Knocking Down Strongholds - 2 Corinthians 10 - Sunday Sermon

Welcome to Boon's Ferry. If you're new

or wanting to get more connected, we use

our welcome cards for that. So, go ahead

and fill it out and throw it in the uh

the basket at the connection table. Um

if you're if you're brand new, never

have done that, we have a little gift

for you when you hand that off. So, make

sure you grab that. Usually some kind of

card to like Dutch Bros or something

like that. Um just a couple quick

reminders. 10:30 here at the church this

coming Saturday. Uh women's meeting uh

that Rebecca Egg has planned. Again,

that's 23rd of May, 10:30 here at

church. And then the following Saturday,

we're having um a men's meeting that's

at 9:00 a.m. also here at church as

well. So glad to see men's and women's

ministry getting off the ground. I've

heard a lot of really good feedback um

from both ministries and I'm looking

forward to continuing that. I don't

think I have any other announcements.

So, let me pray and we'll get in right

right into it. Heavenly Father, thank

you for the opportunity to discuss your

word again every Sunday. Um it really

never gets old for me because your word

is living and active and it's just your

mercies are fresh every morning. So,

thank you for that. I pray that you

prepare our hearts, that you would fill

us with your spirit, that we would hear

your word um regardless of how I say it.

I want to say it the way you want me to,

but that we'd hear your word the way you

want us to hear it and apply it the way

you want us to apply it. And I pray

these things in Jesus name. Amen.

So, even before starting to into the

introduction, um I thought I would

reiterate this. I haven't for a while.

We do almost exclusively book studies at

Boon Ferry where we preach through a

book chapter by chapter and verse by

verse. The reason why we do that is that

we believe that the the word of God is

verbally inspired and without error. Uh

that means that God inspired not only

the words but also the meaning of the

sentences that they're clear enough to

understand by the Holy Spirit and by the

Holy Spirit only. and that God's word is

the only power by which we can actually

uh be saved and grow in faith. Um

secondarily and not often discussed um

is that we believe that the composition

itself is inspired as well. A famous

example of that would be the onetwo

punch uh in Romans 1 where Paul talks

about the wrath of God being revealed uh

against all those who deny him even

though they're excuseless because what

can be known about him is naturally

revealed or at least some things are

naturally revealed but then turns that

on the Jewish audience uh saying that

even though they had all these things um

they sin as well and so it's this kind

of setup between the two aw to punch. Um

it's really easy to be like, well, what

about those people who on whom the wrath

of God is but uh over here are you

committing idolatry kind of thing um

while saying you're in in the faith and

right with God. Um, that's composition

that you can see that composition in the

Proverbs, especially also in the Psalms,

but in in lots of biblical writing, you

can tell that it's not just the ideas

and the words that are inspired, but the

way that they're written down, the

arguments that are made. And I I believe

that the most po I'm not saying that a a

topical sermon can ever be preached even

just on a topic like forgiveness or that

there isn't expositional preaching by

just dropping into a chapter. That's

what we're doing today. Um but that when

you follow not only the ideas but the

actual composition and order, there's

great power to that because we're

following the full inspiration of God's

word. That's just an identity marker of

who Boon's fairy is and what the elders

are convicted of. Um and so the reason

why we don't we sometimes take breaks

like we are this Sunday um is that we

have a system where we study we have

people study the passage that's about to

be preached in advance and then they

come with their homework to a Bible

study on Wednesday evenings. We call

those disciplehip communities. They

discuss that together and then they hear

the sermon. That's a lot of work for

hosts. That's also a lot of work for our

DC leaders who are Bible study and

discussion facilitators. And so in order

to have because that's every Wednesday,

in order to have that be sustainable and

not put people on a path a path to

burnout, we take breaks. And that's all

this is. This is a break from Esther. Uh

because uh just this last week,

Wednesday, was a break from our

disciplehip communities. They're

starting right back up. If you're

interested in joining those, I think

it's a powerful thing to join. I think

there's lots of different ways we learn

scripture. Reading it alone, hearing a

sermon preached, but actually digging

into it with guided questions. The

questions are intended not to be too

heavy-handed, but not to leave you

without some guidance. They're designed

to be able to be completed significantly

in 35 minutes. You can take longer than

that, but they're only usually about six

questions or a few more uh if you

consider the application and questions,

but uh then you do that and you bring it

with you to the disciplehip community

and you're just discussing that and long

before you heard anybody like me say

anything about it. So uh I think if you

do that, that's one engagement with

scripture. Let's say you're not reading

your Bible at all, right? That's not

what I'm assuming. Let's just say you're

not. And you're like, I should read my

Bible more. Well, you just commit to the

disciplehip communities and doing your

homework. you're doing one engagement

time with God's word, maybe 35 minutes.

Um, then you're coming again, engaging

with God's word, discussing it, and then

you're coming again on Sunday uh to hear

God's word preached. So, if you're going

from zero to something, that's three

more times a week that you're in God's

word. And just one more plug, I have

found we have a lot of students of the

Bible that are passionate about

continuing to learn, and I love that.

Um, and and they this particular program

of how to study God's word seems to make

them make you guys very excited about

the book studies. Ooh, I can't wait to

get into the next book study. So, I

consistently get asked, "Oh, what's the

next book study after Esther?" and

things like that because there's great

interest. And so, if you're if you feel

like you have sort of a dry season right

now and waning interest in God's word,

maybe consider pray about does God want

me to join one of these groups? Would

that be good for me? That uh can fan uh

into flame your desire and enjoyment and

participation in reading, studying, and

learning from God's word so that we can

be changed. Okay. Um with that said,

where we're going to go today is 2

Corinthians 10.

And I want to set this all up by just

telling you about a chainsaw that I

bought. Uh it's a Roy chainsaw. It's a

battery op operated chainsaw and it came

in this box. I I now live in the country

and I actually really needed a chainsaw.

Um, for example, there's an orchard in

around the house and I borrowed

someone's pole saw and cut a bunch of

orchard tree limbs off and some of them

were quite large. It was very overgrown.

I'm not even done with that yet. But now

they're just in piles. I thought one

area was a burn pile, but it's actually

the uh septic tank runoff. I don't think

you're supposed to burn on top of that.

I've been considering getting some, you

know, fire reflectant bricks and then

making a bigger pad and doing that. But

basically, my plan now is to cut up

those cherry and apple tree limbs and

use them as kindling or something like

that because we do enjoy making fires at

the house as well and the pole saw just

not big enough to do that. So anyway,

the Ryobi saw, it's battery operated saw

arrives. Um, I think I'm pretty sure

it's 40 volt. That's why I got Ryobi

because they have these garden tools

that are 40 volt. So, pretty powerful

chainsaw. And uh and I'm I'm giddy. It's

like a toy arrived. I don't know how to

describe it. And the boys feel the exact

same way. And even Ariel is like, "Oh,

let's Can you fire it up, Dad? Can you

fire it up?" And I'm like, "Absolutely."

You know, and so I put the battery in.

