Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of understanding spiritual warfare through the lens of the Bride of Christ in his sermon on 2 Corinthians 10-11. He explains that while we live in the flesh, our battles are not fought with human means but with spiritual weapons that are mighty in God. Bickle highlights the importance of recognizing and dismantling strongholds in our minds, which are built on lies and wrong beliefs about God and ourselves. He encourages believers to embrace their identity as the betrothed Bride of Christ, emphasizing that they are desired and made clean through Jesus, which empowers them to break free from bondage. The sermon concludes with a call to action for believers to actively engage in spiritual warfare by casting down arguments and lies that oppose the truth of their identity in Christ.

Well, let's look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 Verse 3 to 5 you have that right there on the notes and again as we've finished this message We're talking about spiritual warfare and breaking spiritual strongholds We're going to wait on the Lord again and ask the Lord for physical healings and hear some testimonies and see what the Lord Wants to do tonight in terms of touching people in a greater way than they already has Father I thank you in the name of Jesus For the Word of the Lord Father I thank you for understanding spiritual understanding from your word about what's happening in the realm of the spirit and Satan's attack against us and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen Tonight I want to talk about breaking spiritual strongholds but related to the revelation of the Bride of Christ or the revelation of Jesus the bridegroom God and And the passage we're looking at a 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and chapter 11 Now most of you know if you've studied spiritual warfare 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 is the number is one of the primary chapters So this is a passage that's very important if this passage is new to you Though some of the language might cut you might have a little bit of a time get your mind around it But I'll have more in the notes than we'll cover So I want to encourage you to kind of work through the the the ideas clearly from 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 but the important point tonight is is this 2nd Corinthians 11 the next chapter is the Application of what is taught in chapter 10 The reason I say that is that a lot of people that study spiritual warfare only study chapter 10 But the answer of it to it and the application is in 11 They never actually apply 11 to the principles that are laid out in chapter 10 Well, let's look at the main principles here One of the primary passages in the Bible on spiritual warfare 2nd Corinthians 10 verse 3 Paul said for though we walk in the flesh Meaning just in our human body We don't war According to just our fleshly abilities. He goes there's a supernatural dimension Though we live in the natural in the flesh. He's using the word flesh here meaning the natural We don't war with just natural ideas. We war with spiritual ideas and spiritual power verse 4 for the weapons of our warfare Now, you know the Bible says we have weapons and we need to use those weapons I'm going to teach you how to use those weapons tonight the weapons of our warfare against Satan They are not carnal, which means they're not natural. They're not fleshly. They aren't just human Realities in the natural. I mean just natural realities, but rather These weapons they are mighty in God They're mighty now when you first hear them you may not Believe they're mighty, but they are this is one they've found fundamental principles Paul's making these weapons are mighty, but they must be used and many people They have knowledge of how to use them, but they don't actually use them. So the mighty weapons don't do them any good and again the application of These mighty weapons we're gonna find some of the application at least is in chapter 11, which is often never read alongside of chapter 10 and we're gonna put those two chapters together and Give us some practical application of actually how to do this But these weapons they're mighty When they're used but here's how you use them You pull down strongholds There are demonic strongholds that must be pulled down I'm again very simple. I'm going to teach you how to pull down strongholds Then Paul says it again, but in a different way He said casting down arguments now you will find in a moment that pulling down strongholds and Casting down arguments is really the same thing. He's saying the same thing in a different way Because these are arguments Against God that are lodged in our minds Satan comes to give us lies or arguments against God. God doesn't care God hasn't really forgiven me God isn't going to intervene in my life. Those are arguments. Those are lies and Those ideas that get lodged in our mind as simple as they seem They are powerful in a negative way against us So Paul said we're gonna pull down these strongholds He says it another way. We're gonna cast down these Arguments in our mind against the truth of God and we're gonna cast down Every high thing now, this is demonic That exalts itself against the true knowledge of who Jesus is Now the way that the enemy brings a Person's life into bondage is that he tells them lies about the knowledge of God so they have wrong ideas about God So therefore they have wrong ideas about who they are in God Now again, this seems awfully simple but it's profound in its power in your life The devil comes in and he gives you wrong ideas about God lies About the knowledge of God and that leads you to have wrong ideas about who you are in God or who you are in Christ Paul said what we need to do is bring all of our thoughts into captivity of Obedience to Christ now he uses this word captivity He says our thought life Must be brought into this tenacious commitment and agreement with what the Word of God says So we'll break all this down just principle by principle in chapter 10 and then again give the application in chapter 11 Paragraph B. And again, we won't cover all the notes