Philippians 4:8-9 - Right Thinking Leads To Right Living

I almost forgot to turn my phone off this is this would be the worst well wait a minute didn't go off let us leave it right there to remind this I think this is our 19th study in the book of Philippians and I suspect by now that your Bible kind of opens to this spot on Wednesday nights maybe your Bible looks a little worn and the corners are turned up a little well after tonight we have one more study to finish the book next Wednesday night Lord be willing and then two weeks from tonight we will begin an in-depth look at the Book of Daniel now just to remind you Paul wrote this letter to his brethren at in Philip I from Roman imprisonment he was awaiting his first trial before narrow he would get out he would get to spend 18 months running around we don't have too much information about where he went a little bit and then 18 months later he was really DeLong with a lot of other believers and blamed for the four days of fire that burned Rome Nero did it everyone knew Nero did it but Nero couldn't be stopped and Paul knew that was it and he wrote that second letter to Timothy and said this is it but this first letter was written he was unsure of his fate it was initially written as a letter to thank the church for nearly a dozen years of support he had planted this church the first one in Europe they had stood with him for all of those years but it turned out to be far more hasn't it every chapter is a chapter about joy what can steal your joy in the Lord what you can do to hang on to it in the Lord and we have looked at chapter 1 that the circumstances that we can't control and yet if we have a single mind for me to live as Christ a dies game not too much gonna upset you in chapter 2 we looked at how people can steal your joy and so Paul starts chapter 2 by saying look don't just think about your own things but also the needs of others don't do anything through selfish ambition or conceit or vainglory consider in lowliness of mind each other better than yourself and look out for others interest not just your own let this mind be in you that was also in Christ and then we got to spend a good deal of time looking at Jesus's great love for us and denying himself and coming to redeem us chapter three was all about the the flesh the world and how we can be ripped off in our joy when we start to look around the world so I need one of those now come I don't have one of them and Paul even use it in his own exam we said you know for years I lived as a religious man very confident in what I've done for the Lord but then he got saved he said now I counted just refuse and so we looked towards the end of chapter three that our citizenship is in heaven and he said you know there's those in the world whose God is their belly their glory is their shame they set their mind on earthly things but but we don't live here our citizenship is in heaven we wait for Jesus eagerly wait for him to come and then we got to chapter four and we began to talk about the final ripoff for your joy and that is worry worried like no one does that right worry and Paul writes about finding joy and overcoming anxiety and having victory over worry and yet even for believers sometimes that's an ideal rather than a present reality Paul had lots of things to worry about his life hung in the balance not everyone in the church was so supportive in fact by the time he writes the letter to Timothy he will say there's only three people here now for a guy that discipled hundreds and ministered to thousands at the end of his life he had very few folks standing with him he didn't have a lot of support Timothy was in Ephesus he wasn't really making huge impacts there yet Timothy was kind of a retiring guy so you know Paul had been paying a price been in jail for many years now for no good reason other than the Lord hadn't seen fit to spring him and so he finds joy in the Lord despite the concerns that he might have in fact in every one of these prison letters the pastoral epistles he talks about the benefits that he was able to discover because he was in prison he was able to say I know this has worked out for good he he began to look for the good that it had worked out for so this is the chapter that we find ourselves and we we spent the first week looking at the first five verses about resolving conflict by standing in the Lord and and really you know taking that stand that would not be moved we looked last week just at two verses verses six and seven about the problem of worry and the prescription of Prayer tonight we want to take two more verses and then we will finish next week with the closing kind of comments from Paul but tonight we want to look at something that I think is life-changing counsel and it is one of those powerful kind of ideas that the Lord teaches us how we can have peace not from external worry but from internal turmoil how to overcome the temptations that oftentimes originate in your thoughts and how to overcome anxiety or anger or bitterness or depression or a hundred things that starts between your ears and then somehow works its way into your life The Melancholy that so often possesses those who don't know the Lord but you know him and if you will grab hold of these truths and if you will apply yourself to them I think that you will see the way that your life changes exponentially ultimately as a believer and these are written to Christians this isn't psychology this is biblical counsel from our God to his people right thinking though will we will