Sunday Sermon: Take Every Thought Captive (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)

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You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabrielle Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

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New Testament book. On Thursday is our Old Testament study, and then we answer questions from listeners on Friday.

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Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series, presently going through the letters to the

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Corinthians. This is the sermon that was preached last week from our pulpit. Here's Pastor Gabe.

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In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand. Second Corinthians chapter 10, and we will be reading verses 1 through 6.

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The apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth, I, Paul, myself entreat you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ.

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I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold towards you when

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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.

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For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

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Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

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Let us pray. Our great God, as we come to this text this morning,

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I pray that we would learn what it means to take every thought captive and submit it to you.

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And no doubt when we came into church this morning, there were all kinds of thoughts that were bouncing around in our brains, things that we've been wrestling with throughout the week, stuff that we've been thinking about this morning, and we come into service today with those things.

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Even now, as this congregation sits to listen to the word of God, there will no doubt be weakness, a tendency to let our thoughts stray off into other things, thinking about something other than the word of God that is being proclaimed.

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And so, Lord, in all of these ways where we are weak, I pray that you give us strength, that we learn what it means to take our thoughts captive and make them obey

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Christ. And whatever it is that we've been thinking about that has been going on this week, and we came into church with those things,

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I pray that they would not distract us from this time and this moment that we have had, singing the praises unto our

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God, and now hearing your word proclaimed to us. As you have received these praises that have come from our mouths, may we receive the word that is coming from yours.

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And that's what we have written down here in the Bible. Let us not be distracted by any thoughts, whether that's stuff that's happened before, things that we're going to do later today or later on this week.

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Right now, we need to hear you speak to us. And so by the power of your spirit, take these thoughts captive so that we, in our thinking, may obey

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Christ. Teach us these things as we go from this place, so even throughout our week, we will know how to take our thoughts captive and obey the

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Lord. Even in our thought life, we would be obedient to you, for we must be

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Christ told us to be. May we even hate the very sin that would arise from our flesh so that we would not dwell upon those thoughts, but submit them unto you, that we may have together the mind of Christ.

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And it's in the name of Jesus that we pray, and all God's people said, amen. Thank you.

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You may be seated. So we have a lot of studies that are going on right now in our church, and I'm very pleased about all the different books of the

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Bible that are being taught right now. So if you are not in a study, I hope that you would become part of one.

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Chris has been teaching through Isaiah and his Bible study. Dave has been teaching through the book of Acts.

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Pastor Dwight has been in Galatians. Over the course of the week, I've been teaching in John on the podcast, and also

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Esther, which is also the Bible study that I host in my home on Thursday evening, teaching through the

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Old Testament. And Chris and I are also teaching Romans to the high schoolers on Wednesday evening.

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Now, in our family devotionals, I've been taking my kids through the book of Genesis.

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And this past week, my studies kind of converged in my preparation of the sermon this morning out of 2

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Corinthians 10. What I was sharing with my children out of Genesis and what

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I've been teaching out of Esther directly plays into what it is that we are reading about today.

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So let me go first to Genesis, and you can join me there if you want to. Genesis chapter 4.

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And you probably know right away, this is the story of Cain and Abel, two brothers who were fighting.

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Imagine that. Abel gave his best unto the

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Lord, and the Lord received it, and Abel received God's blessing. God's favor was upon Abel.

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Cain did not give God his best. He gave his leftovers. And so the favor of God was not with him.

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In the book of Hebrews chapter 11, we read that it was by faith that Abel gave his offering to God.

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Cain was not operating out of faith. In fact, he thought it was by his own merit that he was good enough.

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And so God showed blessing to Abel, but Cain became jealous of his brother.

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Cain thought, hey, God must be grading on a curve here. If I take my brother out, then who's the next righteous person in line?

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Well, that would be me. So all I have to do is take care of Abel. Cain became very angry at his brother, and the

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Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? This is Genesis 4, 6.

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Why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?

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And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

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Your thoughts are sinful. What you are thinking is evil, and your sin wants to have you.

