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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by stopping the spread of negativity.

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Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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We are in Romans chapter 8 today and I love Romans chapter 8. I always want to

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encourage you to read Romans chapter 8 in its entirety. Today we're going to be reading

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verses 5 through 7. It says, For those who live according to the flesh have set their minds on

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what the flesh desires, but those who live according to the spirit have set their minds

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on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the

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spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit

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to God's law, nor can it do so. If we want to be a people who live at peace, who bring life,

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who are led by the spirit and carry light powerfully into this dark world, then we have

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to get really serious about stopping negativity. Starting with the negativity in our own hearts and

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minds because negativity is poison. It's death. It depletes and it destroys. It has never ever

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brought life to a person, a situation, a conversation, or a relationship. In fact,

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negativity weakens every relationship it enters. It steals our vitality. It keeps us from fully

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experiencing life, the life that Jesus died for us to have. And because of hurt, pain, frustration,

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confusion that we so often are faced with in this world, we often procrastinate dealing with

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negativity, dealing with negative thoughts, negative emotions, negative perceptions. But by not dealing

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with it, we actually lower our expectations for blessing and favor and the power to change.

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You know, instead we just write people off, sometimes including ourselves. We doubt the true

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nature of God based on negative experiences or conversations with other people or faith communities.

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We become double-minded because we so desperately want new, but we continue to see and think and

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feel and act based on beliefs that are rooted in accusation and blame and doubt and criticism.

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And in that mode, if we get breakthrough, we can't hold on to it because our thinking is so held back

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by returning negativity that we just refuse to overcome. And I say refuse because even though

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not every thought is our own, you know, some thoughts are planted by other people or the enemy,

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we decide what thoughts stay and what thoughts go. We decide what words we speak and what words we

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leave unsaid. We decide if we're going to be bitter, hopeless, full of rage, or vindictive.

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You know, negativity is not authored by the spirit. It's not the way that heaven thinks.

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It is a worldly mindset. It is a way of thinking, a way of life that is actually hostile towards God,

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according to Romans 8. It fights everything he is and everything he promises to be for you.

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It works against his purposes. And you know, it's not just an internal struggle in our heads and

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hearts, but it's external as well because our world is saturated in negativity. I mean, we're

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bombarded every day with messages that seek to create fear and worry and panic and hopelessness.

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And then we are encouraged to share them with others because negativity loves company. Negativity

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loves joining with more negativity to justify and spread itself. I mean, just look at social media.

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This is a tool that was built to actually bring connection. And it's turned into this courtroom

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that is full of accusing and condemning and shaming and humiliating people,

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often without having to prove whether the facts are even true or not.

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You know, recently I was reminded of Ephesians 4.29 that talks about, it says,

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Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only words that build others up, that your words

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may bring grace, give grace to those who hear them. If you are a new creation in Christ, if you're a

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Jesus follower, if you are a person of the kingdom, negativity in how you see and think

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and speak and act and feel about others and yourself, it is never an option. It is never

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an option. Jesus gave everything so that you never have to be a slave to negativity again.

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It is not your master. It cannot tell you how to think, how to act, how to feel, how to see the

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world unless you let it. And you know, many of us decided by April that 2020 was going to be a

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horrible year. I mean, I saw the post all over social media wanting to just fast forward through

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the year, get through it. 2020 just sucks. You know, 2020 didn't stand a chance because we all

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had made up our minds so early on that it was just going to suck. And the message has continued each

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month to get louder and louder. Now, look, we don't have to rejoice in the suffering of this year.

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We don't, but we most certainly don't have to cower to it. We don't have to be overcome by it.

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We don't have to partner with it and we don't have to surrender our entire year to it.

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What, what if, what if this is your year of breakthrough? What if 2020 is the year that you

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receive radical transformation or radical blessing or the answer to a long awaiting prayer?

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Are you even open to receiving that? Are you just so completely shut down by all the negativity?

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You know, it's not too late. We serve a God who is not bound by time, but he gives it to us as a gift.

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We serve a God who is not pressured or pushed around by evil and he gives us himself so that

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we don't have to be pushed around by evil either. We serve a God who is always at peace and who is

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always with us so we can always be at peace. Don't let negativity have the final say in your day,

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in your year, or in your life. And remember, you have a helper. You're not alone in stopping

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negativity. Ask the Holy Spirit for his help today. Ask him to set you free. Ask him to show

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you what that looks like. You know, living free from negativity, it is not impossible, not even

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in 2020, because nothing is impossible with your God. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah

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26 3. In Hebrew, it is shalom shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing

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broken. This is who you are in Jesus, because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus'

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ultimate win. With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus' victory on display and

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Satan's defeat on replay.