Putting Off The Old Man

Second Corinthians, chapter number 10. Moving right through the book here. Second Corinthians, chapter 10.

I'm going to read the whole passage, and then we'll address. This is a rather familiar verse. I don't know, two months ago I shared a little bit on this with regards to our memory work.

And so we'll go down through this some again. And when I think about a concept or a passage that can alter people's lives, I think of this one right here. Many people struggle with their Christian experience, and they have, as like we shared today, they seem to be choked.

And many people are in a bondage and slavery, and they are not free. As Christians, and so the message today is one that I think would really, really help you. It helped me tremendously back about 15 years ago as I was caught in a snare and trapped and held.

And I was able to learn from this passage much to get free. And so probably there are numbers of people here who have strongholds in their life. They're held very strongly in areas that cause them trouble.

Sometimes it causes them torment. Sometimes it causes them physical sickness. And it causes them to not be able to have fellowship with brothers and sisters because they are in a stronghold or in a place of bondage.

And so the passage here, I think of helping people and helping you and me. And if we would receive it, as was told this morning, with good ground and hearken to it. So let's read 2 Corinthians chapter number 10.

I'm going to read down through verse number 6, starting in verse number 1. Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Jesus himself said, I am meek and lowly of heart, who in presence am base among you, but being absent and bold towards you. But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walk according to the flesh.

Now, you see this in other passages. But Paul, when he was with them, he was very gentle. He even called himself like a mother who nurses his own children.

Breastfeeding, nursing, closeness, there was a real gentleness about him. And we think of Paul as maybe some real thundering type of a person. But he was a gentle person.

He was not one who was really a bold individual, rebuking. And I guess that's a part of the Christian experience. But he says, being away from you and writing this letter, I have a little more liberty to be bold.

And this is a pretty bold letter. He speaks rather forcibly to them. Verse 3 says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled. Heavenly Father, we want to stop and acknowledge you in all of our ways, as we learned in the book of Proverbs, to trust in the Lord with all of our heart, and to lean not to our own understanding.

Lord, may we not lean to our own understanding, but in all of our ways acknowledge you, that you might direct our path, that life is about acknowledging you and looking to your word and to the truth. And not leaning to our own understanding. So Lord, may you set any captive free here this morning from a bondage that's being held, or they're being held in.

So Lord, we look to you and pray for your help. Even as we read here, mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. May we come through you in this message here today.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Alright, so we're talking here about warfare. And there in verse number 3 and 4, there is a number of words here that deal with warfare. We know that we're called to be soldiers, that we are in a wrestling match, that this is not a picnic, that the spiritual or the Christian life is something that is a struggle.

And in verse 3, we're told, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. There is a warfare that is after the flesh. And that's the one that perhaps we're, many people are more used to.

You know, we have Russia and Ukraine fighting for property, for control of property, for boundary disputes. And we understand what that kind of war is. Jesus said, in the last days, there will be wars and rumors of wars.

And we understand warfare from that perspective. Tanks and machine guns and bombs and airplanes and all the things that are a part of warfare. But here, this is a different kind of a warfare.

It's not in the physical realm where you could touch a tank or you could feel a bullet hit you, but it's in the spiritual realm. It's in the realm that's not seen. For example, just to make it clear, you can see my hand up here.

Everyone see my hand? That's fine, you see my hand. How many of you see my thoughts right now? Anybody? Okay, so you can see things and you cannot see things. And it's very obvious that that's life.

Even though I have many thoughts and there's thoughts running through my mind, you cannot see them. And so there is a warfare that can be seen. If you see on TV, fighting and bombs and the Russians and the Ukrainians in different places fighting in a warfare, that's a warfare that can be seen.

But the warfare that cannot be seen is something that goes on inside of us. And it's real. And there are many different tools that we are called upon to use in this warfare.

We're not gonna talk about that today, but in Ephesians chapter six, we're told that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. It's not this. It's not what you see, but we wrestle against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

So that's a reality. As a matter of fact, that war is more important than the other wars. You can talk about all the wars in the world and everybody gets concerned about those wars, but really the big war is the one that's going on inside of you.

That's where they ought to have CNN and Fox News talk about that war because that war has to do with eternity. That war has to do with the eternal soul where this one only has to do with property and who's gonna get this ground and that ground. And so this is a very important war.

It's about what goes on in the unseen, in the unseen world. We could have a fight here. Praise God that we don't have fights.

Although sometimes the little guys get in fights. We could have a fight here and you could see it. You could see it happening.

Two boys going at it, fighting and throwing punches and scrabbling and you could watch it. But there's also fights that go on that you don't see. Matter of fact, there could be fights going on right now.

And it's internal. People are struggling with each other and fighting and warring. You know, James talks about, you fight, you war, you can't attain, you lust, you desire to have and you cannot get it.

And you know, these wars that we have in our hearts with other people, those are the kind of wars that take place too. But we have three enemies in this war. There are three different fronts on the battlefield.

