If we haven't gotten a chance to meet, my name is Matthew. I have the opportunity to be one of the pastors here. And the last six weeks, we have been plugging through Second Corinthians, chapters eight and nine. So we thought, why not do one more on those two? Just kidding. We're not. We're going to move on to chapter 10. And not that it's an easy transition, because you go from this discussion about generosity into, like, spiritual warfare. So that's a hard right turn there. But that does beg the question of us. Are we facing spiritual warfare? Did you face spiritual warfare this week? If so, like, what did it look like? And how did you fight back against whatever was going on in your life? In our life. This past week, my wife was out running errands, and when she got home, the wheel on the van probably went flat. And so it's kind of interesting. You're like, oh, I wonder what happened. Is it a screw? Is it a nail? Right. Men that probably only do this, we start processing, like, I wonder where it is. And this one was actually real easy to find. It was a leg screw that was about that big, stuck squarely through the center of the back tire. It was impossible for that tire to hold air with such a huge bolt effectively running through the tread. And so, fortunately, my wife's birthday coming up, so I was able to get her two tires for the van. So pray for us. We need counseling. No, I didn't do that. But we got new tires. But contrast this to a story in my life of a few years ago where our family was on our way to Ohio, and we had just crossed the Mississippi River. And the vehicle we were driving, this was really shimmying and making a loud noise. And I'm the type of guy that's like, how loud does this radio go? And I kept turning up the radio, but I couldn't escape the fact, like, this doesn't feel right. This is not driving well. And so we stopped a couple times along Interstate, and finally the second time, I realized, like, oh, two of these bolts are. They're broken. Like, the lug bolts and my back tire were broken. The next two were loose, and one was kind of tight. And I was just shocked, like, whoa, this has been happening since I was city, and we're almost to Peoria. My vehicle has been driving down the road, and who knows when those two bolts broke, but it had been a while. It was scary a little bit. And then to add to the infuriation was the fact that I didn't have the right socket to tighten down the bolts that were left. And I was like, duh. And then to add to the frustration, we were six miles out of range of my insurance company's tow perimeter. And so we had to wait an hour for a highway helper to show up. And then we found out he didn't have the right socket either. So, as it goes, as you're sitting alongside the interstate, we ended up kind of jerry rigging the closest socket that he had, and we were able to tighten the wheel enough to eke our way to a tire shop in Peoria, which wasn't too far away. But it was a dangerous spot to be in. And to compound the danger was the length of time that we just had to sit alongside the interstate. And we had to sit there because we didn't have the right tools for the task. And really, it seems like, well, your life is kind of at stake when you're sitting alongside the interstate. You watch videos and stuff on YouTube of just distracted driving. And it's so huge the number of people that don't even see police cars sitting alongside the edge of the highway. But it was dangerous. But it was dangerous to us, really, only physically. And as it pertains to spiritual warfare, here's my concern. My concern for our church, this church, not other churches in the city, not around the nation. My concern for this church is that we're stuck in a position way worse than being alongside the interstate with wrong tools. We are fighting spiritual battles every day, and many of you are ill equipped to one recognize it, let alone address the spiritual battle that you might be in. The world that we're fighting is not just physical. The world that we're living in is not just physical. The decisions and the distractions that you had this week were not only anchored on your physicalness, they were anchored in your spirituality. They were anchored in the question of, if I do this, is God trustable? And are we, as a church, equipped to fight those battles? Because I would guess there's a few different people in this room. Two of you I want to address. One of you is this ditch what? We're fighting spiritual battles. And at the basic end, I want to plead with you like, yes, you're in a spiritual world, and therefore you fight spiritual battles. And the others in the other camp, you're out there duking it out with Satan every few hours, and you've gone way past what the scriptures have said. You have almost found the Bible to be not containing quite enough to actually fight the battle and you have gone to other prophecies or other teachers. In fact, you're butting against the local church and maybe even the leaders, the elders of the local church. And that ditch is a bad ditch to be in as well. And I don't know if I'll have all the answers to bring us all together. But I want to raise the concerns for us here at Veritas to fight well the spiritual battles that are happening in our lives. And so we come back here into Second Corinthians, chapter 10, and Paul is kind of re engaging the people about a different topic. So if you have a Bible, go with me to Second Corinthians, chapter 10, and let's start reading together and let's hear what Paul has to say about spiritual battles. Second Corinthians, chapter 10. I am going to start in verse one. I, Paul, myself, entreat you by or through