You have no guarantee at 40 or at 50 you're going to be walking right with the Lord. I don't necessarily know that either. I mean, so how do we best prepare and ensure for success is what we're going to be talking about. You know, I have a couple friends, they actually dated each other.

They were both committed to long-term missions. They're my classmates. The guy ended up going to seminary but he had a problem with alcohol so he ended up just dropping out, becoming a bartender, opening up a couple restaurants, failing in them, teaching at a learning center and then opening up like an exercise place and then failing in that.

He's still single. That girl that he dated also was at the same seminary. They went, they both graduated from Berkeley with me and then they ended up going to the same seminary. She is currently a fugitive of the law. I kid you not, she's hiding out at Indiana. Far removed, both of them, from where they said they would be when we were all 20 years old.

My roommate, who was also the praise leader at the time, he got into a rage and just driving somewhere with his girlfriend, got so mad at her he pulled the car over and physically like assaulted her. And now he's not really walking well in the Lord. He has a lot of money.

He married well in terms of financially. So he's off and everyone that, whenever we have little class reunions, we think of like what happened to the fire that we saw. So the people that are sitting with you at your tables, are they gonna be here 10 years from now faithfully walking with the Lord?

I hope so. I expect so. But knowing my own heart, I get entangled so easy and I drift and I wander so quickly. And I'm realizing I'm not smarter than Satan. I don't know the Bible as well as Satan. I'm not as relentless as Satan. I'm not as resolved to keep myself alive as much as Satan is resolving to put me and everyone around me to death.

So I need help. And I know that you guys do too, right? So today, we're gonna be talking about a lot of spiritual warfare-related things. We're gonna look through a lot of Bible passages and we're gonna see, I mean a lot of the unobvious ones. The obvious ones that you guys clearly like already assume everyone struggles with, I'm not gonna spend that much time on.

Is that okay? I'm gonna be focusing a lot more time on other stuff. And there's gonna be like—I have about 18 slides with a lot of text and information. So you don't need to copy everything down. We are gonna try to record this thing and I'm gonna give you the PDF version of the slides so you can see all the reference verses and everything and study it on your own time.

But we are looking at Lard Minds and Lions. And can you turn this on? And some people were very confused about the title and like all the announcements kind of kept getting confused. And I'm kind of glad, but hopefully it'll help you remember the Lard Minds acronym. Hold up real quick.

If you have your—if you are—actually you actually don't need to turn in your Bibles, I have it texted. But if you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. Is this not connected in? And let me give you a little context of 1 Peter chapter 2, or 1 Peter in general.

1 Peter was written to an area of very diverse Gentile, mostly Gentile Christians in the Roman Empire. So this is very diverse. And this is one of the later letters written amongst all the letters. And there's a growth in misunderstanding of and hatred toward Christians. Okay? So these Gentile Christians, imagine, they're all from all kinds of different cultures.

And so they're bringing their cultures and values into the church, even though the gospel message was the same. And they're living— some of them are rich, some of them are poor. And there's a growing just confusion of what Christianity is about. And would you guys agree that even in today's society, there's a growing confusion in the church?

Would you guys agree with that? So the people in the Holy Roman Empire, they thought that somebody caught wind that Christians were homosexuals because they practiced brotherly love. So people were confused at this new religion, these followers of the way, and they're thinking—some of them because they practiced homo—like Philadelphia, they were homosexual.

Some people caught wind that at these meetings, when they got together, some people would eat of someone's flesh, drink of someone's blood, and what would that end up making you think they are? Cannibals. They thought they were cannibals. And so there was this misunderstanding and growing confusion about what Christians did.

And so Emperor Nero hated Christians. For some reason, he hated Christians, and he started severely persecuting them. He would throw them to lions. He would throw them in the gladiator ring, and if you guys think of just kind of movie scenes, you could picture Christians being the ones being torn to animals, or thrown to animals.

Christians were also like put on these giant stakes, and they served as human, like, light poles. And he actually had a road that was lit with Christian corpses that were burning. Is it working? Okay. Hallelujah. See, their spiritual warfare has already begun. Okay? And so there's a lot of severe suffering and persecution.

What happens when there's a lot of suffering and persecution in the church? Some people panic. Some people are thankful. Some people, like, fall away. So this is a very hostile environment into which Peter writes. Okay? So we're gonna read verses 9 through 12. I'll just read it for you.

And so Peter talks to this mostly Gentile people. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So, beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." So what he is saying here is you are God's wholly set-apart people, so don't give into the flesh.

Because especially right now, the more you give into the flesh, the more you're gonna react to these sufferings and persecutions wrongly, and then you're gonna dishonor God. And then chapter 5, he talks about, "Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him." And their anxiety is like, imagine our church is getting—we've come together, and all of a sudden, police run in and take away all the pastors and leaders.

How would you guys feel about that? Please do not say happy. It'd be a traumatic experience. How about some of you get taken away? Let's say some of the married couples get taken away. Even some of the kids get taken away, because you would use kids as leverage. So all of this stuff is going on, and so he's saying, "Casting all your fears and anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

And be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." So guess what? The devil wants you dead. The devil wants the name of Christ to be dishonored, and he's relentless. He's hungry. So don't be— don't be that weak prey, okay?

"Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Now, landmines.

If you knew—if you were in battle, and you knew that there was a field of mines, how would you guys proceed? You would do a little, like, a jig around it? No, you would be very careful where you stepped. You would try to see any lumps in the ground, because a landmine that is obviously a landmine is not going to do its job, okay?

So landmines kill you immediately. And I believe that sin would have fewer takers if its consequences were felt immediately. So Genesis 3:4, the serpent says to the woman, "You surely will not die." When God told her, "Eat of the fruit and you will die." So the devil's been lying and up to no good from the beginning.

So what he's telling you probably is, "Oh, you do that. You watch that. You engage in that. You buy that. It's not gonna harm you," is what he says. And next thing you know, you end up having drifted so far away. And that's what our church is like. We're on this theme of drifting, right?

Sin would have fewer takers if its consequences were felt immediately. Imagine if you, like, as guys in the summer, sisters or, like, girls— sisters dress modestly—but girls are dressed a little bit, like, funky, and then you look and all of a sudden, like, you're in jail for, like, some kind of lewd act.

