The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds);
11 sermons cite this verse
… and this is a very important topic 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 through 6 tells us this and it's no stranger to many of you Paul tells the church at Corinth by the way the church at Corinth Corinth, Greece extremely prone to demonic activity demonic worship the culture so when there's a church born in there in Corinth, Greece it carried a lot of residual into that brand new church It was a very carnal church. It took a long time, if ever, for that church to get mature in Christ. But, I mean, I got news for you. If you study the history of the church at Corinth, it's probably a church you would not attend. But God called them saints. They trusted Christ, but boy, were they messed up. But listen to what he tells them, something very deep. He says, for though we walk in the flesh, that is, we walk in these human bodies, we do not war according to the flesh. How come? Why? …
… that's why the bible says in second corinthians chapter 10 beginning at verse 3 it says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal right so he is framing the battle that we're in right the weapons of our warfare are not carnal we are in a battle he's saying that they're not carnal but they're mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds the stronghold in that text is not a demon. It is a mentality. Study it when you get a chance. That's why Paul talks about transformation, and he says the transformation takes place, according to Romans 12, according by the renewing of your mind. So the enemy attacks the mind. Why? Because the mind is where you know, right? So we keep reading, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Watch this. Casting down arguments. That was an argument in the garden. Did God really say? Casting down arguments and every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the what? Knowledge of God. …
… And I like that. That's called warfare, and it's a good thing. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 6. You guys know this well. Watch this, except we don't know so much the latter part. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or of this world, but mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing every thought into captivity. Are you having a bad thought? You can have a bad thought in church. You can have a bad thought anytime. What are you supposed to do with that bad thought? You're supposed to bring it into the captivity of Christ. If something flashes across your face, you know what I mean by, I mean your head, and it happens to all of us, even in church. And you're thinking like, what is wrong with me? I had a fine day. And then I come to church and I've had this evil thought pop up in my mind. …
… we do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. Picture with me a stronghold. If we were in biblical days, you would see cities that were made out of these huge stones, these carved stones, and each wall would be these various stones that have been built. Inside there would be houses or castles or whatever. If you're from Europe, they have these beautiful castles that are built out of these stones. A stone is not a stronghold. A stone does not create a dwelling place. but repeated stones connected together eventually build a place where the enemy can hide unrecognized. He hides, what are these stones? They're illegitimate thoughts. And when I embrace an illegitimate thought that the enemy has suggested over my life and I dwell on it, I meditate on it, what am I doing? I'm actually building a habitation for the enemy to dwell unrecognized. Does that make sense to you? …
… But when it's time to war, I don't war in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Paul is saying to them that I reserve my energy for the battles that really matter. And I use a strategy that may be unfamiliar to you because you're used to battle looking a certain way. But this time is different. Spirit of the living God, I need you. For certain, we are walking in the flesh, but the moment that I engage in this assignment, I must war in the spirit. So, Lord, where there is weakness or frailty or tiredness in my body, God, I ask that you would give me strength, that you would bring clarity to my mind, that you would fill me with love for your people that I may flow according to heaven's sound. Allow me to release words in this room, God, that make it clear that you hear them, that you see them. When they're watching this video a year from now, two years, ten years from now, God, may it be as fresh and relevant now as it was to the church of Corinth when they received it. And I thank you, God, that you are faithful to deliver. …