learn produces right living and we have to somehow work at thinking correctly thinking in a lot of people's lives is a lost art many people don't do it very well I don't know if you saw the Jimmy Kimmel little on the street interview yesterday or he stopped people and asked them what they thought about FDR dying and people went oh yeah sad I liked him so much and really FDR you got to be kidding me people are we're not thinking people don't think they just kind of react it's it's it's easy to stop and not think at all anymore and yet God would have us to think he wants us to have our mind renewed we have to do right thinking in this revolutionary so here's what Paul says in verse eight and like the rest of these little directions in these short sentences there are written in the imperative sense in the sense that it's an order it's a command it's a demand it's not a suggestion as to I'll take it or leave it these are written in military terms he says finally brethren whatever things are true and whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely and whatever things are of good report if there is any virtue if there is anything praiseworthy then meditate on these things and the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the God of peace will be with you now Paul says in verse eight finally and this time he means it I mentioned to you at chapter 3 I think verse 1 that Paul says finally as a way to change topics he's not near done but in fact he wasn't even halfway done there but this time he means that he's getting to the last end of the letter and here's the gist of it in verse 2 meditate on things that have value do the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen and if you will do those two things fill your mind with the things that are uplifting and god-honoring and we'll look at those words in a minute and if you will put your mind to doing what you've learned then God's peace can rule your heart and the worry and the anxiety that the world suffers from you don't need to because you are thinking through and living out the promises of God in your life I listen to a guy a couple of months ago tell a story of walking through Central Park with with a friend of his who was a nature lover and he said to his friend as they were walking did you hear that cricket and I said cricket this is New York City I can barely hear myself think he said no no he's here somewhere and he bent over and he turned over a rock and here came a cricket like I said you heard that he's know yes I love nature I'm always listening for it like I said you're weird man but I thought about that you know moms can hear little babies cry and there'd be a part of your house it'll be a whimper you'll never hear it shears it doesn't she she's tuned in isn't she a mom will hear it through a loud bunch of noise and I guess my first question here tonight would be what are you listening for we all listen pretty selectively I I've gotten caught by my wife before when she's telling me a story I'm not particularly interested in and then she uh-huh mm-hmm I don't know where I'm at but I'm not there and then she'll say so what do you think and I'll try to get her out of it well yeah I agree that's totally exactly what you just said that's exactly right and so she'll say so you are an idiot because I was just telling you what an idiot you oh so what things do you zero in on what makes you pay attention and then what do you kind of just let slip by because in reality the things that you are preoccupied with will shape who you are will govern not only what you say but what you will do and throughout the scripture God puts this clear understanding between knowing and doing right it's what you know what you think that then governs what you do for example in Romans Paul spends eleven chapters giving us very heavy duty theological kind of insights what God has done for us what we can depend on how we can know that we were walking with him how he can know the difference and he lays all of these wonderful things out and then you get to chapter 12 and then he says therefore I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God present your bodies a living sacrifice therefore all that you know now act upon same thing in the book of Ephesians three chapters of wonderful God has done all of these things for you chapter four verse 1 therefore walk worthy of the calling with which you've been called and it is really Paul's formula throughout all of the books that he writes it almost always follows how many times did Jesus speak to his own about humility getting along with each other serving one another putting one another first well he heard it but you know they didn't practice it if you go back in the Gospels even at the Last Supper in the upper room there's still a lot of arguments back and forth at the table who the greatest was and Peter kind of epitomized the whole thing when the Lord said you're all gonna forsake me Peter went yeah but these dudes will but I will never forsake you I'll go to prison I'll die for you and Jesus yeah that's not gonna last till the morning you're not gonna make it through the night man with that kind of an attitude so their favorite point of contention and and in the midst of all of that teaching Jesus in John 13 then gets up and takes his garments and he parts them and he washes their feet right and he says now do you know what I've done for you you call me teacher and Lord and and you're right I am but if I'm your teacher and I'm your Lord and I've washed your feet you want