Fighting Anxiety
The Word Of God Is Vital in Overcoming Anxiety In Our Lives.
Frank Shimkus
Aug 9, 2020 32m
Do you ever feel anxious? We are always in a state of spiritual warfare, and can produce fear and anxiety. This inspirational message reminds us that the Word of God is a powerful weapon to combat anxious thoughts. Video recorded at Columbia, South Carolina.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Frank Shimkus: 00:00 Good morning, everybody. All right, listen, I have, I can't even tell you how much I've missed just being with people. Can I get an amen for that? Just being with people. I miss...Yesterday the student ministry did something called Mission Columbia, and I was with juniors and seniors. And I was talking to some of the junior and senior guys, and I was like, I know you hate school, and it's kind of this thing to always dog school. But I was like, but don't you miss school? And they were like, we miss school. And I said, don't you miss just being with other people, don't you think maybe we've taken Sunday morning for granted, and don't you miss that? And they're like, we miss it. And I've missed it so much. I don't know what you've been doing during the last, you know, five, six months, maybe you're eating a lot, maybe you're finding a rhythm in all this, maybe you're watching a lot of movies. But I just want to say, I have missed you greatly, and I'm so honored to be able to share the word with you.
Frank Shimkus: 00:57 I'm going to be in Second Corinthians 10. If you want to grab a Bible and join me, I'm going to be in Second Corinthians 10, and we're going to be in verses 3 through 6. And so listen, speaking of pandemic and being in quarantine and being in your house, I have been watching a lot of movies. At first, I thought it'd be cool to watch all the movies that dealt with pandemics, like Outbreak, or World War Z, or Contagion, or all those things, I just did all that. And then I was getting bored, and I was watching movies. And one night I had a friend over in the discussion, the polite discussion came up about who are the greatest actors of all time. Who's on your Rushmore, and who's the greatest of all time. Now, I don't know where you would fall in line of who you think is the greatest of all time, but my guy is Denzel. I love Denzel Washington, I could watch Denzel watch paint dry, and I would watch that movie for two and a half hours. So I make the case, I start to say, hey, Denzel, he's the GOAT. If you know what that means, that means greatest of all time. I was like, he's the GOAT. So I start listing off his best and most critically acclaimed movies. And you heard George mention, remember the Titans a couple of weeks ago, I was a host in the online chat, and several people said they didn't see it, but they were going to do it. It's a great movie. And I'm just naming Denzel movie after Denzel movie. And I've heard some of the other arguments of the actors or actresses, and I was ready for those, but this person fired back with a name that I wasn't ready for. And so I'm like, Denzel. And they're like, no. And I was like, well, who? And they said, Leonardo DiCaprio. So at first I just slapped that out of the way, and I'm like Titanic. I was one of the only people that didn't go see Titanic, I knew how it ended, I never saw it. I'm waiting for the sequel, if they put a sequel out, I'll watch that one, but I didn't go see that. So I'm thinking like, what else did he do beside Titanic, and I'm just ready to win this discussion. But man, this person starts naming movie, after movie, after movie, critically acclaimed. I'm like, yeah, he was in that. Yeah, he was in that. Yeah, he was in that. And before I know it, I realized Leonardo DiCaprio has a lot of good movies under his belt, he can't just be taken lightly and slapped out of the conversation. And as this person was just upper cutting me with movie title after movie title, they named one that made a big impact in my life, and it brought back a memory. And they said, Oh yeah, and what about Inception? I was like, oh, Inception. Now, if you don't remember the movie Inception, it's a movie all about the dream world, and how you can go inside of a dream, in a dream, in a dream three layers deep, and finally get to this fourth layer called limbo, and you never get out of there. It's the only movie I've ever gone back to see twice, because it just so messed with my mind that I wanted to figure this out. It took the writers 10 years to write Inception, it's just this movie that will mess with your mind. But in the opening part of Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio is pitching what he can offer. And he makes his pitch, and he says something amazing. And I want to show you this really short clip. And if you miss it, I'll give you a little briefer of what he says. But check out with Leonardo DiCaprio says to set the whole tune of the tone of the movie, this is what he says.
Movie Clip: 04:35 What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria, a virus, an intestinal worm. What Mr. Cobb is trying to say...An idea, resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate an idea that is fully formed, fully understood, that sticks right in there somewhere,
Frank Shimkus: 05:04 Man, that was a, that's a powerful statement, especially in the midst of a pandemic where we're so fearful of COVID-19. And he says what's the most contagious, and he said, it's an idea. And you know, I think the Word of God actually agrees with that. And when we take a look at Second Corinthians, we're going to find the power of ideas in this spiritual warfare we find ourselves in, and how ideas once they get there, they're almost impossible to eradicate, and we need a spiritual weapon, we need spiritual and divine power. And Paul is going to tell us how to do that, to bring it into the world. But also as believers, when sometimes our minds are filled with ideas that don't line up with scripture, how to eradicate those.
Frank Shimkus: 05:50 So here's the overview for the morning. We're going to be in Second Corinthians 10, 3 through 6 in just a minute. I'm going to ask you to stand with me. We're going to read God's word together. And if you're out there online, we're going to ask you to stand with us. We're going to read it, we're going to pray. I'm going to ask you to remain standing as we pray. Then we're going to break down these four verses 3, 4, 5, and 6, we're going to really rip them apart so we get the understanding, put them back together and get the main idea. And then I'm going to give you a challenge of a spiritual discipline that I think is not so prevalent today, but something that will help you grow more and more into the image of Christ.
Frank Shimkus: 06:26 So if you would, would you stand with me as we read Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 6. Here's what it says, and then I'll ask you to remain standing, "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."
