WEBVTT 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.179 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We're going to start 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:13.500 with verse 1. We're going to read kind of a big 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:17.160 little section right here. And then we'll pray 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:21.059 and we'll talk about it. So 2 Corinthians chapter 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:28.160 10 verse 1. Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.420 to you by the gentleness and graciousness of 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:35.490 Christ. I, who am humble among you in person, 00:00:35.649 --> 00:00:40.409 but bold toward you when absent, I beg that when 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:43.250 I am present, I will not need to be bold with 00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:46.609 the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain 00:00:46.609 --> 00:00:50.049 people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual 00:00:50.049 --> 00:00:53.969 way. For though we live in the body, we do not 00:00:53.969 --> 00:00:58.090 wage war in an unspiritual way. Since the weapons 00:00:58.090 --> 00:01:02.219 of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:06.040 through God for the demolition of strongholds. 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:09.579 We demolish arguments and every high -minded 00:01:09.579 --> 00:01:12.040 thing that is raised up against the knowledge 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:16.040 of God, taking every thought captive to obey 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:20.560 Christ. And we are ready to punish any disobedience 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:25.219 once your obedience has been confirmed. Look 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:28.640 at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.469 he belongs to Christ, He should remind himself 00:01:31.469 --> 00:01:35.810 of this. Just as he belongs to Christ, so do 00:01:35.810 --> 00:01:39.709 we. For if I boast some more about our authority, 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.069 which the Lord gave us for building you up and 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:47.530 not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed. I 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:50.150 don't want to seem as though I'm trying to terrify 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:54.150 you with my letters. For it is said, his letters 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:57.189 are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence 00:01:57.189 --> 00:02:00.500 is weak. And his public speaking is despicable. 00:02:01.659 --> 00:02:05.540 Such a person should consider this. What we are 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:09.020 in the words of our letters when absent, we will 00:02:09.020 --> 00:02:14.159 be in action when present. Let's pray. God, we 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.039 come to you. We thank you for these good words. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:18.400 I pray that we would focus on them, that we would 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:20.509 think about them. That maybe there's something 00:02:20.509 --> 00:02:24.370 in here that we can use to apply to our own life, 00:02:24.449 --> 00:02:26.110 dear Lord. That maybe we could learn through 00:02:26.110 --> 00:02:28.250 what Paul is going through and the things that 00:02:28.250 --> 00:02:30.509 have come up in his life and the way that he 00:02:30.509 --> 00:02:32.710 handles things, dear Lord, the way that he serves 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:35.729 you. So I pray, God, that you would just help 00:02:35.729 --> 00:02:37.569 me to be able to preach and teach in these next 00:02:37.569 --> 00:02:39.849 few minutes in a way that's going to bring all 00:02:39.849 --> 00:02:42.069 the focus to your word. Let your Holy Spirit 00:02:42.069 --> 00:02:45.689 speak to us. And I ask these things in Jesus' 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:50.620 name. Amen. Now, a little refresher of what we 00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:54.020 saw really throughout the book, but in the beginning, 00:02:54.139 --> 00:02:56.759 and this kind of thread's kind of continued to 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:59.280 be woven along through the book, and that is 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:02.500 it appears as though people are questioning Paul. 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:05.500 They're questioning maybe his motives. They're 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:07.400 questioning his authority. They're questioning 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:11.620 his power, and they're being tempted to turn 00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:14.860 to other teachers, other teachers who are not 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:17.180 teaching them well. They're not teaching them 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:20.610 right. And so Paul had already written 1 Corinthians, 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:23.449 and it is believed by many scholars that Paul 00:03:23.449 --> 00:03:25.650 might have written a couple of other letters 00:03:25.650 --> 00:03:29.169 that we don't have. But we know some of the things 00:03:29.169 --> 00:03:32.009 that he addressed in 1 Corinthians. And here 00:03:32.009 --> 00:03:35.430 in 2 Corinthians, he's continuing to address 00:03:35.430 --> 00:03:38.310 some of the problems, but really he's offering 00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:42.110 up a defense for himself. And that's not so that 00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:43.949 Paul can say, hey, you need to follow me and 00:03:43.949 --> 00:03:46.289 not them, or I'm better than them. I mean, certainly 00:03:46.289 --> 00:03:50.009 he does say that. but not in a proud sense, more 00:03:50.009 --> 00:03:52.750 in a sense of concern for the people of Corinth. 