and for those of you that are new with us. We never do we just Have the notes there Outline the principles and to give you more to study on your own time Bring it in the prayer room and look at some of these verses and and check them out in a deeper way paragraph B Now a stronghold in the ancient world was a very common idea It was a fortress or a fort when the ancient world they talked about a stronghold it talked about like a One kind of fort there's many different types would be like a stone wall surrounding a city That would protect it against the enemy. That's what a fortress was and Paul is using this common idea of a fort Or a big wall around a city protecting it and he said that's a positive idea Because cities had these walls or forts for positive reasons to keep the enemy out, but Paul's using this idea and he says actually Satan has erected like a stone wall around you. That's trying to keep the blessing of God out of your life And you need to tear that wall down So that the blessing of God would enter into your life and the bondage Held captive inside that fortress so to speak would be over and you'd be liberated set free Now I think that some of you are going to get set free tonight Some of you already have been but even more going to tonight now just picture this a wall 50 feet high Ten feet thick. I mean that's a castle. That's a fort. I mean, that's a serious wall And when the enemy would come and attack a city They couldn't get into the inside of that city because it's big tall thick wall of stone Now that's again a positive thing a city would build these walls for positive reasons to protect themselves from an invading army But Paul's using this positive truth and he's applying this wall that's built around us to Satan Building a stone wall around our life Now what we're the stone wall is about I mean the makeup of it is this it's like Each stone in this wall they are ideas That we believe that are war that are wrong about God and about ourself and about the kingdom And if we believe these wrong ideas It's like these stones of accusation built up around us that are against God Accusations against God lies about God and what it does. It's like a fortress That keeps us in bondage to darkness and keeps the blessing of God out of our life So we have to tear that stone wall down so to speak just using the analogy paragraph D Satan seeks to establish strongholds to build a fort so to speak around your mind and around your life and he wants to keep the presence of God from Liberating your heart That's what he wants because for the presence of God to liberate you you have to be in agreement with the presence of God Now there are exceptions sometimes the Lord just sovereignly breaks in and touches somebody But the way the blessing of God works in your life and the way the Holy Spirit's present works in your life. It has it has a Significant relationship to your agreement in your mind with the truth about God if you don't know the truth And you don't agree with the truth the presence of God won't liberate you until you come into agreement with what he says about you and The devil wants to keep you in bondage by keeping you in lies And these lies are like a fort like a 50-foot wall 10 feet thick Fort built around you made up of all these stones that accuse God they're like All assembled together if the devil has his way To keep you in bondage or to keep anyone in bondage This is this is the way that he operates against the human race Roman numeral two Now there's different types of strongholds Three I'm gonna address tonight There are personal strongholds and that's the one we're gonna spend our time on But I just want you aware of the other type of strongholds There are personal strongholds There are cultural strongholds and there are cosmic which means the spirit realm the supernatural realm There's cosmic strongholds Let's look at paragraph a now a stronghold a stronghold is in our mind a Stronghold in the mind is where it starts a stronghold starts in the mind and then it brings our Emotions into bondage and then our character into bondage and a lot it just escalates But a stronghold as simple as this is I want you to get how simple this is But it's profound in its meaning to your life a stronghold is a collection of ideas That are in agreement with Satan that is simply what a stronghold in your mind is It's a collection of ideas That is in agreement with Satan now The people that have these ideas, they don't believe they're in agreement with Satan. They just think they're their ideas Or they think well everybody thinks this way or this is how I was raised Or this is how I always thought and so they tend to not pay attention to these ideas and they don't know how Significant it is for them to renounce those ideas and to replace them with right ideas these lies these wrong ideas They accuse Jesus They are lies like he doesn't love you. That's an accusation against Jesus's leadership He doesn't see you he doesn't care He's not gonna break in anyway He has forgotten me. He has no his he does not have a good plans for my life. His mercy is not Strong enough to forgive me Now those are lies that people believe and many times they don't actually say them in clear sentences Because if they actually declared them they'd say that can't be true, but they still believe them and There's a number in this room That you have strongholds in your mind because you believe subtle but powerful lies against Jesus and his leadership over your life and Your standing you believe lies some of you about your standing before him because if you really knew how he saw you and how you stand before him your heart would be liberated and that's what Paul is going to Get to and we'll look at that in just a few moments Paragraph B. There are cultural strongholds and There are cosmic strongholds. I don't want to go into those Tonight, but I just wanted to mention them so that you know, they exist and I Wanted you to uh, you could read a little bit more on your own, but about them But they operate the same way go ahead and turn to page two these lies These strongholds I mean are based on lies that are in agreement with darkness lies against