THE GOD OF TRUTH
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2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-6
2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-6
Last week, we talked about the felt heart of God and how the Holy Spirit is the way that we physically experience the felt heart of God.
At the end of the message, I challenged you with this thought, if you want to feel more of the heart of God, if you want to experience Him more, spend more time thinking about Him. I challenged us to do everything to we can do to think about Him more. To practice disciplines in our lives that help that and stop things that hinder us.
This week Pastor Eric sent me a message presented by a Dr Timothy Jennings. He is a very well known and respected psychologist.
This morning, I would like to share some of the things that he shared in that message, which I would gladly share with anyone that is interested afterwards and something things that the Lord showed me this week ties into this idea of the more you think about God the more you are going to experience the heart of God.
Let us first look at the scriptural references to prove the point then let us look at the science of the backs up that point.
Let’s first look at 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
2 Corinthians 10:3–6 (ESV)
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
The first thing to note here is that we are in a war. Do you know that we are in a war? Do you feel the warfare?
There is a war being waged in our schools, in our communities, in our cities, in our counties, in our state and country and world.
There is a battle that began in the Garden of Eden and it rages on still. It surrounds us and is constant.
But did you also know that this war is being waged in your mind? There is a battle for you thoughts, for you perspectives and the way that you view God and view yourself.
Last week, we talked about not walking in the flesh. This verse says that we can not fight this fight with physical weapons or physical tactics.
This battle can only be won using spiritual weapons. But these weapons are powerful and have supernatural strength and divine power to destroy strongholds.
Strongholds that the enemy has held for a long time and claims is his territory. Stronghold that need the walls destroyed and invaded.
But what is this war over? What are these strongholds?
According to this verse, the enemy’s strongholds that you and I have divine power to destroy is arguments and lofty opinions that are against the knowledge that God has revealed to us! These strongholds are lies that are being held in your mind, in our society that are counter to the truths of God. They are lies that say that God is different than who He really is and lies about who He says that you are in Him.
The enemy is a liar and lies are His weapons. Just look at the garden. Did He really say? Surely you will not die. You will become like Him.
Lies about God and lies about who we are.
Its been his weapon from the beginning.
When you and I listen to those lies and believe those lies, we have now allowed the enemy to set up a stronghold in our lives and in our minds that he claims as his territory. Lies about who God is and who you are in Christ.
But have hope! This verse is saying that you have access to a divine power to destroy those lies!
The battle that is raging is the battle for truth.
You don’t have to go far on the internet or on American colleges or in our school systems to see that the idea concept of absolute truth has been dissolved on our society. This is the war this verse is talking about.
However, there has to be a standard of truth! There has to be a true north. There has to be a something fixed to base ourselves off of or there is chaos!
When I was in the Coast Guard, one of the first things I was trained in was the helm and lookout for the ship. Its the person that post that alternates hours driving the ship and looking out for other ships or dangers in the water.
Now, on look out, to communicate with the bridge to tell them of a danger or another ship, you would use relative bearings. The bow of the ship is 000. Directly off the starboard is 090. Directly off the stern is 180. and so forth. Like a clock. So, you see a ship on the horizon you would say approximately the relative bearing to the ship. It relative to the ship and it works well on the ship.
However, to steer the ship, you have to use magnetic bearing and not relative bearing. Magnetic bearing places 000 at magnetic north. Its constant and doesn’t change. So, navigation is completely based off of magnetic bearing.
In order to communicate to another ship and avoid collisions, you have to communicate with magnetic bearings because its the same for both ships. Its absolute. If ships were to communicate using relative bearing, that would be chaos!
Navigation would be impossible! Because everywhere you turn would be 000. So, how do you get anywhere without a standard of truth that is absolute?
This war that is trying to get everyone to use a standard of truth that is relative to themselves. It is impossible for a society to continue without some degree of absolute truth. Relative truth leads you nowhere. You can not navigate. You can not get anywhere.
There must be a standard of truth and is a guide for all of us to be able to exist together and accomplish anything.
The enemy has been pushing this lie for too long and we who know the truth must speak out to tell people that there is an absolute truth that they can base their lives off of.
This truth is not something that we know or can hold, this truth is a triune God that we did not earn a relationship with. This truth is not a thing but the God! and we have been graciously been given access to Him. We aren’t smarter that the rest of the world caught in those lies because we once were as well. We have just been given the gift of the Spirit of truth.
See, the triune God doesn’t know truth, He IS truth.
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Jesus said, John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
The triune God is absolute truth, absolutely! To question, absolute truth is to question God’s absoluteness!
This is why God has placed us on the path to discover who God is and destroy the lies and strongholds in our minds and in our world. We must continue to pursue truth!
Scripture commands us to seek truth, to buy truth, to love truth.
(emphasize) to love truth.
