Right to Bear Arms

Are you exhausted from fighting? Maybe it's conflict at home, tension at work, temptation, anxiety, bitterness, or old wounds that just won't heal. The truth is, everyone is fighting something. But followers of Jesus are not called to fight the same way the world does.

In this message from 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, Pastor Jason Barnett explores Paul's powerful military imagery to reveal a surprising truth: Christians do bear arms, but not the weapons the world expects. Instead of  anger, revenge, manipulation, or intimidation, God has given His people spiritual weapons empowered by the Holy Spirit to tear down strongholds, overcome lies, and bring every thought into obedience to Christ.

Discover why the cross looked like weakness to the world but became God' greatest victory, and how belonging to another kingdom changes the way you fight every battle.

Whether you're struggling with broken relationships, spiritual warfare, unforgiveness, fear, or discouragement, this biblical message will encourage you to lay down the world's weapons and take up the ones Christ has given you.

Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.

Ravenna Church of the Nazarene
530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472

Transcript

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Pastor Jason 0:00

If you're fighting like everyone else, you're fighting for the wrong kingdom. I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, and this is the Dirt Pastorman Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

That's not what happened, sir.

Pastor Jason 1:11

Hey friends, welcome back to the Dirt Path to Run Podcast. I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, aka the Dirt Path Pastor. And before we jump in, I had to tell you a funny moment about what happened on Sunday morning right before I preached this message. One of our church members saw the sermon title Right to Bear Arms and I can't remember. I think it was on the screen or it was in the bulletin or on the order of worship. I don't know if she was a word. But she saw it and she asked me, Pastor, do you have a box in the back where we're gonna have to turn our guns in? And I laughed. I I told him, no. This is not that type of sermon. This sermon's not about guns at all. Um so don't worry, if you came into this podcast thing, I'm gonna tell you that you, you know, it's you gotta turn in your firearms. That's not what the sermon's about. But the sermon is about the weapons we carry. And so maybe you're fighting with someone at work, maybe you're carrying hurt from home or But the weapon I'm talking about here isn't like a physical weapon. I'm talking about maybe your your weapon is anger or sarcasm. It's maybe it's bitterness or revenge. If we're not careful, we start fighting the same way everyone else in the world does. But in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1 through 6, Paul reminds us the followers of Jesus don't fight like the world. Why? Because we belong to another kingdom. So whether you're driving down the road, mowing the yard, or just sitting on your front porch with a cup of coffee, I'm glad you're here to listen. And let's open the Word of God together. In the animal kingdom, that both man and beast are kind of nervous when it's around. It doesn't matter what kind of critter it is. I've even seen the documentaries on the Discovery Channel where even lions are afraid of this creature. And it actually has nothing to do with this creature's size, it's not really that big. Um but it has everything, it's not because this creature is that ferocious. It's really not. But it's how this creature deals with threats that has everybody nerves. And this little this little fluff ball, it only knows it, it only has one move. And it's one move is devastating. I'm talking about a skunk. I mean one time uh Nicole and the kids and I we went shopping when we were in Pennsylvania, and we came back, and as we were getting ready to walk from the garage up into the back door, there was a skunk sitting on the back porch. So we walked around the whole block to get to the front door to avoid the skunk. I had a neighbor who had uh hunting dogs, right? And occasionally they would get a little too curious, and well, the dog would get sprayed, and the handlers would get sprayed too, you know. Uh so if you've ever encountered a skunk, you know what I'm talking about. And if one's ever sprayed you or sprayed a pet of yours, you know that it's not just a localized smell, right? Like it blasts everything. That's what skunks do. And again, it doesn't it doesn't matter, right? Whether it's a coyote, whether it's a dog that's few curious, or your forward focus driving down 52, right? That's gonna it's gonna it's one reaction, it's just gonna spread. That's how it's gonna deal with the problem. Now, if we're honest though, sometimes we as Christians we can be a lot like skunks. Skunks have this one this one defense, like a one response to threats, and that was they would spray everything. And we as Christians, sometimes when we feel threatened or our security is threatened, we respond just like a skunk, we spray. Someone criticizes us, we spray. Someone hurts our feelings, we spray. Someone disagrees with us on Facebook. You know what we do? We spray. I think you kind of get the point, right? Now, our spray, it's not a you know, it's not a smell that smells like a mix between white casso and taco