Sunday Service - 2025-07-27

Sunday Service - 2025-07-27

Episode description

Two Edged Sword
Hebrews 4:12-13

Pastor Chris Bonner

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0:14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

0:18

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

0:24

Thank you for joining us today.

0:35

So we are going to continue in Hebrews chapter 4.

0:39

We're only looking at two verses today because they are so packed and so familiar to you, especially the one.

0:48

And today's message is the two-edged sword and

0:55

So let's pray and thank the Lord for being here.

1:00

Lord, we just thank You for Your Word.

1:03

We thank You for Your Holy Spirit.

1:06

And that in and of itself is all we need here today.

1:10

So Lord, we ask You to teach us from within, Lord, what we need to take out of here to transform our lives and really help others transform their lives as well.

1:22

So we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.

1:26

So last week we talked about entering God's rest and how so many of the ways God interacted with Israel are very applicable to us Christians.

1:39

And we drew the whole parallel analogy of how the Lord led Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness.

1:47

And then when they got to the Jordan River and said, all right, go in, send those spies out.

1:51

And then you're going in to inherit that land.

1:54

And they did not heed God's voice.

1:58

They doubted it.

1:59

They didn't trust God that God would provide all the victory in that land.

2:05

And as a result, the word said that they hardened their heart and could not enter the rest of the Lord.

2:12

Right. And so for 40 years, the Lord had to filter out those unbelievers and then brought that next generation in.

2:20

And so it all came down to really hearing the voice of God and listening to it. Right.

2:27

And so now from here, the spirit teaches us even more about how important the word of God is.

2:35

And it's like a two edged sword.

2:38

And this idea of a two edged sword, we see the sword of the spirit, right, is the word of God.

2:45

Ephesians chapter six tells us that.

2:48

In fact, in all the armor that we go into battle with, the only offensive weapon we have is the sword.

2:55

The rest is the helmet, the shield, the breastplate, shoes and everything.

3:00

But it's that word of God. That's how we defeat the enemy.

3:03

That's how we win victories is with the word of God.

3:08

And this idea of a double edged sword, John, in Revelation, we don't have the verse up.

3:14

But in Revelation chapter one, as he was having this vision, he sees, oh, actually we do.

3:20

He sees Jesus Christ. And in Revelation one, 16 to 17, he had in his right hand seven stars.

3:30

All these are symbolic of so many things we don't have time to get into.

3:34

And of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword.

3:38

And his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

3:43

And when I saw him, this is how we know it was Jesus, I fell at his feet as dead.

3:49

But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, do not be afraid.

3:54

I am the first and the last. He's the Alpha and the Omega.

3:59

You know, as we were just reading that, I pictured, you remember when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration?

4:05

This is John, the Apostle John with James, his brother and Peter.

4:09

And when all of a sudden the Lord lit up and he was speaking to Moses and to Elijah.

4:15

And they all fell down to the ground, just like they were dead, because they heard the Father's voice.

4:20

Behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

4:24

And they just like rattled and fell to the ground.

4:27

And then out of all of that, Jesus just touched them and says, do not be afraid.

4:32

It is me. And they looked up and it's all quiet.

4:36

And it's just Jesus back to the form that they could recognize.

4:40

And so here he is saying the same thing only in this about 60 years later through this vision of revelation.

4:48

And so Jesus is the Word of God, isn't he? And so that's why we see him.

4:53

I was trying to find some kind of graphic on the Internet showing Jesus with a sword coming out of his mouth.

5:00

But they all are just so corny and weird. I'm like, I'm not even going to attempt that.

5:05

But this is what John saw. So we're going to dive right in and read these two verses.

5:13

Yeah. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful word.

5:16

For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,

5:29

of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

5:37

And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

5:49

So here we see the Word of God is living and powerful.

5:55

Now, isn't that awesome how the word is living? It's not a dead word, right? It's living.

6:02

When we read the Word of God, it's not just a historical narrative or a theological narrative or an academic exercise to learn these things about the past.

6:15

It's living. That means it's relevant to your life right now, just like we read last week.