One is with the devil. We wrestle against principalities and powers. One is with the flesh.

There's a front that we're fighting, that we're fighting with the flesh. There are fleshly lusts which war, Peter says, against the soul. And so that's a front.

And then there's this world. We're called upon to overcome the world, not have the world overcome us. So you have the world, the flesh and the devil.

These are all warring against our soul. Boy, you'd think we'd probably lose with all those three against us. But praise God, greater is he that is in us than he that's in the world.

And he that's against the devil, and even our flesh, he is greater than the flesh. And so we have the ammunition. We have the firepower.

We have the ability to overcome against these enemies. And so our war is not in this physical realm. We do not war after the flesh.

It's not about an army. It's not about fighting. It's not about argumentation.

That's something else we need to remember. It's not about argumentation. It's a greater battle, and that is internal.

Now, I realize that Romans 13 talks about the world, and yes, they have their own wars, and they have their own fightings, and we're to honor them, and we're to submit to them. But in Romans 13, it talks about they do these things. They, they, they, not us.

Our weapons are not physical. So I don't believe it's God's heart to call on God's children to go out with machine guns and boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, or to fly in planes and destroy lives by bombing cities and things like that. I think that's Romans 13, that's the world's place, and there is a place for that.

Render unto them all their dues. But I don't think it's a wise thing, young men, for us to be involved in that battle because there's a greater battle we have to be concerned about, our warfare. Look what it says in verse number four.

For the weapons of our warfare. It's talking here about the child of God. And this warfare will keep you plenty busy, plenty busy.

You know, I'd hate to, you know, go off and fight and be a great soldier and win, you know, some battle and be honored with some medal, and yet lose the war in your soul and spend eternity in hell. It'd be awful. Oh, I won.

I was a great military person. I fought, I saved my comrades' lives. It's a wonderful thing.

But I killed a hundred of the enemy. And yet I lost the war in my own soul and I'm going to hell. And so the warfare that's internal is the big one.

And that's what we're going to address here this morning. Now the purpose of this warfare, and here's the important thing. The purpose of this warfare is in verse four.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to, or the purpose, to the pulling down of strongholds. Now this is military terminology. The pulling down of strongholds.

Now you can go to your concordance and you look up the word stronghold. It's only used one time. The word strong, it's only used one time in this way.

It's talking about, the word stronghold is talking about a fortress. The definition there is a castle, a front, a fortification, and a fortification. And these are places where militarily people will take ground.

And like the Iwo Jima, you know, they put their flag in and we take possession of this. And then from that ground, they spread out and begin to try to take more ground. And that's how wars are won.

You move the enemy back, you build a fortress or a front, and then you from that move further in. And you begin to take over the enemy territory. And so a stronghold is a place where the enemy has control of parts of your life.

And I'm, you know, I grew up in the Baptist church and after I was first converted, we didn't talk about devils and the demonic possession and all that. I don't know why we didn't, but there is a lot more to the demonic than we give, I think, credit to. There's a lot more going on.

In our lives, you know, the Bible says resist the devil. Well, some people think we don't have to worry about the devil. The Bible says we wrestle against principalities and powers and most people have no idea about any of that stuff.

I'm just a Christian and go on with my life. And what is this wrestling with spirits? I don't know anything about it, you know? Most people have that mindset. And yet over and over again, we're told that there's an active war going on and yet many people don't even know it's happening.

And I think those people are the ones who are getting overtaken or there's many strongholds in their life. So a stronghold, this is why we are warring because we want to pull down these strongholds. Now wars are in large part property disputes and you see this over in Russia and Ukraine.

You're fighting for ground and you've heard people talk about taking ground, taking back ground. And that comes from this idea of a stronghold, liberating cities and states in captivity. Seen some of these films maybe of the allies going into places where the Germans had taken control of parts of France and Italy and much of Europe.

And they went in and they liberated them. They liberated them. Set them free from captivity.

That's the picture here of what the will of God is for us to do is to pull down strongholds. Now these strongholds here in 2 Corinthians are not property, they're not states, but areas of your heart. And I just want to make it personal because we have strongholds.

They're areas of your heart and your mind. And by the way, your heart and mind are interchange in the Bible. Your heart and your mind.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. These areas, strongholds in our hearts and minds that cause us to be held captive or cause the enemy to have a place or a foot in life. And as that happens more and more and more, I mean, if Hitler was allowed to go throughout all of Europe, pretty soon Europe would succumb and surrender and all of Europe would be under his domain.

And so the allies came and stopped him from going throughout all of Europe. But that happens in our hearts. And here we go.

You know, you got one area he's taken and he's built a fortress. And from that area, he's trying to reach into other areas to build another fortress. And before long, you're captivated in many areas of life.

Strongholds. Now here's one thing that I think this verse is trying to communicate to us. When we were unconverted, we had strongholds all over the place.

As a matter of fact, I'm gonna read a verse here in a little bit. We were children of darkness. We were slaves to sin, Jesus said.

