Harnessing Our Thought Life | Ezekiel 4-8 | Gary Hamrick

we're here now in the Book of Ezekiel and we're here in chapter 8 today as a way of just a little background before I read from chapter 8 the Babylonians have spent the last 20 years besieging Judah which is the southern kingdom of Israel and in the course of those 20 years they have been taking Jews captive the thousand mile journey back to Babylon deporting them back to Babylon among the captives taken in 597 BC was this guy Ezekiel his name in Hebrews pronounced you Hesco as name is the Lord is strength and he's 25 years of age when he's taken captive by the Babylonians deported to Babylon along with thousands of other Jews five years into his new life in Babylon at the age of 30 the Lord appears to him and the Lord calls him to be a prophet to the Jewish people now living in Babylon so they've established their lives now they're those who have been deported to Babylon they have established their lives there in fact when the opportunity comes for them to return to their homeland 70 years later those who are still alive or the next generation after them most will refuse to go back to Israel because they become so absorbed in the culture of Babylon that they decide to stay there Ezekiel has been called to prophesy to minister to the Jews living there in Babylon at the same time that Jeremiah was called by God as a prophet to minister to the Jews living still in Judah so God's got his prophets going in both locations and Ezekiel ministers there in in the Babylonian territory and we're talking on a map today modern Iraq the ancient capital city of the Babylonian Empire Babylon located right on the Euphrates River so that's where this is taking place the exception here is that in chapter 8 God does not physically take Ezekiel back to Jerusalem but he takes Ezekiel to Jerusalem with a vision and Ezekiel is going to be shown things by God of what is happening back in his hometown and so that's we're about to read here in chapter 8 and you have to bear in mind as we're also looking through Ezekiel the first 24 chapters of Ezekiel are written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem about the destruction of Jerusalem so that doesn't happen until 586 BC but he's first deported there in 597 BC so the first 24 chapters of this book of ezekiel have to do with the coming destruction of jerusalem chapters 25 to 27 have to do with the actual destruction and then chapters 28 into the end of the book have to do with future things we talked last week future things that haven't even yet happened in our lifetime and so we're gonna get to some prophetic stuff still at the end of the book of ezekiel but for the time being here in chapter 8 God shows him this vision about things that really are going to help Ezekiel understand help us to understand excuse me what contributed to the demise of Jerusalem and why it was that God chose to discipline his own people that he loved so much by some of the things we see revealed here in chapter 8 so I'm gonna read the whole chapter it's only 18 verses so don't let that you know wig you out you're like he's gonna read a whole chapter it's alright sit back relax you have no place to go it's raining I'm gonna read all of the of chapter 8 so here we go and it came to pass in the sixth year in the sixth month on the fifth day the month as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there and then I looked and there was a likeness like the appearance of fire from the appearance of his waist and downward fire and from his waist and upward like the appearance of brightness like the color of amber then he stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my hair and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God see not literally but brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the North Gate of the inner Court where the seat of the image of jealousy was which provoked to jealousy and behold the glory of the God of Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the plane and then he said to me son of man lift your eyes now toward the north so I lifted my eyes toward the north and their north of the altar gate was this image of jealousy in the entrance we'll talk about what that is in a minute and furthermore he said to me son of man do you see what they are doing the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here to make me go far away from my sanctuary now turn again you will see greater abominations so he brought me to the door of the court and when I looked there was a hole in the wall and then he said to me son of man dig into the wall and when I dug into the wall there was a door and he said to me go in and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there so I went in and saw and there every sort of creeping thing abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed all around on the walls and there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel and in their mid stood jazzing ayah the son of shaphan each man had a sensor in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up and then he said to me son of man have you seen have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark every man in the room of his idols for they say the Lord does not see us the Lord has forsaken the land and he said to me turn again and you will see greater abominations that they are doing so he brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house and to my