Exodus Part 8

Well, good morning church, anybody come to lift up the name of Jesus, come on and stand with us, we're going to do that together. God is great, there's nothing he cannot do, come on we're just going to sing those truths together. Just one word, you calm the storm that surrounds me And just one word, the darkness has to retreat With just one touch, I feel the presence of heaven With just one touch, my eyes are open to see, my heart can't help but believe Come on let's sing this out, there's nothing that our God can't do There's not a mountain that he can't move Oh praise the name that makes a way There's nothing that our God can't do Oh do you believe it? With just one word, you heal what's broken inside Oh yes you do With just one word, you revive every dream With just one touch, I feel the power of heaven With just one touch, my eyes are open to see, my heart can't help but believe Come on somebody sing, there's nothing that our God can't do There's not a mountain that he can't move Oh praise the name that makes a way There's nothing that our God can't do There's nothing that our God can't do There's not a prison wall we can't break through Oh praise the name that makes a way There's nothing that our God can't do Oh we believe, Lord we believe There's nothing that you cannot do Oh and I will believe For greater things, there's no power like the power Come on let's let the faith arise in this place Let faith move, let's all agree

Let all, there's no power Sing it again, said I will believe For even greater things, there's no power Like the power of Jesus Let your faith arise Let all agree Oh there's no power Said I will believe For greater things, there's no power Like the power, let faith arise Let all agree There's no power like his power There's nothing that, declare it There's not a prison wall we can't break through Praise the name that makes a way There's nothing that our God, there's nothing Nothing that he can't do, our God can't do There's not a prison wall we can't break through Praise the name that makes a way There's nothing that our God can't do No Come on praise the name of Jesus He's great and mighty in power There's nothing, nothing that he can't do Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh All power is in his hands Oh, oh, oh There's nothing that he can't do Come on lift up a shout for the way maker

The promise keeper, hallelujah Amen, there's no power like the power of Jesus Amen, he's the power to transform lives One of the greatest testaments that we can witness That is when people get baptized and they go public with their faith. So in just a moment, we're gonna see some people making this step, making this public declaration of faith. They're gonna be buried in the water and raised in newness of life in Jesus. And so when they come out of that water, y'all, let's celebrate and cheer them on. And just, man, just give God thanks and glory for how he's transforming lives. And just ask him, God, what would you do the same for me today? Would you change my life? Would you speak to me? Would you show me a greater revelation of who you are and all that you've done? So Jesus, we just surrender to you this morning. We celebrate what you're doing. Would you stir our faith to believe for more, for greater things? ♪ Walking around these walls ♪ ♪ I thought by now they'd fall ♪ ♪ But you have never failed me yet ♪ ♪ And you never will ♪ ♪ I'm waiting for change to come ♪ ♪ Knowing the battle's won ♪

♪ For you have never failed me yet ♪ Come on, we declare his promises. ♪ Your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands ♪ ♪ This is my confidence ♪ ♪ You have never failed me yet ♪ ♪ And you never will, no ♪ ♪ And you never will, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ And I know the knife won't rise ♪ ♪ Your Word will come to pass ♪ ♪ And my heart will sing your praise ♪ ♪ Oh, we're singing your praises, God ♪ ♪ I know you're more than enough ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're still enough ♪ ♪ So keep me within your love, Lord ♪ ♪ And my heart will sing your praise, God ♪ ♪ Oh, we're singing your praise again and again ♪ ♪ Your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands, this is my confess ♪ ♪ And your promise still stands, your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands, this is my confess ♪ ♪ You never fail, you never fail, you never will ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, you move mountains ♪ ♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ You made a way where there was no way ♪ ♪ I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, you move mountains ♪

♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ You made a way where there was no way ♪ ♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, you move mountains ♪ ♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ You made a way where there was no way ♪ ♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ We need you more. ♪♪ Come on, we declare His promise stills ♪♪ Your promise still stands It greatest Your faithfulness Your faithfulness I'm still in Your hands This is my confidence You've never failed me, yeah And You never will, God You never fail ♪♪ -♪♪ You unravel me With a melody You surround me with a song Of deliverance from my enemies Till all my fears are gone I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child

I'm no longer a slave And I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child Oh, that is who I am And I'm no longer a slave to fear I am a child of God Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I am who You say I am I am who You say I am Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh You split the sea so I could walk right through it My fears were drowned in perfect love You rescued me so I could stand and sing That I am a child of God You split the sea You split the sea so I could walk right through it My fears were drowned in perfect love You rescued me so I could stand and sing That I am a child of God Come on, we can pray one more time. You split the sea. Oh, You split the sea so I could walk right through it My fears were drowned in perfect love Yes, they were You rescued me so I could stand and sing That I am a child Oh, I am a child of God

See, and I am a child of God Oh, and I am a child of God Yeah, yeah Oh, I am a child of God What is up, Abundant Life? Hey, by the way, my name is Kyle Worsham. I'm the multiplication pastor here. And I'm Kylie. I'm the online ministries leader. Hey, I get the opportunity today to be in our Mesa church house. Mesa, it's so good to be with you guys. Kind of surprising you guys. Thanks for hosting me. Love you guys so much. I got to hang out with Bradford and the team last night. It's been amazing to visit with you guys. Also, I don't know if you heard, Kylie. Yeah, because I forgot to mention this last week. Don't know how I did that. So my apologies. One of my favorite news is that Matt, Mel, you guys up in Belgrade, Montana last weekend had a commissioning service with Dusty and Ashley to send them to Bozeman, Montana to plant their own church house. Guys, God is moving all over the world. Hey, if you've ever thought about, maybe prayed about or been like, I have no idea what's going on. going on with the church houses, would you go to abundant-life.com slash church-house and check out what God's doing. You can apply to lead or you can join one.

