Nov. 18, 2024

Strongholds Pt 2

Strongholds Pt 2

A discussion about 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

A discussion about 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:06.040
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:13.800
the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

3
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:18.920
It is Monday, November eighteenth, twenty twenty four. It is

4
00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:23.039
currently ten forty six am Central Time, and I am

5
00:00:23.079 --> 00:00:30.839
coming to you live from windy, windy, very windy, West Texas.

6
00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.200
That's where I'm coming to you, li from. I'm coming

7
00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:37.240
to you lie from the Theology Central studio located right

8
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:41.079
here in windy, windy, windy, very windy, West Texas. You

9
00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.399
may be able to hear the noise in the background.

10
00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:44.960
I mean, the wind is like, I don't know, fifty

11
00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:46.679
miles per hour. I don't know what it is. It's

12
00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:50.280
crazy right now. I got ready to go live, and

13
00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.200
I was thinking, it's the microphone's going to pick up

14
00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.960
all of that noise in the background. But then I thought,

15
00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.479
you know what, it's either now or never. So it's

16
00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.280
it's wendy outside. Some may say, well, it's always windy

17
00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.599
when I listen to the Theology Central podcast, because that

18
00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.840
guy talking is full of hot air and it's just

19
00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:15.239
blah blah blah. Okay, all right, man, does that work?

20
00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.959
Does that a good illustration? I don't know, but it

21
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.680
may be wendy outside. It maybe get a little windy

22
00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:23.879
here with you know, controversy, and I tend to say

23
00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:27.359
things that go against what everyone else thinks. But that's okay.

24
00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.439
There's got to be room within Christiandom. There's got to

25
00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:35.239
be room within Christianity for someone to kind of raise

26
00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:36.959
their hand and go, well, wait a minute, wait a minute,

27
00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.159
wait a minute, what about this? What about this? What

28
00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:42.120
about this? What about this? What about this? I don't

29
00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.480
agree with that. I don't agree with that. Okay, I

30
00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.079
hear your hypotheses, but let me put forth mind. Let's

31
00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:54.280
challenge this, let's test this. There's gotta be someone well

32
00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:57.680
who questions everything, right, There's got to be at least

33
00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:01.000
a few voices out there that questions everything. And I

34
00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:03.959
think I've always been the one to question everything, So

35
00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.840
I think I that's Look, if I try to do

36
00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:11.719
anything else, I would be I'd be fake. I would

37
00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:14.919
be I wouldn't be real. I try to be as

38
00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:16.960
I try to be as real as I possibly can.

39
00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.199
I mean, I don't know forever truly real?

40
00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:19.479
Right?

41
00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:21.800
Are we ever truly real? I mean, I think there's

42
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:24.919
always a part of us that we always hide from everyone. Else.

43
00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.919
But I try to tell everyone, I'm just a sinner

44
00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:31.240
with a microphone trying to figure out Christianity, and I'm

45
00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:35.400
inviting you along for the journey. I'm inviting you along

46
00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:37.400
as I try to figure it out, and I do

47
00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:39.840
a lot of questioning and a lot of challenging. And

48
00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:42.400
one of those things we do, and we've been doing

49
00:02:42.439 --> 00:02:45.000
it all of twenty twenty four, and I challenged you

50
00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.120
to be a part of it was to download the

51
00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:50.639
sermon's two point oh app and then every single day,

52
00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.960
choose a random sermon, listen to it, write it down

53
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:56.560
in a notebook, the name of the sermon, the name

54
00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.599
of the broadcaster, and then write a summary of what

55
00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:00.840
the sermon was about. And the goal was by the

56
00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.360
end of twenty twenty four, you would have one sermon

57
00:03:03.639 --> 00:03:07.800
for every single day of the year. And that journey

58
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:13.960
has been full of twist turns, ups down and kind

59
00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.360
of led to some great amount of frustration, at least

60
00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:22.039
for me. But we're here in November. What did I say,

61
00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:24.439
November the eighteenth, I don't even remember the date anymore,

62
00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.120
November the eighteenth, meaning we're fast approaching the end of

63
00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:32.439
twenty twenty four. So I'm trying my best. I'm trying

64
00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:37.240
my best to land the plane, bring the train into

65
00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:40.560
the station, bring the boat to the harbor, whatever to

66
00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.879
port or however I want to use the illustration. I

67
00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:46.840
want to bring this to some kind of conclusion. That

68
00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.680
is the goal here. So yesterday, I'm like, you know what,

69
00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:54.840
I've been frustrated. Let's take a step back. Let's reset.

70
00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.759
Let's go into this with the you know, the whole

71
00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.199
positive attitude. We're going to listen to sermons. It doesn't

72
00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.680
matter if we agree or disagree. They put forth their hypotheses.

73
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.360
I will put forth mind. The people listening get a

74
00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:10.879
chance to hear two different perspectives. Let's be positive, let's

75
00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:15.599
be upbeat. Let's do this. So we hit play on

76
00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.920
a sermon, and in that sermon they read the following words.

77
00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:24.759
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not

78
00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:27.839
war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare

79
00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:33.279
are not carnal, but mighty through God. To the pulling

80
00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:39.720
down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing

81
00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.920
that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing

82
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:48.839
into captivity every thought, to the obedience of Christ, that

83
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.920
tewod Corinthians, Chapter ten, verses three through five. That's what

84
00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:56.480
we heard read in the sermon, and then they began

85
00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:02.120
to teach on strongholds, and and what we discovered was

86
00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.959
to this. All the way up to this moment, I'm

87
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:08.680
still just as perplexed and confused and like, what in

88
00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:11.920
the world did we hear because they claimed that basically

89
00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.600
it sounds like we build the stronghold. So it was

90
00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:19.639
very directed. Everything in the sermon was about you, you, you, me, me, me,

91
00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:21.040
what we do, what we.

92
00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:21.680
Do we do.

93
00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.560
It was very law base, based off we do now

94
00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:28.319
what God does, based off what we do, we build strongholds.

95
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:31.639
And once a stronghold is built, ladies and gentlemen, this

96
00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:36.319
is what we discovered. A stronghold hinders the presence of God,

97
00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:42.399
kills the power of God, and quenches the spirit. So basically,

98
00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:47.319
if you get a stronghold, God can't do anything about it.

99
00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:49.079
Now at the same time, he said, well, God can,

100
00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:51.879
but he won't. But at the same time he said

101
00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.639
that the stronghold kills the power of God, hinders the

102
00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:58.879
presence of God, and quenches the spirit, seemingly rendering God,

103
00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.920
I guess and capable of doing anything about the stronghold.

104
00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:07.600
I have to remove the stronghold apart from the power

105
00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:10.160
of God if I want the power of God, which

106
00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:13.639
just is so confounding and confusing. So we went through it.

107
00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:17.319
There was so much. It was so frustrating by the end,

108
00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.279
so we worked our way through it. I think I

109
00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.800
brought it to somewhat of a decent conclusion. We went

110
00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:26.800
through the history of church history about how those throughout

111
00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:29.959
Church history have taught on strongholds what they are and

112
00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.720
what they aren't. In this particular case, and the sermon

113
00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.519
that we were reviewing, his view of a stronghold was

114
00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.879
more about behavior, behavior, behavior, behavior behavior. If you listen

115
00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:43.560
to the wrong music boom, you get a stronghold. It

116
00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.600
was about behavior, and that's I don't think that's what

117
00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:50.120
strongholds are actually about in any way, shape or form.

118
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:51.879
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to

119
00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:56.240
quickly go back and review how strongholds have been taught

120
00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:59.839
throughout Church history. Then we're going to just finish up

121
00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.160
the last I don't know, ten minutes of this sermon,

122
00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:04.639
just to say we brought it to some kind of

123
00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.680
a conclusion, and then we're gonna look at kind of

124
00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.600
how the text define strongholds. We're gonna also look at

125
00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:15.879
the problem of connecting strongholds with satan. I think there's

126
00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.040
a possible problem with that, and then just try to

127
00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:20.839
bring this to some kind of conclusion. So if you

128
00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:23.480
didn't listen to the one yesterday, go back and listen

129
00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:25.720
to it, because that's where the majority of the sermon

130
00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.720
is was reviewed. You can definitely do that. But for now,

131
00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:34.519
let me just remind you of this, this idea, the

132
00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:41.959
concept of strongholds has been debated, discussed and talked and

133
00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:47.480
taught and discussed and talked about throughout Church history, with

134
00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.720
varying degrees of interpretations. Okay, just so that you know that.

135
00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.319
I know it's a shock, but I know. Look, it

136
00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:57.120
doesn't matter. You open a Bible verse, you go look

137
00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:01.279
at church history. There's no agreement. Okay, there's no agreement.

138
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:06.600
No one ever agrees on anything. It's a debate, debate, debate, debate, discussion, talk.

139
00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:11.800
You just that's what happens, all right. In the context

140
00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:16.959
of Second Corinthians Chapter ten, Paul seems to use the

141
00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:28.079
idea of a stronghold metaphorically to describe arguments. Ideas are

142
00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:33.200
patterns of thought that stand in opposition to the knowledge

143
00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:35.879
of God. So, if you look at the context of

144
00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:41.240
Second Corinthians, chapter ten, a stronghold seems to be thinking ideas,

145
00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:47.919
philosophies that stand in opposition to the knowledge of God.

146
00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.799
Here's the knowledge of God, here's the truth of God,

147
00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:55.600
and here's these thoughts, these ideas, these ideologies, these philosophies

148
00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:58.919
that stand in conflict with the knowledge of God and

149
00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.080
the truth of God. It seems to be what a

150
00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:08.200
stronghold primarily is about. In its context, the immediate passage

151
00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:15.120
focuses on taking every thought captive and demolishing false arguments.

152
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:19.919
This would seem to indicate that the apostle Paul is

153
00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:27.480
likely addressing intellectual or ideological barriers, rather than some type

154
00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:34.799
of demonic stronghold or psychological issues as later interpretations have suggested.

155
00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:38.399
See these later when you start talking about demons and

156
00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:41.879
Satan and all of that type of thing. Maybe you

157
00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:46.919
know certain sins. All of that came later in church history.

158
00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:50.679
Early church was like, oh, this is about thinking, this

159
00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:55.720
is about ideology, this is about philosophy. Later on things

160
00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.279
started to change. So if we kind of go over

161
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.639
the centuries and kind of Look, well, here's kind of

162
00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:06.200
what we find. We have the historical and philological interpretation.

