WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.559 This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.719 to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast, 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.560 you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.080 beginning to end. Now here's our guest teacher, 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.440 Kyle Eidelman, with a message titled, Strongholds 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:20.219 Must Fall. There are some strongholds in your 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:22.600 life that maybe you didn't choose. They were 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:24.839 handed down to you. Maybe it wasn't purposeful, 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.399 but here you are. There's some thoughts you've 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.809 been thinking that control so much of who you 00:00:30.809 --> 00:00:33.570 are. Your emotions, your relationships, your 00:00:33.570 --> 00:00:35.969 spiritual journey in ways that you don't fully 00:00:35.969 --> 00:00:39.590 see are being controlled by a stronghold, a lie 00:00:39.590 --> 00:00:41.829 that you've believed and you're living your life 00:00:41.829 --> 00:00:44.609 by. But because of the power of Jesus and the 00:00:44.609 --> 00:00:46.969 power of the Holy Spirit, that stronghold can 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:50.670 fall today. Paul writes about this in 2 Corinthians 00:00:50.670 --> 00:00:54.429 chapter 10. He says, for though we live in the 00:00:54.429 --> 00:00:57.850 world, we do not wage war. As the world does. 00:00:57.909 --> 00:01:00.229 So there is a war we're a part of. May not seem 00:01:00.229 --> 00:01:01.950 like it. It may not feel like it. You might be 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:03.570 treating your life like it's on a playground, 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:06.689 but it's really on a battleground. And the weapons 00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:09.230 we fight with are not the weapons of the world. 00:01:09.390 --> 00:01:12.769 On the contrary, the weapons we fight with, they 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:16.670 have divine power to demolish strongholds. These 00:01:16.670 --> 00:01:20.069 spiritual weapons that we've been given. So we 00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:22.719 demolish. arguments and every pretension that 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.620 sets itself up against the knowledge of God. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:27.819 And here it is, we take captive every thought 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:29.819 and we make it obedient to Christ. And so we're 00:01:29.819 --> 00:01:31.700 in this series called Every Thought Captive. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:34.120 And what we're learning together is that our 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:37.140 thoughts shape our lives. They determine so much 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:40.780 of who we are and God will transform us. when 00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:43.739 we align our thoughts with him. How do we do 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:45.459 that? Well, we take our thoughts captive. It 00:01:45.459 --> 00:01:47.519 doesn't just mean we stop thinking certain things. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:50.000 It means we identify thoughts we've been thinking 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.120 and we rustle them to the ground and we interrogate 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.019 them and we ask ourselves some questions about 00:01:56.019 --> 00:01:57.859 the thoughts we've been thinking. Where did that 00:01:57.859 --> 00:02:00.760 thought come from? Why do I think this way? What's 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:04.719 the result of this thought in my life? Who do 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.939 I know that maybe thought this way where I picked 00:02:06.939 --> 00:02:09.650 up on it from them? And we start to interrogate 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:11.389 our thoughts so that we can take them captive. 00:02:11.629 --> 00:02:15.409 Because otherwise, our thoughts form these neural 00:02:15.409 --> 00:02:17.870 pathways that become strongholds. And that's 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.310 the word Paul uses here as a word picture. A 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:23.789 stronghold. And in ancient days, that word picture 00:02:23.789 --> 00:02:26.629 would have been immediately understood. A stronghold. 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:29.620 In the ancient world was this fortress. It was 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.080 built on the highest and most defensible point 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:35.280 in the city. It had thick walls, reinforced gates. 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.919 It was designed to be impenetrable. It was considered 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:41.919 to be too strong to be brought down. And Paul 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:45.780 uses this language to talk about the thoughts 00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:51.800 that are on repeat in our minds. These lies that 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:55.620 we are living our lives by. Strongholds that 00:02:55.620 --> 00:02:59.330 are so entrenched. And so fortified, they seem 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:01.650 impossible to defeat. And so what we're gonna 00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:03.629 do in the next few minutes is we're gonna diagnose 00:03:03.629 --> 00:03:06.090 some strongholds in your life and in my life. 00:03:06.169 --> 00:03:08.490 And I'm gonna spend a little bit more time doing 00:03:08.490 --> 00:03:10.870 some diagnostic work than I might usually do. 00:03:11.009 --> 00:03:13.069 Because the thing about strongholds is they've 00:03:13.069 --> 00:03:14.889 been a part for many of us. They've been a part 00:03:14.889 --> 00:03:17.509 of our lives for so long. We have a hard time 00:03:17.509 --> 00:03:19.430 seeing them. We have a hard time identifying 00:03:19.430 --> 00:03:22.860 them. They just feel a part of who we are. So 00:03:22.860 --> 00:03:25.219 first, let's talk about some characteristics 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:27.659 of a stronghold. How you know you're dealing 00:03:27.659 --> 00:03:29.960 with a stronghold. One, they feel unassailable. 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:32.719 You know you're dealing with a stronghold when 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.740 you'll use language like this. You'll say, nah, 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.939 it's just the way I am. It's just how I feel. 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:43.500 I've always been this way. It's just how I think. 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:47.219 And when you find yourself using identity language 00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:53.389 to excuse a behavior or routine in your life, 00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:56.650 it's a good chance you're dealing with a stronghold. 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:58.629 So here's what it looks like. You say, I know 00:03:58.629 --> 00:04:02.050 I shouldn't worry so much. But you gotta understand, 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:04.090 I've always been an anxious person. It's just 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:07.909 the way I'm wired. Stronghold. I know I shouldn't 00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:11.969 be so critical. I can't help it. It's just the 00:04:11.969 --> 00:04:16.350 way my mind works. Stronghold. I know I shouldn't 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:18.470 be such a slave to some of my sexual desires, 00:04:18.689 --> 00:04:20.759 but I just feel like that's the way God made 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:23.360 me. I don't feel like I can't really do anything 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:26.160 about it. Stronghold. When you hear yourself 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.620 making statements like this, you are identifying 00:04:28.620 --> 00:04:30.920 a stronghold. It's something that's become so 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:33.399 entrenched in your identity that changing it 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:36.920 feels impossible. It's just who you are. Second 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:38.899 characteristic of a stronghold is they're built 00:04:38.899 --> 00:04:41.699 on lies. A stronghold is a lie that we live our 00:04:41.699 --> 00:04:45.360 lives by. And so every stronghold has at its 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:50.529 foundation a lie that, we've bought into. And 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:52.550 I'm gonna give you just three categories of lies 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:54.589 that tend to make up strongholds. These are broad 00:04:54.589 --> 00:04:57.029 categories and I'll give you some examples for 00:04:57.029 --> 00:04:59.370 each category of lies. There are lies about God. 