6:22

Now, what is all that Israel coming out of Egypt and the wilderness? What does that have to do with us? It has everything to do with us.

6:29

It's all a point. It's all pointing to Christ in us. So it's all relevant. It's living. It's not a dead word. It's living.

6:39

I love how you ever notice how you're reading something that morning and suddenly you're out there and somebody says the same word you read that morning.

6:47

Or you see a situation and it reminds you of something you just read because the Word of God is living.

6:55

That's why it's so important, not a guilt trip, but it's so important to really engage with the Word.

7:04

I know little daily devotionals are good and fine, but when you just go through the book and you know what, just bite off one verse a day.

7:12

Anybody can take one verse and you just bite that off and chew on it and just say,

7:19

yeah, Lord, how do you want me to use that word today?

7:22

And you'll find yourself over time just adding more and more verses to it because it's all tied together

7:27

and you don't want to take Scripture out of context. But after a while, it's so much fun to really just be living that Word of God.

7:36

You know what happens? The world becomes like a parable to you. Did you ever notice that?

7:41

The more you know the Word, you see everything as a parable that you can also find in the Word of God.

7:47

So it's living and it's powerful.

7:51

The word energase is where we get energy. It's an energized Word, right? It's powerful.

7:57

You know, that's why a lot of people when they're going through some sort of depression

8:02

or they feel that they're being attacked by the enemy, they'll play the Word of God in their house.

8:08

You know, at a level that isn't like distracting them, but the Word of God because as it's playing,

8:15

the demonic realm, the spiritual realm hates hearing the Word of God, right?

8:20

Because He casts out the evil one, right? So the Word of God is so powerful, so energized

8:27

that the Word has enormous power in your life.

8:32

That's why when you don't know how to pray, just start reading the Word out loud.

8:36

I love when people just are, as they're praying, you can hear their paraphrasing

8:43

and the Word of God just really coming off their tongue because they've been just soaking in it.

8:49

You know, I picture it's like a wick just dumped in the oil and the Word.

8:54

And when you just get all soaked up with the Word of God, it's just always burning.

8:57

It's always coming alive out of you because it's so powerful.

9:01

So the Word of God is living and powerful, amen?

9:07

And then it pierces and this sword of God, it's this word for sword.

9:17

You know, a lot of times we picture like this long, you know,

9:20

I don't know how those guys picked those things up and actually swung them around.

9:23

You ever watch those old gladiator movies?

9:26

I mean, those things, I don't know how much they weigh, but that looks difficult.

9:29

But these weren't those kinds of swords.

9:33

They were more like long knives, the Makira.

9:37

In fact, we have a couple of pictures here.

9:38

Thank you, Natasha.

9:40

I found these archives, you know, and here's a couple of them.

9:44

This is maybe a straight edge we're talking about here that they'd wear right in their sheath.

9:50

And but this, of course, would be a double edge.

9:53

So probably that straight one.

9:55

But this one, I forget what age that is,

9:57

but it's somewhere around the timeline that we're talking about.

10:00

So it's a Roman and Makira, and it's a shorter knife.

10:04

And it's used for practical things like butchering food and everything.

10:09

But it's also used for tactical purposes.

10:12

You know, I have another one that shows just the kind of size it is.

10:15

That's actually from 200 B.C., that one they found.

10:19

I don't know why they're letting that guy hold it, but that's another thing.

10:22

But anyway, but these are like short knives, okay?

10:24

And I mean, long knives, short swords.

10:28

They're very practical, right?

10:31

And actually, all four gospels, okay, report how Peter,

10:36

remember when Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane

10:40

and Peter pulled out his Makira and sliced off Malchus's ear right off his head.

10:47

And of course, Jesus restored it.

10:49

But it was something that most people would carry for a lot of reasons, you know,

10:52

not just for doing battle, but for a lot of practical reasons.

10:56

And you know what?

10:57

And it cuts on both sides.

10:59

It's a two-edged sword, right?

11:01

So it's very practical.

11:03

And you know, when I think about this idea of a shorter two-edged sword,

11:08

it's meant for close-up battle, for everyday use, you know,

11:13

both battle and also for practical purposes, like we just talked about.