163
00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:10.720
We have the historical and philological interpretation the early church

164
00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:14.720
fathers tended. Now, this doesn't mean every single church father

165
00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:17.200
was unanimous on this, so please don't think I'm saying

166
00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.919
they all thought the same way, but they tended to

167
00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:26.360
it seems like possibly the majority were. They interpreted strongholds

168
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:30.559
more in line with Paul's message focusing on intellectual pride,

169
00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:36.000
false teachings. But this is very important. Some of the

170
00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:43.159
church fathers also included entrenched sins. So for the most part,

171
00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:49.440
they focused on intellectual pride, false teaching, ideal ideology, philosophy.

172
00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:52.120
But some started to going, well, I think a stronghold

173
00:10:52.120 --> 00:10:59.399
could also be an entrenched sin, a prolonged sin. Now

174
00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:07.720
they tip saw strongholds as internal, mental or spiritual bearers,

175
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:14.600
barriers within a person's mind. Primarily, this was a mind thing,

176
00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:18.240
a thinking thing. It was a spiritual barrier. It was

177
00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:24.240
a something internal, something mental. It wasn't that's that's kind

178
00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:25.679
of what it was about. It was about the way

179
00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:30.240
you were thinking, your thoughts, your way of understanding things.

180
00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:33.559
That's what it was about. That's kind of the historical

181
00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:38.600
philological interpretation. And that's where I think when well, something

182
00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:42.399
changes in church history, what changes is we moved from

183
00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:45.320
really the early church to the mid evil church. And

184
00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:51.360
guess what shows up the mystical approach. We now have

185
00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:56.080
a mystical approach to what a stronghold is, and mid

186
00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:04.279
evil times, the idea of spiritual warfare grew to include

187
00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:10.360
more elaborate systems of thought around spiritual strongholds. Instead of

188
00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:16.159
saying mental strongholds, it becomes spiritual strongholds. So they sometimes

189
00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:20.399
what they would do in this mystical medieval approach, they

190
00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:22.720
would kind of begin to they would they would begin

191
00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:26.080
to kind of refer to strongholds, sometimes would connect them

192
00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:33.519
to demons or territorial spirits. Some mystics even began to

193
00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:39.960
describe strongholds as attachment to worldly things or patterns of

194
00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:43.960
sin that needed to be broken through by using aesthetic

195
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.279
practices or spiritual disciplines. So all of a sudden, strongholds

196
00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:51.879
they begin to change the way people saw them. During

197
00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:56.600
the medieval period, this mystical approach came to the subject,

198
00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:58.879
and it's like oh oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

199
00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.600
See you're attached to worldly thing. And even in the

200
00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:04.679
sermon we reviewed, it's the music you listen to. You

201
00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:08.080
love that music, that's a stronghold. Oh, you love those

202
00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.480
kinds of movies, that's a stronghold. Oh. And so now

203
00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:16.200
it becomes what your attachment or your love for worldly things,

204
00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:19.080
that's the stronghold that didn't exist in the early churches.

205
00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:24.519
Understanding this is because of the medieval mystical approach, which

206
00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.360
then turned us into kind of a spiritual warfare Satan demons,

207
00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.000
territorial spirits, and so what did you need to do?

208
00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:35.960
You got to fight the stronghold. How do aesthetic practices? Fast,

209
00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.480
give up this, give up that, don't do this, don't

210
00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:47.799
do that, spiritual disciplines. So it became very focused on you, your efforts,

211
00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:53.360
what you do, and the whole concept began to change.

212
00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:57.559
Now we go from kind of this mystical approach until

213
00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:01.840
we come to the modern interpretation. The modern interpretation doesn't

214
00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:05.240
go back to the early Church. The modern interpretation goes

215
00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:10.360
back to mysticism of the medieval period. If you look

216
00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:15.919
at recent decades, especially within the influence of certain strands

217
00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:22.000
of charismatic teaching, strongholds are sometimes interpreted as spiritual blockages

218
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:29.279
created by demonic forces. Generational sins are psychological patterns. This

219
00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.759
has led to practices such as deliverance ministries that focus

220
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:38.759
on identifying and breaking specific stronghold and a believer's life. Now,

221
00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.080
the person we're listening to, the sermon we're listening to,

222
00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.639
they would be as opposed to charismatic theology as they

223
00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.000
could be. I guarantee you they would be against it.

224
00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:51.799
Yet much of what they say seems to contradict their

225
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.679
claim of being against charismatic theology. One he says God

226
00:14:56.200 --> 00:15:00.320
told him to say this, he says God. Basically he

227
00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:02.679
seems to refer to God speaking to him outside of

228
00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:05.639
the Bible. That's very much in line with charismatic theology.

229
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:10.320
And two he goes with this more like charismatic idea

230
00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:15.279
of what a stronghold is. It does not reflect the

231
00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:20.159
early Church's idea. So when you compare all of those

232
00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:25.559
interpretations to the actual text, much of what is taught

233
00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:31.519
today about strongholds is arguably more of reading into the

234
00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:36.000
text than a direct drawing from the text. When you

235
00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:41.120
come to strongholds, pastors read the text they preach it,

236
00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:45.600
you think they're pulling from the text. But what's actually happening.

237
00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:50.320
They're reading into the text. They're reading these concepts, these

238
00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:56.039
ideas that can be traced back primarily to medieval mysticism.

239
00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.879
It's it's not Exegesus, it's is Jesus. And I know

240
00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:04.360
there's such a fine line there, because you sit in

241
00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:06.720
a church, you're like, well, the pastor read the scripture,

242
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:11.360
he explained this scripture in this scripture, Clearly it's exegesis.

243
00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:15.399
Now just reading the scripture. Claiming you're pulling the point

244
00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.519
from the scripture doesn't necessarily mean the points coming from

245
00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:22.000
the scripture. Because if I put something in the scripture,

246
00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.679
then I can obviously tell you I'm pulling it out

247
00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:26.799
of the scripture. But it may be I'm pulling it

248
00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.919
out because I'm the one to put it in there. See,

249
00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.639
Isa Jesus is always and almost typically it's always camouflaged

250
00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.840
and it pretends to be Exejesus. They're like, no, we

251
00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:45.080
studied the text because someone put it there, then they

252
00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.559
pulled it out. It's like if I put a rabbit

253
00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:48.960
in the hat and then I reach in and pull

254
00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:51.320
the rabbit out. Did I really pulled the rabbit out?

255
00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.600
While I did? But because I put the rabbit inside

256
00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.200
the hat. It didn't naturally come from the hat. It

257
00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:01.600
didn't naturally just supernaturally appear. It's a trick, well, much

258
00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:04.640
of Christianity, it's a trick. We open a Bible, read

259
00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:06.079
the Bible. They may even give a little bit of

260
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.480
historical context. They may they say all the little right

261
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.440
words and they're little like opening summary, and then immediately

262
00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:14.720
they start pulling things from the text that are not there.

263
00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:17.160
And I think a lot of the Stronghold things it's

264
00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:23.440
reading into the text. Paul's focus seems very practical and

265
00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:31.079
very direct. He identifies thoughts and ideas that contradict the

266
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:36.279
Gospel and actively countering the He's trying to counter them.

267
00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:41.440
He's trying to combat them with truth. And so I

268
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.480
think that's the whole issue. I mean, I've got more

269
00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:46.319
notes here, but I'm not going to go through the rest.

270
00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:50.599
We covered it most of them yesterday, right, So that's

271
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.680
kind of a historical look. Most of what you hear

272
00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:57.400
today on Strongholds is flowing from If you want to

273
00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:00.200
find the stream from which those thoughts are coming, it's

274
00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:02.960
not coming from Second Corinthians ten, even though they tell

275
00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:05.799
you they're preaching on Second Corinthians ten. It's coming from

276
00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:09.359
medieval mysticism from which they took the idea, read it

277
00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:11.359
into the text, they pull it out of the text,

278
00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.039
and then you hear it and you're like, oh, that's

279
00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.720
a stronghold. This is a stronghold. This is a stronghold,

280
00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.920
and it's like, Ah, what has happened. And to create

281
00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:25.480
an idea that basically the stronghold stops God. Now you

282
00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.200
on your own have to get rid of the stronghold

283
00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:30.400
so then you can get the power of God has

284
00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:32.799
to be one of the most convoluted, confusing things I've

285
00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.319
ever seen. If I can get rid of it without God,

286
00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:38.640
then why do I meet God's power in the first place?

287
00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:42.880
I mean, that just raises all kinds of questions. So

288
00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:45.759
what we're going to do is just finish up the

289
00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:47.880
last few minutes of this sermon just so that we

290
00:18:48.440 --> 00:18:50.279
can do so. And then here's what we're gonna do.

291
00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:58.680
I think that the strongholds mentioned in verse four to

292
00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:02.359
the pulling down a stronghold, I think the strongholds are

293
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.720
defined in verse five. I'm gonna put forth that argument.

294
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.079
Then we're gonna look at how why because even in

295
00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.759
this sermon, he connected Tewod Corinthians ten with one Peter

296
00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:19.079
five eight. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,

297
00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.079
is like a lion roaming about, seeking whom he may devour.

298
00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:26.920
He immediately attached this to Satan. I think that there's

299
00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.240
a there's a problem even attempting to do that. So

300
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:32.160
we're gonna look at all of that. But let's kind

301
00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:34.480
of now we're jumping right back into this sermon. If

302
00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:36.279
you listen, you didn't listen to part one, or it

303
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:38.160
wasn't even labeled part one, I'll have to go back

304
00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:41.000
and label it. Then you you kind of well, I

305
00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:43.160
think I've got you. I think I've gotten you caught up.

306
00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:45.799
But you're gonna kind of continue to hear him. Just

307
00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:50.960
he's belaboring the point that for him, a stronghold is behavior.

308
00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:55.680
It's behavior, it's activity, it's love for the world. He's

309
00:19:55.960 --> 00:19:59.039
very much taking it that way instead of doing what

310
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:00.920
I think the text se to say. So are you

311
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:02.559
ready to hear a little bit more of it? Here

312
00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:03.200
we go.

313
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:09.319
Now we live in a world that's more than just broke.

314
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.519
Isn't that right? Especially when it comes to spiritual things?