Frank Shimkus: 07:21 Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Father, as we set off now on this journey of finding out what exactly Paul is saying, what does he mean, and how does this apply to our lives, and how do we live in this truth? Father, I pray that we have open hearts to receive, open minds, and I pray that we will take a faith action step so that we will leave here looking more like Jesus than when we first came in. So bless our time this morning in Jesus' name I pray. And everybody said. Amen. Go ahead, you may have a seat.
Frank Shimkus: 07:56 Well, I don't know if you saw it in there, but there is definitely the concept of ideas. And so we're going to break this apart. If you have your Bibles, and maybe if you have something to take notes, we're going to look at verse 3, 4, 5, and 6, and we're going to ask what each of these verses meaning get to the main idea. So look at verse 3, look what Paul says in verse 3. He says, "Though we walk in the flesh." Meaning we live in this physical material world, I want to let you know Corinthians, and I want to let you know, Shandon, we are not fighting a physical battle. He wants to set the tempo, and let you know that there is a spiritual war going on. And may I just say, yes, there is a pandemic, but I think there's also a spiritual war going on underneath all that's happening. I think we're in a spiritual war right now. I don't know if you agree with that, but I think that there's some material stuff going on, and I think that there an immaterial spiritual war going on right now. I think Satan loves some stuff going on right now, and know he would love to get victory over the church and keep Christians in fear. And so he says, church, there's a spiritual warfare going on. And may I just say, you cannot take that lightly, you cannot. We are in a spiritual war every day of our lives, sometimes it's more apparent and sometimes it's less, but we are in a spiritual war.
Frank Shimkus: 09:24 And then look what Paul says, "For the weapons of our warfare..." This is verse four. "...are not of the flesh." Meaning either you can't hold them in your hand, or they don't come from logic, and reason, and man's arguments. He said, "But our weapons have divine power to destroy strongholds. In verse 3, he says, there's a spiritual war. In verse 4, he says, there's a spiritual weapon. He says, we have to fight fire with fire. You don't fight a spiritual warfare with earthly weapons, or with man's logic, you need a spiritual weapon.
Frank Shimkus: 10:02 And so look what he says he's doing, he and the apostles are doing, in verse 5. He says, we, as the apostles go from church to church, and we are destroying arguments, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. Paul is writing these things, and if you read his writings, he, Paul is a lawyer. He is just taking arguments and throwing them down to the divine power of God, and he's destroying arguments, and he's destroying arguments that people have set up to oppose God and say, no, I don't want him, no, I don't want him. And that's how you and I were when we were unbelievers. Do you remember that, do you remember all the reasons, and all the strongholds, and all the viral ideas you had in your mind of why you were resisting God? Do remember those? I remember mine. I remember mine, I wanted to live a fun life, and I thought that God would oppose my fun. I thought that if I had to bend the knee to the Lord Jesus, I thought that now I would be the loser, and I would have to just sit and read the Bible and sing hymns all day, and I didn't know about joy. And I had every lofty opinion that just said, no, I don't want you. And in divine power of Paul and the gospel, and of the scriptures, got in and broke through my heart and tore down my lofty arguments. And look what it says at the end of verse 5, "And we take every thought captive to obey Christ." Verse 6 finishes what he says, "Being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.", he writes to the church.
Frank Shimkus: 11:39 Now, I've heard this passage used in a multiplicity of ways, but the main meaning is this, is Paul is saying to the church, we, the apostles are going out, and we are in the world, and we're sharing the gospel, and we're tearing down arguments that oppose God. And we do that, we take those thoughts captive and make it obey Christ, we make it subject to Christ. Kind of the way that I've heard this twisted a little bit was that the Christian can just lay back, and when we have bad thoughts, we're just supposed to kind of go, all right thought, come here and I'm going to wrap you up, and I'm going to take you captive and make you obey Christ. That's not necessarily what's happening here. Paul is saying, as they go out into the world and share the gospel, the power of God in the salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also the Greek. He said, we're tearing down arguments and making these thoughts captive to Christ, we're putting them in subjection to Christ.
Frank Shimkus: 12:35 And so this is what he's doing, he says to the church, there is still some unbelief, there's some disobedience in here, and I want to make sure your obedience as a church is complete. That's the wrong way, I think, to read this is to say that I can take a thought captive and go, okay, obey Christ. The right way to do it, I think, is this, and this is what I think he's saying. He's saying, we are unleashing divine power. The apostles had the authority to write scripture, they got direct revelation and communication from God, they are sharing the gospel. And he said, I think what he's saying is, when you are exposed to the gospel, and when you are exposed to the divine power of the scripture, when you open your life up, here's what it does, it holds you accountable, it rebukes you, it corrects you, it instructs you, it informs you, it trains you, it can divide your soul and spirit, it can discern your thoughts and intents, and the Word of God can wreck your ideas.
Frank Shimkus: 13:33 And so if we want to do this as a church, as a believer...So let's say, you're here and you have put your faith in Christ. How then can you make sure that you're letting your thoughts be taken captive? Dou know what it is? Do you know what the answer is? You expose yourself to the Word of God on a daily basis. And you stand with the Word open and you say, Lord, just like David, if there'd be any presumptuous sin in my life, you take me to the woodshed now. But we have a Bible literacy problem, even in the church. I just saw a Lifeway study that said only 45% of Bible believing evangelical Christians read their Bible once a week, and it wasn't even determined whether that was on Sunday when they're in church. Not a lot of us are in the word, not a lot of us are getting these arguments that have divine power from God, that are tearing down these ideas in our heads.