11:17

Just like the Word of God.

11:19

The Word of God isn't for this big picture societal analysis of all things.

11:29

It's for everyday use.

11:30

It's for like, you know, I need this all the time.

11:33

You know, this is day in, day out, up front, close and personal battle

11:38

in my everyday life, you know, that's what this...

11:41

And so this is why they specifically use the Makira as an example

11:46

of what the Word of God is like.

11:47

And it's two-edged.

11:49

That means it cuts both ways, you know?

11:52

Isn't it funny how when you read the Word and I'm reading,

11:56

I'm like, Jill really needs to get this.

11:59

She really needs to understand this.

12:02

I mean, all my fingers getting cut, right?

12:05

Because really, it's probably me who has to really get that.

12:09

It cuts both ways, right?

12:11

The Word of God, because we need it all the time.

12:14

And God's always revealing things to us.

12:16

And you know, we wouldn't want it any other way.

12:20

Would you like to get up in the morning

12:21

and look in the mirror and say, you know what?

12:24

This is as righteous as I'm ever gonna be.

12:28

This is as, well, we are righteous in Christ.

12:30

But I mean, this is as good as it's gonna get.

12:33

I'm looking at me right now and this is it.

12:36

You get what you get?

12:37

No, He's always, always just refining us, right?

12:42

He's always cutting out the things

12:44

that don't belong in our life if we let Him.

12:47

And He's always imputing the things that should be there.

12:51

And that's great, isn't it?

12:54

That you can know, especially as I get older in life,

12:56

and I'm just being practical here for a minute,

12:58

I realize there's a lot of things

13:00

that aren't gonna necessarily get better.

13:02

I'm not gonna run faster.

13:03

I'm not gonna lift more weights.

13:05

I'm not gonna, like, there's a lot of things

13:07

that aren't gonna get, quote unquote, better.

13:11

But I can be more and more Christ-like.

13:14

I can think more like Him.

13:16

I can speak more like Him.

13:18

I can love more like Him.

13:21

This sky's the limit.

13:23

Until my last breath, I can be more and more like Him.

13:27

Isn't that something great to look forward to?

13:29

In the end, it doesn't matter what age we are,

13:31

that's something to look forward to.

13:34

Lord, I'm just gonna surrender more and more to You, Lord,

13:38

because I want You to be just resonating

13:41

and being a fragrance, Lord, out of my life.

13:45

And so that's the idea here, is this double-edged Makaira.

13:51

And it pierces.

13:52

It pierces deep.

13:54

You know, this word, diyekmaiomai,

13:57

aren't you glad I tried to pronounce that?

13:59

The Greek word, but it's only found one time in this verse.

14:03

And it doesn't mean to just prick or pierce.

14:06

It means to cut through, okay?

14:10

I mean, picture a butcher just saying,

14:12

all right, we're gonna get this part out.

14:13

You know, it means to cut fully through.

14:17

So this is the idea with the word of God.

14:19

It wants to cut all the way through.

14:21

We're gonna see, to separate, to distinguish,

14:24

to differentiate things that don't belong, okay?

14:29

And the first thing it says is dividing soul and spirit.

14:34

Soul and spirit.

14:37

Now, the thing about soul and spirit,

14:39

we're not gonna get all into the body, soul and spirit,

14:41

because that's a long, long conversation.

14:46

But the thing about soul and spirit,

14:47

when you read it in the word,

14:49

a lot of times they're almost interchangeable, okay?

14:52

Which makes a theologian difficult

14:54

because they want everything kind of to fit in a box.

14:57

But soul and spirit actually are kind of used interchangeably,

15:00

especially in the Old Testament.

15:01

I have an example in Job 7-11 and Isaiah 26-9.

15:07

It says, therefore, I will not restrain my mouth.

15:11

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.

15:14

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

15:18

It's kind of interchangeable.

15:20

And then Isaiah 26-9 says,

15:22

with my soul I have desired you in the night.

15:26

Yes, by my spirit within me, I will seek you early.

15:30

So again, it's like, it's the soul and spirit.