to wash one another's feet I've given you an example that you should do as I've done to you I say to you a servants not greater than his master nor he who has sent greater than he was sent away if you know these things if you know them happy are you if you do them and you will find that connection constantly and Paul does the same thing here he says fill your mind with the things of God and then go out and do what you know to do those two issues guarding your thoughts and then seeking to meditate on them and then pushing yourself to behave accordingly so verse eight first part right thinking and he ends with the words meditate on these things there's there's lots of Greek words for thinking this word is the Greek word lookism I and it means logic it's where we get our word logic from us where it originates so Paul's counsel to the Saints at Philippi is think logically or if you will reason over reckon account Mull it over understand it fully for in so doing in understanding properly the thoughts that you are carrying with you they will be brought forward into the principles of your life fill your life your heart your mind with truth and then watch it come out and then God's peace runs your life but right thinking is a pretty big issue you know what when we read in proverbs 23 verse 7 as a man so as a man thinks comma so he is there's a lot of truth to that isn't there because folks who live in fear and don't come out of the house and hide behind the shadows and are terrified everything their thoughts control their behavior same thing with us only God has great news for us so we can be free indeed in all that we are given now the very word logic speaks of entertaining for you and eyes Christians facts not suppositions entertain truth not theories think about how often you don't reinforce the truth of God's Word in your own life but would rather spend a lot of times high pasta laia postulating hypothesizing what might be or might not be true we love living on the edges you know well what if so you know Mars really did have lied on the old that doesn't require any responsibility all we can just know who knows but then you get to the truth of God about forgiveness and mercy and grace in the future and the president God's promises those are true you should be knowing and living and filling your mind and heart and it requires your participation look there is a tremendous battle for your mind today and if you don't decide what's going to fill it there's lots of people out there that would love to fill it for you and have you adopt their ideas and think their thoughts and and tell you what to believe advertisers make great livings figuring out how to slip it into your conscience songwriters Hollywood moguls they'd all like to tell you exactly how to think false teachers agenda-driven fringe groups religious fanatics doomsday prophets political lobbyists special interest group everybody's out to get you to think like they do they're after your mind they vie for your thoughts and your agendas and for your plans and advertisers are very good at using very highly skilled ways to get into your mind an image an idea a music something to catch your interest that you can't shake all designed to bring you around Christians you and I as believers in Jesus need to be the greatest thinkers of our time but we need to be filled with the truth we need to contemplate and and think through and get every brain cell utilized to think about the things of God there are funny plenty of folks they even Christians who think that thinking is really overrated we should just experience and feel things but that's not what the Bible teaches learning and studying is still the key to spiritual growth and commitment so jesus said to the to the fellow who came to him you know what are the commandments of God and Jesus said you should love the Lord with your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind in other words get plugged in and then with all your strength this is the first commandment this is what God's primary desire for you is you don't have to check your brain at the door to have faith and walk with God critical thinking proper analysis thoughts that bless should be occupying your life but so often those truths are crowded out by the life around us by worry by anxiety by theory by posture wising by other people's opinions we read something we hear something we watch the could you hear the latest have you heard this way have you seen the book have you read that oh my gosh you come in a church all wide I don't know I've lost my peace turn off the stupid TV read your bio start over how much sin and suffering do you think follows incorrect thinking while the incorrect thinker declares I believe in God and yet Hosea wrote in chapter 4 my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge in fact they've rejected knowledge and they forgotten my law so I forget them I can't begin to tell you of the people that we counsel with each week that are encountering and the big problem is they absolutely believe the wrong thing what they come in with is not biblical it's not sure there's no foundation for there's no Bible verse to support but this is what we believe this is what we do this is the way everyone thinks well that might be great but there's no life in wrong thinking and so they come in filled with with fear and untruth they build a case and their thoughts that overthrow their joy and then they come in so how come I'm feeling so down well because you're not listening to what God has said finally