We were without hope and in darkness. And we established many patterns of life that were based not upon truth, but were based upon lies. And that's where we were unconverted.

And so we come to the Lord and now the Lord says, I've saved you. Now I'm going to start tearing down all those strongholds. You've established, the enemy has established all these things in your life.

And I'm gonna come and liberate you by the power of God. Mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, just like the Americans came and helped liberate Europe in World War II. And so it's the will of God here this morning for there to be some liberating.

It's called sanctification in the Bible. It's understanding truth, believing truth and casting out lies. And so you came to Christ and you were in bondage.

I was in bondage, we're all in bondage. We believe lies. And the Lord says, okay, I'm gonna save you.

And now I'm gonna start tearing down these strongholds. And strongholds are thought patterns. Strongholds are things that we do just because we've always done it that way or just because my parents taught me this way or I observed my parents, I observed the world, I observed everybody around me and this is the way we always did it.

And so when I have a situation, my mind reverts to that and that's how I do it. A stronghold. The Bible talks about this in different ways.

One way it talks about it in Ephesians and Colossians, it says to put off the old man. And put on the new man by the renewing of your mind. By the renewing of these thought processes.

And you know, we are what we think. We think, therefore we do. And so if we think wrong and we think the way the devil and the world and the flesh wants us to think, then we will act in a way that is destructive.

So Jesus says, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. We'll say when I found the gospel, the Bible says the devil's trying to blind my eyes to the gospel. When I found the gospel, the truth, that one nugget of truth, that one nugget set me free in many ways.

But I realized that I've got a lot more ways I need set free. And we began a process back then of, oh, that was a lie. That's not the way you're supposed to do this.

I was believing a lie all my life. I'm gonna start walking in truth. I'm gonna start believing the truth.

And so little by little, and you know, as newborn babes desire the sincere mark of the word, if you're desired the sincere mark of the word, you say, wow, I didn't see this. I'm not doing this right. I'm gonna do this right.

I'm gonna do this right. A lot of things in my life, and some people change dramatically. They start immersing themselves in the word of God and they see the lies that they believed and how they've been held captive and they begin to believe the truth and you see their lives just go boom, boom, boom, boom.

That's a good ground. Growth and fruit and wow. Others, they struggle.

The Christian life is one of taking back ground. It is. And it's ground that's been taken by the devil, the world and the flesh.

You know, a lot of people, their flesh is in control of their life. They, they're under its dominion or the devil or the world. They follow the course of this world.

So they get converted. Now it's time to start tearing down strongholds. That's what we're talking about here today.

So we're encouraged as a child of God to give not place to the devil. That means to give not him any land, any track, any country, any state. Don't give place.

So you were supposed to get it back from him, what he had. He steals, kills and destroys. Now, as a Christian, don't hand it back to him.

Don't give him place in your heart. And there's many ways that's done. That place is in our thought processes, in our affections, in our beliefs.

Well, how is this done? Let's look at verse four here. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That's the truth.

And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Here is how it is done. And it's a process.

Notice it's mighty through God. It's not mighty in my strength. But it's the Spirit of God wanting to work out in you.

Can you imagine the Lord coming in your body and in your heart and mind and saying, okay, Caleb, I'll use you as an example, you've got all these lies you're believing, all this false stuff. Now you're a child of God, now it's time for me to come in here and start tearing them down. Tearing them down.

One by one, this has caused you problems in life. I'm going to tear this one down. I'm going to tear this other one down.

And you're going to start believing the truth and growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So first of all, I want to say this, we all have strongholds. Certainly we all had strongholds because we were lost.

And so the goal of the Christian life is to tear them all down. Hopefully many of you have got a lot of them down. You're making progress.

Don't give ground back. That's what the book of Ephesians says. So, we're told to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of the truth.

Casting away lies and embracing truth. And that's one of the reasons, just to throw this in there, that's one of the reasons why reading and studying and meditating upon this book is so important in life. This is the truth.

Psalm 1 says, Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. It goes on to say, But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law does he meditate day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit. In his season his leaves shall also not wither. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

I remember that verse when I read it back as a young Christian. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Wow.

Get him on the right track of life. Get him believing the truth, casting down strongholds, and your life will be blessed. That everything you put your hand to will prosper.

Wow. That's something I'd like. So, casting away these lies and these thought processes that bring us into bondage.

To have the hook. You know, my son likes to fish. Judson here, he's back there.

People have hooks in them. And the devil can reel you in whenever he wants to. They're just, they've got a hook.

And we need to get rid of those hooks so we can have freedom and liberty. Liberty. In Christ.

You know the fall of man. Everything started and we got all this stuff because someone believed a lie. Have God said, you shall not eat of the fruit.

You shall not surely die. Because the Lord knows that the day you eat thereof you're going to be like God. Knowing good and evil.

And you know what? Eve believed the lie. And caused the world to fall. The Bible says Adam was not deceived but he went ahead and accepted it anyway.