15:33

And I've heard actually people have doctorates in theology saying,

15:37

you know, that body, soul, spirit model

15:39

kind of breaks down a little bit

15:42

when you engage it in scripture.

15:45

But nonetheless, it's blended,

15:49

especially in the Old Testament.

15:51

The spirit is often used as an emotion.

15:54

I have an example.

15:56

When Moses went to speak to the children of Israel,

15:59

he says, God sent me to bring you out of Egypt.

16:03

And they actually had a spirit of anguish.

16:16

They were so used to being in bondage.

16:18

The thought of leaving, they're like, no, no, no.

16:22

We belong in bondage.

16:24

And they couldn't hear him.

16:26

They couldn't hear him.

16:27

Remember, Jesse just told on this recently,

16:30

in Numbers when they're trying to figure out

16:34

whether this woman had an affair

16:35

and whether she committed adultery

16:37

because the husband had a spirit of jealousy, you know, a spirit.

16:43

So a lot of times, you know,

16:44

the spirit is connected to an actual emotion or feeling.

16:48

Now, all of this matters.

16:49

I'll show you why in a minute.

16:52

When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes,

16:54

he says it's better to have a spirit of patience than of pride.

17:00

So you get the idea.

17:01

There's a lot of so many things of anguish, of distressing.

17:05

Remember when Saul,

17:08

when the Lord took the Holy Spirit from him

17:11

and put it upon David,

17:13

he repeatedly had a distressing spirit.

17:16

Now, that was also spiritual,

17:17

which we'll talk about like an evil spirit.

17:20

But still, it's an emotion.

17:22

It's a feeling.

17:23

So spirits are used that way as well, okay?

17:27

And then so in all of this,

17:30

this idea of spirit,

17:33

and then of course, it's also a spirit.

17:36

There's evil spirit.

17:37

So the spirit comprises so many things.

17:40

So let's look at this slide,

17:42

ruah and numah, okay?

17:46

In the Old Testament,

17:47

it's called a ruah,

17:49

and it's numah in Greek in the New Testament.

17:51

But we see that the spirit is God's Holy Spirit.

17:57

The spirit is the human themselves.

17:59

We are all born with a spirit, okay?

18:02

When he breathed into man,

18:04

we all now have a human spirit.

18:07

We have emotions, we have feelings,

18:09

like we were just talking about,

18:10

that's considered a spirit.

18:12

And also there are evil agents of the enemy,

18:15

spiritual, spiritual,

18:18

evil spirits that also afflict us.

18:21

So what kind of spirit is the sword

18:24

trying to separate from us?

18:27

Well, it's the spirit of God, right?

18:29

He wants us to only be listening to

18:33

and heeding the Holy Spirit.

18:36

That's what he wants us to yield to.

18:37

He wants to cut out these emotions and feelings

18:41

that are not relevant

18:43

to what God is trying to do in our life.

18:46

If there's feelings and emotions that don't belong,

18:51

like I'll give you an example.

18:53

You ever notice sometimes that

18:54

we could be triggered by situations or people, okay?

19:00

In fact, a lot of times the PTSD is tied to this.

19:04

If certain situations really haunt us from the past,

19:10

whenever that situation or that kind of person

19:14

comes into our sphere of involvement,

19:19

we can suddenly get these feelings again,

19:21

like, oh no, oh no, I know how this is gonna end.

19:23

I've had many people come to me in situations

19:27

and we just had to confront them about something,

19:31

whatever it is,

19:32

and they immediately tie everything from their past

19:35

that went wrong to this current situation.

19:37

I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no.

19:38

That's not what this is.

19:40

We need to separate things from the past

19:44

that don't apply to this particular situation.

19:48

Does that make sense?

19:49

Because otherwise we could be carrying a load of emotions

19:53

and feelings that we've never allowed the Word

19:56

to separate from our soul and really take it away

20:01

and we just bring it with us

20:03

so everything still reminds us

20:05

of everything bad that ever happened.

20:07

But the Word of God wants to cut through all that and say,

20:11

no, no, this, I want this separate.

20:13

I want this taken away.