dismay women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz and then he said to me have you seen this O son of man turn again and you will see greater abominations than these so he brought me into the inner Court of the Lord's house and there at the door of the temple of the Lord between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and they were worshiping the Sun toward the east and he said to me have you seen this son of man is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here for they have filled the land with violence and then they have returned to provoke me to anger indeed they put the branch to their nose that's another way we would say today they thumbed their nose so they're thumbing their nose at God and therefore I also will act in fury my I will not spare nor will I have pity and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice I will not hear them so we're gonna make sense of all this I know it's a bit of a at the whole book we talked last week a bit of an enigma kind of baffles the mind but we're gonna unpack this chapter today and it'll make more sense as we go let's first have a word of Prayer father thank you for your word today and I thank you for each person here and those watching online we do pray for you to visit us in a personal way that you would translate an ancient story in a way that is helpful to us Lord that we might grow in our own relationship with you through through the knowledge and understanding of your word so lord thank you for ministering to us through the pages of Scripture do your good work in our hearts today help us to be receptive to what you would want us to learn and we love you and we thank you that you first loved us it's in Jesus name that we pray and everybody said amen so in this chapter opens up Ezekiel writes here about this occasion when he is in Babylon now that's reason living he's in his own house in Babylon and he's in the living room of his house with some of the elders of Judah who have been deported with him from Jerusalem and there they are just having a casual afternoon together sitting in his living room sipping iced tea eating chick-fil-a because that's what Christians do and and all the sudden as he's with these guests of his in his own house the Lord gives him a vision this is all a vision now this is not he was not like physically transported to Jerusalem because he says specifically in verse 3 that the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem so it's not literal this is a vision that God is giving him and and God lifts him up in this vision between heaven and earth to give him a bird's eye view of Jerusalem and in particular what we note in Chapter eight is he's going to give him a bird's eye view of the temple court area because at this time the temples not been destroyed it's prior to 586 BC so he sees the Temple of Jerusalem there the temple of God he sees the courtyard area and God shows him different things so that Ezekiel gets a better understanding as to why God is just in bringing his judgment against the people whom he loves he's going to allow the Babylonians to come as a form of disciplining the people that he loves and so in a sense what he is saying to Ezekiel is come with me I want to show you some things that are going on here in Jerusalem you get a better idea of why I'm about to do what I'm about to do the first thing that Ezekiel sees here when he's kind of lifted up and given this bird's-eye view of jerusalem is in verse 3 what is called here the image of jealousy he says I saw the image of jealousy that phrase is used twice there and it's an idol it's a particular item and it provokes jealousy with God you know listen God even listed one of the Ten Commandments as commandment number two about not having any other idols and in fact he says there in Exodus 20 verse 5 when he lists commandment number 2 about no other idols he says for the Lord your God is a jealous God now he's not insecure he just despises the fact that people would give their attention and affection to inanimate objects things that can't help them things that don't work for them things that don't love them it's it's really a travesty and it's a commentary on man's desire to worship something even if it's the ridiculous worship of something that isn't even real and God is jealous about it he is provoked to jealousy over this kind of nonsense and so here's this idol and and Ezekiel sees it and what we come to find out is that it's a particular idol the name here in this 8th chapter you may have noticed in verse 14 let me read it again in verse 14 it says so he brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house and to my dismay women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz now circle in your Bible Tom Moo's that's the name of this Idol that's the name of a god of the Babylonians back in this day that the Babylonians worshiped and Ezekiel here is appalled he is dismayed to see that Jewish women in Jerusalem are weeping in their worship of Tammuz that the name tomm moos only appears here in all of the bible there's no other reference to him by name than right here this is the only place who was Tammuz so Tom moves was a Babylonian God a mythological Babylonian God they thought was real and he was the god of life and vegetation and so they believed that all green things and life and vegetation were attributed to top moves but that every fall at the end of summer Tom Moo's died and that's why