Let's say, like, you feel hostility toward that brother or that sister, and next thing you know, like, you're convicted as a murderer. Like, because people don't go from A to Z overnight. It's a gradual drifting. So sin would have definitely—would have fewer takers if the consequences were felt immediately.

But we're not dealing with spiritual landmines. What we're dealing with are lard mines. Repeat after me. Lard mines. And what are these? The definition I put up here. "Traps and temptations that the enemy sets to destroy your prayer life, rob you of your joy, and to kill you and everyone around you." So is this serious stuff?

Yes, it is. "Traps and temptations that the enemy sets to destroy your prayer life, rob you of your joy, and try to kill you and everyone around you." You probably know this feeling. When you commit a sin and you liked it, there is some shame, guilt, justification involved in your heart, but what's the first thing you stop doing?

You don't pray. So think through all the stuff in your life that prevents you from prayer, and that's gonna be the stuff we're gonna be looking at today, okay? The first thing that lard mines will do is it'll take away any desire to meet God face to face. You're not gonna be like, "God, search me and know my heart," because you don't want Him to do that.

So you're gonna not pray. But what is usually accompanied by a lack of prayer? You don't want to read what? You're not gonna want to read His Word, because you don't want to hear that. And if you haven't prayed, and if you haven't read, but you're in a small group, what happens in a small group?

You're gonna have to show faith, and so you're gonna have to share your prayer requests, so you're gonna make something up. And then next thing you know, you're gonna keep having to come to church, and then at some point you're gonna think, "Why do I keep going to church?

I don't even feel God. Oh, Pastor Peters or Pastor Marx or whoever's, like, message was just, 'eh.'" All he does is preach judgment. I don't want to hear this anymore. And then there's a gradual drift. But the first step is whatever kills your desire to pray. And he does not want you to talk to God, because the more you don't talk to God, everything else is a domino.

So those are what lard mines are, and they kill you slowly. If I hated your guts—I love David Jung, so I'm gonna use him as an example. If I hated David, okay, is it better for me to, like, just chop off his head? Or is it better for me to infect him with a virus that he doesn't know that is in him, and then over the course of a month or so, he destroys everybody around him.

All his co-workers, all his friends, even the perpetrators around him, everybody. They all just get wiped out. If I was Satan and I hated his soul, I would not try to kill him right away. What would I try to do? It's like, you know, you guys ever see those cockroach traps?

The cockroach traps that just get the cockroach just stuck like this isn't really effective. So over time, they've developed cockroach traps that actually look like they're just eating the food, and what do they do? They go back into their nest, and next thing you know, they all die, right?

That's Satan's strategy. You are dying, and he doesn't want you to realize it until you've killed everyone around you. That's Satan's strategy. So, lard mines are very dangerous things. They're not real. If you look at a dictionary, it's not gonna come up. This is just an acronym, but just think like that.

As soon as that kills your desire to pray, that is not a good thing, okay? And so we're gonna be taking the time to look on this. And so these lard mines, they prey on what your flesh desires, and you instinctively believe to be good. Money, good or bad?

Money, good or bad? Thumbs up, thumbs down. Good? Yeah. Money is not evil, okay? The love of it is evil. Sex, good or bad? Good. Friendship, good or bad? Good. I don't know. I mean, whatever is good, the enemy is gonna either try to corrupt or to twist and pervert, okay?

That's what he's been doing from the very beginning, and we're in no different situation. So, I'm gonna use an illustration that hopefully you'll remember. Can you see what this is? Oopsie. Shoot. Give it away. So this is a dagger dipped in blood, okay? And in areas where Eskimos live, they traditionally -- you ever wonder how they got all of their furs?

It doesn't look like they're particularly fast. They're usually stout, right? So the way Eskimos hunt their prey is by using what they call a blood popsicle. And what a blood popsicle is is -- why are you moving by yourself? Okay. A blood popsicle is a dagger dipped in blood and planted on the ground.

So a wolf, let's say, will walk by, smell the blood, and then what's he gonna do? He's gonna lick it. Tastes good. But the more he licks it, the more warm it is, the more bloody it becomes, the more it tastes good. So after about two or three hours, and then he'll try to bite it.

And then gnaw on it a little bit. And then like -- some of you guys who are visual learners are like, "Ah!" They lick this blood popsicle until their tongue is shredded. Because in the cold, it's numb. What happens if that wolf is doing this for two, three hours?

It bleeds to death. And then the fat Eskimo comes, takes it on the shoulders. And sometimes, even if it's not dead, guess what it is? Stop moving by yourself. It's -- I think I copied and pasted this picture, so -- but what happens? They're -- they don't have blood, so they're weak.

This is the enemy strategy for you. So the Eskimo just kind of finishing blow. And the wolf, what's it gonna do? They'll be like -- they're powerless. Satan wants to do this to you by baiting you, not with stuff you don't like. Satan never tempts me with alcohol. Do you know why?

I don't really like alcohol. Okay? Zero desire for it. That is not my weakness. I've got plenty others. I'm gonna share some while we talk about this. But for you, your instinctive pleasures look very different from mine. And do you think the enemy who wants you dead doesn't know what your Achilles heel is?

Yes, he does. Right? So that's how he wants to kill you. So the first thing that we're gonna look at is El Lus. And I'm not gonna spend too much time with it because you guys already mentally know where we're gonna go with this. Okay? You're gonna remember your body is a holy temple.

You're gonna know all of these verses because you guys have already thought through them. But, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from flesh to lust which wage war against your soul." I'm gonna stop there. "What are lusts? Whatever things your flesh craves which you know are in direct opposition to God." And these are not just limited to sexual sins.

Now, all of these lard minds, there is some overlap. Okay? So you will see how one thing leads to another. But so, for example, purity and dating engagement. Sometimes when you are in a dating relationship, this gets elevated. If you're already struggling with purity and you start dating, there is a struggle.

You know, at my wedding, so my wife and I met in '99 and then we started dating in 2004. We got married in 2007. The very first kiss we ever shared was on our wedding day. And I actually, like, I went in for the kiss and then she backed away and everyone just laughed at me.