20:15

This doesn't belong because that's what he wants to do.

20:17

The Holy Spirit wants to separate soul and spirit.

20:22

Does that make sense?

20:24

A lot of times our souls can get hijacked

20:28

by these spiritual things.

20:31

Even as a believer, it's easy to see why unbelievers

20:35

would be afflicted by evil spirits

20:39

because they don't have the Holy Spirit

20:41

because when we have the Holy Spirit greater is he who is in us

20:44

than he who is in the world,

20:46

we have the greatest Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.

20:50

When you accept Christ into your life,

20:52

he comes in and dwells in you, right?

20:56

He seals you to the day of your redemption.

20:58

He has a deposit in you.

21:00

The enemy cannot possess you,

21:02

but he can oppress you sometimes.

21:05

I don't know if you've ever been oppressed as a believer,

21:07

but it's still not fun.

21:09

You know it's not of God, but he's still oppressing you, right?

21:14

He can have an impact on your life,

21:16

but the Lord is saying,

21:17

look, allow my word to come into your life

21:21

and separate this spiritual affliction

21:26

because you're not to be manipulated by this anymore.

21:29

You know, we have a human spirit

21:33

that sometimes has difficulty differentiating,

21:37

but the word of God helps us do that.

21:39

In fact, I have a verse in this.

21:43

1 Corinthians 2, 11 to 12 says,

21:48

for what man knows the things of a man

21:52

except the spirit of a man, which is in him?

21:55

Even so, no one knows the things of God

21:58

except the spirit of God.

22:00

Now we have received not the spirit of the world,

22:03

but the spirit who is from God,

22:06

that we might know the things

22:08

that have been freely given to us by God.

22:12

So we have a spirit that can help us discern,

22:15

but we're still warned again and again in scripture,

22:18

don't be carried away with other spirits,

22:22

even as a believer.

22:23

We could be carried away if we aren't true

22:26

to knowing the word and consistently absorbing it.

22:31

So does that make sense?

22:33

So the Lord wants to separate a spirit that doesn't belong

22:36

so that we are completely dependent on his Holy Spirit.

22:42

We don't want to be manipulated by evil spirits.

22:45

We don't want to be manipulated by our own feelings

22:47

and our own fears and our own insecurities or pride

22:52

or whatever it might be.

22:53

Those are spirits.

22:55

We just looked at these.

22:56

These are spiritual things,

22:58

but that's not who the Lord wants us to be captivated by.

23:02

He wants us to be captivated by the Holy Spirit.

23:06

And then the next is cutting through the soul and spirit.

23:09

Then it's the joint and marrow, the joint marrow.

23:13

He wants to separate the joints from the marrow.

23:16

Now, again, all of this is kind of a metaphor.

23:19

It's using bodily things, right,

23:23

to represent spiritual things.

23:27

So why does he say joints and marrow?

23:32

Why does he say that?

23:33

That's a funny picture.

23:34

I don't even know if I can contort my body that way.

23:37

I don't know.

23:39

But joints and marrow, why is he using this?

23:41

Well, think about what a joint does.

23:44

First of all, in scripture, right,

23:47

this word joint is used for doors, okay?

23:51

The hinge on a door, okay?

23:53

It opens and closes the door.

23:55

It's a hinge, right?

23:56

But they call it a joint, right?

23:58

It's not, don't be thinking joint like the cannabis joint.

24:02

Some of you, I know what you're thinking.

24:04

But we've been set free of all that, amen?

24:06

But, or armor, it talks about the joints of an arm.

24:13

Remember, Ahab was struck by an arrow

24:15

that happened to land right in between a joint in his armor.

24:19

And as a result, he ended up dying.

24:22

And so they talk about that.

24:24

But what is a joint?

24:25

It's something that's moving, right?

24:27

Now, our body has a lot of joints, doesn't it, right?

24:31

And what does it do?

24:32

It creates motion.

24:34

And I looked at this diagram.

24:35

It's too small to really see.

24:38

But I didn't realize this.

24:39

Our bodies have all kinds of joints.

24:41

Did you know that?