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:02.790 He doesn't really care about me. Look, if you 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:06.470 believe this lie, if this thought is a stronghold 00:05:06.470 --> 00:05:10.029 for you, I mean, it's gonna affect your spiritual 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:13.310 life in every way. If you are convinced that 00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:14.670 that, yeah, there's a God, but he doesn't care 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:17.459 about me. Or if God loved me, my life would be 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.879 easier. Or I've messed up too much for God to 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:22.779 forgive me. So there's these lies about God. 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:25.420 Another category would be lies about yourself. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:28.500 Just thoughts that you've thought about yourself 00:05:28.500 --> 00:05:31.120 so much, it's created the stronghold. Like I'm 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.500 not worthy of love. And maybe that comes from 00:05:34.500 --> 00:05:37.279 some abandonment or some rejection when you were 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:40.680 young. That got established in your life. And 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.759 now that stronghold, I mean, you filter almost 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:47.139 everything through this lie. I'm not worthy of 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.819 love. Or I always mess things up. Or I'm too 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:52.379 broken to be used by God. Stronghold of shame. 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:56.060 Another category of lies would be lies about 00:05:56.060 --> 00:05:59.000 life. I have to control everything or it'll fall 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:01.720 apart. Like if it's not done my way, it won't 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:04.139 be done right. I've got to be in charge of everything. 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.079 And the thought of you not controlling something, 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:11.259 Just has created all kinds of anxiety. My desires 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:13.240 are meant to be satisfied. I wouldn't have this 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.500 desire if it didn't have to be satisfied. It's 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:20.319 just how I feel. I can't trust anyone. You have 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:24.439 these lies that have become a stronghold in your 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:27.420 life. Now look, the enemy is brilliant at mixing 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:31.100 just enough truth with lies to make it believable. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:35.420 So yeah, you've made mistakes. That's true. What's 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:37.199 not true is that that means you're worthless. 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:40.819 Yeah, life can be difficult. That's true. Life 00:06:40.819 --> 00:06:43.319 can be really hard. What's not true is it doesn't 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.620 mean God doesn't care about you. And yeah, people 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:47.519 will disappoint you for sure. They'll disappoint 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.860 you. That doesn't mean that nobody can be trusted. 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:52.459 And here's what a stronghold will do. A stronghold 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:55.100 will take a kernel of truth and then build a 00:06:55.100 --> 00:06:58.839 fortress of lies around it. Third characteristic 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:02.319 of a stronghold is they resist truth. One of 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.480 the ways you know you're up against a stronghold 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.879 is you hear a truth that should be freeing and 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:10.259 instead it feels threatening. And so you hear 00:07:10.259 --> 00:07:12.740 these truths about God's provision and you're 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:14.600 threatened by it. You're immediately defensive 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.000 and you're like, well, that's not how it's gonna 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:18.899 work for me. That's not gonna apply that way 00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:20.819 in my life. Or you hear somebody give a testimony 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:23.939 about God's faithfulness and you immediately 00:07:23.939 --> 00:07:28.360 say, well, he can't work things out for the good 00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.939 in my life and things are too broken. It's too 00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:34.579 late for that. You hear God's word speak on a 00:07:34.579 --> 00:07:37.360 subject that's really personal, like sexuality 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:41.000 or money, and you're immediately defensive about 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.420 it. You immediately resist. That's how you know 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:47.100 you're up against a stronghold. Truth should 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:49.759 feel liberating. The truth is what sets you free. 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:52.639 Truth should feel liberating. So when truth feels 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.439 threatening, stronghold. It's because it's coming 00:07:56.439 --> 00:07:58.879 up against this stronghold in your life. Four, 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.110 they govern our behavior. Strongholds don't just 00:08:02.110 --> 00:08:04.670 affect how you think. They determine what you 00:08:04.670 --> 00:08:07.750 do. You'll find yourself acting out in ways that 00:08:07.750 --> 00:08:09.990 you don't even want to. You're not even sure 00:08:09.990 --> 00:08:11.949 where it came from. And it's obvious it's against 00:08:11.949 --> 00:08:14.110 what's best for you, but you're still doing it. 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:16.490 And that's because you've got this stronghold 00:08:16.490 --> 00:08:19.370 that needs to be torn down because you're trying 00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:22.129 to deal with behavior modification to change 00:08:22.129 --> 00:08:24.189 your behaviors. But this stronghold, this way 00:08:24.189 --> 00:08:26.970 of thinking that has just gotten reinforced again 00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:29.670 and again is what's dictating the direction that 00:08:29.670 --> 00:08:32.200 you're going. And so if you've got a stronghold 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:37.120 of rejection in your life, well, you'll end up 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:41.840 doing things that make no sense. Like you'll 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.340 sabotage really good relationships because you're 00:08:45.340 --> 00:08:47.899 expecting to be rejected. You're expecting to 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:49.919 be abandoned and you're not gonna put yourself 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.220 in a vulnerable place to be disappointed in that 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:54.740 way because of this stronghold. If you've got 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:57.740 the stronghold of control, then you'll micromanage 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.649 everything and create the very chaos You were 00:09:00.649 --> 00:09:02.809 so desperate to prevent. If you've got a stronghold 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:05.789 of unworthiness, it'll show up in your life by 00:09:05.789 --> 00:09:09.409 you working yourself to death, trying to earn 00:09:09.409 --> 00:09:12.490 love or by giving up completely because what's 00:09:12.490 --> 00:09:16.190 the point? You're just gonna blow it anyway. 