bell, right? Like some type of biohazard created. It's not what it smells like. We don't we we don't use a smell, we use other things. That's what our spray is. Our spray is more like anger, right? We get anger, so we we outburst in our anger. Or or we we we use sarcasm. And contrary to popular opinion, sarcasm is not a gift of the Holy Spirit. Or we use gossip, we start gossiping. That's our spray. You think if we could just if we can just ruin this other person's reputation, we can just let everybody else know how rotten they are. That'll do the trick. So that's our spray. Sometimes it's bitterness or or revenge, or sometimes it's even the silent treatment. You may be mad, I'm just not gonna talk to you. That's our spray. That's our go-to move. That's our one defense. And in fairness, that's the only way we know how to fight. That's our natural instinct, that's just that's just our response to things. And that's exactly the same way the world fights. The world fights that way. The world reacts in those ways, the same ways as you and I do. But there's a problem with that. Because you see, the problem is that following Jesus doesn't just change what we believe, it changes how we fight. That's exactly where Paul's gonna take us here in 2 Corinthians 10. He's gonna talk about what it means to fight, right? And the church in Corinth, it was surrounded by a world that measured things by strength, right? It measured strength by power and intimidation. Military mind. Matter of fact, Corinth was a city uh known for its military veterans that lived there. So the people at Corinth, they would have understood that this is how the world fights, this is how we fought, this is how the Romans fought. But Paul's trying to tell them that you're a follower of Jesus now, you don't fight that way. You gotta tell them that followers of Jesus fight differently because they belong to a different kingdom. And that that way of fighting still, the way of Jesus still lies to human eyes. So that's what we're looking at today in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And I'm gonna read verses 1 through 6. It says, I, Paul, make a personal request to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ. I am shy when I'm with you, but I am bossy when I'm away from you. I beg you that when I'm with you in person, I won't have to boss you around. I'm afraid that I may have to use that kind of behavior with those people who think we live by human standards. And although we live in the world, we don't fight our battles with human methods. Our weapons that we fight with aren't human. But instead, they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Once your obedience is complete, we are ready to punish any disobedience. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks, be to God. Alright. I mean, when you saw my child got a little nervous this morning. Right? This is Sarah was teasing. I said, Sarah, this isn't that sermon, don't worry. There's no box back there for you to drop your firearms in. Okay. But as we read through this passage, as we go through it, I mean you're gonna notice Paul uses a lot of military language. Right? And so he's writing about battles, he's writing about fortresses and towers, he's even writing about taking things prisoner. That's military language. Language is that the people of Corinth would have known and understood. But if we pay too much attention, if we don't pay close enough attention, we might think that Paul is gonna go on to describe things like swords and shields and armor and soldiers, right? But Paul is not talking about those kinds of weapons here. Can we read this and our minds go to the kind of modern weapons that we have? I've got 12 gauge over at Tracy's house. That's what my mind meant. You see, the Paul, the weapons Paul described, these are not worldly weapons, they're a different sort. At the same time, when we read this, to understand Paul is not telling us to be passive. He's not calling us to some passive resistance as Christians. He's not calling us to sit in a circle and seeing Kumbaya play patty cake with each other. There's something more to it. He's actually writing that we as Christians we have a right to bear arms. But not just but just not the weapons that the world expects. So that's what we're studying here in this passage. So again, in this letter, Paul is dealing with people in the remember, Corinth is that church that the first letter, that's that's that's a letter from the district superintendent saying we have problems, come help us. And yes, is addressing them. Well, the second letter, Paul is coming back to deal with the same people, and for the most part, the church has responded to the first letter, but there's still a pocket of resistance. So Paul is trying to address that pocket of resistance, but at the same time, those who are resisting him are looking at Paul saying, Well, Paul's not really the kind of leader that you would expect a leader to be. You know, he's not the kind of leader that really tells you that pocket for strength. He's not he's not a coaster tile for good being a good soldier. He's not about strength, he's not about domination or intimidation. Paul's not about any of those things. Paul's gonna address that here. That's what Paul's addressing here in these verses. So he says, he begins the section with gentleness, and he tells the Corinthians that it does seem like he's one person with them and another away from them.

unknown 12:38

Right?