So all this that has occurred has occurred because someone believed the lie instead of embracing the truth. And by the way, if you believe lies too you'll end up in the same position. And your life will be greatly hindered.

So we're told here, and I'm going to give you some examples because I've seen a couple of these. I'm going to give you four or five examples of how people believe lies. Here in just a little bit.

But verse 5 says to bring into captivity every thought. Now that's the high goal. And we ought to shoot for that goal.

I realize that Christianity is a process. It's a goal. Be holy as I am holy.

That's the goal to shoot for. And if you don't shoot for anything you're not going to go anywhere. Like the little boy was shooting his gun and a man comes by and says, what are you shooting at? And he says, I'm shooting at the moon.

And the boy, and the man says, you're never going to hit the moon. It's too far away. And he says, I'll get closer than you will.

Well, you've got to shoot for it. Amen. Isn't that right? The Bible says this over and over again.

My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sins. The goal is to not sin.

But, reality is that we sometimes fail. And, yes, every thought. Wouldn't it be great if you brought every thought into obedience unto Christ.

I mean getting down to every thought. You ought to try this. I used to do this when I was in a stronghold that I was having a hard time getting out of.

It was destroying me. I got to the place, I've told you this before, where I started off. I'm going to take five minutes.

Five minutes. And I'm going to try to bring every thought into obedience of Christ for five minutes. And I could accomplish it for five.

And I said, if I can do it for five, I can do it for ten. So I went for ten. If I can do it for ten, I can do it for a half an hour.

So I went for a half an hour. I just kept getting larger and larger chunks. To where I began to get a habit of bringing every thought into captivity.

Most people don't have any control over their thoughts. They think their thoughts just kind of come and go and you just let them run wherever they want to run. That's a lie right there.

Bringing every thought into captivity. Because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Right? The very idea of repentance, the word repentance is two different Greek words, which means a change of your mind.

And that's basically what this is. You believed a lie, now you're going to believe the truth. You changed your mind.

The prodigal son is an example of repentance. He's down there and in his mind he says, Father, give me the goods for my inheritance. I've got this idea.

I want to go and live it up. So he goes. His mind is to live it up.

He goes down and spends all his goods. Lives it up. He gets down there and he starts to think and have a change of mind.

It says he thought within himself, now wait a minute, how many of the hired servants back there at my dad's house, they have places to eat and places to stay? And I'm down here eating the husk that the swine do eat. And he said within himself, he says, I'm going to change my mind. I'm going to go back to my father.

And I'm going to say, Father, I made a bad choice. I sinned. I sinned.

That's repentance. It's simply a change of mind. The word metanoia, change your mind.

Change your mind. And Christianity from the very beginning is changing your mind from what I used to believe to what I'm going to believe from here on out. When I counsel with people, one of my favorite passages, I just had a man call me not too long ago and wanted to know about one of his daughters.

I read this passage to him and it's been very helpful to me. The Lord gives this to Timothy here in 2 Timothy. Let me read it to you.

It says, And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patience in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God peradventure will give them repentance, a change of mind to the acknowledging of the truth. Oh, yeah.

I see that. You're right. That they may recover themselves from the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive according to his own will.

You see, the whole purpose is this, to get you to the place where you, like the prodigal son, you say, you know what? You're right. I'm going the wrong direction. I need to change my thinking and my belief.

Oh, that's a good place to be. And therefore, God can give you repentance that you might recover yourself from the snare of the devil. So back here in 2 Corinthians, we're told this in verse 5, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Against the knowledge of God. Against the truth. I need to understand the truth and cast out the lies.

We cast out lies, we embrace truth. It's called in Romans 12, renewing the mind. And I'll tell you what, if you're one of these people at Romans 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God that you present your body, a living sacrifice.

Say, Lord, here it is. You do anything you want with me and my body, here it is. And he goes on to say, and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Boy, you get someone who's given their body to the Lord and their mind's being renewed, that's a powerful testimony right there. That person can go a long way in the Christian experience. Giving my body and renewing my mind.

I'd like you to just turn one place here, I think today. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and then we'll come back. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 17.

This starts out when they were unconverted and leads us right up to what we've been talking about. Now, when you're unconverted, you've got all kinds of lies you believe. In Ephesians 4 verse 17, this I say therefore in testifying to the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk.

You used to do this. But you don't do this anymore in the vanity of their mind. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.

Notice vanity. Ignorance. Because of the blindness, they can't see the truth of their heart.

To being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness and greediness. But you have not so learned Christ. If so be that you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation the old man.

That's these old vain thoughts, these blind ideas and this stuff that you learned out in the world and the flesh taught you and the devil taught you and all this garbage. You put it off and verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. There you go.

And that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So this is a process. You've been born again.

Child of God. It's time to start putting off the old and putting on the new. You grew up.

You heard a lot of lies. Your family. Your upbringing.

They taught you just a bunch of ways. The world does it. So we do it that way.

People do this. We do it that way. My flesh feels this way when I do this.

So I do what my flesh says. Or I'm being led astray by the devil. I just do what it's everybody else does.