24:42

Like all kinds of different identifying joints,

24:46

like a pivot joint, a hinge joint,

24:48

a saddle joint, all these different joints in your body.

24:52

But what do joints do?

24:53

They enable movement.

24:55

So why is the word of God sharp or two-edged sword

24:58

dividing the movement of our life?

25:01

I'm going to tell you in a second.

25:02

Then the next thing, joint and what?

25:06

Marrow.

25:06

So let's take a look at marrow for a minute.

25:09

So marrow is so significant for our health, right?

25:15

Because marrow is producing red blood cells,

25:19

white blood cells, platelets.

25:21

I mean, it's what our body needs.

25:23

And the white blood cells,

25:25

I was reading up on this,

25:27

how it produces all kinds of auto,

25:30

like it produces immunity, right,

25:33

to viruses, parasites, bacteria.

25:36

It produces T cells, right, Monday.

25:39

This is right up your alley.

25:41

He's a chemical engineer.

25:43

Did I get that right?

25:43

Chemical, something like that.

25:46

He's kind of nodding like, okay, just move on.

25:49

But he's a chemical engineer over at Merck,

25:51

and so he studies, he knows T cells.

25:54

Well, T cells produce all kinds of anti-inflammatory agents

25:58

in your body.

26:00

They fight against, again, parasites

26:02

and all these different things,

26:04

viruses that can be attacking your body.

26:07

Well, marrow is good for all of that.

26:09

It produces.

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And you know, when it releases these cells,

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those cells only live 24 hours,

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and it has to keep producing.

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So it's producing millions of these cells in your body

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to fight against this stuff.

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I mean, the body is truly an amazing thing, isn't it?

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Like, God designed all this.

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So why is the Lord bringing up joints,

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and why is he bringing up marrow?

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Like, what does that have to do with anything?

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Well, think through this.

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Because joints represent what?

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Motion, action, okay?

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And marrow represents health, right?

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Represents providing for our bodies

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what's necessary, health.

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So if the Lord is separating our actions,

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our emotions, right,

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from what is healthy for our life,

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isn't that a good thing?

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Because perhaps our actions aren't lining up

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with a healthy life.

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Do you see that?

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Like, because, you know, I can be saying on one side,

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well, my body, you know,

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I really want to be unaddicted to anything, okay?

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I really want to have more love in my life.

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I really want these things for my life,

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because I know God wants it for my life.

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That would be the marrow.

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And yet over here,

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lying to my boss, I'm cheating on my wife,

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I'm still, you know, shooting up, smoking, whatever I'm doing,

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I'm still doing all the things,

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because that's the joints of my life, that's my actions.

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But the marrow is over here saying, what's up?

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Like, you're not doing anything

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that should be lining up with marrow here, right?

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And, you know, so the word of God wants to cut in

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and separate and say,

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look, your actions are not lining up

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with the health you want for your life.

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You know, in scripture,

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marrow is always pictured as a healthy, an abundant life.

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It's really, it's symbolic.

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And I have a few verses that we're going to look at,

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Job 21, 24, and Psalm 63.5, Isaiah 25.6.

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His pails are full of milk.

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This is seen as a blessing.

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And the marrow of his bones is moist.

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You know, a moist, it's not dry.

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You know what dry marrow means?

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It probably means you're dead, okay?

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Or at least you're not healthy.

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Part of you is dying, right?

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But it's the idea of a healthy life.

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In Psalms, my soul shall be satisfied

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as with marrow and fatness,

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as my mouth shall praise you with my joyful lips.

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Again, marrow is seen as an abundant,

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thriving, healthy life.

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And then finally, on this mountain,

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the Lord of hosts will make for all people

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a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

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of the rich food full of marrow,

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of aged wine well refined.

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So we see again, this marrow is seen as a positive thing.

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So when we say the word of God is sharper

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than a double-edged sword that wants to divide,

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he's saying, are your actions lining up

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with your desire to have a God-filled,

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God-honoring, God-representative life?

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Does that make sense?

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And that's what the word wants to do.

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And then finally, the word of God

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wants to separate thoughts and intentions, you know?

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So notice in all of these three analogies,

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he's always putting the lesser thing before the greater thing.

