Taking Every Thought Captive

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Witnessing Without Fear   Foreword   By Massimo Lorenzini     It’s a War Out There!   Welcome to boot camp for Christians! Why do I call it boot camp? Because there’s a war going on! Ever since the Garden of Eden there’s been a war between the rule of the Creator versus the rule of the creature. And you are in this war whether you want to be or not. There’s no neutral territory—you’re either on God’s side or Satan’s, either believing truth or falsehood, walking in the light or the darkness, you either exercise faith or unbelief, you are either saved or lost, and you will either spend eternity in Heaven or Hell.   The New Testament urges us to enter this war wholeheartedly: 1 Tim 1:18 – This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. 2 Tim 2:3-4 – You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Tim 4:7 – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Cor 10:3-5 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Eph 6:10-17 – Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   Why am I talking about this? Because if you’re saved, Satan has lost you. You now belong to God’s kingdom. So Satan’s only strategy against you now is to make you ineffective in fulfilling your calling. He wants to neutralize you and contain you and make you just a contented pew warmer in the church. Don’t let him get away it! We are not called to sit on our blessed assurance. We are called to take the gospel of our King to the ends of the earth. Don’t let Satan neutralize you. Stay the course. You’ve begun this evangelism training and I want to commend you for that. But I urge you to not quit before completing it.   When you feel tempted to quit or not do the homework, I want you to see it as a direct assault against you to keep you from fulfilling the mission your King has given to you. Don’t go AWOL! (Absent Without Leave) Stay in the battle. Remember, there’s no victory without a battle.   John Piper, in Don’t Waste Your Life, wrote:   I need to hear this message again and again [about being in a war], because I drift into a peacetime mind-set as certainly as rain falls down and flames go up. I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth “home.” Before you know it, I am calling luxuries “needs” and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don’t think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.   You are enlisted in the King’s service. Is that how you view your life? It makes a big a difference when we do. Join me as we wage war together against our enemies of the devil, the flesh, and the fallen world system that is opposed to the rightful rule of God. Let’s work to free people from the captivity of sin. God has given us all the necessary provisions for this great task. Blessed be His name forever!   And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed people for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9-10). Witnessing Without Fear - Part One.

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