00:03:52.990 --> 00:03:55.530 That, hey, there's these other teachers that 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:57.729 are coming, and they're teaching you other things. 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:01.689 They're presenting to you other thoughts to ponder, 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:04.270 and don't think on these things they're telling 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:06.610 you, and don't give in to these practices and 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:09.590 these other things. It's not a competition between 00:04:09.590 --> 00:04:13.169 Paul and these other people, but Paul is concerned 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:15.789 for the people of Corinth, that they won't be 00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:19.459 led astray. And so here we see when we get to 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:22.680 chapter 10 that he's kind of defending himself 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:26.480 again. And he says, now I, Paul, make a personal 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.079 appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:33.620 of Christ. Okay, so how does Paul deal with the 00:04:33.620 --> 00:04:35.879 Corinthians when he's among them? Well, we saw 00:04:35.879 --> 00:04:38.699 as we read through this passage that there is 00:04:38.699 --> 00:04:42.040 a certain gentleness and graciousness that Paul 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:46.029 shows when he is present. among the Corinthians. 00:04:46.310 --> 00:04:48.949 Now, we already saw earlier in the book that 00:04:48.949 --> 00:04:52.730 he does not want to come in and be forceful with 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:54.990 them. Even though there are some things that 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:56.709 they're doing and the way that they're acting, 00:04:56.889 --> 00:05:00.750 he doesn't want to come in and be strong. He 00:05:00.750 --> 00:05:04.970 wants them to see what's going on, to realize 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:07.170 the error of their ways, to straighten up, to 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:09.769 not be led astray, so that he doesn't have to 00:05:09.769 --> 00:05:12.709 really address these situations in a powerful 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:17.259 way. But he realizes that that may be a possibility. 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:21.480 Now, he has dealt gently with them when he's 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.000 with them, but there appears to be a difference 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.839 between what he writes and the way he acts. Now, 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:29.939 when he wrote to them in 1 Corinthians, you can 00:05:29.939 --> 00:05:32.379 go back and read it, boy, he's pretty strong 00:05:32.379 --> 00:05:34.899 there on some things. He's pretty stern on some 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.560 things. He writes to them. He writes to them 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.199 with boldness so that when he's in person, he 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:44.399 doesn't have to act boldly. So he's trying to 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.819 give them an opportunity to turn and to do what's 00:05:47.819 --> 00:05:51.899 right. But some have questioned Paul. They've 00:05:51.899 --> 00:05:54.060 questioned the way that he speaks and things 00:05:54.060 --> 00:05:58.240 that he says. We see that in verse 10. For it 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.519 is said, his letters are weighty and powerful. 00:06:02.110 --> 00:06:04.370 but his physical presence is weak and his public 00:06:04.370 --> 00:06:07.310 speaking is despicable. Now, those quotation 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:09.829 marks are there in the text. He's quoting something 00:06:09.829 --> 00:06:12.810 that was being said among the people of Corinth, 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:15.529 okay? So when they read his letters, they were 00:06:15.529 --> 00:06:18.649 like, wow, this guy's, man, he's got some authority. 00:06:18.829 --> 00:06:21.290 He's really, he's writing some strong and some 00:06:21.290 --> 00:06:25.189 bold and some stern stuff. And then Paul comes 00:06:25.189 --> 00:06:28.110 onto the scene, but what do they say about him 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:31.750 when he shows up? That's him? Well, he's just 00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:37.050 a weak guy. He's not a good speaker. His speech 00:06:37.050 --> 00:06:39.750 is despicable. His public speaking is despicable, 00:06:39.850 --> 00:06:43.790 it says. And so when they saw him in appearance, 00:06:43.910 --> 00:06:47.250 they kind of began to question what he was saying. 00:06:47.829 --> 00:06:49.689 Even though they believed it when he wrote it, 00:06:49.730 --> 00:06:52.410 they weren't ready to listen to him when he came. 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:56.470 And part of that was because, man, he wrote with 00:06:56.470 --> 00:07:00.620 a lot of strength. But then when he... shows 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:03.060 up on the scene, it says that he shows up with 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:08.120 some graciousness and some gentleness. And sadly 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:10.920 in life, we want to be gracious and we want to 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.779 be gentle, but sometimes we have to be stern. 