Frank Shimkus: 14:29 And listen, believer, yes, you opposed God when you are far from Christ. But once in Christ, Satan, doesn't give up on you. He doesn't say, well, all right, well now you're in Christ, s now I'm not going to try to attack you. Ephesians 6 says, we're attacked every day. We're in a spiritual battle, the wiles of the devil come at us every day, we're supposed to stand firm, we're supposed to put an armor of God on us. And what's the first part, the belt of truth. And so I think what this is saying is, as we live in this world and Satan comes at us with his wiles, and they are wiles, they are lies, and believers sometimes can become discouraged and ideas like viruses can get into our heads. How do we eradicate them? How do we make sure on a daily basis that strongholds are torn down in our life, and our thoughts are put into subjection to Christ? We take in large amounts of the Word of God, and let the Word of God do to our life what Paul says he and the apostles were doing.
Frank Shimkus: 15:34 So I want to ask you a question. Think of the last seven days, okay the last seven days in your life, and I'm just as guilty. How many times did I put on Netflix? How many times did I put on Disney Plus? How many times did I put something on and let ideas start coming into my mind, and some of them latch on like viruses, the social media I see, the talk radio, the news...Oh the news, forget about that. The things that get into my mind, how many of these ideas have stuck? I don't know. Therefore, I need to expose myself regularly to the Word of God so that my heart and minor in check. So what did the last seven days look like for you? How many times were you here, and your mind was being renewed? Romans 12:1 and 2, man, if there's anything in my mind, I want it to be called a task right now. Yes, the Word take my thoughts captive to Christ. Only 45% of Christians say that they read the Bible once a week. I wonder, and I don't know if you've ever thought about memorizing scripture. I want you in the word, but there's, there's something I don't know if you agree with me is that I seem to get attacked at the most inopportune times, like when I'm driving, I don't think I should be reading any books when I'm driving, or when I'm in a meeting, or when I'm trying to fall asleep.
Frank Shimkus: 17:00 I wonder not only how much scripture you're exposing yourself to, I wonder how much is in your head. I wonder right now, if you had to, if it was like the book of Eli and all the Bibles were taken off the face of the planet, I wonder how much of the Bible we could reproduce based on what is in your head? I wonder how much you have memorized? I want to challenge you this morning to think about memorizing, you ready, here's my main thought this morning, I want you to think about memorizing large passages or complete thoughts of scripture. Let me just say that again, I want to challenge you, as the church, to practically do this. To make sure that you have no presumptuous sins, that your thoughts are taken captive, to memorize large passages or complete thoughts of scripture. And I'm going to offset it by saying, I would highly caution you to be careful of memorizing just one verse.
Frank Shimkus: 18:01 And I want to give you an illustration. This right here is fish sauce. Raise your hand if you have ever worked with, or smelled fish sauce before, let me see has anyone? Okay. This is the most ungodly smelling stuff on the planet. It smells exactly like the wording, your like, well what do we call it? Um, fish sauce. I mean, it smells like a sauce made from fish. And I remember somebody told me how they make fish sauce, and I'm not going to tell you how, because you might throw up. But I do the majority of the cooking in my house. Okay. And I love to try to like elevate my food game, and so I started making more Asian cuisine and dishes. And so I was like, I want to make my own ramen, and I love red Thai curry, and so I want to do this, and I noticed in all the ingredient lists it called for fish sauce. So I went to a World Market. I can't remember. and I'm looking, I'm like, oh, here it is, fish sauce. So I'm so excited for my first ramen, I'm going to make this, and I opened this up and I almost pass out. It smells so terrible, terrible. And Erica comes down and she's like, what died in here? Like, we have a dead animal, we've got to find a dead animal in the house, what is it? And my kids are like, dad, what is that? Sometimes just listen to me, listen to the complete thought before you declare me a heretic and walk out. Ready? Sometimes memorizing just one verse of scripture, can be the equivalent of just having fish sauce.
Frank Shimkus: 19:40 Just listen, when we take one verse and rip it out of its context, and take it away from its friends, meaning its immediate neighbors. And we just, you know, put it on a towel, or a doily, or a plaque, or something in the bathroom, and we just let it stand on its own without ever seeing the context of it, sometimes it can have dire consequences. I'll never forget being an early youth pastor and a girl walked into my office and said, God said this, then she quoted the verse. And she said, that didn't happen, in fact, the exact opposite. God is a liar, I'm done. And she had heard this single verse quoted all the time, all the time, all the time, and never memorized the full thought. And if she had, she would have realized that's not what God was saying at all. And so sometimes just memorizing one verse can be the equivalent of just taking a swig of fish sauce. But man, when you put fish sauce with all the other ingredients, I can't explain it. The word for it is umami, it's kind of got this depth of flavor and then you're finished with it, as it sets in and mixes with the soy, and the ginger, and the garlic, and all this stuff, just blending together. You're like, wow, amazing. And I won't cook without it, but I'll tell you what I would never just have it.
Frank Shimkus: 21:09 And so I wonder if I asked you what scripture you have memorized, I wonder if you would start to just give me individual passages, and I wonder if you could give me full, large thoughts of scripture? The title of my sermon today was fighting against anxiety, and the way that I've heard this sermon was I'm supposed to just take my thoughts captive. But you really can fight against anxiety, and you may be filled with anxiety right now because of where your job is, because of where your family is, because you're worried about that future. I'm going to tell you what I think as one of the best weapons against anxiety, is I think taking in large passages of scripture into my head, so that I can meditate, and then I can quote them, and I can access them anytime I feel like I'm attacked, because I also believe that I think lies lead to anxiety.