But anyway, so it was very awkward. But that was our very first kiss. And Pastor Peter actually shared that. And everyone's like, "Wow!" And then my non-Christian guests who had come, they're like, "So our pastor is supposed to not have any, like, hormones or, like, lusts, right?" I'm like, "Nah, dude." But the reason I told Becky, like, "The first kiss is gonna be on our wedding day because I don't trust me.

And I've made too many mistakes in college. I do not trust me." And one of the benefits was, the girl that brought me to Berean, we dated, but I kept that same line and we remained friends because there were no lines crossed. So in dating, you have to be careful because if you engage in physical, any kind of physical affection that is not healthy, you're not gonna want to pray.

You're not gonna want to share. Okay, so that's something you have to be careful of. Sisters, my encouragement is, just generally, this is not in terms of dating, please dress modestly. Okay, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8, "I will never eat meat again!" if that's humble somebody. You know, girl, sometimes I hear this, like, "Well, do you want me to dress like Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie?" No.

But dress where everything is covered and you're not stumbling anybody. And guys would appreciate that very much. Don't arouse lust in other people. Guys, same thing. Appropriate interactions with sisters. The way they wrestle with lust, there's some similarity, but there are many differences. Do not interact with them in a way that causes their heart to kind of long to know you better, unless your intentions are clear.

Song of Solomon says it three times, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." So those are things my encouragement, and this is the only thing I'm gonna spend—this is the only time I'm gonna spend on this issue, because you've probably already studied this. Some of you guys share about this regularly with people.

Do not— do not—just be careful with this one, because this is gonna mess you up. Okay? Next, A is your affiliations. I'm gonna read 1 Corinthians 15, 33 to 34. Like I mentioned to you, all of these things are gonna be put on the Facebook page, the slides, so just write down what you feel like will help your discussion.

It says, "Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober-minded as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame." So what are affiliations? Friendships and relationships that taint, distract, or divide. Every person that you have in your life has been ordained by God, for whatever the reason.

And whatever that person is, is he's either part of the harvest field, part of the missions field, your missions endeavor, or someone who's gonna sharpen you in your walk. Any other relationship is gonna make you distracted. Any friendship or relationship has to be either this person is a soul I want to come into the light—that's my mission field, that's my harvest—or that person is someone who's gonna sharpen you in your faith.

Those are the two only real affiliations you guys should have in your hearts. Because friends that you just hang out with may end up killing you. I mean, not literally, hopefully not. Right? They're gonna make you stray, and they may be in the church. Again, either they are your harvest mission field, or they are your co-laborer in Christ.

If you define them any other way, that's gonna bite you in the butt. It's gonna numb you, and that's a lick that you're gonna take, and then you're gonna bleed out. Be careful with the affiliations you should make. So first of all, Colossians 4 or 5 says, "Be wise how you interact with the outsiders," non-Christians.

So when you have non-Christian affiliations, you need to make sure all of your conversation is seasoned with salt, that no unwholesome talk comes out of your mouths, that you are expecting this person to have, like, like, be bound in sin. So your interaction with that person has to be, "How do I share the love of Christ with that non-Christian person?" Now sometimes it takes time to build trust, right?

That's why I'm actually against getting a new job and cold turkey sharing the gospel on your floor to all the new co-workers. You know why? That's not necessarily unbiblical. That's kind of stupid, because then basically everyone has labeled you from day one, "Oh, you're the overly zealous." You could tell them you're a Christian, you go to church, but don't start just, "Bababababababababababababababababababa!

No, no no no, no, no, no!" Right? 'Cause you're gonna be labeled. Be wise as you interact with nonbelievers. I actually say, "Think twice before you share the gospel." I don't ever say, "Don't share the gospel." I say, "Think about how you're gonna share it so it's effective. Christian affiliations that are either distracting or divisive.

Some of you guys are very close and very good friends with each other. Yes or no? Some of you are like, "No I don't have any friends here." No, you guys are getting closer. And the closer you become, what happens? You enjoy just hanging out. My best fellowship happens with church people.

My most favorite hangouts and my laughter is loudest with church people. And that's fine. But if your relationships start to be all about just hanging out, you're gonna all go down. And some friendships that are even in this room, I will say right now, you guys have to be careful not to just hang out.

Because the more you hang out, you get addicted to hanging out and you stop hanging out with non-Christians that you're supposed to try to win to Christ. Right? Whenever you have free time, you're not thinking about that non-Christian that you should maybe like just pursue. You're thinking, "I wonder what so-and-so is doing.

Hey, you want to watch Captain Marvel? You want to go eat BCG? Hey, Diamond Jamboree." And then most of your waking hours become just hanging out. And that's where young adults start to fall. Because you don't like work. Because everyone around your work is stinky. They cuss. They make crude jokes.

Their like values are different. So I'm like, "Ugh, I have to endure." And then you go to your friends, "Oh, I could be myself." But there is no Christ in either. You have to be careful with that. And who are our influencers? Who has a hold of your heart?

Good and/or bad. Be discerning. Proverbs will say, "Bad company" or the like the associate--I forgot the proverb--but if you walk with the wise, you will go rise. Right? But a friend of a fool, something. Usually something to do with disruption. Right? Okay? Who you interact with, you have to be careful.

Are you guys following this? Satan will let you sometimes just enjoy each other's random hanging out, and he will even let you maybe call it fellowship and leave it be. Because he knows where that's gonna go. Okay? So be very discerning. Either a relationship is a pursuit for the soul or an iron sharpener.

But if that relationship is anything else, you can drift because of that friendship. Not sure if this makes sense. Okay? Third, "R," religion. Here's Ephesians 2, 8 to 10. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." You guys have memorized this probably as a kid.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we will walk in them." So I love verse 10 because sometimes my people that I know who are all about like cheap grace, "Oh, it's been by--we're saved by grace and faith alone." I'm like, "Yeah, but for what purpose?" Verse 10 says, "Good works." But some people will skip verse 8 and 9 and they will focus on verse 10.

I have to do good. Okay? So how does religion mess me up? First, what it is is religious activity or response rooted in a desire to appease God or to please man. Religious activity or response rooted in a desire to appease God or to please man. It sucks sometimes to be a pastor because my job is religion.

Okay? It's very difficult. So pray for us. Because it's not always easy having a wholehearted devotion to the Lord, because--and even if you don't, you have to put up that face. And sometimes that's very difficult. It's a struggle. But religious activity or response rooted in a desire to appease God--and what does it mean to appease God?