God Roman numeral three Strongholds are established by agreeing with darkness Strongholds Paragraph a are established by opening doors to Satan in two ways There's two ways. We open a door to Satan through sinful actions and wrong belief systems even as believers you could be a born-again believer and have wrong ideas about Jesus and Walk in sinful patterns and these open the door for for bondage in your life and it's not Mysterious how the bondage is broken and the simple way we break the bondage Paul said earlier we looked at in verse 4. These weapons are mighty Meaning they are effective. They will work. They are mighty. They may seem simple They may seem foolish she's like well that can't really make that big a difference But I want to assure you on the basis of the Word of God These Weapons are mighty as simple as they are and they will be effective and They will bring liberty to your heart and your emotions and your mind and your body in time if you stay with them We're still in paragraph a Satan's sphere of activity Is the domain of darkness That he's the god of darkness. That is his domain. That's his sphere. He operates in his darkness Now where here's the point wherever there is darkness He has legal access to operate because he's the god of darkness. That's the his domain So wherever there is darkness mean dark ideas lies about Jesus or Dark actions Behavior that's in disobedience to Jesus that is darkness wherever there's darkness He has legal access to operate he can move. He has liberty to move and God will let him move Because he has the domain of darkness. That's the sphere. God is apportioned to him. Now. Here's the problem if that darkness Gets into our heart Satan has liberty to move in greater ways because we've opened up our own life to that realm of darkness And that is his domain so we can't Open up ourself to the realm of darkness and then be confused why we are in bondage And say God deliver me and he says well I will But you must renounce the belief systems The collection of ideas that you have and some people say yeah, but my church background taught me that it doesn't matter Who taught you there are so many ideas? About Jesus being taught in the church that aren't true. They're still effective in Satan's kingdom Doesn't matter if the church teaches them if they're lies, they're still lies It is essential That we study the word and know the truth about Jesus Because if we have wrong ideas and wrong behavior again We're in darkness and we give Satan legal access to our mind to our emotions to our life Now Jesus was referring to this in John 14 verse 30 Where he said the ruler of this world that Satan is coming He has nothing in me what Jesus was referring to He I have no agreement with Satan no darkness in me not in my belief systems And I have no darkness in my behavior so therefore Satan has no legal access at all to touch me. He has nothing in me Now that's obviously the goal of how we want to live We don't want behavior or belief systems that Are rooted in darkness because it gives Satan access to us because again his domain is the domain of darkness And if that darkness is in your heart or in my heart, he has a dominion. He has legal right to be active Now we can shut the door We can break our agreement with that darkness and in the name of Jesus drive him out and As simple as that is that is mighty. It is powerful Demons tremble when we break our agreement with them and call on the name of Jesus But again as simple as it is many believers don't do that They don't know the Bible enough to even know they're in darkness Even though they're born again and going to go to heaven when they die They have a dimension of darkness still in their thinking Because you could be born again have the Holy Spirit live in you, but your mind is unrenewed. Your mind is still Huge strongholds of darkness could still be in your mind and in your heart though. You're born again, and you're on your way to heaven paragraph B Sometimes We will feel an Irrational heightened, I mean it's just kind of it's real exaggerated and it only lasts for a short time maybe for a few Moments or a few hours or maybe a few days this heightened kind of Energy of darkness that we feel it's very as many times It's even irrational like a fear and we have no reason to be afraid like what where did that come or a feeling of depression? Or an anxiety or a type of lost and there's many types of loss not just immorality so just kind of a an Irrational exaggerated heightened fear or or a desire in the realm of loss will come to us beloved. That is a flaming missile That's from Satan. That's a demon striking you and that can be resistant But when this thing kind of rises up and it's like maybe I'm just depressed now And maybe I'm just in bodies to fear and the demons going. That's right. That's right. He's lying to you. You're not in Bondage to that but he wants you to believe it and if you believe it that bondage will actually increase That's a lie against God. You're not in bondage. You're under the reign of grace You're under the leadership of Jesus. You're born again Yeah, but I have this feeling that rose up in me that feeling if you must not agree with it You must renounce it expose it and in the name of Jesus rebuke it and the demon that is behind it Paragraph C. This is important when we act on sin We actually give Satan legal doors of entry into our life It's very important, you know, I talked to some young people and I go well We just kind of went out and did kind of had a weekend fling You know boys will be boys and you know Going back to the Bible school next week and semester break or my last kind of one fling before the internship Or my lap, you know this one time I just feel kind of down and out so I just kind of messed up Here's the problem When we go out and do things It's not that God won't forgive us is that we actually open the door to Satan to increase his activity in our life It's not neutral There's no such thing as kind of a neutral little fling that has no consequences The Lord the devil now comes and says God's angry and he's finished with you and the Lord would say no I'm not finished with you. I love you. I love