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:17.480 And that's a fine line to walk. And Paul was 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:19.519 trying to walk that line. He was trying to give 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:23.199 these people every opportunity possible to do 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.319 what's right. He didn't just come in guns a -blazing, 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:28.079 and maybe that's something we can take from this. 00:07:28.890 --> 00:07:31.949 There's a way to handle situations, and Paul 00:07:31.949 --> 00:07:34.370 gives us a good example of how to handle situations. 00:07:34.790 --> 00:07:37.769 He didn't just fly off the handle from the get 00:07:37.769 --> 00:07:40.209 -go. He didn't come in like a tyrant from the 00:07:40.209 --> 00:07:42.529 get -go and just says, okay, I see what y 'all 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:44.689 are doing wrong. I'm getting on a ship. He just 00:07:44.689 --> 00:07:46.569 showed up over there, and he started just tearing 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:49.649 everybody up. That's not what he did. He wrote 00:07:49.649 --> 00:07:53.250 a strongly worded letter, and sadly, they didn't 00:07:53.250 --> 00:07:55.990 pay attention to it. But he acknowledges in these 00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:59.360 verses that, look, If I have to come to you, 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:02.319 I might come to you with the same boldness as 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:04.139 in these letters, and that's not what I want 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:08.899 to do. And so they saw this gentleness that he 00:08:08.899 --> 00:08:12.779 showed. They saw this graciousness that he showed, 00:08:12.839 --> 00:08:16.620 and they didn't take him serious. But Paul says, 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:19.319 look, you better take me serious. I don't want 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:21.160 to be this way. I don't want to act this way. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.779 What I want more than anything is for you guys 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:29.019 to live in obedience. I'm trying to hold off. 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:36.779 He says in verse 6, and we are ready to punish 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:40.440 any disobedience once your obedience has been 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:42.419 confirmed. I think what he's saying there is, 00:08:42.440 --> 00:08:44.960 look, we're holding off because we want you to 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.440 be obedient so that we don't have to punish any 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.659 disobedience. But he also acknowledged in this 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:53.200 passage that he has some apostolic authority. 00:08:53.820 --> 00:08:56.899 Okay, God has called me to serve in this way, 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.639 and I'm trying to be gracious to you, but there 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.220 comes a time when I'm going to have to put my 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:05.299 foot down. And he says something great that we 00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:10.639 need to consider at the end of verse 4. He had 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:13.279 talked about there, you know, even though we're 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.580 fleshly, even though we live in the flesh and 00:09:15.580 --> 00:09:17.980 we're in the fleshly world, like our battle's 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:20.289 not really. really a battle against flesh and 00:09:20.289 --> 00:09:22.769 blood. It's a spiritual battle, and some had 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:25.389 accused him of being unspiritual, or another 00:09:25.389 --> 00:09:27.389 way to say that, they had accused him of being 00:09:27.389 --> 00:09:30.409 fleshly in the things he was doing. But Paul 00:09:30.409 --> 00:09:32.950 says, no, wait a minute. Our power comes from 00:09:32.950 --> 00:09:36.990 God. Our power comes from God, and we are serving 00:09:36.990 --> 00:09:39.690 God, and we are trying to be obedient to God. 00:09:39.830 --> 00:09:43.549 And at the end of verse 4, he says, based on 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:45.610 this power that comes through God, he says, but 00:09:45.610 --> 00:09:49.899 our power... Let's see. Since the weapons of 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:52.899 our warfare are not worldly but are powerful 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:57.019 through God for the demolition of strongholds. 00:09:57.019 --> 00:10:01.220 Okay. Well, that's good that God has the power 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.279 to release people from strongholds because we 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:07.899 probably all have some strongholds that we wish 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.799 we could break free from. Maybe it's sweets. 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:13.700 Maybe it's something more serious. Maybe it's... 