Frank Shimkus: 22:00 And I know that Jesus [inaudible] the Pharisees one time and he said, you're of your father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning, and when he speaks lies, he speaks his native tongue. I think Satan just wants to fill our world with lies. And so Leonardo says, sometimes an idea can become like a virus, almost impossible to eradicate. But there is a way, it's a divine weapon because we're in a divine war, a spiritual war, and you can eradicate those thoughts. So I'm going to ask you a question. What happens when you start to get so focused on the things of now, and you forget your eternal focus, what scripture is in your head to call you to task? Here's mine, "If then you've been raised with Christ, seek those things, which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth for you've died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. For when Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also shall appear with him in glory. Therefore, put the death of your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. And because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourself once walked when you lived in them, but now you yourselves are to put away all these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth, and do not lie to one another. Since you have put off the old man in his deeds, and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of him who created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free. But Christ is all, and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has an offense against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your heart into one body in which also you were called and be thankful. And let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Man, when I get caught up in temporal things and I forget about eternity, that's a stronghold I have, and the stronghold says, the here and now is most important. And the scripture says, uh uh, and it calls me, and it rebukes me, and it corrects me, and it trains me, and it moves me in the right way.
Frank Shimkus: 24:59 What do you have? What do you have when you look at the success of the world around you and you're bothered by it, and you go, they don't love God and they're succeeding. What scripture calls you back in to say, that's a stronghold? What do you have? I have, "Blessed it as the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that yield its fruit in its season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, for they're like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Man, that passage calls me out when I start to look at the world and go, they're succeeding, they're thriving, they're...No, that's a stronghold and my thoughts are taken captive. And you know which one I've been working on lately? Because I too, I'm looking around and I see the world, and I don't know if you think I'm young or where you think I'm at, but even for myself, I'm worried. What do you have when you worry? What do you have when the stronghold says, God's not in control, there's an almighty omnipotent thing called COVID-19, and that is God.
Frank Shimkus: 26:30 What do you have to call that thought into question, to tear down the stronghold, and make your thoughts subject to Christ and taken captive? What do you have? This is the one that I've just been working on, and just letting my mind over and over, "Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you'll put on. Look at the birds of the air, they don't sow or reap nor gather into barns. and your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not more valuable than they? Who among you can add one hour to your life by worrying? Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So if God, so clothes the grass, which today is in, tomorrow's thrown in the oven. Will he not even clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. So therefore do not worry about your life saying, what are we going to eat? Or what are we going to drink? Or what are we going to wear for after all these things, the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things, but seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Here fore, I say to you do not worry about tomorrow, let tomorrow worry about itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I need that. I don't know if you need that, I need that because everything is coming at me and I'm in a spiritual war. I know I am, and I need a spiritual weapon, and I need something more powerful than my own reason and logic to take my strongholds down, and my thoughts captive, and make them obedient to Christ. Do you? I do.
Frank Shimkus: 28:18 And so what I would ask you to do is to follow in the footsteps of believers throughout the church. And when you see Jesus and he's tempted by Satan, you know what he does all three time, quotes scripture, quotes scripture, quote scripture. David is saying that the man of God meditates on it day and night, and you become like a tree that produces great fruit. You see believer after believer memorizing scripture enough, it's in our head, and we're able to quote it, and we're able to let it do what it does in our minds, and help us fight this battle.
Frank Shimkus: 28:51 Do you ever think about Ephesians 6, and the spiritual armor? Every piece of armor is defensive except for the sword, which is offensive. And the sword of the spirit, it says, which is the Word of God. So I want to ask you, I'm going to challenge you. First question, let's do some troubleshooting in our own lives, how many large passages of scripture are in your repertoire? How much can you access right now, if all the Bibles are taken away and it was up to you to reproduce it, how much could you reproduce? Have you kind of been doing the fish sauce thing of just memorizing one, or do you have full thoughts? And then here's my challenge for you. Would you be willing, would you be willing this week to find a passage, one that you love, dedicate some time to it, open it up, put it on your phone. Listen to an audio Bible, go rewind that, I want to hear that again, I want to hear that again. Practice it with someone, spend some time taking large passages of scripture into your head. Would you be willing to do that? I would love it if we did that as a church, and let the word of Christ dwell richly in us in all wisdom, so that more that came out of our mouths sounded more and more like the heartbeat of God. That's my prayer for you today.
Frank Shimkus: 30:10 This is what Paul is saying, he's saying the Word just tears down arguments, and takes these bad viral thoughts, and makes them subjects to Christ that your obedience becomes more and more complete. I, as one of the pastors here, pray that your obedience continues to become complete. And I know that an idea can be like a virus stuck in your brain. We're in a spiritual war, we need a spiritual weapon and we need spiritual victories. So that's my challenge for you this week. Would you be willing to memorize one large passage of scripture, or a complete thought? I'm going to pray for you? And if you do it, I'd love to hear an email from you. If you already have one, add another one, get more in there. And I promise you, you're going to see the divine power that the scripture, which is living and powerful, will wield in your life.