Nothing happens. Battery's dead. And

like a little kid, which is what I was

acting, I was super annoyed that the

battery didn't come in any way

pre-charged because now I have to wait

to, you know, doesn't really make that

sound when it's battery operated, but

it's still a cool sound. So Elijah takes

the battery. I'll charge it and charges

it. And we're waiting and doing other

stuff. And I go back out and what I

really wanted to do is not just fire it

up, but use it and show the kids this is

how powerful it is. In fact, there's one

big limb that needs to come off. It' be

fun to do it. And then I put the battery

in and I'm about to pull the trigger,

but I realize ah, you need to put bar

oil in this thing as well. I'm just a

noob when it comes to country living.

I've never owned a chainsaw before and

but I knew enough to know that you need

bar oil. In fact, if you don't put bar

oil in there, you can mess up your

chainsaw something fierce. Uh, and like

irreparably. It's not just the actual

bar that can get all messed up because

the friction and heat which gets hot

very fast the point it was smoking but

you can evidently blow up your little um

oil pump as well. And so I don't have

that and that's not just like waiting an

hour. I have to go drive somewhere. So

finally now bar oil has arrived and we

can actually use the chainsaw. So it's

fun to tell you about these things but

I'm telling you as an illustration. Uh

this is a powerful tool a chainsaw. It's

very cool in my opinion that they're

battery operated. Um, for one, the the

uh uh the gas operated ones are very

expensive even used. We're talking

between $500 to $1,000 used and way more

if you get a good one. Um, on top of it,

there you're just a lot more that you

have to do. You have to maintain a gas

operated engine even more. Um, to be

honest, I didn't really consider the

fact that there is some maintenance in a

Ryobi battery operon with the bar oil,

but it's less. You put the bar oil in,

uh, and I was doing this with the with

the pole saw as well, and it doesn't

seem to drain very fast. It's not using

that much. So, I did hours and hours of

cutting and the oil was still quite

full. Um, so, not that much maintenance.

But even on these awesome kind of modern

tools, they need a power source. They

need a powerful power source. and they

need maintenance or you're going to

you're going to mess them up. And

someone that's skilled and knows that um

will know, okay, so I have to have this

power source, whether gas or battery

operated, doesn't matter. It just needs

a power source. It's and it's going to

be electric, too, although I don't know

if they have corded chainsaws. Never

looked into that. Um but then they also

need to be maintained. There aren't

really any tools that don't need some

kind of power source or maintenance.

Even a screwdriver, your hand and your

arm is the power source, and you can't

just leave it out in the rain. It rusts

and it'll break. And so, there's just no

such thing as getting away with tools

that are powerful. Not having a power

source, that's automatic. But even if

you have the power source, if you're not

using the proper maintenance, you'll

mess up the tool. And God has given us

divinely powerful tools. Actually, Paul

calls them weapons. Uh but I think

considering these weapons a little bit

different than regular weapons as also

tools, and I will prove that from

scripture is the right thing. And if you

disconnect these divinely powerful tools

from their power source, then the way

that I would put it is they stop being

powerful in your hands. It's not like

God's power has been turned off, right?

it's that they stop being powerful in

your hands. However, they only stop

being powerful in your hands for their

intended purpose. Okay? Because uh the

reality is that you can still

uh for example, if truth and truth is

one of the tools, you can bash people

over the head with the truth. And that's

powerful, powerfully destructive, but

powerful. It turns out that the tools

that God has given us are not like

chemo. Okay. The reason why I'm

mentioning chemo is unfortunately.

And actually sometimes to my

discouragement, we have had a lot of

people at Boon's Ferry in the last

couple years get cancer. And so I've

walked alongside multiple people uh with

chemo and radiation. And so I know a

little bit more about chemo than I did

before. Still not a lot. But chemo is

our solution to a deadly problem in the

body. The only problem, maybe not the

only problem, one major problem is that

it's it's basically poisonous to the

body. It's so powerful that it's toxic

to your body. And so it's just a

riskreward calculation there. You say,

well, the cancer is going to kill me,

but if I take this thing, even if it

poisons my body and weakens it, maybe

it'll kill the cancer enough for me to

survive. Okay. God's tools, his weapons

are not like that. They can

simultaneously strengthen the body. I'm

talking about the spiritual body, the

spirit in you. Strengthen and cut away

things or destroy destroy things in this

case that ought not to be there. Okay.

Let's say there's a sin. Paul talks

about in Hebrews how sin sometimes

clings so closely. It seems to be

spiritually intertwined like you desire

to continue doing this. And now let's

say that because you don't want it to

stop happening, you have begun to

fortify it by justifying it with your

words. Um, this happens to young men all

the time. I'll just bring up one

example. They start dating woman, uh,

start sleeping with her and start then

justifying that that's okay when they

knew that it wasn't. I'm talking about a

Christian young man. Um, and I've

watched this happen. I did this myself

when I was uh, living rebellion. And my

justification was like, well, this is

this is going to be whom I marry, right?

The only problem with that is that God

says you need to be married first before

you engage in that way. And anything

else is sin. So it doesn't matter if

you're going to the intent is not

important. It's the obedience itself.

Okay? But if you start fortifying it

with all kinds of justification, you can

create this little strong box, this

little stronghold in which the sin is

protected. You're not feeling as

convicted about it. you're continuing to

do it. And well, the tool that uh is

needed to break that strong box uh so

that God can deal with that false desire

and the commitment to sin that just

clings so closely. Uh we could call that

a stronghold. And Paul does and that

needs to be broken apart. Except that

unlike chemo,

God's tools, God's chainsaws only cut

out exactly what is needed to be cut out

and only break exactly what's needed to

be breaken.

And all of that for the purpose of

rebuilding and building you up. So there

is no other weapon that's capable of

doing that. um harming what needs to be

harmed, breaking what needs to break,

healing what needs to heal, and building

up what needs to be buil built up all

simultaneously and and in a divinely

powerful way. Chemo isn't divinely

powerful. It's very powerful, but it's

its power is not divine. Okay, divine

power is something that you can't study

scientifically. It comes from the

spirit. It's God's power. It does not

obey the rules of the physical world.

There's divine power that can change

things no other thing can change. And

the human heart and desire is in that

realm. You can't even touch that desire.

Can't isolate it and test it. Can't even

find exactly where it originates from in

the body. So is it the is it really our

minds? Is it our brain? Is there a

spirit? There's just no way of knowing

exactly why someone desires one thing

versus another desires another thing. or

other than God. Why someone would start

desiring the opposite of what they

actually desire because it's what God

wants. So those things take divine

power, especially when you've fortified

yourself in a stronghold in those areas.

So you could be thinking about as we get

into 2 Corinthians 10, are there

strongholds in your life? And you may

say, "No, I don't think so." Well, is

there [cough]

is there something that you wish would

change about you, but it hasn't? And it

hasn't for a long time. And whenever you

try, it seems like initially you're

making progress and then it comes right

back and it hasn't stopped.