Pastor Jason 12:38

There's some people, like I have a friend that actually a friend, but Nicole and I knew he before we came to this history. He's a fellow pastor of another church, okay? And he hears this. I'm sorry, Joe. But when I first met Joe online, Joe is a very different person online. He is ready to pounce on you like that. You say something wrong with theologically, you say something against the church that has it, you better be ready because Joe's coming. And so he gives out this idea like that about who he is online. But what then uh so when I got this district and we went to our first ministers and mates retreat and we met this guy, and we're like, what's this guy really like? Well now he and his wife, Roger, are our best friends on the district. He's one person online, he's another person when you're with him. That's kind of what Paul's saying. He's like, Paul's acknowledging that. He's like, you know, I yeah, I might not seem like I'm the I'm not, I'm not sure, I'm not the poster child of leadership necessarily that you're looking for. But that you're expecting. But Paul does say this in verse, he says, I beg you that when I'm lifting in person, I won't have to boss you around. I'm afraid that I may have to use that kind of behavior with those people who think you live by human standards. So, what Paul is saying here, he's like, you know, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. Jesus called me. Jesus put a sample of proof on me. Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to anoint me and sent me out to preach. That's something that I don't that you know, Paul was recognized as an apostle by the rest of the apostles. He was recognized as apostle for the most part in this church. So Paul's saying, I can show up, I can use my apostolic authority, I can say I'm the boss, I in charge of what I say goes. I can do that, I have that kind of authority, but guess what? I don't want to be that person. I don't want to use my authority that way. Again, Paul is showing gentleness not because of weakness. But what Paul is demonstrating is what gentleness really is. What gentleness is is strength under control. Kind of strength that Jesus showed on the cross, remember? When Jesus could have called down 10,000 angels, but he didn't. That's what Paul's doing. He has the authority, he has the power, but he's not using it that way. He's not gonna Paul doesn't want to intimidate them into submission. Paul just gives so Paul's gonna give them a chance to straighten themselves out first. Because things always work better when you let people figure it out for themselves. So he's gonna continue in verses three and four. Paul writes, although we live in the world, we don't fight our battles with the human Methodists. Our weapons that we fight with are human, but they are powered by God. So Paul's dang, we live in the world, we live in this world.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Right? We live here. This is our home.

Pastor Jason 16:10

That's just a temporary. You are standing citizenship in another kingdom. Like a person representing the kingdom of heaven, not a person representing the people of her. Paul's directly calling out those people that are challenging his authority for me. But he's not called.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

I don't mean to do that. I can't do that.

Pastor Jason 16:57

Again, the world uses intimidation, it seeks revenge, it puffs up like it's a peacock with his feathers, right? Try and scare people off. It manipulates, but God's people don't. He says, We are we are we fight with weapons we fight with are human, but instead they are powered by God. Paul is Paul's acknowledging that's like the weapons I'm about to use, they're not my weapons, they're God's weapons. They're not powerful because I'm Paul using them. They're not powerful because I'm I'm Paul and I'm smart enough to know how to do it. It's they're powerful because it's God's spirit that's powered. It's God's power behind it, not my power. Paul's acknowledging that God's weapons are capable of doing things that human strength can't do. He goes on, he continues on in verse 4 and into verse 5. And he's gonna show us that God's weapons are not passive, right? Like I said, these aren't just sitting around holding hands and hope for the best. These are active. These weapons are not for hiding but for advancing. He says, these weapons they destroy arguments and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So again, Paul, right here, he's using military language.

unknown 18:40

Right?