There's literally a map for you to find out where there are. Also, if you're looking for other ways to connect, go to abundant-life.com slash connect and let us know how we can come alongside of you. Yeah, well, hey, it's crazy, believe, but we're already approaching the end of February. It's almost March, which means we're already getting ready for Easter. Springtime is coming. And honestly, I don't even know the exact day that Easter is this year, but I'm excited for Easter. It is April 8th, don't quote us on that, but you can check it out. But we just want to, right now, start encouraging you and challenging you to think, who are you going to invite to join you this Easter Sunday in just a little over a month? So we are going to have five services, two on Saturday and then our three Sunday, and you can see the specific times. I'm terrible at remembering them. So I'm just going to send you to the website, abundant-life.com slash Easter. But would you just be thinking about now, who do you want to invite to join you Easter Sunday as we celebrate our Lord and Savior? In church houses, there might be PDFs, invite cards for you to invite others.

Yeah, and then church, we also want to invite you to a night of worship on Friday the 27th. So in just a few days, we are going to be going live. I'm just always thankful that we have a team of people here who are so creative and use their gifts to worship the Lord through song and music. And it's going to be an incredible night. On Friday, you can join us live for a night of worship. You can be live or at the Leeson Campus, no matter where you are. Church, we're back in our Exodus series. It's going to be amazing. And don't forget, there are baptisms after the service. So maybe at a church house, you've been waiting. Today's the day. We'll see you after the service. And speaking with my counselor, he set up the atmosphere that I was at our lake house up in Minnesota, just enjoying the weather, enjoying the water, enjoying the breeze. And Jesus walked up to me and he asked me, you know, what did you say to Jesus? My response then and my response today, first is wow, then just thank you for what you've done for me. Jesus had to die so that I can have that eternal life in heaven. And he said, you know, I'm going to pray for you. And I said, yeah, I'm going to pray for you.

Eternal life in heaven. When I was about 12 years old, if I remember correct, about that time in life is when I was first introduced to pornography. And from that point on, it was something that I turned to often. And there was times where I could get it under control and not turn to that when I was desperate for comfort, I guess, for that intimacy that Pastor Phil talked about that we crave for, one of the things we crave for in turning to pornography. In my early 20s, I got married, my first marriage, thinking that would take care of it. It maybe did for a short time, but she knew something wasn't right and would call me out on it. There was one point in my life, probably about five years ago, maybe, where I was struggling with that. What's my identity? Who am I? Phrases and Bible verses such as I am redeemed, I am a son of God, I am chosen, I am forgiven. There's probably about 25, 26 of those different phrases and verses I wrote on Post-it notes, and I stuck them on my bathroom mirror. And every day, morning, and night, as I was brushing my teeth, I would say those verses and that quote in my head until finally I believed that I was who God said I was.

Regen was a big part of that process. Joining Regen, I was pretty afraid. The first time I went, it was the spring of 2020, I believe it was, and I went for a few weeks, and then I got kind of uncomfortable, quit going, and then maybe not quite a year later, I decided I had to get into Regen. Probably one of the biggest things that God used in my life as a process, the community part. Some of my best friends have come out of Regen. We still get together every week, talk about life, encourage each other, challenge each other. Don't use the excuse of I don't have any of those big problems, such as addictions, drugs, or alcohol. all pornography, whatever it is, to not be part of Regen. Regen is very much, or just as much so, about unforgiveness, the eating disorders, perfectionism, control. It's a place for you to where you can find rest and hope and healing in those areas and growth. I graduated Regen in December of 21, I think it was. Right after that, I went through the leadership training. I love meeting people right where they're at, letting them know their love, they're welcomed. Beginning of this year, January of 2025, God placed on my heart the burden of leading in Johnson County, opening up that campus with a pilot group. Definitely a privilege to be part of that.

Series of the A-Life has been a huge encouragement of taking our next step, putting our yes on the table. As hard as that is and as scary as that is, I took that next step. I'm still trusting God for that as He unravels what's next. Praise the Lord, Jared. Yes, sir. So proud of Jared. Listen, the church should be a place of healing. But if we're being healed, we gotta quit hiding. And that's what Jared is doing and so many others, guys, coming out of hiding into a place of healing. That's what Regen is about. That's what Jesus is all about. We're a band of liberated slaves that Jesus has set free. And if He's setting you free, He wants to put you on the rescue team. I thank Jared and so many others like him for launching Regen in Johnson County. And we're in a discipleship journey. We've called the A-Life. We're coming up on the midway point of a two-year discipleship journey. And it's really built out of John 10 and verse 10. Remember what Jesus said. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I've come to give you life. You can have it more abundantly. And so we are running after the A-Life, the abundant life.