That may be a stronghold.

Might be a stronghold. Might be an area

where sin is fortified uh from being

dealt with in your life. Um,

I don't know that I would claim that

every single Christian always has some

strongholds, but I think more often not

than not, there are areas where we're

just stuck. Where the real problem is

not just that we don't want to change in

an area, but even that when we try,

we're somehow missing the power. There's

no battery. There's no power source. And

so even if we're using the right tool,

we're reading God's word and studying

it, somehow the battery is missing from

the tool that will bring about change in

our lives. So if you've been longing for

change, I know I'm not the only one that

would like to change in some ways

faster.

Um, if you're longing for change, it may

be that there needs that there's a

stronghold that needs to be broken. And

I want to show you in scripture how we

pro how we decide not to be noobs when

it comes to using God's tools. Okay? It

would have been a total noob move for me

to start sawing. I wanted to without bar

oil, but I would have messed up the

chainsaw. Well, you can mess things up

really badly as well when you study

God's word um without being connected to

the power source properly. Okay? So,

we're going to talk about that. I know

you guys love having main points because

it helps you understand everything that

we're talking about. And why am I

talking about this? Well, because it

proves this main point. A main point

today is this. If we could have it put

up, the spiritual weapons God has given

us.

That should say are says or. I think

that was my typo by the way. Given us

are only divinely powerful in our hands

when we are obedient ourselves. The

spiritual weapons God has given us are

only divinely powerful in our hands when

we are obedient ourselves.

Unless I'm going off on a tangent that I

do not intend to right now, everything

I'm going to say is meant to prove this

idea.

We'll prove that they're spiritual,

meaning they're not of this world.

They're not fleshly. We'll prove that

God has indeed given us uh these these

spiritual weapons. will prove that they

are divinely powerful. They can do

things that nothing, no other tool, no

other weapon can do. And that God wants

us to use them.

And yet, when we are not obedient

ourselves, it's either like having the

battery taken out of the tool in our

hands, even though someone else might be

using the exact same tool and the

battery's in because they're being

obedient, or it's like not properly

maintaining

the tool. And so we use it in a way that

ends up being destructive. One more

time, the spiritual weapons God has

given us are only divinely powerful in

our hands when we are obedient

ourselves. Okay, let's get into 2

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

Corinthians

chapter 10. Uh let me preface this by

just giving you a very short idea of the

context. Um, in this letter, the second

letter to the Corinthians, um, Paul is

still dealing with the problem of, I

would say, a range of false teachers.

Some false teachers that are just

blatantly denying the gospel. Other

teachers that I probably wouldn't call

false, but they're needing to repent of

what they're teaching. They're teaching

something crooked that might not quite

be as serious as false teaching. But um

one of them was that we can reconstruct

historically from the scriptures is that

they were denying that Paul really was

an authoritative apostle because he'd

suffered so much.

Okay,

that is a modern claim of the health and

wealth gospel right now that those that

are right with God will be healthy and

wealthy. So the exact inverse of that,

the opposite is when you're unhealthy

and unwealthy, you must not be right

with God. That's what's happening here.

Just to kind of connect it to the modern

day, uh Paul doesn't shy away from that

in his letters. He talks about just how

much he's indeed had to suffer. And he

talks about how his weakness in that

suffering is a pathway through which God

intends and is designed to glorify

himself. In other words, his suffering

is actually evidence of being called to

be an apostle. and his authority, not

the opposite. Okay. So, one example of

somebody that is either in the category

of false teacher or just a bad teacher

are people that are trying to undermine

Paul's authority, saying, "He's not

really righteous with the Lord. He's not

really right. He's not really called.

He's not really an apostle because if

you're right with the Lord, would you

really suffer this much?" They're

ashamed of the suffering. Okay? They

don't want to suffer in that way. And so

they were they were confusing the

Corinthians and and in a very powerful

way. In a very powerful way. Um I don't

know if I'd go so far as to claim that

the church in Corinth was the most

messed up church. I think that'd be hard

to prove, but it was very messed up.

Kind of about as worldly as it gets. Uh

Paul calls people uh infants in Christ

there even though they've been walking

with the Lord for a long time acting

totally fleshly having these factions.

This is in first Corinthians uh where

they're claiming well I follow Peter, I

follow Apollos, I follow Christ. They're

using these leaders and even Jesus to

differentiate themselves over against

each other. They're even using the gifts

to differentiate each other from one

another, comparing themselves by

themselves to get a leg up. I'm better

because I have the gift of tongues.

So they use that. Well, every single

gift given in the church was given to

build people up.

So to build the church up to be built up

yourself as well. So then they're

they're like love gifts. Really

charisma. That's what that word really

means basically is a love gift. Uh

they're they're they remind me I I don't

mean this in a mocking or flippant way,

but like remember the little symbols on

the Care Bear's chest, right? They'd

have a heart or a diamond or something

and then whatever power they had to help

people would come out of their chest

like that. I look at the gifts as like

that. They're like gifts that have a

heart on them, but are they have

spiritual power through the Holy Spirit

to help people be encouraged uh be

strengthened in their conviction uh

biblically to to to serve them, to help

them in whatever way to build them up in

in the faith. And yet they were using it

to be like, "Look, my faith is better

than you." Right? It's one thing I like

to say this. I'm 100% behind the second

amendment. Uh probably in such an

extreme way that it would probably scare

some of you. So don't worry about that.

But I like to say gifts are not guns.

Okay? A gun even when rightly used is

lethal. It remains lethal even when

wrongly used. So we should be very

careful around guns. Well, gifts aren't

lethal at all. They're not even

inherently lethal. And yet you can be so

messed up in your heart, so wrong, so

many sinful strongholds that you you

would use a gift to promote yourself and

then it becomes lethal. In the

Corinthian church, what they were doing

is saying basically a second rate

Christian if you don't speak in

tonesues. You have been baptized with

the Holy Spirit. Modern-day teachers

will now say if you haven't experienced

a second baptism if you don't speak in

tonesues. Again, the very same thing

that's happening in the Corinthian

church. We could consider all of those

gifts tools, tools for the building up

of the body. And so, the church was

messed up. It was also very sexually

immoral. They were doing things that

even Paul says, even pagans, even

outsiders believe is really perverse and

wrong. Um, however, if you're reading 2

Corinthians closely,

Paul says that the Corinthians actually

repented. And it seems that he's saying

that the majority of them or he speaks

to them as as though most of them have.

So listen to this. This is 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 7:8–10

7:8-10.

The repented as a result of his

apostolic ministry and his words.

So uh uh 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. For even

2 Corinthians 7:8–10

if I made you grieve with my letter, I

do not regret it, though I did regret

it. For I see that the uh that that

letter grieved you, though only for a

while. As it is, I rejoice not because

you were grieved, but because you were

grieved into repenting. For you felt a

godly grief, so that you suffered no

loss through us. Verse 10. For godly

grief produces a repentance that leads

to salvation without regret, whereas

worldly grief produces death.