brethren meditate on these things what things things that are true and just and holy and lovely and pure have a good report and there's praise worthiness and then a life that follows those things you know if you go through history every revival in history has always had as its first characteristic a return to systematic theology and expositional teaching in other words every theology every revival begins with people going back to think through the truths of God and as it gripped the hearts of the people lives were changed Nehemiah chapter 8 they gave understanding to the reading and people went home with joy praising the Lord different than they'd been for generations because God's Word had been found and they had partaken of it and had begun to change their life you know we have today our internet which shortens your mindset your attention span doesn't need to be very long now because you click click click click here their hair layer and you're at 300 sites before the hours up and you don't remember anything but no that's not me and then you go to bed DDP and you can't sleep and you don't know why I got no peace I don't know what's going on it used to be you have to stop and read a book and then you have to remember what you're at spend time now we don't do that anyway we just look up the I just need the main thing we don't need the whole thing just need the main thing and it leaves me not thinking at all so when Paul says to the Romans renewing your mind proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God there's a necessity to that we need to as believers commit ourselves to say often during the day what are you thinking about now and does it fall into verse 8 is is this what God wants me to have a mind that is filled because renewing my mind is part of the sanctification progress right right thinking is preeminent so look look at verse 8 if you read the opposite of this list it tells you what not to think about don't think about things that are untrue or ignoble or or dishonorable if you will or unjust or impure or unlovely or have a bad reporter there's no virtue in whatsoever and no praise worthiness so how did you do we have lots of negative wrong wicked unbiblical ungodly thoughts in our lives don't we and you can let that go till it becomes the dominant part of your life or you can take a stand and say I've got to do something about how I begin to think each day how do I win this battle and Paul said to the Corinthians look if we walk in the flesh then we would war according to the flesh but we don't and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds into the casting down of arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ so that's a long sentence in fact there's three verses 2nd Corinthians 10 3 4 and 5 but it literally says God help us to begin to fill our minds with biblical thoughts how much pure would you feel how much cleaner which would I be how much more joy would you find if you're if instead of worrying about what people are not doing well people are not saying the things that bother you you just filled your heart with the truths of God so well then you're living in a you're burying your head in the sand well and that's where I want to be then I want to bury my head in the sand I want to bury my head in God's Word I want to bury my thoughts and the things that God has promised ultimately that's what the Lord wants me to do and with his help and by his Spirit all of those thoughts that course through my mind you know I can begin to willfully and purposely begin to look at and seek to draw closer to the Lord Paul when he wrote to the Romans in Chapter 8 said in verse 5 those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh if your passion is worldliness your mind is worthy if your passion is biblical and spiritual and God driven and God directed then your passion is the Lord what a difference it makes you can see it in a person's life can't you to be carnally minded Paul said is what death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind Paul said he's an enemy of God it's not subject to the law of God it can't be so the one who lives in the flesh is constantly worried about fleshly things but the reverse is also true and think about how much influence the media has upon your opinions how often you quote the last guy you read the last guy you heard the thing that you've read on the bail the the thing that's being passed around on the Facebook goal have you seen that did you take a look at that alone earlier the world's coming to an end man I'm telling you we're just about added comedy shows you watch on TV with less than honorable premises movies that they do they only use the f-word 14 times I can handle that fill my mind with stuff and then wonder why there's no peace where there's no joy how come I've got no rest how am I worried about it and I was so upset well here's the solution meditate on these things there's lots of kids growing up today whose outlooks are not being formed by parents sharing God's Word but by whatever they're being plugged into the ideas and the concepts that are being pushed to them on the television people oh ah doesn't affect me I don't care all it affects you plenty because you can't erase stuff you see and say and get involved with now I want you look at something the word whatever here in verse eight it doesn't mean throw caution to the wind and opened the word the door of your mind to anything you deem good in fact Paul defines the whatever in verse nine by saying these things or the things what