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So in other words, he says the soul and the spirit,

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the soul is really submissive to spirit.

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We just talked about that, right?

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In fact, we have a diagram of the soul.

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If you could put that up, the spirit, soul, and body, okay?

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And the body really is just going for the ride, okay?

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Not for animals.

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Animals live by what their body wants, you know?

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I'm hungry, I'm going to go kill something, right?

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I'm lustful, I'm going to go, you know, do something else

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and procreate with four dough or whatever it is, you know?

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I mean, that's the body.

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We're humans.

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We're making Gods like this.

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We're not to be animals, right?

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So the body is like a tent to us.

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You know, we don't have to submit to it.

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But the soul and spirit is where it gets a little murky, okay?

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Because the soul is weak and it just shifts.

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It changes its mind.

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It changes its willpower, you know?

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But the spirit, the spirit is what drives.

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It's almost like a steering wheel.

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It drives that soul, right?

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You've heard of the rudder of a ship being like this tongue

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of someone's life driving it through the ocean.

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Well, our soul is like the steering wheel,

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but the spirit steers, steers our lives.

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So we need to make sure the right spirit is behind the wheel.

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Does that make sense?

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And so the Lord, again, wants to separate the soul

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from the spirit because the soul is weak

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and it just submits to different spirits.

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Let's make sure who's driving the ship or the car

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in this case, right?

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And then the next thing, the joint and marrow,

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the joint are your actions.

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It's what we do from instinct.

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But you got to change your actions

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if you want that marrow-filled life, the abundant life.

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And now we get to thoughts and intentions.

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So thoughts are what we think about.

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And Ken, by the way, did an amazing job teaching yesterday,

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and he was talking about prayer,

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but he said again and again in 2 Corinthians 10-5,

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he kept saying, take every thought captive in Christ,

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because our thoughts can go all over the place.

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Have you ever been reading the word and all of a sudden

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you're thinking about bizarre, weird things?

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Like, wait a minute, I'm in front of the Bible.

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Why am I thinking about this?

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Like we can think about a lot of strange things

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at strange times, right?

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But the intentions are right.

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Like I want my life to be reflective of Christ.

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That's the intentions.

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You know, I've officiated lots of weddings in my day,

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and one of the part is declare your intentions, right?

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Because you need to declare things and say,

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I plan to do this.

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And I say, you know, I'll say, do you, Jake,

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promise to love, breathe with all your heart soul?

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That's not the one.

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But, you know, and provide for her through sickness

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and in health and be faithful to her.

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And at the end, it's I do, right?

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That's the intentions.

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But you have to state those intentions.

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Sometimes we have to keep reminding ourselves

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what the intentions of our hearts are,

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because sometimes our thoughts aren't lining up

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with our intentions.

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Because our thoughts can wander all around.

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That's why the word says take every thought

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captive, right, to Christ.

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So we can say, wait a minute, this,

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no, these thoughts don't belong.

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I shouldn't be looking at that.

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I shouldn't be thinking about that.

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I shouldn't be excited about that, whatever it is.

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These don't line up with my intentions

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to live that life for Christ, you know?

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So the Holy Spirit wants to divide.

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That's why in Romans 12, too, it says,

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don't conform to the patterns of this world, right?

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And that's one version, but the other is,

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don't conform to the world, okay?

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Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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Then you will be able to prove the good acceptable.

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And you know, in the scriptures,

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acceptable actually means well-pleasing.

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The good, well-pleasing, perfect will of God.

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Isn't it amazing how it just keeps getting better?

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The good, the well-pleasing, the perfect will of God.

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See, when our minds are transformed,

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you know, then our thoughts will line up

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with the intentions of our heart.

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So the word of God wants to come in and say, all right,

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do these thoughts line up with your intentions?

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I think most believers, we get saved,

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and we think, wow, the sky's the limit.

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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I am now, I have the divine nature,

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second Peter, chapter one.

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I am a divine, I have divinity living in me.

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I have a divine nature.

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I have power.

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I have authority in my life.

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And it's like, all the sun, we just, wow,

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like this is who I am.