Pastor Jason 18:40

And if we were using military language and we are thinking about what Paul just said when he talks about a fortress, what is a fortress? It's a tower meant to keep people out. Right? It's got gates is shut. Uh think of the walls of Jericho. It was a fortress believed to be impenetrable. Paul's saying the weapons of God can bring that tower down. He's saying that God's weapons are made for slicing through all the falsehoods that hinder people from Jesus. He's saying that again, everybody has their worldview, right? And every area has some some similar real worlds, but different worldviews. We as Christians believe that Jesus is the center of everything. But other real views don't share that. And they sometimes they will they will throw out arguments and different things against us to try and hinder the message of Jesus Christ. But guess what? Our weapons to defeat them are not the same weapons that they use. Our weapons is the power of Jesus in us and through us. That's what Paul is saying. He's saying it's that the power of God can take down anything. What's impossible for us to do in our human strength, God can do in his strength. But notice also what the goal is of God's weapons. Again, when we use weapons, our thought is I'm gonna put you down. Matter of fact, if you ever go through um uh um basic gun training, I'm probably calling it wrong, Trazy, but you can correct me later. But if you ever go through basic gun training, right, it'll tell you if you have to pull your weapon out and open fire, you have to do the whole thing. You don't just you don't just take one shot. You want to make sure they're down. You want to make sure they're getting back up and people don't actually get in. Right? Our goal is annihilation, our goal is intimidation, our goal. That's why I have a 12 gauge, right? I have a 12 gauge because sometimes you don't need to fire a shot with that 12 gauge, you just pump it, and you hear the shit pump of that shotgun, you know it, you better go. Right. That's our goal with our weapons. That's the world's weapons. That's how the world uses its weaponry. It's the goal is to put down, defeat, crush, battle in them until they submit to you. God's weapons are not for that. God's goal is not to destroy or crush anybody. It's not, God's goal is not crushing the enemy. It says, what's what Paul C says, they capture, they take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. That word captive literally means, it's against military language, it means taking prisoners. But in this, in this case, it's not just taking a prisoner, it's saving the prisoner and converting them to your side. God's weapons have the power to bring down any stronghold, to take any thought captive, to fight through any falsehood, and then take the heart of the person with those things captive and transform them from the inside out. Paul is saying the goal of God's weapons is not winning arguments. But bringing everything, every thought into obedience to Jesus. That is Paul's objective. Because that's Jesus' objective. So again, as we read this, Paul is telling us as Christians, we have a right to bear arms. We have a right to fight back. But the arms we bear are different. They're not the same weapons that the world uses. We're not trying to scare anybody straight, right? You can scare people out of going to hell, but guess what? They tend to not stay following Jesus very long. Fear only lasts as long as you're afraid. And sometimes people reach a point where they stop being scared and afraid, and then get mad. Guess who they get mad at? They get mad at God. Then their whole other issue is a whole other thing. So as Christians, we have the right to bear arms, but the arms we bear are different. We don't fight like the world because we belong to another kingdom. Yeah, just like a Roman policy. That Roman colony, we understand how the world fights. In our world, it's whoever screams the loudest. If I can shout the loudest, that makes me somebody special. So you have to listen to me. If I can, if I if I'm the biggest fellow student in the room, you're not one mess with me. I'm definitely not that. Yeah, you might be acting about these my power. I don't want to intimidate you into a submission. That's how the world operates. Or yeah, maybe you did me wrong. Maybe I'm not brave enough to take your head on, but guess what? I'm gonna work politically to work you out of the system. Or I'm gonna gossip about it so everybody looks at you and sees you how I find you. That's how the world finds. Or sometimes our go-to movies, I'm just gonna clam up and not say anything. Because if I don't say anything, I can't get in trouble. I've learned to Nicole, sometimes that's wrong. Silence can't get you in trouble. There are moments where we gotta stand up and take something. There are moments when we gotta stand up and find it. There are moments when people are being oppressed and we can't just sit there and do nothing. There are moments where people are in broken situations that you ask me, you can't just sit there and do nothing, you gotta do something. Because silence doesn't solve the issue. It might keep it hidden a few minutes longer. But when it comes out, it's gonna get you too. Think about right now how many most states have a law on Kentucky's one of them. If you know if someone that you know is you that you're getting abused, and you don't record it, you get in trouble. You get in trouble when the news comes out because you knew it. You knew it happened, you didn't say anything. And the longer you say nothing, the longer that predator gets to keep praying on other kids. That's what I'm talking about. Silence is dangerous. Now I mean you don't go around blabbing it all over the place. If you don't print it off in the newspaper, you take the right step, you fight the right way. We don't gotta be silent. But see, those who believe in Jesus, we're called to lay that those kind of weapons down and pick up different ones. We don't get to use those. The problem is those weapons that we're called to lay down, those are our natural weapons. We're like the scump. Our natural reactions are straining. Our anger is easy for us to use, and it's easy for us to let people know we're upset, and that we need something to change. I just smash something hard enough and go hard enough now