the vegetation would die you know when we hit the season of fall things start to die it's just it's just the season of life and it's the rotation of the seasons and God is the lord of the seasons but unfortunately at this time the Jewish people were persuaded to believe in the Babylonian gods and the gods of the Canaanites and other gods and so the women are believing that Tom Moo's oh it's fall and and things are dying and there was this myth that every fall cow Moos would die and have to be revived and that's why vegetation died and so the women are weeping about this now this does coincide with the season because at the beginning of chapter 8 Ezekiel actually gives us the timeline and when you translate when he says this occurred according to the Babylonian calendar it would have been September the 17th 592 BC and so it's fall time things are dying and decaying and the Jewish women in Jerusalem are beeping Oh Tom mousse is dying and the Babylonian myth was that he would die go to the underworld and then his wife Ishtar would have to rescue him every year and she would bring him back to life in the spring time which is when everything would bud and blossom and so they're like hooray Ishtar has saved Tom moves again that's the way they would worship now how pitiful is this how pitiful is this that the God you worship dies every year and has to be revived by his wife I mean what if one year before Tom mousse dies they get into a fight and this chars like didn't like your attitude not bringing you back I mean what kind of a God is reliable like that where he has to be brought back because his wife revives him and so then they would worship the spring and and it started all this so listen this is all nonsense and Ezekiel is seeing this said all the women are weeping this is so sad the Jewish women are weeping over Tom moves because it's fall time and things are dying and so he's grieved by this what kind of a God is worth serving who dies every year it has to be revived well then Ezekiel sees something else here if you'll notice again in verse 15 and 16 verse verse 15 God says to him it and have you seen this like you know in other words like if you think that's bad get a load of this and in verse 16 so he brought me into the inner Court of the Lord's house and there at the door of the temple of the Lord between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs toward the Temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and they were worshiping the Sun toward the east so again here's something else that Ezekiel sees as part of this vision God is pulling back the curtain of Jerusalem ezq I want you to see what's going on here among your own people this is the reason why I'm gonna destroy Jerusalem this is the reason why you're in Babylon that I put Jews there captive for 70 years as a timeout to make them realize you got to get your act right you got to get right with me and Ezekiel sees here 25 men in the temple courtyard area backs to the temple facing east to the Rising Sun and they're literally verse 16 worshiping the Sun now some of you come close you know you know how you are you'd like to go to the beach lather up lay out there ah the Sun God but you're not really worshiping the Sun so I know we just appreciate the Sun and all that they're actually worshiping the Sun I mean they're they're bowing down to the Sun they're seeing the Sun as a literal God and they've probably adopted this from the Egyptians the Egyptians worship the Sun God wrong and so they are now worshiping the Sun and Ezekiel sees this and and he's grieved about this now who are these 25 men based on the location and based on the numbers is about 25 these are likely the priests the priests the spiritual leaders of the day because they are located at the inner Court of the Lord's house which is the temple of God and it tells us also in verse 16 that they are standing there between the porch and the altar okay that's where priests would serve and it says there were about 25 men that he sees well first Chronicles 24 tells us that the priests who served at the temple would serve and rotations of 24 at a time 24 at a time plus the high priest meant 25 so no doubt what Ezekiel is seeing here are the priests priests are worshiping the Sun s UN they're worshipping heavenly bodies instead of God himself and not only was it wrong it was expressly forbidden as a capital offense in the Mosaic law read it to you you don't need to turn there but it's Deuteronomy 17 and verse 3 God condemns any man or woman who has gone and served other gods and worship them either the the Sun the moon or any of the hosts of heaven and then he adds in Deuteronomy 17 verse 5 God says here's the penalty then you shall bring out to your that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing and shall stoned to death that man or woman with stones that's how much God was like don't be doing this don't be doing this this is a capital offense now you are probably like I am glad that we live under grace now right okay but I guarantee you if people who are all into you know like their signs and you know that you know they get into the whole astrology thing the worship of the stars in like what's my sign you know what's what if you were killed for that you probably stop doing that kind of thing you know I'm not I'm not advocating bringing it back I'm just saying it was probably a great deterrent these guys should have known better but instead they've