you as much as I ever did It's not about me being finished with you with you It's about the fact that Satan now has a greater grip on your mind and your emotions Satan wants look here in paragraph C our weakness to escalate to wickedness You know the the person that has a stirring for immorality and they just go dabble in pornography He wants that weakness towards immorality to escalate to wickedness to bondage to a demon of perversion to get into their life and You go in that direction It's like you're giving the key to a demon the key to your heart So here you you can have me for the weekend and the demon will take you Demons are expensive to get they're expensive to maintain and they're expensive to get rid of People think of just an innocent little kind of wild summer. No, it cost a lot of money to get demons It cost a lot of money to feed your pet demon and then it cost a lot of money to get rid of your pet demon They're really expensive. Trust me They're financially emotionally Relationally and spiritually very very expensive to play with demons But demons hide so it just seems like it's kind of an exaggerated negative feeling and then the Problem is compounded because then he lies to you After you walk through that door of darkness, but then he compounds the darkness by lying saying God's finished with you That's not the truth at all Now the stronghold is now even stronger Because now the person is running from Jesus instead of to Jesus and they've lost their confidence Because they don't have a foundation in the word and they've opened the door to darkness again, Satan wants Weakness to escalate to wickedness, but he can't do it without us. We have to cooperate with him step by step Here in James chapter 1 you can read it on your own But sin does not stop with one act it grows James talked about sin becoming full-grown The people that play around with a little bit of immorality, I'll just stay on the immorality that's so prevalent in our culture Play around with a little bit of pornography beloved sin grows James talked about sin becoming full-grown. It doesn't go away on its own Augustine one of the great leaders in the church back in the fifth century You know about 400 AD about It's one of the great leaders. Most of you know his name His is he has this quote lust yielded to becomes a habit The habit not resisted becomes bondage or he used the word necessity So the person yields to lust there's a little bit of pornography a little bit of drunkenness That becomes a habit after a short amount of time and if that habit is way harder to resist the habit than it is a Property of lust if that habit is not resisted it becomes necessity. It becomes bondage Roman numeral four Pulling down strongholds of the mind So let's look at this passage again We looked at it, but I just wanted to review it right in front of you. The weapons of our warfare are mighty Now notice the the phrase we pull down these Kind of big stone fortresses built around our minds by the devil. We have to pull them down We cast them down now notice what it is that we cast down its arguments that we cast down its pieces of information that we cast down We would think it would be more complicated but it's not This will work for the most uneducated people in the world They cast down the arguments that they used to accept Instead of the word argument use the word Accusations against the truth about who God is and the truth about who you are in God or who you are in Christ So Strongholds we are to pull them down Or we're to cast them down and we pull down these walls built around us again picture This 50-foot wall of stone and each stone must be thrown down one by one Each one of these wrong ideas and wrong actions must be repented of and rejected and renounced Now paragraph a I just gave you different translations of the Bible Like I use the the New King James uses the word pulling down strongholds the NIV says demolishing them or the New American Standard says the destruction destroying these strongholds are That translation uses the word fortresses. It's all the same idea I gave you these different translations so you could kind of compare the language But they're all in consist. They're consistent with each other We pull down a fortress or we pull down a demonic stronghold we cast down the arguments that's the way we pull the way you pull down on a stronghold is you cast the argument that is Essential and integral to the existence of that stronghold in your mind paragraph C We must pull down or cast down Those are the two phrases Paul used using the New King James translation pull down or cast down He's talking about the very same idea Another way to say it is we dismantle the stronghold We tear it down. We pull it down. We cast it down. We dismantle it. We break it up. It's that stone wall But here's how we break this Fortress that's built around our mind. We tear it down stone by stone Because it's built stone by stone You know, I talked to one guy. I'm gonna stay on pornography He came to me says I'm in so much body bodies to pornography. He goes, how do I get free? I said the same way you got into bondage day by day step by step stone by stone You didn't get into bondage in one day. It took you a while to get demonized And now you we could break the power of the demon immediately But the demon won't leave and stay gone unless you change your mindset So the mindset must be changed as well and it takes time to change our mindset. The battle is in the mind You can get rid of any problem We use the name of Jesus Take authority over darkness. We have the indwelling spirit that will inspire us and help us but also very important Our mind must come into agreement Again, this this stone wall this fort built around you by Satan He could not do it without you participating with him He doesn't have the right just to dominate your life He only has entrance That corresponds with your agreement and your participation. It really matters what you believe in what you do It really really matters what you believe in what you do Demons are around you all the time Beckoning you to take the step in behavior and in mindsets belief systems Because they can't touch you