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:19.669 And Paul, I think understood all of this. I think 00:09:19.669 --> 00:09:21.929 it's what he's talking about in Romans 7 when 00:09:21.929 --> 00:09:25.470 he says, I don't understand what I do for what 00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:27.669 I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:31.500 do. He's recognizing that sometimes his behavior 00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:35.919 and his actions go against what he wants. Why? 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:39.240 It's because there is this stronghold in his 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:45.039 life, in my life, that we are living from without 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:48.139 even recognizing it or knowing it. Neuroscience 00:09:48.139 --> 00:09:51.519 helps us understand this. So this is how neuroscience 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:57.940 and strongholds in scripture come together. What 00:09:57.940 --> 00:10:02.620 Paul calls a stronghold, neuroscience would call 00:10:02.620 --> 00:10:09.799 a neural pathway. That your mind has some trails 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:13.919 that have been established. And the first time 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.279 a thought goes through that trail, it's not gonna 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:19.740 weigh bushes and trees and clear in space, but 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:22.440 every thought you think is like a new hiker going 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.200 down that trail. And the more thoughts you think, 00:10:25.299 --> 00:10:28.120 the more times you think it, the more hikers 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.279 go through that trail, and eventually that trail 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.639 becomes a road, becomes a highway, because the 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:36.720 more a thought is repeated, the more that neural 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.360 pathway is established, or scripturally, the 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.299 stronger that stronghold becomes. Dr. Donald 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:44.980 Hebb, a neuroscientist, discovered a principle 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:48.039 that's known as Hebb's Law, to help us understand 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.500 this. Hebb's Law would say that neurons that 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:54.590 fire together wire together, every time you think 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:57.110 the same thought, you are strengthening a neural 00:10:57.110 --> 00:10:58.970 pathway. And if you think that thought enough 00:10:58.970 --> 00:11:02.450 times, it's where almost every thought you have 00:11:02.450 --> 00:11:06.610 gets sent down that pathway. So let's say you 00:11:06.610 --> 00:11:11.870 have this thought that gets seeded in your mind, 00:11:11.929 --> 00:11:15.370 maybe before you even remember, that says, I'm 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:21.190 not enough. I'm not enough. And you think that 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:22.769 thought and you think it again and you think 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:27.169 it 10 ,000 times. And now that thought has created 00:11:27.169 --> 00:11:30.049 a highway that is affecting everything you do, 00:11:30.149 --> 00:11:33.889 every relationship you have. It's affecting all 00:11:33.889 --> 00:11:37.269 the emotions that you're trying to monitor and 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:41.409 understand. It's all coming from this one super 00:11:41.409 --> 00:11:45.330 highway that God established. And so I wanna 00:11:45.330 --> 00:11:47.690 spend some time just identifying some of those 00:11:47.690 --> 00:11:51.799 strongholds. And so as I talk through this next 00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:53.799 section, what I'd love to do is just challenge 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:55.620 you to identify one or two strongholds in your 00:11:55.620 --> 00:11:58.080 life, some lies that you've believed, maybe you 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.440 don't recognize it as such, but just some things 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.179 that have been determining the direction of your 00:12:04.179 --> 00:12:07.519 life, some thoughts that you think subconsciously 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.240 that you're gonna really pay attention to. I 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.440 just wanna talk about where these strongholds 00:12:12.440 --> 00:12:15.100 come from as a way to help us identify them in 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:18.120 our own lives. First, they come from early and 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.159 frequent thinking, early and often thinking. 00:12:21.500 --> 00:12:25.320 When you are young, your brain, my brain, is 00:12:25.320 --> 00:12:28.379 when it's the most plastic, it's the most moldable. 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:30.639 And there's some strongholds that were passed 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.659 down to us that we never wanted and we didn't 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:38.240 intentionally choose. And it helps you understand, 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:42.559 like right now, why you respond the way you respond. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.580 Like why you react the way you react, why anger 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.519 surfaces the way it surfaces, why you feel like 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:52.659 you're at the mercy of your desires the way you're 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:54.960 at the mercy of your desires. It's because of 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.700 some ways your thinking was shaped when you were 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:00.779 young. Proverbs 22 verse six says, train up a 00:13:00.779 --> 00:13:02.539 child in the way he should go and when he's old, 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:04.960 he won't depart from it. It's not a promise, 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:07.740 it's a principle that's generally true. And when 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:10.659 taught, Proverbs 22 is usually taught, rightly 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:14.220 so, in a positive context. but you can flip it 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:17.700 and it's also true negatively. Like that foundation 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:21.159 that's built when a child is young has a way 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:24.639 of holding it, keeping a grip on that child as 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:27.299 they get older. And so if when you're young, 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:30.700 you're trained and you're taught, you can't trust 00:13:30.700 --> 00:13:33.820 anyone. Well, it's gonna be really difficult 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:35.679 to break that as you get older. You have to be 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.179 perfect to be loved. You can't control your emotions. 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:40.799 This is how you express your anger. Like all 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:45.320 of those things, are strongholds that are oftentimes 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.659 passed down to us when we're young. They literally 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:52.279 shape us and structure our brains and they need 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:57.360 to fall. Second is cognitive reinforcement. This 00:13:57.360 --> 00:13:59.460 is how some strongholds in your life have been 00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:02.139 formed. It's your instinct and my instinct to 00:14:02.139 --> 00:14:04.860 surround ourselves with voices and opinions that 00:14:04.860 --> 00:14:07.919 reinforce thoughts that we've had for a while. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:12.000 Cognitive reinforcement or sometimes confirmation 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.200 bias would be another way to talk about this 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:18.039 is what we naturally do when we start looking 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:23.220 for information and interpretation that reinforces 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:26.000 a thought that we've had. And we stay away from 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:28.620 information and interpretation that might challenge 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:32.159 a thought that we've been thinking. So, okay, 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:34.620 let's say. the thought that you've had is people 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:36.860 always let me down. If that's a stronghold in 00:14:36.860 --> 00:14:39.500 your life, then confirmation bias will lead you 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:42.320 to, in a relationship, look for ways that that's 00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.639 true while ignoring ways it's not. So if the 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:47.299 stronghold is people are always gonna let me 00:14:47.299 --> 00:14:49.679 down and you're married, what you're gonna find 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:53.519 yourself doing is just subconsciously, you're 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.179 not doing it on purpose, but you're gonna look 00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:58.299 for ways that that's true. You're gonna look 00:14:58.299 --> 00:15:01.299 for evidence. See, I knew that this was true. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:04.419 The neural pathway in your mind is gonna look 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:06.639 for evidence that reinforces that thought and 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.980 it's gonna ignore the examples that would challenge 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:12.399 it. And so part of taking your thoughts captive 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:15.259 and my thoughts captive is to recognize how this 00:15:15.259 --> 00:15:19.179 is happening. Social media has intensified cognitive 00:15:19.179 --> 00:15:22.700 reinforcement because algorithms, essentially 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:26.899 what they are, algorithms pay attention to what 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:28.759 you're thinking and reinforce it. That's what 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:35.039 an algorithm does. So if your thinking is, I 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.059 am so overwhelmed, the world is falling apart, 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:39.200 your algorithm has picked up on that, even if 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:40.419 you don't know that's what you're thinking. It's 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:42.019 picked up on your anxiety. And you know what 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:45.559 it does? It gives you a lot more reasons to think 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:49.200 the world is falling apart. It fills, your algorithm 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.980 gets filled up with evidence that says, yep, 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:55.039 you're right, the world is falling apart. If 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:57.980 the stronghold in your life is everyone is against 00:15:57.980 --> 00:16:01.000 me, I'm a victim, everybody's against me. Then 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.940 the algorithm has picked up on that and it's 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:06.120 just gonna reinforce that thinking. It's gonna 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:08.179 give you all kinds of evidence of yep, everybody's 00:16:08.179 --> 00:16:10.240 against you and here's communities that you can 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.159 be a part of where everybody's against them too. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:17.580 Strongholds only get stronger when we don't pay 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:21.360 attention to what our thoughts are thinking about, 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:23.399 to the content that we're exposed to. Thirdly 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:26.779 is emotional association. Our thoughts. are strongly 00:16:26.779 --> 00:16:29.259 connected to emotions when it comes to forming 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:32.600 lasting patterns. This is why thoughts that you 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:36.240 have during a time of trauma or rejection or 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:39.659 intense loss or intense grief will create, without 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:41.580 you even knowing it, will create a stronghold. 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:44.539 That a thought that you have during an intense 00:16:44.539 --> 00:16:47.559 time of loss or grief or something traumatic 00:16:48.220 --> 00:16:50.419 will create a stronghold. Even though you haven't 00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:52.539 thought it repeatedly, it gets connected to that 00:16:52.539 --> 00:16:55.500 emotion and that pathway gets established. And 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:58.299 so one painful rejection can create a stronghold 00:16:58.299 --> 00:17:02.580 that says, I'm not lovable. And it will have 00:17:02.580 --> 00:17:06.000 a grip on your heart. One traumatic event can 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:07.680 build a stronghold that says, people just don't 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:10.839 understand me. Nobody understands me. And it'll 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:14.259 cause you to build walls around your life. Fourth 00:17:14.259 --> 00:17:16.720 is generational patterns. Some strongholds are 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.660 passed down through families, not genetically, 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:23.039 but through repeated patterns of thinking, of 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:26.900 speaking, of believing, and it just gets transmitted 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:30.039 from child to parent, from child to parent. This 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:34.660 is why some of you, you said to yourself, I can 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:37.380 tell you one thing, I'm not gonna handle stress 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:41.529 the way my mom does or the way my dad does. And 00:17:41.529 --> 00:17:43.150 yet when you're stressed, you find yourself doing 00:17:43.150 --> 00:17:47.150 it. And I'm not gonna be angry. I'm not gonna 00:17:47.150 --> 00:17:49.690 react in anger the way that I experienced growing 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:52.150 up. But when you get angry, it's what you find 00:17:52.150 --> 00:17:56.150 yourself doing. And I'm not gonna turn to some 00:17:56.150 --> 00:17:58.930 substance when I feel stressed out or overwhelmed. 