To pay him back for something. Or he's judging me. He's about to be like--he's about to just ruin my business. I'm about to get laid off. So you're trying to stop his wrath. Or you're trying to impress people. Outward religion to impress those in the church. The Pharisees were experts at this.

So I'm not saying don't serve the church. But some of you guys, if your identity is rooted in, "I want to be known as that guy who serves all the time at church," you're in dangerous ground. "I want to be the girl who's known as a prayer warrior, so I will pray so that everyone will know that I pray." Pretense and lack of confession for fear of judgment.

When we sin, we're terrified to share because we're afraid of being judged. So over time we start developing a habit of using Christianese and sharing. Like I remember just thinking--I was sitting in a small group once. I'm like, "It is so clear to me right now that none of you guys are praying.

Because if you were really praying, all of these prayer requests would not even come up." What is prayer? Is it a wish list? "Help me to have good health. Help me to have a good job. Help me to do this." No, it's not. Prayer is, "I am weak. I need intercession.

I need someone to come and lift up my arm so I could pray." But what happens is, if we're not walking well with Christ but we feel the need to make sure that we're not church-disciplined, or like the pastors call you and go, "Hey, let's meet up." You're like, "Why?" Right?

Sometimes you guys feel that way when we text you. I texted someone this morning. Minsoo Kim. You know who he is? He has three sons. I was like, "Dude, Minsoo, like I dreamt about you last night." I mean, that sounds so weird. But you were--I don't remember what it was, but his face came into my mind.

So this morning I just texted him. I was like, "It's been a while. I haven't actually--we haven't sat down for a conversation since we came back from Korea. Let's get together." He said, "Oh, okay. Is it something that you need to talk about?" I was like, "No, no, no, no.

I just want to hang out." So I had to tell him about my dream. And he was like, "Dude, you're weird." I'm like, "Thank you." So we're meeting up, okay? But if you are not walking well, you're afraid to talk to a small group leader, you're afraid to talk to a praise leader, you're afraid to talk to a spiritual leader.

True or false? Why? You feel like you're gonna-- they're gonna be judged. And our pastors are not that judgmental. We're pretty gracious dudes, okay? But you in your heart feel like, "I have to make sure I'm in the positive with pastor. Because if I'm not, like, they're gonna talk about me, they're gonna be worried about me, they're gonna come after me." That's there, okay?

James 3 and 5 says, "Confess your sins to each other." Because we all stumble in many ways. But religion is, "I will do the church stuff so that I don't have people on my case." Or the "just enough" mentality, "I will do just enough where people don't call me out." And for the rest of your life, you're in spiritual mediocrity and God hates that.

You guys follow me? This is a very dangerous thing. This is why I wanted to spend time on these large minds because large minds don't--you're not--it's not decapitating you, it's killing you slowly. Have you met people who've done church for a long time and they've drifted, they've fallen away, now they're like, "I hate church." You know how hard it is to come back after you leave the church for a while?

Because you're like, "Oh, I've been there, I've done that. Yeah, I've prayed. I've cried my tears at retreat. I've done all that. Yeah, I'm beyond saving or reconciling." And that's the hardest person to win over because they've given it a try and it hasn't worked. But what they've given it a try is churchianity.

They didn't give Christ a chance, they give religion a chance, churchianity a chance. And you know people like this. What's L? Lutz. And even for your small groups, discuss it if it is something that's killing you. But try to do the other ones. Spend more time on the other subtle ones, okay?

What's A? Affiliations. Are all my friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ? Or my mission field? Or are they just my buddies? Okay, dangerous stuff. Religion is a third one. Fourth one, the D. Are my duties. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

For I came to set a man against his father and a debtor against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. If this was the only Bible passage that you had available to you, God would sound like a selfish jerk. But this is one of the only few passages where he actually talks about how he is above your family.

For the most part, God wants you to have a good family, yes or no? Is that a qualification even for any service in the church visible, yes or no? Yeah. And if I'm honest, I'm most real with my wife. So sometimes I don't want you to ask my wife how I am at home because that's gonna taint your image of me.

But if she's very happy with me, I'm gonna be like, "Go ask her. Go ask her." And I've like washed the dishes, I've taken out the trash, I played with the kids, I put them down. Even before she asked me, "Go ask her." Right? But I am the most real with my family.

And as my kids get older, they're either gonna be—they're gonna have to love God. They're either gonna love the Lord more through my faith or despite my faith. How I treat them is either gonna hinder their walk with God, or that's something they have to overcome, or it's gonna bless them.

Family knows you best. So this is not a passage that's speaking against having good family relationships. Some of you guys who are church rats, you need to be more at home. Right? So there are times where I've actually told some people, "Don't serve in this way. You're doing too much.

Spend your Saturday at home with your family who's not a Christian." Okay? And so do you guys see how these are all kind of interconnected with the religion and all this stuff? Yeah. So duties. So what they are are responsibilities that either become idols or smoke screens. Responsibilities that either become—or actually grammatically should be "become either"—become either idols or smoke screens.

In the OC, family-first mentality is actually a very dangerous thing. And there are families at our church that I feel like are very close to, if not already idolizing their family. Happy wife, happy life mentality, I ask you never to say "happy wife, happy life," especially after you get married.

That is actually worldly wisdom that I understand. Okay? It's "worshipful couple, happy life." Doesn't rhyme. Okay? If you get the happy wife, happy life mentality in your head as a girl, you're gonna slowly think that your husband exists to please you. And if you're a man, you're gonna slowly start to think that whatever my wife wants comes first, because God said, "Love your wives as yourselves." You have to be very careful.

It can even be in the form of irresponsibility. Okay? And that's another one, like, shirking your duties. 1 Timothy 5:8 says if a believer is not concerned about his own relatives—this is about widows, okay? They're like, "Before you put them on the list of widows supported by the church, make sure that they have believing families.

Check to see if they have believing family members or not, because those believing families should actually take care of those widows before the church does." Okay? So that's an—and if a believer, or if a man does not take care of his own family, he is worse than an unbeliever.

That's what he says, because even unbelievers take care of their own. Or jobs have become more than jobs. That's another duty. Okay? What is your job? I mean, I'm not like, teacher. No, I'm not talking about that. Your job is your tent-making industry that helps you to eat. True or false?