getting people's attention, they'll hear me, hearing. But that's not God's weapon, that's the weapon of the world. They do work, that's why people keep using them. But see, when we use those weapons, you know what we do? We destroy people. We destroy people, we use the weapons of this world. Why? Because that's what they're designed to do. And Jesus doesn't want to destroy people, he wants to transform them. So if we're followers of Jesus, we believe in Jesus and we believe that that he can transform people. That's why he calls us to love our enemies. Now, again, some of us maybe if we don't use labels, maybe we build a fortress, right? Someone has done us wrong, so we are gonna build up a giant wall, build it so thick that we block everybody else out. They can't get to our heart if we build the wall high enough. And if we build that wall high enough, they can't get to us, but if they can't get this, that means they can never hurt us again. So we build that wall out of bitterness, we build it out of fear. We sometimes even build it out of pride, we build a fortress. We stand high on our tower looking down, look at how mighty and powerful I am. I'm so far up here, and you're so far down there. That's not, you know, a tower, a fortress, a stronghold, it's not so much an offensive weapon as a defensive weapon, right? You're building it so you can stay put and nobody can get to you. That's what we do. Sometimes I start picking up we go into self-preservation mode. But Jesus didn't wall himself off. Now there were among us, he went on and he took time to pray, but Jesus always came back out and he always went to the people. He went to the people that were broken, some of them that had fortified their hearts and walled themselves off from others, some of them they were so broken that they just all they knew was to lay in their brokens. Now, some of them know. Some of them came at Jesus with weapons of the world. Remember, the gospels are full of toward the inspection before they tried to arrest Jesus, they're trying to trap him in his words. And one by one, Jesus takes them down. But he doesn't take them down using their weapons against him, he takes them down by using the kingdom weapons. Now, Jesus, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Paul is not just simply teaching us about these different weapons, he he used them. Jesus, when when he was surrounded by people that hated him, right? They're shouting at him while he's on the cross, they're they're beating the snot out of him, they're driving the nails on his hands. What does Jesus do? He says, Father, forgive him. He answers their hatred with love. He answers their bitterness with forgiveness. He answers their violence with sacrifice. He answered death with life. You see, to the Roman world, that cross looked weak. It looked like an object of humiliation and torture and the death penny. But to us as Christians now, 2,000 years or later, we look to it, we see redemption, we see victory, we know what it represents. But back then it was still that instrument of humiliation. But we know that that cross will become God's greatest victory. You see, because Jesus belongs to another kingdom, he fought differently. And since we follow him, we are called to bear the same arms that Jesus bears. We don't fight like the world because we belong to another kingdom. So this morning, lay down the weapons you've been carrying. Sometimes, if it's every time someone hurts you, you explode. Then your weapon is your anger. Take your anger and like the animal, give it to Jesus. If you know how to chop someone down with your words, this one hurts. You know how to chop someone down with your words, your weapon is sarcasm. And again, I emphasize this is not a gift of the spirit, lay it down. If maybe don't yell at anyone's face, you make sure everyone knows how rotten they are, then your weapon is gossip. Lay it down, whatever your weapon is this morning, whatever it is that you use, whatever your soap spray is, lay it down. That's not the weapon of the kingdom, that's the weapon that you've always had. When Jesus wants to you just lay it down so he can teach you to use another one. Yeah, maybe this morning your weapon is a weapon is not your problem. Maybe you have a fortress that needs to come down. It's one you constructed from bitterness and murder. And this fortress that guards your heart to keep others out, it could keep you from getting hurt again or guarding an old building that's still tender, but Jesus wants to bring that stronghold down today. Because you can't love others the way God calls us to love others if you keep your heart walled off from everybody. Believe me, I've had my heart broken in this job more than any other job I've ever had. I'll tell you what, it's worth it. It's worth it. And sometimes it's really hard not to respond in bitterness. For me, it's really hard not to respond in sarcasm. I like sarcasm a lot. That's not the weapon God wants me to carry. He wants me to lay down. In order to love somebody, you have to be vulnerable to them. They have to mean something to you. You see, we have to bear the arms that Christ has given us. And I guess I I need probably should explain to you what the arms of Jesus are. The arms of Jesus, first off, is truth. Stand on the truth, and we have the truth revealed to us through God's word. Study God's word and stand on it. Don't move from it. Work wrestle with it, work it out. Stand on his truth instead of deception. The weapon another another weapon of the kingdom is prayer instead of panic. Right? That's it's easy to go crazy and flip out because things aren't working and you're afraid of how things might turn out, but instead of being crazy, pray about it. I'm not saying pray about just one time, like, oh well, God didn't answer a prayer. I mean really pray about it. Get serious. You know what the hardest service to start in any church is? Prayer meeting. The people of God, if I start prayer meeting, I bet you five of you would show up. I would consider that good. I'm not criticizing everybody. I'm not trying to do that, but I might point prayer is prayer is something that that sometimes we don't take seriously enough. Prayer is a weapon. Why? Because it's us reminding us, it's it's us crying out to the God who loves us, the God who has the power to give to