We follow the herd. And you know when you do that, for like me 19 years, you get pretty deep root ruts in your thoughts. This is the way I do it.

You know the truth of the matter is we all have a bunch of ruts that we need to get out of. Something happens in your life and you respond the same way every time. Same way.

Every time. Because you're in this rut. So somebody pulls your string and we can just the odds are 1 to 1 that you're going to respond the very same way.

So we're called to put off the old man. And let's have this new man which is according to the truth. Look at verse 25 because it gets right into it.

We're for putting away lying. All that lying and the liar himself and speak every man truth. It's not about the lies anymore.

It's about truth. Bringing every thought into captivity. And so as you renew the mind to God's truth, you become more and more free.

Free. How many of you want to be free? Free. Liberty.

Freedom. That's a process. Well, I want to share with you a couple of areas here for the rest of our time, but I've counseled with a lot of people through the years.

Some on the phone. As a matter of fact, I'm on the phone with someone down in Georgia right now and talking about a marriage that's having problems and counseling. We had a young lady on Wednesday night at our house who taught her.

My wife and I for about two hours. Young lady looking for salvation. Looking for truth.

And teaching. I want to share with you four or five areas. I don't know how long we'll get here, but there's a lot of strongholds there in people's lives.

I just want to bring them out here. I know we've talked about some of these already before, but it's good to go back and consider them. These are real strongholds in life that people struggle with.

The first one I'd like to talk about is probably the most prominent one. Least I've experienced is that is bitterness. Bitterness.

And you can tie with that unforgiveness. Unforgiveness. Now the old man, the old unconverted man, he had that in him.

I think of Brother David back there, you know. He and his brothers, he tells me the stories down in Columbus. How that, you know, down in Columbus somebody punches you, you punch them five times harder.

I mean, just the whole idea of just boom, you know, fight. You win. You overcome them with physical means or with argumentation and threats.

That's the way they do it down in Columbus. We're down there feeding these. They don't understand this idea of what do you mean? Give them your other cheek.

Well, anyway. The old man is all about getting even. Isn't that true? He always wants to get even.

When you do something to the old man, the old man's going to settle the score. And that's in that nature. It's called revenge.

Someone hurts you or violates you and you need revenge. That other person should pay for it. Somehow they're going to pay.

And you know the world and the flesh and the devil, they all encourage that and many people in their unconverted state have that deeply rooted in them. I mean, down there when we go down to these young people in Columbus it's like, it's just like that could be wrong. I'm going to get it.

I'm going to get it. Yeah, I'm going to get it. That's in all of us.

You know, revenge. They talk evil of me, watch me go at them. I'll get them.

And so that's the lie. And you know how many people have been murdered and how much destruction has come because I'm going to take my revenge on this individual. Or how many churches have been split because I'm going to take my revenge on this person who speaks evil of me.

Watch how I get them. A lot of destruction has come because of that. Bitterness.

But that's the old man. That's a liar. That's your flesh.

That's the devil. That's how the world does it. Being overcome.

This thought process is natural. Watch children. My boys.

Boom! It's natural. And you know when you do something over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over for 20 years it gets pretty habitual. Then you come to Jesus and the Lord says, we're going to change things.

We're going to rearrange the furniture. As a matter of fact, we're going to get rid of the furniture. We're going to bring in new furniture.

And we're going to start taking some strongholds down. And one of the things, the first one I thought about, the one that probably I've counseled with more than any other is just people who are bitter. They're unforgiving.

Jesus said this, it's impossible that offenses might come. We talked about offenses here this morning. It's impossible that offenses, they must come.

But the question is, how do you respond to it? The thought process. Someone hurt me, so my thoughts keep repeating over and over and over. Isn't that how it works? I mean, you're going through the day and that person who hurt you comes to mind and you're thinking of ways you should get them back or just bad thoughts toward them and someone did me wrong and they're on my mind a lot.

Some of you have people coming to your mind right now probably. They're on my mind a lot. And that rut is deeper and deeper and deeper as you think upon them over and over again and the hurt that they caused you.

Ten years ago, you know these people who talk about, well, ten years ago you did this. Oh, you must be thinking about a lot these last ten years or twenty years ago you did this. Well, you must be thinking about a lot.

It's right on the tip of your tongue. Well, two weeks ago you did this. And people wonder why they're in bondage.

That's a lie. Do you know that? What is the truth? Let's just read some of the truth here for each one of us. Matthew 5. You don't have to turn.

I'm just going to read to you so you can hear and listen. Here's truth. Remember we're to cast down strongholds and we're supposed to embrace the truth.

You have heard that it was said by them of old time, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone blasts you with blasphemous words, if they did it in the right ear, then you turn the left ear to them.

Right? If a man will sue thee at the law, I'm going to get him and take away thy coat. Let him have thy cloak also. Bless him.

Oh, that's a totally different mindset. You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemy and bless them that curse you.

Amen? That'd be good in church life, wouldn't it? It'd be good in our home life. Bless them. Do good to them that hate you.

