaker 2: Can I get some amen from the men? Amen? All right?

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Speaker 3: Protecting valuable things, that's what truth does. He's saying, put

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Speaker 3: on holiness as a protective armor that covers your heart.

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Speaker 3: The Bible says that out of your heart flows the

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Speaker 3: well spring of life, and to above all else, what

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Speaker 3: guard your heart? Above all else, guard the affections of

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Speaker 3: your heart. What Paul is saying here is that we

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Speaker 3: have to take on the holiness of Christ. Everything that

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Speaker 3: he died, resurrected and gave himself for makes us righteous.

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Speaker 3: And then we have to live in that righteous life

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Speaker 3: and it will guard and protect our hearts where we

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Speaker 3: will be the most powerful.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 3: Mong girl, Yeah, we got to stand to our feet alert,

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Speaker 3: knowing that when we share the Gospel, it is going

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Speaker 3: to bring peace into people in every battle. Take faith

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Speaker 3: is your wrap around shield. The Roman shield was not

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Speaker 3: a tool of defense, but a tool of advancement.

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Speaker 2: With lock shields together for the purpose.

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Speaker 3: Of advancing on the enemy. Faith is an advancement weapon.

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Speaker 2: Amen.

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Speaker 3: It's also so that it could extinguish the fiery arrows

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Speaker 3: of the wicked one. Let me tell you about flaming

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Speaker 3: areas with arrows that would be used in that time.

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Speaker 3: Those arrows were not accurate, they couldn't hit people. They

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Speaker 3: were used for one purpose, to burn things down.

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Speaker 2: Faith keeps us.

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Speaker 3: From the fiery darts and the lies of the wicked one,

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Speaker 3: so that we can extinguish it with faith so that

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Speaker 3: he cannot burn our lives down.

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Speaker 2: Amen. Uh, I'm having fun.

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Speaker 3: Embrace the power of Salvation's full deliverance. Salvation means wholeness,

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Speaker 3: bringing our minds completely into wholeness. Some of you need

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Speaker 3: to know tonight that you have the mind of Christ,

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Speaker 3: the mind of Christ. I've battled with suicidal thoughts in

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Speaker 3: my life. I've battled with depression, so many different things,

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Speaker 3: and what I keep coming back to in my life

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Speaker 3: that keeps me whole is that I have the mind

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Speaker 3: of Christ. And in this day and age of mental

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Speaker 3: health and so many things going on with people, we

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Speaker 3: got to come back to the biblical truth that we

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Speaker 3: are in Christ and our mind is His amen, and

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Speaker 3: that we have the mind of Christ. And lastly, the

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Speaker 3: sword of the Spirit, the spoken word of God. Jesus

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Speaker 3: said that man cannot live by bread alone, but by

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Speaker 3: every word that proceeds from the Father, the word of God.

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Speaker 3: Filling yourself up, Bonhaffer said, I start my day and

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Speaker 3: the Lord.

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Speaker 2: Has the first word, and he has the last word

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Speaker 2: of the day.

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Speaker 3: The word of God has got to be the living,

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Speaker 3: the life breath for our souls, so that we can

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Speaker 3: be fueled up to wage war against the enemy. Now,

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Speaker 3: some of you might be saying, then, I've never been

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Speaker 3: in the military, I've never served in combat. I've never

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Speaker 3: been through training. I don't know if I can relate

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Speaker 3: to all of this. And I'm here to tell you, yes,

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Speaker 3: I've been through combat. Yes I've been through all this

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Speaker 3: military training. But I have been through something much more difficult.

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Speaker 3: I have a toddler. Does anyone else have one or

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Speaker 3: have one? Does that not push you to the limit.

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Speaker 3: Does that not take everything that your soul has to

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Speaker 3: get through in moments?

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Speaker 2: Do you remember sitting there.

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Speaker 3: And he's screaming and won't stop screaming, and you're trying

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Speaker 3: to figure out do I hit him or do I.

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Speaker 2: Just sit there? What do you do?

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Speaker 3: That's just like bullets flying at you. It's the same thing.

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Speaker 3: Your circumstances do not define who you are. Christ does,

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Speaker 3: and he is saying you're a soldier. When we would

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Speaker 3: go into combat, we would have pre combat briefs, and

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Speaker 3: in combat you have to know everything that the enemy

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Speaker 3: is doing, and we would be briefed on his tactics

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Speaker 3: and what he is about. The enemy of our soul

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Speaker 3: is the liar, he's the accuser, he's the slanderer, and

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Speaker 3: we need to get into our hearts and understand that

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Speaker 3: every lie that he's going to try and.