315
00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:18.240
They not just broke, it's worse and broke, it's shattered.

316
00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:23.039
And that's why God says, love not the world. Amen.

317
00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:26.480
And we've been we have been swayed. Listen. Now, we've

318
00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:29.400
been swayed by this world all our life, have we not,

319
00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:37.599
especially before we got saved. And even after we got saved.

320
00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:41.240
You know what the world did, It didn't stop. It

321
00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:46.799
just kept on feeding and keeps on feeding. And the

322
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:51.519
world today is feeding some of the most ungodly junk

323
00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:53.160
that's ever been fed.

324
00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:55.359
And you know what's happening to the church.

325
00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:57.440
We've we've we've been into it.

326
00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:04.119
Please note he's almost giving you a classic mid evil

327
00:21:04.279 --> 00:21:09.519
mystical understanding of a stronghold. He's talking about attachment to

328
00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.920
the world, love not the world. Let me again read

329
00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:17.960
a definition of mid evil mystical approach to strongholds. Okay,

330
00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:21.279
I'm going to read this word for word. Are you ready?

331
00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:27.079
In mid evil times, the idea of spiritual warfare grew

332
00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:32.839
to include more elaborate systems of thought around spiritual strongholds,

333
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:39.160
sometimes tied to demons or specific territorial spirits. Some mystics

334
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:46.640
began to describe strongholds as attachment to worldly things are

335
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:54.319
patterns of sin. What you're hearing there is classic mid

336
00:21:54.440 --> 00:22:00.759
evil mysticism. Now most of you probably agree with the

337
00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:06.160
medieval mystical approach, but it's not I believe what the

338
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.839
text is actually saying. Now, let's see if he if he,

339
00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:13.000
if he continues down this path of this more medieval

340
00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:18.599
mystical that the strongholds are about behavior about worldliness. Let's

341
00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:21.599
see if he continues down that path, or if he

342
00:22:21.720 --> 00:22:24.920
deviates and goes maybe back to an early church view,

343
00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:27.839
maybe maybe he maybe he moves to a more modern view.

344
00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:30.519
And remember I always say, if you want to understand

345
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.440
charismatic theology, go look at Catholic mysticism. I think Catholic

346
00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:38.240
mysticism in many cases is the is the origin of

347
00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:43.680
what becomes charismatic, becomes a part of the charismatic theology.

348
00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:46.920
If you want to understand where charismatic theology basically comes from,

349
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.519
go back to Catholic mysticism. I cannot dogmatically assert that,

350
00:22:50.680 --> 00:22:53.200
and it's not going to be a straight line, but

351
00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:56.640
sometimes when you study Catholic mysticism, you're like, that's that's

352
00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:58.519
the modern charismatic theology.

353
00:22:58.680 --> 00:22:58.799
Right.

354
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.039
Hopefully I said that correctly, all right, So just consider that. Now,

355
00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:04.960
maybe he's going to move to a modern approach, which

356
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.440
much more is influenced by charismatic theology. And charismatic theology

357
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:15.119
it finds its origin and well Roman Catholicism very much,

358
00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:18.319
and it's mystical a tradition, all right, So let's see

359
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:19.160
where he takes this.

360
00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.920
Thank God, he's trying to wake us up from that. Amen.

361
00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:33.559
But I got to thinking about that all that garbage

362
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.200
that we brought with us from the world when we

363
00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:39.839
got saved. Some of that we never got rid of.

364
00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:43.519
Some of that we just never changed.

365
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:50.480
Please note his whole understanding here, when we brought all

366
00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:53.640
of this stuff with us from the world when we

367
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.359
got saved. Make it very clear, we didn't have to

368
00:23:56.440 --> 00:24:00.359
bring anything with us when we got saved. All of

369
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:06.079
all sin, all worldliness is inside of us. It's our

370
00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:10.039
sinful nature. Now, what's contradictory in this sermon? He said

371
00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.200
at one point in the sermon that God changes us

372
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:15.279
completely on the inside. Yet later on in the sermon

373
00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:17.720
he said, we still have a sinful nature. Well, how

374
00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.680
can I have a sinful nature if God changed me

375
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:22.079
on the inside? What did God change me on the inside?

376
00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:23.880
But didn't left the old nature and not change. So

377
00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:26.400
does he have the idea that there's two different parts

378
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:26.640
in me?

379
00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:27.200
Like it?

380
00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:29.920
Once again? Is that confound and confusing thing that Christians

381
00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.920
constantly do, that we constantly talk about on this podcast.

382
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.319
It's so maddening the way they do. You've been completely changed,

383
00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:38.440
well not completely changed. Well then why did you just

384
00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:40.599
say it was completely changed? Well, you've been changed on

385
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.839
the inside, but you still have sin. But yet, over

386
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.160
and over and over he seems to refer to everything

387
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:48.920
as being external. The problem is the world. The problem

388
00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:52.559
is the world. Well, no, the problem is inside of me.

389
00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.200
The world just appeals to what's inside of me. The

390
00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.440
issue is inside of me, it's my sin nature. But

391
00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:03.440
let's see if he's gonna if he's going to go

392
00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:07.559
from either a charismatic perspective, which again finds its origins

393
00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:12.160
and I believe in Roman Catholic mysticism or medieval mysticism.

394
00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:15.000
All right, so let's see where this all goes.

395
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:27.079
Some that we held on to amen. I used to stand.

396
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.759
I used to stand in a little place in the

397
00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:34.799
parking lot and dip my tobacco just like everybody else.

398
00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.440
So when I got saved. I just carried that right on.

399
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:52.079
No, wait a minute, Dipping tobacco is a sin that

400
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:56.960
you carried over from the world. What scripture would you

401
00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:02.000
utilize to condemn the dipping of tobacco. Now, if you're

402
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:06.519
going to use scripture about I guess health and your

403
00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.519
body is the temple, and so you don't do anything unhealthy, well,

404
00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:12.480
then you're gonna have to go beyond just dipping tobacco. Right.

405
00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.559
Have you ever seen a church potluck? Have you ever

406
00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:19.920
seen a church fellowship? Is there anything healthy anywhere on

407
00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:28.519
the table? Look, so dipping tobacco is something from the world.

408
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:33.920
So dipping tobacco is a stronghold. Let's see where he

409
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:34.480
takes this.

410
00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:40.880
Broach. All's God had to deal with me, and he did.

411
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.039
And that crowd that says, well, I don't feel convicted

412
00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:50.319
by it, ought to check up because God's not gonna

413
00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:52.039
say it's all right for you to dip, but it

414
00:26:52.039 --> 00:26:54.519
ain't all right for me to dip. If it's wrong

415
00:26:54.599 --> 00:26:57.480
for this Christian to dip, it's wrong for that Christian

416
00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:04.960
to dip. So what is it? It's a stronghold.

417
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:12.880
Dipping tobacco is a stronghold, and it's a. It's a

418
00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:17.319
he's he just made it a dogmatic assertion that it's

419
00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:23.160
wrong for everyone to dip tobacco. Now, I don't dip tobacco.

420
00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:26.160
We have no desire to do so. But if I

421
00:27:26.200 --> 00:27:29.000
saw someone doing so, I don't know if I would

422
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:31.000
walk up and put my arm around him. You've got

423
00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:34.960
a stronghold in your life. Brother. God told me that

424
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:37.400
it was wrong to dip tobacco, So it's wrong for

425
00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:41.640
you to dip tobacco. What in the world is going on?

426
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.920
And it didn't come after we got saved. It was

427
00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:54.319
a stronghold before we got saved and we decide we

428
00:27:54.480 --> 00:27:57.119
was going to hold on to and granted we we

429
00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:02.119
develop a lot of strong holds after we get saved

430
00:28:02.359 --> 00:28:09.160
because we let the world venus. Is that right? Amen?

431
00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:10.240
I hope y'all get in this.

432
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:16.279
I'm telling you what the Lord told me to tell you. Amen. Okay,

433
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:18.680
that's the second or third time he said he is

434
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.799
telling you what God told him to tell you. God

435
00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.599
told him to tell you. Dipping tobacco is a stronghold, Like,

436
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:29.960
how do you even process this? How do you even

437
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:34.480
process that? Well, one that's not sola scriptora. If God

438
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:36.839
is telling him and not only second that would make

439
00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.839
his sermon. I can't even criticize it because it came

440
00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:50.839
directly from God, meaning it's basically infallible. But dipping tobacco

441
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:57.440
is a sin. Dipping tobacco is a stronghold. See this

442
00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:07.880
has nothing. Yeah, okay, let's let's just be calm. Let's

443
00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:10.640
see where this goes. All right, then we can get

444
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:13.359
back to a more I try to just try to

445
00:29:13.359 --> 00:29:15.160
get back to what a stronghold actually is here in

446
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:15.559
a minute.

447
00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:20.640
And so, here's what God says about that presential bodies

448
00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:26.079
of living sacrifice. And then the very next, the very

449
00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:30.160
next phrase or the very next parator, renew your mind.

450
00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:40.519
Isn't that right? You gotta renew your mind? Why because

451
00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:43.759
He don't want you to be conformed to this world.

452
00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:49.039
So you gotta have the right thinking and you got

453
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:55.079
to have the right activities. Otherwise we're setting ourselves up

454
00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.720
for a stronghold. You know what, present your bodies of

455
00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:02.599
living sacrifice and renewing your mind does conforms you to

456
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:07.880
the image of God's Son. Amen. And so anything that

457
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:11.200
we find in opposition to the knowledge of God, Amen,

458
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:16.319
that is what God knows to be right, which is

459
00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:22.039
by the way everything he knows everything that's right. So

460
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:26.519
when we oppose him, we're building strongholds. And so I

461
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:28.960
want I want us to understand something that that there's

462
00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:34.000
two really two reasons why strongholds are still there. And

463
00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:37.400
it's because we've chosen to defend it or justify it.

464
00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:44.799
And number two because we want it there. Amen. Amen.

465
00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:46.880
And so here's how you pull it down. Let me

466
00:30:46.920 --> 00:30:48.640
give you this quickly, and I'm done. I don't have

467
00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:52.319
my watch, Amen, I'm gonna get done early. If the

468
00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:55.559
Lord had help me. Right here what says pull it down?

469
00:30:55.599 --> 00:30:58.119
I don't give you this. I'm gonna give this review.