in certain ways until you agree and then you're like giving the keys to your life to them And you open a door to them Demons are very frustrated For with a person that they're trying to assault, but the person won't give the key to them They won't walk in darkness and they keep renouncing the wrong ideas and agree with the Word of God and that keeps demons At bay it keeps them at a distance they can't do what they want to do and that person's life It's like the Word of God. It's like a hammer. I have at the end of paragraph C It's like the Word of God is like a hammer Kind of like a sledgehammer slamming against the stone wall breaking it stone by stone because we speak the Word of God and we make it our confession and these Ideas in our mind against God against ourself little by little they are dismantled and broken and We can cast a demon out in one moment But it takes time to renew the mind and the demon will come right back if the mind is not renewed because the way The demon had access in the first place was we had agreement with that demon So a person could get a demon cast out of them They'll come to a prayer line and say I want to be free Go well, we pray and that heightened energy of darkness can leave you but the way that heightened energy of darkness that demonic attack came initially is that you agreed with the demon and if you don't change If a person does not change what they think and what they do the demon will come back Jesus said with seven more demons stronger than them It is not a small thing what we do with our minds what we do with our bodies Because demons are waiting for us to give them legal access to greater involvement in our life And they have great power, but the Holy Spirit is as well And again, some people say Holy Spirit just do it. Holy Spirit says now I'll do it in cooperation with you You must agree with me In your thinking and in your choices if you want me to do it No, I want to just stay like I am and just have the bondage go And a lot of believers have this confused idea They just kind of pray Oh God set me free set me free set me free But they're not interested in changing their mindset or their life choices And the Holy Spirit says no, I won't set you free. I will only do it in Participation with you just like the demons do it in participation with the person top of page three Now there's three ways We cast down an argument or we pull down a fortress again. That's the same thing To cast down an argument Paul is saying pull down a fortress. He's saying the same thing in a different way number one We expose the lies we identify the lies That we bought into against God and against ourself and that's what the teaching of the word does We expose the lies that we believe in but those lies open doors to darkness and bring our emotions into bondage Like we begin with the truth about God as a father and about Jesus as a bridegroom and About ourselves as sons of God men and women both and as the Bride of Christ men and women both So we start with the truth about who he is and then the truth about who we are and that's where it begins But many believers though they might technically know this information. They don't actually apply it to their life They don't actually engage with that information in any deep way at all So it's intellectual Bible information, but it doesn't free them from bondage because they don't actually use it And it's easy to use it We just it's these three things. We identify the lies. We expose them by identifying them Number two, then we renounce our agreement with them This is critical, but you can't renounce them if you don't identify them a lot of guys say, you know I'll renounce anything and they've got all these wrong ideas about God and about who they are in Christ but they don't even know their wrong ideas so they never get to step two because they don't do step one and then number three We resist Satan Meaning even though we've identified the lies and we've broken our agreement the demons will still come with these heightened moments of these kind of Energized moments of lust or fear of anxiety to see if the demon can lure us back into agreement with darkness So the guy's set free The next day comes he has the same old emotion and he's going I'm not free. I'm not free and the demons going You're not free. You're not free. The gospel is not strong enough for you. It doesn't work for me I'm the one guy it doesn't work for yes, you're the one guy it doesn't work for and that Demon is breathing. It's kind of like, you know, like picture a dragon with fire breath Breathing on your spirit with a heightened fear a heightened anxiety and James and other passages The Bible says we must resist him. We use the authority of the name of Jesus We actually say in the name of Jesus be gone That's so simple, but I tell you it's mighty. It's mighty in God if you do it Which means it's effective Many people they ride the storm out. I'm talking about believers. They have this heightened negative feeling and they just And they just grab another something negative and put it in their body. Whatever it is They kind of deal with the stress and Completely the wrong way and that demon actually could be rebuked but they never actually do it. They might even think about it I wish this would leave I wish this was leave and the demon next to you that person I'll quit saying you if you say this isn't me. I'll make it a hypothetical person out there Sorry about that. I Want it personal but not the negative stuff but the demon would say You know, I'm not gonna leave because you want me to leave I'm not gonna be leave because you're complaining about me I'm only gonna leave if you use the name of Jesus and command me to and mean it But it's real Many believers don't get to step three They endure this kind of negative surge that hits their emotions Okay now Roman number four, let's switch gears I mean five Roman over five Second Corinthians 11 now Paul in security. It's ten. He described how strongholds work Very simple their ideas their their their arguments They're there. It's knowledge against God instead of knowledge in agreement with God. It's knowledge. It's information That's how it starts