should i meditate on whatever our pure and the things which you've learned and received and heard and you see do those so the attachment is whatever Paul has been teaching and modeling and and it there's a reference certainly here to the scriptures to God's Word you know whatever things God has taught you and showed you and and you know from him let those things fill your thought life what it would it Psalm 19 David said the law of the Lord is perfect it it converts the Sola and the testimony of the Lord is sure it makes wise the simple in the statutes of the Lord they're right and they'll rejoice your heart the commandments of the Lord are pure they will enlighten your eyes the fear of the Lord is clean it will endure forever and the judgments of the Lord are true and they're righteous all together it almost sounds just like these words doesn't it there's a real attached here they sound extremely familiar so look here's the deal if you want peace as a believer you you have to at some point make a conscious decision to fill your minds with the good and glorious things that God would approve it that he has taught you and start thinking right thoughts and stop yourself when you're thinking wrong thoughts Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3 you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon thee because he trusts in thee all right that's the that's the solution for a lot of our problems because wrong thinking and invariably goes to wrong behaving do you know we can consciously only think of one thing at a time consciously so I'm crazy to think about it but but but having your attention learning to deal with one thing at a time so if your thing of the things of the Lord that other stuff can't really get in there it's our choice to make we're not victims here I guess that's what I want to say you're not a victim you're making a choice you choose what to think about so oh no just come rushing it well then rush it right back out stop tell yourself I was dealing with the fellow that had lots of mental kind of problems over the years and he said I'm always thinking about you know taking my own life now so we'll stop doing that well I can't I said sure you can you can't take your own life the Bible says you can't do that well if I still think about well then tell yourself you can't do it and if you need to tell yourself a thousand times a day tomorrow I'll be nine hundred nine now you're gonna get this think the things that God says in peace follows it's just the way it works it's just something we have to do so look all of these attributes here are are one in the same and in the sense that they point to the Lord into his word and away from the world and the flesh and the modern thought that governs lives of the unbeliever the unbelieving the worldview if you will God's Word doesn't change God's Word doesn't fail his ways are Light and Life so whatever things are true as opposed to false fill your mind with the truth of God people go I don't know if God loves me well then believe a lie I don't know if God will forgive me so I well how do you know because the Bible says so well I don't feel I don't care how you feel believe the truth or live a lie you got to choose is God telling the truth and think about that oh I don't know if God for you oh no he'll forgive you I don't know if he loves me oh he loves you none of us love you but he loves you most of us can't stand you but the Lord loves you fill your mind with the truth of God III tell people and that we had a fella that wanted to go out and minister the Jehovah Witness he says you know I just feel a real passion to go out that's where I grew up and I want to go back and I'm studying all their books I said stop don't read those books well I need to know what they didn't know you don't you need to know what God says the lights on the darkness pretty obvious oh you know Jesus no that's not what the Bible says well you know that you're no it's not what the Bible says if your heart is filled with truth then you have peace Jesus is the way the truth the life he prayed for us there in John 17 sanctify them father in your truth Your Word is truth look God's not gonna lie to you you can count on everything that's written in this book he will bring it back to to your memory he will he will do what he says and you should let those thoughts fill your mind and when they're contrary then you I would be able to save yourself you know that's a dumb thing I'm thinking that really isn't Bible truth at all I want to set that aside and replace them with the truth confront false thinking with the truth whatever is truth think on those things here's a great way to grow up biblically spiritually but so often we just we don't take any charge of our thoughts at all we do we don't stop five minutes to consider it says whatever things are noble the word is SEM nos it means worthy of respect or honorable look it's a long way from the spill your guts tell all talk shows like they do today to celebrate man being here as crude us in his coarsest just deal with things that are worthy respect look you open your Bible respect what God said take it seriously approach it nobly some people own Bibles but it pay little attention to them they're great decorations on coffee tables they have flowers pressed inside the name of the families are all written in the front cover yet look this is worthy for respect isn't it God's Word changes lives it doesn't return to me void it accomplishes all that I send it to do it sets men free from sin it brings a