EP 21 – Spiritual Warfare – Destruction of Fortresses

Hi there tom Mahairas and Vicki, my wife with, it’s all greek to me and I just wanna thank you for coming back to follow us on this whole faith series, Extreme faith X Faith and uh I just want to take you today to this whole concept again of Lord jesus because this word, Vicki and I were talking and she said no, I want to talk about it some more because it’s so practical for all the problems we’re going through in life with family, with friends in church is when you have friction, when you have a problem situations, where does that come from and how our spiritual forces uh spiritual forces involved in that. It’s very important that we understand what’s going on in our life when we experienced all the pressures of life and how we can spiritually address these things. And so we’re gonna talk about a little bit with Vicki, so come on and join us into our uh conversation, thank you for following this next series on faith as we look into God’s word with, It’s all greek to me. So you’ve heard that it’s not just the destination, it’s also the journey. I’m I’m gonna say it’s not only the destination, it’s also the journey that uh just doing God’s work or meeting with people or living life in a family, a husband and a wife, Children, uh brothers and sisters, parents, a job, interpersonal relationships, all of that. It’s not just about getting somewhere, getting something, but it’s enjoying the journey and I think the Apostle paul is giving us handles on how to deal with spiritual warfare when it when it comes upon us and we learn both positive and negative aspects of this with this word Loizeaux man, So Louisa met, which means the credit in your account or to pull out of your account. Something that’s their uh, to, to log it in. Reckon is another way to say it. Credit. Uh, impute uh, calculate all of those expressions. And here we have insights, spiritual insights on how to deal what was going on in philippi. What do you Say about your idea and synthetic? Well in Philippians, Chapter four, Paul begins uh, talking to the people in Philippi, telling them there’s two women who are helping him, Yoda and synthetic and they are his comrades in the faith. They are women who are right with him in the battle, but they’re not getting along. And so he wants to give us insights That we personally need in our life when we are in the battle. He’s gonna go into that in Philippians four. But he’s saying to put these things positively into your mind and your heart. And that’s what we’re going to talk about a little later. And then he also does the same thing in second Corinthians 10 when he says, although we’re walking in the flesh, we’re not fighting a physical battle, but The actual incident was that these false brothers were following him, legalizers were following him. Uh, they were accusing him of doing what he does in the Flesh in Chapter 11. The chapter after this, it talks about how sometimes they appear to be uh, servants of righteousness, ministers of righteousness. But even Satan disguises himself as a servant, uh, as an angel of light. So the whole idea is that was the, the actual um, reason why he begins to talk about spiritual warfare and how to impact our life and so we’ll get right into it. Now. Spiritual warfare is identified in Ephesians six. He tells us to take the full armor of God. We did this the last couple of programs and just going over this full armor. We talked about the truth. Alicia, girding our loins, the righteousness, the cassini on the breastplate of righteousness. He calls peace on our feet where we go what we do. The motive should be the piece wrapped around the Gospel of Peace. Our feet shot or wrapped around with this Gospel of peace. Faith is this big shield like a door that protects us from all the flaming missiles of the evil one. Uh, Salvation Santeria is viewed as the helmet. I have a hat but the helmet of Salvation Cherokee Felicia, which, which envelopes all of the head. Petty is all around carefully his head and then the sword of the spirit. Not just the whole bible, but the rima, which is the specific spoken word to the specific situation a lot like what we’re doing in Philippians Chapter four and second Corinthians, chapter 10. And then all prayer. Prayer is a weapon. We gotta take prayer. You can’t just have all this other equipment, all this other armor and not take advantage of prayer coming boldly onto the throne of grace. And so these were the spiritual weapons. But now we’re going into The spiritual warfare in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and Vicki’s gonna talk about how we destroy these fortresses that that are in our minds that are false, that are lies that are that we have been deceived by. And uh so we’re gonna look at the scripture. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verse three through five. The destruction of these fortresses. Okay, Vicky for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons. Oakland of our warfare strata are not of the flesh but divinely powerful. We like that that fails the photos. We don’t have to rely on our own strength and wisdom. So God tells us how we really win this battle. We have to literally destroy the wrong thoughts that we have allowed to come into our minds and in our hearts. And he tells us we Catherine is is we we destroy these, we tear them down with our own very these are literal fortresses that have been built right in our minds and continue that we have to tear them down. And instead he says these speculations, low gizmos. It’s many times about 20 times just in romans, lo jesus, they it’s talking about every lofty thought that we lift up as a barrier against God’s word or that we take in the truth into our minds and our hearts. And we we these things go against the knowledge of God, but we are going to learn how to plant the truth in our minds and our hearts to win the battle. And we take every thought captive externalities, oh, to the obedience equal under and a cool. We listen and we submit ourselves to christ and his word, you do such a