Is your job your identity? No. Especially some of you guys who are at an age where you want to be defined by your career. Your job is not your identity. Your identity has to solely be on the cross of Christ. But some of you, especially those of you who are more successful or are smart, jobs can become more than just a job.

And we're gonna talk about this, but you're gonna think that the opposite of poor is rich. The opposite of failure is success. It's actually not. It's freedom. The opposite of poor is freedom to serve, to give. The opposite of failure is freedom, right? Success is not like having a PhD or this and that.

So when your job becomes more than your job, be very careful because that's gonna be your pitfall. But you will never say, "I think I'm idolizing my job." No, you're saying, "I'm gonna, yeah, I'm gonna try to pursue my career so that I have a bigger platform to give God more glory." It never works that way.

Usually you bear fruit when you're faithful. You don't ever plan to bear fruit. Does that make sense to you? What I've seen on the missions field in different countries and many churches is you bear fruit because you're faithful. You don't bear fruit because you strategize. Some of the most fruit-killing people are people in churches who have PhDs.

When I was in Korea doing my job, I hated taking profs abroad to see the poor because they're always trying to teach. They always think they know more. I'm like, "You are such a hindrance to our group right now." Success, don't mistake that with duty, okay? Especially for you guys who have Asian backgrounds, this is a little bit tough.

Your priority has to be God and then family. But don't use your family as a god. So your responsibilities are either become idols or things you hide behind. A lot of young couples, after they have kids, they hide behind their kids' nap times. They hide behind their kids. And it's hard.

I will tell you, it's really hard to be a parent and to be a good one and to manage everything. But sometimes as a parent, you can hide behind the kids. And that's a very—and so I would encourage you guys, if you have really close friends who are parents of toddlers, that's a very difficult stage.

Pray with them. Sometimes be like, "I will sit in the cry room with your kids so you can come in to worship," if they're like one-year-old. That's really difficult. And then what happens, you start developing a pattern of—you know what, I'm gonna put my wife a little bit on the spot.

So in Korea, we would go to a new church and she would not want to talk to anybody. So you know what she would do if she doesn't want to talk to anybody? Just grab one of our kids and be like, "Ahh." I'm like, "What are you doing? You're feeding him a cracker.

He doesn't want to eat that." She's like, "Be quiet. You don't know." I'm like, "All right." You can either hide behind or idolize something that is good, a duty. Okay, next thing, materialism. 1 John 2:15-19. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life." Okay, they're all interconnected. "Is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.

But they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us." Why are these things together? If you actually look at your Bible, they're separated. But there's a logical flow. Materialism often leads to apostasy, if not at all, all times. Would you guys agree?

The more materialistic you get, the less important your faith becomes, because you stop hoping in heaven, you start hoping more on earth. And that's how people drift out. Verse 18 is all about Antichrist and apostates. So the more materialistic and the worldly that your heart becomes—and I won't be able to tell if I'm looking at you, unless you're wearing something really fancy, okay?

But it's gonna cause you to drift. So it's a worshipful desire for riches we hope will enable us to have greater pleasures, stability, and comfort. And where does that stem from? Ungrateful hearts. We feel that God—we deserve more than God has already given us. So ungrateful hearts is the stem and the root.

You guys know the parable of the four soils? We looked at this at the retreat. The third soil—the second one was where it was persecution, right? What's the third one? The worries of this life—desire for riches and pleasures. They come and choke the word, and so it bears no fruit.

Worries of this life, riches, pleasures choke the fruit. And that is not a Christian. So be careful that you are not being choked and proved to be an apostate. And remember, the opposite of poor is not rich. It is enough. Some people are, "Where do you get that in the Bible?" I'm like, "Alright, I'll show you, okay?" I look for it—I mean, Luke 3, where the people are repenting.

The tax collector comes and repents. He's like, "John the Baptist, what do I do?" He says, "Give to the one who has need." The guy who has the tunic. "What do I do? What do I do?" If you have two of them, give one of them to that guy.

So he doesn't say give both away. You have one, you have one. It's to have enough. 1 Timothy 6, 8 says, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." Verse 10, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and many have fallen into that trap." Verse 17, it says, "Command those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant." Because people who are rich, what do they have a tendency to think?

They deserved it. They worked hard for riches. They got it because they're better people. That's what gets into their mind. So, "Command those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited, nor to put their hope in God, or no, sorry, nor to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who gives everything for us for our enjoyment." So if you guys are struggling with like, "Well, does that mean I can't watch a movie?

I can't go on a vacation?" No! 1 Timothy 6, 17, if you guys memorize it, first, if you have money, don't think that you deserved it. Two, don't put your hope in it. Three, enjoy it. But verse 18 talks about, "Be generous and be willing to share." Some of you guys are rich.

You might not think it, but last week for our James study, if you make, how much are you top 1% in the world? 40,000. If you make $40,000 per person for your family, you are top 1% in the world. You are ridiculously rich. Enjoy it, but give it away.

Whatever you don't have it. So the opposite of poor is enough. Everything that God has given you that is outside of enough, you're called to use it for ministry. That's why your affiliations are important. Okay? Everything outside of is enough is supposed to be used for ministry, to win these souls to Christ, to feed the poor, because that's true religion.

It's not supposed to be for you to enjoy beyond what you can enjoy. All the stuff that you've been given, everything beyond enough is for the purpose of ministry and building up the body of Christ, building up his church. Orange County will tell you all of the stuff that you get is so that you can enjoy ages 65 to 100.

Probably not 100 yet, 90. Retirement? I hope none of you guys retire. I mean, you're like, "What?" No, no. What I'm saying is that you're active at 65 just as much as you are now in ministry. It'll look different. But with whatever you've been given, retire. My hope for retirement is just that I'll have just enough where I'm not a burden that I could still minister.

So I'll preach till I die. Opposite of poor is not rich. It's enough. And this isn't something that you guys who may be struggling with, because remember, affiliations, duties, responsibilities, all of this stuff is interconnected. Aye, we're almost done. Image. Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased.

For when he dies, he will carry nothing away. His glory will not descend after him, and though while he lives he congratulates himself, and though men praise you when you do well for yourself, he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, is like the beasts that perish.