And we've been in a series on the Exodus story. These ancient Hebrews, a band of liberated slaves like you and I, that Jesus was transforming into a nation of priests and kings. They'd been in tyranny, a place of captivity, and Egyptian slavery. But Moses was sent by God to deliver them and leads them on a journey to the promised land we have crossed over the Jordan in Joshua chapter five. The ancient Hebrews making conquest to the promised land that God promised would flow with milk and honey. And in some way, that's a picture of our story personally. Because Jesus has set us free from sin's penalty, no longer in captivity. He wants to take us on a journey to the promised land spiritually. John 10 and verse 10, life abundantly. Now I want you to celebrate something with me before we get going too far, all right? 105 people last week texted 686 the name Jesus saying yes, I want Jesus, I wanna be forgiven. 105 people last week. That's what we celebrate at Abundant Life. People passing from death to life. From bondage to abundance. And listen, that can be you today. If you're one of those 105 a week ago, your next step would be baptism, just like you've watched others today. Putting God's love on display in their life

in a tangible way. Joshua chapter five today. We're gonna see how to tear down the strongholds in our lives. Verse 13, it says this. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold, a man stood opposite him with a sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? Now Joshua's leading the ancient Hebrews in conquest of the promised land. They finally crossed over the Jordan. They'd spent 40 years in the wilderness of mediocrity and fear and insecurity and worry. And finally they've crossed over into the true God-given destiny, the promised land that he promised would flow with milk and honey. And the first place they come is an enemy-fortified city of Jericho. Now I want to remind you of something. The Bible is real history. It really happened with real events. And I tell you that because people often say, you know, the Bible's just made up. And what we're gonna see here today is that God does a miracle in Joshua chapter six. And he takes down the walls of Jericho

not with the hand of men, but with the hand of God. And a miracle happens here because the ancient Hebrew army could not have attacked this city with any hope in any way and had two walls, not one wall, but two walls around it that were completely impregnable. But what we know from the modern science of archeology is that this was a miracle. What I love about archeology is over and over again it proves the historicity of the Bible. In this case, even the miracle that's recorded in Joshua chapter six. In the 1930s, a world-renowned archeologist by the name of John Garsting was at Jericho and actually excavated this ancient city. And he found something so stunning, so startling that he signed something and two of his associates, an affidavit putting their professional reputations on the line. And here's what he wrote. Here's what he found. He said this. So the main fact then, there remains no doubt, the walls fell outward so completely that the attackers would be able to clamber up and over their ruins into the cities. What he found is that the walls of Jericho fell outward, not inward. You say, so what?

So what? I thought you'd never ask. All right, so in the ancient days, if an attacking army defeated the walls of a fortified city, those walls would fall inward because they were on the outside. But in this case, what he discovered is these walls fell outward because it was not the hand of men that took down these walls, it was the miraculous hand of God, the power of God that took down the walls of Jericho. And John Garstang said, yes, indeed, that's exactly what happened. Now, I'm telling you that because people say, well, the Bible's just made up, you can't believe it, it's just made up stories. I'm trying to tell you it's real history. But remember something, this is more than just history. God gives this to us in some way for our learning because this is a picture of our journey personally. In the same way the ancient Hebrews were delivered from captivity, this is where Jesus finds us under the captivity of sin and the tyranny of Satan. But Jesus said, if the sun shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. I've come to set you free, to give you life abundantly. But listen very carefully, every single one of us in some way have walls that Jesus needs to tear down,

and these are the very walls of Jericho that Garstang found in the 1930s. In fact, this is a place that you can go. We go on the Holy Land tour about once a year. We'll be there in October. And those that are going on this Holy Land tour will be in this very place we're reading about now, the ancient city of Jericho. And that trip is actually filled up. We'll be going again next October 27. Why do we go on these trips? Because when we do, what happens? Your faith becomes sight. To get to see the places you've read about in the Bible and connect the dots, and God wants you to see. Now I want you to understand what's going on now in our lives personally. Every single one of us faces a Jericho in our life. Jericho represents the strongholds in our lives that hinder us from living the A life, the abundant life in Christ. Every single one of us has a place in our life or sometime in our life where there's a fortified enemy stronghold. That's what the Bible calls it, a stronghold. What is a stronghold? A stronghold is an area of your life the enemy has taken over and now controls. It might be a besetting sin. It might be an addiction.