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Speaker 2: Put it us is based in two falsities.

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Speaker 3: One I am not good enough, say I'm not good enough,

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Speaker 3: and I'm not lovable. Those two lies is what is

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Speaker 3: a part of your pre combat brief to know what

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Speaker 3: he is trying to ambush and attack you in I

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Speaker 3: am not good enough and I am not lovable. Number three,

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Speaker 3: we have to fight as a soldier. The language to

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Speaker 3: Timothy here is very specific. He says in one Timothy

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Speaker 3: six twelve, fight the good fight of faith. Take hold

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Speaker 3: of the eternal life with what you were called and

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Speaker 3: which you made the good confession, and the presence of

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Speaker 3: many witnesses.

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Speaker 2: You see, fighting for faith for freedom works in two ways.

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Speaker 3: When you are advancing and you are fighting for freedom,

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Speaker 3: the people that you're fighting for get free, and what

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Speaker 3: happens as a byproduct, the soldier gets free as well.

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Speaker 3: In seventeen seventy six, when we said no more to

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Speaker 3: the oppression of the British government and we went to war,

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Speaker 3: those soldiers were fighting for the freedom of their people,

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Speaker 3: and when they won, they.

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Speaker 2: Receive freedom too.

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Speaker 3: And that's why when we advance the Kingdom of Heaven

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Speaker 3: for people, when we.

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Speaker 2: Love people, when we pray for people, when we are.

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Speaker 3: About the Father's business and what he wants to do,

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Speaker 3: we're going to be breed freedom to them. But we're

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Speaker 3: going to get free as well, because we're on the offense.

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Speaker 3: Say offense. Now, Paul is writing these words to Timothy,

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Speaker 3: who is not a soldier. Timothy never served in the military,

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Speaker 3: but he's using all of this military like language.

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Speaker 2: And in ninety seven.

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Speaker 3: AD, as a sold out soldier in God's army, the

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Speaker 3: eighty year old evangelist Timothy tried to halt a procession

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Speaker 3: in honor of the goddess Diana by preaching the Gospel.

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Speaker 3: The angry pagans beat him, dragged him through the streets,

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Speaker 3: and stoned him to death. Sold out for the cause

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Speaker 3: of Christ. When we would go on convoy, your lead

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Speaker 3: gunner is your best, most visually acute soldier, because they

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Speaker 3: are looking for one thing, bombs, And you put them

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Speaker 3: in the lead truck because they are going to have

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Speaker 3: the first sight of everything. And those guys would literally

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Speaker 3: memorize every piece of garbage and they could tell you

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Speaker 3: if a piece of garbage had moved or if there

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Speaker 3: was a new piece of garbage there.

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Speaker 2: And some convoys would be.

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Speaker 3: Three four eight hours, that's how detailed they were about

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Speaker 3: what the enemy was up to and about people about

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Speaker 3: doing combat. We live in a time where we have

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Speaker 3: never been more mentally taxed and mentally exhausted in the

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Speaker 3: history of the world. Americans, the world technology, the science

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Speaker 3: has come out that we taken more information in one

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Speaker 3: day than someone did a one hundred years ago in.

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Speaker 2: Their entire lifetime.

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Speaker 3: The details you look at the phone, all of the details,

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Speaker 3: the marketing, all those little pieces. It's more information than

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Speaker 3: anybody ever has taken in. And what it's doing is

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Speaker 3: it's pulling us, and it's taking us out of the

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Speaker 3: awareness we need to have for combat and people around

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Speaker 3: us that are dying?

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Speaker 2: Do you get what I'm saying? And Guys, I get

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Speaker 2: so repped. I'm so bad at this.

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Speaker 3: I get so focused on my family and my wife

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Speaker 3: and my son and my business and my work, and

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Speaker 3: I just need a break and I get out. And

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Speaker 3: it's like, man, so many times I miss it standing

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Speaker 3: in the line at the grocery store and just looking

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Speaker 3: at that transgender gal that's working at the counter and

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Speaker 3: judging her right.

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Speaker 2: Instead of looking at going, hey.

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Speaker 3: How you doing? How can I pray for you? How

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Speaker 3: many times do we miss these key moments where we

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Speaker 3: can love lost people?

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Speaker 2: Amen?

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Speaker 3: And you don't have to be an extrovert to do it. Introverts, Mama,

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Speaker 3: can you say to someone can I pray for you?

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Speaker 2: Bam?