For some reason, Orange County, we worry, especially in the Asian culture, a lot about your image, what people perceive of you. So it is a desire to be worshipped. They say before marriage, guys work out really hard to be like--to impress the girls. After marriage, guys work out really hard to impress other dudes.

Yeah, look at my chest, right there. Right? Because then you can't impress girls anymore. I'm trying to work out so I don't die. I've learned. So if you see me at the gym, it's these lightweights. I'm like--I'm just trying not to die, basically. And I've gone every day to the gym this whole week, except yesterday, just trying not to die so I could be more effective with my time here, okay?

But a lot of times when people work out, it's not for health, it's for aesthetics. So they'll look better in there. You know, honestly, they make nicer clothes for skinny people. I hate shopping for clothes because it hurts my esteem. I'm like, man, and even if I don't breathe, it still sticks out, right?

I'm like, this sucks. But why? For me, it's because maybe in my head I want to appear more machismo or more handsome. But for what end? You know, my wife's not gonna love me more or less. But we have that in us, a desire to be esteemed. Some of us want to be respected as a guy who knows his theology.

Some people want to be respected for a guy who's really successful. Some want to be respected as the guy that all the girls are like, "Oh!" over, right? You have that. Girls, same thing. Some of you want to be esteemed as the girl who's such a good servant. Some girls are esteemed as always being the girl that everyone comes to for makeup tips and beauty suggestions and shopping.

And you know, we all wrestle with our perception that we want to give off to other people. Remember, our identity is in Christ. We have died with Christ. We have been raised with Christ. You're all just really cool spiritual corpses. Right? That's your image. But anything beyond that is folly because you're not gonna take that with you.

Satan's favorite sin was his desire to be worshipped, his image, our ambitions, our accolades, our accomplishments. Is your pursuit, your lust to be the best guy? I've long since stopped trying to be the best guy at something because -- so for example, I used to love volleyball and basketball because I used to jump high.

Now, I can't even touch the net. It sucks. So I don't play basketball anymore. And then in my head, I'm still like a 22-year-old, like, young spry guy. And then when I'm on the court, like, five minutes in, I strain a hamstring. It sucks. So I don't play anymore.

I don't play sports. I hurt my pride. Okay? There is a desire in us to excel at whatever we do, not because we want to be useful to the Lord, but sometimes because we want to be known as that person. So ambitions, anything, accolades, accomplishments, are you in it for that?

That's a lard mine. A religious image that you want people to know of you, right? I worship even angels. I have the gift of tongues. You want to hear me pray? It's not so much at our church, but at charismatic circles, people who have the gift of tongues, they pray louder.

I'm like, I have no idea what you're saying, and I can't even hear what I'm saying. Stop, right? Because in Korea, a lot of people pray charismatically because the more passionately they pray charismatically, they want to say, "I have a closer relationship with God than most all of y'all." And it's a religious image you want to portray.

Same thing. Like, some guys are very good at pretending to be humble. Oh, no. That's all a fake show. I mean, not all, but what I'm saying is, if your desire is to be known as a person who is like this, it's a lard mine. Your identity is in Christ.

Next, nuptials. N-words are hard. That's why the R--one of the N-words I changed to R. That R used to be, I think, relationships. What is it now? Huh? Yeah, it became religion, so I had to do a little bit like a mix-and-match. N-words are hard. That's why you have lard mines.

But it works. Okay, nuptials. "But this I say by the way of concession, not of command. Yet I wish that all men were even as I am. However, each man has his own gift from God. One in this manner, another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows that it is good for them to remain them if they remain even as I." So an unhealthy obsession that sees you into thinking that marriage is the golden life and that you are incomplete without it.

Some of you guys may, in your early 20s, not really think this is a big deal. But when guys hit 35-ish and girls hit 28-ish, and that's completely subjective, right? You feel like, "Oh, I gotta meet somebody. Oh, I gotta hurry up and settle down." And there are sisters who are tempted to just settle because they feel like, "I might miss out.

If I don't start dating now, I'm gonna miss out." And that is a real struggle I know that exists at our church in a lot of our ladies and our guys as well. Guys, "Oh, I can't get married right now because I don't have enough of a stable job," or "I don't have enough this," or "I don't have enough that." That's your insecurity speaking.

And insecurity is wounded pride. It is not humility. And yes, you do have to have a degree of visible responsibility, but don't make marriage ever the goal of your life. You know, one of the best words of advice Pastor Peter Ayer gave me when I was 24 was this, "Peter, for 50-plus years, you're gonna be married.

So while you're single, just be useful." So he didn't mean it to say that I'm not gonna be useful as a married man, okay? There are clearly things that married men do better than single men just in terms of like their level of understanding. But marriage sometimes destroys people's faith, okay?

So don't make marriage the goal of your life. So unhealthy obsession that deceives you into thinking that marriage is the goal and that you are incomplete without it. And you know what happens to married couples after two, three years? What becomes the next "the goal"? Kids. So if they don't have kids, they're like, "Oh, I feel so incomplete." I'm glad we didn't have kids for eight years.

I mean, we cried a lot, but I'm glad we didn't have kids for eight years because I wouldn't have learned and experienced the things I did. The only regret is now I'm kind of older, so if we wanted more kids, it's like it's less likely to happen because I'm gonna be six years old when I take them to high school.

No, thank you very much, right? But kids is not the end goal. So marriage is good. Singleness is just as good. Right now as a single, if you have a lot of money in your account, don't blow it all on your wedding. No, don't do it. Travel the world.

And I'm not talking resorts, okay? Some people love to travel to fancy schmancy places that all look the same, just depends on the food. The food is different. The ocean scenery is different. No, travel to see God's heart for the world. And you can't do that from a resort taking pictures of your feet with the ocean in the background, okay?

Do short-term vision trips with some friends. You know what? Let's go visit and see what we can do about the poor and the widows in El Salvador. Hey, let's check out this trip to India. Because right now you don't have to ask permission on how you spend your money.

Becky goes, "Wait, so you're gonna take people to Haiti? Who's paying for that?" I'm like, "We are." "Why?" I'm like, "Well, you end up having to have a discussion." But when you're single, you don't have to answer to anybody. And you don't have to take care of your kids' swimming lessons, gymnastics lessons.

