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• Exploring the idea that there is a real and opposing force (Satan) working against God's will and trying to pull people away from light and towards darkness |
• Quoting a phrase from the movie The Usual Suspects about the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist |
• Mentioning C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters as a resource for understanding how Satan might operate in a culture that doesn't believe in him |
• Using an illustration from Ephesians 2 to describe the convergence of the power of the flesh, Satan, and the world in destructive ways |
• Satan's influence on people |
• The compounding of deception in cultures due to Satan's work |
• The reality and power of the unholy trinity (flesh, world, Satan) |
• The struggle to discern truth in a world with conflicting voices |
• The spiritual forces at work in humans and society, as described in Ephesians 2 |
• The need to acknowledge and confront these powers in order to follow Christ. |
• Discussion of Ephesians 2 and its depiction of reality |
• Powers and principalities: their influence in our lives and the gospel's message |
• The concept that the gospel is often bad news before it's good news |
• The idea that we are complicit in our own destruction and deserving of judgment |
• Jesus' role as Savior, coming to rescue us from ourselves and the powers that enslave us |
• Christ's sovereignty over all creation and his determination to reclaim it through the cross |
• Satan's work and the power of culture are still real, but ultimately defeated by Jesus. |
• The enemies we face are already defeated, giving us hope for the future. |
• We battle against temptation in the strength of Jesus through His Spirit. |
• We have the power to resist temptation and say no to worldly ways. |
• Our goal is to fight the good fight of faith, even when faced with difficult realities. |
[0.00 --> 2.72] Well, good morning, everyone. |
[4.46 --> 8.38] As was already mentioned, we're going to be continuing into a new season of Lent. |
[9.16 --> 14.58] And this year for Lent, we're preaching through a series that's going to be called The Good |
[14.58 --> 19.82] Fight, which comes not from the Rocky movies, which were my mind goes first, but it comes |
[19.82 --> 25.72] from 1 Timothy 6, where Paul, a leader in the church, is basically training and discipling |
[25.72 --> 27.14] a younger leader named Timothy. |
[27.14 --> 31.04] And he says to Timothy, after naming all these temptations, all these things that will |
[31.04 --> 35.66] lure him away from the life of Jesus, he says to Timothy, Timothy, fight the good fight |
[35.66 --> 36.62] of faith. |
[38.00 --> 39.00] Stay the course. |
[39.98 --> 40.98] Resist temptation. |
[41.74 --> 42.50] Fight the good fight. |
[43.96 --> 45.24] There's a well-known quote. |
[45.46 --> 46.98] You've probably heard it before here at Hope. |
[47.50 --> 49.74] And it's by A.W. Tozer, and I'll paraphrase it. |
[49.74 --> 56.24] He says, oftentimes we think of the world as a playground, but in fact, it is a battleground. |
[57.14 --> 60.20] And our hope is that in this series, we take that reality seriously. |
[61.08 --> 64.78] And I want to point our attention, actually, to the banners for a moment, and a big thank |
[64.78 --> 66.16] you to our Hope Art Collective. |
[66.52 --> 69.54] If you're new to our church, you should know that these banners are made by people within |
[69.54 --> 73.08] our church, different artists, who take our sermon series and put them on art. |
[73.62 --> 77.12] And beside me on the left, you'll see that there's a banner that sort of depicts this |
[77.12 --> 79.40] good life, this playground, a pleasant walk. |
[79.40 --> 85.18] And that very same walk, what's unseen is the temptation and the lure and the trappings. |
[85.80 --> 87.64] And I do invite you to take a closer look. |
[87.70 --> 92.08] There's a lot of details and nuance that you may not see from the back that you will enjoy |
[92.08 --> 94.22] and appreciate, I hope, as we go through this series. |
[96.22 --> 98.28] Just a spoiler alert on this series. |
[98.36 --> 100.38] We're going to be traveling through some heavy passages. |
[101.06 --> 105.14] Like, this is unapologetically not a light and fluffy series. |
[105.80 --> 107.92] For the next two weeks, we're talking about Satan. |
[108.64 --> 109.84] Spoiler alert on that, too. |
[109.98 --> 115.08] And I hope it is a gift to us to wrestle together with some of the heavy stuff of the world we |