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Speaker 3: Can you say to someone, Hey, I just want you

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Speaker 3: to know I'm gonna pray for you.

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Speaker 2: In my car.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, because because as Christians we judge them.

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Speaker 2: We do. I know I do.

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Speaker 3: If you're not a man and you're not living like

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Speaker 3: a man, I judge you straight up absolutely. And you

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Speaker 3: know what God's working on me to see people because

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Speaker 3: they have.

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Speaker 2: A soul and they are dying. Amen.

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Speaker 3: Amen, do you guys handle a little vulnerability? Number four

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Speaker 3: suffer like a soldier. I love this two Timothy two, three,

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Speaker 3: and four share in suffering as a good soldier of

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Speaker 3: Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since

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Speaker 3: his aim is to please.

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Speaker 2: The one who enlisted him, say, enlisted.

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Speaker 3: The aim of the soldier is to please the one

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Speaker 3: who enlisted him.

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Speaker 2: This is for I'm the Bible.

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Speaker 3: As a social experiment by the Germans, five thousand Czechoslovakian

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Speaker 3: Jews when they arrived at Auschwitz were put in a

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Speaker 3: special compound. They were given nice clothes, good food, clean

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Speaker 3: living conditions, but they were still held as prisoners. They

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Speaker 3: could see every day thousands of Jews come on railcars

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Speaker 3: and get led off to the gas chambers, never to

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Speaker 3: be seen again. They could see the Nazis with guns

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Speaker 3: guarding them. They could see the prisoners as skinny as

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Speaker 3: skeletons from starvation.

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Speaker 2: They could see it all.

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Speaker 3: It even got to the point where prisoners were coming

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Speaker 3: up to the gates and they were saying.

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Speaker 2: What are you doing.

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Speaker 3: You have to try and overwhelm them and get away.

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Speaker 3: They're going to kill you. But denial was easier than

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Speaker 3: believing that they had to fight. Denial was easier than

437
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Speaker 3: accepting fate. One day they were led willingly to the

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Speaker 3: gas chambers. They had been it's spent five months smelling

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Speaker 3: the smoke of burned Jews, seeing the ash and their

440
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Speaker 3: beloved people disappear. But how could these kind ss men

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Speaker 3: who know their names, how could they have ill intentions?

442
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,360
Speaker 3: It was only when they went into the gas chambers

443
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:17,960
Speaker 3: that they realized what was going to happen.

444
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 2: That they put up a fight.

445
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 3: They were gunned down machine guns, the doors were sealed,

446
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:30,119
Speaker 3: and they were gassed. Denial was more comfortable than reality.

447
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:34,200
Speaker 3: Nine million Jews walked the earth in nineteen thirty three.

448
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 3: Six million Jews were murdered. During the Holocaust. Two of

449
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,679
Speaker 3: every three Jews in this world were wiped out, and

450
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,879
Speaker 3: the only thing that stopped an entire generation of Jews

451
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:50,159
Speaker 3: being murdered with soldiers fighting the axis of evil. It

452
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 3: takes a soldier to set captives free. And so that's

453
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,240
Speaker 3: where the question is that I'm posing to you today

454
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 3: is are you going to live your life like the

455
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,200
Speaker 3: Czechoslav in June, who wants to live in comfort, who

456
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 3: wants to live for yourself, who wants to deny the

457
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 3: death that's happening all around you, Or are you going

458
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 3: to live with a purpose in your heart knowing that

459
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,639
Speaker 3: there's destiny on the other side of the souls of

460
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,400
Speaker 3: those that you come in contact.

461
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 2: With, and be about your father's business. Amen.

462
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 3: Jesus started his ministry with Isaiah sixty one.

463
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 2: To set captives free.

464
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 3: And the Bible says that it is no longer I

465
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 3: who live, but it's Christ who lives in me. It's

466
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,200
Speaker 3: no longer me that's alive, but it's Christ who.

467
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:38,639
Speaker 2: Lives in me.

468
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 3: In this life that I live in the flesh, I

469
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 3: live through faith in the Son.

470
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 2: Of God who died and gave his life for me.

471
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 3: Because we have died to ourselves and we are alive

472
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 3: in Christ and He lives inside of us. There is

473
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,439
Speaker 3: a warrior, a soldier, a fighter living inside every single one.

474
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 2: Of you if you call yourself a Christian, and.

475
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 3: That warrior is ready at all times and willing to

476
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 3: fight with you, through you, beside you, because the world

477
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 3: is dying.

478
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,960
Speaker 2: They're captive. Is say at forty two thirteen says.