literally turned their back to God to the temple and they're worshiping the Sun here and not only was it wrong then for them to worship the creation instead of the create tour it's wrong now it's wrong now for us to worship created stuff instead of the creator himself and there is kind of this obsession today with just earthly worship and look I I'm all about take care of the planet it is something that we've been entrusted with but it's like seriously carbon footprint really I mean all of this stuff I I recycle because I'm supposed to but I don't want to like I have an attitude about it whenever I could drag my recycling to the curb I'm like why are we doing this and have you heard recently that it's actually costing more money and it is less productive to recycle than if they just anyway I go off out digress back to the story they've inverted this it's it's like can you imagine if your mom makes you a sandwich and she gives you the sandwich and you're like oh you use wonderful sandwich oh I adore you thank you sandwich Oh sandwich oh all you ham oh and you cheese oh and you ride well if you're gluten-free mr. Udo is gluten-free bread oh I thank you thank you thank you I just love you sandwich and your mom is standing there like ah hello could you just say thank you to me I kind of made it this is how we are when we worship what was made instead of the one who made it God is the creator and these are the spiritual leaders so here's what you have you have the women of Jerusalem worshipping and weeping over top news and you have the spiritual leaders the man the priests turning their back on God and worshiping the Sun gods like do you see what's going on here now there's one more thing here that I want to spend the remainder of our time looking at that I skipped if you go back to verse 7 I want to read verses 7 through 12 again and this part applies to every single one of us I want you to pay particular attention to this part between verses 7 through 12 here's what it says so we brought me to the door of the court and when I looked there was a hole in the wall and then he said to me son of man dig into the wall and when I dug into the wall there was a door and he said to me go in and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there so I went in and saw and there every sort of creeping thing abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed all around on the walls and there stood before them 70 men of the elders of the house of Israel and in their midst of jazzing ayah the son of shaphan and each man had a sensor in his head that a thick cloud of incense went up and then he said to me son of man have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark every man in the room of his idols for they say the Lord does not see us the Lord has forsaken the land there's a very important part in the middle of this chapter here that I want us to focus on in our remaining time where is Ezekiel in this vision and what is it that he's seeing so in this vision he's in the temple area here the entrance to the temple court and he sees a hole in the wall and God says to him go ahead and you know apparently maybe he looks through the hole he can't see through the hole God says to him go ahead I want you to start breaking the wall down at the point of that hole so Ezekiel's trying to peer into something that is at this point not visible God says go ahead tear down the wall Ezekiel tears down the wall and when he does that he comes to a door again this is all a vision that because in the courtyard there was not a hole they had to tear down a wall in order to get through a door this is all this is symbolic God is taking him to a place that his otherwise hidden and he's going to reveal something to Ezekiel so he gives the zeeco permission go ahead break the wall down at the point of this hole and then he does that and then there's this door says now I want you to walk through the door and he goes through the door in this vision and he comes into this inner chamber this inner chamber and Ezekiel says that he he sees I want you to picture just kind of like a gallery like an art gallery in the round he sees in this chamber he sees pictures hanging on the wall all around this gallery and their abominable pictures their impure pictures terrible things creatures impure stuff and he sees all this and verse 9 says wicked abominations hanging on the wall creeping things Bominable beasts idols in the middle of this otherwise unseen dark chamber are 70 men now this is symbolic of something okay 70 is symbolic for the general population you get into the New Testament you have the 70 men who formed the Sanhedrin the Sanhedrin was a representation of the people they were the Jewish ruling council so the 70 men in this imagery represents the general population okay and he sees 70 men in the middle of this dark chamber detestable images hanging on the wall these pictures all around and God is showing a zekiel something that is otherwise not revealed hidden behind closed doors which is where most detestable things happen behind closed doors in the secret inner chamber here and again in verse 12 God says to him son of man have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark every man in the room of his idols now if you have a King James Bible we're reading New King James but King James helps us understand even better what is going on here King James instead of saying in the room of his idols it translates in the chambers