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:02.329 And yet when you feel stressed out or overwhelmed, 00:18:02.410 --> 00:18:05.730 you find yourself doing that. These generational 00:18:05.730 --> 00:18:09.210 patterns. There's an old illustration. It's been 00:18:09.210 --> 00:18:11.619 around for a while. But I think, Perfectly illustrates 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:13.519 what it looks like when strongholds get passed 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.880 down generationally. The story goes like this, 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:19.960 that there was a young couple on their first 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:24.180 Thanksgiving together. The new bride was preparing 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.420 the Thanksgiving turkey and the husband was watching 00:18:26.420 --> 00:18:29.259 as she did it. And he watched as she cut off 00:18:29.259 --> 00:18:30.920 both ends of the turkey, stuck it in the pan 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:32.359 and then put it in the oven. The husband says 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:34.200 to the wife, why did you do that? Why'd you cut 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:35.920 up both ends of the turkey? It's perfectly good 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.200 turkey. She said, I don't know. That's just how 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:40.759 you do it. That's how you cook a turkey. That's 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:42.500 how my mom always cooked a turkey. Cut off both 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:43.799 ends, put it in the pan, stick it in the oven. 00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:47.019 And the husband thought, well, that's really 00:18:47.019 --> 00:18:50.180 weird. But maybe he's wrong. Like maybe that 00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:51.640 is how you're supposed to cook a turkey. And 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:53.559 so he called his mother -in -law and said to 00:18:53.559 --> 00:18:55.559 his mother -in -law, when you cook a turkey, 00:18:55.619 --> 00:18:57.759 do you cut off both ends of the turkey before 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.119 putting it in the oven? The mother -in -law said, 00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:02.019 well, yeah, that's how you do it. That's how 00:19:02.019 --> 00:19:03.839 you cook a turkey. You cut off both ends. Why 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:05.819 do you do it that way? The mother -in -law says, 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:08.029 why? I don't know exactly, but that's the way 00:19:08.029 --> 00:19:10.650 my mom always did it. So the next day he calls 00:19:10.650 --> 00:19:14.130 grandma, says, grandma, when you cook a turkey, 00:19:14.390 --> 00:19:17.410 how do you cook the turkey? Do you cut off both 00:19:17.410 --> 00:19:18.849 ends and put it in the pan and stick it in the 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:20.430 oven? And the grandma laughed and said, well, 00:19:20.490 --> 00:19:24.089 yeah, that's how I cook the turkey because my 00:19:24.089 --> 00:19:26.529 oven is really small. And so I had to have a 00:19:26.529 --> 00:19:28.609 small pan. So I had to make the turkey fit the 00:19:28.609 --> 00:19:30.690 pan to fit in the oven. And you've got three 00:19:30.690 --> 00:19:34.789 generations of turkey cookers wasting all kinds 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:40.240 of, Perfectly good turkey. And this is where 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:47.740 some of us are. That you've received some strongholds 00:19:47.740 --> 00:19:53.339 that are like twisted family heirlooms. Here's 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:56.599 grandma's china. Here's your dad's watch. Here's 00:19:56.599 --> 00:19:58.859 three generations of trust issues. Good luck. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.799 It's just gotten passed down from one generation 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:04.799 to the next. Somewhere back in your family line, 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:08.500 someone started believing a lie. They didn't 00:20:08.500 --> 00:20:10.599 mean to. They didn't even know they were doing 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:12.460 it at the time. They certainly didn't realize 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:16.059 they'd transferred it onto you. But maybe it 00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:17.940 was because of their circumstances or maybe because 00:20:17.940 --> 00:20:19.740 of their pain or maybe because of their limited 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:23.720 perspective. But that lie got passed down from 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:27.220 one generation to the next. Ezekiel 18 though 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:32.000 says that these generational patterns These generational 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.859 strongholds can be broken. And it's one of my 00:20:35.859 --> 00:20:38.240 favorite things about being a pastor in this 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:44.740 church. As almost every week I witness it. Of 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:48.319 someone saying, by God's grace and with the help 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:51.559 of the Holy Spirit, it stops with me. It stops 00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:59.859 with me. A person recognizes the way their family 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:03.630 has operated. under a stronghold of fear, under 00:21:03.630 --> 00:21:05.630 a stronghold of addiction, under a stronghold 00:21:05.630 --> 00:21:09.730 of control or of anger or rejection. And they 00:21:09.730 --> 00:21:14.309 say, not anymore. It stops with me. And part 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:17.670 of this is understanding the fifth factor, and 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:22.150 that is, it's spiritual warfare at its heart. 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:29.329 Spiritual warfare. The Bible calls, Our enemy, 00:21:29.430 --> 00:21:33.890 the father of lies in John 8. His job from the 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:35.609 time you were born is to get you to buy into 00:21:35.609 --> 00:21:37.049 a few of these lies. Because if he can get you 00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:39.609 to believe this lie and establish a stronghold 00:21:39.609 --> 00:21:41.970 in your heart by the thoughts you think, then 00:21:41.970 --> 00:21:44.210 his job is done. He doesn't really have to do 00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:45.569 anything else. The stronghold will do what the 00:21:45.569 --> 00:21:49.289 stronghold does. Think about this. If Satan can 00:21:49.289 --> 00:21:51.210 get you to think, God doesn't really care about 00:21:51.210 --> 00:21:55.630 me. If he can get you to say that out loud and 00:21:55.630 --> 00:21:58.200 think that over your own life, then it affects 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.839 everything. It keeps you from prayer. It keeps 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:03.019 you from believing God's promises. It keeps you 00:22:03.019 --> 00:22:06.759 from having a relationship with God. If he can 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:11.420 just get you to focus on a few failures or inadequacies 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:14.319 or insecurities and convince you to believe this 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:16.319 thought you're not worthy of love, then he can 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:18.859 create a fortress around your life that will 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:21.700 sabotage you from all the good God wants you 00:22:21.700 --> 00:22:24.619 to have and walking with him and sharing life 00:22:24.619 --> 00:22:27.500 with others. And so this is why when we talk 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:29.099 about taking our thoughts captive, we're not 00:22:29.099 --> 00:22:31.960 so much talking about psychology, we're talking 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:35.680 about spiritual warfare. So what is a stronghold 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:39.839 in your life that needs to fall? Can you identify 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:44.200 it? I was at a men's conference, speaking at 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:46.180 a men's conference a few years ago, and I sat 00:22:46.180 --> 00:22:48.579 down at a table with a group of men, and we were 00:22:48.579 --> 00:22:50.859 focusing on this idea of strongholds and trying 00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:53.519 to identify them, specifically looking at these... 00:22:54.059 --> 00:22:56.019 strongholds that we'd had since we were perhaps 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:59.700 boys that were affecting our lives now as men. 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:02.799 And we just went around the table to share the 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:05.660 strongholds. And so Joe went first and Joe said, 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:08.339 I didn't think it was okay to be sad. And he 00:23:08.339 --> 00:23:10.799 grew up in a home where the expectation was to 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.700 be happy no matter what, all the time, real men 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:18.559 aren't sad. Being sad is for weak people. And 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.200 so when his family dog died, And he cried. He 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.579 remembers his dad teasing him. And now Joe, because 00:23:25.579 --> 00:23:27.700 of the stronghold of it's okay not to be sad, 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.940 he deals with lots of loneliness in his life. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.619 Why? Because when he's sad, it doesn't feel like 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:35.660 it's okay to share that with anybody. So he keeps 00:23:35.660 --> 00:23:38.900 his sadness to himself. And that's really isolating. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.460 And it's really lonely. And Joe deals with anger 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:44.640 because of this stronghold. Why? Well, because 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.460 what he learned as a boy is it's not okay to 00:23:47.460 --> 00:23:49.819 be sad. Being sad is a masculine. But it's okay 00:23:49.819 --> 00:23:53.220 to be angry. And so every time he's sad, it shows 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:57.140 up as anger and he's been angry a lot. Around 00:23:57.140 --> 00:24:01.380 the table we go, Mike identifies his stronghold. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:06.420 I thought of women as objects. Mike's parents 00:24:06.420 --> 00:24:08.299 divorced when he was six and he would stay at 00:24:08.299 --> 00:24:10.400 his father's house. He had easy access to his 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:13.319 dad's collection of porn. He was hooked by the 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.930 time he was 11. When he got married, he thought 00:24:16.930 --> 00:24:19.349 marriage would break that stronghold in his life, 00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:22.250 but it didn't. Instead, what he did was, without 00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:25.430 meaning to, is he sent his wife down that neural 00:24:25.430 --> 00:24:32.609 pathway of objectification. And he looked at 00:24:32.609 --> 00:24:35.950 her as someone who existed to satisfy him. He 00:24:35.950 --> 00:24:37.930 put pressure on her, was demanding with her. 00:24:38.230 --> 00:24:40.369 She became bitter and resentful. They divorced 00:24:40.369 --> 00:24:46.430 after three years. Around the table. Scott Stronghold, 00:24:46.549 --> 00:24:48.930 I thought my worth was determined by how much 00:24:48.930 --> 00:24:52.009 money I made. He grew up thinking that success 00:24:52.009 --> 00:24:55.069 in life was determined by the income he made, 00:24:55.109 --> 00:24:56.910 the car he drove, the house he lived in, the 00:24:56.910 --> 00:24:59.569 vacations he went on. And look, he was surrounded 00:24:59.569 --> 00:25:02.829 by kind of real life algorithms, real life examples 00:25:02.829 --> 00:25:06.089 that reinforce this thinking that the measure 00:25:06.089 --> 00:25:07.930 of his worth was determined by how much he was 00:25:07.930 --> 00:25:11.690 worth. And what he could see now as a man in 00:25:11.690 --> 00:25:17.670 his mid fifties is that that stronghold has directed 00:25:17.670 --> 00:25:21.829 every major decision of his life. Like every 00:25:21.829 --> 00:25:25.049 major decision has been filtered through this 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:28.809 lie that my worth is determined by how much money 00:25:28.809 --> 00:25:33.049 I can make. He wasn't thinking about legacy or 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:36.970 eternity or God's will or God's kingdom. And 00:25:36.970 --> 00:25:39.690 on around the table we went, the next one that 00:25:39.690 --> 00:25:41.910 got identified, the next stronghold that got 00:25:41.910 --> 00:25:44.519 identified is, I thought I couldn't ask for help. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:49.460 And that one was mine. And I've shared this with 00:25:49.460 --> 00:25:53.059 you before, but I don't remember ever intentionally 00:25:53.059 --> 00:25:56.140 thinking this. But somewhere along the line, 00:25:56.220 --> 00:25:58.799 I picked up on this idea and thought it and then 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:01.339 kept thinking it, that it's okay to help people, 00:26:01.420 --> 00:26:03.619 but it's not okay to ask for help from people. 00:26:05.460 --> 00:26:08.519 My thinking, this stronghold convinced me that 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:11.500 asking for help was the same as admitting failure. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:14.859 And so if I ask for help, I'm calling myself 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:19.400 a failure. I didn't want to do that. This thinking, 00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:21.640 this stronghold convinced me that it's okay to 00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:24.920 be someone who rescues. It's okay to be a rescuer, 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:27.079 but you don't want to be somebody who needs rescued. 00:26:28.500 --> 00:26:31.619 And that seemed to work okay. Like that stronghold 00:26:31.619 --> 00:26:36.329 seemed to work okay until it didn't. And I can 00:26:36.329 --> 00:26:38.369 tell you in our early years of marriage and we're 00:26:38.369 --> 00:26:40.109 working through some things and trying to figure 00:26:40.109 --> 00:26:43.089 some things out, my young wife would say, hey, 00:26:43.150 --> 00:26:46.670 why don't we just ask somebody for help as we 00:26:46.670 --> 00:26:51.069 navigate this? And in my mind, that wasn't an 00:26:51.069 --> 00:26:55.329 option. No, we can't. I got this. I can fix this. 00:26:55.390 --> 00:26:57.930 We'll figure this out. I'm not gonna ask somebody 00:26:57.930 --> 00:26:59.630 for help. When we're in the thick of parenting 00:26:59.630 --> 00:27:01.950 and we're trying things that just clearly aren't 00:27:01.950 --> 00:27:05.559 working. And my wife says, why don't you just 00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:09.680 ask someone for help? At your job, you're surrounded 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:11.480 by people who can help you with this. Why don't 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:15.000 you just ask someone for help? I'll figure this 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.319 out. It's fine. I've got this under control. 00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:24.140 And here's what I finally had to recognize is 00:27:24.140 --> 00:27:26.839 that this thought, I can't ask someone for help, 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.400 it wasn't just holding me captive. It was holding 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:31.740 my wife captive. It was holding my children captive. 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:36.480 It was holding people I lead captive. Around 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:41.759 the table we go. What's yours? What's a stronghold 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:46.299 that has had its grip on your life long enough? 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:49.339 And how do we fight the strongholds? Go back 00:27:49.339 --> 00:27:51.460 to 2 Corinthians 10. The weapons we fight against 00:27:51.460 --> 00:27:53.539 are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, 00:27:53.740 --> 00:27:57.400 these weapons, divine weapons, have the power, 00:27:57.539 --> 00:27:59.720 divine power, to demolish strongholds. Okay, 00:27:59.740 --> 00:28:04.299 what are we talking about, God? You got a nuclear 00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:07.420 arsenal up there? You've got some weapon that 00:28:07.420 --> 00:28:09.420 I don't know about where you just push that button 00:28:09.420 --> 00:28:13.400 and this stronghold just explodes once and for 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:16.539 all? What weapons are you talking about? Well, 00:28:16.660 --> 00:28:21.279 you keep reading. Weapons he gives us, thoughts 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:26.880 and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. This is the 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.519 Almighty's strategy for breaking some strongholds 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.460 in your life. Thinking differently. Why? Because 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:36.660 he created your brain. He understands concepts 00:28:36.660 --> 00:28:39.720 of neuroplasticity. He knows that if you can 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:41.859 change the way you think, it'll change your brain, 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.579 it'll position you to experience his transforming 00:28:44.579 --> 00:28:48.359 power. That when you start to take biblical truth 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:51.299 and scriptures and replace the lies with his 00:28:51.299 --> 00:28:57.359 truth, transformation happens. So how do we take 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.960 our thoughts captive or to borrow a term from 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:05.220 neuroscience, cognitive repraisal? How does cognitive 00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:08.779 repraisal happen? Well, here's how it works. 