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But you must master your sin. And you know this story. You know how this went.

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Verse 8, Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, and when they were out in the field, Cain rose up against his brother

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Abel and killed him. And the Lord God said to Cain, where is

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Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? And so Cain, who was unable to take his thoughts captive, became captive to his thoughts.

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And the darkness that was in his heart became the very actions that he played out.

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Next, we want to go over to the book of Esther. So from here, Genesis 4, we go to Esther 5.

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Esther 5. Now, what's happening in the story here in Esther is that Haman, who is the villain of this story, has plotted to kill the

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Jews. And he wants to kill the Jews because as the second most powerful man in the world, he had everything except Mordecai, who would not bow the knee to him.

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Mordecai, who was a Jew. And Haman said, well, then I'll just take care of this problem by killing all of the

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Jews and that will solve my Mordecai problem. Mordecai had notified

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Esther about this, who was Mordecai's cousin. She was also the king of Persia's wife.

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And so Mordecai notified Esther about this plot that Haman had to wipe out all of the

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Jews. And he asked Esther to appeal to the king for the lives of her people.

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Esther was hesitant to do this, but Mordecai said to Esther, do not think to yourself that in the king's palace, you will escape any more than all the other

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Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come for the

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Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

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The providential hand of God, placing a Jew in the palace and not just any

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Jew, but the very wife of the king, so that she might be able to save the

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Jews from the hand of this wicked man who was a descendant of Agag.

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Haman was an Agagite, an Agagite, either way you want to say that, who was a descendant of King Agag over the

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Amalekites. King Saul did not wipe out the Amalekites when he was told to by God, therefore you have this story that comes about several hundred years later with Haman wanting to wipe out all of the

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Jews. We would not be in this situation if Saul had been obedient to God in the first place.

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So Haman wants to kill all of the Jews. Esther is going to appeal to the king for the lives of her people.

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And when she's deciding how it is that she's going to do this, she prepares a banquet for the king and also for Haman.

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So it's the three of them, the king, the queen, and Haman all together at this banquet. But she will not tell the king why she has called him to this banquet.

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Instead, she says, wait until tomorrow, I'll prepare another banquet for you both and then

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I will tell you the meaning of why I have done this. I will tell you this request that I have of you.

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And so Haman goes from the banquet, he's kind of on cloud nine here, he's not only the second most powerful man in the world, but he even got called to a private banquet with the king and the queen.

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And it says in chapter 5 verse 9, Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart.

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But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

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Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home and he sent and brought his friends and his wife

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Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him and how he had advanced him above the officials and above the servants of the king.

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Then Haman said, even queen Esther, let no one but me come with the king to the feast that she had prepared.

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And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king to another feast.

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Yet all of this is worth nothing to me so long as I see Mordecai the

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Jew sitting at the king's gate. Can you imagine what kind of hatred this requires?

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For a guy to be the second most powerful man in the world and to be boasting with his wife and all of his friends about all of the stuff that he has.

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How the gods in his mind had even blessed him with many sons so that his legacy would live on through them.

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All of these riches and all of this power and all of this fame was nothing to him because Mordecai wouldn't bow before him.

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That's an incredible level of hatred. That's a remarkable obsession that he cannot even be happy with all of this as long as this one dude won't bow the knee.

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And so the idea that Haman's wife has is that Haman build a gallows and that he hang

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Mordecai from this gallows 75 feet in the air. And once Mordecai is posted all the way up there signifying

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Haman's triumph, then he will finally be happy and he will finally have his joy.

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I know I even have to wonder what Zeresh was thinking about all of this. You can't even be happy with me, your wife, because you're so obsessed over this guy who won't bow the knee to you.

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I don't know if that was her thought or not, but I would be quite amazed if she really thought that this was rational for her husband to behave this way.

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In fact, it's so irrational that it ultimately led to his demise. This is exactly the way that Haman would perish.

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The very thing that he was building to hang Mordecai from is the way that he would end up dying because he could not take his thoughts captive.