So while you can, money comes and goes. And while you are still by yourself, this is the most freedom you will ever have. This is the most, I mean, for you guys who are financially strapped, I'm just generally, okay? But your single young adult age is where you're gonna have the most time and money that you could spend however you want.

Do it for the kingdom, don't do it for you. Because marriage is gonna happen, houses are gonna happen, life is gonna happen, but this period, this window of time, you might miss out if nuptials are your obsession. Maximize your freedom. And I'll tell you right now, if you're a malcontent as a single, you'll be a malcontent as a spouse.

A malcontent basically means you're always kind of unhappy. You're a curmudgeon, okay? If you're an unhappy single, guess what's gonna happen when you get married? You're gonna take that unhappiness and affect your spouse. Work on being happy now. Yeah, this is not some prosperity gospel teaching. I'm just, like, practically speaking, be delighted in the Lord now.

Be satisfied in the Lord now. And then be satisfied in the Lord more as a unit and as a family unit. It's different, it's not better, okay? We're almost done. E, entertainment. This is a description of godlessness in the last days. Treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

We will not call it pleasure. A lot of us who work will call it rest. True or false? We will not call it indulging. We will call it, like, releasing pressure. We won't call it idolatry. We will call it, like, unwinding, alright? I know people who really wrestle with video games.

I know people who really wrestle with Korean dramas, movies, and all of these things. And this is what Charles Spurgeon said a hundred plus years ago, but it's very, very apt. If our church members fall into the habit of frequenting the theater, we shall soon have them going much further in the direction of vice.

And they will lose all relish for the ways of God. If theater going became general among professing Christians, it would be the death of piety. Yet one finds a taste for such things increasing on every hand. What is theater today? Is it Netflix? Before, you had to look like a gamer.

If you're sitting in front of a TV playing games, you look like such a loser. If that's all you do. But now, I know married dudes who go to the bathroom so they can play their game away from their kids. And then they're like, how many times a day you gotta go poo, right?

You gotta, like, you're in there for 45 minutes. It looks different and it's a lot more sneaky now because you can just do it on your own phone. You know, when I was wrestling with games, I hated games that you play this way. You know why? Games you play this way, what happens?

You look like you're playing a game. But games that you play this way, I just look like I'm, uh, like writing an email, okay? And I sometimes pretend. So my Becky doesn't, like, get on my case. I've since deleted games from my phone because it kills me. And I try to limit what I watch.

I try to limit, like, even going out to a movie with my wife. I'd rather, I realize it's better to take my wife out for dinner and coffee than to a movie where we're both just like, right? We feel better about the evening if we just engage each other.

And it's not to say the movies are bad. And you guys know where we're going with this. But though not sinful in and of itself, it is idleness masquerading as rest. That's entertainment. And some people get addicted to rest/idleness. Though not sinful in and of itself, entertainment is idleness, the filling of time that is masquerading as rest.

The funny thing is, I know people who are addicted to shows, movies, and games. Does it help you rest more or less? You sleep less when you have a game on your phone or a movie on your phone. Internet -- some people's entertainment is actually reading through, like, blogs.

You're less likely to sleep on time, true or false? Yeah. Poor stewardship of time leads to poor stewardship of everything else. Agree or disagree? Yeah. Do you guys have more hours a day than me or less hours a day -- a fewer hours a day than me? This is exactly the same.

Okay? You have the same amount of time as everyone else. So what do you do with all the time that you can use freely? Do you engage your heart? Do you engage your spirit? Or do you indulge the flesh? And acting our age. And men, ladies, we need to grow up.

If you saw me playing with Legos right now and my kids weren't around, you would judge me. If you saw me playing with G.I. Joe action figures and my kids weren't around, you would judge me. Rightfully so. Do not be entertained by things you were entertained by at age 12, now at age 25.

Grow up into him who is the head, grow up into maturity. Secularism, last one. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trapped underfoot by men.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket. But on the lampstand it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

What this is is it's a call -- we are to live in the world and yet not think like those who live in the world. Living in the world and not thinking like those who live in the world. So how do you do your life? You lead it quietly and faithfully.

Don't have ambition. Be careful. Chip on the shoulder, the world may say it's a good thing. Scripture will say that's folly. Life approach. 1 Thessalonians 4, 11, 12, in the NIV it says, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to mind your own business and to work with your hands." It's kind of ironic.

"Just be faithful" is your ambition, what Paul says to Thessalonica. Ministry approach. Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. They are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. So even when we plan church growth, we don't plan like the world.

We don't use worldly marketing tactics to build a church. Sometimes the things that you feel like the leaders may be doing may make no sense and that's foolish or slow. We don't operate under worldly values of advertising, church growth. We don't work under those principles. We work under what Scripture prescribes for us.

That's why I think seeker-sensitive movement is so stupid. You don't see Jesus being seeker-sensitive. Like, "Just get them fed. Just get them to follow me," he said to 20,000 in the crowd. No, he actually keeps running away from them. They keep following him. And your life should not be defined by social causes, by your political affiliations, by emotional relativism.

And what that is is like, even like things like mental health issues, depression, all that kind of stuff, your life needs to look different. That's why I feel so angry when I read about pastors who commit suicide. But what gets me even angrier is that the people who are like, "Even pastors struggle too." And for some reason that annoys me so much because that guy should never have been a pastor to begin with.

Why did you put him there? Because he can give a good sermon? If I really struggle with clinical depression, please don't let me step on this pulpit. Because I need to sort some things out first. And if a pastor commits suicide, guess what? He enables everyone else to do.

Even if a pastor who's a man of God can, like, it's okay, I guess. No. So emotional relativism. And this world is becoming more and more confused. You cannot think like the world. LGBTQ issues. Scripture is very clear. So there are things that are in the world that are influencing the church in terms of causes.

Women are precious, absolutely unequal with man. Women have dignity. They deserve to be honored, and they deserve their esteem and their worth. And yes, there have been many abuses for generations, and women have been oppressed and wrongly abused, backed up by bad uses of Scripture. That's all true. But the Bible says a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and the functions are different.

Not better or worse, different. So for ladies, do not let Facebook or CNN or Fox News even or whatever have you dictate what it means to be a woman, a modern hip woman of God. That doesn't make any sense. And guys, we need to man up because there's becoming a less and less...like, we need to be chivalrous.