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:16.740 alcohol, maybe it's drugs, maybe it's a bad attitude, 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:20.019 maybe it's laziness, maybe it's gluttony. I mean, 00:10:20.059 --> 00:10:22.899 whatever it is, we all have these strongholds 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:25.059 in our life and we're like, golly, I know this 00:10:25.059 --> 00:10:27.240 isn't good for me and I shouldn't act this way 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.840 or I shouldn't do this thing, but man, this stronghold's 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:33.100 got a hold of me. Well, praise the Lord. Paul 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:37.789 shows us here that God has the power. to free 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:40.850 us from our strongholds. And then what does he 00:10:40.850 --> 00:10:44.730 say? That power is also used to demolish arguments 00:10:44.730 --> 00:10:48.450 and every high -minded thing that is raised up 00:10:48.450 --> 00:10:52.049 against the knowledge of God. Okay, so people 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:54.110 are coming at Paul. There's always arguments 00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:56.690 against the word of God, against Christianity, 00:10:56.990 --> 00:10:59.950 against Jesus. We still see that in our world 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:02.990 today. But what does Paul say? The power of God 00:11:02.990 --> 00:11:06.399 gives us strength. to be able to battle against 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.899 these things, to demolish these arguments that 00:11:09.899 --> 00:11:11.820 come up, that we're going to stand on the Lord, 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:14.519 on the Word of God, on Jesus Christ, and there's 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:17.600 great power in that, and there's nothing else 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.840 in the world that can stand up to the power of 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:23.419 God that comes against the knowledge of God, 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:27.039 he says. And then at the end of verse 7 here, 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:32.279 he says, taking every thought captive to obey 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:36.759 Christ. Paul says, all right, we take every thought 00:11:36.759 --> 00:11:39.899 captive. So there's a lot of thoughts that go 00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:42.039 through our mind. And the question that we have 00:11:42.039 --> 00:11:45.960 to consider is, do we take every thought captive 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:49.759 or do our thoughts take us captive? When we begin 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.019 to thinking about things, are we captivated by 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:54.460 those things so much so that... that the thought 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:56.960 and the idea and the thing that's on our mind 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.500 kind of controls us, and that's what we focus 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:02.399 on, and that's what we desire. Do our thoughts 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.039 take us captive, or do we take our thoughts captive? 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:09.960 Well, Paul says, hey, look, I got the power of 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.620 God here, the power to take every thought captive. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:15.100 And that's what I think he wants his audience 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:17.440 to do. Because there's all these other teachings 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:20.200 that are going on that may be, you know, opposed 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:22.960 to what Paul says or differ in some way from 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.519 what Paul says. And he said, hey, you don't need 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:27.279 to be thinking on those things. You don't need 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.240 to be dwelling on those things. You need to take 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.659 what I've taught you about Jesus Christ, about 00:12:33.659 --> 00:12:36.559 the word of God, about the power of Christ. And 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:38.909 you need to know that, look. These things don't 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:41.110 have a stronghold over you, and you don't need 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:43.110 to let your thoughts take you captive, but you 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:45.570 need to say, look, I'm going to think about the 00:12:45.570 --> 00:12:48.690 things of God. I'm going to take my thoughts 00:12:48.690 --> 00:12:52.210 captive, not vice versa. And what does he say? 00:12:52.409 --> 00:12:56.169 Taking every thought captive to obey Christ. 00:12:56.909 --> 00:12:59.190 Okay, so what are our thoughts on? Are our thoughts 00:12:59.190 --> 00:13:01.879 on doing the things of the world? And when those 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:03.919 other thoughts come into our mind, we say, nope, 00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:05.399 I'm going to push that out. I'm not going to 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.679 let that have the final say. I'm going to focus 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.019 on Jesus Christ. Or when those thoughts pop into 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.179 our mind, do we just kind of let them take over? 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.220 We start thinking about things of the world, 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:20.320 things that we want, things that we want to do. 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:23.740 We start thinking about people that we're angry 00:13:23.740 --> 00:13:26.919 at. Man, you let something like that, that thought, 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:28.879 it creeps us away in. And if you don't take it 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.649 captive instantly, man, it starts working its 00:13:31.649 --> 00:13:34.250 way into your mind, and pretty soon you just 00:13:34.250 --> 00:13:36.889 work up and you get so angry or you just get 00:13:36.889 --> 00:13:39.450 so focused on something that it just completely 00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:43.330 takes you away from hearing what God's trying 00:13:43.330 --> 00:13:45.509 to say or the way that God's trying to lead you. 00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:49.230 So Paul says, hey, look, we need to be those 00:13:49.230 --> 00:13:53.590 who take every thought captive. And he tells 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:55.850 his audience, look, you may say these things 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:58.789 about me, but I'm trying to be patient with you. 