I hate that guy. How about I do good and pray for them which despitefully abuse you. I hate being used by people.

Well, then pray for them that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. Now, here's the thing. I have to believe.

Brother John, I think you said this. I have to take the seed into my heart and not let it fall upon the pavement, not let it fall upon the stony ground. Oh! Oh, Brother Jerry, that was a great message today.

With joy I receive it. But do not endure because the next time someone curses me I curse them back. There's no proof.

Some of you it falls upon the ground that, well, this is not that important. I'm going to go on with life, the cares of life, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things. You'll forget it in a couple of days.

Right? So when you're tempted, when temptation comes, oh, you're offended. You fail. Why? Because you don't leave here and say from now on I'm going to think the truth.

And when I'm cursed, I'm looking forward to it. When I'm cursed, when someone uses me, here is my opportunity to be a new man, to put on the old man or to put off the old man and put the new man and I'm going to turn around and bless you in a sincere heart. Boy, that'd change things, wouldn't it? Romans? You don't have to turn there either.

I'm just going to read a few verses. Romans chapter 12. I might go a little long here this morning.

I never hardly go long, so I have a lot of credits that are building up over the years. Isn't that right, Caleb? Okay, Romans chapter 12 verse 17 says, recompense to no man evil for evil. That includes us here in this church.

Provide things honest in the sight of all men, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself. Now, this is truth.

Casting down imaginations. There's so many things in your mind that says, I have to get back at them. And those thoughts, they come up.

I have to get back. I have to curse them. They curse me.

They revile me. I'm going to revile them in return. You have to cast that stuff out of your mind.

It's a lie. And it's destroying you. Right? And I'm going to put in I don't avenge myself.

Matter of fact, it says here, vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. So maybe you could say this in your thoughts. Lord, you know what, they curse me but I'm going to let you take care of it.

You take care of it. I'm just going to let it go. And I'm going to just bless them and not let it affect me.

Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Now, this is the knowledge of God. This is where the mind has to be. Listen, if your mind isn't there and you don't believe that, you'll not respond that way.

You won't respond that way. You'll simply respond out of the natural man and you'll get that vengeance. Right? So, I have to believe this.

God, it's better for me. Not only for my own soul, but it's better for this person. It heaps coals of fire upon his head and I believe it's better for me and for them if I'll just bless them.

I believe that with all my heart. And I do believe that with all my heart. Try me sometime.

Curse me. Try me. Do evil to me.

Lord, help me. I'm going to bless you. Because I believe that.

It's gotten deep enough into my heart that it's bringing forth good fruit. And I don't believe there's anyone here who's ever offended me. I don't get offended.

I'm not a person who gets offended. 34 years in the ministry. There's a lot of opportunities to get offended.

Let's read one more. I'm going to move past this one here in a minute. Ephesians chapter 4 here, verse 31 says this.

By the way, this is the way you should bring your thoughts into captivity. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another. I like that.

Tender hearted. Tender hearted when you're good to me. No, tender hearted, forgiving one another.

Tender hearted when you're bad towards me. You know why? Because it says even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Oh, there we go.

And for the sake of time, I'm not going to read. I was going to read there. You know the story in Matthew 18.

The man, he goes and he's in debt to this king. The king forgives him. Everything's compassionate on him.

I pity you. I'll let you go. And this guy goes out and takes his brother by the throat.

Chokes him. Says, give me. He only owes him a couple bucks.

Give me what you owe me. You know, me personally, I like to have mercy on people because I know how much mercy I need from the Lord. Right? And I am consciously aware of how much mercy I need.

And therefore, if you need it, I know I need it. And so I'm going to give you plenty. And so the king forgave me a whole slew of them.

And so you haven't even come close to the amount he's forgave me. So you're in good shape. So bitterness.

Listen, we have to change the way we think. And many of us still believe lies. This person did wrong to me.

I'm going to get back at him. That's a lie. That's a lie straight out of hell.

That's a lie the world and the flesh of the devil wants you to believe. And as long as you keep believing that and allowing that thought into your mind that I'm going to get back at them, you're going to have troubles. As a matter of fact, that servant who was forgiven of the king, it says that servant was delivered to tormentors.

Right? A lot of people have problems. Their minds are tormented. Tormented.

That's why we have so much medication today because people's minds are so tormented. And all it is, is this. You're believing a lie.

You need to take and put that off. That's not how we deal with it. I'm not going to deal with it anymore.

I'm going to believe the truth. I'm going to accept the fact that these verses are just a small smattering. I'm going to love them and hate them.

And I believe that with all my heart. And I think you ought to too. Well, I'll move on here.

I'd like to cover a couple more here. Lust. How do you overcome lust? By changing your thought pattern.

Amen. The Bible says here, abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul. It's a war against the soul of man.

Against the thought patterns that we have. And notice here in 2 Corinthians 10, it says we are mighty through God. It's not something that we can do.