us, to supply the weapons that we need to overcome the enemy. Prayer is our conversation with Him. So praise in a panic. Instead of seeking revenge, offer forgiveness. Love covers a multitude of sins. Seek forgiveness. Instead of living in pride, live in humility. Think I could be wrong. Think okay, maybe maybe my intention wasn't to hurt you, but guess what? Maybe my words did. Yes, I wasn't meaning that. But obviously, I hurt you, and I'm sorry. That's humility. Sometimes we hurt someone's feelings and we rush to try and justify. Well, if you hadn't done this, you hadn't done that way. I didn't mean it that way. It doesn't matter how you meant it. You hurt that person. Say you're sorry. That wasn't what you were intending to do. Love instead of hate. And obedience instead of compromise. Those are the weapons of the kingdom. They're not complicated, they're not heavy machinery. You don't have to have a black dog karate to use these. You just have to have faith and trust in Jesus and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit that He's given you. You see, God's way is stronger than the world's way. His power can accomplish what your weapons never can. The question is, do you believe it? Do you believe God's weapons are more powerful than the world's weapons? Do you believe that Jesus won the greatest battle of them all, not by using the world's weapons, but by giving his life on the cross? Do you actually believe that? Do you believe it when Paul says God's power, God's weapons are powerful enough to bring down strongholds and take every thought captive and bring it into obedience to Jesus Christ? Do you actually believe that in your heart, in your mind, and do you live like you believe it? You see, the cross and the resurrection are why Paul wrote, writes these words. That's why Paul has so much confidence and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. That's why he's like, I don't want to come to you and be the big bully that you want me to be. I could do it, but I don't want to do why because I trust that you will respond to the Holy Spirit that's speaking to you. That's why, you know, some people have, you know, they come to our church and they have sins in their lives or they have things they're struggling with. That's why when you come in, I don't say the first thing I tell you is, um, you see, you can't pick on. David, you gotta quit having a potty mouth, right? I don't say that David doesn't have a potty mouth, okay? I don't say that to David. Why? Because that's not my job. My job is to love, encourage David, and to help him, and let the Holy Spirit do the work that I can't do. You let the Holy Spirit do it. I stand on the truth, I don't use those things myself. I model the behavior, right? I live the example, I show him a different way, but I don't call David out for it. I let the Holy Spirit do the work. Because he can do a better job than we ever could. We don't have to fight like everyone else. We don't have to respond the same way others respond. Again, I'm not calling this to be passive, I'm not calling this to hide, but I'm still saying we can exercise our right to bear arms, but we cannot carry the same weapon. We don't fight like the world fights because we belong to another kingdom. That kingdom is the kingdom of God. What weapon have you been carrying? Is it anger? Sarcasm? Maybe it's bitterness, gossip, revenge, fear, or pride. Maybe you built a fortress around your heart because someone wounded you, and you've convinced yourself it's safer to stay behind those walls. Well, I want to encourage you right now to lay those weapons down. Ask Jesus to tear down those strongholds and teach you to fight with the weapons of his kingdom. Remember, we don't fight like the world, because we belong to another kingdom. The kingdom of God. Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for reminding us that your kingdom is different from the kingdoms of the world. Forgive us for the times we've picked up the world's weapons instead of trusting in your power. Where there's anger, replace it with grace. Where there's bitterness, bring healing. Where there's pride, teach us humility. And where there are strongholds, tear them down by the power of your Holy Spirit. Teach us to love as Jesus love. To forgive as we forgave, and to fight the battles before the truth, prayer, humility, obedience, and love. And thank you that Jesus fought the greatest battle for us through his death and resurrection. And thank you that he still with us today. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Well, if this message encouraged you, uh, would you just take a moment to share it with somebody? Uh you never know who needs to hear that there is a better way to fight. And this episode is one of the easiest ways you can help spread the hope of the gospel. And that's really my goal of this podcast. It's uh to help one more person. That the greatest available for him and that he can change their life. Uh helping to reach that one more person. Now, if the Dirt Passment podcast has been a blessing to you and you'd like to support this ministry, you can click the link in the episode description. So every dollar that you give goes to the NASDAQ Compassionate Ministry's emergency relief fund. This helps provide food, clean water, shelter, medical care, and hope to people affected by disasters around the world. Uh and they're actually, you know, if you've been reading about the earthquakes in Venezuela, they're already on the ground working, trying to help people provide aid in that moment of chaos, or trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus. So your support doesn't just keep this podcast going. It actually doesn't support this podcast that way at all. It just becomes a a way to express Christ's love to people in their greatest moments of need. Now, friend, I want you to know whatever battle you're facing this week, remember you don't face it alone. Jesus has already won the greatest battle. He's won the greatest victory. And through his spirit, he's still outworking your life. So keep trusting him. Keep following him. And keep fighting with the weapons of his kingdom. Until next time. Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Thank you for listening to this episode of that podcast. We're live, we're going to church the next week.