the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away. I beg of you that when I am present, I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. So Paul jumps in and you're like, hey, where's the spiritual warfare here? It's coming, I promise. But there's this issue with Paul, like, everywhere he goes, there's this story hanging over his head, seemingly of, like, he's not doing it right. He is not doing ministry well. Like, who is this guy? Who. Who does this guy think he is? And to some degree, like, yeah, this guy has been aiding and abetting murder. Like, some of these religious people that Paul might be engaging with, they might have lost their cousin to Paul. Paul killed my cousin, or he was part of the crowd that killed my cousin. I've got real problems with the message of grace that this murderer is sharing with you. So they might seemingly, by the flesh, have some tension that's boiling up with them. But the tension that Paul seems to talk about here is that they're like, man, you're tough behind the pen, man. You can really sit behind your keyboard and you can just send them. But when we see you face to face, you're a coward. You're a little coward. You don't talk that tough to our faces, but you can sure write it. But you see here in the beginning verses, like, Paul talks about himself three times. I, Paul, myself, he's not using we. He's like Corinthians, like this. This is me I'm concerned about you. I myself, Paul, like, I'm worried about you. And he approaches them and speaks to them through the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He's not going based on his own merit. He's not going based on his own story. Now he has a story, but his story is Christ in him. Not Paul changing his life around, not Paul getting his act together, not Paul coming to the good way. It's Christ that changed Paul's life. If you want to read Paul's testimony, you can go to Acts, chapter nine. And he's on the way to the city of Damascus to destroy the church. And God says, no, you ain't. I got you. And I'll transform your life. And that's what God is in the habit of doing. So Paul has been saved by Christ and he's doing his ministry by Christ. And they seem to have conflict with that. They seem to be suspicious of. Why are you doing the things you do? Why are you trying to extract money from us? Who are you to teach us about. About the church? Who are you to teach us about reconciliation? And in reality, he's humble. He comes in the name of Christ. He comes with the attitude and nature of Christ. And he's humble, right? He's humble. They should be humble. Like, this thing should work out. But to keep pushing back on you, you're doing it by the flesh. So let's not be confused by the word flesh here. Cause he kind of goes back and forth with it. So if you have a Bible, turn with me to John chapter 3. And I want us to read John 3, verses 5 to 7. There's this tension throughout the Scriptures where he talks about flesh and talks about spirit. And so Jesus Christ is talking to a religious ruler named Nicodemus, and they're hanging out. Nicodemus has some question, but Jesus kind of gets him with a statement. Hey, Nicodemus, you must be born again. And Nicodemus is rightly like, what? What are you talking about? But Nicodemus mind is on the flesh. He's thinking about birth in a physical sense. And Jesus is calling him to something so much higher. And so this is how a little bit of the conversation goes. Jesus answered, truly, truly. I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So unless one is born of water. Okay, grab your neighbor and pinch them right there. Just kidding. Don't actually do that. Okay. Don't touch them. Sit still. Oh, sorry. When you feel it right, you laugh like you are in the flesh. I mean, that seems like a basic principle, but we use these concepts throughout the Scriptures that the flesh can only go so far. The flesh can only do so many things. Okay, so you must be born of a spirit. He cannot enter the kingdom of God. Take note of that. Verse 6. That which is born of flesh, well, it's flesh. And that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you. You must be born again. And there's this picture of a second birth for me. I was reading a book called Chosen by God, which you can get at our book center. And I was reading chapter three. And God moved into my life and blew my mind, transformed my mind, changed the way I thought about things, changed my affections. For the first time in my life, I wanted to read the Bible. I wanted to go to church. It changed me. But in that moment, I got all of the Spirit, all that there was to offer. God gave me all of it. Then they're done. Sealed, transaction over, justified. There was no more Spirit for me to grab or get. I got all of the works of Christ, not part of the works of Christ. In that moment, I was given all of the works of Christ. I was given God the prize. Through Jesus Christ, I could access the Father, my Creator, my manufacturer. I could come before him with my needs and sorrows and pains. But in that saving moment, my life went from one life of flesh to a life of spirit where I could walk in the Spirit. I could please God. I could know God. I could engage with God. It was transforming. And so when these people are pushing back at Paul, they're striking at the heart of who this man is. Your ministry is anchored in the flesh. You are doing things for your own glory. You are just walking and manipulating and pushing these things on people. And Paul's ministry is of the Spirit. He pushes back because he has been saved by the Spirit. The ministry of the Gospel is done through spiritual work, not through physical labor, right? The Spirit transforms us, changes us from the guts, from our core, through every part of our life. And there's no place in the Scriptures where it talks about living in the flesh as being a good thing. It is not good to live in the flesh. Now, certainly you have legs, and legs are good hands. They're great. They help me do a lot of things right? So there is that fleshly aspect that I am in the flesh. But I'm driven by the Spirit. The Spirit is in me. I have been reborn in Christ, right? So there's this picture. Understand what the Flesh is and what it is to live by the Spirit. Let's go to verses three and four. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. So though we walk in the flesh, Paul is walking from city to city with legs. He has legs. He can walk, he can speak. Those are fleshly gifts that God has given to him. But the war that they're waging is not according to the legs. It's not according to the fist, it's not according to the sword. The battle we're fighting, it is spiritual. We are going spiritual places and we are destroying spiritual things with spiritual weapons. Okay, we're not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. So the flesh isn't necessarily a bad thing when it's talking about walking or physicalness. But when it comes to spirituality, the flesh is always referred to as a bad thing. I don't want to be a fleshly Christian. I want to be a Christian driven by the spirit of God. And so they're attacking him at the core of who he is. Like, Paul isn't there. Like, I'm here in the meekness and humility of Christ. I'm not winning anyone by the flesh. I'm not strong arming anybody. I'm not manipulating anybody. I'm not abusing anybody. I'm not taking what God created, the gifts God created, and using them as weapons against the people. I'm not building this ministry based off of me. This ministry is based off of Christ. It's not just based off of me. So Paul says more about living by the flesh in Galatians, chapter 5. You can check it out here with me. Verse 16 says this. But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are. Are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality. And I kind of break these up into different parts. When you look at, like, sexuality and immorality and impurity and sensuality, those tendencies are like, can kind of be encapsulated under, like, taking a shortcut. Like, God has a purpose and a plan for human sexuality. It is within the confines of a man and woman in Marriage, okay? And oftentimes, when it comes to these things, the work of the flesh say, but it feels good. And I got a shortcut. Let's do the shortcut. It'll be fun. And in that way, the flesh hijacks what we're called to be or how we're called to act. And it offers us a shortcut that does give us momentary pleasure. Then I call this a second group. Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions and envy. So these things are ways of extending control. Idolatry says, God, you're not doing it for me, but this thing will take care of me, okay? So I'm gonna worship it. And so we go about worshiping it. We're dissatisfied with God, we take things into our own hands. We'll make it happen. Sorcery. I'm gonna dabble in spiritual things that I ought not to, but I need to control the situation, and I'm gonna act. Enmity or hatred. Strife, Jealousy. Like, listen, some of you who like to focus on the sexual sins, it says fits of anger. Fits of anger are fruit of the flesh. This involves the person in the other car. This involves your spouse. Fits of anger are a fruit of the flesh, are a work of the flesh. Rivalries. Maybe you like to cause dissensions around the office, start that gossip chain rolling. I think I heard this. And it creates separation and tension. Maybe you like to do it in the church, right? But these things are works of the flesh. They're desires to control situations. And then I call the last few comfort things, right? Drunkenness. I desperately need relief when the prince of peace is offering me peace. Well, I can just drink for a while. That'll bring me some peace until the consequences set in, right? Orgies. The sexual sin, too. That brings a moment of pleasure, right? But around those works of the flesh are my peace and my comfort, okay? They're shortcuts when God has called us to holiness, right? And I don't think that Paul is being challenged around sexuality. I don't think Paul is necessarily being challenged around these things, but he's being challenged. At the heart of these things is, I don't trust God. I am going to make my ministry, I'm going to build my church based on me. That's what they're being challenged by. Like, works of the flesh are a direct challenge, especially if you have access to God. They're a direct challenge to your relationship with God that you would have a holy, awesome, powerful God. And you're just like, you know, I'm just going to do it my way. I mean, I know what's up. I'll just. I'll just. I'll just do my own thing. I'll just. I'll just bring myself peace. I don't want to go to the Bible. I don't want to read. I don't want to lean into my God. And we fall into the lies of Satan and take shortcuts that God does not offer to us. And that's a problem. But Paul is telling the people, like, I'm not doing this of my own strength. I'm not trying to do this. But then Paul shifts the focus here. He's like. Because he's at war. Like, Paul is at war. Look at the militaristic terms that are used in this verse. He says, weapons of our. What? Warfare. Weapons of our warfare. And he's talking about having divine power to. What was that word? Destroy. I'm going to destroy strongholds. And see the confidence that