… the time of trouble come on he shall hide me and there is no weapon I said there is no weapon, I'mma try one more time, there is no weapon that is formed against me that's going to prosper for the weapons of our warfare are not caught but mighty through God to the pulling down a stronghold. Listen, it's always, it's always, it's always with tremendous deference and respect that we celebrate and we pay homage to one of God's choices servants. you are extremely blessed you are overwhelmingly favored to sit under the purview under the anointing under the ministry of an authentic legitimate man of God do you honor do you appreciate do you celebrate my friend my brother your pastor your leader the honorable Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant I think you ought to do much better than that for the man of God Oh, you're not clapping I said you ought to do much better than that for the man of God I think many times we have this misconception, particularly when we read Proverbs in the virtuous woman text. And we tend to subscribe that to women that stand by great men, women who are great. And that whole text starts out with, these are the words of King Lemuel's mother. So these were not the wisdom sayings of Solomon. Lemuel, another designation for King Solomon. These were instructions that were given to him by his mother. And these attributes that are enumerated throughout the text talks about a woman that is doing something extraordinary in an ordinary familiar …
… we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, that they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. There are certain times in your life when you really need to know how to call for help. One is when you're stuck on an elevator. I've actually been stuck on an elevator twice in my life. The first time was several years ago in Washington, D.C. An older pastor mentor friend of mine had invited me and something like a dozen or so other younger pastor friends to meet with some religious ambassadors from around the world up there. One of them was the ambassador for Muslim relations in the United States. He had an office in one of the U.S. Capitol buildings, and we had an appointment to meet with him. …
… process can produce health and righteousness and connection, the things that we need in order to grow. Yeah. This is why I believe in Scripture. It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 4 through 5, it says, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, listen, bringing every thought into captivity. Oh, I want to focus, and everyone knows that this text is so layered, but I want to focus on a minute about what it means to bring every thought into captivity. Oh, God. See, some of us get so down on ourselves that we think the way that we do, but this scripture suggests to me that there's not necessarily anything wrong with you thinking what you thought, the real issue is that you have allowed that thought to roam free in your mind. And because that thought has roamed free in your mind, it's now showing up in your actions. Because you have a default processing system, you're going to think some things that you shouldn't be thinking. But when you recognize that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God, that means I don't just allow any thought to roam free in my mind. …
… and how we are to defeat and win in this spiritual battle. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4 says, For the weapons of our warfare, put that up on the screen, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. Here's what that means. That means you don't fight a spiritual battle. And by the way, your battles are spiritual top priority. number one is we are in a spiritual battle. You don't fight with carnal weapons. That means you don't fight scratching people's cards, busting out their windows. You don't fight, amen, pastor. You don't want to say nothing. You don't fight cussing people out. That's not how you win. Giving people a piece of your mind, you need to hold on to the little bit of mind that you have. you don't fight that's not how christians are called to fight we don't fight using carnal weapons cussing people out that's not going to help you to win uh giving people a piece of your mind no no no that's not going to help you win uh fussing hurting people putting um what do i say scratching their car up uh uh lying on them those are carnal weapons And some of us think that that's how we're going to win. …
… is better than the world's best weapons without him. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, for the pulling down of strongholds. So a crazy thing happens to Samson. He praises the thing he has to throw away. Because after you get done glorifying the jawbone, hey, hey, God gave you that job, but it's just a jawbone. And if that one goes away, God will kill another donkey. I don't know who this is for, but you better get this while you can, because God gave this message to me for you. Because he wants you to know you don't need better weapons. He can do it with a jawbone, and you don't even have to like your job for God to use it to provide for you. When did we start raising a generation that thought, I have to like everything? I have to like my job. I don't even like myself half the time, let alone people I work with, but God can use it. …
… Here's a small army, a strange arsenal, trumpets, pitchers, and lamps. It's almost laughable, but the Bible teaches that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. And the order of the day was just obedience and faith. How did they win the victory? First of all, listen. It was a matter of boldness. A matter of boldness. Lo, the trumpet. Do you know what that was? That was a declaration of war. Now, they're surrounded by all these Midianites. And here they're doing just 300 of them. And they're saying, let the battle begin. I heard of a sergeant who said to his company, men, we're surrounded by the enemy. don't let a one of them escape. That's what Gideon was doing. He was bold. I want to go back to the fact that God uses men of valor. I love the motto of the French Foreign Legion. If I falter, push me on. If I stumble, pick me up. If I retreat, shoot me. …