Frank Shimkus: 30:58 Will you bow your heads and pray with me? Let's do it. Father, we are in a spiritual war. Paul makes that very clear that though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war against the flesh, and we need a spiritual weapon and you've given it to us, the Word of God, which is living, and powerful, and sharper, than any two edged sword. It can divide even the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it can discern our thoughts and our heart. So Father, I pray for this body of believers, whom I love so much. I pray as Satan is trying to deceive us, trying to attack us, trying to get his wiles into our lives, so we live anxiety ridden lives. And then when he tries to get an idea that sticks like a virus, almost impossible to eradicate, I pray that we take in your Word, we spend time in it, we ingest it, we digest, and we meditate on it, and we let the Word of God dwell richly in us in all wisdom, and we become like a tree planted by streams of water. I pray that, I pray that many in here will take that challenge, we'll shut the TV off, we'll turn off social media, we'll spend some time in the Word. And let the Word take us to task, take us to the woodshed. Father, I pray for those that are willing to take this challenge, bless them this week, help them to see what the Word does, and help them to live a victorious life in Jesus Christ, whom we want to take all of our thoughts captive and put at his feet. He is Lord. It's in the name of Jesus' I pray. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
Frank Shimkus: 00:57 I'm going to be in Second Corinthians 10. If you want to grab a Bible and join me, I'm going to be in Second Corinthians 10, and we're going to be in verses 3 through 6. And so listen, speaking of pandemic and being in quarantine and being in your house, I have been watching a lot of movies. At first, I thought it'd be cool to watch all the movies that dealt with pandemics, like Outbreak, or World War Z, or Contagion, or all those things, I just did all that. And then I was getting bored, and I was watching movies. And one night I had a friend over in the discussion, the polite discussion came up about who are the greatest actors of all time. Who's on your Rushmore, and who's the greatest of all time. Now, I don't know where you would fall in line of who you think is the greatest of all time, but my guy is Denzel. I love Denzel Washington, I could watch Denzel watch paint dry, and I would watch that movie for two and a half hours. So I make the case, I start to say, hey, Denzel, he's the GOAT. If you know what that means, that means greatest of all time. I was like, he's the GOAT. So I start listing off his best and most critically acclaimed movies. And you heard George mention, remember the Titans a couple of weeks ago, I was a host in the online chat, and several people said they didn't see it, but they were going to do it. It's a great movie. And I'm just naming Denzel movie after Denzel movie. And I've heard some of the other arguments of the actors or actresses, and I was ready for those, but this person fired back with a name that I wasn't ready for. And so I'm like, Denzel. And they're like, no. And I was like, well, who? And they said, Leonardo DiCaprio. So at first I just slapped that out of the way, and I'm like Titanic. I was one of the only people that didn't go see Titanic, I knew how it ended, I never saw it. I'm waiting for the sequel, if they put a sequel out, I'll watch that one, but I didn't go see that. So I'm thinking like, what else did he do beside Titanic, and I'm just ready to win this discussion. But man, this person starts naming movie, after movie, after movie, critically acclaimed. I'm like, yeah, he was in that. Yeah, he was in that. Yeah, he was in that. And before I know it, I realized Leonardo DiCaprio has a lot of good movies under his belt, he can't just be taken lightly and slapped out of the conversation. And as this person was just upper cutting me with movie title after movie title, they named one that made a big impact in my life, and it brought back a memory. And they said, Oh yeah, and what about Inception? I was like, oh, Inception. Now, if you don't remember the movie Inception, it's a movie all about the dream world, and how you can go inside of a dream, in a dream, in a dream three layers deep, and finally get to this fourth layer called limbo, and you never get out of there. It's the only movie I've ever gone back to see twice, because it just so messed with my mind that I wanted to figure this out. It took the writers 10 years to write Inception, it's just this movie that will mess with your mind. But in the opening part of Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio is pitching what he can offer. And he makes his pitch, and he says something amazing. And I want to show you this really short clip. And if you miss it, I'll give you a little briefer of what he says. But check out with Leonardo DiCaprio says to set the whole tune of the tone of the movie, this is what he says.
Movie Clip: 04:35 What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria, a virus, an intestinal worm. What Mr. Cobb is trying to say...An idea, resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate an idea that is fully formed, fully understood, that sticks right in there somewhere,
Frank Shimkus: 05:04 Man, that was a, that's a powerful statement, especially in the midst of a pandemic where we're so fearful of COVID-19. And he says what's the most contagious, and he said, it's an idea. And you know, I think the Word of God actually agrees with that. And when we take a look at Second Corinthians, we're going to find the power of ideas in this spiritual warfare we find ourselves in, and how ideas once they get there, they're almost impossible to eradicate, and we need a spiritual weapon, we need spiritual and divine power. And Paul is going to tell us how to do that, to bring it into the world. But also as believers, when sometimes our minds are filled with ideas that don't line up with scripture, how to eradicate those.
Frank Shimkus: 05:50 So here's the overview for the morning. We're going to be in Second Corinthians 10, 3 through 6 in just a minute. I'm going to ask you to stand with me. We're going to read God's word together. And if you're out there online, we're going to ask you to stand with us. We're going to read it, we're going to pray. I'm going to ask you to remain standing as we pray. Then we're going to break down these four verses 3, 4, 5, and 6, we're going to really rip them apart so we get the understanding, put them back together and get the main idea. And then I'm going to give you a challenge of a spiritual discipline that I think is not so prevalent today, but something that will help you grow more and more into the image of Christ.
Frank Shimkus: 06:26 So if you would, would you stand with me as we read Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 6. Here's what it says, and then I'll ask you to remain standing, "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."
Frank Shimkus: 07:21 Would you bow your heads and pray with me? Father, as we set off now on this journey of finding out what exactly Paul is saying, what does he mean, and how does this apply to our lives, and how do we live in this truth? Father, I pray that we have open hearts to receive, open minds, and I pray that we will take a faith action step so that we will leave here looking more like Jesus than when we first came in. So bless our time this morning in Jesus' name I pray. And everybody said. Amen. Go ahead, you may have a seat.