as simple as it is You know Hosea says that my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge People believers live in destruction because they lack knowledge Jesus said it positive in John 8 32 He said if you know truth, you'll be liberated if you know truth and you act on it You will be liberated from the in your mind and your heart and your body if you know truth and act on it You will be liberated But many people they don't know it I mean they they they know to ask forgiveness and to repent to give their life to Jesus But they don't really know the truth about who Jesus is and who they are to him And then some they actually learn it they know the truth But they don't act on it when the pressure of negative is on their heart They just endure the negative and hope it goes away They don't confess the word resist the devil and actually act on the truth at a heart level Beloved your life can be changed in a profound way in a short amount of time by this simple Mighty weapons by engaging them and using them Well second Corinthians 11 tells us two Essential truths that we need to come into agreement with to break strongholds in our mind And these truths are related to Jesus as the bridegroom God. Let's read this second Corinthians 11 verse 2 and 3 Paul said I'm jealous for you with godly jealousy and now he's gonna he's gonna say Two powerful things here. I have betrothed you to one husband now to betroth means to be engaged You know if a young man or young woman get engaged. That's the word we would use Hey, they got engaged last week. But the other word is the betrothed. It's the same It's the same idea the same word. I'm the same concept Paul said I Betrothed you to one husband Jesus the bridegroom God in other words When I led you to Christ, I actually led you on the day you were born again into a relationship Where you were actually betrothed to the Lord you became Officially engaged to him now in the ancient world When a man and a woman were engaged that was step one of legally being married So in the ancient in our modern world when two people are engaged that they break up Well, they broke their engagement off in the ancient world if you were engaged and you broke the engagement You actually had to get a legal divorce because you're legally married while you're engaged but the marriage is not consummated for like a year later or two years later at the wedding celebration and So from the biblical point of view, we are Betrothed we're engaged to the Lord. We're legally married at this age and at the second coming That's the consummation of the marriage where the veil is there's no veil Between us at all meaning we see him face to face is what I mean right now just the whole natural realm We can't see him face to face but by faith But on at the day the second coming though We're legally married to him now were betrothed the day the second coming the the marriage is consummated and it's fully joined Paul said did you know? That the day that I led you to Christ you were boarding it. Did you know you were actually engaged? you were legally married to Jesus and The Corinthians got set might have said no we did not know that There's massive implications about that about who God is He's the bridegroom God and who they are. They're the cherished bride Then Paul went on and said another statement. I did this that I might present you As a chaste virgin to Christ and the word chaste is the same is this It's translated many in some Bibles as the word pure He goes the day you were born again You were brought into a relationship where you were engaged but in that context legally married to the Lord, he said he is your bridegroom God and you became in one moment as a free gift a pure Virgin in God's sight Everything that was against you has been wiped away and you're completely clean before him Now these are the two truths and others as well that the devil does not want you to know He does not want you to know this Paul goes on to say but I fear less somehow in the way that the serpent that means that's the devil and the way that the Serpent deceived Eve back in the Garden of Eden back in Genesis 3 The devil came to Eve in the in the Garden of Eden and lied to her and tricked her He was crafty. It was subtle crafty. It wasn't straightforward. It's crafty Paul said here's what I fear that in the way that the devil tricked Eve in a crafty way. He's tricking you He's getting you away from the simplicity of who you are before Jesus The devil wants to complicate it so that you don't buy it so you never live in freedom, but you live in bondage Paragraph B Your betrothed to one husband again the implication of that Jesus is the bridegroom God You're a cherished bride. You're legally married to him the day you're born again. What does this mean? practically he Desires you that's the meaning He doesn't just stamp your passport So you could go to heaven when you die He desires you You are the one he wants When the Lord said yes the day you were born again and received you he received you into a betrothed relationship He received you as his bride literally He said I want you You are the one I want. This is one of the truth The devil does not want any believer to get because if you believe he actually Desires you and he wants you you will run to him instead of from him. Even when you stumble in your weakness The devil does not want you running to him He wants you running from him with lies about him so that you would live in greater agreement with darkness So you'll be in greater bondage and strongholds these like this fortress built around your life Keeping the blessing of God out of your life He wants you I have here in paragraph B as a bridegroom God. He has deep emotions for us He has commitments to us. Did you know that as the bridegroom God? He is committed to share his heart with you To share his throne with you. I mean we'll rule the earth with him to share the secrets of his heart with you To share his the very beauty he possesses he imparts to his people Beloved do you know who you are to him? We don't want to believe other than this about Jesus But many believers don't know anything about this type of relationship with