Beginning in chapter 10 of 2nd Corinthians, until the end of his letter, Paul will use these final words to address those false leaders and those false teachers who had infiltrated the church in his absence. They were really trying to undermine his authority and undermine his ministry as an apostle of Jesus Christ. So if you're not there already, let's turn our Bibles to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10, and we will read these first six verses, which will be our text this morning. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 1-6. Paul writes, Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent, am bold toward 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 walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not human, they're not fleshly, but mighty. They are mighty weapons through God to the pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted 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. What we learn from these verses is that Paul knew that the opposition that he faced from those false leaders and those false teachers that had infiltrated the Corinthian church, it was not just about interpersonal conflict. It was not just about the personalities of those involved. Perhaps you've experienced that kind of conflict sometime in your life, maybe in a workplace setting, where you just met someone and their personality does not just mesh with yours. And so there's conflict, conflict because of just the nature of who we are and the nature of who they are. Well, this conflict that was taking place with Paul and these false leaders and these false teachers that had come in and really tried to take over the Corinthian church and really undermine Paul's authority. This was not that kind of conflict. In fact, Paul understood that this was nothing less than a spiritual battle. It was nothing less than spiritual conflict. It wasn't God bringing those people into that church. It was actually the devil bringing those people into the church to create strife and discord and division in that church. And so Paul, even though he is hundreds of miles away, he wants to help the church deal with this conflict. And so he explained to them and he's explaining to us this morning just how we as Christians ought to fight this good fight of faith that we are in. You see, the conflicts that we experience as Christians, it's not just about interpersonal relationships. It's not just about interpersonal conflict or personality issues. It really is a spiritual battle. There really is a spiritual warfare going on. We spent a little time during our discipleship hour discussing how Jesus Christ, one of his primary ministries, was casting out devils. casting out demons that had possessed people. And so we see that ever since then, even today, there is still a spiritual battle being waged for our lives, our hearts, and even for our church. Paul wants us to be well armed for this conflict and this fight. And this really is not an unfamiliar theme for us in the New Testament. In Ephesians 6, verse 11, Paul says, put on the whole armor of God. Why? So that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And the devil is a wily adversary. He is someone that has all sorts of different kinds of devices to try to get at us and try to discourage us, to try to depress us and get us out of the ministry that God has called us to. And then Paul, of course, in Ephesians 6 that we're familiar with, lists all kinds of spiritual components of that armor, the helmet, the breastplate and all of these different things. Well, Paul was not just one to explain how to fight the good fight of faith, though he does that in many different passages. Paul also serves to us as an example of how to fight the good fight of faith. He didn't just say one thing and do another. He said it and practiced what he preached. The verses that we just read revealed to us the weapons of our warfare as Christians that Paul utilized himself in dealing with this conflict with those people, those individuals who are taking authority upon themselves right there in that Corinthian church. And so he is using the weapons of our Christian warfare. And we're going to see that more closely here in a moment. But it is these weapons that we need to use in the spiritual battles and the spiritual conflicts that we experience every single day, whether it's conflict with our sin or conflict with the world around us, conflict with others that are trying to discourage us in our walk and our relationship with God. In fact, Peter reminds us of this reality in 1 Peter 5a. We need to be sober and vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, is walking about seeking whom he may devout. Sometimes we forget that we still have an enemy. We still have an enemy that is waging war against our souls. The devil is still out there waging a war against your soul. He's still out there waging a war against the souls of your family. He's still out there waging a war against the soul of our own church. He would like nothing more than to diminish our effectiveness and our witness and our testimony to the world around us by distracting us with all the cares of this world and keeping us suppressed. So we need to not only learn about the weapons of our warfare, but we need to use them as well. We need to use them just as Paul is using them with that conflict with those individuals in the Corinthian church. And so the first weapon that Paul uses by example that we see in verse one is the way of Christ, the way of Jesus