Frank Shimkus: 07:56 Well, I don't know if you saw it in there, but there is definitely the concept of ideas. And so we're going to break this apart. If you have your Bibles, and maybe if you have something to take notes, we're going to look at verse 3, 4, 5, and 6, and we're going to ask what each of these verses meaning get to the main idea. So look at verse 3, look what Paul says in verse 3. He says, "Though we walk in the flesh." Meaning we live in this physical material world, I want to let you know Corinthians, and I want to let you know, Shandon, we are not fighting a physical battle. He wants to set the tempo, and let you know that there is a spiritual war going on. And may I just say, yes, there is a pandemic, but I think there's also a spiritual war going on underneath all that's happening. I think we're in a spiritual war right now. I don't know if you agree with that, but I think that there's some material stuff going on, and I think that there an immaterial spiritual war going on right now. I think Satan loves some stuff going on right now, and know he would love to get victory over the church and keep Christians in fear. And so he says, church, there's a spiritual warfare going on. And may I just say, you cannot take that lightly, you cannot. We are in a spiritual war every day of our lives, sometimes it's more apparent and sometimes it's less, but we are in a spiritual war.
Frank Shimkus: 09:24 And then look what Paul says, "For the weapons of our warfare..." This is verse four. "...are not of the flesh." Meaning either you can't hold them in your hand, or they don't come from logic, and reason, and man's arguments. He said, "But our weapons have divine power to destroy strongholds. In verse 3, he says, there's a spiritual war. In verse 4, he says, there's a spiritual weapon. He says, we have to fight fire with fire. You don't fight a spiritual warfare with earthly weapons, or with man's logic, you need a spiritual weapon.
Frank Shimkus: 10:02 And so look what he says he's doing, he and the apostles are doing, in verse 5. He says, we, as the apostles go from church to church, and we are destroying arguments, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. Paul is writing these things, and if you read his writings, he, Paul is a lawyer. He is just taking arguments and throwing them down to the divine power of God, and he's destroying arguments, and he's destroying arguments that people have set up to oppose God and say, no, I don't want him, no, I don't want him. And that's how you and I were when we were unbelievers. Do you remember that, do you remember all the reasons, and all the strongholds, and all the viral ideas you had in your mind of why you were resisting God? Do remember those? I remember mine. I remember mine, I wanted to live a fun life, and I thought that God would oppose my fun. I thought that if I had to bend the knee to the Lord Jesus, I thought that now I would be the loser, and I would have to just sit and read the Bible and sing hymns all day, and I didn't know about joy. And I had every lofty opinion that just said, no, I don't want you. And in divine power of Paul and the gospel, and of the scriptures, got in and broke through my heart and tore down my lofty arguments. And look what it says at the end of verse 5, "And we take every thought captive to obey Christ." Verse 6 finishes what he says, "Being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.", he writes to the church.
Frank Shimkus: 11:39 Now, I've heard this passage used in a multiplicity of ways, but the main meaning is this, is Paul is saying to the church, we, the apostles are going out, and we are in the world, and we're sharing the gospel, and we're tearing down arguments that oppose God. And we do that, we take those thoughts captive and make it obey Christ, we make it subject to Christ. Kind of the way that I've heard this twisted a little bit was that the Christian can just lay back, and when we have bad thoughts, we're just supposed to kind of go, all right thought, come here and I'm going to wrap you up, and I'm going to take you captive and make you obey Christ. That's not necessarily what's happening here. Paul is saying, as they go out into the world and share the gospel, the power of God in the salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also the Greek. He said, we're tearing down arguments and making these thoughts captive to Christ, we're putting them in subjection to Christ.
Frank Shimkus: 12:35 And so this is what he's doing, he says to the church, there is still some unbelief, there's some disobedience in here, and I want to make sure your obedience as a church is complete. That's the wrong way, I think, to read this is to say that I can take a thought captive and go, okay, obey Christ. The right way to do it, I think, is this, and this is what I think he's saying. He's saying, we are unleashing divine power. The apostles had the authority to write scripture, they got direct revelation and communication from God, they are sharing the gospel. And he said, I think what he's saying is, when you are exposed to the gospel, and when you are exposed to the divine power of the scripture, when you open your life up, here's what it does, it holds you accountable, it rebukes you, it corrects you, it instructs you, it informs you, it trains you, it can divide your soul and spirit, it can discern your thoughts and intents, and the Word of God can wreck your ideas.
Frank Shimkus: 13:33 And so if we want to do this as a church, as a believer...So let's say, you're here and you have put your faith in Christ. How then can you make sure that you're letting your thoughts be taken captive? Dou know what it is? Do you know what the answer is? You expose yourself to the Word of God on a daily basis. And you stand with the Word open and you say, Lord, just like David, if there'd be any presumptuous sin in my life, you take me to the woodshed now. But we have a Bible literacy problem, even in the church. I just saw a Lifeway study that said only 45% of Bible believing evangelical Christians read their Bible once a week, and it wasn't even determined whether that was on Sunday when they're in church. Not a lot of us are in the word, not a lot of us are getting these arguments that have divine power from God, that are tearing down these ideas in our heads.
Frank Shimkus: 14:29 And listen, believer, yes, you opposed God when you are far from Christ. But once in Christ, Satan, doesn't give up on you. He doesn't say, well, all right, well now you're in Christ, s now I'm not going to try to attack you. Ephesians 6 says, we're attacked every day. We're in a spiritual battle, the wiles of the devil come at us every day, we're supposed to stand firm, we're supposed to put an armor of God on us. And what's the first part, the belt of truth. And so I think what this is saying is, as we live in this world and Satan comes at us with his wiles, and they are wiles, they are lies, and believers sometimes can become discouraged and ideas like viruses can get into our heads. How do we eradicate them? How do we make sure on a daily basis that strongholds are torn down in our life, and our thoughts are put into subjection to Christ? We take in large amounts of the Word of God, and let the Word of God do to our life what Paul says he and the apostles were doing.