You heard Jared Rivers talk about pornography, the pornography and the captivity of what he went through year after year of trying to get free, yet going back into captivity. Now listen, it doesn't have to be something as obvious as pornography. Sometimes it's something far less sinister, much less obvious. It could be overeating. It might be over shopping. It might be a bowl of ice cream. Let's be clear, it doesn't have to be a sin. A bowl of ice cream is not a sin. Man, I'm worried about you guys this morning. Am I in the right church this morning? No, but you know, a 12th bowl of ice cream, yeah, it might become a stronghold. See, the enemy will use anything, even a good thing, if he can use that good thing to lead you in some way into captivity. So it doesn't have to be an addiction. Sometimes it's not sinister sounding at all. It's just an issue. I mean, we all got issues of some kind, yes? There's not one among us that doesn't have an issue, something in our life that's kept us from living the abundant life. And so let's just put it out there this morning. We all have a Jericho in our life. We all have a stronghold.

We all got issues. Yes, go ahead and raise your hand if you got an issue. All right, I got both hands up right now. Everybody look around. Anybody that doesn't have their hand up right now, we know your issues. You just told us your issues. This is why we're doing the A Life, because this is the year I am praying that every single one of us go from bondage to abundance. And that's the name of the series, from bondage to abundance. Jesus came to set you free from captivity so that you can live truly, abundantly, consistently, victoriously in every part of your life. So I want you to think about what is your stronghold? It might not be a sinful action. It might not be an addiction. For many of us, it's a negative emotion. I mean, we are controlled by bitterness, unforgiveness, anger. Somebody in our life betrayed us, they hurt us, and it might have been years and years ago, yet in some way, they still control us. See, in some way, we live behind invisible bars. Nobody can see, but those bars, that prison is just as real as any bars that you can see. And that is how Satan wants to control us and hinders from living the A Life, the abundant life. Remember what Jesus said, he's a thief.

that comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus says, I've come to give you life. You're gonna have it more abundantly, and I'm gonna talk about this this morning, how, in the same way, God took down those walls around that ancient city. He wants to take down those walls around your life, and that Jericho, whatever it might be. Joshua 5, 14, I want you to see what it says. He says to this man that he now sees a man dressed for battle. He asks him, are you friend or foe? And look at how this man answers. He says, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. You have Joshua out here at night. They've just crossed over the Jordan. They're getting ready now to make conquest of the promised land, and right in front of them looms this ancient city of Jericho, an ancient enemy stronghold with not one but two walls around it. And Joshua wanders out of camp at night. He's probably praying, he's meditating. God, I don't know what to do. There's no way to overcome those walls. We can't go around it. We've gotta go through it, but there's no way we can conquer it. And all of a sudden, he's out there at night

probably looking up at those city walls, and he can see the city lights, and he's wondering what he's gonna do, because it looks like an impossibility. And all of a sudden, he sees someone kind of in the darkness of the night, can't really make out who it is. This man is dressed for battle. He's got his sword out. And so being a military general, Joshua immediately snaps to attention, probably draws his sword. He's ready to go to battle, and he asks that age-old question, are you for us or against us? Identify yourself, friend or foe? And this man answers, no. Wait a minute, that's not a yes or no question. Are you for us or for our enemies? No. Here's what we find out. This man is not just any man. It's what theologians call a theophany. It's a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, this is Jesus before the manger. Never forget that Jesus is from eternity. He's from everlasting to everlasting. He's the second person of the trinity. He is fully deity. And yes, 2,000 years ago, he came as humanity.

Yet often, he appears in the Old Testament, Christ before the manger. And this is, in fact, a theophany. It's Jesus before he took on flesh and before he took on blood to walk among us. And he asks him this question, are you for us or against us? And Jesus, who's dressed for battle, listen, he's a man of war. He's about to go to battle for the Hebrews. He's got this sword, and he doesn't answer the question. He says, no. You know why? Because Joshua's asking the wrong question. Listen, the question is never, is God on our side? The question is, are we on his side? He says, no, but as commander of the Lord's army, I have now come. Jesus is saying, I have not come to take a side. I've come to take over. And that's the beginning of tearing down that Jericho in your life, when you let Jesus finally take over every part of your life. Look what happens next. It says these words in verse 14, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. This is how we know that it's a theophany, an appearance of Jesus himself. Because anytime an angel of God in heaven appears

and somebody tries to worship that angel, that angel stands him up and says, oh no, don't worship me. I'm just a servant like you. But in this case, this man receives the worship of Joshua. Joshua immediately recognizes who he is. He falls on his face. He begins to worship, and he says to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. Joshua recognizes who this is. This is who Moses sees in the burning bush. The I am, the I am. That looks at Moses and says, take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy. It is he, the one who called Moses from the burning bush. And now, he's before Joshua. Take off your shoes for the ground on which you stand is holy. And again, I want you to see what happens immediately. Joshua, as a military man, does something that no military man is ever trained to do. He gets on his knees immediately and surrenders to the one. Even bows to the ground, the one. Completely exposed, completely vulnerable.