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Instead, he was captive to his thoughts, so much so that it ruined and eventually destroyed his life.

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He couldn't even be happy with all the treasures that he had because of his hatred and his prejudice against this one man.

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That's absolutely remarkable. It's absolutely absurd. But my friends, whenever we think about anything other than the triumph that we have in Christ Jesus, and we think we need this other thing to be happy, we are communicating the same thing to Christ as Haman may have been communicating to his wife.

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You're simply not good enough. I need this other thing in order to be happy.

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I need this thing in order to be satisfied. And until I get that, I'm just not going to have any joy.

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In this promise of eternal life that we've been given in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God, a fellow heir with Christ of his kingdom, and you can't be satisfied with that because there's this other little trinket or bauble or recognition or something else that you think that you need in order to be truly happy.

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That is absurd, my friends, but it is the way each and every one of us acts whenever we think that we need this other thing in order to truly find satisfaction and contentment and comfort.

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We need to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ and not be taken captive by our thoughts that it even costs us the joy that we should be experiencing in Christ Jesus even now.

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Though the world may be falling down around you, yet you would rejoice in your

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Savior for you know, this world isn't my home anyway. Because of what

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Christ has done for me and because of the promise of his kingdom, my reward is imperishable, cannot be touched by anything that's going on here in this world.

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No one can take it from me. Not even the worst day in the world can take it from me. Therefore, my heart will delight and be glad in Christ my

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Savior. Let there be nothing, no desire, no fleshly temptation or worldly riches that would attempt to lead us away from the greatest treasure that we have in Christ.

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Take your thoughts captive and make them obey Christ. And this is

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Paul's encouragement to the Corinthians here in 2 Corinthians 10. Let's start again at the beginning of this chapter.

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It leads us to our verse that's kind of our key verse today. We're in verse four.

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He says, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

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Christ. At the start of the chapter, Paul says, I, Paul, myself, entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

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I, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold with you when

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I am away. Paul was indeed a meek man and that's not boastful of him to say so, for it is a case that he is going to make with the

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Corinthians coming up in the next chapter. It is necessary for them to understand that he is this way because he means to contend for their hearts that are being led astray by these false apostles who boast in themselves and are anything but meek.

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They do what they do to gain recognition, to get something from it, but that's not

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Paul's objective. His objective is to win souls. His objective is to win the hearts of those he shares the gospel with, not to advance himself.

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That's what meekness is. It is a humility. It is not expecting anything in return.

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You do what you do for the benefit of others, not expecting anything in return. Perhaps the one verse where that word stands out the most to us is in the

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Beatitudes in Matthew 5. Blessed are they who are meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

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And that's literal, my friends. We literally inherit the earth, the new heavens and the new earth in Christ, which we are fellow heirs of, all those who believe and follow

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Christ Jesus. So Paul says, I entreat you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ, Jesus, who laid his own life down for our sins, and his gentleness.

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And though we were sinners against God, he did not destroy us. Romans 5, 8,

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God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners against him, Christ died for us.

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So by the same meekness and gentleness that Christ has shown to me, to each and every one of us,

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I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold with you when I am away.

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The Corinthians know that full well. We'll read coming up here in 2 Corinthians 10, 10, that Paul really doesn't even have that great a speaking voice.

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For they say, Paul says of himself, his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account.

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There really wasn't anything that great, that strong about the vocal presence of the apostle

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Paul. We might think of him as being somewhat of an orator, but he really wasn't.

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He was meek in presence. He was kind of a guy that was fairly small in stature.

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There wasn't anything that was terribly intimidating about the guy whenever you were standing in his presence.

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So it's amazing that he would write such weighty things, but then when you heard him preach, you're like, well, that's,

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I mean, his tone, his delivery needs a little bit of work here. So he says,

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I'm humble when face -to -face with you, but bold with you when

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I am away, because I hope that the letters that I'm writing to you are going to convict your heart and you're going to make that change so I don't have to be that imperative when

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I am with you. We might fellowship with each other and be an encouragement of one another, and I don't have to correct your behavior.

