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Introduction
A. The church is described as a body, both in its life and its function
1. Rom 12:4-5 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (NKJ)
2. Bodies are designed to live, to act, to work
3. It is natural for the body to function is such a way that life today promotes life tomorrow
4. The same is true for the church --- life today promotes life tomorrow
B. The body also has enemies that can damage or even kill it
1. Disease
2. Accidents
3. Self-destruction (Aids , autoimmune problem)
C. Likewise, the church has enemies that can keep it from moving into the future
1. Enemies that can damage or cripple it
2. Enemies that can kill it
3. Therefore, we must be ready to fight the enemies if we are to move forward
D. Today I want us to look at four such enemies so that we can avoid being a target
I. THE ENEMY OF IGNORANCE
A. Ignorance comes in many forms
1. Isa 45:20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. (NKJ)
a. religious ignorance of the pagan who makes his god from a tree
b. today -- same: worship nature, crystals, idols, ancestors, etc
2. Jer 5:21 Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not: (NKJ)
a. stubborn ignorance -- refuse to listen to God
b. won't see, hear -- think?
3. Hosea 4:1-2, 6 Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, for the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: ""There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. (NKJ) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (NKJ)
a. specifically, ignorance of God's word
b. it is possible to be destroyed by our own lack of knowledge
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