Church, I'm trying to tell you that this is the posture of victory. This is the beginning of victory. When you finally bow before Jesus in a place of complete submission, complete surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every part of your life, that is the beginning of tearing down that Jericho fortification of the enemy in your life. It's when you. Finally, let Jesus take over. Now you can begin to get victory. You see what had happened? There was a part of your life that you let Satan take over. And that's called a stronghold. See, when you sin, what happens? When you sin, you allow Satan to have a toehold. When you sin again, that toehold becomes a foothold. When you sin again and again, then it becomes a handhold, and you keep on sinning. Eventually, it's what the Bible calls a stronghold. And now you've got this fortified place of your life that you've given up to Jesus. Instead of giving up to Jesus, now you've given up to the enemy. And that's how he takes you into captivity. Every single day, Satan comes to take the free back into captivity, and this is how it happens. And what I'm trying to tell you today is that when you finally surrender and say,

Jesus, take over, that's when he begins to set you free. I want you to see practically what this looks like for you and me. Through your personal submission, you release the power of Christ's resurrection. I want you to burn this into your heart and mind. As a child of God, you have the power of God, the power of the resurrection that lives in you. The same power that brought Jesus out of the grave now lives in you. Now, most of us never live in that power. We live in the natural. And what I want you to see is that you have the power of the resurrection. You can live supernaturally, but only through submission, not suppression. See, most people, when you identify your Jericho, in Jared's case, it was pornography. For somebody else, it might be nicotine. For somebody else, it's over-shopping or whatever it might be. What is a stronghold? It's something that you reach for where you should have been reaching for God. Something you grabbed onto where you should have been grabbing onto Jesus. What is sin? Sin is simply trying to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. It's trying to meet a God-given need apart from God.

And so what happens, to meet that need, we start grabbing for something where we should be grabbing onto God. Something to bring us comfort, something to bring us security, something to bring us some significance, some something. And what I want you to see is eventually, and what I want you to see is eventually, where you were grabbing onto it, now it's grabbing onto you. And the typical, I guess, illustration would be, let's say alcohol. What is alcoholism? Alcoholism is where somebody has grabbed for a bottle to bring them some comfort, to maybe numb some of the pain, and what happens? They reach for the bottle over and over again, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the bottle now reaches for them. That's a stronghold. And it can be any number of things. And I want you to understand the significance. What happens next is we try to suppress our sin, suppression. We try to manage our sin, contain it. Self-determination, a New Year's resolution, behavior modification. But I'm trying to tell you,

you can't suppress your sin. The only way to overcome it is not suppression, but rather submission. I used to try to overcome my sin the way I dealt with my dandelion problem. Like, you know, I've always been envious of your beautiful, green, manicured lawns. Actually, you people make me sick if I'm telling the truth, okay? But I've always wanted this green, beautiful lawn, but I have dandelion problem, and I didn't want to spend the money to deal with the heart of the problem, so what did I do? I would just mow my dandelions over. Yeah, that's how you deal with your dandelion problem. It's gonna be dandelion season soon, so I get out the mower once a week and mow them over, and guess what? It would work for a while. I mean, I'd mow those dandelions over, all of a sudden, you don't see any dandelions anymore, right? Took care of the problem. But what happens if you just mow them over? Within a couple of days, what happened? Gotta do it again, mow them over again. Yeah, it looks good for a minute. Next thing you know, here they come again. I'm trying to tell you, I would deal with my sin the way I try to deal with my dandelions,

just contain it, suppress it, manage it, but over and over again, here it comes again. I'm trying to tell you guys, listen carefully. You cannot suppress your sin. Your willpower will cave in. No matter how much self-determination, no matter how much you have in willpower, I'm gonna try harder, I'm gonna do better, I really mean it this time, it doesn't matter how bad you want to suppress it, eventually, you'll cave in again. The way you deal with the problem is you gotta get to the root of the problem. Eventually, guess what I had to do? I had to spend some money, I had to spray my dandelions to kill the root. You gotta get below the surface. And you see, most of us forever simply look at the symptom. Our sin is merely a symptom of the heart of the problem. You gotta get below the surface. And submission is what gets to the root of the problem. It's when you finally come to a place of submission, it is impossible to submit to sin while you're submitted to Him. While you're submitted to Him, you cannot submit to your sin. And Satan wants you to submit to sin because when you submit to sin, now you're submitted to Him, and now He's got a stronghold in your life

that He can control now to keep you from living the A life, the abundant life. And so when you live in submission, as Joshua did on his face before Jesus, completely exposed, completely vulnerable, I give all that I am for all that you are, you release the power of the resurrection in your life. You release the power of God to tear down those walls that have held you from living the abundant life in Christ. You release the power of God to do in a day what you could not have accomplished in 20 years of trying. This is what is at stake. Only God's power can tear down a stronghold like Jericho in your life. Only God's power can tear down that enemy fortification in your life. The Apostle Paul writes this, and I want you to see the hard work of warfare, the hard work of warfare every day. What we're gonna see is that God tells the ancient Hebrews, I want you to march around this city once a day for six days, and then on the seventh day, I want you to march around it seven times, and then you're gonna give a great shout, the priests are gonna blow the shofar, and those walls are gonna come tumbling down. Once a day for six days, over and over again around those walls. I want you to see practically what this looks like

in your life right now. Second Corinthians 10 in verse three, here it is. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. Now what is Paul teaching us here? Listen carefully. Though we walk in the flesh, our warfare is not with the flesh. Meaning your sin is just a symptom. If you have an alcohol problem, the alcohol is not your real problem, that's merely a symptom. You gotta get to the heart of the problem. It is spiritual. You're fighting an enemy that is unseen. It's not an enemy that you can see, which means it's not the power of your will, the power of the flesh. There is no physical weapon that can overcome this enemy fortification. You need the power of God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal or physical, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, the supernatural power of God. And look at what happens next. This is how you do this. This is how you walk around these walls over and over again till those walls come down.