Christ. Again, Paul begins this new section of this letter when he says, Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you, but being absent and bold towards you. Now, if Paul is trying to fight the good fight of faith, and a lot of times we think of fights as being two hostile forces coming at each other with all of their vengeance, with all of their strength and all of their might. But if Paul is trying to fight the good fight of faith in these verses, these words don't sound at all like fighting words, do they? Not really. Not when he's saying, I'm coming to you in the meekness and gentleness of Christ." You see, these aren't fighting words. They're not. Because spiritual battles are not to be fought according to the way of the world. Spiritual battles that we experience in our life, just like Paul, are to be waged in the way of Christ. You know, even in politics. If you listen to the news at all, especially this week, you know that the political rhetoric has actually gotten way out of hand. There are people that are leaders in political parties that have actually said that if your opponent brings a knife, you bring a gun, right? Isn't this what we see in the way of the world? This is how the world fights its battles. It's the dog-eat-dog mentality, but not so the church, not so Christians, not so in our spiritual battles that we face every day. Instead, Paul here is making a personal appeal, even though there were some allegations and accusations against him, and he appeals with the attitude of Christ. These false leaders and these false teachers were coming at him and saying things that were false about him. They were trying to ruin his integrity in the eyes of the Corinthian church. And Paul says, I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Those are not fighting words. We see the way of Christ is meekness. Meekness, of course, is one of the primary attributes of Jesus Christ when he was here in this world. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 11, 29, when he said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest in your souls. Meekness is not weakness. But this really was one of the accusations that the false leaders were bringing against Paul, which we see at the end of this verse. He's basically quoting what their accusation was against him. They thought he was, in presence, base among them. But being absent, he was bold toward them. In other words, they accused Paul of saying things in a letter that he would never dare say in person. See, there's a lot of boldness when you are standing with a pen in your hand. or that's what they said, that's what they thought. We see this even in our own day, where people will say things and write things on Facebook or on Twitter that they wouldn't dare say to you face to face. And so this was their accusation against Paul. Paul, you're mighty courageous and bold with that pen in your hand, but when you get here, you act as if you are lowly and humble and meek and really weak. And that was their accusation. But meekness, even in the life of Paul, was not weakness. Instead, what Paul was demonstrating was a Christ-like attitude of pastoral tenderness and pastoral love. Even though these were false leaders and false teachers in that church, he still wanted to win them over to his side. He still wanted to woo them to Christ and to the gospel. He wanted there to be reconciliation with them just as much as there was reconciliation with the rest of the church. Because the way of Christ is meekness. The way of Christ is meekness. But even more, the way of Christ is gentleness. It's gentleness. So no matter what, Paul was going to speak the truth, but in love. Whether he did so in person or whether he did so with a pen, he was going to do so with love. And he was going to extend the grace of Christ to them in both attitude and in action. And so, as he begins addressing those false leaders and those false teachers, he does so in the character of Christ. That meant that he extended to them not only a gentle heart, but gentle hands. This, believe it or not, is the first weapon of our warfare. It is adopting the very character of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not fight the way the world fights. We do not use fighting words, but instead we appeal to people in the meekness and gentleness of Jesus Christ. We extend to them a gentle heart and a gentle hand. Paul wanted to win them, not to wreck them. That is the first weapon of our warfare, the way of Jesus Christ, making our appeals by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Even when we have someone that there's a great conflict against, we offer them the heart and the hands of Christ. Isn't this how Jesus deals with us in really every area of our life? You don't need to turn there, but listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2.21. He said, For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. This is what Jesus did for us. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree so that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. By whose stripes you were healed, for you were as sheep going astray, but now you are returned into the shepherd and bishop of your souls. the way of Christ is meekness and gentleness. That is how he brought us and won us to become part of his family and to be one of his children. And now with that weapon of our warfare, that is how we go and seek to resolve conflicts in this world, in this church, in our families, because we have the gentleness and meekness of Christ in our lives. This is the first weapon of your warfare. Are you conforming your life to the way of Christ in these ways. We read over the Beatitudes in our discipleship hour this morning, and Diana mentioned one of the most special ones to her was, blessed are the peacemakers. That is what Jesus came to be for us, to be a peacemaker. It's hard to make peace when you do not have a meek and gentle spirit or someone that wants to speak the truth in a loving way. When you try to speak the truth and do it in a harsh way, guess what happens? Instead of bringing peace, you bring more conflict, right? It escalates. But when you have the Spirit of Christ, no matter what the spiritual battle that you might experience, and you have that meekness and that gentleness in your heart and in your hands, you can truly be a peacemaker, even as Jesus was to you and to me. But the second weapon that Paul uses, we find in verse two, not just the way of Christ, but even the word of Christ, the word of Christ. He continues on and says, but I beseech you, Corinthian church, I beseech you that I may not be bold as they think I am, that I may not be bold when I am present with you with that confidence, that assurance where with I think to be bold or I plan to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. So here Paul is strongly encouraging and strongly asking the Corinthian church as a whole to deal with those false leaders and to deal with those false teachers as a church before he makes his next visit so that he will not have to appear bold in person. But Paul was not someone who was afraid to experience and express his boldness. In fact, in this verse he says, if he did arrive and he did have to be bold, it would not be the kind of boldness and brashness that they were accusing him of in his letter. He was not exercising that boldness in a way that would displease the Lord. Instead, it would be the right kind of boldness. A boldness that is based on what is true and based on what is right. You know, even we as Christians sometimes need to have anger, right? But we are to be angry and sin not. We ought to be angry with sin. We ought to be angry with the devil. We ought to be angry against the world and the flesh and the things that so often beset us as well. But we ought to also temper that anger with the spirit of gentleness and meekness. Be angry but sin not. Have the right kind of boldness. Well, what is the right kind of boldness? It's the kind of boldness that is based on the Word of God. What we have in front of us, the word of Christ. In fact, it's only the word of God that can provide the bold conviction that we need to confront sin and error. And that's what Paul is saying there in verse two. He says, when I come to you in Corinth, and I hope that you settle this matter before I get there, because the church had the authority as a church to get rid of those false teachers and to get rid of those false leaders. As a church they could have come together and they could have expelled them because of who they were and what they were doing to the church. The church has been given that authority by Jesus Christ. They were an autonomous church. And so Paul says, I hope and pray and ask that you take care of this before I get there. But if I do have to come there and I do have to deal with this personally and I have to deal with this in a bold manner, my bold conviction to confront these teachers and these leaders will be based on the word of God. it would be with confidence, a biblical confidence. This means that he possessed a settled conviction about what was true and about what was right. And that can only come through the Word of God. He understood what it means in Hebrews 4.12 when it says that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Do you realize that the greatest basis for our boldness in confronting sin in our lives or confronting sin in anybody else's life is the Word of God? Do you want to fight a battle, a spiritual battle, in your heart or in the lives of someone that you love? Use the Word of God, the Word of Christ. That is the weapon of our warfare. That is what God has given us that enables us to have this bold conviction, but also it's what gives us that bold courage that we need to confront sin and error. You know, if things did not change, Paul would have to, according to this verse, be bold against some. It's interesting because there are actually three words that could be translated bold in this verse. But each one of those words has a different nuance of boldness. Here in this particular part, it's talking about being courageous in confronting them about sin and error. Sometimes we have to have that courage, don't we? If you stay silent about sin, it's kind of a tacit endorsement of sin. And so there needs to be this courage. Well, where do we get that courage from? The Word of God. The Word of God is what helps us penetrate the hearts and lives of people so that they too will be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And these people were actually attacking his ministry. They were accusing Paul in verse 2 that they were walking according to the flesh. It was as if Paul, they said, was not even a believer. He wasn't even practicing what he was preaching. He was all in it for the money, all in it for the fame, all in it for the power. And that serious accusation against Paul and his ministry required a bold answer. But it was not a boldness that came out of the flesh. You see, when people attack your character, it's a natural