470
00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:01.160
First of all, you got to bring it the into captivity,

471
00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:04.400
that's what he says right here. And bringing into captivity

472
00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:09.720
ever thought to the obedience of Christ. Your thoughts all

473
00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:11.079
lined up with his thoughts.

474
00:31:13.240 --> 00:31:15.319
Okay, Now this is moving back to more of an

475
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:18.599
early Church kind of understanding here. Now he's taking it

476
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.079
back to thoughts, back to thinking, because that's where the

477
00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:25.759
text lead you. He has this major middle section which

478
00:31:25.799 --> 00:31:30.440
is very much medieval mysticism, but this here kind of

479
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.599
goes back to more of the original concept. I don't

480
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:36.359
know where dipping comes in. I don't know where he had.

481
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:38.640
One point he talk about women and their breeches. I

482
00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:41.559
don't know where that comes. And he talks about country music,

483
00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:43.279
I mean, like a lot of it. You're like, what

484
00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:45.359
in the world does this have to do with anything?

485
00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:49.000
All right, But again he's almost removed God completely from

486
00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:52.000
this entire process. It's you, you, you, you, you you,

487
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.119
because he himself said that if you have a stronghold,

488
00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:58.000
it kills the power of God, it hinders the presence

489
00:31:58.039 --> 00:32:01.160
of God, and it quinches the spirit. Soasically, you've got

490
00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:03.640
to fix the stronghold so that you can then get

491
00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:07.960
God's presence, God's power, and you get the spirit working freely.

492
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:12.000
So God basically can't do anything until you get rid

493
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:13.960
of the stronghold. You do the strong, You get rid

494
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:16.279
of the stronghold and your own power and your own effort,

495
00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:18.359
and then all of a sudden you get all of

496
00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:20.279
this other stuff from God. But then you don't need

497
00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:22.240
all the other stuff from God because you've already pulled

498
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:25.960
down the stronghold. So it's kind of very confusing how

499
00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:28.599
this supposedly works. But at least I got no problem

500
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:31.480
with this idea. We take every thought captive. We'll talk

501
00:32:31.480 --> 00:32:34.160
about that here in a second.

502
00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:41.279
Did you read what that said, amen, It said bringing

503
00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:44.680
into captive they ever thought to the obedience of Christ.

504
00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:49.440
Everything you think, everything that's not in obedience to Christ

505
00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:55.519
gets kicked out. And if it's a thought that makes

506
00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:57.720
you a be obedient to Christ, then go ahead and

507
00:32:57.720 --> 00:33:01.079
think it. I had to kick it out. So you

508
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:04.440
bring your thoughts into captivity. I call that the refreshment.

509
00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:09.960
It's like a computer boost your obedience to God. Look

510
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:13.440
at verse six and having well, let's back up and

511
00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:15.839
get the latter part of it, bringing into captivity ever

512
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:19.960
thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a

513
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:25.359
readiness to revenge all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled,

514
00:33:25.400 --> 00:33:30.680
in other words, you're gonna that's replacement. You're gonna throw

515
00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:33.240
all the rebellion out.

516
00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:39.400
Now again, I know this seems to be headed in

517
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:42.400
this direction. He seems to be going in the idea

518
00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:44.799
that basically we can do all of this right. So

519
00:33:44.920 --> 00:33:48.519
let's just once again for review. I say this every

520
00:33:48.559 --> 00:33:52.279
single sermon I review because it seems like every single

521
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:57.240
sermon contradicts this very basic concept that's Christianity one oh one.

522
00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:00.039
So let me state it again. If you take the

523
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:03.799
law of God, which says be holy as He is holy,

524
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:07.000
be he perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, you

525
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:10.480
will never do that. You cannot do that. You are

526
00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:13.639
incapable of doing that. Even as a save person, you cannot.

527
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:15.440
And if you meet someone who says there as holy

528
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:17.599
as God as holy, you know that you need to

529
00:34:17.599 --> 00:34:20.199
probably run for your life because something is really really

530
00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:23.480
wrong with him to think that right. So, practically we're

531
00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:26.480
never going to do that, meaning we are in a

532
00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:32.760
perpetual state of disobedience. Here's God's law, we never meet it,

533
00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.400
so we are always in disobedient. You can't just say, well,

534
00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:37.800
just get rid of all the disobedience and be obedient.

535
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:40.400
It's never going to occur. You're always going to be

536
00:34:40.440 --> 00:34:43.079
in a perpetual state of disobedience. You cannot keep the

537
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:46.760
law now, So then what's the solution. Well, and I

538
00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:49.719
see the law, I see my disobedience, I run to Christ,

539
00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:54.199
and I trust in an imputed righteousness, not infused imputed.

540
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.840
So then positionally I'm declared to be obedient, even though

541
00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:01.360
practically I never will be. And if you cannot keep

542
00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:04.199
the and just go through all the scriptures, all the law.

543
00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:07.239
Even if you obey some of it externally, you're almost

544
00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:11.360
inevitably going to be violating it internally. Whether Christians like

545
00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:15.119
to believe this or not, you are in a perpetual

546
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:20.719
state of disobedience. You are in sin. Every single day.

547
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:24.000
You are in sin. You are in sin. You are

548
00:35:24.039 --> 00:35:28.440
in sin. But yet Christians convince themselves that somehow we

549
00:35:28.519 --> 00:35:31.119
can get rid of this sin and then we can

550
00:35:31.159 --> 00:35:34.199
be I guess better than those people. Then we pick

551
00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:37.000
up our rocks to stone those people because we don't

552
00:35:37.119 --> 00:35:40.119
commit that sin. Yeah, but you don't commit that sin.

553
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.519
But you're in a perpetual state of sin. So how

554
00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:44.840
can those in a perpetual state of sin think that

555
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.840
they didn't can condemn and throw other people out who

556
00:35:47.880 --> 00:35:50.199
committed a certain sin. So then at this point it

557
00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:52.480
just becomes not a matter of sin. It becomes a

558
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:56.639
matter of which sin and which list determines which sins

559
00:35:56.719 --> 00:35:59.400
are the bad ones and which sins are the acceptable ones.

560
00:36:00.679 --> 00:36:03.760
But Christians constantly forget we are in a perpetual state

561
00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:04.719
of disobedience.

562
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:10.599
You ready to revenge. In other words, you gonna you

563
00:36:10.679 --> 00:36:16.519
go cut it up, You're gonna crucify whatever it takes

564
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:20.880
to get rid of the disobedience is what you're gonna do,

565
00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:25.639
so that you make room for obedience. That's how you

566
00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:28.679
that's how you kick a stronghold. You kick it out,

567
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:32.599
and then if you take something and put it in

568
00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:38.400
its place, you have no room for it again. Now right, amen.

569
00:36:39.079 --> 00:36:41.760
And so if you're ever gonna stop some bad habit,

570
00:36:41.880 --> 00:36:44.400
you better find you a good one to take its place,

571
00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:47.400
otherwise your bad habit will be back in ten minutes.

572
00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:52.519
This entire idea. So you just get rid of a

573
00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:54.880
bad habit and then you replace it with a good habit.

574
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:57.320
This seems to completely ignore the fact that the bad

575
00:36:57.360 --> 00:36:59.519
habit is a result of your sinful nature, and you

576
00:36:59.559 --> 00:37:02.199
cannot kick out your sinful nature because your sinful nature

577
00:37:02.239 --> 00:37:05.280
will be there until glorification. So you don't just kick

578
00:37:05.280 --> 00:37:09.039
out your sinful nature, and the bad habit comes from

579
00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:12.320
the sinful life. This seems to completely it's almost a

580
00:37:12.360 --> 00:37:16.280
Pelagian view. It's almost it almost as full blown Pelagianism,

581
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:19.519
as if you don't have a sinful nature and bad internally,

582
00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:22.159
you're basically neutral, and so you just got to fight

583
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:25.119
over bad habits good habits. Do this, do that? And

584
00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:28.119
it's very man centered. You do you do this, you

585
00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:29.840
do this, you do this, you do this, you do this,

586
00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:34.639
you do this, but it completely denies the reality of

587
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:36.679
the sinful nature. Even though earlier in the sermon he

588
00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:39.719
acknowledged the sinful nature. He said, why do we keep

589
00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:42.719
doing this because we're dragging along the sinful nature. Well,

590
00:37:42.719 --> 00:37:44.960
if you know you're dragging along the sinful nature, then

591
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:47.079
it's not about just getting rid of a bad habit,

592
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:49.079
because even if you get rid of a bad habit,

593
00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:51.639
the sinful nature is right there. You say, well, replace

594
00:37:51.679 --> 00:37:53.199
the bad habit with a good habit, and then the

595
00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:56.199
bad habit won't return. The bad habit will return because

596
00:37:56.199 --> 00:37:58.920
the bad habit flows from your sinful nature, which is

597
00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:01.920
not removed because you replaced it with a good habit.

598
00:38:04.480 --> 00:38:09.079
This is very much like a fleshly psychological way to

599
00:38:09.159 --> 00:38:11.760
try to This is no different than just going to

600
00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:15.280
I don't know, alcoholics, anonymous, narcotics anonymous. This is just

601
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:18.239
going through the basic idea of like, oh, you're doing this, well,

602
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:20.920
let's give us some basic tips to stop doing it.

603
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:24.440
There's nothing spiritual about this, there's nothing Christian about this.

604
00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:26.840
This is just the way you help anyone who's dealing

605
00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:29.480
with an addiction or a struggle or a bad habit.

606
00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:33.400
It's just basic, basic rules. And the whole concept of

607
00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:37.159
this passage is for though we walk in the flesh,

608
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:40.079
we do not do we do not war after the flesh,

609
00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:42.719
for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. This

610
00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:47.360
is just basic carnal psychological ideas to stop a bad habit.

611
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:56.239
Amen, it's kind of like that fellow that garnished his house.

612
00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:01.199
She remembers swept it real good, and the spirits left,

613
00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:06.000
and everything looked real good. You know what happened. He

614
00:39:06.039 --> 00:39:10.159
didn't replace it. If he had replaced it with the

615
00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:13.400
spirit of God, then there wouldn't have been any room

616
00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:15.880
when he come back for him in his Seven Bodies?