saving knowledge of Jesus think on those things but it's Satan here from Jesus there in Matthew for man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God this is pretty worthy stuff isn't it worthy of your respect so let your thoughts be filled with honorable thoughts when God speaks listen think on the things that are just the word for just as the is the typical Bible word for righteous and the typical word for righteous is the word that literally means things God accepts or things that are right with God not just righteous in your eyes right in his look you can spend your entire life talking about what is not right in your Auto those guys aren't very nice and the situation isn't very good oh the family not doing very well and the economy boy it's all going to Hades you know and I don't know or you can fill your mind with righteous things I think about Paul he's been in jail for at least three years now too before he came here and now at least one other maybe as many as four years for doing nothing you would think that the guy would have some unrighteous thoughts it's no no no I'm not entertaining any of that stuff I'm just thinking about what God is up to he didn't have a chip on his shoulder you know God sent before him a path he lived to please the Lord your word is a lamp unto my feet a light to my path and Paul was fine with that in the midst of where he was fill your mind with just thoughts the kind God approves of or in other words just think about this whatever you're thinking God sees what do you approve of what you're thinking right now or not pretty much hidden from view but it is beneficial to you and you'll find like in Matthew it's in Chapter nine early on where the Lord a couple of times on the Gospels answers people's thoughts and you'll read words like annoying their thoughts he said he knew their thoughts well he knows yours whatever things were true and honorable worthy of respect just whatever things are pure it's the word for morally pure here the Bible is very interested with moral issues or holiness issues denying the flesh there are there are very few things more detrimental you to your health and unclean thoughts if you look at what is pornography has done to our culture and to our kids into people's lives into their health so linked things that are pure morally so I think sometimes people don't read the Bible because it's it challenges them they say well it's full of contradictions translation it contradicts what they want to do well it's full of contradiction I won't do it but we can so be careful when you're tempted to be morally impure it said well nobody sees nobody knows yeah and it's gonna hurt your life spiritually and it certainly hurts the heart of God then we read the things that are lovely by the way it's the word for gracious it's it's a character word that speaks of God's kindness think on things that please the Lord of good report is is a word that means worth talking about does it help to talk about it does it build up to mention that is it is it good for us will it bless others and then the catch-all if there's any virtue if there is any praise if there's anything that motivates you closer to the Lord fill your mind with that look here's the secret you have to actively assert your determination to pay attention to begin to think right and I think if you'll do that even for a day do it tomorrow and to say okay that's not biblical because there is patterns of thinking that we fall into that become very difficult to overcome you ever listen to am the radio going to work in the morning or something and it's not really the song you really wanted to sing all day but you're singing it all day I came into work last Wednesday and I was singing it's another tequila sunrise pretty fun song but I'm walking down the hallway there's people sitting in for counseling in the Pasig on it's another tequila it's amazing how stupid stuff can get in your head it's hard to get rid of it isn't it but it's the same thing with worship worship is designed to put your mind and your thoughts upon the lord and and so often at the end of a service on Sundays or during the week you'll go home singing a song that that you got in church right and the Lord filled your heart a man for hours you're right on track you're thinking about Jesus again not the Keela sunrise Vista you could almost call verse eight the the principle of displacement Paul doesn't say stop thinking bad thoughts he actually says intentionally replaced them with God's truth doesn't mean you can't read the newspaper or watch TV or watch the news but look you can't allow your life to be regulated by those when the guy on the on the you know news says oh you know this year the economy is gonna get worse you can't go oh it's gonna get worse he says though I'm going right back to my god shall supply all of my needs I'm going to sleep do I wish things were better sure do I pray that things will get better I of course but your your thoughts have to be regulated by what God has said not by Wolf Blitzer or Fox News or the latest guy in the latest light you know God's Word will still be true tomorrow these guys come and go so right thinking and then notice in verse 9 right living is the payoff for right thinking Paul practices what he preaches he calls on the church at Philip I to follow his example so he says this and look at the little phrases here what you've learned and received what you've heard and seen in me do and then he follows with the promise then God's peace will be with you now I want you to