He says this. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ. What we're learning here is the battles between the ears. The battles between the ears. It's in the mind, the battleground of the mind. And what he's teaching here is this. You have to cast down every argument. What is Satan always doing? He wants you to doubt divine facts. Satan knows it's the truth Jesus said will set you free. If he can get you to doubt divine facts and doubt the truth that has the power to set you free, he can keep you in a place of captivity. And so he says, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, meaning as soon as you realize, I have an ungodly thought or an ungodly negative emotion, you gotta cast it out. It's what Jared talked about. He wrote little post-it notes where he could see it. What was he doing? He was reminding himself of the truth of what God says. Listen carefully. Your identity will define your activity. And it's your activity that will define your destiny. I don't think you guys heard me.

I'm gonna say this again. All right, your identity will define your activity. And your activity will define your destiny. And so what does the enemy do? He wants you to distort your identity, get you to doubt your identity. Jesus says you've been set free. Your flesh says, oh, I'm not free. Your flesh is screaming, oh, give me that nicotine. Your flesh is screaming, click on that pornography. Your flesh, your fallen nature, your sin nature is saying, feed me, feed me, feed me that ice cream. It's calling my name. Yeah, my wife came home from Sprouts this week and said, hey, I almost bought a cherry pie from Sprouts. Do you wish I would've bought it? I said, no. No, don't buy it, because I'm telling you, I would have eaten it, the whole thing. It's better just to flee from idolatry. Don't fight it. Flee from it. I'm trying to tell you, this is the hard work of warfare. Whatever your idol is, he says, casting down arguments, Satan will argue against the knowledge of God. So what does it mean? When you have that ungodly thought, cast it out. You remind yourself of what the truth is. You've got to replace it. You can't just cast out that thought. You've got to replace it then with a God thought.

I am a child of God. I am ransomed. I am redeemed. I have been set free. I'm a priest and a king. I don't have to live in captivity. I can walk away. I don't have to stay. And you've got to hit repeat and replay over and over again. Can you imagine the ancient Hebrews? They walk around the walls day one. They walk around the walls day two. But he says, this isn't working. What had they quit by day three? Nothing's happening. You know, Satan wants to convince you it's not working. No, you're not free. You don't feel free. Jesus says you're free. What does he say? Hit repeat. Keep doing it over and over again. And eventually, you'll start to feel free and live free because Jesus says you are free. This is how it works. But you've got to take captive your thought. You've got to take captive your emotions. Hey, for many of us here, it's not a negative action, a sinful action. We are controlled by our emotions. Negative emotions, self-talk, I'm no good. As a child of God, guess what God says?

You're blameless. You're sinless. You're holy already, Ephesians chapter one. Oh, I'm no good. Phil, you don't know me. No, that's satanic. You need to end that satanic stinking thinking because that's not your true identity. See, you will live your identity. You will obey what you believe. You're a priest. You're a king. You don't have to live that way. Hey, for some of us, it's unforgiveness. It's bitterness. It's a bondage that comes with bitterness. You say, but Phil, I don't feel forgiveness for this person that hurt me. Of course you don't. You wish you could kill them. That's the natural you, but you've got the supernatural you. There's the Christ in you that lives in you now, and so you don't allow that feeling to lead you. Listen, your feelings can be 100% authentic and yet 100% wrong. Of course you feel that way. So what do you do? As an act of your will, out of obedience, what does God say? Ephesians 4.30, be kindly affectionate one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. You don't feel forgiveness, but as an act of your will, you put it in motion. Nowhere in scripture does God say, command your emotions. What he's doing here is saying, command a motion, not an emotion.

When you put your faith in motion, obedience and action, eventually the emotion follows. See, when you're feeling what is wrong, you choose to think what is right. You can't help how you feel, but you can always help how you think, and eventually what happens? Right thinking will lead to right feeling, and you wake up one day and you actually feel forgiveness for the person that hurt you, and now they can no longer control you because you've set them free, and in setting them free, Jesus sets you free. I want you to see what it says next, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Here's what he's saying. If you don't kill your sin, your sin will kill you. If you don't kill your sin, your sin will kill you. If you don't control your mind, your mind will control you. If you don't control your emotions, your emotions will control you. See, eventually you have to go on the offensive. You don't just stay on the defensive. You have to go on the offensive. What does that look like? Community. You heard Jared talk about it. It's community, walking in transparency. You disarm the enemy. When you're no longer walking in secrecy, the strength of sin is in the secrecy, and so you disarm the enemy. When you come out of the darkness, out of the shadows, and start walking in the light, all of a sudden you're walking in community, truth, and transparency, and that's how you start walking freely. Two guys this past week actually asked me if I would be their accountability partner. They've been living in sexual sin, and they said, Phil, I want to... I'm gonna make war on my sin. Would you be my accountability partner?