Paul has when he comes into this. These divine weapons, they don't just knock the bad guy out. They destroy the bad guy. They destroy the stronghold. Any of you ever watch a horror movie from the 90s? I wish you would raise your hand. So I'm not the only one. Thank you. All of us were bad people. All right. In the movie, at the end, there would be some vicious battle, right? This is pretty much every movie, okay? And then toward the end, they knock the bad guy out, and then they go and hug about 10ft away like, ah, we survived. And guess what? That guy ain't dead. He's standing right behind you. And then it all blows up again. And then finally he is conquered. This weapon doesn't do that. This weapon wins. It destroys. It is absolutely. These divine weapons destroy strongholds. So then a great question you might ask is like, what are strongholds? And this is where it can be a challenge for us, because I think some of you might be disappointed. All right, so let's just go. Let's just go here and read verses 5 and 6. Second Corinthians 10, verses 5 and 6. What are the strongholds, Paul, that your spiritual weapons destroy? Well, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And we take captive. We take every thought captive to obey Christ. Because ready or being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Notice these aren't pockets of demons that are out to trip you up or to kick you when you're down. And so Often we're so distracted by demons. Are there demons? Yes. Does Satan exist? Yes. Is he helpful? No. He is the father of lies. But what we need to grapple with is the fact that we have hard hearts, that we can conjure up all kinds of works of the flesh on our own. In fact, they can become a stronghold. We set our mind to them and we build our defenses around them. And they can be so damning and so dangerous. Church, they must be fought. And I break these up into three things, okay? The first stronghold is the arguments against the knowledge of God. The second is the lofty opinions against the knowledge of God. And the third is the thoughts that result in disobedience. So there's not demons. There's no deep, gruff voice coming from your closet. These are everyday dangers that are out to destroy the church. They're out to destroy the person work of God. They're happening every day. Now, I might have taken the arguments against the knowledge of God at a little bit of a different angle, but I would say one of the most damning things about the arguments against the knowledge of God is the Christian, and I'll use the term loosely, who says, I know God. I know God is sovereign. I know about the work of his spirit. And I just still kind of just do whatever I want to do. I mean, like, how isn't that challenging to who God is, to know his loving character, to know his sovereign character, to know his supremacy and say, I got it, thanks. I'm just going to take a shortcut. I'll just dabble in sexual immorality. Like that'll give me peace. At least I don't have to read that way, you know, I got it. That might happen this afternoon to us where we're tempted to take shortcuts or do things our own way. That's a challenge Christian. That's something that should not be. If you believe in God, he will change your life. He will change your thoughts, he will change your words, he will change, change your actions. To know some of his character and to do nothing about it is not a good place to be in. To know his character, to know his nature and genuinely not care is a stronghold of our enemy. You've been captured by your own hard heart. Wake up before it's too late. Confess that sin. Run away from it. But a stronghold that Paul's truthful spiritual weapons destroy is this argument against the knowledge of God. Lofty opinions is the second stronghold that I think Paul addresses here. And these are for those of you who say, my Experience guides me. My therapist guides me. My professor has taught me. My religion tells me my culture, my culture is more relevant than the Scriptures. These things have. These things are my authority. They're relevant. They're not written in this old language, in these janky stories. And, gosh, what is going on here? I need these things to lead me and. And to guide me. The problem is the same author, Paul, in the same book, says this in First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20, First Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 18, says, the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. And to many of us, the message of the cross being able to help us with what we're struggling with, it seems like folly. We need to grow in this area and not let it become a stronghold in our life. But verse 20 says this. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? The wisdom of the world or the wisdom of flesh? Seems like such a sweet, wise answer. The problem is it doesn't minister to the heart. It doesn't get to the root of the issue that we're having. Let's recognize that we all have issues. We all have temptations. But are we getting to the root of the battle? Are we getting to the bottom, to the base, the thing that's going to actually transform how we act and react and function? Or are we just trying to top coat it? I've got bad news. Dandelion season. It's coming. It starts in a few weeks to some extent, I pray. But you can take the dandelion and you can break it off at the top, and guess what? It comes back. How is it that I can whack them with a stick and the next day they have another flower? It just keeps coming back. And so it is with many of us and our lives of sin. We don't go down to the root. We don't pull it out at the base level. We let