of his imagery in the chambers every man in the dark in the chambers of his imagery God takes Ezekiel here to a hidden place a place behind walls and doors a place that Ezekiel is allowed to peer into and the imagery and the language here suggests to us that this hidden place this dark place behind closed doors is none other than the secret places of the heart and the mind when Ezekiel finally breaks through the wall in this vision that he has and he goes through the door he comes into a room and in this room are hanging pictures of all kinds of vile and detestable things in other words God has allowed Ezekiel to peer into the gallery of the minds of the people where on the walls are hanging perverted impure detestable images and God is basically saying to him this is where it all starts and the dark recesses of the mind is where sinful behavior is generated you know the people were into idolatry but they were into idolatry because they believed things and thought things and considered things and entertained things in their mind most of our sinful behavior is premeditated we think about it first we fantasize about it first in the dark recesses of our mind where we think no one else can see no one else knows no one else hears we entertain impure things detestable things vile things that if anybody knew we'd be embarrassed if anybody knew the kind of thoughts that all of us entertain we'd be embarrassed and imagine well consider God knows why should we allow our minds to go unchecked some Christians are of the opinion that as long as I don't act on something I'm thinking it's okay for me to think it wrong because even our minds should be sanctuaries to God even our thought life should be reined in to a place where it's honorable to God what we think and what we imagine and what we entertain in our minds will either be pleasing to God or displeasing to him it will either be honorable to God or dishonorable to God and we need to make sure that we understand the necessity and the importance that not only is action something that God looks at and considers but also our thoughts we must harness our thought life have you ever thought to yourself if I could just rein in my thoughts if I could just get control of my thought life it would help me to not do some of the stupid things and sinful things I end up doing and it's true for all of us but see we must not be deceived we must not deceive ourselves into what the people thought if you look at verse 12 the people thought to themselves in verse 12 the Lord does not see us you know it's okay the things that in the in the dark places but see God God sees all this and and God showing as equal you see some of the stuff going on and the dark inner chambers of their imaginations do you see this this is where it all started all the idolatry all the rebellion all of their sinful stuff starts there and the dark research the recesses of their minds and he's showing Ezekiel these things and it should challenge all of us because they were deceiving himself saying the Lord doesn't see the Lord doesn't know you know what's interesting is among this inner dark chamber there's 70 men representing the people in general but there's one guy named by name jazz Anaya right there in verse 11 one guy among the seventy why is this guy named here among all the people here who is this guy the son of shaphat well I think he's mentioned here because it's a play on words with his name see his name jazz and I there's no J in the Hebrew alphabet it's Yas Ania Yas Anaya is from two words yah meaning Yahweh and azan which means to hear and it literally means the Lord hears and even more specifically as on translates to to broaden the ear with the hand so it's this you know how when you cup your hand behind your ear because you're trying to listen more intently that's the picture revealed in the name of this guy Yas Anaya the Lord is straining with the cupped hand because he hears every single thing that we entertain in our thoughts in the midst of this dark chamber where everybody's like God doesn't see what's going on God says I want you to go in is he can we just see all the imagery here I want you see all the vile detestable things I see and I hear everything nothing is hidden from God nothing and so this is a good place for us to consider these things even as it relates to our own lives David would say in Psalm 139 1 & 2 he said O Lord you have searched me and you know me you know when I sit and when I rise you perceive my thoughts from afar you perceive my thoughts from afar I'm gonna give you real quickly three things about God's understanding of our thoughts and then three things about what we need to do to harness our thought life here's the first one for you note-takers God knows our thoughts the Bible tells us clearly Psalm 90 4 verse 11 the Lord knows the thoughts of man and there are different times in your in the Gospels in the New Testament where it says that Jesus knew their thoughts jesus knew their thoughts Matthew 9 Matthew 12 Luke 9 Luke eleven God knows what we're thinking okay nothing is hidden from God he knows everything about us including our thought life he knows what we were thinking I came across this this thing years ago where some of you have probably seen this too it's this and in fact Austin said that it was first aired as a Superbowl commercial I remember where at first where I first saw it but you can google it it's online it's this funny little scene where