479
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,399
Speaker 3: The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a

480
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 3: man of war. He stirs up his zeal, he cries out,

481
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 3: he shouts aloud. He shows himself mighty against his foes.

482
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 3: We are in a war. Heaven is the good, Hell

483
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 3: is the evil, and Earth is the battlefield. And the

484
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 3: battle is for the souls of men. We believe this

485
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,960
Speaker 3: lie in our country, that there are those who serve

486
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 3: and volunteer, and there's those who don't. And we'll shake

487
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 3: their hands and be grateful for what they've done.

488
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 2: But they serve. We don't.

489
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 3: But in Israel, in God's land, everyone serves, everyone serves.

490
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 3: And that's what God is saying to us tonight. Everyone

491
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 3: needs to serve. I'm calling us into.

492
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 2: A place.

493
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 3: Not out of guilt or condemnation, but out of a conviction. Amen,

494
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 3: a conviction because I don't care about your feelings. No

495
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 3: military person does. I care about lost people. And I

496
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 3: believe there's three kinds of people in this room. The

497
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 3: first is you're here and you're comfortable, and you're living

498
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,240
Speaker 3: for yourself, and this message is convicting you.

499
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 2: Good. It's time to diete ourselves and live for Christ. Amen.

500
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 3: The second is you're sold out for Christ. Introvert Mama. Here,

501
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 3: you're who I'm talking to. You're living this message out

502
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 3: and you need to be encouraged. Keep going, Put more

503
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 3: gasoline on that fire. Pray bigger and bolder prayers. Pray

504
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 3: prayers so impossible only God could do them. Amen, Continue

505
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 3: to advance and do the work of the Gospel. And

506
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 3: the third person is you're here and you're barely hanging

507
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 3: on and you're listening to this and you're saying, Ben,

508
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 3: I hear what you're saying. It hits my heart. You

509
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 3: don't know what I'm going through. A month ago, I

510
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:41,239
Speaker 3: was at the doctor because I had come down with shingles.

511
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 3: I was sitting there talking to the doctor and I.

512
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 2: Was like, shingles. I said, doesn't that happen in older people?

513
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:57,080
Speaker 3: Sorry, you're seeing the commercials, you know, And she said, well, yes,

514
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 3: but it happens in people your age that are under

515
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 3: extreme stress. I was in chronic pain my spine, all

516
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 3: my nerves. It was awful, I said, stress to give

517
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:15,600
Speaker 3: you a picture. My wife and I met three and

518
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 3: a half years ago, and three years and two months

519
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 3: ago we were married short engagement. Five months later we

520
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:29,479
Speaker 3: were pregnant. Didn't plan that one the condo that we

521
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 3: were staying in, the lease was up, and we felt

522
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 3: God calling us to Tennessee, so we packed.

523
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 2: Up all of our stuff and put it in storage.

524
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 3: I took my pregnant wife and our new puppy because

525
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 3: we're gluttons for punishment, and we drove to Middle Tennessee

526
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 3: to move in with our friends and while my wife

527
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 3: is very pregnant and look for a home, and by

528
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 3: God's grace, we found a home. At the time, my

529
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:03,480
Speaker 3: organization was hosting a very large event down at the

530
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 3: Daytona Speedway to reach veterans. It was extremely powerful and

531
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 3: we did an amazing work there. But after it, God

532
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 3: called me in a new direction to really rebuild my organization,

533
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 3: to go on to military bases, and so here I

534
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 3: found myself in an organizational rebuild, completely starting over, a

535
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 3: new dad, a new husband, and in a new town

536
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 3: with no support, no family, and frankly no energy. To

537
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 3: build community. Our son had to have three different tongue

538
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 3: tie procedures because of his sleep issues and didn't sleep

539
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 3: through the night for twenty months. The ministry began growing,

540
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 3: and I was speaking ten times a week, which y'all

541
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:51,520
Speaker 3: a lot of times. Speaking to soldiers is like trying.

542
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 2: To raise the dead.

543
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 3: And so I looked at the doctor when she asked

544
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 3: if I was stressed out, and I said, yeah, I

545
00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 3: sure am. And that's where I'm here to say to

546
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 3: you tonight that I'm not bulletproof. I'm not superman, and

547
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 3: I'm not calling you to be either. But I'm coming

548
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 3: at you with a conviction for the loss because we

549
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 3: have the light inside of us that can penetrate the darkness.

550
00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 2: And if we don't answer the call, who will?

551
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 3: So why not us? And why not now? I won't

552
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 3: invite you to stand to your feet as I close here.