thing to want to get in their face. Say, that's not true. You're telling something about me that's not right. But the Word of God is what gives us that courage and that conviction. Paul recognized that the boldness was based on the Word of God. We can't be bold unless it's based on God's Word. And that's why, according to Ephesians 6.17, we are to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. When you go back to Ephesians chapter six, you realize that the only offensive weapon that God has given you to fight this good fight of faith is the word of God. So often we do things on our own flesh. So often we do things out of just reaction because of what we hear or what we see, but it needs to be done according to the word of God. Without the sword of God's word, you are nothing, and you are no match for those who are warring against your soul. But with the word of Christ as the sword in our hand, that leads us to the very next weapon of our warfare that we find in verses three through five, and that is our witness for Christ. The word from Christ, but also our witness for Christ. Look at verse three. Paul says this, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal weapons, but mighty weapons through God, through the pulling down of strongholds." With these words, Paul begins to explain his own strategy to defeat his spiritual adversaries, especially those false teachers, those false leaders in the Corinthian church. And in verse 3, he admits that even though we walk in the flesh, we may experience weakness and temptation just like any man. Paul was a man. He was not perfect. He was still prone to temptation and trials and difficulties in our life. But he says, we do not war after the flesh. You see, to fight spiritual battles with human effort and human might is ineffective. It is powerless. And yet, how often is that how we try to address spiritual issues? We try to throw a Band-Aid over it. We try to pull ourselves up with our own bootstraps. We try to help people, but we don't help people with the basis of our help, which is the Word of God. Instead, spiritual warfare demands spiritual weapons. And so Paul wants them to see that only the gospel of Jesus Christ and his witness for Christ is powerful enough to pull down and to destroy any spiritual stronghold of the devil. And so in verse 5, Paul shows just how powerful our witness for Christ can be. Look at verse five. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. In this verse, Paul wants you to picture the fight of faith as a siege. A siege was a way in ancient times that an army would move against an opposing city to destroy them. The Romans were masters at sieging cities. First of all, they would take all of their military might and they would surround the city. And the people within that city would bar the doors, bar the gates. And they would try to reinforce those gates and try to reinforce those walls. And they would have people on the ramparts with bows and arrows and spears and with vats of hot oil in order to attack them as they were trying to approach. But the Romans were very smart. They would surround them so that no one could get in and no one could get out. And they were patient. They would wait. They would wait not just weeks, not just months, but sometimes years. And as they're waiting, the people within that city are eating their stores, eating the things that they have, and eventually, it's gonna run out. They can't go out to get anything else. And then comes time for the siege, the attack. Some of those walls were hot. There was no way for them to get through them because they were thick. And so they would build battlements. They would start bringing buckets and buckets of earth. And they'd start building a ramp so that they could just hop over the wall. And again, it didn't take weeks. It didn't take months. Sometimes it took years. They did this all over the known world at that time. And this is what Paul wants you to see taking place in the spiritual battles of our lives. There is a siege going on. But in the case of this siege there in verse 5, you are on the offense, not on the defense. As a Christian, you are on the outside of the city, not on the inside. And the weapons of your warfare are mighty through God and will pull down the strongholds of that city that God is fighting against. So just look at what the gospel of Christ can do according to this verse. First of all, it can disarm the arguments of men. It can disarm the arguments of men. He says that it will cast down imaginations. This describes the wisdom and the philosophies of this world that are used to attack God and his people. These are the bows and arrows. These are the spears. These are the vats of boiling oil that they're trying to pour out on God and his people. It's belief systems like atheism and evolution. But do you realize that there is nothing compared to the wisdom of God in this world? The wisdom of God through the gospel is greater than any philosophy, any wisdom that this world tries to assault God's people with. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.20, he asks, where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, And what Paul is saying here in this verse is that the way he fights this spiritual fight, the way he fights this fight of faith is by witnessing for Christ and sharing the gospel to those who are in conflict with him, because the gospel alone can disarm even the strongest and most stubborn opponents and arguments of men. the gospel alone. Charles Hodge writes this, the success of the gospel depends on its being presented, not as the word of men, but as the word of God, not even as something to be proved. Even though there is something for apologetics in our life as Christians, we do need to be able to give an answer to every man who asks a reason of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear. But when we share the gospel, it's really something to be believed. Because you cannot convince an unbeliever to become a believer. Only the gospel of Christ can do that. But until they truly believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, come to die on the cross for their sin, they will never understand that. They may never appreciate that. They may never even agree to it. But Paul says this gospel is able to disarm even the hardest arguments of man. You may say, I really don't have an answer for all of the questions that people might have. That's okay. Just share with them the gospel. Just tell them about Jesus Christ and what he came to do in this world for them. And as you do so, God the Holy Spirit uses that gospel, uses that word to disarm their arguments. And they say, I have no more excuse. It's God's working in their lives and their hearts. What else does the gospel do? According to this verse, it also destroys the attitudes of men. He goes on and says that it will destroy every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. These high things are those walls that surround the hearts of sinful men. It describes the towers that surround the hearts of unbelievers. It refers to any human act or attitude that forms an obstacle to the gospel and keeps men in oppressive bondage to sin. People do not want to hear about the gospel, so they keep building those walls higher and higher and higher, and you think, I can never get to that wall. I can never get through and penetrate to their hearts. But when you witness for Jesus Christ with the gospel, the gospel can destroy. It can demolish. It can cast down the highest and strongest tower that seems to you in your flesh impenetrable. It's the gospel. Maybe you have someone in your life that you know is a hard person to witness to. You've prayed for them for years. You've even shared the gospel with them. You've given them booklets and tracts and all of these things. And you wonder, how can I get through to them? The truth is, you in your own strength and with your own might can't. But God, through his gospel, can. You keep praying for them, and you keep penetrating their hearts with the gospel. You keep sharing with them Jesus Christ, and He will bring forth that increase. He promises to. And when you witness for Christ, it will pass down and destroy the highest tower that you think is impenetrable, but even more. It's the gospel that can detain even the affections of men. He goes on in verse 5 and says that the gospel is bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You see, as you place this siege of the gospel on a sinner's heart, no longer can their arguments stand. No longer can their obstacles and their walls stand. But now you get to the very deep heart of the castle itself, and there are the hearts and minds of men who are sinners. And what Paul is describing in verse 5 is what happens when the siege of a city was over and the battle is won. Even those who are in the deepest parts of the city eventually surrender. They're either dead or they're alive and they can't do anything else. They surrender. They become the captives of the conquering king. And that is what can happen with the gospel. That is what can happen with the gospel. And when you witness for Christ, the gospel can penetrate into the deepest part of the souls of sinful men, the thoughts and intents of their hearts and bring them into the captivity of Christ. You know what this means? Those who were once the enemies of Christ are now one to Christ, and they have fully surrendered to him. There are no more excuses, no more arguments, no more obstacles. They are disarmed and won by these weapons of God's grace. And I think it's amazing to see what Paul is trying to do with even those false teachers and false leaders. He says, I'm going to keep preaching the gospel because I know that it can reach the hearts and minds of sinners. It's done it all over the world. It's done it in Macedonia. It's done it in Achaia. It's done it everywhere that I've gone sharing the gospel, and it will continue to do it there in the city of Corinth. Has the gospel of Jesus Christ done this for you? Have you surrendered your heart to the obedience of Jesus Christ? No more excuses, no more arguments, no more obstacles. If you haven't, the Bible teaches that you remain His enemy. But when you do surrender, You surrender through faith in Jesus Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection. He did all of that to win you to himself. You know what? Instead of being his enemy, you now become his friend. You are then captive. Your mind, your heart, your body, everything about you are now his. And so what Paul is explaining in these verses is the primary weapon of our warfare is the gospel. It's what disarms arguments. It destroys attitudes. It here detains men's hearts. And yet there are still times when we must wield another weapon that we find in verse six, and that is the warning of Christ. Paul says, and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. As we attempt to share the gospel with people, whether it's in our family, whether it's in our workplaces, whether it's in the schools, we must