Frank Shimkus: 15:34 So I want to ask you a question. Think of the last seven days, okay the last seven days in your life, and I'm just as guilty. How many times did I put on Netflix? How many times did I put on Disney Plus? How many times did I put something on and let ideas start coming into my mind, and some of them latch on like viruses, the social media I see, the talk radio, the news...Oh the news, forget about that. The things that get into my mind, how many of these ideas have stuck? I don't know. Therefore, I need to expose myself regularly to the Word of God so that my heart and minor in check. So what did the last seven days look like for you? How many times were you here, and your mind was being renewed? Romans 12:1 and 2, man, if there's anything in my mind, I want it to be called a task right now. Yes, the Word take my thoughts captive to Christ. Only 45% of Christians say that they read the Bible once a week. I wonder, and I don't know if you've ever thought about memorizing scripture. I want you in the word, but there's, there's something I don't know if you agree with me is that I seem to get attacked at the most inopportune times, like when I'm driving, I don't think I should be reading any books when I'm driving, or when I'm in a meeting, or when I'm trying to fall asleep.
Frank Shimkus: 17:00 I wonder not only how much scripture you're exposing yourself to, I wonder how much is in your head. I wonder right now, if you had to, if it was like the book of Eli and all the Bibles were taken off the face of the planet, I wonder how much of the Bible we could reproduce based on what is in your head? I wonder how much you have memorized? I want to challenge you this morning to think about memorizing, you ready, here's my main thought this morning, I want you to think about memorizing large passages or complete thoughts of scripture. Let me just say that again, I want to challenge you, as the church, to practically do this. To make sure that you have no presumptuous sins, that your thoughts are taken captive, to memorize large passages or complete thoughts of scripture. And I'm going to offset it by saying, I would highly caution you to be careful of memorizing just one verse.
Frank Shimkus: 18:01 And I want to give you an illustration. This right here is fish sauce. Raise your hand if you have ever worked with, or smelled fish sauce before, let me see has anyone? Okay. This is the most ungodly smelling stuff on the planet. It smells exactly like the wording, your like, well what do we call it? Um, fish sauce. I mean, it smells like a sauce made from fish. And I remember somebody told me how they make fish sauce, and I'm not going to tell you how, because you might throw up. But I do the majority of the cooking in my house. Okay. And I love to try to like elevate my food game, and so I started making more Asian cuisine and dishes. And so I was like, I want to make my own ramen, and I love red Thai curry, and so I want to do this, and I noticed in all the ingredient lists it called for fish sauce. So I went to a World Market. I can't remember. and I'm looking, I'm like, oh, here it is, fish sauce. So I'm so excited for my first ramen, I'm going to make this, and I opened this up and I almost pass out. It smells so terrible, terrible. And Erica comes down and she's like, what died in here? Like, we have a dead animal, we've got to find a dead animal in the house, what is it? And my kids are like, dad, what is that? Sometimes just listen to me, listen to the complete thought before you declare me a heretic and walk out. Ready? Sometimes memorizing just one verse of scripture, can be the equivalent of just having fish sauce.
Frank Shimkus: 19:40 Just listen, when we take one verse and rip it out of its context, and take it away from its friends, meaning its immediate neighbors. And we just, you know, put it on a towel, or a doily, or a plaque, or something in the bathroom, and we just let it stand on its own without ever seeing the context of it, sometimes it can have dire consequences. I'll never forget being an early youth pastor and a girl walked into my office and said, God said this, then she quoted the verse. And she said, that didn't happen, in fact, the exact opposite. God is a liar, I'm done. And she had heard this single verse quoted all the time, all the time, all the time, and never memorized the full thought. And if she had, she would have realized that's not what God was saying at all. And so sometimes just memorizing one verse can be the equivalent of just taking a swig of fish sauce. But man, when you put fish sauce with all the other ingredients, I can't explain it. The word for it is umami, it's kind of got this depth of flavor and then you're finished with it, as it sets in and mixes with the soy, and the ginger, and the garlic, and all this stuff, just blending together. You're like, wow, amazing. And I won't cook without it, but I'll tell you what I would never just have it.
Frank Shimkus: 21:09 And so I wonder if I asked you what scripture you have memorized, I wonder if you would start to just give me individual passages, and I wonder if you could give me full, large thoughts of scripture? The title of my sermon today was fighting against anxiety, and the way that I've heard this sermon was I'm supposed to just take my thoughts captive. But you really can fight against anxiety, and you may be filled with anxiety right now because of where your job is, because of where your family is, because you're worried about that future. I'm going to tell you what I think as one of the best weapons against anxiety, is I think taking in large passages of scripture into my head, so that I can meditate, and then I can quote them, and I can access them anytime I feel like I'm attacked, because I also believe that I think lies lead to anxiety.
Frank Shimkus: 22:00 And I know that Jesus [inaudible] the Pharisees one time and he said, you're of your father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning, and when he speaks lies, he speaks his native tongue. I think Satan just wants to fill our world with lies. And so Leonardo says, sometimes an idea can become like a virus, almost impossible to eradicate. But there is a way, it's a divine weapon because we're in a divine war, a spiritual war, and you can eradicate those thoughts. So I'm going to ask you a question. What happens when you start to get so focused on the things of now, and you forget your eternal focus, what scripture is in your head to call you to task? Here's mine, "If then you've been raised with Christ, seek those things, which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth for you've died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. For when Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also shall appear with him in glory. Therefore, put the death of your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. And because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourself once walked when you lived in them, but now you yourselves are to put away all these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth, and do not lie to one another. Since you have put off the old man in his deeds, and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of him who created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free. But Christ is all, and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has an offense against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your heart into one body in which also you were called and be thankful. And let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Man, when I get caught up in temporal things and I forget about eternity, that's a stronghold I have, and the stronghold says, the here and now is most important. And the scripture says, uh uh, and it calls me, and it rebukes me, and it corrects me, and it trains me, and it moves me in the right way.