So you can see that he grieved into

repenting. He's talking to the

Corinthian church and it seems like in

general at least a good group of them

were grieved by what he said into

repenting. It doesn't mean there's no

more problems in the church. In fact,

there seems to be a group that he's

addressing in chapter 10 where we're

going to go that's still operating in

these strongholds and making lofty

arguments against the knowledge of God.

And and even though a large group seems

to have repented, I just want to say

something here uh quickly

um related to um the spiritual weapons

and who's using them and how they can be

destructive. Um, it can be very

destructive when a spiritual leader

causes you grief that isn't godly. It

says here right now, right in verse 10,

worldly grief produces death. So if

someone is grieving you in within a

spiritual context of church in a worldly

way, that can be very destructive. But

the opposite is true as well.

Good teachers and good preachers will

grieve you in a godly way. And Paul

seems to be going kind of back and

forth. Did he want to grieve them? Did

he not want to grieve them? Well, that's

what happens when you really love

people. You don't want to grieve them

even with a grief that's godly that

leads to repentance. You're not enjoying

that they're grieving over their sin,

but you are rejoicing over the result it

produces. Okay, let me read it one more

time. For even if I made you grieve with

my letter, I do not regret it. Okay, it

doesn't regret it, though I did regret

it. For I see that the letter grieved

you, though only for a while. As it is,

I rejoice not because you were grieved.

It's not like taking pleasure in the

grief that they're experiencing, but

because you were grieved into repenting,

the result, for you felt a godly grief,

so that you suffered no loss through us.

Okay? Now, think of the tool for a

second, whatever it might be. Let's say

it's a scalpel. Paul's words like a very

sharp scalpel, but it's not actually a

scalpel. You can't even see it. It's

words the Holy Spirit applies and they

cut the person to the heart. And yeah,

when you're cut to the heart about your

sin, you grieve. And yeah,

uh as a tool for righteousness, the

human being was used by the spirit, by

God through the power of the word to

bring about that grief,

right? And yet that grief when related

to humbly leads to repentance which

means repentance of sin that may have

been a stronghold. Repentance of sin

that was serious enough to cause the

church to be in disarray to be your life

to be in disarray and for them to remain

infants in Christ.

So by the way it's kids are pretty cute

when they're young and you love them and

you don't want them to grow up but you

don't really not want them to grow up.

Like I like to joke around because my

kids are half Filipino that Noah, who's

four and like this tall, is fully grown,

[laughter]

but I would be very grieved if he

actually was.

I mean, can you imagine getting finding

out that your son or daughter has some

kind of disorder where they're just

going to stop growing and developing,

which seems to usually come with all

kinds of other health problems, right?

Well, it's the same, but even worse when

you just stop growing spiritually. And

yet, if a doctor could come in and be

like, "Hey, no, I have a treatment. Your

son will continue growing." Paul's like

that, "Doctor, I have a treatment. It's

going to hurt, but you're going to

finally outgrow your toddler or infant

years in Christ, but you're going to

have to repent." So, that's godly grief.

But you ought to expect that any

trustworthy teacher will grieve you from

time to time.

That grief hurts.

And you can respond in a very similar

way that a chainsaw does without bar

oil. Incredible [snorts] friction,

frustration, fleshly anger, reactionary,

and and that will not lead to the wisdom

from above to actually evaluate was this

grief that was caused you grief that was

godly and leads to repentance. Just

because it's painful doesn't mean it's

wrong.

Um, so let's anchor in our hearts right

here that that Paul, we know that he was

a godly teacher

wrote most of the New Testament. Very

godly teacher, very godly man. His his

his words and his actions, they lined

up. Not perfectly. He definitely claimed

he was not sinless. Claimed he was the

chief of sinners. So, but his his life

was growing in holiness. So then when he

says words like this 1 Corinth 2

2 Corinthians 7:1

Corinthians 7:1 just a little bit back

from where we were since we have these

promises he's just listed promises in

scripture beloved he's talking to

Christians that's a title belongs to

Christians let us cleanse ourselves from

every defilement of body and spirit

whatever attitude you might have let's

say it's bitterness the author of

Hebrews we don't know who that was but

the author of Hebrews talks about how if

you failed to receive grace in that time

That bitterness grows into a root and

that root can defile many, not just you.

It defiles your conscience. It might not

defile your body, per se, but it defiles

you spiritually. There's sin involved. I

don't know if you've ever talked to

somebody that's bitter and maybe said

something that's not even wrong. You

didn't mean it in an unloving way, but

it reminds them of the person they were

hurt by. And then you see the bitterness

come out on you and it starts defiling

your relationship because they decide in

their heart that you're just as

dangerous as the person that they were

hurt by that they didn't forgive. Even

though you didn't even mean what they

thought you meant. And even if it was

wrong what you said, you you'd say

you're sorry. But there's this

bitterness, defilement.

Um well, sin defiles our body. It's

something we need to be cleansed of. And

it says here, I'll read it again. Let us

cleanse ourselves from every defilement

of body and spirit. Bringing holiness to

completion in the fear of God. Bringing

holiness to completion in the fear of

God. So we're obviously talking about

sanctification. Uh that means the upward

growth into Christlikkeness. And that is

holiness being set apart. Uh being

morally aligned with God's will, not

continuing in immorality or things that

defile. And that can be brought to

completion. Now, we also not not to

claim that it's brought to completion in

this life.

If you ever hear me say that, kick me

out of this church, but I commit to you

never to say that because I don't

believe that. Uh that uh in fact, the

longer I live, the worse I see my sin.

So, I think I'm a worse sinner now than

I did before, even though I also know

that I've grown and become more like

Jesus. So, I look at this, I'm like,

yeah, holiness needs to be brought to

completion, and that's a matter of the

fear of God. and it doesn't happen

without being cleansed from every

defilement of the body. We're going to

come back to that idea because that's

where these tools are so useful. So, in

other words, by the time we get to

chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians, at this

point, he's speaking both to those that

have already repented, but also

especially to those that haven't. Okay?

So, I'm going to read starting in verse

one. Our focus will really be uh verse

3-6 but I want to set it up so you can

see how this is all properly framed in

the context. Uh chapter 10 verse one. I

Paul myself entreat you by the meekness

and gentleness of Christ. I who am

humble when face to face with you but

bold to you when I'm away. That's what

one of the things he was being accused

of. Oh, he's just a weakling. He's got

no oomph. Doesn't say what he means when

he's in person. But then when he writes,

oh, he's so bold. It's an accusation

basically of hypocrisy.

Um, so let's continue.

Uh, verse two. 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. Okay,

there's a group of some people who are

influencing others to believe that the

apostles, in particular Paul, is walking

in the flesh in a worldly way alone,

that that his ministry is not

legitimate. And Paul says, "I'm willing

to be bold." Uh, but you can already

tell his heart before was not to come in

with a hammer. He's intreating them by

the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

Meekness and gentleness. Does that mean

Jesus isn't powerful? No. It means his

power is under control and that he's

gentle with it. It does not mean that

he's not all powerful though. So Paul,

it's instead of this being hypocrisy,

it's actually just another example of

how spiritual Paul is. However, for

those of you that don't have just the

factory default bold personality, this

is really good news.

