We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
10 sermons cite this verse
… some imaginations must be cast down according to second corinthians chapter 10 in verse 5 casting down imaginations and every high thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of god bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ there's a battle going on for your mind. There's a battle going on for the way that you think when you're in that blessed place. and this proven warrior in a moment of weakness inquired of her sent for her commits adultery with her his sin was not that he saw the opportunity his sin was that he gave in to it you're not going to ever be so holy that you don't ever get tempted. It's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to give into that, to act on it, to begin to move and do things and violate the Holy Spirit's voice. and from the top of the world in that moment you read the verse but this thing displeased the lord it didn't happen instantly it the judgment didn't come super quick nobody saw that david fell off the roof but god Thank you. …
… 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? …
… 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. …
… in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Every lie I've ever believed was thrown at me for me to question what he's like. Every lie was to get me to question his nature, his promise, his covenant. Casting down arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. bringing every thought into captivity, into the obedience of Christ. Let's just say for illustration's sake that this is an army in here, an actual physical army fighting an actual physical war. And outside of this room is an enemy army, and in that enemy army is a world-renowned terrorist that kills, rapes, and maims just for pleasure and delight. and we put together a team of Green Beret type operatives and we send them out and they sneak in behind the enemy's camp and they take that world-renowned terrorist captive and they bring him into our camp. Now imagine that terrorist is here and we retrain him with his zeal. …
… 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. …
… 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. But on our way to the Capitol, we had gotten stuck in that infamous D.C. traffic, and so we were running a few minutes behind. So when we got there to the Capitol building to save time, all 14 of us mashed ourselves onto this one elevator car. No problem, right? We were only going to the fourth floor, and surely, if there's one place in the world you can count on things working properly, it's the U.S. Capitol, right? Much like a Republican Congress with a Democratic president, our elevator came to a screeching halt between the third and the fourth floors. So I need you …
… In the mind. Arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, taunting like Goliath. I defy the armies of God against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. I love it, I love it, I love it. There's this stronghold in the Israelites. Goliath can't be defeated. It's always gonna be this way. And Goliath stands there with his javelin. He stands there with his spear. He stands there with his helmet. He stands there with his shield. And David stoops. Because you can't rise up like a lion until you first bow down like a lamb. I think picking up those five stones, he knew he didn't even need the extra ones. Just gave him time to pray. And he stands up and Goliath bellows. You come at me with a stick. What am I? Do you have stones? Am I a dog? And David said, I don't come to you with a sword or a spear. …
… 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. …
… On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. How do we do that? We do that through prayer. We do that through understanding that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. We do that by understanding that in the name of Jesus, by the blood of Christ and the word of our testimony, by our acts of faith and our confession of faith, by speaking Jesus' name into the authorities, into the rulers, into the darkness, into this spiritual world around us, and walking in faith in his mighty name that we can tear down arguments that want to come against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Our weapons demolish strongholds. And that doesn't happen unless we pray. The third thing I want us to see about prayer is that prayer is where we replace fear with faith. …
… I feel my help coming. So in Scripture, when we talk about taking every thought captivity in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5 through 6, can I read you the message version of it? I like the message version. The message version says, we use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. That's where we get that taking every thought into captivity and into the obedience of who Christ is. That means that my weapons are used to help me make sure that my input aligns with who God is. Oh, gosh. If you were letting just any thought run rampant in your mind, you're not using your weapons properly. It's not a crime to have the thought. The crime is letting the thought stay in your mind. some of you are trying to figure out why do I keep thinking this way you're trying to figure out why you're thinking this way every thought is going to pop into your mind because you've been surrounded by so many different inputs that you got the thoughts of your mother you got the thoughts of the culture you got the thoughts from the enemy and you got the thoughts of God but God says our weapons are not carnal I don't need you to fight what's happening on the inside I need you to fight what's happening on the inside. You got to be willing to take that thought captive. …