great job molly. It says melo Tiso, which means to take a prisoner, Moloto says the prisoner we bring and capture these these speculations, these thoughts that we’ve allowed to fester in our minds, We’ve allowed them to brick by brick to build them and they’ve become so big that we we we think that’s who we are. It’s not who we are, they’re false. We’re supposed to tear them down and make them a pacu just like you said to bring them under and listen to the very word of jesus christ. Now, you’ve got some of these words there, you wanted to share with us some verses that may be very powerful in this regard, Vicky and I’m just going to go to the next slide because in Second Corinthians, it just kind of breaks it up, astronaut, even war properly contend fighting as a soldier in war, uh, to engage in spiritual warfare. Oh, Planar. The weapons we are gonna take these weapons uh, to wage war is always in the plural. You don’t just take one weapon. We take all seven of the weapons that we saw in Ephesians 6:10 through 20. You have some verses. Well, with when I was thinking about this portion of scripture, proverbs 23 7 came to my mind for as a person thinks in their heart. So are we? So it’s so important that we in our spirit, not just our minds listen, but with our spirits are in tune to God’s word and proverbs 24-23 says guard over your heart. For from it flows the issues of life. We have to guard our hearts. And we’re gonna see that guard the word Guard for a rail is God putting two things in our life, the peace of God and the presence of God are going to guard us. And so Lagi so May is so important because it’s a it’s a calculated term. God is putting into us. If we take it in the positive sense of all his truths, uh, it tells us to put these things into our life and we’re gonna go over some of these words. What’s interesting is that when this passage, when this letter was written, it was written directly to the Corinthians and the Corinthians could see the fortress that was in Corinth. It was, it was huge. I mean we’re talking about several 1000 ft high up there. They could see all around everywhere, all around like 50 mile radius. You could see some of the the other places here. L Hiroshima is this fortress, the fortified fortress from the Root or Hero, a fortified military stronghold. And this was really the place where a lot of the temples were. There was the Temple of Aphrodite e that had as many as 1000 according to Strabo. There were 1000 temple prostitutes there and they would come down and when paul is talking about these, these speculations and these lofty thoughts, he was referring to what was going on up up there and how these women were so given to orgies and sexual. They were temple prostitutes literally. And so when you see this place and you realize that he was not just talking up making up stuff, he was actually looking at a very place that was there in Corinth. About an hour’s ride away from going west from Athens is the city of Corinth. So, and then going forward, Vicki mentioned that there were two images. One was this fortified a structure, armament, but the other one was a prison because people are imprisoned uh in their minds because of these speculations, we literally build these strongholds that convey warning not to fall into self made fortifications. Would also keep the Lord away from us. These are built by satan’s lies. Satan’s got all kinds of lies that he speaks to us, jesus speaks about truth many, many times in the bible and I wrote down several of them. First of all, he says that he is the way the truth and the life and no one can come to the father but through him. But John 8 32 says this and you shall know the truth. My words, jesus, my words are truth and the truth will set us free free from what, free from the lies, free from negative things that satan has put into us, voices that we’ve heard from parents or teachers or people around us, that we never feel good enough to be able to serve God. But God, when he comes into our life, he tells us not to worry. Don’t be anxious. And that word mary mall is to be divided with anxiety. It separates us, it robs us of God’s peace. It takes God’s peace out of our mind. And it just puts all this anxiety and it distracts us from the truth. It’s a distraction. It is Now there are there are some some beautiful thoughts that we came up with. I’m just gonna go down to what we came up with here, Louise. Oh! Louise, moose! And every lofty thing where we need to tear that down. Well, that is that is the definition is to compute on the bottom, to take into account the credit and to calculate to consider to dwell and to think the battleground is our mind and our thoughts. That’s the battleground. And so when we look at this word, what it’s talking about, Vicki, maybe you can read this and then we can move on. So these speculations and the negative side are things that we have credited in our minds, satan’s negative thoughts, temptations and lives that we have somehow made them to be true in our spirit, but they’re not through the Gospel and the word of God. We have the power to be set free and to destroy these imaginations and speculations. And also uh these some of these speculations when we tear them down the strongholds, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life for pornography, porn ear, uh substance abuse, drugs, alcohol gambling, bitterness, anger lying, all this stuff that we have built from the time we were little, we need to destroy and bring every thought to obey, jesus christ. What’s really great is that the apostle paul tells us what the christian lifestyle should be right in this chapter. There’s like nine specific things and most of the seven of them are present imperatives and Vicki. Why don’t you just go in and and share these because you started with you know the women that were having friction. So the president imperative means to this is a, this is our lifestyle. We are to continually start it and continually do it. So the first one is Philippians 4 1, it says stand firm in the Lord. My beloved Philippians to live in harmony in the Lord Philippians 43 help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel Philippians four rejoice in the Lord Always and again I say rejoice Philippians 45. While Paul didn’t stop, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near Philippians six. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication. Let your requests be made known to God. And verse six and the peace of God, verse seven will guard your heart and your mind through christ jesus. That’s the promise of God’s peace that will be with us, verse eight. Finally, brethren add all these things whatever is true honest, just pure lovely. If there be any virtue, there be any praise. Think on these things, dwell on them log iso may put them into you and dwell on them. And the things that you have seen in me and observe poll says, practice these things. Yeah. So then he says something incredible. He says, the peace of God is going to be with you, which is like this uh century. Right? And uh he’s gonna fruity, he’s gonna protect your mind and your heart both. And then he says, And the God of the God of peace. Now, first you have the promise of this century. The peace of God is gonna be a century, right? Their fury and then it says you and then the God of peace is going to be with you. So when you obey verse eight whatsoever things are true and honest and just in pure lovely and good report, if there is virtue and prays to think on these or lawyers are meant to credit that in your account, then you have the intimacy of the very presence of God. So in verse seven and eight and nine, God gives us the solution and gives us the promise the power and the peace concerning victory in this spiritual arena where the spiritual warfare is impacting the physical life that we’re living. And so he says that God’s peace is going to be like a soldier a century guarding our heart in our mind. That’s the promise of God. The power of God is the gospel that uh things that that are true and honest and just and pure lovely and good reporters, there’s virtue and prays to credit that in our account, we can only do that through the character of jesus christ, through the death, burial and resurrection of jesus christ. We don’t have anything else to stand on except his righteousness, his truthfulness, his virtue. And then when we do this, then the God of peace is gonna be with us intimately. And so we have now the presence of God. So first the promise of his of his uh protection as a century. Then we have his power in the Gospel. And then we have his presence because we are listening and obeying him in our everyday life. And uh this is a fabulous illustration right here that God is going to give us victory because we credit in our account. Truth, truth. Yeah. Lord jesus in the spiritual battle is like when I went up to the acro Corinth and Corinth, I’ve been there many times and to realize that paul was using that metaphor to explain what goes on in our mind. When we build in our mind false conceptions of uh lies. And we believe the lie. And we created a whole scenario as a result of that lie, let me just uh take you to this like two that we actually credit in our minds. Like it says here satan’s negative thoughts, temptations, lies as the truth. And uh but through the Gospel and the word of God, we have been set free and now destroy these false speculations and imaginations. Now this definition is so important for us to understand that we’ve taken lies. We have believed them is true. We’ve kept them in our mind. If we become prisoners to those lies, I’m no good. Nobody loves me. Nobody cares. Once an addict, always an addict, uh I’m a thief. I’m a liar. Uh I’m an angry man. I can never be free and set free from these things uh lust, pornography. I can’t stop it. Listen, God can deliver and save you. God can transform your mind. God can change uh the software of your mind. We have to tear down as it says In scripture. We have to literally tear down the strongholds. It means throw down and all the false premises. Uh this is what it’s talking about. That fortress up there that was built, that the apostle paul used as a metaphor in second Corinthians chapter 10, he says, although we’re in the flesh, we’re not fighting a physical battle. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal fleshly but spiritual to the tearing down of the strongholds, casting down these imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. These speculations, these lives bring every thought every thought to obey, jesus christ. That word obey means epa cool. It means to bring myself under epo under and a cool to hear. So he tells us something in God’s word. He gives us his word in the scriptures, I hear it and I have to submit myself to what I hear to the word of jesus christ. That’s what it’s talking about. If I’m listening. If I’m reading if I’m praying and God gives me a thought and it goes contrary to my philosophy of life. It goes contrary to what I’ve been thinking before. Then I have to submit myself to the principle of scripture to the word of God and not go about what I feel like doing or what I think is right. You know, this is what God’s word says in proverbs chapter three verse five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding in all your ways. Put him first and he will direct your path. It’s interesting how there’s three parts, their trust in the Lord with all your heart, with cardia, with all your inner being. Trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not don’t put confidence in your own understanding. That’s thinking outside of scripture, thinking outside of God’s word. Thinking, not listening to what God to say in all my ways, that is my physical life. So there’s my heart, my spiritual life, there’s my mind, my intellectual emotional life in all of my ways, my physical life in all my ways to put God first and he will direct my path. Now, you get back to this, we tear down pornography, we tear down substance abuse, we tear down drug abuse and alcohol. We tear down gambling and bitterness and anger and