Paul does not seem to have the factory

def uh default bold personality that

someone like a Peter did because he

keeps getting accused of being sort of

weak in person

in in first Corinthians they're

comparing him and you can re reconstruct

this from his words to the sophists of

that age the rhetoricians the TEDtalkers

to just shorthand right and he's not as

interesting as them and he doesn't use

all the right arguments and he doesn't

sound as good as them and he doesn't

seem as confident as them. And that's

where he says, "I preach Christ

crucified,

a stumbling block."

So it's like foolishness to the Gentiles

and a stumbling block to the Jews. And

yet it's the power of God for those who

are being saved. So

he doesn't seem all that impressive in

person

and yet he speaks so powerfully and his

ministry is so powerful that many people

come to repentance as a result. And so

we can see here the ministry of calling

two people to repentance of causing

godly grief by the power of the spirit

so that someone might be set free from a

stronghold is not about your

personality. It's about the power of the

tool. Period. Okay. So, don't think God

can't use you just because he didn't

make you naturally bold. Natural

boldness is of the flesh. I don't say

that that's necessarily sinful, but it's

not divinely powerful within itself.

Human words can't change the human

heart.

Only God's words by the power of the

spirit can. So, I don't know if you knew

that about Paul, but he was not

perceived as some kind of dynamo of

boldness in person. And he was not

perceived that way on a regular basis.

Verse three, for though we walk in the

flesh, we are not waging war according

to the flesh. If you here for our

Galatians study, you remember I did a

word study on the word flesh and how

many different words it can be used,

ways it can be used. This is very

important. Flesh can be used literally

as

tissue.

That's not exactly what Paul's talking

about here, but it's not totally outside

the realm he's talking about. Flesh can

also be used as a work of the flesh. A

sinful desire leading to a sinful

action. Flesh as in all things that are

opposed to God and his spirit. That's

another way. Another way is what I would

call the realm of the flesh. Things are

of this world. Some which are sinful,

some that are just like my legs aren't

inherently sinful. My wrist isn't

inherently sinful, but it is of the

flesh. Okay. So when he agrees that for

that we walk in the flesh, he's talking

about we do walk in the realm of the

flesh. That's where we are. That's the

body that we're in. It's not immortal.

It's still fleshly. We're not waging a

war according to that realm anyway is

what he's saying. Okay. So like even the

weapons like an AR-15,

they have no power here. also

weapons that

are in any way physical. No power here.

[clears throat] Okay. Well, is it like

the ink in the paper that transforms

you? No.

I was going to say this is not powerful,

but I don't like this is a symbol of

God's word. So, I'm not going to say

that. But my point is that what's

actually powerful about God's word is

is him. It's the spirit behind it. So,

it's because he said it that it's

powerful.

Notice also for everyone who's ever

lived, uh, it seems to not have the

power to heal their hearts unless they

surrender to it. Right? So you might

read to two convicted murderers the same

verse about how murderers will not be in

the kingdom of heaven and then talk to

them from other verses unless they

repent and one repents and is saved and

the other is not.

Has the word of God stopped being

powerful even for a moment because the

one murderer isn't saved? No, not at

all. Okay, the tool's still powerful.

The word of God is still powerful.

However,

it interacted with one person in a way

that led to life and interacted to

another person in a way that led to

condemnation. We're talking about these

people ultimately accepted or rejected

that, right? So, it's powerful either

way. One for condemnation,

uh, justified condemnation because the

rejection of God's word and one for

salvation.

So God's word is always powerful.

But what if the person that's holding

God's word, that's dividing God's word,

that is preaching God's word, is using

it in a wrong way, disconnected from the

power source, or not properly

maintaining the tool. Okay. Well, Paul

talks about that. Let's go on. For I beg

of you, uh, excuse me. For though we

walk in the flesh, we're not waging war

according to the flesh. This isn't even

a tool that is fleshly in nature. Um,

but have divine power to destroy

strongholds.

Divine power to destroy strongholds.

For the weapons of our warfare are not

of the flesh, but have divine power to

destroy strongholds. We destroy

arguments and every lofty opinion raised

against the knowledge of God and take

every thought captive to obey Christ,

being ready to punish every disobedience

when your obedience is complete. You may

especially wonder what's happening there

with that last little verse about punish

every obedience. We'll go there or

punish every disobedience. We'll go

there. But let's let's talk about the

weapons first. None of these weapons

are of the flesh, of this world. They're

also not of a sinful nature. But like

this is a tool,

really helpful tool. I I put my little

notes on here, my scripture verses, my

main point. Uh it's helpful to call

people uh that I want to talk to about

something. But this is of the flesh.

Okay. Does that mean the iPhone is

sinful? Well, no. Can you use it in

sinful ways? Yes. Are those sinful ways

of the flesh? Yes. But again, we're

talking about the realm of the flesh.

These weapons, whatever they are, are

not of the same realm that this iPhone

is of. Okay?

For the weapons of our warfare, are not

of the flesh, but have divine power to

destroy strongholds. We'll talk about um

the weapons in a moment. We destroy with

these weapons presumably. I probably

wouldn't even use the word presumably.

This is what we're talking about. We

destroy. Let's just stop right there.

Something's being destroyed

with the weapons that are not of the

flesh. What is it? Arguments

and every lofty opinion, but not every

argument.

specifically ones that are raised

against the knowledge of God

in in in

terms that I think are simplest to

remember and understand. If somebody is

saying the opposite of what God's word

says,

takes wisdom to know God's word taught

by him. It takes spiritual energy to

remember it.

um and someone's contradicting it, they

will often make all kinds of lofty

arguments about why it's that way.

Sometimes they'll make those lofty

arguments from scripture. Sometimes

they'll make them from church history.

Sometimes they'll make them philosophy.

They've got to pull from some power

source. Most powerful source is God's

word. Uh and so when they corrupt God's

word to say something they ought not to,

that's an argument that needs to be

destroyed.

However,

the goal of this spiritual weapon is not

to destroy the person that's making the

argument. It's to set them free from the

power of believing what they're saying,

which is false against God's word. It's

to bring them to repentance. In fact,

it's Paul who says we ought to learn as

elders to correct, he's talking to

Timothy, our opponents with gentleness.

Who knows, God may grant them repentance

from their error.

Okay. So, that's that's one kind of

power they have. They have a power to

destroy strongholds that are holding

someone captive to something that's

false and against God and there

therefore sinful, whatever it might be.

We destroy arguments and every lofty

opinion raised against the knowledge of

God and take every thought captive to

obey Christ. Okay? Tool and battery.

Let's put the main point back up again.

You'll see now why I'm talking about how

these tools aren't powerful in our hands

when we don't obey. The spiritual

weapons God has given us are only

divinely powerful in our hands when we

are obedient ourselves.