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That's what Paul is essentially saying here. I beg of you that when I am present, he goes on in verse two,

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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.

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Now, what does that mean? Well, remember, Paul is going to be confronting these super apostles coming up here in chapter 11, those who preach and do what they do for fame, for fortune, for the recognition from others.

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That's why they do what they do. So therefore, there are some among the Corinthians that say this was the same reason why

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Paul does what he does. He does the same thing. He's just trying to get fame.

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He's just trying to get popular. He's just trying to get some sort of authority for himself.

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Maybe he's trying to get fresh with the ladies. You know, that may be one of the accusations that they've made of Paul.

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Paul says we don't walk according to the flesh, even though that there are people who say that we're walking according to the flesh.

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Though we walk in the flesh, Paul says in verse three, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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And what we're talking about here very simply is we're talking about spiritual warfare.

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Oftentimes, when we think about spiritual warfare, and whenever we use that term, we think of spirits, demons, and angels warring with each other behind a veil that we cannot see.

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They've got their spiritual swords out and, you know, they're clashing and fighting even all around us where we are right now.

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It's the idea, you know, that's mostly born out of a Frank Peretti novel, this present darkness, or piercing the darkness, the spiritual warfare battle that is going on.

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That's what we imagine in our minds whenever we talk about spiritual warfare. And I won't say that there's not some truth to that, that there are certainly forces, spiritual forces that are waging all around us, things that we cannot see, which

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Scripture gives us glimpses into. But we're not fully going to comprehend or understand until we enter through that veil and we get to glory.

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And then we will see God as He is because we will be made to be like Him, 1 John 3, 2.

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So until that day comes, these things are mysterious to us. But nonetheless, the kind of spiritual warfare that we need to be mindful of is not that kind of thing that's going on between angels and demons.

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We can't know it and we won't know it or the extent of it until we get to glory.

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The kind of spiritual warfare that we face on a daily basis is a warfare against the temptations of our flesh.

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We fight that battle daily. There is a constant need to fight against the desires of our flesh.

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Every single day, you need to learn to take your thoughts captive to obey

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Christ. The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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In verse 5, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

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Christ. Now, what Paul is talking about here in context is primarily false teaching because we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.

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So every kind of teaching that would be contrary to what we have been shown and told through Jesus Christ.

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The weapons of our warfare are the word of God to combat against those things, against those ideas because that's what

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Paul is going to end up doing in chapter 11, is combating against those false teachers.

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And there are times and places in which we need to call out false teaching and those who teach falsely. We did that last week, talking about the prosperity gospel.

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And we'll get to that eventually as well, again, as we continue to go through 2

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Corinthians chapter 10. But in the meantime for today, I want to focus on the more personal battle that each and every one of us face on a daily basis.

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And that is warring against the temptations of our flesh, the desire to do things that are contrary to the knowledge of God.

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The knowledge of God, again, is that which is spoken to us in His word, that which

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Christ has commanded us to do. And in our sinful flesh, we are constantly wanting to fight against what

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God has called us to, and instead entertain the passions of our flesh, our fleshly desires.

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And so we must constantly be on guard and constantly fighting against those things to take every thought captive and make it obey

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Christ, that we may have the mind of Christ, as it says in Philippians 2 .5. Now, when it comes to fighting spiritual warfare, when it comes to the weapons of our warfare, let me state it specifically that way.

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I think the passage that speaks most clearly to this is in Ephesians chapter 6. So turn with me there.

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Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, where we read about the whole armor of God. And it's a great little picture, a great metaphor that Paul gives us about the weapons of our warfare.

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Such an attractive picture this is that we teach it to our children. You know, it might be a VBS theme where we talk about the whole armor of God, but as much as it's neat to apply pieces of the armor to these different things, do we actually explain or understand what it is that they mean?

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Let's look at this together. Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10, finally be strong in the

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Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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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.