look at those two words learned and received because they're not the same thing right in school and I remember being in college and taking exams I always did pretty good on tests but I realized after I was out of college that a lot of the things I learned I only learned to spit back on a test they never became a part of my life I really didn't care about them and by the time I was in the next class I'd totally forgotten what I'd learned I got an A got an A in the class should have got a fail but how do they figure that out so I've learned them but I never received them though for a time I had them with me to give the right answer look to receive as far deeper it means to to weave into the fabric of your life it becomes a part of you it determines your behavior and defines Who I am I grew up in the Catholic Church so and I went to parochial school for 12 years I learned about God and Jesus and I think the Catholic Church has the right Jesus born of a virgin died for our sins rose from the dead they just bury him under a lot of Church kind of dogma so I'd heard about the cross and Jesus for years but it wasn't till I was 18 that I received what I had learned and it mattered to me it began to make a difference in my life before was just lots of information but but but there was no other changes and and I find that to be so in church even tonight some of you will learn and some of you will receive some of you will take notes fill your mind with thoughts others with you will receive from the Lord and be changed by it Paul's challenges learn it but then receive it you know think it through listen to it carefully but then allow it to take over your life and begin to guide your steps you don't want to just learn you want to receive so whenever we hear the truth of God we have to determine to follow up on it to receive it in our minds I I think I've told you before that there have been folks over the years that on a Sunday will say oh pastor by the way I meant to tell you last week sunday was just awesome for me and I'm thinking well good God's work so I say this what did you learn and then they'll go it was awesome what was awesome I'll get back to you somehow they learned whatever it is they got it for a little while it made them feel differently but that didn't change their life at all and Paul says to us right thinking will then produce right living because I will learn and receive what God has given to me and then my life will change because of it so just learn and not receive astiz to grow cold really and eventually you'll be really good at just sitting here and going I am getting nothing out of anything I'm just hearing I Gaga I I feel the same when I come in I feel the same when I go out because now you've not gotten to a place where you you can receive you've gotten calloused James said be a doer of the word not of here only because you deceive yourself if anyone has a hear of the word not a doer he's like a man looking in his natural face in the mirror he looked at himself and he goes away he forgets what he sees nothing like a mirror in your house looking at it stuff on your face you don't care you leave that's that's that's hearing learning and not receiving the information doesn't change I heard a serious story years ago I really liked about William Penn who founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania he had a good report at least in his day with the Native American Indians and because of his relationship with him they wanted to give him something and they so they said then we will give you every foot of land that you can walk around in a day well he took the mat his at their word and and he got up early and he set out and man did he walk and he walked all day and he marked it on a map and he brought it to him and they were amazed that he had walked so far and gained so much but they honored their promise and they gave him the land that today makes up a significant part of the city of Philadelphia so he believed their promise and he walked it out and I think that's what we need to do we need to learn but then we need to walk it out we need to put it to the test right here's the word of God it is true God will honor it I've learned it now I have to receive and the payoff for right thinking is right living but we can choose to act paul said you've heard it from me and you've seen it in me because example fortifies good teaching doesn't it well you remember that little little phrase of the little poem you're writing a gospel a chapter each day by the things that you do and the words that you say people hear what you say and they see what you do so tell me what is the Gospel according to you well that's it really what it amounts to doesn't it we walk it out let me give you three things to think about that you might want to apply to yourself this week to begin to think more wholesome thoughts start off each day with a Bible verse and go to bed every night with one as well there's something healthy about getting God's Word in it and whether it's a chapter that you read or a verse that you grab you know take the principles spend five minutes before you get out of bed to ask on the Lord to speak to you do it every night before you go to bed let the last thing on your mind be gods were not Jimmy Fallon beginning today with the truth of God and then meditate on it Mull it over in your mind like we read in verse a think it through wait for God to speak to you I said to somebody a while back who was really I really want to spend some time thinking on the Lord's word