Okay,

let me give you an example of a tool. In

fact, Paul does say weapons. Um, but I I

would say, and I think he would agree

with this, that it's really just God's

word and all the attended graces in

there. So, you might say, "Well, prayer,

isn't that a weapon?" Yes, but we

wouldn't know how to pray if it wasn't

for God's word. And our prayer wouldn't

even be empowered if it wasn't for God's

word. So, God's word as empowered by the

Holy Spirit,

that's that's the weapon. That is the

sword of the spirit. And I I want to

talk about just how powerful that weapon

actually is. And then I think you'll

also see how oh yeah uh an AR, an atomic

bomb, no matter what weapons we develop,

they could never do this. They just

don't have the power. In fact, they're

not even in the realm where the power

needs to be exerted. They're of the

wrong realm. This, however, God's word

is of the right realm to deal with

issues of the heart. Listen to this.

Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is

Hebrews 4:12

living and active, sharper than any

two-edged sword, piercing to the

division of soul and spirit.

What if what if there was a sword

that all sword makers and cutlery

experts agreed was the sharpest sword in

in the world?

Would it be able to pierce to the

division of soul and spirit?

Where would you pierce? You wouldn't

even know where to start. And and also

it's just like, well, obviously not

because it's a physical weapon. We're

not talking about a physical weapon of

joints and of marrow and of discerning

the thoughts and intentions of the

heart. And no creature is hidden from

this weapon sight, from his sight, but

all are naked and exposed to eyes of him

to whom they must give an account.

[snorts]

That's God's word. A divinely powerful

two-edged sword that can pierce the

division of soul and of spirit, of

joints and of marrow, and it discerns

the thoughts and intentions of the

heart. And and do you think it can't

pierce through

a stronghold?

Yes, it can. There's no fortification

that you can put around sin or a sinful

attitude in your life that God's word

can't pierce through.

That's really the weapon.

And it speaks of many other other

weapons, but that's the wellspring of

the weapon. That's the sword. Uh I I

think you could consider gifts

um as as tools that that do this as

well. Um

so so I I also think prayer is a

powerful thing because what happens if

we are

trying to stab a stronghold

like cause godly grief so it leads to

repentance in someone in our lives. By

the way, parents do this all the time.

If you're training your children the way

they should go, you need to talk to them

about their bad attitudes. It's not just

good enough to manage the behavior. You

need to talk to them about how it's not

right with the Lord. And that's the

original and main issue here. So, we're

constantly calling people to repentance.

If we've raised children, should be at

least. And so, if you're right with God,

you're gonna at times know you need to

cause godly grief that leads to

repentance. You poke and they parry. You

don't get through. Like, it's not

working. You're not able to break

through, slice through the stronghold.

What do you do? Well, you pray for that

person. You pray for that person that

God's word would indeed change what

needs to be changed. So yeah, prayer is

another powerful one of these

supernatural weapons that are not of

this world, not of the flesh.

By the way, just as a side note, I would

venture to say from my pastoral

experience now in relationship to every

age demographic that the things we care

about most,

that we wish weren't like that, are

almost always related to strongholds.

It's someone in our life or ourselves

that is acting in a way that causes us

pain or causes others pain and we just

wish it wasn't like that and it can just

it can be a real dread to the soul

and so we pray sometimes desperately

that those things would change. So

that's the realm we're talking about

here really the things you care about

most. Going back to 2 Corinthians 10,

why am I talking about how

these divinely powerful tools or

weapons, especially in this case, we're

focusing on God's word, are not actually

divinely powerful in our hands when we

don't obey. Well, it's because Paul says

exactly that. He says that they're

linked. For the weapons of our warfare

are not of the flesh, but have divine

power to destroy strongholds. We destroy

arguments and every lofty opinion raised

against the knowledge of God and take

every thought captive to obey Christ,

being ready to punish every disobedience

when your obedience is complete.

Why would God honor someone in using

the weapon that can both destroy what

needs to be destroyed and build up what

needs to be built up if they're not

obeying themselves?

Why would God do that? That's hypocrisy.

It's the very thing the false teachers

and bad teachers in Corinth were

claiming Paul was practicing. Was he

actually practicing that?

The problem is that when you disobey

in relationship to you being able to

call people to repentance, Jesus also

talks about this. Take out the log in

your own eye first. Right? But when you

disobey, you disconnect yourself from

the power source.

I don't mean you lose your salvation.

The Holy Spirit is indwelling you

permanently. You know that. You know

he's a sign, seal, and guarantee of our

salvation. Guarantee means guarantee,

not going away.

But when you disobey, you grieve him.

And we can actually even quench his work

if that disobedience becomes

patternistic and long-term. And that's

like taking the battery out. It's like

taking the battery out. And if you have

that battery out for a long time and

then come in and try to be like, "Hey,

you're doing it wrong. That attitude is

wrong." You get talked to just like

Moses did with his fe fellow Israelites

even though he was protecting their very

lives. So he kills the slave handler

and they see that. So he saved them from

a terrible consequence that you know he

was just slave handle was just beating

them. And then the very next day he sees

some quarreling and quarreling is not

good. Even if it's just argumentative,

but it seems like they were physically

quarreling and he comes and tries to

break it up and they're like, "Who are

you? We saw what you did." Right? So

that's the response you get when you try

to use a chainsaw, even if that's the

tool that's needed, but you don't even

have like, "Hey, you didn't you're such

a noob to country living. You didn't

even buy bar oil and you don't have a

battery in that chainsaw. Why should I

listen to you?

Now, you know this from experience.

Just because you are being obedient to

God's word

doesn't mean that God will choose in

that moment to make his tool effective

to accomplish what you hoped it would.

But it will not be effective for certain

if you don't have the battery in.

[snorts]

[clears throat] I I know you get what

I'm trying to say. But not only is the

goal of the tool

obedience in those who it's being used

on God's word, it's meant to bring that

obedience to a completion. Bringing

holiness to completion in the fear of

God. And that's one of the reasons Paul

says being ready to punish every

disobedience when your obedience is

complete.

I think the older generation understands

this better than the younger generation.

But man, if you never bring any

consequence in children's lives,

uh those are children that grow up to be

around people that nobody wants to be

around.

A short a short example is totally

relatable to is you go to like a

supermarket and a kid is throwing

absolute

screamfest tantrum because they're not

not allowed to have a a Twix.

And you should not be judging the

parents. that's that's wrong.

Um, but you know that's not right for

that ch child to be able to do that and

get away with it without consequence.

It's behavior that needs to change. It's

not honoring to father and mother, which

is a command.

Um, it's also going to lead to all kinds

of problems in the future of not being

able to relate to authority in the right

way. It leads to an entitlement.

You treat a whole generation like this,

you get a whole generation that's

entitled, thinking that it will be

perfectly fine if we just take from the

rich and give to the poor. Right?

Socialism is like fertilized by parents

not disciplining their children.

I think that's a quote from me.

I don't think I read that anywhere.