there's this it opens up with two guys who are speaking German and you find out that it's the German Coast Guard and there's this new recruit into the Coast Guard and and he's sitting behind a desk at the Coast Guard Station ready to hear any distress calls and it's as I say first day on the job his commanding officer says something to him in German slaps him on the back and leaves the room and this this young guy new to the whole thing is sitting here behind the radio waiting for anything and just kind of biding his time and all the sudden distress call comes in and it's in English and and and there's this there's this guy on the radio who's saying help us help us Mayday Mayday Mayday and so he taps the microphone he's like this this is the German Coast Guard can I help and he's like yes Mayday Mayday we are sinking we are sinking and he goes what are you seeking about it's hilarious you got a google it but anyway I don't do it justice trust me god knows what you are seeking about he knows everything about our lives including what's in our minds he knows our thought life second thing it's important to know number two God tests our mind Psalm 7 verse 9 says for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds so sometimes he's gonna see how well you do with your thought life by testing us number three God examines our minds Jeremiah 1710 says I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct according to what his deeds deserve so god no our thoughts God tests our minds God examines our minds nothing is hidden from him he understands our thought life completely which is all the more reason why we need to make sure that it's another area of our lives that we devote to him commit to him consecrate to him our thought life so how do we do that three things number one we need to renew our minds with the word we need the Bible to constantly be washing over our thought life I mean listen folks doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize but living in our culture we are inundated with information and some of that information is just terrible it's depressing it's impure it's it's not true and so we're constantly being bombarded with just information information we're on information overload and and you know what it creates often it creates all kinds of terrible thoughts from impure wicked lustful thoughts to anxious thoughts fearful thoughts jealous thoughts resentful thoughts critical thoughts I mean it starts in our head friends the the mind is a battleground we can't get lazy about this we have to realize that that in the dark recesses of our minds we can't just entertain stuff and think no big deal as long as they don't act on it it's just in my head and I can think on this fantasize about it dwell about it no not not if it's impure not if it's unholy not if it's something that is unrighteous and dishonouring to God we have to renew our minds by allowing the Bible to just read our Bibles let it wash over our thought life to renew our minds Paul would say in Ephesians 4:22 2:23 that you put off the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that word renew in Romans 12:2 it says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that word renew is anneka gnosis and attica gnosis means to renovate so those of you understand this idea who love HGTV because you see those people come in there they take some old dilapidated house and they totally just gut the whole thing and then they renovate it that's the idea here when we become Christians we got to gut our minds we got to stop thinking the same thoughts we used to think we got to stop entertaining some of the things we used to entertain you have to stop fantasizing about some of the stuff we used to fantasize about we have to gut our minds it needs to be completely renovated and we do that renovation by getting into the Word of God and letting scripture just begin to bathe our minds purify our thought life the Word of God Hebrews 4 verse 12 says for the word of God is living and powerful and it adds at the end and it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart so we need the Word of God to just wash over our minds to renew our minds with God's Word number two this is also very important we have to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ take captive every thought this is exactly what 2nd Corinthians 10:5 says 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 what does that mean that means when you know the thought has come into your mind that isn't wholly righteous honorable you have to just immediately take a captive and say I'm not gonna I'm not going there you know as soon as it comes into your head you're like I can't dwell on that not gonna think about that not going there because I know it dishonor is God and again it's not just the wicked sinful terrible thoughts it can also be just those anxious thoughts I'm not going to dwell on this it just causes me to be anxious that isn't honoring to God I'm not going to be I'm not going to dwell on this fearful thoughts all right I'm not gonna ask for show of hands but I guarantee you at some point every single one of us have been scared out of our minds because the stuff we thought all right and what is the way that you try to deal with that if you don't do what we're talking about here you Google that's what you do like I'm really scared about this I don't really like this I've got this wart on my arm and I don't know what that could be and and