lying. The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes, the pride of life directly contrary to God. These things go totally against God. That’s why it says the world is going to pass away. And the things they’re of the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. The pride of life first, john chapter to verse 15 through 17, but he That does the will of God abides forever. So we’ve got to be able to bring those things under the obedience of Jesus Christ and then this spiritual war. This word Louisa is in the positive arena. So when God talks about this in Philippians in Chapter four, he says listen the peace of God is gonna guard your heart and your mind through christ, jesus. The peace of God E. T. Need to do the peace of God is viewed like a century. Like you see right here through through low it’s garrisoning, holding there watching over fellas. Oh is another word there it means to attend to guard and God’s spirit. God’s peace is going to be there to guard my heart and my mind your heart and your mind, God promises this. The peace of God will guard your heart and mind through christ, jesus. And then it says that whatever things are realities true and honest and just and pure and lovely and good report. If there is virtue and praise, I love the last one. If there is any excellence at A. D. A. D. Was the highest uh greek value and and characteristic when it came to Socrates and plato and Aristotle they thought oddity. But jesus christ is perfect. He is perfect truth. He is truth. You know when you look at this list. Whatever its truth, jesus said I am the way the truth. When you look at this list, Sam knows from several men reverence or ah whatever is right videos judicial approval. Whatever is love. Whatever is pure diagnose from ideas from Holy, which one of us could say were wholly were pure. We’re Agnos, none of us. Which one can say that I am truthful. 100 approx Phyllis uh extending towards affectionately caring what is worthy to be priced excellent. Someone who is excellent and then whatever is good repute that is that I have a reputation that is good. There’s nothing wrong, there’s nothing bad. Nobody can find any fault. You can’t put a finger on this person. If there is any excellence or any oddity praise, think on these things. Listen to me, nobody is like this 100% except except Jesus Christ. So what it’s saying is think on these things. That saying credit that into your account, I may not have this character. You may not have this character, but by faith we credit that character in our account. We take out of our account. This is what lucky’s um it means it means to take out of my account. What I put there all the all the junk, all the filth, all the sin, all the things that I’ve done ever since. I was a little boy. Ever since. You were a little a girl, a little boy. All the junk and God says I’m going to take it out of the way, I’m gonna nail it to the cross colossians chapter two verse 15 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. Now, I just want you to see that dwell on these things and uh huh And what I’d like to do right now is go to romans in chapter uh six. Because in romans chapter four we clearly see 11 times that it uses the word Louisa and really uses it in reference to our salvation. The basis of our salvation is not based on our works are good works, is not based on us keeping the law. It’s not based on circumcision or other uh some other religious right that you go through that you think will make you holy or acceptable to God. No, no, none of those things. But it is fully based on God’s work that he did when jesus christ bled and died, was buried and rose again from the dead. And he applies that To our record. He takes out of our account. David was given in Romans Chapter four, it says blessed is the man whom the Lord will not credit or impute or keep into his account. The sin that he did quotes that in romans chapter four. But see then you have chapter five the results of salvation and then you have chapter six and I just want to go there for the victory. We’re talking about spiritual victory in our everyday life. Now there are two questions asked in in romans chapter 61 is in verse one, what shall we say then, are we to continue in sin? That grace may increase. May it never be verse two. Now, that’s the first question. The other question is verse 15. For then, for what then shall we sin? Because we are not under the law but under Grace again, may it never be two questions there. The first question is answered by telling us that when jesus died, we died when jesus was buried. We buried that is those of us who are believers in jesus death, his burial and his resurrection, and when he arose again from the dead, we arose by faith and then it goes on like that. It says that in verse six knowing this, there are old men are all self, rather was crucified with him that the body of sin would be done away with. So we have to surrender ourselves once and for all, present ourselves to God and then on a daily basis continue to present ourselves every day unto God. And that’s why the apostle paul said I am crucified with christ. Nevertheless I live, It is and I who lives, it’s christ who’s living in me and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me then further on beyond the presenting is obeying. It says that we have to obey what we know to be true, what we reckoned or credited to be true in our life. And we’ve surrendered once and for all on a daily basis. And now we have to obey the word of God. And the Lord jesus christ as we continue following his uh way. And so at the end it talks about his death, burial resurrection again and says that the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through jesus christ our Lord. You see this chapter gives us the actual prescription for victory In this life as we walk through this life. This is the power to have victory in this life as we move on forward and apply that word. In verse 11 Louisa met crediting what Christ is and did to my life into your life. God bless you and we’ll see you again next time too. It’s all greek to me.