It's the Spirit of God working in us to embrace truth. And there's a lot of verses I could read to you here this morning about truth. I'll just read one to you here.

Philippians 4. Verse 8 says, Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. There's many people who have given up ground to the enemy because of the thoughts. By the way, you tackle all these things by getting your thoughts under control.

You ever done that? It'd be nice to take a journal. Some of you ladies like journals. Take a journal.

And at the end of the day, do an accounting of your thoughts. That's an interesting thing to do. Take account of what you think.

I was preaching in Iowa one time on this subject and people were talking about their thoughts. One guy stood up and said, Brother Jerry, what do you do about someone like me as I don't think about anything? As my mind is blank most of the day. Boy, that's a waste of a mind, isn't it? Lust.

Let me share something with you. Some of you probably won't like this, but I'll share my personal experience. Back in, oh, probably 2000, 1999, 2000, I was just in the ministry for five or six years and there was a man.

He wasn't a part of our church, but we knew him. He lived down close to West Virginia and I got to be associated with him a little bit. A friend called and he was having problems with immorality and so there was a counselor out in Indiana that I decided I'm going to take him out to this counselor.

And I will say this, I had my own issues of immorality at the time as far as my thought processes and issues like that and I took him out and we had a couple other brothers go out to this individual who was kind of a counselor, demonic type thing. So I sat in this office and I was sitting right here and this brother was right beside me, the other two over here. The counselor was about 10 or 15 feet away and I'm just learning.

Young Christian here, I'm about 37, 38 years old and trying to understand all these things. I'm sitting there and this man who's having the moral issues is sitting here and the counselor starts to say in the name of Jesus after he counsels him a little bit, in the name of Jesus I command that spirit that unclean spirit that is in him, I command you to come out. He started making these commands and forcibly commanding that spirit to come out of him and God be honest here as I'm standing here.

I'm sitting in this chair and all of a sudden something just kind of goes boom. What was that? I mean I felt it. Like I almost felt like someone who dies, their body the soul just goes what was that? And he's commanding this guy over here and I thought what just left me? Now I'm an innocent, innocent, I'm trying to learn.

I don't know anything about this but I felt it. It was very subtle just boom. So afterwards I went to him and said you know when you were commanding him, I don't know but something went boom.

And yeah I have issues too. You know Bible says give not place to the devil. Does that mean you can give place to the devil then? Does that mean that you can give some territory and some room with the way you are living? Yeah I believe the devil can influence us and have a grip on us.

Not that he possesses you. Adolf Hitler and the Germans didn't possess all of Europe but they possessed a little bit more and more. And we can have influences.

Some people have influences. The devil is influencing them and holding them in captivity. And they need deliverance.

You believe that? I do. Not only from this but my own personal experience. Oh here's another of my personal experiences but I see this a lot in people.

Fear, anxiety and care. Oh my. Many minds are consumed with these.

Fear, anxiety and care and they're in bondage. It's your thought pattern. Something happens your mind immediately goes to fear.

Something over here happens? Fear. Something over here happens? Anxiety. Anxious care.

And the mind is just trained to go that direction. Brothers and sisters, is there any basis for us to fear anything apart from God? Is there any basis for you to be fearful about anything? You know, some of you think there is some basis for it but you know those disciples were in that boat and the boat started to sink in the waves. I mean it's an awful sight.

They're going to die. And the Lord then calms it and he says to them, why were you so fearful? I mean yeah you're about ready to die but why are you so fearful? Oh ye of little faith. And now you know this testimony.

I've given it before but I began to have thoughts of fear when I was back in 2004, 2005. I don't even know exactly what got me started on it but I just got anxious about many things and started to think about what if and what if and what if what if this happens and I began to mull over it. And pretty soon I started to become pretty fearful.

And the devil took that ground and he moved a little further and got me fearful in other areas of life and pretty soon I was in bondage. It wasn't good. And I learned through that and I'll shorten this out but I learned through that that I have to take control of my thoughts.

I have to cast this stronghold down. I have to can I go five minutes without thinking a thought about fearing something? Yeah. Some of you are fearful people.

Everything is fearful. The truth of the matter is nothing ought to be fearful. Fear.

Be careful for nothing. Here's the truth. This is what you need to embrace and believe it.

I should be careful for nothing. That's a command. As much as you know, don't steal.

Don't lie. Be careful for nothing. And if I have any anxiety about anything come into my heart, I need to get on my knees and say, Lord, forgive me.

Forgive me, Lord. I violated your commandment. I am anxious about this and this and this.

God have mercy on me. You know, that's just as much of a commandment as putting on a head cover. God hath not given us the spirit of fear.

Who gave it to you then? I will trust the psalmist said and not be afraid. That's the problem. I don't trust God.

You know, here the truth of the matter is, here's this giant person called God. He rules over everything and here I am down here fearful of every little thing that's under his control and I'm just bouncing from place to place just in fear about why he's in control. He's the ruler over everything.

