- Well, it's great to have you guys back, together again.
We are in the third week
of the Message Series called Relationship Goals.
And, again, I just want to express my gratitude
to those of you who are leading LifeGroups.
Those who've started brand new ones
and have gathered people together,
I trust by week three you're starting
to get more comfortable with each other
and we're praying that God will do a great thing
in all of our relationships.
We know that we are better
when we serve Jesus together.
If you have been with us, you know what we're doing.
We've got real goals that we believe
will take us to a real spiritual result
in all of our relationships.
What are we gonna be?
We are Christ-centered, we're all about Jesus.
We are mission-driven, we're not about ourselves,
we're here to make a difference.
We are at week three
and this is what we're talking about today.
We are devil-kicking and then finally,
next week we're gonna talk about
being covenant-keeping believers in all that we do.
Let's talk about devil-kicking
and start with the reality that,
as we looked at the words of Paul, we're in a battle.
That our battle's not against flesh and blood,
against powers and principalities of this dark world.
What's so interesting to me,
is, whenever I get in a difficult place,
in a relationship, in my marriage with Amy, in anything,
I often think, this is just things going bad,
and I tend to forget that there's a real enemy
with real strategies and real attacks.
And so we need to be aware, be alert, and be prepared.
We talked about the way that our enemy will often attack.
He'll try to seduce and he'll try to distract.
What I wanna do, is I wanna start with the distractions
and ask you to think about,
over the last seven days,
if we're trying to be Christ-centered
and we're trying to be mission-driven,
then we know that our enemy's gonna try
to take us off course and show anything,
shiny things, good things, bad things,
to distract us from our purest mission.
It could be that we're distracted by our yard,
our appearance, our hair problems, bad hair day,
our kids, a test is coming up,
a boss is making us crazy,
financial worries, or a health issue.
What I want you to do is think about,
over the last seven days,
was there something, if there is, what was it
that distracted you from being Christ-centered
and mission-driven?
Let's go ahead and take some time.
Try to be real honest because
this is where we have breakthroughs.
Over the last seven days, where were you distracted
from being Christ-centered and mission-driven?
Well, I hope you had a moment to really be honest
about any area that you might be distracted.
I think this is one of the things
that we're all vulnerable to,
because we can be distracted by so many things.
If you haven't noticed yet,
the questions tend to get more difficult as they go,
so, if the first one was hard for you,
the second one's gonna be really, really hard.
This is where we really start to see breakthroughs.
I wanna ask you and have you think about and talk about,
if you're comfortable, the big question
that we talked about this weekend,
and that is this:
where are you most vulnerable right now
to spiritual attacks?
If you think about where you are currently,
at what point, at what place are you most vulnerable
to spiritual attacks?
We talked about distractions.
And it could be that there's some distraction
that's taking you away.
It could be that you're comparing,
it could be, as we talked about,
that our enemy tries to seduce us.
And maybe in this group it's appropriate,
or maybe you might just get together
with just the girls or just the guys,
and talk real openly
about any sexual vulnerability you might have.
Remember, the Scripture's really clear
that there should not even be a hint of sexual immorality.
So as much as it's appropriate,
and let's make sure we are honoring and appropriate,
let's talk about it truthfully and bring it out there.
Sin grows best in the dark
and so we're gonna bring it out into the light.
Where are you currently most vulnerable
to spiritual attacks?
And this will give us a good indicator
of where we're gonna pray.
Let's talk openly and let the truth set us free.
Well, I just wanna say thank you
to those of you that took maybe a risk
and were more honest,
because that's really where we can find healing,
when we start to be transparent
about what we're going through.
Third question I wanna ask is one
that I think can really, really be helpful.
We talked about the idea of this,
why would we resist a temptation in the future
that we have the power to eliminate today?
I wanna try to just bring a little bit
of application to that question
and have you think about this.
If you know where you're most currently vulnerable,
what we can do today is, in light of that knowledge,
we can set some systems up
or some protection up or some boundaries
that could help protect us from being more vulnerable
to that same type of temptation
or distraction in the future.
For example, in my life, it's based on
all sorts of systems.
I don't plan on ever doing anything wrong
but I've got lots and lots of systems in place
that would make it much more difficult
for me to wander in trouble or to get distracted,
all the way down from how I use my phone,
to who all has my passwords,
to who sees what I do with finances,
to how I spend my time, to how I travel,
to who I stay with when I'm on the road,
and who goes with me,
and the list goes on and on and on and on.
What I've done is, I've recognized any place
that, not only might I be vulnerable,
or where people could actually criticize
from the outside without knowing as much.
What I wanna do is I want to eliminate
any of the temptations or vulnerabilities
in the future by making wise decisions today.
So, this might take some work on your part
but I want you to think about this.
If you know where you're currently vulnerable,
what can you do today to eliminate
some of the possible temptation or distraction
in the future?
Want you to think about it.
It's a really important question.
If you know where you're vulnerable today,
what can you do to eliminate
some of the future distractions or temptation?
Let's talk about it, let's be open.
This could be a breakthrough.
And then, when we're through,
what I want you to do is,
I want you to pray for each other.
The spiritual battle is real.
It takes place in heavenly places
and so we're gonna go and use the weapons
that we have, they are not the weapons of this world.
Ours have divine power to demolish strongholds.
So we're gonna seek God together.
We're gonna pray, talk openly,
and we believe we're gonna have breakthroughs.
So thank you and let's be open and then let's be prayerful.