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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by bringing the Lord a sacrifice of praise.

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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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In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 it says through him, meaning Jesus, through him let us continually

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offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

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So it occurred to me today because October honestly has snuck up on me all of a sudden.

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We are wrapping up season three with this episode and season four of posture will be back on October

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19th because guess what y'all? We are in the final quarter of the year. 2020 is almost over.

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I mean, I get it. Some of you right now are like, it honestly can't end soon enough. Like,

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do I have to do three more months of this? That has really been the popular narrative

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since about March of this year. I was like, since the beginning of this year, we've been

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ready for the end of it. I've seen so many posts. I've had a lot of conversations this year that

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have included the phrase, I will be so glad when this is over. I mean, I've said that many times

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before about my own hard circumstances, painful seasons in the past. I have said, I will be so

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glad when this is over. But why wait? You know, Nehemiah 8.10 tells us the joy of the Lord is

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our strength. So why wait to be glad? Why wait for joy? Why put off the very thing that strengthens

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us when it is in the hard circumstances and the hard seasons when we need strength the most?

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Here's the truth. In every circumstance, in every season, in every year, you have a source of joy

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that never runs dry, which means your strength never has to run out. We always have a reason

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to rejoice, to be joyful, and that is who God is, his nature, his presence, and who we are becoming

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in him, who we are becoming because he is so present and so faithful. You know, praise,

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that is a posture, and it's a posture that keeps us standing firm in the truth, no matter what the

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current facts of our circumstances may be. The truth is that God is with us. God is in us. God

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is surrounding us. Everything about him is for us, and he will help us. He has held nothing back from

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us, not his strength, not his joy, not even himself. We can trust him. He is worthy of our trust.

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You know, a couple years ago, I faced a loss that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever

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have to face, and maybe that's exactly how your 2020 has gone down. Like, maybe the things that

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you have had to face this year were some things that you never thought you would have to face.

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You never expected you'd have to deal with them. You know, when I was in that season a few years

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ago, I got to the point where I believed I would never recover from it. I would never heal. I was

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so thick in despair, but it was then that I came across this scripture about bringing the Lord a

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sacrifice of praise, and you know, it was a familiar concept. Like, I'd heard the phrase

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before. I'm sure I'd sung the phrase of sacrifice of praise in like worship songs before, but when

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I was in the middle of a season of such incredible pain and loss, you know, experiencing that grief

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that was so heavy I just couldn't even think straight sometimes, this scripture in Hebrews 13,

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it came alive to me like it hadn't before in easier seasons, and I realized, you know, a sacrifice of

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praise wasn't me not getting enough sleep on a Saturday night and still deciding to come to

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church and push past the exhaustion and, you know, raise my hands in worship. No, that's not what it

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is, and a sacrifice of praise wasn't me like overcoming my shyness and overcoming my introvertedness

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and shouting hallelujah in the middle of a crowded worship dance. I realized there would actually be

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very few seasons in my lifetime, very few opportunities to bring

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bring a true sacrifice of praise in the midst of intense grief and suffering and unknown.

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So I decided, I decided I wasn't going to walk away from God like I thought about doing.

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I wasn't going to shut down.

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I wasn't going to exalt the pain.

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I wasn't going to let rage or bitterness or unforgiveness take over and take me out.

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And I wasn't going to wait another moment to praise Him.

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I was going to bring my sacrifice of praise to my God in the middle of the crisis because

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He is worthy of all my praise.

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That season of grief, it didn't get an ounce of my praise.

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It didn't get my adoration.

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It didn't get my trust.

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It didn't get my peace.

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It didn't get my joy.

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All of that belongs to and is secure in the one true God who is trustworthy.

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2020 is not getting my praise either.

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The United States election is not getting my praise.

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COVID is not getting my praise.

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The economy is not getting my praise.

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You know, there may never be another year quite like this one.

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We all have a very unique opportunity right now to bring a sacrifice of praise.

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And because God is always joyful, that's His nature, our rejoicing with Him, it triggers

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an experience of His joy that elevates us above the noise and the chaos and the confusion

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of our current circumstances.

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It wasn't that I didn't grieve in that season.

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Of course I did.

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It's healthy to grieve.

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But I didn't make grief my lifestyle.

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No one, no one can take your joy away from you, but you can surrender it by not understanding

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its power and by refusing to participate in it.

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The joy of the Lord is your strength.

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I'm going to end this episode and wrap up this season with one of my favorite verses.

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Philippians 4, verse 4 through 9, it says this.

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It says, rejoice in the Lord always.

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And again, I say rejoice.

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Let your gentleness be evident to all.

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The Lord is near.

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving,

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present your request to God.

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And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and

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your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Finally, my brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,

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whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or

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praiseworthy, think about such things.

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Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice

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and the God of peace will be with you.

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The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3.

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

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This is who you are in Jesus because of Jesus.

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You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate win.

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With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat

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on replay.