Walk the ladies to the cars. Open doors, even if they think you're weird. We need to...and I know heebie-jeebie way, where you're like, "Hey." No, I don't know about that. But we need to man up. Because if men man up, women naturally are...they don't have a problem following. But because men don't stand up, women are like, "We got to take their space." And you think they enjoy that?

No. I think we need more godly men so that we can have more godly women. It's just...the definition of manhood, womanhood has been kind of confused because of secular thinking. I mean, secularism is broad, but you guys know where I'm going with this, right? What the world tells you is wisdom is folly.

Stick to God's word. So how do we combat this? Flee. The Greek word...okay, number one, flee from. This is not on the chart. And I'm going to send this to you, so you don't need to...just pay attention. You're going to write it down. Sometimes you need to flee from the devil.

Did you know the Bible never tells you to engage the devil? "Hey, yo, Satan, I got this. Jesus is behind me. I got...what's up?" You know, that's not what you're supposed to do. Even the archangel Michael doesn't do that. He goes, "The Lord rebuke you." No one, even in the angelic realm, can face Satan alone.

So for a church that actually teaches you how to cast out demons and all this stuff, that is very dangerous territory because you end up possessed. Okay? That's where cultish practices become very psycho and crazy. But you're supposed to always be running away from him. If you see him...

If there was a lion that actually came into our...some of you guys are probably scared of dogs even. But if there was a big animal that walked into this door, you know where all of us would go? We would all go there. If the lion moves this way, you know where we'll all go?

We will all go here. Forget the lion, maybe like a hippo or an alligator. If they were there, we would all go as far away as we could. True or false? Yes. You wouldn't be like, "Well, let's see how close I can get to the lion without getting bit." You would not do that.

Run away. Because the Greek word for flee is phwege, where we get the word fugitive. What happens if a fugitive gets caught? Well, today it's incarcerated. Back in the day, it was executed. Phwege, run away, like your life depends on it. And flee to God. Three, if you need to fight, because sometimes the Bible says you need to fight, fight smart.

Do you guys know what the sword of the Spirit is? Like, what does it say in Ephesians 6? What's the sword of the Spirit? The Word of God. Why do you need to obsess over getting the Bible in your head? Because when you try to search through it and you're being attacked, it's too late.

So, a soldier, he goes into war. When does he put the bullets into his gun? When the bullets start flying? No, they go in ready. So, the way you need to fight is through his word and prayer. Fight smart. But then fight sober. Because if you fight encumbered, you're going to lose.

So, and what happens if you lose? You die. Remember how the Eskimo kills the wolf. That is closer to how Satan goes after us than most illustrations I've ever heard. How does Eskimo kill a wolf? By appealing to its lusts. By appealing to its instinct. By appealing to what it thinks is good.

So, what you guys are going to do is, I ran over about 10 minutes. If in your groups...hopefully this was a helpful workshop. It's not like a boring one, right? Okay? In your groups, hopefully there's enough information that you guys can go over with each other. You don't need to go through all the large minds because you don't have time.

I mean, today. But write down one trap, at least five, in your groups. Write down maybe five traps that you feel like are laid out for you. And like I said, for me, alcohol is not it at all. You could drink in front of me, I'm like, "Pfft." I mean, don't do that because you're just going to stumble other people.

But I'm like, "It doesn't bother me at all." It never has. But there are other things that will derail me that might not derail you. Fourth season, actually, it was Legos. I have a really big Lego collection at home that I'm not proud of that I'm saving for my kids.

Okay? But for some reason, all my free money...don't look down on me. I bought the newest Legos when I was in college. Okay? Yeah, dork, huh? Don't judge me, dude. All right? So what is your instinctive lust Achilles heel? Write down about five. What are you inclined to pursue of these lard minds?

How do you think practically to battle it? It is not to try harder. How are you going to flee? Who are you going to flee to? How are you going to fight? Oh, sorry, I'm supposed to point here, right? How are you going to fight? And what are some memory verses that you can think of and you can look through the scriptures and commit to memorizing this at some point that'll help you fight?

The people who've done Proverbs with me, I make you guys memorize one proverb per chapter per day. Why? Because you usually will memorize what you feel you need. So write down a verse that you need, or two, or five, and commit them to memory so that all of your, like, faculties are awake so that you can fight better.

Sounds good? And the more honest you guys can be with each other, the better, because I will guarantee you, you are not the only one struggling in this. The enemy likes us isolated because it's easier to knock off somebody when he's by himself than when there's a team. Okay?

So share, pray. And if you can get through, like, nine, I mean, I'm sure you can't, but just, I mean, whatever you can do, but at least maybe five that you can share with each other. And then in the back, on the bottom, it says, "Even in your group, break off into twos or threes and come up with some kind of system that after today, someone can check up on you." How are you doing with that?

"Dude, I'm struggling." Yeah, me too. "Hey, let's get up and let's keep moving, because struggling is better than dead." I appreciate it when you guys struggle, because that means you're alive. Okay? And you struggle hardest when you're at the beginning of death. You're like, "Mm," right? You're fighting. Don't weaken.

And help each other not to weaken. Fight together. Okay? So find out how you guys can keep each other accountable, pair off, and this is after you guys have a group discussion. And then have lasting, like, accountability friends that will help you. All right? So let's pray, and then we'll break you off.

And then what time did we say? Who gave the announcement? Did Sarah? Marsha? What time did we say we're going to have lunch? - We're going to have lunch. We're going to pick up at 12.15. - 12.15? Okay. - And then we'll be done by 12. - Okay. Then at 12.10, let's get back together, and then we'll have a time of just final praise and just a time of prayer, and then we'll break it off.

At 12.10. Try not to come later. And if you guys are all going to lunch, if you go with different people, share. Share some of the stuff that you wrestle with because I guarantee you, I'm not the only one who struggles with all of these. Raise your hand if you think you struggle with all of them.

Yeah, some of you are like, "I don't struggle at all. I am saved." But just remember, Colossians 2, 9 to 15, you are not condemned. He has canceled the certificate of death that consisted of decrees against us which stood opposed to us. He took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross.

So there is no ruler authority, no demonic force that is over us. But we'd like to submit ourselves under them again, right? Satan has zero control over you. And that's something to remember, Colossians 2, 9 to 15. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you.