All right, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. The Bible says this, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. There's some words that just kind of leap off the pages of the word of God in this passage. Words like war and weapons and warfare and strongholds. I mean, it's almost as if Paul is trying to transport us onto the front lines of the battlefield. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the sounds of war. I mean, you can hear guns firing. You can hear swords clashing. You can hear a lot of things going on, bombs exploding. I mean, you can see the sights of war. And let me say, the casualties of this war are all around us. But the battlefield that we fight this morning the battlefield that we fight in the church today It's not with a fleshly enemy most of the time. It's not with those from without It's not a physical physical battle. I'll be honest with you pastor in a lot of time. I almost wish it was I mean, whether I come out on top or on bottom, at least I'd know something was getting done. But it's not that way. I'll tell you where the battleground is today, friend. It's between our ears. It's our mind. It's these imaginations. It's these thoughts. That's why it is so important, whether you have standards or not, whether you have convictions or not. That's why it's so important. You cannot deny the fact. It is very important what we put before our eyes. It does affect us. Paul wants us to know there's a battle that's taking place right now and this battle is for the control of your mind. He compares the mind to a fortress and there's no doubt it's like a stronghold and that mind is there and all the demons and devils of hell, Satan himself is trying to destroy destroy our minds. It's under constant attack. It doesn't matter where you go. It doesn't matter where you present yourself. You ride down the road, it's on the billboards. I mean, you go to the stores, it's in the magazine, right? Everything trying to control your mind. You listen to any kind of news, you read any kind of article, and it's trying to capture your affections and your mind. You say, why is the devil so interested in your mind? My wife tells me of all the things that I've lost, she misses my mind the most. Amen? I mean, why is it so important? Well, I'll tell you why. Because if the devil can control your mind, he can control you. The mind is the control center of who we are. That's why when the word of God says, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs chapter 23, verse seven, you better take heed. You know, there was a saying, you are what you eat. My wife said, if that was true, I'd be fast, cheap, and easy. I don't know what that means. I'm not old enough, you know. Let me just say the truth of the matter is, The truth of the matter is you are what you think. Amen. I mean, you know, there was a lady who went to complain to the doctor, said, said, my husband thinks that he's a refrigerator. You got to help him. The doctor said, well, he thinks he's a refrigerator. He said, well, that ain't hurting anybody. She said, no, but at night when he opens his mouth, the light keeps me awake. Yeah. That didn't work. What about that man that went to the psychiatrist, or that woman? She said, my husband, you need to help him. He said, what's wrong with him? She said, well, he thinks he's a racehorse. He said, well, how do you know? She said, well, he wants to live in a stable. He walks around on all fours, and he even eats hay. She says, well, I'm sure I can help him, but it's going to take a long time and cost a lot of money. She said, that's OK. He's already won two races. Let me get to this. Let me get to this. We need to get back to preaching. Let me say this. This is the truth. You sow a thought, you reap an act. You sow an act, you reap a habit. You sow a habit, you reap a character. and you saw a character, you'll reap a destiny. But you know the beginning of that thought chain is it's all with the mind, it's with the thought. And let me say, if you're gonna win the battle for the mind, you've gotta understand that we're in a battle. What did Brother Chandler say? The first thing when you lose the edge, you gotta admit that you lost it. And I'm telling you, far too many of God's people are walking around almost as if their head is in the sand, don't even realize of the spiritual conflict that's taking place in our life. We're going to have to understand. We're going to have to understand that there is a fight, there is a war, and you're going to have to do it. The first thing you've got to know is Satan wants to corrupt and capture your mind. He wants to get all of your attention. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, but we are in a war. And let me say, since the dawn of time, Satan has had one goal, and that is to God's glory. He wants to rob the glory of God. That is his number one goal. He wants to usurp God's throne. And one way he does that is by attacking the minds of God's people. He does everything he can to capture your mind so that he can control it and eventually corrupt it. Satan knows if he can get us to think the wrong things, then he can push us to live the wrong kind of lives. And if we're living the wrong kind of life, then God's not getting glory from us, and that's what he created us for. We shouldn't be surprised of why there's such an attack on the mind. I mean, it's everywhere. Especially, and it's not just with our young people. I understand they've got more gadgets and gizmos and things vying for their attentions and their affections, but I'm telling you, it's with us adults. It even affects the seniors in the church. I'm telling you, the devil wants to destroy our minds. You