Socialism is fertilized by parents who f

refuse to discipline their children.

That's how that works. That might be an

oversimplification, but you see the

connection. So, so it's not good. You

there needs to be discipline. And God

says this, we won't go there, but you

can go there. Hebrews 12, where God

disciplines those whom he loves.

And it's also supposed to lead to the

peaceful fruits of righteousness.

And discipline isn't pleasant for

anyone. It wasn't pleasant when I got

disciplined by my dad, but I respect him

for it, which is exactly what the author

of Hebrew says. Ultimately, God

disciplines us

with these powerful divine weapons

because he does not want us entrapped by

sinfully justified ideas that we fortify

in our hearts and then get stuck in

them. Sometimes you don't even see them.

They're so deeply embedded. You've got a

stronghold within a stronghold within a

stronghold. It's well fortified and oh,

better people better not say it because

you'll tell them how you really feel.

Well, so you've even fortified yourself

against any kind of correction because

nobody wants to tell someone who's going

to bite their head off that they're

doing it wrong, that they're thinking it

wrong, that there's something not right

in their life.

So, not only should we thinking about,

well, what stronghold do other people's

have? You know, I wish I had glasses and

be like, oo, there's a stronghold.

There's a stronghold. We should be

thinking about what it looks like to

take our own thoughts captive to obey

Christ because we can't even be

effective tool users or tool

maintainers.

Rightly dividing the word of God would

be an example of of being an effective

tool maintainer. Um

we need to have our powers of

discernment constantly trained to

distinguish what's good from evil and

it's trained through God's word. That's

how you get trained. So if you're not

doing that, your tool is faring fall or

your ability to use the tool is falling

into disrepair. So this is where I want

to get really specific and where I think

that you will

if you sort of been like, "Okay, I get

it. You're hammering a dead horse. Move

on." We're moving on to something that I

think will be a lot more hitting home.

Vern's our res resident church

historian, but also specifically Boon's

Fairy church historian. told me lots of

stories of patterns that have been

happening at Boon Fairy. There's one

that's been happening for a long time

and that is that uh

there will there there will be an enemy

attack on the relationship between the

elders and church members or some other

leader. Often times it's me where the

friction is happening and I I would

never say I'm without fault in some of

these conflicts. Um, but what will

happen is as a result of this conflict,

people just leave the church.

I think that shows there's a stronghold.

And this has been happening historically

at Boon Ferry over the years.

Let me give you an example where you'll

be like, I might leave over that as

well. I'm not going to say the name of

the pastor, and I'm going to keep the

details somewhat

um limited, but this is according to

Vern. Um and he was there when it

happened. The church had grown to 200

people and then there was a dramatic

church split and a dramatic decline.

One of the main factors in the church

split was tension between the

congregation and a senior pastor

and this is not the only factor. Vern

was it was important to him that I said

it wasn't the only factor but it was a

very significant factor and that factor

was that this particular teacher

believed that once you're saved you do

not have to confess your sin ever again.

it. So, by the way, this is actually a

doctrine of certain Baptists, and I

don't think it's only uh within the

Baptist. If you look this up, you might

look up free grace or hyper grace. Those

are the names I found to describe this.

It's a lot more people that believe this

than you think. And here's the

reasoning. In Christ, God has forgiven

you from all sin, past, present, and

future.

And so it's actually wrong to ask for

forgiveness for something you've already

been forgiven for. Okay, how is this

relevant? Well, what happens? Let's just

take a human example. You sin against

your wife, say something mean and you

don't apologize. And you do it again and

you don't apologize. Or your wife sins

against you and she doesn't apologize.

Or a friend, what happens?

It begins to defile the relationship.

And the very same thing is true in

relationship to God. How can Paul say

in verse one of Corinthians 7, since we

have these promises, beloved, let us

cleanse ourselves from every defilement

of body and spirit, bringing holiness to

completion in the fear of God. How can

he say that? He's saying to Christians,

beloved, doesn't call non-Christians

beloved. Let us cleanse ourselves from

every defilement.

And then you might say, yeah, that

doesn't make any sense. That's what

First John 9, many of you probably have

memorized. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we

1 John 1:9

confess our sins, he is faithful and

just to forgive us our sins and to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Well, proponents of this doctrine, I

don't want to misrepresent this pastor,

and this is already telephoned once. I'm

not saying it's been corrupted, but I

didn't witness it. So, I don't know if

he made this argument. Well, Vern seems

to remember that he made the argument

that that verse, if we confess our sins,

is not even to Christians in the first

place,

right? John literally says towards the

end of the book, I write this to those

of you who believe. So, tough one, but a

2 Corinthians 1 right there, beloved.

How about Revelation 3? And I I don't

think I'd need to do much dismantling of

this horrible doctrine that you don't

need to confess your sin for you guys,

but I just want to show you verses in

case you come across this. Um because if

you wanted to just create a whole bunch

of strongholds in people's hearts, tell

them they don't need to confess their

sin anymore. That is a very powerful way

to do it if they're taken in by it.

Okay. Well, Revelation chapter 3 says

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

this to the church in Philadelphia.

I'll just summarize this is the uh spit

you out of my mouth because you're

you're neither hot nor cold. So they're

apathetic. And he says uh this

um

I should have looked up the exact verse,

but it just came to mind. Hold on.

Maybe it's the church. It's the church

in Leodysia. I was looking the wrong

church. Okay. Church in Leodysia.

Chapter 3 um verse 19. those whom I love

and remember he's talking about to the

church in Leodysia talking to Christians

then reiterating those whom I love what

I reprove and discipline

so be zealous and repent

I mean you're contradicting Jesus words

blatantly if you say now don't get me

wrong yes you've been forgiven for all

your sin past and future you have God

has forgiven that in Christ in the

atoning work on the cross, but we're

still commanded to confess our sin.

And we're still commanded to to

sometimes even repent when we become

directionally incorrect. Like if you're

totally apathetic and church doesn't

interest you at all and God's word

doesn't interest you at all. If you're

lukewarm, yeah, he calls you to be

zealous. Repent because he's rebuking

you. He's disciplining you because he

loves you. And so his servants ought to

im imitate him in that. When we when we

cause godly grief, we need to be doing

it in a way that's not hypocritical. We

need to be doing it with with the tool

properly maintained and powered by the

right source. God's word rightly

understood, applied in love, speaking

the truth in love. But

what happened when this started working

its way through is, well, if you teach a

congregation they don't have to ask for

forgiveness, they're going to stop

asking forgiveness for one another.

We're talking about infants in Christ.

By the way, to believe that you don't

have to ask forgiveness from God is an

absolute infantile doctrine. Baby talk

and it leads to baby actions. Except

when adults act like babies, it gets

real destructive.