617
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:21.159
Is he gonna take that story and connect it to

618
00:39:21.280 --> 00:39:26.159
bad habits? In the concept there that just removing a

619
00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:30.320
demon is of no value unless the person becomes saved

620
00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:33.719
and has dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, then they

621
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:37.480
are now protected from demonic possession because they now have

622
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.760
the Spirit of God. What is it you're gonna take

623
00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:44.639
that concept and apply it to habits? The habit flows

624
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:48.880
from the internal nature. You can't just so now I

625
00:39:48.960 --> 00:39:53.039
replace a bad habit with the spirit of God. So

626
00:39:53.079 --> 00:39:54.840
then every Christian who has the Spirit of God never

627
00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:57.639
no longer has any bad habits. This whole thing is

628
00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:03.760
so confusing, are y'all hearing it?

629
00:40:04.760 --> 00:40:09.840
Replacement? Don't forget, man, when you're quitting something, you better

630
00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:14.039
replace it with something else, Amen, because if you don't,

631
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:17.159
it won't be long for it to be back. Amen.

632
00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:22.280
Just like the preacher that put the TV in the closet,

633
00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:27.519
and he should have found something else to do. Amen.

634
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:36.760
Number three, build your character around Christ's image. That's reinforcement.

635
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:41.559
This is all law. This is what you would be

636
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:43.719
classified theologically as law. Law.

637
00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:45.800
La la la la la law.

638
00:40:46.119 --> 00:40:47.920
You do this, you do this, you do this, you

639
00:40:47.960 --> 00:40:49.719
do this, you do this, you do this, you do this,

640
00:40:49.760 --> 00:40:53.239
you do this, you do this. It's effort, effort, effort, effort, effort, effort, effort,

641
00:40:53.239 --> 00:40:57.880
but it's all effort fighting against really external things at

642
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:01.280
ignoring that the real war is happening internally because of

643
00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:07.000
a sinful nature. All right, So that's kind of basically

644
00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:08.800
the end. Let me let me just try to I

645
00:41:08.840 --> 00:41:10.559
want to get this over and then we can we

646
00:41:10.599 --> 00:41:12.800
can look at some basic points and then try to

647
00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:14.719
bring this to some kind of a conclusion. All right,

648
00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:15.119
here we.

649
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:22.400
Go, that's what is happening over in verse. But eater, see,

650
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:27.000
these strongholds don't exist for christ like spirit loyales.

651
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:36.599
So strongholds don't exist where this christ Like spirit dwells.

652
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:37.400
Well.

653
00:41:37.519 --> 00:41:43.559
Isn't every Chris Christian filled or every Christian has the

654
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:48.239
Holy Spirit? Doesn't the Holy Spirit dwell in every Christian?

655
00:41:48.480 --> 00:41:48.599
Well?

656
00:41:48.639 --> 00:41:51.280
If the Holy Spirit dwells in every question Christian, then

657
00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:56.400
how can there be a stronghold? A stronghold can't exist

658
00:41:56.400 --> 00:41:59.199
where there's a christ Like spirit well within the Holy Spirit,

659
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:02.639
a christ Like spirit. So then how can there be

660
00:42:02.679 --> 00:42:07.000
a stronghold? But he doesn't mean that. What he means

661
00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:13.719
is the stronghold can't exist. If you conform yourself to

662
00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:16.960
be like Christ, then there's no stronghold. Well wait a minute,

663
00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:19.880
So then the spirit of God can't keep away the stronghold,

664
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:24.039
but you can by conforming yourself to the Do you

665
00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:25.719
see how confusing this is.

666
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:31.599
When we begin to conform ourselves to the image of Christ,

667
00:42:31.679 --> 00:42:34.159
what we do is we're not making we're not making

668
00:42:34.360 --> 00:42:40.960
room for strongholds. I close with this one Peter chapter

669
00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:45.320
five verse number eight and nine. Watched this, Peter, Peter.

670
00:42:46.119 --> 00:42:48.239
I read this, and I can't help but think Peter's

671
00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:53.360
wised up a little bit. You remember how Jesus looked

672
00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:56.039
at him and said, Satan has desired to sift you,

673
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:03.679
he said, but I prayed for you. Amen. Old Peter's

674
00:43:03.679 --> 00:43:08.159
a little bit wiser now because the first thing I

675
00:43:08.239 --> 00:43:12.960
see is this, should this admonishment? He said, be sober,

676
00:43:13.039 --> 00:43:21.440
beil vigilant. Now, why what would you want to do that? Well,

677
00:43:21.480 --> 00:43:23.000
first of all, I look at that, and I think

678
00:43:23.039 --> 00:43:26.880
to myself, that's distinct thinking and determined actions, the two

679
00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:34.719
things that are pulled down a stronghold. So captive thoughts

680
00:43:34.760 --> 00:43:37.119
and complete obedience is what he's saying.

681
00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:43.880
He said, be sober, if it requires complete obedience to

682
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:47.880
pull down a stronghold. Ladies and gentlemen, I got bad

683
00:43:47.960 --> 00:43:51.760
news for you. You're never pulling down a stronghold because

684
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:56.199
you're never completely obedient. How do I know that? Be

685
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:58.840
holy as He is holy, You're never going to do that,

686
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:02.320
So therefore you're never completely obedient. Be perfect as your

687
00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:04.280
heavenly Father is perfect, You're never going to do that.

688
00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:08.079
Therefore you're never completely obedient. Love God, with all your heart, mind, body,

689
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:09.920
and soul. You're never going to do that. Therefore you're

690
00:44:09.960 --> 00:44:13.079
never perfectly obedient. Love your neighbor as yourself. You're never

691
00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:15.719
going to perfectly do that, So therefore you're not perfectly obedient.

692
00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:18.800
Do all things without complaining, grumbling and murmuring. You're probably

693
00:44:18.840 --> 00:44:21.079
going to do that. Even if you don't externally grumble

694
00:44:21.079 --> 00:44:23.039
and complain, you probably are. In the insight, you're never

695
00:44:23.079 --> 00:44:25.159
going to do that. How many scriptures do I need

696
00:44:25.199 --> 00:44:26.920
to give you that you're never going to perfectly do this.

697
00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:29.760
Therefore you're never perfectly obedient. Therefore you're never going to

698
00:44:29.920 --> 00:44:32.440
pull down a stronghold. And did you realize that what

699
00:44:32.679 --> 00:44:36.440
pulls down a stronghold is your actions you're doing. It's

700
00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:40.199
very tangible actions you take, seemingly that you're fighting it

701
00:44:40.239 --> 00:44:44.880
in a fleshly way, not a spiritual way.

702
00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:48.039
Don't let your mind get all mixed up. You ever

703
00:44:48.039 --> 00:44:50.480
seen somebody get drunk, Well, you talk about their mind

704
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:55.440
messed up. They can't even find the car. Amen, thank god,

705
00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:07.079
they stumble everywhere. He said, be sober, and then he said,

706
00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:12.400
be vigilant. You're gonna be determined. Why because there's an

707
00:45:12.400 --> 00:45:16.559
ambush about to happen if you don't, said your adversary,

708
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:22.960
the devil. Now listen to this as a roaring line.

709
00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:34.360
You wouldn't think he come roaring, But he's mad. Walketh

710
00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:40.719
about now, watch seeking whom he may. He's looking for

711
00:45:40.760 --> 00:45:46.440
somebody that's got an open door. He's looking for somebody

712
00:45:46.599 --> 00:45:50.920
that has laid the foundation so that he can stick

713
00:45:51.079 --> 00:45:55.239
his foot in the door and begin to influence us.

714
00:45:56.840 --> 00:45:59.199
And remember, according to this sermon, how do you open

715
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:03.440
the door by listening to country music? Now, I'm going

716
00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:06.719
to make it very clear. The door is already open

717
00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:11.280
because you have a sinful nature, not because of the

718
00:46:11.400 --> 00:46:12.639
music you listen to.

719
00:46:17.920 --> 00:46:21.320
So Peter says, I learned this a long time ago,

720
00:46:23.239 --> 00:46:25.079
just a few years back. You know what the devil

721
00:46:25.119 --> 00:46:29.880
tried to do to me. Yeah, he said, so you

722
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.280
better be sober and you better be vigil And then

723
00:46:34.400 --> 00:46:40.079
notice this, and I'm done. There's an antidote verse eight again,

724
00:46:40.199 --> 00:46:44.440
walk about seeking him? Or this verse nine, I'm sorry

725
00:46:44.639 --> 00:46:54.079
whom resist steadfast in the faith. You've heard how some

726
00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:57.000
preachers will get up and they'll say, don't ever challenge

727
00:46:57.039 --> 00:47:01.639
the devil. But I read in my Bible where I'm

728
00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:08.039
not supposed to run from him. I'm supposed to resist him.

729
00:47:08.280 --> 00:47:14.960
You can't resist somebody running from him, isn't that what

730
00:47:15.039 --> 00:47:21.119
it said? James gives us the secret to being able

731
00:47:21.239 --> 00:47:27.639
to resist it. He says, submit thyself. Therefore under God

732
00:47:29.159 --> 00:47:38.679
resists the devil. And herefully submit yourself under God. Presential

733
00:47:38.679 --> 00:47:41.679
bodies of living sacrifice renew your mind. You see how

734
00:47:41.719 --> 00:47:45.320
all this works together in the conforming us to the

735
00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:49.639
image of Christ. Why it's so important to be conformed

736
00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:53.039
to the image of Christ. It is so that we

737
00:47:53.239 --> 00:47:59.199
tear down the strongholds and don't give the devil a place.

738
00:48:01.800 --> 00:48:07.800
It's it's important whether it was a stronghold that we

739
00:48:07.880 --> 00:48:11.840
brought into this relationship with God or it's a stronghold

740
00:48:11.960 --> 00:48:15.679
that we have developed after. Either way, we need to

741
00:48:15.679 --> 00:48:19.760
pull it down. How you do that by being conformed

742
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:24.199
to the image of God's Son. We got to learn

743
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:27.960
to bring our thoughts into captivity. We got to learn

744
00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:30.639
to boost our obedience to God, and we got to

745
00:48:30.800 --> 00:48:36.519
build the character around Jesus christ image. That's how you

746
00:48:36.639 --> 00:48:40.480
conform to the image of God. Let's stand together, Father,

747
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:41.400
thank you for the day.

748
00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:46.639
All right, Well, there you have it. That's probably a

749
00:48:46.679 --> 00:48:52.000
pretty standard. I think most churches would handle strongholds basically

750
00:48:52.360 --> 00:48:55.280
similar to that. He may they may not go off

751
00:48:55.280 --> 00:48:59.400
on country music and dipping, tobacco, and women and pants.