know why? Because before we got saved, it was his territory. Colossians 121 says that we were alienated. We were enemies in our mind. But when Jesus Christ saved us and took up residence on the inside of us, kicked out the devil, old things were passed away. All things were become new. But the devil still thinks he can take back that territory. Let me just say this. Most of God's people don't mind being a soldier as long as it's in a parade. You see, it's easy to be a soldier in a parade. The weapons aren't loaded. I mean, there's no enemies firing back. All you have to do is keep in step and look good. But when you're in a war, your weapon better be loaded. You've got a lot more to think about than just staying in line and staying in step. You see, the enemy's always there and you've got to do everything you can to stay alive. But I'm convinced the problem with most of God's people is they just think they're in a parade. They don't understand they're in a war. Just interested in looking good. They come to a nice, comfortable church. They sing a few songs. They hear a nice little message. And then they spend the rest of their week doing whatever they want to do. Not thinking about the spiritual conflict. that they're engaged in. You realize most of God's people are not even interested in knowing how to go to war. I'll never forget, I don't know how it was in the Vietnam War where my dad was at, but I remember in the early 90s, especially at that time living in Florida between two military bases, Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field, I remember when folks were getting up, you know, when it's time to go to war and that Operation Desert Storm and a lot of that stuff started going. And there were folks that were in the military, young men and young women at that particular time that said, Hey, what do you mean there's going to be a war? I didn't sign up for this. And I'm thinking, hello, it's called the military. It's called the armed forces. And they say, hey, this isn't what I signed up for. And I'm telling you a lot of God's people, man, God saved our soul from hell, did a work in us. We're eternally grateful. I'm telling you, we were ready for Him to be the Lord of our life. And then He directs us and He tries to tell us where to go. And we say, I didn't sign up for this. And I just wanted a get out of hell free card. I wasn't interested in engaging in battle, but I'm telling you, friends, we're losing the battle and the battle is ending. We better wake up. We better wake up. I'm telling you, I believe Satan's ain't his heaviest artillery at our mind. I believe he tries to storm the fortress of our mind every day with all the strength that he can muster. You're never going to win the war unless you first realize that you're in one. Satan wants to capture your mind because if he captures your mind, he captures you. If he can control the way you think, he can control the way you live. And if he can control the way you live, he can use your mind to discourage other folks in your life. No man lives to himself. No man dies to himself. And then he'll attack the glory of God. He'll attack the church you attend. He'll attack every friend that your life touches. if he can get you. Let me tell you, he wants to contaminate your mind. He said, the weapons of our warfare are not carnival, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. We've seen him do that in the life of sinners. He tries to darken their minds, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, so that they won't believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, lost people can't see truth, and the devil wants to keep them in darkness. And I've seen this through the years. If you're lost, the devil has no problem with you thinking that you're saved. I mean, if you're lost, I mean, he'll make you think you're right with God. Anything for you to keep you from dealing with conviction. But you know what he does on the other side? There's some of you don't have on the helmet of salvation. You might be saved. The devil's trying to make you feel lost. To absolutely handicap you and cripple you. People won't see the truth. They don't come to the light because their deeds are evil. The lost world is in spiritual darkness because there is, not because there is no light, but they will not come to the light. Sinners love darkness. Why do they hate light? Because it exposes their sin. But that's not the problem today. The problem is 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 3. Sometimes Satan would like to destroy our minds from the simplicity that's in Christ. You know what he does to you and I that are saved? He'll do everything he can to pollute the rivers of our mind. And I'm not going to get on to all this. I really, I never heard it put this way, but I appreciate what Brother Chandler said when he dealt with dress last night. He said, you know what's right, and you know what's wrong, and we're not gonna get into crossing swords, or crossing T's, or dotting I's, or anything else like that, but I'm telling you, you can't preach about the mind without realizing the media has effect on our minds. And let me just say this, Satan uses movies to contaminate and corrupt our minds. I'm telling you, in this country, we have seen the movie industry decay like rotten fruit. I'm telling you, religion is presented as irrelevant. Preachers of the gospel are presented as either deceitful, money-hungry, money-grabbing adulterers or whatever, or else they're the goofball of the show. That's the way it is. I'm telling you, sin and immorality is exalted. Matters of faith are ridiculed. That's just the way it is. And I understand there's some people think you