Can we be a people that love truth? Can we be a people that truth excites us? Can we be a people that pursues truth with all that we have? Can we be people willing to lay down our lives for truth? Can we be people who would love truth enough to give up all that we have to have it? Can we be a people who walk not by the powers of the flesh of divine power to destroy the strongholds of the lies in our minds?
We can not be a people that affects change in the world until we deal with the strongholds in our own minds.
The weapons that we use for this war are spiritual and the combat arena in in our minds.
Our 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 verse says that we should take every thought captive to obey Christ and being ready to punish disobedience.
2 Corinthians 10:5–6 (ESV)
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
This is saying that we should pursue a thought life that reflects and is obedient to Jesus. Yes, we should act like Jesus but we should first think like Jesus. We should strive to view others like Jesus viewed them. We should strive to love others like Jesus loved them. We should strive to love truth like Jesus did. We should call out lies in our minds that are counter to truths of Jesus.
And we can do that by meditating on His Word.
Jesus prayed in John 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus was praying that we would love His Word. That we would hid His word in our hearts. That we would allow it to sanctify us. Change us. To push out sin and lies in our lives. To cause us to look more like Christ and think more like Christ.
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Its difficult to know what the magnetic north is without a compass. Without something to point us in the direction of truth. When we use anything other that God’s Word as the indicator of absolute truth, we have strayed degrees off course. We are heading in the wrong direction.
So, to know truth, to meditate on truth, the think like Christ, to take every thought captive, to fix you mind on things above, to think on whatever is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and excellent. You need to be spending time in the Word of God and walking by the Spirit of Truth.
If you want to experience more of the promises of God in your mind and heart, do all that you can to think more and more about God. Fix your mind on Him and you WILL physically experience Him more.
I said, earlier that we would first look at the scriptural reference to that claim. Then we would look at the science behind it.
Dr. Timothy Jennings, has a massive description of his qualifications so I’ll spare you. But I will send this video to anyone who wants to see more.
But he is a scientist who has studies and done research into this idea.
We have power over what we believe but what we believe has power over us.
He has multiple examples to show this is true.
He tells a story about a man named Derek Adams. a true story.
stressed out college student needing money. Signs up for medical trial and is given experimental medications.
has a difficult break up with a girlfriend and decides to overdose on his medication.
He immediately regrets it and calls 911.
By the time medical professionals reach him, he is mentally confused and drifting in and out of consciousness. He heart rate is irregular and starting to slip.
They rush him to the er and are trying everything to help him but they can’t figure it out.
They call the people who gave him the medications to figure out what they gave him to be able to counteract the affects.
They found out that Derek had been given the placebo, sugar pills.
They went in and told Derek, and within 15 minutes his heart rate became normal and he recovered just fine.
Derek and other stories like him show the power of what we believe. If we believe lies, it can physically have an effect on us! If we believe negative, hateful, depressing thoughts all of the time, it will manifest itself in our bodies! What we believe has power over us.
This Dr goes on to show how a mind constantly set on fear or anxiety physically alters the mind and how it spends its resources. When fear causes the fight or flight instinct to be constantly firing, your brain sends resources to places that help that instinct but causes the normal places to suffer.
For example, Its been proven that Iraqi boys raised in the safe zone are physically healthier, taller and stronger than boy raises in middle of the war zone. Their minds send resources to their muscles instead on their digestion. They can not properly digest food.
Constant fear and anxiety can have an effect of your mind and your physicality.
Dr. Jennings also talks about a study done by a University in Pennsylvania of people 65 years old and older.
They had groups meditate of God being a God of love for 12 minutes a day for 30 days. They have others mediate on God being judgmental or harsh.
In 30 days, the groups that meditated on the loving God showed significant improvement in heart rate and blood pressure. Their memory tested 30% higher than when they started. and here is the crazy one, the MRI’s showed growth in the part of the brain that is responsible for compassion, empathy and love.
This shows us that a mind set on God and the truth about who He is can cause us to physically experience Him and it will physically affect our thinking.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Psalm 19:7 (ESV)
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
Isaiah 26:3–4 (ESV)
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
(emphasize)Do all that you can to think about God.
This is how we take back territory from the enemy. This is how we defeat the stronghold that are the lies about who God is ans who we are! This is how we use weapons of divine power against the strongholds of lies in our minds. This is how we physically experience the promises of God in our lives.
Question, how can we win the world with truth, when we do not know the truth ourselves? How can we free others from the strongholds of lies, while we sit in them ourselves?
My challenge to you this week is this, pray and ask the Spirit of Truth to reveal to you strongholds of lies in your mind. Confess them to the Lord and to others. And then do everything that you can to think about God. Pray, read, and meditate on the Word of God. and cast off all distractions.
Pray for the destruction of strongholds.