And so the church declined. And so you

can see all that has to happen in this

case. I think if this is actually what

was taught, that pastor was responsible

for some of the disunification of the

church. However,

what about when it's like with Paul? He

spends most of 2 Corinthians trying to

talk about how his authority is

legitimate because if his authority is

properly undermined, they don't have a

true teacher anymore and they'll be all

locked up in the stronghold. So, you

know, the enemy is going to attack your

relationship to me and attack your

relationship to the elders no matter

what because he just wants to constantly

destabilize. And here's the thing. If

you haven't been confessing sin in your

life, uh then the tracks haven't really

been laid. And it's totally shocking to

your heart that you might be told

something by the elders that requires

you to recognize I'm wrong.

Who me? Never. Cuz you've been living a

pattern where you never have to

apologize. But when you see here clearly

that these weapons are meant to destroy

strongholds [snorts] and that they're

meant to to be uh administrated by

people that are keeping every thought

captive to obey Christ and that when

they when those types of leaders when

they do that are ready to punish every

disobedience. I would give an example a

church discipline. It's exactly what

Paul had gotten done uh commanding them

to do in 1 Corinthians about the immoral

brother. Put him out of the church.

Okay. Well, if elders do that, does that

cause some relational friction? If you

absolutely love the person that's put

out the church, yeah, it does. Happened

at Boon Ferry. Caused destabilization.

Why? Well, I think, and you may disagree

with my interpretation of this, is

because the vast majority of people,

especially when they're operating their

flesh, will put relationships on an

earthly plane over obedience to God and

his word when it gets really hard.

So,

I want Boon's Fairy to grow. I pray for

it a lot. I know you want it to grow. I

know you want to see friendships that

you can rely on and trust in that are

devoted here and don't just leave when

when things get hard. And we have

spiritual weapons that can destroy what

needs to be destroyed and build up what

needs to be built up for that happen.

But if we're not anchored in obedience

ourselves

and if we're not taking our thoughts

captives ourselves, then we expect that

same pattern to happen again. Now, you

might think, is this really a pattern

unique to Boon's fairy? No, it's not. In

fact, I talked to Gabe Carter. Um, I

would say he's becoming a good friend,

but he's just already become a good

friend, good friend of mine. And, uh,

just for shortorthhand, he's like the

chief of staff at Ay Creek, probably the

largest church in Oregon. and he said,

"Matis,

more people leave our church every week

than even go to your church." [laughter]

I said, "I don't know, that's so

comforting, oddly." Uh, and he said, "It

happens at every church. There are going

to be people that that respond

unfaithfully in conflict and people that

respond faithfully." And so, the

question is, are you maintaining

that obedience?

And and will you when confronted like

I don't raise your hand for this almost

is going to ask for a raise of hand. Do

you want to be disciplined?

Do you want to be corrected?

If you don't ever want to be corrected,

do you really want to grow? I want to be

corrected.

Never feels good at the time. I don't

enjoy finding out about my own sin. I

don't enjoy it. I don't like it. I like

the result. just like Paul, the peaceful

fruit of righteousness. I want to be

more like Jesus. I'm willing to be

grieved, to be changed. And I believe

that I've shown a pattern, and so have

the elders, and so have many of you, who

I'm so thankful for,

of not losing

sight of what's actually being done in

our hearts to build us up together just

because we're in a season of grief

caused by someone else. What if the

grief is the faithful wound of a friend?

Then instead of thinking, I got to leave

this church. They're just so mean. Blah

blah blah blah blah. Wow. It's a church

that's actually willing to put Jesus

over relationships.

I think that's what you want. It's just

are you preparing your hearts for if

it's going to happen to you? Nobody

thinks they'll be the epicenter of the

church conflict that leads to

disunityity. Nobody thinks that. Nobody

thinks, "Well, it's going to happen to

me." It can happen to anyone who's not

taking the thoughts captive to obey

Christ. He will always attack your rel

the relationship to leaders because as

soon as you do that dead in the water

who wants to look at the ugly face of

the guy that corrected them

mean-spiritedly Sunday in and Sunday out

no much easier to just leave, right? So

of course we need to be spiritual too.

That's why I give you two examples. One

Paul

and one a pastor that was claiming you

don't need to ask for forgiveness

anymore. You do. And so I just want to

conclude with

I'll skip Ephesians 6:12 that talks

Ephesians 6:12

about the rulers of this present age

being demonic entities. Right? There is

a real battle happening with real

spiritual intelligent persons, demons

who are intending to operate as secret

agents and sometimes not so secret

agents to destabilize the church and

destroy God's work. However, Colossians

says this. I'll just put it up.

Colossians 2:15.

Colossians 2:15

In the cross, which we're about to

participate in the Lord's supper, Jesus

disarmed the rulers and authorities and

put them to open shame by triumphing

over them in him. So, actually, God

disarmed the rulers and authorities and

put them to open shame by triumphing

over them in Jesus. That's how that

ought to be read. And he did that

through the cross.

That's that's the weapon. The epicenter

of the power of all of the word is the

cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And so you're only powerful with that

weapon when you're standing close to the

cross. The farther away you are from it,

the farther away you are from the

battery, the more friction you'll

experience. So

again, the spiritual weapons God has

given us are only divinely powerful in

our hands when we're obedient ourselves.

And I don't see a conflict on the

horizon. I'm not saying this because,

hey, we're about to do church discipline

or some big I really don't.

You may feel like you're in conflict

with me about something. Let's work that

out. Let's talk if that's true. But I'm

not even aware of any of that. Right?

We're sort of peaceful horizons right

now, which is the exact right time to

talk about this very thing.

When you come to communion today, I want

you to think about, is there a

stronghold in my life? Have I been told

by other people, have I been rejecting

it? Do you want that stronghold broken?

It can happen right now. And by the way,

it seems like every time you just wait

one more time when God gives you an

opportunity, it calcifies the outer

layer and hardens it even more. So, you

want to change in a place you haven't

been able to change. Maybe it's a

stronghold.

The cross of Jesus Christ shatters those

strongholds. And yes, it will cause

grief. Don't avoid it because the grief

that will be caused to you by holding on

to that stronghold will be far worse

than the peaceful righteousness,

peaceful fruit of righteousness that

comes from it. So I'm saying this in

preparation for the next conflict so

that we respond spiritually the right

way and that we don't get taken in and

that we don't end up being an agent even

as a Christian used or influenced by the

enemy because we've left strongholds

unbroken and then that's what ends up

being used as the wedge to break another

group of people away. Okay, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us

these divine weapons. Thank you that

you've given us the instruction how to

use them, how to maintain them, how

they're powered, and they're they're I

wouldn't say they're powered by our

obedience. They're powered by your

spirit, but they don't have power in our

hands when we're disobeying. And so, I

ask that as we come to communion today

that we return to obedience. If we have

strongholds, that you would break them.

That today would be the day. and that

the very next conflict we go through as

a church would not be like what Paul had

experienced when he visited Corenth of

total disarray and fleshly response, but

that we would work things out

spiritually and that we would see just

another horizon of peace and that you

would show us how pleased you are with

us responding the right way. Uh that it

might actually shatter the enemy's plan

in trying to constantly destabilize and

disunify our church in Jesus name. Amen.