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But then all of a sudden, what happens?

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Suddenly another spirit comes in and starts driving,

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you know?

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Or perhaps our actions are just running away

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doing their own thing, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

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you know, it's not lining up

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with who I just realized I was in Christ.

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Or perhaps my thoughts are going AWA,

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and I'm starting to think in a defeated mindset.

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And we are forgetting who we are in Christ.

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So the Word of God wants to separate all of that

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and take what doesn't belong away,

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but He wants to put what should remain in.

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Imagine going into surgery,

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because after this, verse 13 talks about,

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He lays all things naked, and nothing's hidden from it.

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Like, He sees right through you.

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Did you know that?

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Like that skeleton guy we just looked at?

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I mean, He sees right through, He sees everything in you.

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You're like, oh boy, I wish He didn't see ever.

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He sees it all, right?

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He can just scan right through you,

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and He still loves you,

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and He knows how much He can do through you

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if you would just let Him,

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just surrender fully to Him.

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And when we're on the operating table, okay,

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we can't cover up.

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We can't say, no, Lord,

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I don't want you to be able to see everything.

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Well, then I can't operate on you, okay?

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I need to see it all.

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And sometimes we think we're gonna cover up

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like Adam and Eve at the fig leaves.

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It's not gonna happen.

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I know exactly where you are, right?

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And He sees us for who we are,

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but He also sees us, who He is making us into,

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because we are predestined to be the image of God, right?

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And He sees it all.

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And I was just thinking, imagine, you know,

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the Lord knows what to take out and what to put in.

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Imagine going into surgery and you have a brain tumor,

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and the surgeon's there, and He says, all right, now,

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so let's leave the tumor in, but take the brain out.

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You know, it's like, you wouldn't do that, right?

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God doesn't, He knows what is meant to be left alone

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and what's to be put in.

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You know, I have a few anchors in my body here and there,

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you know, I had to get things put in

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so things would stay together, you know,

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probably some of you did too, right?

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He knows what to put in,

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but He also knows what to take out, amen.

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As the worship team comes up

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and we contemplate these things,

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now the Lord wants to divide

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the spirit and soul, the soul from the spirit.

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He wants to be able to separate the spirit

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that doesn't belong behind the wheel

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as He wants to separate our actions

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from the abundant life, the thriving, healthy life

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He wants us to have, spiritually healthy,

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maybe physically healthy too.

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I believe the more spiritually healthy you are,

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you will be more physically, financially

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and other areas healthy too, you know,

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because He loves us and He wants to provide for us.

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And the word, it says in the word that the word

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will prosper our lives, right?

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And so there's that.

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And then finally, He wants to separate thoughts

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from the spirit.

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Are we letting Him do that?

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Are we letting Him really cut deep, cut through

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and letting Him remove those spirits

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that just don't belong hijacking our lives anymore

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or the actions that need to stop if we're really gonna thrive

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or the thoughts that are not from God, they're from the enemy.

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You know, that's why we have a shield of faith

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to extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy

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so that they don't land and stay in us.

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And so the Lord wants to purify us of all those things, Amen.

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So let's stand up and pray.

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Father God, we thank you that your word of God

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is like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon.

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And Lord God, you know exactly where to cut

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and what to remove and what to put in

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that we would be vessels for you,

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that we would thrive in you, Lord God,

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that we would thrive in the Holy Spirit,

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that we would thrive in our actions and our motives

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and that we would thrive, Lord God,

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in our thoughts that they would line up

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with the intentions of our heart, Lord God.

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We ask your word to just continuously just pour into us.

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We thank you for your Holy Spirit

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because without it we wouldn't even understand

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what we're reading or what we're hearing.

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But Lord God, your Holy Spirit enlightens it to us.

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It's like a lamp upon our feet

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so we could see where we're going

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through these dark days, Lord God,

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and bring light everywhere we go.

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So we thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.

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Let's give the Lord a round of applause.

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Let's just make this our prayer.

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Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church

40:50

as we praise God and discuss His word.

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Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings

40:57

at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.

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Be blessed and have a great day!

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God bless!