This is how you make war on your sin. You bring other people into it. We're to go to war together. Nobody's gonna shame you. Nobody's gonna judge you. We all got issues. Do I need to say it again? This is how we do it. This is how you win. You got weapons. You can win. What are the weapons of our warfare? There are a lot of them. I wanna give you four. You can see this right here. Joshua employs four weapons. Supernatural weapons. Number one is this, prayer. Prayer. Jesus doesn't just randomly show up. No, I'm convinced what happens, Joshua is outside the camp and he's in desperation. And when you are desperate, you become dependent. And when you're dependent, you begin to pray. God, I need you. God, I need you. I gotta have you. He's outside the camp. Listen, you need some solitude. He's getting some solitude.

He's getting some time away. You need to find some solitude in your life once a day. Even if it's 15, 20 minutes. Start your day with solitude, just you and Jesus and prayer. Listen carefully. A powerful life is a prayerful life. A powerless life is a prayerless life. When you pray, you are invoking the power of heaven upon your life. And this is why Jesus said to pray this way. John 14, he's about to go to the cross. He's giving his last words to his followers. He says this. He says, and whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now listen, people have tried to take this verse out of context and say, well yeah, you can ask Jesus for a seven-figure portfolio. He'll give you a multimillion-dollar income and a house with four-car garage. No, that's not what Jesus is talking about here. I hope God does that for you, but he hasn't promised it to you. Now what he's teaching here is when you say in his name, what does that mean? Anything according to his word is how you know his will. You can ask in his name and he will do it. What is his will? It's made known through his word.

I've come to give you life. You can have it abundantly. Jesus, would you set me free from this stronghold in my life? Guess what Jesus promises to do? Set you free. Now what does he say in my name? Anything you ask in my name, I'll tell you why. Because everything God does, he does through a chain of command. You have Joshua here who is the supreme commander of this ancient Hebrew army. He is a five-star military general, but he's looking at somebody now that he knows outranks him. Jesus is the highest name in the universe. Matthew 28, 19, all power and authority are given to me in heaven and upon earth. When you pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, it moves heaven on your behalf. Because there's no name greater than that name given in heaven or upon earth, the name Jesus. Hey, in the same way, I've got a son. And my son, because he is my son, has special rights that nobody else gets. He gets to walk into my house unannounced. Now you're welcome at my house, just please don't come unannounced. I mean, I got a twitchy trigger finger, I'm just being honest, I'm just saying.

Please tell me you're coming ahead of time. My son, he didn't have to knock, he can just walk in, he's got a key to the house. He can get in my fridge, he can eat my food without asking permission, why? Because he's my son. I want you to see, as a son of God, you go through the son of God, as a daughter of God, you go through the son of God, because that's how you come to the Father. And that's why he said, pray in my name. Listen, nowhere in scripture did Jesus say, pray to Mary. Nowhere in scripture did Jesus say, pray to a dead saint. I don't know where this stuff comes from, it's not in the Bible. We pray in the name of Jesus. We go through Jesus to the Father. And when you do, I'm telling you, something happens in the heavenly, something happens in the unseen realm, why? Because the demons know the name of Jesus. The demons have to retreat, the demons have to relinquish rights to your life when you surrender all rights to the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's gotta be a prayerful life. Prayerfulness is powerfulness. I want you to see the second thing, it's worship. Worship is a weapon, church. Listen, I don't know what you think, when we come together and we sing, listen,

it's not just three songs and a sermon. Do the three songs, get to the. sermon, sing, sit, listen, and leave, just going through the motions. No, worship is a weapon. And I would suggest that our weapon is worship. And this is exactly and immediately what Joshua does when he comes into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. What is worship? All of me for all of him. And I'm trying to tell you that you can worship your way out of the darkness. When you're walking in darkness and depression, and depression is real, the darkness is real, what do you do? You do not succumb to the darkness. You do not simply resign yourself to the depression. You worship your way out of the darkness. I'm trying to tell you, it is a weapon. You worship until the light begins to descend and the light begins to chase away the darkness and you don't stop worshiping until the light comes and the darkness flees. Listen, it's a weapon. I've learned to do this in my life. I've shared with you over the years. Like, my besetting sin, my stronghold is my mouth. I shared this once years ago and a member of our church gave me a little plaque to put in my office.

It's still in the office. I love Jesus, but I cuss a little. I mean, no, I don't just cuss randomly. Like, it's usually, you know, I'm six foot six. I bump my head. It's like, holy mother, Mary. But I don't say Mary. Something else comes out. And here's the problem. This is why I'm convicted by it. This is what God's doing in my life. Listen, Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. God, what does it matter with my heart that this comes out? God, don't just cleanse my mouth. Cleanse my heart. If profanity comes out of my mouth, it's because I have profanity in my heart. And this is a response, a reaction that began in childhood. And I came to faith in Jesus. And my mouth cleaned up a lot, but not complete. In that moment, I'm not proud of what happens next. And here's what I've learned to do. In that moment, instead of saying, mother Mary, it's like, Jesus, hallelujah, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. I just, no longer a slave to sin. I am a child of God. I mean, just start to worship. Listen, you cannot sin while you're worshiping him. It's impossible.