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Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm.

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Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

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In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

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Praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

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And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which

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I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak."

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So as we give practical application to what it is that we have studied today, there are four weapons that I want to outline here, and you have four blanks in your bulletin.

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You are welcome to write these down in your blanks. They don't have to be in any particular order.

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But outlining four weapons of our warfare that we need to make use of daily in order to take every thought captive so that it may obey

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Christ. The first weapon of our warfare is the only weapon that is listed here in Ephesians 6 among the armor of God, and that is the word of God.

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Sword of the spirit is the way that it is put in verse 17, which is the word of God.

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And like any weapon, it needs to be handled properly.

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You need training. You need to learn how to wield and use this weapon against the schemes of Satan.

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You as soldiers, you understand this perfectly well, that when you became a soldier, you had to be taught how to use your weapon, how to dismantle your weapon, how to put it back together, how to clean it, how to keep it in proper order, how to use it against an enemy.

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The bullets come out of this end, so you point it that way. You know, same with a tank.

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It doesn't even have to be a weapon that you carry. It could be something that you're piloting or driving. Point this at the enemy.

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Here's how you use it. You don't just hand a gun to a guy and say, okay, here you go.

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And he just goes around waving it all over the place. That would be ridiculous. He must learn how to handle that weapon first before he is ready for combat.

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And so each and every one of us need that. We need to be taught in the word of God. We need to learn how to handle it in a proper way.

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But when we are so equipped and when we become familiar with it, when it becomes second nature to us and it becomes as natural to us as a soldier whose weapon becomes as though it's an extension of his very arm, when it becomes that natural to us in our usage of it, we know exactly how to respond to Satan whenever he comes at us with temptation to try and rob us of the joy of Christ or draw us away from his presence.

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We are well equipped with the weapons of our warfare. Jesus used the word of God against Satan in Matthew chapter 4, when

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Satan said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

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But Jesus answered, it is written straight from the word of God, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

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The devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written.

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And here Satan was trying to use that very weapon against him. He will command his angels concerning you and on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

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But Satan misused the word of God and Jesus used it rightly. Jesus said to him, again, it is written, you shall not put the

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Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain.

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And before I continue here, let me just say, the devil knows the word of God and he knows how to misuse it in such a way to confuse you.

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This is why you need familiarity with how to use this weapon so that you're easily able to parry those blows that Satan attempts to inflict upon you and you can counter and you can strike.

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And as Satan then took him up to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory,

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Satan said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And Jesus, again, replying with the word of God, be gone,

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Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

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And so we need to take this example from Christ our Savior and know how to use the word of God to fight against the devil and his schemes.

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That's the first weapon of our warfare and learn how to use it well. Whenever you are tempted, whenever you are drawn away, whenever you are led into despair, whenever you just flat out become forgetful and you need a reminder of the promises of God, know enough of his word that you can refresh your heart and your spirit.

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That you can be encouraged by this word and thwart the devil's schemes.

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Number two, again, four weapons of our warfare. The first is the word of God. The second one is faith.

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In one hand, we've got a sword, the word of God. In the other, we've got a shield.

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It is the shield of faith. As Paul outlines here in verse 16, in all circumstances, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

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Now, what is faith? It's necessary to have a good working definition of faith if we're going to use it as a shield.

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What is faith? According to Hebrews 11, 1, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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So we as Christians, when we have faith, we are sure of something.

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It's not blind faith. We're not guessing. We know. You know that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, that He rose again from the grave.

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The Scripture testifies to it. The witnesses that are talked about here in the hundreds, the apostles who were there, who gave their lives to the testimony of what it was that they proclaimed, that He rose again.

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He showed Himself to hundreds in a period of 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension into heaven.

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There were over a hundred people on that hillside that saw Him ascended to heaven. A hundred and twenty in the upper room when the

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Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they began speaking in tongues and went into Jerusalem with the gospel.

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All of these things are testified about in the Scriptures. We know because it has been tried and tested and true and remains as true today as it was when it was first spoken 2 ,000 years ago.