Frank Shimkus: 24:59 What do you have? What do you have when you look at the success of the world around you and you're bothered by it, and you go, they don't love God and they're succeeding. What scripture calls you back in to say, that's a stronghold? What do you have? I have, "Blessed it as the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that yield its fruit in its season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, for they're like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Man, that passage calls me out when I start to look at the world and go, they're succeeding, they're thriving, they're...No, that's a stronghold and my thoughts are taken captive. And you know which one I've been working on lately? Because I too, I'm looking around and I see the world, and I don't know if you think I'm young or where you think I'm at, but even for myself, I'm worried. What do you have when you worry? What do you have when the stronghold says, God's not in control, there's an almighty omnipotent thing called COVID-19, and that is God.
Frank Shimkus: 26:30 What do you have to call that thought into question, to tear down the stronghold, and make your thoughts subject to Christ and taken captive? What do you have? This is the one that I've just been working on, and just letting my mind over and over, "Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you'll put on. Look at the birds of the air, they don't sow or reap nor gather into barns. and your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not more valuable than they? Who among you can add one hour to your life by worrying? Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So if God, so clothes the grass, which today is in, tomorrow's thrown in the oven. Will he not even clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. So therefore do not worry about your life saying, what are we going to eat? Or what are we going to drink? Or what are we going to wear for after all these things, the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things, but seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Here fore, I say to you do not worry about tomorrow, let tomorrow worry about itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I need that. I don't know if you need that, I need that because everything is coming at me and I'm in a spiritual war. I know I am, and I need a spiritual weapon, and I need something more powerful than my own reason and logic to take my strongholds down, and my thoughts captive, and make them obedient to Christ. Do you? I do.
Frank Shimkus: 28:18 And so what I would ask you to do is to follow in the footsteps of believers throughout the church. And when you see Jesus and he's tempted by Satan, you know what he does all three time, quotes scripture, quotes scripture, quote scripture. David is saying that the man of God meditates on it day and night, and you become like a tree that produces great fruit. You see believer after believer memorizing scripture enough, it's in our head, and we're able to quote it, and we're able to let it do what it does in our minds, and help us fight this battle.
Frank Shimkus: 28:51 Do you ever think about Ephesians 6, and the spiritual armor? Every piece of armor is defensive except for the sword, which is offensive. And the sword of the spirit, it says, which is the Word of God. So I want to ask you, I'm going to challenge you. First question, let's do some troubleshooting in our own lives, how many large passages of scripture are in your repertoire? How much can you access right now, if all the Bibles are taken away and it was up to you to reproduce it, how much could you reproduce? Have you kind of been doing the fish sauce thing of just memorizing one, or do you have full thoughts? And then here's my challenge for you. Would you be willing, would you be willing this week to find a passage, one that you love, dedicate some time to it, open it up, put it on your phone. Listen to an audio Bible, go rewind that, I want to hear that again, I want to hear that again. Practice it with someone, spend some time taking large passages of scripture into your head. Would you be willing to do that? I would love it if we did that as a church, and let the word of Christ dwell richly in us in all wisdom, so that more that came out of our mouths sounded more and more like the heartbeat of God. That's my prayer for you today.
Frank Shimkus: 30:10 This is what Paul is saying, he's saying the Word just tears down arguments, and takes these bad viral thoughts, and makes them subjects to Christ that your obedience becomes more and more complete. I, as one of the pastors here, pray that your obedience continues to become complete. And I know that an idea can be like a virus stuck in your brain. We're in a spiritual war, we need a spiritual weapon and we need spiritual victories. So that's my challenge for you this week. Would you be willing to memorize one large passage of scripture, or a complete thought? I'm going to pray for you? And if you do it, I'd love to hear an email from you. If you already have one, add another one, get more in there. And I promise you, you're going to see the divine power that the scripture, which is living and powerful, will wield in your life.
Frank Shimkus: 30:58 Will you bow your heads and pray with me? Let's do it. Father, we are in a spiritual war. Paul makes that very clear that though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war against the flesh, and we need a spiritual weapon and you've given it to us, the Word of God, which is living, and powerful, and sharper, than any two edged sword. It can divide even the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it can discern our thoughts and our heart. So Father, I pray for this body of believers, whom I love so much. I pray as Satan is trying to deceive us, trying to attack us, trying to get his wiles into our lives, so we live anxiety ridden lives. And then when he tries to get an idea that sticks like a virus, almost impossible to eradicate, I pray that we take in your Word, we spend time in it, we ingest it, we digest, and we meditate on it, and we let the Word of God dwell richly in us in all wisdom, and we become like a tree planted by streams of water. I pray that, I pray that many in here will take that challenge, we'll shut the TV off, we'll turn off social media, we'll spend some time in the Word. And let the Word take us to task, take us to the woodshed. Father, I pray for those that are willing to take this challenge, bless them this week, help them to see what the Word does, and help them to live a victorious life in Jesus Christ, whom we want to take all of our thoughts captive and put at his feet. He is Lord. It's in the name of Jesus' I pray. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
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