Strongholds Pt 1.

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.

Thayer Definition: Stronghold
1) a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness
2) anything on which one relies
3) of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent.

There are strongholds in every person’s life and in every church. You might not recognize them in your life until you attempt to remove them and realize how deep the roots run.
In the personal lives of Christians, there are strongholds like food, smoking, television, sports, gambling, drinking et.al
In themselves, they may not be inherently sinful. Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. But Jesus gives us the principle very clearly by teaching us that anything we place before God is an idol and that 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.'
In churches there are strongholds. The most pronounced one being an unregenerate congregation. People are just not born again. The gospel is preached and people continue in their sins and wonder why the pastor doesn’t move on to something, “more applicable.” Other strongholds in churches are the love of money, love of the world, idolatry, hypocrisy, and pride. Many of which stem from stronghold #1 – “Such were some of you, but now you are washed…”
At various times we attack these strongholds in our own life. We have a solid concrete structure (strong hold) and we get so sick of it dominating our lives that we seek to destroy it. So we get out a huge sledge hammer and we take a mighty swing at it. Only to realize that it barely made a mark and now our back hurts. We begin to reason amongst ourselves that even if we do smash it, it will make such a terrible mess and rebuild itself anyway (Luke 11:26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.) So we quit, and have a treadmill drying laundry in the basement, a gym membership we have to pay on but never use, and now we are smoking more than before we tried to quit… Strongholds.

Purity

"Too often readers turn to books so they can vicariously experience sin...books that pander to their sexual fantasies, to their dreams of wealth and power, to their dark, secret obsessions with sadistic violence or occult nightmares. Reading the pornographic descriptions and acts of brutality gratifies their secret desires, giving them perverted pleasures in the privacy of their own imaginations."

Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

"The application is inescapable. Just as we must avoid sinful actions, we must avoid sinful imaginings. If our eyes lead us into sin, it is better to gouge them out that allow them to lead us to Hell."

quotes taken from "Reading Between the Lines" by Gene Edward Veith Jr.

How Could This Happen?

News just released indicates that the local Catholic church had $300,000 embezzled from them by a former bookkeeper. I wrote the following letter to the local newspaper for an editorial.

Exo 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

The rampant embezzling that is going on in our area today is the result of the sin of covetousness. People desire to have things they cannot afford and justify in their own minds how they can shave a little off the top, pay it back when their ship comes in, and nobody gets hurt. The Bible calls these evil desires, deceitful lusts. Eph 4:22 put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.

We hear the tragic stories, people just devastated and confused as to how they could have allowed themselves to get so swept up in gambling or buying “stuff” with other people’s money. “She was a great person….how could…?” goes the reasoning from friends, family and neighbors. Let the Bible tell you how.

Genesis 6:5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 8:21 Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

All men are depraved and fall short of the glory of God. That is why Ephesians calls for men to repent and ‘put off’ former conduct. Here is the part few believe- We are all guilty in God’s eyes of the same root sin that causes people to embezzle. Have you ever coveted your neighbor’s car, house, golf clubs, fishing pole, snowmobile, etc. ?

Jesus explains in the sermon on the mount how God looks on the heart and considers anger as bad as murder, lust as bad as adultery. Jesus gives the divine power to have victory over this sin in our life,- For our righteousness to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

This is what the new birth accomplishes. It takes away our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh. The Holy Spirit then causes us to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments. Like it or not, what keeps us from being on the front page of the paper, is the grace of God.

1Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. We should be sobered by such sins in our communities, but let all of us who thinks we stand take heed lest we fall.

True Worship

Sunday School 10:00
Worship Service 11:00

We see this all over the place. On church signs and cards, bulletins and newspaper ads. So what is this worship that takes place on Sundays from 11-12. (anything past 12 ceases to be worship and becomes a long winded preacher full of himself and loving the captive audience.)

When I try to wrap my mind around subjects such as this, I usually start by looking at what worship is NOT, and then looking at what attempts at worship God rejects and why he rejects it and perhaps most importantly, how do I/we make the same errors in our worship so that God would rather have us just cease and desist.

The examples are numerous throughout the Bible of men attempting to worship God and God sending fire to consume them or leprosy or some form of curse to let them know as he says in Leviticus 10:3 "By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified."

Churches and especially pastors are always trying to create worship. Worship teams, Praise leaders, praise and worship services are all the rage now. So does singing worthy, scriptural songs like Holy, Holy, Holy and preaching messages on glorifying God alone fulfill what God requires from us in worship? I would submit that IT MAY but just as easily it may not. Any "formula" for worship is just a formula. We cannot produce worship or a worshipping people.
Assaulting true worship is pride. Pride is the antithesis to glorifying God. Going through motions of worship is not worship. We honor with our lips but my HEART is not moved by what I am saying. This then becomes mocking God rather than worshipping Him. Not savoring and loving and cherishing and being filled with the wonder of God's holiness is really an attitude of unthankfulness and being consumed with self, this prevents true worship.

Lord, teach me to worship you in spirit and in truth. That others may see my good works and not praise me but glorify my Father in heaven.

SLANDER

Slander
SLA'NDER, n.

1. A false tale or report maliciously uttered. and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and punishment, or by impairing his means of living; defamation. Slander, that worst of poisons, ever finds an easy entrance to ignoble minds.

Slander finds its teeth in a lie. To report that a senator was stealing funds from the public treasury and being able to prove the accusation is not slander.

But stating publically that an individually has performed any crime or action that would harm him with no basis in truth is what is called slander.