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:13.500 First, you recognize the lie. You have to identify 00:29:13.500 --> 00:29:17.220 the lie. Now look, what most of us do is we identify 00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:19.579 the behavior rather than the lie that's led to 00:29:19.579 --> 00:29:21.940 the behavior. Like even as I've tried to ask 00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:24.319 you to identify a stronghold in your life, likely, 00:29:24.519 --> 00:29:26.720 and this is what I would do too, likely what 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.180 you've done is you've tried to identify a behavior. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:33.819 a way you react, a way that you respond to people, 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:35.640 an addiction that you've been struggling with. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:37.880 And you think the stronghold is the behavior, 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.380 but the Bible would say the stronghold isn't 00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:42.680 the behavior. The stronghold is the lie that's 00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:46.299 led to the behavior. It's identifying the lie. 00:29:48.099 --> 00:29:51.000 Secondly, replace with truth. You find God's 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.660 truth that directly contradicts the lie. It's 00:29:53.660 --> 00:29:57.039 not about positive thinking. It's about identifying 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:01.779 a scripture that speaks truth into that and then 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:04.420 aligning your thoughts with God's thoughts. Recognize 00:30:04.420 --> 00:30:06.380 the lie, replace with truth. Number three, you 00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:08.880 reinforce the truth with community and content. 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:15.059 Strongholds are reinforced in isolation. The 00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:16.960 moment you share your struggle with a trusted 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:20.599 Christian friend or in a small group, the moment 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:22.640 that stronghold will lose some of its grip on 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:27.200 your life. So you reinforce the truth with community 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:31.210 and then with content. You pay attention to what 00:30:31.210 --> 00:30:32.730 you're thinking about, to what you're exposing 00:30:32.730 --> 00:30:36.210 your mind to, to the algorithms that are establishing 00:30:36.210 --> 00:30:39.829 these pathways in your brain. And so I just wanted 00:30:39.829 --> 00:30:42.109 to end by getting real practical. I don't know 00:30:42.109 --> 00:30:44.150 what stronghold you've identified, but I tried 00:30:44.150 --> 00:30:46.210 to pick a few common ones and walk through what 00:30:46.210 --> 00:30:48.910 this looks like. So let's just start with the 00:30:48.910 --> 00:30:52.089 stronghold of control. If you're not in control 00:30:52.089 --> 00:30:54.190 of something, you feel anxious, you feel overwhelmed, 00:30:54.369 --> 00:30:56.869 you're constantly concerned with the what if 00:30:56.869 --> 00:31:00.250 and what might happen, And all these things you 00:31:00.250 --> 00:31:02.109 know you don't have control over, whether it's 00:31:02.109 --> 00:31:05.329 circumstances in life or global events or whether 00:31:05.329 --> 00:31:07.730 it's the emotions of the person sitting next 00:31:07.730 --> 00:31:10.329 to you. It's a stronghold of control. So recognize 00:31:10.329 --> 00:31:12.710 the lie. Don't pay attention to the behavior 00:31:12.710 --> 00:31:14.789 as much as you pay attention to the lie. I believe 00:31:14.789 --> 00:31:17.690 the lie that I have to manage every outcome or 00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:19.809 everything will fall apart. And if I don't control 00:31:19.809 --> 00:31:22.250 it, it won't work out. And I don't know where 00:31:22.250 --> 00:31:25.470 that lie came from. Maybe because of some people 00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:28.069 who've let you down and you just recognize that 00:31:28.069 --> 00:31:31.869 unless I'm in charge of it, it's gonna fall apart, 00:31:32.049 --> 00:31:35.430 but that's a lie. And so you recognize the lie 00:31:35.430 --> 00:31:39.009 and then you replace it with truth. You find 00:31:39.009 --> 00:31:41.289 a scripture and whenever that thought starts 00:31:41.289 --> 00:31:44.349 to take root, you replace it with scripture. 00:31:44.549 --> 00:31:46.569 Proverbs 3, 5, trust in the Lord with all your 00:31:46.569 --> 00:31:48.069 heart and lean not on your own understanding. 00:31:48.470 --> 00:31:51.329 1 Peter 5, 7, cast all your anxiety on God because 00:31:51.329 --> 00:31:54.319 he cares for you. Romans 8, 28, God works all 00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:56.960 things together for good for those who love him 00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.339 and are called according to his purpose. And 00:31:59.339 --> 00:32:02.720 then you reinforce that with community and with 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:04.920 content. What's that look like? Well, it means 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.019 that you share your struggle with control, your 00:32:07.019 --> 00:32:12.079 anxiety with a trusted friend who can call you 00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:15.240 on it when you start spiraling or you start micromanaging. 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:17.420 It means that you're gonna limit the content 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:20.880 that reinforces the idea of all these things 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:23.930 that might happen. reinforced with community 00:32:23.930 --> 00:32:26.529 and with content. Second, stronghold, as an example, 00:32:26.529 --> 00:32:28.930 would be one that I think almost all of us have, 00:32:29.049 --> 00:32:31.589 although we're often unaware of it. It's the 00:32:31.589 --> 00:32:34.109 stronghold of shame. And so you recognize the 00:32:34.109 --> 00:32:36.309 lie. I believe the lie that my past mistakes 00:32:36.309 --> 00:32:39.490 define my worth and that I'm too broken for God 00:32:39.490 --> 00:32:43.190 to use me or to love me fully. You recognize 00:32:43.190 --> 00:32:47.609 the lie that says, I'm too broken. And then you 00:32:47.609 --> 00:32:50.420 replace it with truth. Romans 8 .1, there's no 00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:52.079 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:55.559 1 John 1 .9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful 00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:58.160 and just to forgive us our sins. Isaiah 53, he 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:03.200 took our shame upon himself. As I told many people 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:05.259 who were baptized a few weeks ago, the shame 00:33:05.259 --> 00:33:07.519 that you've been carrying stays in this water. 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:09.779 You don't walk out of here carrying the same 00:33:09.779 --> 00:33:12.059 shame that you came in here with. Jesus has taken 00:33:12.059 --> 00:33:15.039 it upon himself. 2 Corinthians 5, I'm a new creation 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:17.299 in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come. 00:33:17.950 --> 00:33:19.809 And then you would reinforce that with community 00:33:19.809 --> 00:33:23.809 and with content. That means that you find safe 00:33:23.809 --> 00:33:25.710 Christian community where you can be honest about 00:33:25.710 --> 00:33:28.569 your struggles without feeling fear of judgment 00:33:28.569 --> 00:33:32.490 or condemnation. And then it means that you pay 00:33:32.490 --> 00:33:34.549 attention maybe to some testimonies. You listen 00:33:34.549 --> 00:33:38.269 to testimonies of how God has redeemed people's 00:33:38.269 --> 00:33:41.609 shame and guilt and brought good. And his grace 00:33:41.609 --> 00:33:43.910 has been demonstrated in the lives of others. 