You can't sin while you worship him. Try it. It's a weapon. Now, there's a third thing, it's this, obedience. There's no shortcuts here. There's no shortcuts. Obedience. There's God's part, there's your part. They were gonna walk around that wall six days in a row out of an act of obedience. And there's something that God's gonna call you to do, to take a next step as an act of obedience. Maybe it's regen, maybe it's reengage for your marriage, maybe it's discipleship one. I mean, there is absolutely no shortcuts to spiritual maturity and a life lived abundantly and freely. It's never simply a one and done. And this is what Joshua now says, what does my Lord say to his servants? And this is the posture of one who's living in victory consistently, abundantly. You cannot live abundantly if you're not living obediently. What does my Lord say to his servant? Whatever it is. Yes, sir, you get the final say. I will obey. I was so encouraged this past week, Jackson Frisch, one of our young pastors here.

He said, Phil, do you wanna be encouraged? I said, well, yeah, of course. He said, last week after I preached, I mentioned people living together before they're married, sleeping together, like they're married, when they're not married, it's still a sin. He said this young couple, 26 years of age, they left the second service, went out in the parking lot, but they didn't leave, they didn't go home. They'd been living together for three years. Came back in, found Jackson, one of our pastors. He said, we wanna do this right. We wanna be blessed by God. We're gonna split up, we're gonna move out. And then we're gonna get married. And we're gonna do this the way God wants us to do. We're gonna obey God. There is the world's way, and there is God's way. You will obey the ways of the world, or you'll obey the ways of God. What they were saying is we want God to bless our marriage. We want God to bless our relationship. And we will obey whatever the. cost, you position yourself to be blessed when you choose to live obedient. That's what they were saying. Yeah, I'm encouraged by that. That's revival, that's the A life. There's one last saying, listen, it's faith.

Faith is the trigger that unleashes divine power. First John 5.4, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith is the victory that overcomes the Jericho-like stronghold in your life. Faith says I will believe whatever God says no matter what I see. What you see may look like an impossibility. What you see may look like a complete stronghold from which you will never get free. But I want you to see what God sees. This is what he now does with Joshua. Look at what it says in Joshua 6.1. Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, see, exclamation point, I have given Jericho into your hand as king and the mighty men of valor. In that moment Joshua looked up at the city and those walls were still there. Tomorrow morning you're gonna wake up and those walls are still gonna be there. Your Jericho is still gonna be there. It's gonna look like an impossibility. In that moment Joshua saw an impossibility. But notice what God says. I have given, past tense, this city into your hands. What is faith? I've told you, it's acting like something is so

when it isn't so, so it'll be so because God said it so. That's faith. Joshua could have said that's not so. I see the walls and it would have been so. But he chose to see what God sees and he did what God said. He marched around those walls and those walls came tumbling down. And what God did in this ancient city of Jericho, he can do for you and me, but listen very carefully. Faith in motion is obedience in action which is how you take possession of the promised land of your life. So would you bow with me right now? At every single campus across this city, every church house across North America, right here in Lee's Summit, my prayer for you is this would be the year that you go from bondage to abundance, that you would break free to live victoriously, consistently, that that enemy fortified place in your life become a fortified place of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would walk in the truth of what Jesus did at Calvary when he said I'm here to set you free. You've identified that issue, let's call it, that stronghold. I wanna pray for you right now, that's all I wanna do. Would you stand with me right now wherever you are,

whatever place and space, together right now as a band of liberated slaves? That God is becoming a nation of priests and kings. Right now, if you would just do this, if you're serious about walking this out, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hands to the heavens just like this, a universal sign of surrender to receive the blessing of God upon your life. Jesus, you see these hands in the air. There's not one among us that's not battling a Jericho of some kind, some negative emotion, worry, anxiety, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger. It's ruined relationships, it's held us in captivity. For some, it's an addiction, some besetting sin, but today we choose to believe what you see and what you say against what feels like an impossibility. And I pray the power of heaven. would be released upon these your sons and daughters I pray the power of the resurrection upon every person as we walk in submission that Jesus you remind us daily that we are not slaves that you have set us free to live life abundantly as a nation of priests and Kings in Jesus name I want to sing to the King right now as a faith declaration from your heart to his let's sing this together we declare today Oh come on declare like So congratulations I am a child of God

I'm no longer Oh, I am yours, I am yours I am a child of God no you split the seed so I could walk right through it my fears were drowned in perfect love you raised to be so I can stand and say that I am a child come on one more time, this is what he does, we sing no you split the seed so I could walk right through it my fears were drowned in perfect love you raised to be so I can stand and say that I am a child oh that is who I am, I am singing I am a child of God that is who I am, I am I am who you say I am and I am a child of God