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:02.480 And that's exactly what God does to his people 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.159 throughout the scripture. God is patient, not 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:10.299 wanting any to pass away, not wanting any to 00:14:10.299 --> 00:14:13.200 be destroyed, but all to come to repentance. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:17.919 God is patient with us just as Paul was patient 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:21.100 with these people and are we patient with those 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:25.120 that we encounter. Maybe there's a time for gentleness 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.289 and patience in our life, but... There may also 00:14:28.289 --> 00:14:33.230 be a time that we have to exercise some boldness. 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:35.809 How do we know when to do that? Well, we have 00:14:35.809 --> 00:14:38.509 to pray a lot about it. We don't want to be one 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:41.090 that's quick to jump on somebody about something. 00:14:41.809 --> 00:14:43.929 There are some times that we need to be bolder 00:14:43.929 --> 00:14:45.490 than we are, and there are some times that we 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:48.470 don't need to be as bold as we've been. And so 00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:51.210 I can't tell you when that is, but the Holy Spirit 00:14:51.210 --> 00:14:53.769 can lead you in that way. If we pray and say, 00:14:53.850 --> 00:14:56.250 okay, God, help me to know how to act and when 00:14:56.250 --> 00:14:58.620 to act. what to say and what not to say, when 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:01.379 to say it and when not to say it. We want to 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:04.379 be compassionate. We want to be gracious, just 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:07.600 as Paul was. But Paul also knew, well, you can't 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:09.980 let these things go on forever. You can't let 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:12.919 these bad habits and these bad things continue 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:15.220 to take place because, man, once these bad teachings 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:17.740 and these bad thoughts entered the people, he's 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:19.320 fighting for their attention now. And he says, 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:21.740 look, you need to trust in the Lord and take 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:25.440 every thought captive. And that advice is good 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:29.799 for you and I still today. Let's pray. God, we 00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:32.659 come to you. We thank you for these words. I 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:35.600 pray God that you would help us to exercise that 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.539 same graciousness and gentleness in our lives 00:15:38.539 --> 00:15:42.379 that Paul exhibits here. I pray God that you 00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:45.519 help us to know when we need to be bold, if we 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:47.460 need to be bold, dear Lord. Perhaps there are 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:51.500 times that we need to be a little firmer than 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:54.990 we are. God, I pray that you just guide us and 00:15:54.990 --> 00:15:57.610 help us to know what to do in those times and 00:15:57.610 --> 00:16:00.289 when to do it. I pray, God, that you would help 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:03.429 us with our thoughts. They continually run through 00:16:03.429 --> 00:16:06.669 our mind, a million of them a day. But don't 00:16:06.669 --> 00:16:10.509 let our thoughts get control of us and slow us 00:16:10.509 --> 00:16:14.210 down and sidetrack us. God, help us to know that, 00:16:14.269 --> 00:16:16.549 God, we don't have to give in to our thoughts 00:16:16.549 --> 00:16:18.850 and our strongholds, but through Jesus Christ, 00:16:18.970 --> 00:16:22.360 we have freedom. So I pray, dear Lord, that you 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:25.059 would help us to take our thoughts captive, to 00:16:25.059 --> 00:16:27.120 think about how we're going to live our life, 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:29.200 to think about the decisions we make. Are they 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.500 going to be for your kingdom or are they just 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:33.940 for us? Are they pulling us away from you or 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:35.840 are they drawing us closer toward you, dear Lord? 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:40.139 So help us to take our thoughts captive as they 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:42.840 come before us, dear Lord, the temptations and 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.840 the distractions of the enemy that we would not 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:47.360 give in to those, but that we would stand firm. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:50.759 In Jesus Christ. And I ask these things in Jesus 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:52.200 name. Amen.