# Sunday Setup – 2 Corinthians 10

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: September 18, 2025
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-2-corinthians-10

## Summary

Are we truly ready to fight the battles that matter? What does it mean to belong to Christ, and how does that shape our actions in a world filled with conflict? Join us as we explore 2 Corinthians 10 and discover the power of our spiritual weapons. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

[Music] 
 [Music] 
 [Laughter] 
 [Music] 
 Hey, Cross Church and welcome to the 
 Sunday setup. This is our time where we 
 digitally gather together each week, 
 Thursdays at 2:00, and we get to prepare 
 our hearts. We get to set up our lives 
 to go into the passage that we'll be 
 preaching through this Sunday. Today, we 
 dive back into our 2 Corinthians series, 
 and we're going to be in 2 Corinthians 
 chapter 10. And as we read through this, 
 uh, we just want this text to really 
 just take in. We're going to pray 
 through it this morning. We'll be 
 praying through this thematically this 
 Sunday and be preaching through it, be 
 praising through it, and our worship 
 time also that we can put into practice 
 this text next week. So, we're going to 
 be in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 starting 
 in verse one. You can either listen 
 along or follow along if you have a 
 Bible. And Paul the Apostle writes this. 
 Now I Paul myself appeal to you by the 
 meekness and gentleness of Christ. I who 
 am humble among you in person but bold 
 to you when absent. I beg you that when 
 I am present, I will need to be bold 
 with the confidence by which I plan to 
 challenge certain people who think we 
 are living according to the flesh. For 
 although we live in the flesh, we do not 
 wage war according to the flesh. Since 
 the weapons of our warfare are not of 
 the flesh, but they are powerful through 
 God for the demolition of strongholds, 
 we demolish arguments and every proud 
 thing that is raised up against the 
 knowledge of God. And we take every 
 thought captive to obey Christ. And we 
 are ready to punish any disobedience 
 once your obedience is complete. Now 
 look at what is obvious. If anyone is 
 confident that he belongs to Christ, let 
 him remind himself of this, just as he 
 belongs to Christ, so do we. For if I 
 boast a little about much about too much 
 about our authority, which the Lord gave 
 for building you up and not for tearing 
 you down, I will not be put to shame. I 
 don't want to seem as though I'm trying 
 to terrify you with my letters. For it 
 is said, "His letters are weighty and 
 powerful, but his physical presence is 
 weak, and his public speaking amounts to 
 nothing. Let such a person consider 
 this. What we are in our letters when we 
 are absent, we will also be in our 
 actions when we are present. For we 
 don't dare classify or compare ourselves 
 with those with some who commend 
 themselves. But in measuring themselves 
 by themselves and comparing themselves 
 to themselves, they lack understanding. 
 We however will not boast beyond 
 measure, but according to the measure of 
 the area of ministry that God has 
 assigned to us, which reaches even to 
 you, for we are not overextending 
 ourselves as if we had not reached you, 
 since we had come to you with the gospel 
 of Christ. We are not boasting beyond 
 measure about other people's labors. On 
 the contrary, we have the hope that as 
 your faith increases, our area of 
 ministry will greatly be enlarged, so 
 that we may preach the gospel to the 
 regions beyond you without boasting 
 about what has already been done in 
 someone else's area of ministry. So let 
 the one who boasts boast in the Lord, 
 for it is not the one commending himself 
 who is approved, but the one the Lord 
 commends. 
 In this passage, Paul is defending 
 himself, defending his apostilhip, but 
 he's also calling the church at Corenth, 
 not just of his qualifications as 
 someone in Christ, but also a model of 
 how we can disagree, how we might fight, 
 how we might push back against people, 
 but do so in a Christlike manner. And 
 the first thing I want us to focus on 
 here in our first prayer is in verse 7 
 Paul says if anyone is confident that he 
 belongs to Christ and he says just as he 
 belongs to Christ so do we. And that 
 idea of we belong to Christ is so 
 important because if we don't belong to 
 Christ everything else in this passage 
 really doesn't matter. And and I want us 
 to take a minute to thank God that we 
 belong to Christ. And here's our first 
 prayer prompt is thank you God that I 
 belong to Jesus by thank you God that I 
 belong to Jesus by his sacrifice on the 
 cross that I belong to Jesus because 
 he's forgiven my sins that I belong to 
 Jesus because he opened my eyes. Thank 
 you Jesus because I belong to Jesus 
 because someone shared the gospel with 
 me. Reflect for a second on your 
 salvation journey and what you can thank 
 God for putting in motion. The reasons 
 that you can be thankful to him that you 
 belong to Jesus. 
 [Music] 
 Heat. Heat. 
 [Music] 
 Heat. Heat. 
 [Music] 
 [Laughter] 
 Paul continues in this letter that 
 because we belong to Christ, he he goes 
 through the details of the way we should 
 act, the way we should fight, the way we 
 should respond to each other in our 
 world. But here he gives the point of 
 all of this. And through all this 
 tension that is in this chapter, verse 
 14, he says, "We have come to you with 
 the gospel of Christ." Verse 16, so that 
 we may preach the gospel to the regions 
 beyond you. All of this is for bringing 
 the gospel and preaching the gospel. And 
 and in this as we reflect on the fact 
 that we are thankful for our salvation, 
 that we belong to Christ, here's our 
 second prayer prompt that we want to be 
 able to share that salvation, share that 
 good news, share that gospel with those 
 around us. So our sh second prayer 
 prompt is this is Jesus, help me share 
 the gospel with. Jesus, help me share 
 the gospel with and name your neighbors, 
 your friends, your family members, those 
 who are far from God. And in a season 
 where there is so much going on in our 
 world, who can you share the great news 
 of Jesus Christ with and be praying 
 intentionally for that? 
 [Laughter] 
 [Music] 
 [Laughter] 
 Heat. 
 [Music] 
 Heat. 
 [Music] 
 [Laughter] 
 Jesus, help us share the gospel with 
 those that you have put around us. God, 
 our co-workers, our family members, our 
 neighbors. Uh God, those even those 
 strangers that you might put in our 
 path, let us as Christians be on 
 mission. Let Cross Church stay laser 
 focused on our mission of making Jesus 
 known. Let our church be known for the 
 fact that we tell others about Christ, 
 that we proclaim this Jesus, that we 
 preach this gospel to the world. And let 
 throughout everything else that happens 
 through the uncertain times that might 
 come about that this remain our focus. 
 this remain the thing that we do and 
 what our lives are marked by. God, 
 prepare our hearts in this of the names 
 of people uh the 
 ro the kind of rhythms of how we get to 
 share and as we prepare for Sunday that 
 we be inviting when we can, but we 
 prepare our hearts to respond to your 
 word that we hear so that we can 
 continue to go out and be on mission in 
 your kingdom as a part of what the 
 church does. And we lift all this up in 
 the name that we belong to and the name 
 that saves us and the name that is 
 worthy to be shared in Jesus Christ. 
 Amen. 
 Thank you guys for joining us. We'll see 
 you Sunday. 
 [Music]