[115.08 --> 116.42] live in and the battles we face. |
[117.54 --> 120.42] We're going to read together words from Ephesians chapter 2. |
[121.10 --> 125.16] And if you've got, if you're part of our mailing list, we're inviting everyone in our church, |
[125.68 --> 130.48] young and old, new to the church, old in the church, to memorize Ephesians chapter 2. |
[130.56 --> 132.08] We want you to contemplate this passage. |
[132.22 --> 134.10] We want it to get into your bones, into your prayers. |
[134.10 --> 137.64] And the best way to really know a passage is to memorize it. |
[138.22 --> 139.84] And it's not as hard as you might think. |
[140.06 --> 143.08] So memorize it in your translation of choice, in your language of choice. |
[143.16 --> 146.56] And by the time we get to Easter, I hope we've got this one in our hearts and in our minds. |
[147.06 --> 150.36] I'm going to read the whole passage and preach just on the first three verses. |
[151.32 --> 152.44] This is Ephesians 2. |
[152.44 --> 169.32] As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. |
[169.32 --> 177.18] All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of the sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. |
[177.90 --> 181.58] Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. |
[181.58 --> 190.92] But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. |
[191.42 --> 193.24] It's by grace you have been saved. |
[194.02 --> 201.24] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages, |
[201.24 --> 208.32] he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. |
[209.56 --> 212.44] For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. |
[212.82 --> 218.32] And this is not from yourselves, it's a gift from God, not by works so that no one can boast. |
[219.10 --> 226.38] For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. |
[226.38 --> 230.82] For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in Christ Jesus to do good works. |
[230.82 --> 238.36] If you're familiar with the world of psychology or psychiatry, you might be aware of the name Scott Peck. |
[239.58 --> 248.14] Scott Peck is a well-known psychiatrist who wrote quite extensively about human flourishing, like how do humans go about flourishing? |
[248.94 --> 252.32] And again, wrote extensively about all the dimensions that come with that. |
[253.02 --> 255.24] What's interesting about Scott Peck is his own story. |
[255.24 --> 258.42] He was born in the States at a very young age. |
[258.50 --> 259.98] He was diagnosed with severe depression. |
[260.88 --> 265.26] And at the age of 15, I mean, think about this, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. |
[266.06 --> 270.62] He went through treatment, had quite extensive recovery, and went off to school. |
[271.16 --> 274.94] He went off to Harvard, in fact, and studied, got a medical, he was a medical doctor, |
[275.26 --> 277.56] and then, interestingly enough, became a psychiatrist. |
[277.98 --> 280.36] It's interesting how your own story often shapes your vocation. |
[280.44 --> 282.14] That was certainly the case for Scott Peck. |
[282.14 --> 286.08] I'm intrigued by his journey of faith as well. |
[286.82 --> 290.86] Early on in his career, he was dabbling with Buddhism and reading a lot in that area. |
[290.94 --> 293.94] Then he actually shifted over to Islam, was interested by that. |
[294.16 --> 303.88] And eventually, he found his way to Jesus and committed himself to following Christ and being bold enough to write about Christianity and faith as it relates to psychiatry. |
[303.88 --> 313.26] And in case you don't know this, in Canada and North America, it's not particularly popular to talk about how your faith and spirituality impacts psychiatry. |
[313.38 --> 317.60] Psychiatry likes to focus on the brain, likes to focus on relationships, on your personal history. |
[317.94 --> 319.98] But please don't talk about faith and spirituality. |
[319.98 --> 321.68] That makes things all muddy and confusing. |
[322.56 --> 331.96] Scott Peck couldn't help but write about faith, spirituality, and how it shapes humans and leads either to our destruction or our flourishing. |
[331.96 --> 342.22] And he had the boldness to say, there is a powerful force within us, sin, that causes us to do destructive things to ourselves and to others. |
[342.70 --> 350.60] And perhaps even more bold, in Canada and North America, he said there is a powerful force outside of us, both evil and demonic power, |
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