Part 2 - The Thinking Pillar Series

The House of Faith

Part 2 – The Thinking Pillar

Rev. Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Ministries

www.PS127.org

WELCOME

Last week we began our series ‘The House of Faith’, by discussing the importance of the foundation of our faith being the teachings of the Apostles and Prophets, with Christ Jesus as the Cornerstone holding it all together.

Our faith, or house, is built by God.

Psalm 127 says that unless God builds this house, those who are building it are wasting their time.

But for God to build our faith, we must have the correct foundation, or else the house we build will not stand.

This is why we see people in life who become Christians, and they may be Christians for years, but the first storm in their life devastates them, and they lose their faith and interest in serving God.

This happens because they were missing the most important key to their faith, and that is the proper foundation.

Once we have the proper foundation, then God can build us.

Last week we read in the scriptures that when God builds us, we flourish!

This week we will take a look at one of the first things God does with us as He builds on the foundation that we set when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, and give Him control of our lives.

The first thing God works on with us is our thinking.

Today we will see how our thinking is the beginning of us becoming the NEW CREATION we are promised to become when we accept Jesus.

We will se how important it is for us to have the right thinking before we can move forward in our growth, and how we already have the wrong thinking, which the devil will try to use against us in his attacks to keep us from moving forward in a better relationship with God.

It is that wrong thinking we have inherited with our sinful flesh.

That thinking that leads us down the path of destruction.

That thinking that keeps us from ever truly knowing God, and what godly living is all about.

That thinking that needs to be erased and replaced by God’s word.

So let’s begin with our scripture reading today and see how God begins His good work in us by building upon the sure foundation of Jesus Christ, and His first wall or pillar, our thinking.

† SCRIPTURE READING

II Corinthians 10:3 – 5

“3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT AND UNDERSTANDING

† Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

We need to constantly remind ourselves and remember that our battle is a spiritual one, and our minds are the battlefields.

We must remember Ephesians 6:12 – 18 “For we battle not against flesh and blood…”

Though the devil may use people to attack us, they are not who our battle is truly with.

It is with the evil spirit, the force behind the actions of others.

This is one of the reasons it is so important for us to forgive others.

They are usually unwitting pawns to the evil plot of the devil.

Even when on the cross, Christ gave us an example to behold.

He stated in the midst of being crucified by those He came to save, and called to the Father in heaven and cried, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Jesus’ strong rebuke to Peter when Peter failed to see the big picture and God’s will in Jesus’ death on the cross, shows that even the elect, the Apostle Simon Bar-Jonah, who would later be called the Rock because of His unwavering faith, was an unwitting pawn to the influence of the devil.

“Get thee behind me Satan.” Jesus exclaimed.

As Satan whispered in Peter’s ear, to try and prevent Jesus from fulfilling God’s will.

God, through the Holy Spirit, has given us divine power to destroy Satan’s strongholds.

These strongholds are sometimes in our lives.

Sometimes they are in our workplace or homes.

Sometimes they are in our country.

But God has given us authority and power through Jesus Christ, to destroy these strongholds of the devil.

We are to destroy arguments, or anything contrary to God and His word, which arises in our minds.

And we take captive, or control, of EVERY thought and MAKE it obedient to Christ.