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The Word of God is true, though every man is a liar. And as is also said to us in Mark 13, 31, heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will never pass away.

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And we know because of what is proclaimed in the Word of God and what the Holy Spirit Himself testifies to our hearts, that this

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Word is true. And what it says, it delivers. And what it promises, we will have.

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As God has been faithful to deliver His people in the past, so He will be faithful to deliver us in the future.

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We know and we are assured of these things and we have no doubt that the

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Word of God stands forever. So sure are we of this.

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It is the assurance of things hoped for. So sure are we of the things that are spoken about in the

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Scriptures that we are convicted to obey it. It is not enough to say that you believe it.

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You show that you believe it when you obey what it says. That's faith.

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If you are not walking in obedience to Christ, then you do not have faith.

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You might say that you believe. James kind of turns that up right on its head when he says, well, even the demons believe and they shudder.

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But if you do not show obedience in your life to the Word of God, then you cannot really truly say that you believe the

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Word of God. So faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is the conviction of things not seen.

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My friends, faith is the very thing that saves us. Ephesians 2 .8, it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

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Justification by faith alone is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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That it is not by your works, it is the gift of God. Not of ourselves so that no one may boast.

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So it is with faith, it is assurance in the promises that we have and a conviction to obey these things that we are able to extinguish the flaming darts of the devil.

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His attacks on us are not successful when we hold fast to our faith.

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That's the next weapon of our warfare. The third weapon is prayer. And though Paul doesn't necessarily list that out here as a piece of the armor of God, nonetheless, we did say, we did see prayer mentioned here.

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So going back again to verse 17, Ephesians 6 .17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the

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Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the

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Spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end.

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Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for the saints. Supplication is prayer.

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It's another kind of prayer that you would be praying for the saints, even lifting them up.

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As Paul says, pray for me that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Paul said in Philippians chapter 4,

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Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice.

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Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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Prayer is one of the weapons of our warfare. We help the saints do battle, and we keep our thoughts captive to obey

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Christ when we submit our thoughts in prayer to our Lord. What can

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Satan do to you when you pray? It was Mary, the

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Queen of Scotland, who was known as Bloody Mary, who said, I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the armies of England.

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John Knox, who brought the Reformation to Scotland, even Bloody Mary was more afraid of a man's prayers than she was of an army.

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She understood the power of prayer. How much more should it behoove

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Christ's followers to know this power and to pray? Our Lord Christ prayed, so should we.

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Prayer is a weapon of our warfare. Finally, the fourth weapon of our warfare is the

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Holy Spirit himself. Again, I read to you Ephesians 6, verse 18, praying at all times in the

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Spirit with all prayer and supplication. It is in Romans chapter 8 that we read, beginning in verse 9, you, however, are not in the flesh but in the

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Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the

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Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So the Spirit in this way is an assurance of our salvation.

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We are comforted by His Spirit that we know dwells within us. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the

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Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

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He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

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We go on later to read that we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry,

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Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

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Going on later into verse 26, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

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For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

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And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the

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Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

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So even when we struggle to pray for what we ought to pray, the Holy Spirit of God is interceding for us.

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And if you encounter a time in your life, my friends, when you are so grieved by what is going on in your life and you wonder what you ought to pray, what you ought to say to God, your tears, through your tears, the

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Holy Spirit of God will speak for you and intercedes on your behalf.

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One of the ways this has been a comfort to me is while I'm sleeping. How do

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I control my thoughts? How do I control my mind while I'm sleeping? Well, the Spirit intercedes for me in my weakness and keeps my mind and my thoughts in check even when

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I am not consciously able to do so. And again, all of these things come about through proper training, that we might properly use the weapons of our warfare, the word of God, faith, prayer, and even knowing how we properly make use of or honor the

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Holy Spirit which dwells within us. Once again, 2

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Corinthians 10 verses four and five, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

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Christ. Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

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For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

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On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, Growing Together in Christ, when we understand the text.