00:33:44.130 --> 00:33:46.250 Let me give you one more. It's the stronghold 00:33:46.250 --> 00:33:51.500 of victimhood. Where you're at the mercy of your 00:33:51.500 --> 00:33:56.460 thoughts that says, look what somebody else has 00:33:56.460 --> 00:33:59.799 done to me. And you recognize the lie. I believe 00:33:59.799 --> 00:34:01.940 the lie that I'm powerless to change my circumstances 00:34:01.940 --> 00:34:04.779 or my responses because of what happened to me. 00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:07.400 I have no choice but to stay stuck because of 00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:10.099 what this person did to me or because of life 00:34:10.099 --> 00:34:12.369 circumstances. And you replace it with truth. 00:34:12.510 --> 00:34:14.809 Philippians 4, 13. I can do all things through 00:34:14.809 --> 00:34:17.630 Christ who strengthens me. 2 Peter 1. He has 00:34:17.630 --> 00:34:19.969 given us everything we need for life and godliness. 00:34:20.150 --> 00:34:22.889 1 John 4, verse 4. Greater is he that is in you 00:34:22.889 --> 00:34:24.530 than he that is in the world. And again, Romans 00:34:24.530 --> 00:34:26.809 8, 28. God causes all things to work together 00:34:26.809 --> 00:34:29.690 for good. And you reinforce that with community 00:34:29.690 --> 00:34:31.789 and content. You surround yourself with people 00:34:31.789 --> 00:34:34.289 who will encourage you and your growth rather 00:34:34.289 --> 00:34:37.030 than enable your excuses. They'll challenge you 00:34:37.030 --> 00:34:40.650 when they hear you start making excuses. And 00:34:40.650 --> 00:34:42.289 you seek out stories of people who've overcome 00:34:42.289 --> 00:34:44.769 difficult circumstances because of God's strength, 00:34:44.869 --> 00:34:46.730 and you remind yourself that's true for me too. 00:34:48.030 --> 00:34:50.530 Scripture, through the power of the Holy Spirit, 00:34:50.730 --> 00:34:53.750 will bring down strongholds in your life that 00:34:53.750 --> 00:34:58.449 seem impossible to tear down. Strongholds are 00:34:58.449 --> 00:35:00.789 built through repeated exposure to lies. They 00:35:00.789 --> 00:35:03.190 are demolished through repeated exposure to truth. 00:35:03.389 --> 00:35:07.050 Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian neuroscientist, 00:35:07.130 --> 00:35:10.809 talks about how it takes a... 21 days -ish to 00:35:10.809 --> 00:35:13.590 begin breaking down a toxic thought pattern. 00:35:13.710 --> 00:35:16.610 And it takes about 63 days to establish a new 00:35:16.610 --> 00:35:20.670 healthy pattern. God can tear down some strongholds 00:35:20.670 --> 00:35:23.210 in your life supernaturally. And then in the 00:35:23.210 --> 00:35:25.050 days ahead, as you take your thoughts captive, 00:35:25.230 --> 00:35:29.849 he replaces them with new life -giving truths. 00:35:30.809 --> 00:35:33.050 I believe God is calling some people in this 00:35:33.050 --> 00:35:39.829 room to say, it stops with me. to be a generation 00:35:39.829 --> 00:35:42.269 that breaks strongholds. Some of you right now, 00:35:42.309 --> 00:35:44.369 you don't know it, but you are sitting on the 00:35:44.369 --> 00:35:46.750 edge of either passing down some strongholds 00:35:46.750 --> 00:35:50.869 or breaking them. The lies that have held you 00:35:50.869 --> 00:35:54.670 or held your family captive for generations must 00:35:54.670 --> 00:35:59.530 fall. Patterns of anger and addiction and anxiety 00:35:59.530 --> 00:36:03.510 and control, they don't have to be true for you 00:36:03.510 --> 00:36:05.570 and they don't have to define the next generation. 00:36:06.329 --> 00:36:09.010 So I just wanna challenge you, in the next few 00:36:09.010 --> 00:36:11.110 minutes to identify a stronghold that needs to 00:36:11.110 --> 00:36:14.130 fall. Write it down, not the behavior, the lie 00:36:14.130 --> 00:36:15.889 that you've been believing that's led to it. 00:36:16.429 --> 00:36:19.650 Find one scripture verse that speaks truth against 00:36:19.650 --> 00:36:23.570 that lie. Share it with a trusted friend who'll 00:36:23.570 --> 00:36:26.369 help you fight the battle because that stronghold 00:36:26.369 --> 00:36:29.949 has had enough time to rule your life. And this 00:36:29.949 --> 00:36:32.989 morning, by the power of Jesus and the power 00:36:32.989 --> 00:36:35.630 of the Holy Spirit, it's time for that stronghold 00:36:35.630 --> 00:36:40.159 to fall once and for all. Let's pray. Jesus, 00:36:40.260 --> 00:36:44.019 this is not a message about the power of positive 00:36:44.019 --> 00:36:47.940 thinking or it's a message about surrendering 00:36:47.940 --> 00:36:50.820 our thoughts to you, of recognizing how the enemy 00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:54.500 has set up camp and built these strongholds maybe 00:36:54.500 --> 00:36:56.500 over the years, maybe since before we can even 00:36:56.500 --> 00:36:59.219 remember that has had so much control over our 00:36:59.219 --> 00:37:02.059 lives and over your plan for who you want us 00:37:02.059 --> 00:37:06.739 to be. So Jesus, would you give us the humility 00:37:06.739 --> 00:37:09.280 and the courage? Would you give us the eyes to 00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:14.079 see these strongholds that have been built? God, 00:37:14.199 --> 00:37:16.039 if we hear some of this and we're immediately 00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:18.820 defensive and we're immediately feeling threatened 00:37:18.820 --> 00:37:21.980 and the things that you've brought to the surface 00:37:21.980 --> 00:37:24.940 in our minds over the last few minutes, we don't 00:37:24.940 --> 00:37:26.800 wanna think about, would you help us to recognize 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:29.719 that that's all the more likely that it's a stronghold 00:37:29.719 --> 00:37:33.320 that needs to be dealt with? And so Jesus, I 00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:36.710 just ask you that you would, work supernaturally 00:37:36.710 --> 00:37:39.429 in this room over the next few minutes, that 00:37:39.429 --> 00:37:43.329 we would experience your power as you break strongholds 00:37:43.329 --> 00:37:46.090 that have been passed down and that we find freedom 00:37:46.090 --> 00:37:51.530 in you, supernatural freedom. We fight with your 00:37:51.530 --> 00:37:54.570 divine weapons and we do it together. We help 00:37:54.570 --> 00:37:57.010 one another along the way. Would you work in 00:37:57.010 --> 00:37:59.630 that way through the power of your son, Jesus, 00:37:59.750 --> 00:38:05.440 in his name we pray, amen. This is Living on 00:38:05.440 --> 00:38:08.519 the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30 00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:10.699 years, Living on the Edge has been committed 00:38:10.699 --> 00:38:13.239 to one mission, helping believers understand 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:16.860 what it truly means to follow Jesus. Not religious 00:38:16.860 --> 00:38:19.800 activity, not trying harder, but relational, 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:23.519 practical, measurable Christianity that transforms 00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:27.679 every area of life. Messages like today's exist 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:29.980 because partners believe this mission matters. 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:33.099 When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping 00:38:33.099 --> 00:38:36.179 Christians discover God's power, peace, purpose, 00:38:36.460 --> 00:38:39.539 presence, and perspective. You're investing in 00:38:39.539 --> 00:38:42.019 clear biblical teaching that moves people from 00:38:42.019 --> 00:38:45.760 confusion to clarity, from exhaustion to experiencing 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.880 God's best. Would you join this mission today? 00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:53.480 Give online at livingontheedge .org or call us 00:38:53.480 --> 00:38:58.719 at 888 - 333 -6003. You can also mail your gift 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:02.820 to Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta, 00:39:03.099 --> 00:39:07.480 Georgia, 30024. Want more content throughout 00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:10.780 the week? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and 00:39:10.780 --> 00:39:14.300 YouTube. Just search for Living on the Edge on 00:39:14.300 --> 00:39:17.400 Facebook and Instagram. And then for all of our 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:20.019 video content, subscribe to Chip Ingram's YouTube 00:39:20.019 --> 00:39:23.070 channel when you're there. Well, that wraps up 00:39:23.070 --> 00:39:25.710 today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching 00:39:25.710 --> 00:39:28.630 message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon 00:39:28.630 --> 00:39:34.989 Podcast. Today's program is produced and sponsored 00:39:34.989 --> 00:39:36.530 by Living on the Edge.