it grow back. We let it grow back in military fashion. We knock the bad guy out and we leave him back there and he comes back seeking to destroy us. We need to go to the root of the issue, stronghold three, the thoughts that result in disobedience. And I'm speaking about it in a negative sense. He wants us to have thoughts that fight for obedience. But Paul is calling us to take our thoughts captive, take our thoughts captive with truth. And so whether you're reading Paul and he's talking about the church as he did earlier in the book, or he's talking about generosity in the heart of a generous person. Like, we need to take our thoughts and we need to wrap our thoughts around these truths. These are biblical truths that we must fight for. These are known biblical truths that we must lean into without any shame. We must wrap our minds around these things. We don't exist to manipulate our way through life or just survive at the level of flesh. We exist for the glory of God. Your sole purpose isn't to be successful, isn't to be a father, isn't to be a mother, isn't to be educated. Your sole purpose in life is to glorify God in everything you say and do. That is your purpose. And from there, fatherhood and motherhood and education and all the things flow out. But that is your purpose. That is why you exist. And so to set your mind on those things is then to capture the thoughts which steal the glory from the gods. Paul warns the Romans In Romans, chapter 1, verse 32, he says this, Though they know God's righteous decree and that those who practice such things, they don't practice the decree, they deserve to die. They not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them. How easy is it to have such a shallow mind that we just smile and nod at a lot of the things that our culture is doing, rather than have the boldness to, in the meekness and humility of Christ, speak into the things our family is doing, our church is doing, our culture is doing. We need to capture our thoughts. We need to fight for the holiness of God. We need to destroy strongholds that chip away at the nature, character and reality of who God is. And the mind of a believer is to be treasuring God above everything else, to focus on him and destroy the things that would take us away from Him. That is the purpose of us as believers. And that's Paul's mission here. He's like, guys, I'm not the guy that you think I am. This is my mission. This is my ministry. I'm going to war. I'm going to break down strongholds. I'm going to conquer sin. And he says it in verse six. He's like, listen, we're going to fight this disobedience thing until there's obedience. We're going to fight for holiness. Christ is going to permeate from our body, our lives and our decisions. That's what we're going to fight for. And that's what I do fight for. And the spiritual weapons I use. They win. They destroy these strongholds. And he wants to be on that mission. He wants the Corinthians to be on this mission. And I have to believe that he wants us to be on that mission, that we too, destroy strongholds. Because I think Paul seems worried here about a stronghold developing right there in the church accords and recognizing in that time period, there's a lot of philosophy around, there's a lot of thought about thought about thought and more thought. And the further away you get from the core, the more dangerous it gets. And I wonder if for Corinth, and I wonder if for us, if their church isn't being infiltrated with these arguments about the knowledge of God, does he really exist? If I know God, do I have to obey God? And these lofty opinions like, well, I know somebody and he's smarter than you, and I follow him or her. I really trust them. So I will put all my cards on this deck. Was Corinth captured by those lofty arguments? And they're smooth, too. To some degree, they make sense. To some degree, they are attractive. They seem loving. Oh, it's loving. And they're wrong. And they're wrong. Has it crept in here at Veritas? Are we at a place where we don't capture our thoughts, where we just let our thoughts run rampant, whether it be philosophical thought or whether it be sexual thought or whether it be anger? A lot of people don't like to talk about bitterness. Are we captured by these thoughts? Or are we capturing our thoughts and pushing forward in obedience what has captured our mind? And that leads us to what I want you to remember from today. Spiritual warfare is powered by God and fought with the weapons. Spiritual warfare is powered by God. He doesn't call us to do it in our own flesh. We don't want to be like what they're accusing Paul of. He's doing this on his own. No, I want to do this with God. God, help me. Help me fight the strongholds. God, give me your weapons to fight. Help me destroy these. So what does it look like? I think the first weapon that Paul displays, and I might be stretching just a little bit, but I love how he opens this text. He's like, you guys are accusing me of these things. And I'm telling you I'm functioning through. I'm functioning through the humility and meekness of Christ. Christians, when we go to fight sin in our life, in our family's life, in our church life, in our city and state, let's remember that Jesus was Like a lamb before his shearers is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. Let's not respond in sarcasm or sarcasm or other folly. I'll get you to cooperate. I'll get you to get in line. Do you know how foolish you're being? No. Do we combat their challenges to the truth with humility and meekness of Christ? I'd love to go to Philippians 2. We don't have time where it talks about the humility of