Jesus Thank Jesus, you know stamp their passport. Okay, go to heaven when they die Hopefully give them a few blessings between now and then and use them a little bit and the Lord says I have so much more You're betrothed to me You're not just a worker You're the one I want. I'm not using you as slave labor. I actually like you. I want you even you Well the guy says Yeah, but not me. I'm so messed up. I'm disqualified Paul went on to make the next point He presents you as a chaste virgin You say well, you know, I know he would want me but if you knew what I did if you knew what Jesus did on the cross Yeah, but what I did was no, it's not what you did. It's what he did. He literally Made you a pure Chaste is the same word virgin in one moment the day you were born again. The point is this the Disqualification has been removed forever It's removed forever We stand as a pure virgin in his sight By receiving the gift of righteousness this happened the moment we were born again. I have here in second Corinthians 5 We have become, in verse 21, we have become The righteousness of God in Christ look at the end of verse 21 second Corinthians 5 we have become The righteousness of God now in second Corinthians, this is the book Paul's, you know He's in second Corinthians 11 now when he says you're a pure virgin. He's actually referring back to this verse You became the righteousness of God meaning the very righteousness that Jesus possesses He gave to you fully in one man moment as a free gift You didn't earn it or deserve it little by little it was given to you in one moment of time as an absolutely free gift You are a pure virgin You don't have to buy the lie that you're disqualified that that betrothed relationship Idea is not going to work for you beloved. It will work for you because you've received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus Paragraph see we are declared Listen to this. This is outrageously glorious we are declared as righteous or as clean as Jesus is in the sight of the Father as A free gift today you are as clean Before the Father as Jesus is Because it's his righteousness that's given you. Did you know that righteousness cannot improve a Thousand years a million years from now You will not have a greater righteousness than the righteousness you received the moment you were born again It cannot improve because it's God's righteousness. It's not sort of God's righteousness. It is his righteousness It will never improve Many people they mistake paragraph D Their spiritual immaturity They're immature and so they agree with darkness in their beliefs ideas about God It's out of immaturity and they make choices where they agree with darkness immaturity they mistake that for being a hopeless hypocrite in a rebel an immature believer and a Rebellious person are not it's a very different heart very different So the enemy comes when they stumble and say you're a hopeless hypocrite You're fake everything about you is fake and your walk with God And so then the enemy gets us to run from Jesus. I mean instead of running to Jesus we run from him Paragraph E. How do you see yourself? This is critical How do you see yourself? Are you a slave? Who struggles to love God or are you a lover of God who struggles with sin? Which are you when you see yourself? Are you a slave of sin who struggles to love God or are you a lover of God who still struggles with sin? They're really different If you get on a an airplane one says New York one says, California You better get the right one because they're going in totally opposite directions Many believers they look at themselves as a slave of sin that's struggling to love when they should see themself I am a lover of God. That's who I am. That's what I do Yes, I still struggle with sin, but who I am. I am a lover of God. That's what I do. I Love the song by Misty. I'm in love with God God's in love with me that settles it completely boom, I Love it I love that music. You could tell she had some energy when she put that music That settles it completely Top of page four just the last few moments here Do you define yourself by your struggle or do you define yourself by the fact? He desires you and his work on the cross. How do you define yourself? Oh I'm in depression and nobody likes me. I got a spirit of rejection Those may be true in terms of some of the activities of your life in your mindset, that's not who you are You're the one God desires. You're the one he said I want to marry you. You're the one I want and I've made a way I've made you totally free. That's who you are When we feel shameful Which many believers they feel shame they live shameful if you feel dirty you will live dirty, it's true If you feel clean Even though you know the truth of your struggles But you feel clean because he gave you the gift of righteousness and he desires you and you feel dignity You will live clean and you will live with a sense of dignity This is how the stronghold is broken by this truth You are betrothed and you are a chaste virgin When you feel desired by God His betrothed his bride when you feel clean a virgin you will live different You live with confidence Paragraph G these two truths. I want to identify these two truths betrothed. You're the one God desires Clean you are made a chaste virgin These two truths redefine your life and they break strongholds They are break the arguments that the devil puts in our mind about God that he's not the kind of God that desires people like this He's not the kind of God that cleanses people this way and your you and Christ are not the type of person that is desired Or is made clean that those are lies. Those are arguments. We cast those arguments down We we we take that's those stones that wall built against us we cast those stones down one by one We break that wall up by the confession of the Word of God in our relationship with God. We speak the truth about who we are Roman numeral six middle page four Let's just read it again. Just get the flow. I fear verse 3 second Corinthians 11 verse 3 and 4 because I want to break you to verse 4 and make a thought or two and then Wait on the Lord and ask the Lord to touch us Paul said it again. I'm