remember that the gospel still has a sharp edge to it. Yes, we approach men with the gentleness and meekness of Christ, but the gospel still has a sharp edge. There still is a judgment. And if that judgment is ignored, and a person persists in rebellion and sin, they will experience that sharp sword. They will experience that judgment. But even then, according to this verse, God still provides both time and space for men to repent. Why? Because God is gracious and long-suffering. But the truth is, when we witness to people, we must tell them that they must not wait too long. Second Corinthians 6.2 says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. But these are the weapons of our warfare. As we remember Ephesians 6.12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Here, Paul reminds us of who we're really fighting. Even though men attacked Paul, Paul did not attack men. He didn't. He attacked their strongholds, the strongholds of their hearts and the stronghold of their minds, the strongholds of their wills. That's what he was fighting against. And so he did so with a gospel of Christ. He sought to win them, not to wreck them. And isn't that really the best way to win a war? It's not so that your enemies stay your enemies. It's not so that they continue to stay angry at you. They may be less in number because you've devastated them. But isn't it better, always better, to make your enemies your friends? When we think of what took place in World War II and the countless millions of lives that were lost, both the Axis side and the Allied side, and now you think what has taken place with some of those same countries that we were at war with. Ruthless war. The people of Germany are now our allies and our friends. The people of Japan are our allies and our friends. That's the greatest way to win a war. To not have your enemies, but have them as your friends. But not even as your friends, even to have them as part of your family. And I think that's one of the reasons why Paul is addressing this church and saying, this is how I've been fighting with the gospel and this is how you can appeal to those false teachers and false preachers and those false leaders. win them, win them over to Christ. Because the best way to win this spiritual warfare is to not have them as your enemies, but to have them as your friends. So let us use the same weapons Paul used, the way of Christ in meekness and gentleness, speaking the truth in love. the word of Christ, which alone will give us the conviction and the courage that we need to confront sin and error, our witness for Christ, because only the gospel can bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and even the warning of Christ of his judgment yet to come. Because the only way that you can win a spiritual war is with spiritual weapons that are mighty through God. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, I know that we sometimes forget the kind of life that we are living here in this world. Because even though we live according to the flesh, yet we do not war according to the flesh. We know that there is a battle going around us all the time. And even that battle within us rages. because of our own lusts and our own desires that are so often outside of your will for us. And so, Father, I pray that even this morning you'll help us to see that the weapons of our warfare are the things that you have provided to us. They are not the things that we would think of first in trying to win a battle. But instead, Lord, they have been given to us by your gracious hands. And so, Father, I pray that you'll help us, like Paul, to wield these weapons as we trust in you to protect us, but also to provide the victory for us. Because we know Jesus Christ already has provided that victory when he died on the cross and rose from the dead those three days later. And so, Father, I pray that you'll help us to remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ is our primary weapon. in this warfare. And in order to use it, Lord, we first of all have to know what it is. We have to know what the gospel is. We have to know what Jesus Christ came to do for us. But then, Lord, it needs to be led not just into a knowledge but, Lord, an application. We need to possess it. We need to have the gospel as our gospel. We need to have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be truly saved and then No longer are we your enemies, but we are your friends. We are your family members. We are your soldiers, and you provided us everything necessary in order to fight this good fight of faith. And so, Father, I pray that you'll help us today, that you'll help us even this week as we experience those spiritual battles around us and even those spiritual battles within us, that you will help us to use those weapons in order to fight the good fight of faith. And so, Father, I thank you for this example of Paul, but even greater, I thank you for the example of Jesus Christ, who laid a siege for our own souls. He cast down our imaginations. He cast down the high things of our own lives that exalted themselves against the knowledge of God. And he is the one that brought into captivity our own thoughts, into the obedience of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, Father, what you have done to us, I pray that you through us will do to others so that when we find an enemy or see someone that Lord needs you, ultimately, we will seek to win them even as you sought to win us. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.