553
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 3: About two months ago, I was in the Word and

554
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 3: I was reading from Psalms, and there's this beautiful truth

555
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 3: that says I will surround him with favor as a shield.

556
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:56,120
Speaker 3: And I read that and I texted it to my

557
00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 3: wife and I was like, man, this is powerful. I

558
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,800
Speaker 3: feel like we need to like pray this or get

559
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 3: grab a hold of this truth. And she said, well,

560
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,600
Speaker 3: I think we need to send it to our soldiers.

561
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 3: Because we have all of our soldiers are on a

562
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,239
Speaker 3: text platform. We can message them all over the world.

563
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,440
Speaker 3: And we texted out to all of them, and the

564
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 3: next morning we got a text back and it was

565
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 3: from a young man that we led to Christ back

566
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 3: in February. We led him to Christ and three days

567
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 3: later he was on a plane to Syria. He could

568
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,000
Speaker 3: not get away for twenty minutes for us to baptize him.

569
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:29,120
Speaker 3: And he said, I don't know how to tell you this,

570
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 3: but yesterday I was room clearing and I was the

571
00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:38,200
Speaker 3: last one out of the room and an ied went

572
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 3: off and I got blown up and.

573
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 2: Thrown across the street. And when I came to.

574
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,839
Speaker 3: I heard the audible voice of God say to me, son,

575
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 3: I'm not done with you yet. And and he said, man,

576
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 3: that shield thing worked. I'm not telling you that to

577
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 3: talk about my ministry or what I've done. I'm telling

578
00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 3: you that because it's the most incredible thing that I've

579
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:11,560
Speaker 3: seen in a long time.

580
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 2: To remind me that.

581
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,920
Speaker 3: God is still alive and he's working. And this is

582
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 3: where I want to encourage you today whatever you need

583
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:20,360
Speaker 3: to do. If you want to close your eyes, Oh so,

584
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:21,799
Speaker 3: I don't want to have a moment with God as

585
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 3: I pray us out that God has a calling on

586
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 3: your life. Let us come back to the first love,

587
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 3: when we had that first moment where we fell in

588
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 3: love with Jesus and we burned with passion for him

589
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 3: and for those that were lost. And I believe that

590
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 3: God sent me here tonight for someone because you've gotten apathetic.

591
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,240
Speaker 3: You've allowed situations in your life to make you bitter,

592
00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 3: and it's caused you just to focus on yourself because

593
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,799
Speaker 3: of the pain that you've gone through of rejection or

594
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,279
Speaker 3: betrayal or just being beaten down from life. And I'm

595
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 3: speaking to your heart right now, come alive, and the

596
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 3: stone of flesh, the heart of flesh that's in you,

597
00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 3: that has become stone, let it become flesh again. And

598
00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 3: God is softening the pain and the bitterness in your life,

599
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:13,880
Speaker 3: and He is resurrecting you from death to life. I

600
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,120
Speaker 3: also want to pray for marriages in this room, for

601
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 3: anyone whose marriage is suffering. And I want to say this,

602
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 3: if you're having a really hard time and strife in

603
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 3: your marriage. Then one of you does not want to

604
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 3: die and become more like Christ. One of you does

605
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,640
Speaker 3: not want to submit to Jesus and become more like him.

606
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 3: Because at the root of all strife and marriage is selfishness.

607
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 3: Been there again and again, and that's where I want

608
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 3: to call you someone in here. Your marriage is in

609
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,080
Speaker 3: strife because you are being selfish and you need to

610
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 3: lay down your life like Christ does for the church.

611
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 2: There's also someone to here.

612
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 3: Your marriage is struggling because your partner has hurt you

613
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 3: beyond what yon what you could anyone could imagine. And

614
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:03,560
Speaker 3: you know what God is saying to you right now,

615
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:10,799
Speaker 3: Me too, Your partner has hurt me too. But I'm

616
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 3: going to give you unconditional grace because I've given it

617
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 3: to them. I'm going to put that unconditional grace in

618
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 3: you so that you can find a way to forgive them.

619
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:40,760
Speaker 2: In Jesus' name, you will be like God human unity.

620
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:46,600
Speaker 2: God was severed and through it all God's promise remain true.

621
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 2: Follow me, apron and I will make you great.

622
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 3: This is the Chosen People. Listen to the Chosen People

623
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 3: at the Chosen.

624
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,680
Speaker 2: People dot Com. That's the Chosen People.

625
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:14,720
Speaker 3: Dot com