it could be this and it could be that and so you start to Google that just makes you freaked out even more am i right that doesn't help because you can google anything and it's gonna tell you that you have cancer I mean I'm serious it's just gonna be oh no you know I just I inhaled some baking powder making cookies and maybe I'll Google baking powder cause cancer of course somebody's going to say yeah baking powder cause cancer for me it's like it just stop googling right if nobody else is listening I'm trying to preach to myself all right here we go David is no different David in Psalm 13 - says how long must I wrestle with my thoughts you ever felt like that how long must I wrestle with my thoughts but there are some thoughts that we need to take captive some of you have critical thoughts all you ever think about somebody is critical unloving resentful bitter jealous it's all you we can't we can't allow it we have to take captive every thought make it obedient to Christ last one number three we have to set our minds and spiritual things Romans 8 5 to 6 for those who live according to the flesh meaning our natural sinful bent set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace how many of you want a little bit more peace in your life alright five of you ah it's a rainy day and you're already like I'm hungry how much longer you gonna be alright but listen listen to me on this take that thought captive right now take that thought captive I want lunch how long is he gonna be take it captive to set our minds on something the Greek word is from naio it means to rein it in we gotta rein in the thoughts of the flesh we have to replace it with things that are spiritual think about the things of the Spirit a Peter would write in his epistle first Peter 1:13 he's just there for gird up the loins of your mind and I like that Old English ESV and NIV try to clean it up and eight and they they butcher it ESV and NIV says prepare your minds for action listen there's a reason why Peter said gird your loins the loins of your mind it is a Greek word and as a new me and as Anna's a new me the new me means to bind with a belt it's it's a it's a the image of back in the day when they had long tunics you couldn't walk very fast let alone run and unless you reach down pulled up the hem of your garment and then tucked it into your belt so now you had more mobility I mean those of you ladies should wear long dresses or long skirts ever try to run in one I mean it's like impossible you're gonna trip so what do you do you like you like reach down and pull it up at least about six or eight inches so you can you know be more mobile and run the idea behind that language impulses gird up the sorry Peter says gird up the loins of your mind he's basically saying pull up your thoughts or they will cause you to stumble pull up your thoughts or they will cause you to stumble and so here's here's what we need to do we need to saturate our minds with spiritual things I'm gonna give you I'm gonna read you this verse it's it's on the screen just the reference Philippians 4:8 I'm gonna read it and I'm gonna ask everybody I've said this and the other two services I want you this week to commit to read Philippians 4:8 I want you to do it every day because all of us unless you're feeling like I my fault life is fine talk to me after the service I'd love to touch the hem of your garment but for the rest of us Philippians 4:8 this is important to just saturate our minds listen to what it says finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are of good report if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things meditate on these things so I want to as a congregation to just immerse our thoughts and our minds you can read any of script but I want you to particularly Philippians 4:8 this week and ask God to help us to really think on things that are true and Noble and just and pure and lovely and of a good report and virtuous and praiseworthy and get rid of all the other thoughts that are displeasing to God take captive those thoughts make it obedient to Christ renew your mind with Scripture think on spiritual things and in that process friends we're gonna glorify God not just in the way we act but even by the way we think amen amen let's pray together father God we thank you for your word and we acknowledge that you know our thoughts you examine our thoughts you test our thoughts so lord help us to renew our mind in Christ Jesus help us to take captive every thought help us Lord to saturate our minds with things that are spiritual not things that are carnal not things that are impure so that our lives would glorify you even including our thought life help us Lord to not think to ourselves that you must be unconcerned about what we entertain in our minds may all of us all of ourselves from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet physically spiritually emotionally be consecrated to you be dedicated to you so that your glorified not just in what we do or what we say but even in what we think help us Lord to harness our thought life for the glory of God and it's in Jesus name that we pray and all God's people said amen and they meant God bless y'all

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 15,423

Rating: 4.9826088 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, thoughts, mind, Gary Hamrick

Id: R-6eSiJvjLM

Length: 44min 10sec (2650 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2019