repeating verse 3. I fear Let's somehow as the devil deceived Eve by craftiness. That's the key word craftiness. It's not blatant. It's Secretively tricking you into wrong ideas Like a guy said well my church never taught me that Well, I don't know what to say about that. We go by the Bible. I don't know what your church taught you Well, I never thought this before that doesn't matter we go by the Bible not by what you used to think Well everyone around me my youth group never said that throw all that away What we care about is what the Bible says not what your tradition or what your upbringing said if it is not in agreement with the Bible Paul said in the same way that the devil deceived Eve by craftiness So the devil is one wanting your mind corrupted. I Like the translation your mind led astray. It's with the new American standard. The NAS is the new American standard from the simplicity Beloved there's the simplicity of what you receive in Jesus. It's so simple. Anybody can believe it But so few actually Engage in the relationship with God based on these truths. They might even know them like if this is new to you tonight Well now, you know it but the issue is are you actually going to engage with these truth? Meaning when you feel opposite when you say devil, you're a liar. This is who I am. I confess the word Jesus This is who I am to you. You have to come into agreement and cast the arguments against God cast them down by can renouncing them Paul goes on and he says it clear for if he Who comes preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached or you received a different spirit Which you've not received or a different gospel Here they are in the church in Corinth. Here's these Bible teachers in the church in court They're preaching another Jesus a different spirit and a different gospel. Look what Paul says at the end of verse four He goes and you put up with them. You just accept what they say you agree with them He goes they're not preaching the Jesus of the New Testament if they're Jesus of their own ideas It's got a different spirit. It's a different gospel and you just put up with it He goes why tell him no and come into agreement with the real Jesus Roman paragraph aid number one another Jesus now these false teachers. They were called Judaizers They preached Jesus of Nazareth. I mean they they believed in the Jesus of Nazareth Historically, oh, yeah the guy who died on the cross. That's the guy we preach they go Well sounds like the same Jesus that Paul preaches and Paul said no they use the same name, but they have very different ideas They didn't believe he gave a free gift of righteousness. They believed you had to earn it Paul said that's a different Jesus They didn't believe that he desired them to be betrothed to them. They didn't believe that kind of stuff Paul says it's another Jesus That's not the Jesus. I preach the Jesus. I preach gave the free gift and he desires you he's betrothed you That's the only Jesus you want to believe in a Lot of believers God never heard about these things Well, it's time to hear about them. I don't mean for me. It's time for them to hear about him through you Talk about you telling them Paul said it's another gospel It's a never know These guys preach Jesus died on the cross Paul said yeah, I know they say that but They have another gospel. They have one they're presenting to you. It's not motivated that God It's a true gospel is I'll say the true gospel is Motivated by the free gift of righteousness and the deep desire of Jesus's heart for his people We don't earn his favor. We receive it freely. We don't deserve his desire. He desires us because of who he is That's the gospel Paul said these guys don't tell you this. That's another gospel. They use similar terms, but it's not the same gospel And then Paul said they have a different spirit. They operated in a spirit of condemnation a spirit of fear and a spirit of bondage Beloved we operate in a spirit of faith or another term is the spirit of confidence before God Confidence with God the spirit of bondage will never empower the human heart to grow in love never It's a different spirit So let's let's stand I'm gonna read paragraph B to you just stand I pray this over you have the worship team go ahead and Come on up We got a dismantle spiritual strongholds Paragraph B. I summarize it the whole thing is right there in paragraph B We Cast down the lies against Jesus and who we are in Jesus. We cast those lies down We say no, we cast them down. We don't agree with those lies. We renounce them. We break our agreement with those lies We are betrothed We are desired by God. We are virgins. We are clean before him He desires us We are accepted fully as first-class citizens in his sight Beloved when we have confidence like this We run to him with an open spirit and we will grow and when what happens when our mind changes Then our emotions change a little bit down the road when your mind changes your emotions get freed and when your emotions get freed your behavior changes a Lot of people start with their behavior. They try to change their behavior and we need to change our behavior But I mean we need to resist in our behavior negative things But I tell you the way to make permanent change change your mind then a little while later not long your emotions you feel different Then when your emotions are changed your behavior will change in a consistent in a deep way We're gonna worship for a few minutes and then we're gonna ask the Lord to break some strongholds Well, remember he won't break them. I don't want to say the wrong way. He won't break them except you are in agreement It's you and him together breaking that stronghold using the name of Jesus So don't ask him to do it. He says no, I want you to cast down the argument God says I don't believe the argument. You're the one that needs to cast it down. Not me. I don't buy it So we are going to work together with the Lord to break that argument in just a moment Go ahead. Don't just leave us in the presence of the Lord for a few minutes We're gonna ask the Lord for healing because there's physical healings that are related to the emotional and mental stronghold I