My Bible says fear has torment. Torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

I'll just give you my brief testimony. You know, I found out, I started to look at this thing. How did I get so fearful? And I began to observe thoughts coming to me.

I mean, I would wake up in the morning. This is the truth. God knows this.

I would wake up in the morning and as soon as I opened my eyes, boom! I'd be hit with a thought of fear. Something to be afraid of. Whoa! Where did that come from? And that would start me on the course of all day mulling over these fearful things.

By the end of the day, I was a nervous wreck. Right? And if I had gone to the doctor, he said, you need some medication. No, I needed to repent and stop embracing these thoughts that were fearful.

You know, what if? What if this happens? What if that happens? You should not be fearful about anything. If you are, you need to change your thought pattern. Amen.

When that fearful thought comes to your mind, you say, out with it. I'm casting down this imagination. It's not according to the truth.

The Lord says, fear not. I refuse this thought. I'm not going to entertain it.

Well, I'm just going to give you one more quick here. I have a number of thoughts we could share, but how about depression? You know, I think our society is so depressed. So many people are taking antidepressants nowadays.

You know, the cause of depression is your thought process. It's in bondage. How many thoughts? I'm not any good.

Nobody loves me. Nobody cares about me. God hates me.

You know, all these, and there's all kinds of them. Negative. You live in that world, and your spirit will be depressed.

Depressed. I like here Philippians 4. It says, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report. Lovely and a good report.

In other words, think on these things that are of a good report. Always keep your thought processes on the positive side. Amen.

You know, even whatever happens to you, even those men in that boat who are about ready to go down, my Bible says, and always keep this promise in your back pocket, all things work together for what? Good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, I don't care what happens in your life. It's going to work together for your good.

So rejoice in it. That's if you believe the truth. And you can embrace the truth.

The old man loves the negative. The old man loves it. That's why they sell these tabloids and the news.

It's all negative. So-and-so murdered so-and-so and these people are being killed and this person's in adultery and all this. The flesh feeds on it.

And if your mind is consuming the negative things of life, your spirit will be depressed. And again, you go to the doctor. The doctor says, well, what you really need is some anti-depressants.

You've got some chemical imbalances. And you do, by the way. You know, your body's a chemical body and when you think negative thoughts, it excretes chemicals.

And those chemicals start to build up in your body and you go to the doctor and he says, boy, you're overloaded with these chemicals and instead of saying you need to start thinking differently, you're thinking is stinking, what you need to do is take a few pills. And you know what that'll do? It'll correct your chemicals but it won't get to the root issue. Which is you're thinking an evil report.

You remember those Israelites that came to the Jordan and they saw the giants and the spies and ten of them came back with some stinking thinking. These giants are going to kill us. They're going to eat us alive.

We're like grasshoppers and we're going to be bread. And the whole congregation was depressed. They thought on these things and all night they wept but two men saw God's hand in it all and says, God is able and they kept their mind up.

So when things collapse in this world here and maybe we enter into a period of great tribulation, there'll be some who keep their minds up. Looking for Jesus. Looking for glory.

Realizing that if I die a martyr I'll be rewarded tremendously in opportunities to witness in this time. And others will be, oh, oh it's such an awful time. Oh my children.

Oh this and oh that. And they'll be depressed. So keep your mind up.

I mean that by saying keep your mind on that which is a good report. See that's why the news is so negative. It's trying to bring your mind down.

Depress you. Well all things work together for good. I have others here but I'm not going to take the time to do it.

How about laziness? You know people think themselves into laziness. Be not weary and faint in your what? Mind. You know, laziness is oftentimes due to a thought pattern of just thinking of nothing.

A lazy mind produces a lazy person. Covetousness. I have a number of them.

We'll just mention them. Covetousness. You know why there's so much money put into advertising today? All these billboards everywhere you go there's advertisement.

I'm not talking about yours Brother David back there. Services are good but sometimes there's advertisements that try to get people to be covetous. And people go home and they look that magazine and their mind is occupied with this sports car this boat and they fill themselves with covetous thoughts and then they go out and go deep in debt to get it.

Covetous people are covetous because they didn't bring every thought into captivity. I'm not going to think this. I'm going to be content with what I have.

That's true. So bringing every thought into captivity. I don't know if you're captive here in some area of life but I do know this.

That if you're going to overcome that stronghold you're going to do it by bringing every thought into captivity in that area of life. And you don't have to do it by yourself it says mighty through God. Why don't you ask the Lord.

Lord take this verse to him and say Lord I need that mighty through God. I need grace for me to bring every thought into captivity. Let's close with that and then we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share.

Heavenly Father we thank you for giving us the truth and teaching us truth. Lord I know that we all have issues in our life where we are needing to cast down strongholds and to overcome many things we could talk about. Lord but I do pray you'd touch on them by the power of your spirit today and you would bring deliverance to the captive.

That we could grow in grace and rise up above those things that the devil and the world and the flesh is holding us down. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty you say. May liberty come to each one of us.

Lord give us grace we pray in Jesus name. Amen.