752
00:49:00.079 --> 00:49:02.280
I whose where the three major? I think those were

753
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:05.079
the three things. He kind of went after, music, dipping,

754
00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:08.440
and women in pants. Okay, but if you remove that

755
00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:12.320
his basic hypotheses, it's pretty similar to I think how

756
00:49:12.360 --> 00:49:15.119
most churches would handle strongholds. And I've told you that

757
00:49:15.119 --> 00:49:19.119
that tends to go Everything you heard there tends to

758
00:49:19.159 --> 00:49:22.559
go more back to medieval mysticism than it does the

759
00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:26.519
early Church or modern day charismatic theology, which I think

760
00:49:26.559 --> 00:49:30.920
finds its origin and Catholic mysticism, if that makes sense. Now,

761
00:49:31.519 --> 00:49:35.159
I believe that the stronghold mentioned in verse four, So

762
00:49:35.239 --> 00:49:37.920
let me read verse four for the weapons of our

763
00:49:37.960 --> 00:49:40.920
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. To the

764
00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:46.599
pulling down of strongholds. I believe the strongholds there are

765
00:49:46.679 --> 00:49:51.960
defined in verse five. I believe the strongholds mentioned in

766
00:49:52.199 --> 00:49:57.079
ten four are effectively defined in verse five. Right Verse

767
00:49:57.320 --> 00:49:59.719
five reads, and I'm going to read it from a

768
00:49:59.719 --> 00:50:06.480
different translation. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised

769
00:50:06.519 --> 00:50:09.519
against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought

770
00:50:09.679 --> 00:50:16.079
captive to obey Christ. Verse five clarifies that the strongholds

771
00:50:16.199 --> 00:50:25.440
Paul refers to our intellectual are ideological structures. Strongholds are

772
00:50:25.639 --> 00:50:32.719
intellectual and ideological structures. They're intellectual the ideological, and so

773
00:50:32.760 --> 00:50:37.239
we have to pull down these intellectual and ideological structures

774
00:50:37.280 --> 00:50:40.760
that oppose God, that are in opposition to God's truth.

775
00:50:40.960 --> 00:50:43.440
But this is to be done spiritually. Well, how it's

776
00:50:43.480 --> 00:50:47.079
to be done spiritually. It is the Word of God, right,

777
00:50:48.719 --> 00:50:54.320
which is spiritual because it's God breathed, it's spiritual. I

778
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:58.000
take the word of God, and then this is used

779
00:50:58.039 --> 00:51:01.239
to say that way of thinking, that way of thinking

780
00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:04.519
is contrary to the Word of God. It doesn't mean

781
00:51:04.559 --> 00:51:07.159
if I pull down the stronghold, I'm now going to

782
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:09.840
be obedient and I'm going to do everything right. It

783
00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:12.280
just means I'm going to be able to acknowledge that

784
00:51:12.280 --> 00:51:15.119
that's wrong and that's wrong, even though I still may

785
00:51:15.159 --> 00:51:18.079
struggle with thinking wrong, and I still may struggle with

786
00:51:18.159 --> 00:51:21.440
doing wrong because that flows from my sinful nature. At

787
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:24.079
least I can pull down the stronghold in the sense

788
00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:26.440
that I'm not sitting there saying this way of thinking

789
00:51:26.519 --> 00:51:28.800
is right, or this think, Oh, this way of doing

790
00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:31.639
is right. I can at least acknowledge it's wrong biblically,

791
00:51:31.880 --> 00:51:33.880
even though I may do it, and even though I

792
00:51:33.920 --> 00:51:44.119
still may think it. These are not physical structures or

793
00:51:44.159 --> 00:51:50.239
even supernatural forces, but they are mental or philosophical constructs

794
00:51:50.800 --> 00:51:54.840
that oppose God's truth. Paul is using military language to

795
00:51:54.880 --> 00:51:58.760
describe a kind of spiritual battle where those strongholds are

796
00:51:58.800 --> 00:52:03.239
attacked and demoleg through divine means. What does the divine

797
00:52:03.280 --> 00:52:06.920
mean to demolish the stronghold? It is the word of God.

798
00:52:09.079 --> 00:52:13.840
I am to take those thoughts, those philosophical ideas, those

799
00:52:13.880 --> 00:52:18.559
intellectual constructs, and in the Word of God is the

800
00:52:18.599 --> 00:52:23.079
thing that says those constructs, those philosophical ideas are wrong.

801
00:52:24.159 --> 00:52:28.599
And other words, now I'm quoting. The strongholds are patterns

802
00:52:28.639 --> 00:52:37.679
of thought, entrenched beliefs, not entrenched behavior, entrenched beliefs or

803
00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:43.800
arguments that resist God's revelation and truth. By defining strongholds

804
00:52:43.840 --> 00:52:46.840
in this way, Paul focuses on the need for spiritual

805
00:52:46.880 --> 00:52:49.920
discernment and the truth of the Gospel to confront and

806
00:52:50.039 --> 00:52:54.639
dismantle ideas and worldviews contrary to God's knowledge. This aligns

807
00:52:54.679 --> 00:52:58.719
with Paul's emphasis on taking every thought captive to obey Christ,

808
00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:03.639
showing that these are in eternal mental barriers, not external

809
00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:08.880
or demonic entities. This is not country music, This isn't dipping,

810
00:53:09.159 --> 00:53:13.480
this isn't women in pants, this isn't behavior. This is thinking.

811
00:53:15.719 --> 00:53:20.199
And we refer to the Bible sometimes as the sword

812
00:53:20.360 --> 00:53:25.320
of the spirit. The Bible is spiritual. I take the idea,

813
00:53:25.840 --> 00:53:30.119
the philosophy, I take the scripture, and I say this

814
00:53:30.320 --> 00:53:34.119
philosophy is wrong, and in a sense, I'm taking it

815
00:53:34.280 --> 00:53:37.960
captive to the word of God. That's how we're fighting this.

816
00:53:38.119 --> 00:53:41.199
Not fleshly, you're spiritual. This is not about Hey, you

817
00:53:41.239 --> 00:53:43.400
need to get this bad behavior in place it with

818
00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:45.159
a good behavior, and you need to do this, and

819
00:53:45.199 --> 00:53:47.400
you need to do this. No, it means I take

820
00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:51.840
the word of God and fight these philosophical and ideological

821
00:53:51.880 --> 00:54:03.840
structures in a spiritual way. So textually it would be

822
00:54:04.440 --> 00:54:12.000
difficult to almost impossible, to define the strongholds as entrenched sins,

823
00:54:12.119 --> 00:54:17.719
behaviors are even psychological issues. The language Paul is using

824
00:54:18.079 --> 00:54:23.079
centers around intellectual and id ideological barriers rather than moral

825
00:54:23.239 --> 00:54:30.840
or behavioral struggles. The key elements would be this arguments

826
00:54:30.840 --> 00:54:34.639
and lofty opinions, and verse five Paul specifically refers to

827
00:54:34.760 --> 00:54:38.079
arguments and lofty opinions that are raised against the knowledge

828
00:54:38.079 --> 00:54:41.920
of God. This language points to ideas, philosophies, or worldviews

829
00:54:42.039 --> 00:54:46.199
that'll pay oppose God's truth rather than personal habits or

830
00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:52.679
sinful behavior. It's not about sinful behavior or bad habits.

831
00:54:53.360 --> 00:54:57.039
If I go back to Second Corinthians, go back to

832
00:54:57.079 --> 00:55:03.320
Second Corinthians, chapter ten, look at it verse five casting

833
00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:08.199
down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself. Depending

834
00:55:08.239 --> 00:55:13.519
on your translation, arguments and lofty opinions, this is not

835
00:55:14.480 --> 00:55:19.440
about behavior. This is not about sinful habits. Has nothing

836
00:55:19.480 --> 00:55:22.519
to do with that that has been placed upon the text,

837
00:55:22.679 --> 00:55:29.000
and the origin of those ideas is medieval mysticism that

838
00:55:29.199 --> 00:55:33.440
taking every thought captive. Paul calls to take every thought

839
00:55:33.519 --> 00:55:37.320
captive to obey Christ, indicating a focus on reshaping one's

840
00:55:37.360 --> 00:55:41.239
thinking of beliefs. The context is about renewing the mind

841
00:55:41.239 --> 00:55:44.480
to align with God's truth, rather than addressing moral conduct

842
00:55:44.679 --> 00:55:47.400
or personal weakness. This is the idea, and how do

843
00:55:47.480 --> 00:55:51.320
we renew our minds with the word of God. The

844
00:55:51.400 --> 00:55:54.119
Word of God renews my mind it changes my thinking.

845
00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:56.719
It says, Okay, I used to think this way. I

846
00:55:56.800 --> 00:55:58.519
used to think this way. I used to hold to

847
00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:03.159
this philosophical idea, ideology, I used to hold this intellectual construct.

848
00:56:03.280 --> 00:56:05.800
I used to think this about certain behaviors. I used

849
00:56:05.800 --> 00:56:07.559
to think this. I used to think this. I used

850
00:56:07.599 --> 00:56:10.800
to think this. But the more I take on the

851
00:56:10.840 --> 00:56:13.639
word of God, it changes my thinking so that at

852
00:56:13.639 --> 00:56:17.920
the very minimum, I can say that's wrong thinking. That's

853
00:56:17.960 --> 00:56:21.400
wrong thinking. Now listen, in that sense, I'm taking the

854
00:56:21.480 --> 00:56:25.400
thought captive, and I'm taking the thought in a sense,

855
00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:28.400
connecting it to Christ, saying this thought must be in

856
00:56:28.519 --> 00:56:31.280
obedience to Christ. In other words, my thinking must be

857
00:56:31.280 --> 00:56:34.800
in line with Christ, not in line with this contrary

858
00:56:34.840 --> 00:56:39.119
philosophical concept. That's what it's about. Now, this is very important.

859
00:56:39.639 --> 00:56:42.880
Just because I change my thinking, just because I change

860
00:56:42.920 --> 00:56:47.159
my mind, doesn't mean I'm going to change my behavior.

