Captive Thoughts
2 Corinthians 10:5
Today, the preacher has a crazy sermon. I warn you now. Those who join by radio after we get started will say, “What is this crazy preacher talking about?” Others will turn me off because they will say “I did not want to hear a discussion of gun control.”
This sermon is not about gun control or school safety. And I promise… if you will just stay with me… the sermon will actually be spiritual… and make good sense… though it may be confusing at first.
Recently there has been much discussion about school safety and gun control. There have been some good ideas and there have been some bad ones.
One idea… arming the teachers… is the “red-neckiest” idea I ever heard.
This idea probably come from Troy Landry… (from Swamp People) who’s only advice is… “Choot ‘em”
Let me use an visual illustration (apologize to radio audience)
Just think of two circles… one inside the other
The outside circle represents society… the world we live in.
The smallest circle represents the school.
In the outside circle are guns. There are guns in society. And there is nothing the school administrators can do about it.
Some people think the answer to guns outside the school is GUNS INSIDE THE SCHOOL
These are the people who post pictures like this one which says “A teacher + an assault weapon = safe children
That is insane. A teacher + an assault weapon = disaster
What makes more sense is to keep guns OUT of the schools all together.
But how will we keep the children safe… how will we keep the crazies out?
This is where we need a third circle. It is smaller than the largest circle (society) and larger than the smallest (school)
This circle represents a SAFE ZONE… a zone that serves as a buffer.
Imagine this with me:
Every school builds an entry like this one.
Before anyone enters the building, they place their personal items on a conveyor just like the cafeteria uses, and it goes through a scanner, like an airport.
Then they enter the safe area, a special room with one door in and one door leading to the school.
There is an SRO behind a glass who is the only person who can open the door to the school.
The door to the school is LOCKED.
When they enter the zone…
… they must pass through a body scanner.
If they are cleared by the scanner, the door to the school opens and they go in and retrieve their belongings.
If the scanner detects contraband…
the alarm sounds
and the door behind them locks
and the police are called
Now what are they? CAPTIVES
The police come and take them out of the safe zone and to jail.
Now some of you are thinking… what in the world are we doing here. That is 5 minutes out of my life that I’ll never get back.
I told you if you hang with me, it will make sense.
I started out by saying there are guns in society that the school can do nothing about.
There are thoughts out there in the world that you can do nothing about.
You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head.
But… you CAN stop them from building a nest in your hair!!
You can’t control the thoughts that come to you… eyes, ears, memories, flesh
Paul told us in 2 Cor. 10:3 “For though we live in the world,”
In Romans 12:2 he gave us another reason we struggle… “Do not conform to the pattern of this world…”
The reasons we struggle to be victorious Christians are
We are spiritual people, children of God, new creations… held captive in a sinful fleshly body which loves pleasure and the things of the flesh and is at enmity with the things of the Spirit, and impacted and bombarded from the outside by a Godless culture.
AND
We have conformed our thinking and our actions to the pattern of the sinful world around us.
We have to realize there are thoughts out there… good and bad…. And we cannot control them… out there…
So… like the schools… we have to do is create a barrier around our heart which can serve as a safe zone… through which the enemy cannot pass.
But to use the biblical language and image… that safe zone would be shaped like a brain… which is our MIND
The mind, in scripture, is not the brain.
The brain is physical, tangible, something you can see and touch.
The mind is spiritual, eternal, you can’t see it
The mind is the sum total of the things you think, and the informer of the feelings and actions… the gateway to the heart.
The heart, is not the blood pump, the four chambered organ in your chest. It is the control room of the life… controlling actions and behaviors and character.
So… the mind is the safe zone around the heart.
We will return to the analogy of the school safety zone.
There are thoughts out there that we cannot control, and they want to come through our mind and get to our heart.
We have to set a watch over our thoughts so that when they come into our mind, they have to pass through a scanner…
What is the scanner? THE BIBLE
Philippians 4:23 says, 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
If the thought is found to be un-scriptural, un-godly, or does not pass the test of scripture… IT IS EVIL and of the enemy
The alarm must sound and the door must be locked
The thought must not be entertained, kept out of the heart
The call the police… PRAY ABOUT IT, GIVE IT TO GOD
That is what it means to take a thought captive
So… We are to GUARD our HEART
Actions, behavior, Character
BY…through… how
Taking EVERY thought captive
REMEMBER: Every step deeper into the school, the enemy is allowed to get… the more dangerous he is and the harder he is to deal with.
The school needs and wants to stop him HERE
Spiritually… every step deeper into our heart a thought is allowed to get… the more dangerous it is and the harder it is to deal with.
We need to stop the thought HERE
Take control of every thought
and bring it under the scanner of the Word of God
THEN… 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Invitation:
I have the powerpoint for this sermons rhpendelton57@gmail.com