Christ. Though he was God, he counted it as nothing to become a man. And God help us church address our politics. Whether you like this guy now or like the guy before, no politician is ever going to get to the heart of this nation. Why are we so upset? There is a king that reigns forever. He's never been voted out and he's never been voted in. He is king and that is our hope. Don't let your message of the gospel and your fighting for strongholds be distracted by foolishness around these other issues. The second weapon I see Paul using is when they're again talking about arguments and lofty opinions against the knowledge of God. He uses the knowledge of God. This is who our God is. And because God is this, we must address this or we must live this way. It's hard. I want us to be a church of Bible people. This isn't a book that you're going to be tested on or quizzed on. This is a book about a loving God who will transform your life. It's not just facts. It's life changing. It's living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword. Don't read it like it's just a book in passing. Do what it says. I know you're at church and you're like oh my gosh, did he just tell me to read the Bible? Yes, Veritas. Read your Bible and do what it says. It can transform your marriage, it can transform your mouth, it can transform your motivations. Know and love the glory of God that is revealed in his word. Know and love the glory of God so you can fight strongholds in your life. Distractions and lofty arguments. It will not come back void. And Ephesians 6. Let's go there. I know some of you are waiting for this one. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We're skipping a few verses here to verse 17 where he says this. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword. This is the one attack thing. For those of you who want to run and just attack everything. You got one sword. There is more defensive weapons in this than the one sword. It's one one thing as an attack, right? And it's the word of God. It's not prayer services. It's not prophecy. It is the very completed word of God with which you attack the strongholds of the devil. It is complete. You completed in Christ Jesus with the Holy Spirit with the completed Word of God fight strongholds. It is sufficient for you praying at all times in the Spirit. That's a whole other topic, right? But we pray. Pray that God would move. Pray that God would work with all prayer and supplication. Paul gives us that offensive weapon. It is the word of God. Don't be disappointed in it. You don't need any more. Trust what's been revealed in it. We have the Scriptures, just like Paul had the Scriptures. And the third thing closely ties with number two. But if we know the truths of God word, God's Word, we can let the truths permeate our mind and we can fixate on those things. And with the truth of God's Word permeating our mind, we can capture our thoughts and fight the strongholds from taking root in our own life, in our own heart. With the truth of God's Word in our mind, we can challenge our neighbor. We can challenge our brother. We can challenge our friend to say, like brother, don't walk away from the Scriptures. Don't walk away from the local church. Don't walk away from the Gospel in your battle for spiritual purity, in your battle against the enemies, walk with the Scriptures. Stay in line with the text. But we as a church can set our mind on things that are above. We can meditate on the law day and night, and it will sustain us. It will help us to capture our thoughts and direct us toward obedience. I've got a couple things I can do when I'm nervous. I can sit and think about that which I'm nervous about, and it can grow in scariness. Or I can think about the love and character and nature of who God is, who makes all anxieties like nothing. And I can fixate on his truth and his testimony. And I can fight the things of this world. I can dismantle them with the truth of His Word. So, church, let's be A church that walks in humility and meekness. Church. Let's be a church that loves the complete word of God, that's satisfied in the text that he has given to us. Let's be a church that meditates, that sets our mind on things that are above. And let's capture our thoughts that we might be obedient. So as we come into this time of communion, we have the opportunity to say, God, I haven't lived this way. God, my thoughts aren't ruled by you. God, I claim to know you, but I just do whatever the heck I want to do. That's sin. That doesn't represent somebody who said, I'm in Christ, I'm with Christ. This is an opportunity for us to say, God, forgive me for my sin. Thank you for sending your son. That even when I was an enemy, you died for me. Thank you. And we can be made right with God. Let's pray. God, I lift up your church to you, God, that we would recognize the seriousness and significance of spiritual warfare. Even the warfare that may happen this afternoon and undoubtedly tomorrow and then the next day, and then there's the next and the next. God, I pray for this church, Lord, that we would see the gospel in the right sense. God, that it is, it's done. That you have given us all of you with which we can fight these battles, that we could see the Bible as complete. We lack nothing to go into these battles. God, give us a hunger for your word. And above all these things, Lord, help us understand and put on the humility and meekness of Christ. May our desire be not to change our sister or our cousin, but may it be to glorify Christ because you are worthy of it all. Father, get glory. Give us a hunger for you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.