861
00:56:47.400 --> 00:56:51.320
Because my behavior is influenced by a sinful nature. The

862
00:56:51.480 --> 00:56:57.599
right thinking does not remove the sinful nature. That's why

863
00:56:57.639 --> 00:57:00.800
we sometimes find ourselves in conflict as a Christian with

864
00:57:00.880 --> 00:57:04.519
how we think and what we do, which sounds very

865
00:57:04.559 --> 00:57:09.679
similar to the very person who wrote Second Corinthians. He

866
00:57:09.719 --> 00:57:13.760
also wrote these words. Are you ready? I thank God

867
00:57:13.800 --> 00:57:17.960
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with my mind,

868
00:57:18.559 --> 00:57:21.920
I myself sir the law of God. But with the

869
00:57:22.079 --> 00:57:26.559
flesh the law of sin. There is a conflict between

870
00:57:26.599 --> 00:57:30.400
the mind and the body and what we do now

871
00:57:30.519 --> 00:57:33.559
in our mind, even when our mind thinks that okay,

872
00:57:33.800 --> 00:57:36.320
and this is all the changing of the mind does,

873
00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:39.840
the mind just says that's a sin. I still may

874
00:57:39.960 --> 00:57:43.480
think about that sin, lust for that sin, long for

875
00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:45.760
that sin, but at least in my mind I will

876
00:57:45.800 --> 00:57:48.880
acknowledge it is a sin. This is what leads Christians

877
00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:52.719
to be very much sometimes overcome with guilt and shame

878
00:57:53.119 --> 00:57:57.599
because our minds we're trying to take the thoughts captive.

879
00:57:57.719 --> 00:58:00.599
We're reading the Bible. It's shaping our thinking so that

880
00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:03.639
we can see that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong,

881
00:58:03.840 --> 00:58:08.000
And then we become really what as almost horrifying is

882
00:58:08.039 --> 00:58:10.719
the more we understand wrong, the more we see the

883
00:58:10.800 --> 00:58:13.920
wrong in us. Now, what that is to do is

884
00:58:13.960 --> 00:58:16.119
to drive me to Christ so that I hold on

885
00:58:16.199 --> 00:58:20.199
to the imputed righteousness because I realize I'm a mess.

886
00:58:23.960 --> 00:58:26.639
So the key elements and this is that this is

887
00:58:26.639 --> 00:58:29.320
about arguments and lofty opinions, and this is about taking

888
00:58:29.400 --> 00:58:33.519
every thought captive. None of this is talking about personal habits,

889
00:58:33.559 --> 00:58:36.920
sinful natures. It's not addressing moral conduct. It's not even

890
00:58:36.960 --> 00:58:41.280
talking about moral weakness. The passage itself does not mention

891
00:58:41.440 --> 00:58:47.079
specific sins, moral failures, or physical actions. Paul's focus is

892
00:58:47.239 --> 00:58:52.199
entirely on mental and spiritual obstacles that hinder understanding or

893
00:58:52.239 --> 00:58:58.079
accepting God's revelation. Many teachers and preachers have applied the

894
00:58:58.119 --> 00:59:02.559
concept of strongholds to habitual sins, or reoccurring behavior. This

895
00:59:02.679 --> 00:59:07.000
is an application rather than a direct interpretation of the text.

896
00:59:08.119 --> 00:59:11.440
It can maybe some would argue it could be helpful,

897
00:59:11.840 --> 00:59:15.119
but I think it goes way beyond Paul's intended meaning.

898
00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:17.400
You could say, well, this is a good application. No,

899
00:59:17.639 --> 00:59:20.280
it's not a good application when it goes beyond the

900
00:59:20.320 --> 00:59:23.440
actual meaning of the text. That's not an application. That

901
00:59:23.480 --> 00:59:25.440
you're reading into the text. And when you read into

902
00:59:25.480 --> 00:59:27.239
the text and pull something out of the text that's

903
00:59:27.239 --> 00:59:30.159
not in the text, then that's a fraudulent application. The

904
00:59:30.199 --> 00:59:32.920
application should be based on what's in the text, not

905
00:59:33.039 --> 00:59:44.280
what you've read into the text. If we aim to

906
00:59:44.320 --> 00:59:50.079
stay close to the text, strongholds are best understood as

907
00:59:50.239 --> 00:59:56.760
intellectual and ideological barriers to God's truth, not entrenched sins

908
00:59:56.880 --> 01:00:02.800
or behaviors. It would allo so be absolute difficult textually

909
01:00:03.280 --> 01:00:07.000
to include things like lust and the definition of strongholds.

910
01:00:07.639 --> 01:00:12.239
Paul's focus is in these verses is clearly on intellectual

911
01:00:12.320 --> 01:00:17.559
and ideological barriers, specifically arguments and lofty opinions that oppose

912
01:00:17.599 --> 01:00:21.360
the knowledge of God. Lust, as typically understood, is a

913
01:00:21.519 --> 01:00:26.000
sinful nature or a sinful desire inclination that comes from

914
01:00:26.039 --> 01:00:29.960
our sinful nature. It is serious, but it does not

915
01:00:30.159 --> 01:00:33.519
fit the context of what Paul is addressing. As Sewo Corinthians,

916
01:00:33.599 --> 01:00:42.719
chapter ten. This is why, and here's just some reasons why.

917
01:00:42.760 --> 01:00:45.400
Including things like lust as a stronghold in this passage

918
01:00:45.440 --> 01:00:47.320
would be a stretch. It would be It would be

919
01:00:47.360 --> 01:00:51.280
problem number one. It's the text is focusing on intellectual opposition.

920
01:00:51.599 --> 01:00:55.079
Paul's language mentioning arguments, lofty opinions, and knowledge of God

921
01:00:55.280 --> 01:00:58.800
is about ideas or beliefs that stand in opposition. This

922
01:00:58.840 --> 01:01:03.119
does not align with lust, which is a desire or

923
01:01:03.360 --> 01:01:08.280
impulse rather than an intellectual argument or ideology. Lust is

924
01:01:08.320 --> 01:01:13.920
something different. This stronghold is not about lust. It's about thinking. Now,

925
01:01:13.960 --> 01:01:17.199
if you're thinking is that the lust is okay, then

926
01:01:17.360 --> 01:01:19.480
that would be a problem. Then you need to change

927
01:01:19.480 --> 01:01:22.079
your mind. Take every thought captive and say what does

928
01:01:22.119 --> 01:01:24.800
God think about this lust? He says it's sinful. Then

929
01:01:24.840 --> 01:01:27.119
at least admit that you still are going to have

930
01:01:27.159 --> 01:01:29.639
the lust, because the lust comes from the sinful nature,

931
01:01:29.800 --> 01:01:38.199
and right thinking does not eradicate the nature. Paul talks

932
01:01:38.199 --> 01:01:42.239
about taking every thought captive to obey Christ, which implies

933
01:01:42.280 --> 01:01:45.679
correcting beliefs or thought patterns rather than controlling personal desire

934
01:01:45.719 --> 01:01:49.280
or impulse. He emphasis is on shaping thinking to align

935
01:01:49.320 --> 01:01:55.000
with the Gospel, not on disciplining desires. The desires come

936
01:01:55.079 --> 01:01:58.440
from inside, It comes from your nature. Now that nature

937
01:01:58.480 --> 01:02:00.960
may impact your thinking, but at least so. What I'm

938
01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:02.920
trying to say is you may have the desire, you

939
01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:05.559
may have the lust. If you take every thought captive,

940
01:02:05.599 --> 01:02:08.119
you will at least admit that the desire and the

941
01:02:08.199 --> 01:02:11.800
lust is at least sinful, even though it's may not

942
01:02:11.960 --> 01:02:18.679
go away. And of course, as I've already stated, this

943
01:02:18.719 --> 01:02:22.079
is not about luss because unlike any other passage where

944
01:02:22.079 --> 01:02:25.760
Paul addresses sinful behavior, such as Galatians five nineteen through

945
01:02:25.840 --> 01:02:28.400
twenty one. He actually lists the works of the fless,

946
01:02:28.440 --> 01:02:33.119
including lustful actions. He does not include any language, and

947
01:02:33.199 --> 01:02:37.719
Second Corinthians ten indicating moral conduct or personal failings. His

948
01:02:37.880 --> 01:02:52.440
passage is framed in terms of intellectual spiritual confrontation. Now

949
01:02:52.519 --> 01:02:54.639
here would be the question. We're at sixty two minutes

950
01:02:54.800 --> 01:02:57.440
and I'll leave this with you for you to do today.

951
01:02:59.519 --> 01:03:07.079
If Second Corinthians ten is about wrong ideas, false ideas,

952
01:03:09.079 --> 01:03:16.599
and wrong philosophies, then we would need to consider the

953
01:03:16.679 --> 01:03:24.119
broader context of Second Corinthians chapter ten and see that

954
01:03:24.159 --> 01:03:28.880
Paul is defending certain things, certain ways of thinking. So

955
01:03:29.000 --> 01:03:32.599
this is what when we say that this stronghold is

956
01:03:32.760 --> 01:03:38.639
wrong thinking, wrong ideology, wrong intellectual constructs, Then what is

957
01:03:38.679 --> 01:03:42.519
the wrong ideology? What is the wrong philosophy? What is

958
01:03:42.599 --> 01:03:47.239
the wrong intellectual constructs that Paul is fighting in Second

959
01:03:47.239 --> 01:03:49.760
Corinthians chapter ten. You would have to go through Second

960
01:03:49.840 --> 01:03:52.800
Corinthians chapter ten and go, here's the wrong way to think,

961
01:03:52.960 --> 01:03:57.199
here's the wrong philosophy, here's the wrong intellectual construct And

962
01:03:57.239 --> 01:03:59.559
he's telling the people of the church to fight against

963
01:03:59.559 --> 01:04:02.920
these things because he's been mentioning these things throughout the letter.

964
01:04:03.119 --> 01:04:07.320
What are those wrong things? Well, one would be their

965
01:04:07.400 --> 01:04:13.360
opposition to Paul's apostolic authority. They're thinking about his authority.