should never watch a movie. I don't believe that. But at the same time, when it comes to movies, we need to have what a lot of God's people lack, and that is discernment. It does affect what we put before our eyes. What you choose to watch influences the kind of person that you become. He'll use that to make, he'll use that to change the thinking of our country and he's done that. Man, looking back, going back, you can see how different scenes he'd slip this in and slip that in to where all of a sudden here we are, we're accepting full-blown immorality as an ultimate lifestyle acceptable. And it started years ago with those little sitcoms in the 70s. Preparing us dulling our senses to where we accept full-blown homosexuality as if it's right They fill our mind with images that you simply cannot erase I'm telling you ungodly movies will harm you spiritually. They'll cause you to see images They'll cause you to think things that will undermine your walk with the Lord You can believe it or not, but Satan uses stuff like that to change our thinking Amen It doesn't take a lot of intelligence to see that Hollywood crowd, the way they think, believe, their philosophies, even their political stand, to see that you can't get a whole lot of help out of a bunch like that. Amen. We say users of media, TV, all that kind of stuff. You know, I read something the other day that said 98% of houses in America have at least one television, and there was less than that that had indoor plumbing. I'm thinking I'd at least have my priorities right. Amen. Amen. You realize on TV, although 50 million people in America say that they go to church on a regular basis, how many on TV ever go to church? How many ever pray? How many ever read their Bible? How many live by any kind of biblical morality? I'm just saying the message we get from it's loud and clear. Everybody drinks. Everybody's from Miss Chris. Nobody goes to church and God's irrelevant. Keep pumping that stuff in our mind. I've done that. No wonder. What about the internet? Again, we're just scattered down in here. What an amazing storehouse of useful information. Facts, news, knowledge, all that kind of stuff. But man, what about the dark side? What about the dark side? You need to be careful how you use the internet. Why? Because it affects your mind and your thinking. Social media, people have been hitting it, and again, it's like beating a dead horse. part of my lost call series I have around our church every once in a while. I just tell them okay, next few Sunday nights I'm gonna get back on to the lost call series. I'm gonna mention a bunch of things that ain't gonna matter, ain't gonna change. Everybody's gonna keep doing everything that they do. But I'm telling you, you see, you see churches affected. I'll tell you one of my biggest problems, and it ain't real spiritual or whatever, but one of my biggest problems as a pastor is because of the social media, you can't have local church problems anymore. Everybody's got to stick their fat nose in everything, and when you're trying to restore somebody and get them back in the church and get them right, but yet millions of people, everybody they've ever shook hands with on the pews of any church around the country know all their business there and you can't hardly get them to get right with God. And sometimes that can hardly blame them. Why? Because everybody knows everything that's going on. And I'll tell you what it's done to our attitude. I've never seen the arrogance that's in young people like today. And I'll tell you why, because every day, I mean, you even pull up a regular computer screen and the little background images of the nature and waterfalls and all that, it tells you, you know, check whether you like it or whether you don't like it. And you're asked for your opinion everything to where you actually think your opinion matters. It doesn't. And when you open up the Word of God, you know what you do? Well, I like that. I think I'll do that. But I don't like that. God never asks if you agree. And we sit as an authority. We've got our little world and we're the God of our little world. How many pictures did you have to take before you put your little profile up there to make sure it looked just right? It ain't even real. It ain't even real. It's all about self. Well, what a dangerous form of idolatry to think that everybody wants to know about me and everything I'm doing. I'm just saying, he's used that lately as one of the worst tools in his arsenal, one of the worst weapons. It was mentioned last night, he uses music. I'm talking about the obscenity, the violence, the perversion, and all that stuff in music. Unbelievable. We was coming back from Texas the other day and had a group of our, about 30 of our, maybe it was last year, had about 30 of our church people. And man, we pull up, all we want to do with a couple of our bands is get gas. And this thug pulls up, and he's got everything blaring. And I'm telling you, before I could get out of my band, he had every cuss word I heard about everything else like that. And man, before I could get up out, tripped over the gas pump, jumping over one of the, one of the drum churches. Oh no, there goes Preacher. Man, I climbed over there. Somebody cut that garbage off! Cut it off! Don't you have any decency? We got women children. I don't want to hear it. I'm not going to hide behind them. I don't want to hear that bill. And hey, buddy, while you're at it, pull up your pants. I don't want to see your underwear. He could have probably tied me up like a pretzel. I don't have any problem with that, but I guess he saw something about me. This guy's nuts, and you know what he did? He turned his music off, and he pulled up his pants. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Yeah, I was thankful, too. Lost my mic. We was down there in Mobile. and Mandy's surgery, and I went out about 10 o'clock that night. It was the first time we had a chance to have supper, so I pulled into a Popeye's, and I was going to get us some supper the other night. By that time, I'm walking into the store, and I'm tired, I'm wore out, every emotion in the world, and this big guy comes up there and says, Hey man, give me some money. I said, Hey man, get out of my face, or I'm going to mop up this parking lot with your head. I don't even know where that came from. Anyway, he said, what, what, what, what you trying to say? Well, about that time I got inside and the lady manager came and said, did he approach you? I said, yes, I'm trying to get some money. Oh, he's been doing that? I'm calling the police. So anyway, about that time I was standing over there looking through them glass doors, the police pulled up and everything else like that. And I got to looking, I said, that's a big boy. He told me, that's a real big guy there. And all of a sudden, that little bravery that I had for a minute there, it left. And I just felt led to the Lord to just stand there until they put him in the little car. And they drove away. And so I'm standing there, and I got my sack of chicken. And the lady keeps saying, can I help you? I said, no, ma'am, I'm fine. They come back by. They said, sir, did you need something else? Oh, no. Oh, no, I'm fine. I'm just resting. I was waiting for them to take him off. Amen. I don't know what, music, that's what it was, music. Hey, listen, all I'm trying to say is this. Satan is working overtime to try to corrupt our mind, and I'm telling you, he's got a lot of tools at his disposal. Every avenue that I've mentioned and more that I haven't listened are part of the reason that the modern church has lost its edge. That's why we don't have the power of God in our midst, because we've dulled our senses. by just foolishness that we could say no to. Amen. Let me say God wants to control your mind. The battle that we're fighting is not one that we can afford to lose. There are far too many casualties. And the only way that you can maintain control is to give it to God. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into the obedience, to the obedience of Christ. Stop and think about that. God wants every thought that passes through your mind to be brought into captivity of Christ. Well, that does away with a lot of things we put before our face. That does away with a lot of things that we listen to. I'm telling you, when you pull out your phone, when you open up your laptop, when you sit down in that easy chair and turn on that TV, why don't you just picture God sitting right down beside you? Why don't you try asking God, God, what would you like to watch tonight? What would you like to do? How many times would we have to put our hands over God's eyes because we wouldn't want him to see what we just put before our eyes? How many times would we reach over and put our hands and block God's ears because we certainly don't want him to hear what we just heard? I'm just saying. You've got to admit, some of our hearts and some of our minds are trashed out. Buddy, I'm telling you, you let any riffraff knock on the door and we'll throw it open. Anger or frustration shows up, and you know what we do? We let him in. Revenge wants to corrupt us, and you know what we do? We tell him to pull up a chair. Pity wants to have a party, so we show him the kitchen. You know what? We entertain far too much lust between our ears. Colossians 3, 2 says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Man, I'm telling you, it's a wonderful thing to realize that we can indeed determine the direction of our minds. This is not a battle that we have to lose. Romans 8, 6 says, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. What does it mean to be spiritually minded? Simply put, the Holy Spirit of God is the one that pushes our thoughts in the forefront of our mind before God and changes our thinking. I'm telling you, you can take a compass no matter which way you turn, it's always gonna point north. And I'm telling you, when you're spiritually minded, it doesn't matter what you're involved in or what you think about, your mind will always turn toward God. We need to fill our minds with good, godly thoughts. And you might think that that's impossible, but it's like if I had a glass right here, in order to get all that air out of that glass, all I've got to do is pour in the water, and eventually the water's going to take over. And I remember when I first got saved, I remember, I'm sure right after that, we started going for the Tabs Church, January 1986, and there was still a whole lot of the world that was in and on and around me. And I remember getting frustrated when things would come out of my mouth that shouldn't come out. Boy, I'd get convicted, and it'd bother me, and this, that, and the other. And I remember somebody telling me, he said, it's just like a bucket full of muddy water. said you've got a life full of muddy water and a bucket of muddy water and all this stuff. Said but the Word of God and memorized the Scripture and said it's almost like throwing white rocks in that bucket of muddy water. The more white rocks you put in, the more muddy water gets out. And I'm telling you, thank God for that. There is hope. Your life or your mind might be But I'm telling you, you're never so far as one prayer of repentance away from being right with God than having the courage to get up and go back and take away those influences that are destroying you. Understand, maybe you've been deceived. How many of you have woken up and said, man, I'm over here. How in the world did I ever get here? Well, hey, listen, realize you're in a fight, a fight for your life, probably one of the most important battles of your life, and determined by the grace of God, I'm gonna fill my mind with the right thing. You know what Philippians 4, 8 says? Think on these things. And listen, it's not trying to stop thinking about bad thoughts, just start thinking about good ones. Stop concentrating on the negative. Stop trying to stop this. Put the white rocks in. Let them do the work. You realize the easiest way to do that is to saturate your mind with the Word of God. Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. I'm telling you to store it up, to load it up, whatever it takes. And then Ephesians 4.23 says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Romans chapter 12, verse two says to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It can be done, but it requires some work and some effort. Do you realize the battle for your mind can be won, it can end in victory, but it won't be won through some type of lazy, half-hearted effort? Not gonna happen. It will only be won through dedication and devotion to the things of God. I'm telling you, we're in a knock-down, drag-out fight for the control of our minds. And if we lose that fight, we'll lose the control of our lives. Somebody questioned the other day, what's in our churches, what's the big deal about preaching against pornography? I'll tell you why, because it affects your mind. It will wreck your life. It will handicap you so that you, guy or girl, will be, it'll be absolutely impossible for you to ever have a healthy relationship. You'll never look at another woman or another man the same way. And we've got to fight against it. We've got to stand against it. Why? Because it's a battle for your mind. That ain't none of your business what I did before I got saved. But I'll tell you this, the drugs and the stuff that they have out nowadays, it's more than just getting a funny feeling. They manufacture this garbage with poisons, with kitchen and utility liquids and stuff like that. And I'm telling you, some of the horror stories I've heard, even around our little South Alabama town, it fries their mind in one hit. Such thing as recreational drug use, you cross that line, chances are you'll be done. You'll be done. People robbing and stealing from their parents, from their grandparents, from elderly folks, whatever it takes. to get their fix. I'm just trying to say, in this fight, we do have help and we do have weapons. Our weapons are not carnal, that is, they're not fleshly weapons like the human will and self-help and self-control and all that kind of stuff, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We can bring them into obedience of Christ. And listen, when you have the victory in your mind, you'll have the victory in your body, you'll have it in your soul, you'll have it in your life. I can't speak for you, but I need that victory in my life. I can't afford to go around with trash and garbage and all that kind of stuff. You know what the Bible said? The Bible said don't even want to think about what those ancients and the imagery of their heart and their life and in their mind and the things that go through. You know, I don't want to know what's in anybody else's mind, but you know a lot of times the way they act? I know exactly what they're thinking. And by the way they're acting and by the way that they're thinking, I know exactly what they've been watching or where they've been. And I'm telling you, it tells on you. Some of you young people want God to use you. You want the power of God. You want to keep that edge and all that. But yet we still fill our minds with all kinds of garbage. It's almost as if we have no discernment. We open up our ear and let somebody just pick up a trash can and dump all the garbage in the world. And we take it in and we take it in. And I'll just tell you, for us adults to think that we've got the victory, the more you watch the news, I mean, something as simple as that, it'll fill your mind. It'll fill your mind. I'll never forget 10 years ago, she's gone on to be with the Lord, but I remember 10 years ago, my grandmother in her 80s, she had got her a job after my granddad died, she was a greeter there at Walmart, never worked a day in her life, wanted something to do, so she was a greeter there at Walmart in Fort Walton for a long time. And I'll never forget about 10 years ago, her and I were talking and she said something to the effect of, you know, dealt with people, you know, with that alternate lifestyle or whatever. And she said, well, you know, she said, that's just the way some people are. And I said, do what? I said, Grandma, you don't believe that. You don't believe that. You know better than that. And she kind of sat back and she said, man, why did I even say that? I said, because of the influences her shaking her head, I can't believe I said that. I don't believe that. But it was always being inundated with all that stuff. It affects the way we think and it affects the way we believe. It all goes back to that thing. We don't mind being in a fight as long as we're on display in a parade. We don't mind looking good and staying in step as long as the rifles are not loaded and the enemy's not firing real bullets at us. But I'm telling you, we're in a fight for our life, and it is real. And we better decide what we're gonna do with it. Are we gonna man up? Are we gonna soldier up? I'm telling you, you better win the battle for your mind. If you don't want to get knocked out, if you want the stuff, you better do it. Amen.