966
01:04:13.599 --> 01:04:17.920
They're questioning and challenging his authority. Is wrong thinking, it's

967
01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:28.159
wrong ideology. If you look at Second Corinthians, chapter ten,

968
01:04:28.280 --> 01:04:31.159
verse ten, look look at look what he says here

969
01:04:31.360 --> 01:04:35.840
for look at verse eight sewod Corinthians ten eight. This

970
01:04:35.880 --> 01:04:38.760
is right after this entire discussion. For though I should

971
01:04:38.760 --> 01:04:42.280
boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath

972
01:04:42.320 --> 01:04:45.320
given us for edification and not for your destruction, I

973
01:04:45.320 --> 01:04:48.360
should not be ashamed. He immediately after he has this

974
01:04:48.400 --> 01:04:51.800
discussion about strongholds, which are wrong ways of thinking, he

975
01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:54.639
immediately attacks one of the wrong ways of thinking, which

976
01:04:54.719 --> 01:04:59.199
they're they're questioning his authority. Look what happens in verse nine.

977
01:04:59.440 --> 01:05:02.360
That I may not seem as if I would terrify

978
01:05:02.400 --> 01:05:05.559
you by letters. For this letter say they are weighty

979
01:05:05.639 --> 01:05:09.159
and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his

980
01:05:09.239 --> 01:05:16.000
speech contempt contemptible. Right, he's going after this discussion about

981
01:05:16.199 --> 01:05:22.320
it the way Second Christians ten ten, and another translation reads,

982
01:05:22.480 --> 01:05:25.239
his letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence

983
01:05:25.280 --> 01:05:29.440
is weak, and his speech is of no account. These

984
01:05:29.639 --> 01:05:33.400
arguments and opinions undermine Paul's teaching and, by extension, the

985
01:05:33.440 --> 01:05:38.159
gospel he preached. Such opposition reflects a worldview that elevated

986
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:44.719
external appearance, rhetorical skill, and worldly measures of success over

987
01:05:44.760 --> 01:05:47.519
the truth of God's power and calling. They question his

988
01:05:47.639 --> 01:05:52.320
authority by he looks weak, his speech is not that great.

989
01:05:53.400 --> 01:05:57.960
He doesn't have any authority. They were understanding spiritual authority

990
01:05:58.079 --> 01:06:00.039
on the basis of how the man looked, how the

991
01:06:00.079 --> 01:06:04.239
man sounded, and his ability to speak. Their way of

992
01:06:04.280 --> 01:06:08.079
thinking was wrong. That's the stronghold, he says, needs to

993
01:06:08.119 --> 01:06:10.840
be pulled down, because until they do that, then they're

994
01:06:10.840 --> 01:06:15.519
gonna reject his authority. That there's an example of the

995
01:06:15.559 --> 01:06:22.480
wrong idea that was he's talking about. So I have

996
01:06:22.599 --> 01:06:28.440
to see have one, two, three, four, five, six. I

997
01:06:28.519 --> 01:06:33.239
think there are six in a sense stronghold wrong thinking

998
01:06:34.440 --> 01:06:38.280
that is found well in the Corinthian Church. You probably

999
01:06:38.280 --> 01:06:40.360
could go if we go back to First Corinthians one,

1000
01:06:41.360 --> 01:06:44.760
First Corinthians, First Corinthians chapter one, through the entire letter

1001
01:06:44.760 --> 01:06:47.159
of First Corinthians, end at First Corinthians chapter or Second

1002
01:06:47.159 --> 01:06:49.519
Corinthians chapter one, all the way through the end of

1003
01:06:49.519 --> 01:06:52.199
Second Corinthians. If we take First and Second Corinthians together,

1004
01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:54.519
I think you can see all of the wrong thinking,

1005
01:06:54.719 --> 01:06:57.719
all of the wrong ideology that was present in the church.

1006
01:06:58.039 --> 01:07:01.760
This wrong thinking that is the stronghold. That's what needs

1007
01:07:01.800 --> 01:07:04.559
to be brought down. Their thinking needs to be fixed.

1008
01:07:04.719 --> 01:07:07.920
They need to take every thought captive and to the

1009
01:07:07.960 --> 01:07:11.000
obedience of Christ so that they at least think right. Now,

1010
01:07:11.119 --> 01:07:14.079
thinking right is no guaranteed to doing right. I know

1011
01:07:14.159 --> 01:07:16.239
we will always believe if I think right, I will

1012
01:07:16.280 --> 01:07:20.320
do right. But that's a misunderstanding of Christianity. Because Christianity,

1013
01:07:20.360 --> 01:07:23.840
my problem is my nature. My thinking will not fix

1014
01:07:23.920 --> 01:07:26.920
my nature. What my thinking does is acknowledge that I

1015
01:07:27.000 --> 01:07:29.920
have a wrong nature, and that my wrong nature desires

1016
01:07:29.960 --> 01:07:31.960
and does that which is wrong, so that I can

1017
01:07:32.000 --> 01:07:34.719
at least acknowledge it's wrong. Doesn't mean I'm going to

1018
01:07:34.760 --> 01:07:37.639
necessarily stop doing wrong. In fact, I know I will

1019
01:07:37.639 --> 01:07:40.440
never stop doing wrong because I can never truly obey

1020
01:07:40.440 --> 01:07:50.400
the law of God. Yeah, I read there at the end.

1021
01:07:50.679 --> 01:07:52.599
I kind of went through that really quick. But what

1022
01:07:52.639 --> 01:07:56.280
I want you to do is just consider. Go to

1023
01:07:56.320 --> 01:07:59.119
First Corinthians. Go all the way through First Corinthians, go

1024
01:07:59.159 --> 01:08:01.079
through Second Corinthians. And if you would like to do so,

1025
01:08:01.199 --> 01:08:04.360
just look and say, ooh, look for when Paul is

1026
01:08:04.360 --> 01:08:08.039
going addressing their wrong way of thinking. They're wrong ideology,

1027
01:08:08.199 --> 01:08:14.960
they're wrong, philosophy, their wrong perspective, how they're thinking, not

1028
01:08:15.039 --> 01:08:17.840
they're doing. They do all kinds of things that are wrong.

1029
01:08:18.520 --> 01:08:21.039
But look for the things that would impact their thinking,

1030
01:08:21.319 --> 01:08:29.000
how they understand their understanding. They're wrong beliefs. Those are

1031
01:08:29.039 --> 01:08:32.000
the strongholds in the count. If you want to really

1032
01:08:32.039 --> 01:08:35.119
be a good Bible student, you would understand the strongholds

1033
01:08:35.159 --> 01:08:37.960
and the context of First and Second Corinthians, or maybe

1034
01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:42.000
just Second Corinthians. We could argue, maybe we do we

1035
01:08:42.039 --> 01:08:44.079
connect it to First Corinthians. I mean, he's running to

1036
01:08:44.119 --> 01:08:47.079
the same church, but it would make more sense to

1037
01:08:47.119 --> 01:08:49.560
connect it to First and Second Corinthians than connecting it

1038
01:08:49.640 --> 01:08:52.680
to country music, dipping women in pants, or whatever other

1039
01:08:52.800 --> 01:08:56.840
nonsense that churches do with strongholds. What churches do with

1040
01:08:56.880 --> 01:09:00.560
strongholds is obliterate the actual meaning of the tech read

1041
01:09:00.600 --> 01:09:02.840
into the text, and then people walk around with all

1042
01:09:02.840 --> 01:09:05.359
these weird concepts of what a stronghold is and isn't

1043
01:09:05.479 --> 01:09:08.199
that has nothing to do with the actual text of scripture.

1044
01:09:08.399 --> 01:09:11.520
All right, there we go. Now I didn't even finish

1045
01:09:11.600 --> 01:09:13.479
all my notes. We still didn't even get to why

1046
01:09:13.520 --> 01:09:15.840
you don't connect this to Satan. I got notes and

1047
01:09:15.880 --> 01:09:26.159
notes upon notes upon notes upon notes on this. There

1048
01:09:26.159 --> 01:09:29.760
you go. Now you can also for the sermons two

1049
01:09:29.800 --> 01:09:32.279
point zero app sermon challenge. You're supposed to be listening

1050
01:09:32.319 --> 01:09:35.720
to sermons on Isaiah forty through fifty five. But now

1051
01:09:35.760 --> 01:09:38.439
you can just do a lot of listening to sermons

1052
01:09:38.479 --> 01:09:42.239
on strongholds or just Second Corinthians ten three through five.

1053
01:09:42.760 --> 01:09:45.039
You can look up random sermons on Second Corinthians ten

1054
01:09:45.079 --> 01:09:47.600
three through five, or random sermons on strongholds and listen

1055
01:09:47.680 --> 01:09:50.000
to all the other perspectives. All the other perspectives are

1056
01:09:50.000 --> 01:09:52.640
going to probably be one thousand percent opposite to mine.

1057
01:09:53.319 --> 01:09:55.439
That's okay, that's the beauty of it.

1058
01:09:55.560 --> 01:09:55.800
Right.

1059
01:09:56.039 --> 01:09:58.560
At least there can be one voice that says, I

1060
01:09:58.600 --> 01:10:01.159
don't know at all I'm trying to do. I'm not

1061
01:10:01.239 --> 01:10:05.600
here to argue with pastors or they put forth their hypotheses.

1062
01:10:05.720 --> 01:10:09.159
Praise God, I'm glad they're there. I'm just saying I

1063
01:10:09.159 --> 01:10:12.079
think there's a different way of looking at it, and

1064
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:14.760
I've tried to provide you history. I've tried to provide

1065
01:10:14.760 --> 01:10:17.680
you text. I tried to provide you a historical argument,

1066
01:10:17.720 --> 01:10:22.920
textual argument, logical argument. And then you get to listen

1067
01:10:22.960 --> 01:10:25.359
to all the sermons and go, hmm, I think the

1068
01:10:25.399 --> 01:10:28.079
guy in Theology Central is an idiot. He's an idiot.

1069
01:10:28.279 --> 01:10:30.319
These people are right, and that's fine. You can go

1070
01:10:30.399 --> 01:10:35.359
follow their perspective on strongholds. And my house is about

1071
01:10:35.399 --> 01:10:36.640
to get blown over. I don't know if you can

1072
01:10:36.680 --> 01:10:38.960
hear the wind outside. It's really it's crazy today. But

1073
01:10:39.960 --> 01:10:41.880
I'll stop right there because we're at seventy minutes for

1074
01:10:41.960 --> 01:10:44.840
crying out loud. Ah, so much more I wanted to

1075
01:10:44.880 --> 01:10:52.640
get to, but all right, I'll stop there. Thanks for listening,

1076
01:10:53.319 --> 01:10:56.359
all right, consider strongholds today, all right, God bless