but I don't know how to do it so I said this to him take John 6 3:16 and every day emphasize another word started with the first one for God the next day loved the next day of the world and think through how that really applies a new truths begin to emerge put yourself in the story place your name in there meditate use your mind you know cows regurgitate food only we eat swallow and move on cows are pretty cool you know they eat they chew they swallow they throw it back up oh and get some more nutrients swallow your it comes again pretty gross it's a great picture though you got to chew on it don't ya instead of saying I know that I've heard that let's move on that's not meditating beginning then each day with God's Word meditate learn to pick a verse and spend your day with it put it down on a piece of paper look at it a couple of times let your mind wander with it if you want a daydream use that then I would say to you carry a Bible with you take your Bible wherever you go not the big 40-pounder like this one we're all poor do I put this in my keys I don't know take a little switchblade version get the little New Testament thing one that you can still see with your eyeballs you know take pocket verses and then what does Paul says the God of peace will be with you isn't that worth the effort right brethren whatever things are true and Noble and pure and lovely and of good report have any virtue anything worthy of praise think about think through meditate upon these things don't just learn things receive them don't just hear things but do them and God's peace will be with you man there's such a big disconnect between what we think and then so often what we hear about what we don't do look if the God of peace will rule we're heart you never need to worry he's not worried you'll never wake up going Lord you worry - I'm a little concerned I had a little bad time asleep in the night no he's he's the Lord right he's the God of peace next week we'll try to finish up what Paul has to say father tonight as we sit together it is with great care that we want to Lord give you the mind that we have that you've given us and the ability that we have to concentrate on certain things and it's switch subjects in our mind and to to grab hold of and cling to the things that you've taught us and Lord we know that we live in a country even as bad as it has gone in many ways that still allows us to freely come here every week and worship and no one's standing at the door ready to haul us off or take us to prison because we've given Jesus our life so Lord we have great freedom tonight to fill our minds and our thoughts with you and yet so often Lord what grips our hearts even though we're in church a few times a week is is the world and it's bad news and it's a good vice and we fall into what they say we need to be happy in what they say we need to do - to get ahead and what they say and we spend very little time thinking about what you tell us as our father our Heavenly Father who loves us so that he sent his most precious son so that he could redeem us to himself and Lord if we if you would help us Lord this week - to meditate on those things to allow your word in to be Lord that that thought that just drives our day that we are drawn back to - to warn us when we're off on some weird tangent thinking things that aren't true and then somehow reinforcing them and then finding ourselves far removed from what you have for us look there is great peace to be found in guarding your heart and guarding your mind and filling it with the things of God it'll take some time it'll take some doing God will do it with you and he'll certainly strengthen you by it but between right-thinking and then follows right living there'll be lots of peace if to know if didn't tonight you don't know Jesus then well there's no peace at all you can't mind-over-matter this you know the world that was no answer sin destroys blindness comes to our lives we can't see clearly because of sin we need Jesus he's the only name whereby we can be saved the only name given among men that can save us Isaiah says that it pleased the father to bruise him so that by the knowledge of him many would be made righteous so look if you don't know Jesus tonight our pastor some of them will be upfront after the service come and and say then look I don't know the Lord I want to but I don't know his love I don't know what he did to save me I don't know of his sacrifice er of the cross she'sa said if you'll come to him he won't turn you away who won't cast you out you call upon his name you can be saved save from what sin and death judgment and all of those wicked things that send us to our life but look if you know the Lord tonight you have a great opportunity to live the truth not just talk about it to believe it not just proclaim it because if you believe it you'll live it but if you just say it then it's never been received but God's Word in follow it with your heart may your mind just be renewed you can prove God's will you can know his ways that's what he would like to do in your heart tonight set you free from the worry and the fear caused in the world by the just incorrect believing and the pride and the selfishness that comes with the flesh we should be free from that he would like to set us free from that shall we stand

Channel: morningstarcc

Views: 15,437

Rating: 4.8333335 out of 5

Keywords: jack abeelen, Calvary Chapel (Organization), growingthrugrace.com, morningstar christian chapel, Epistle To The Philippians (Religious Text)

Id: Jm3iZJlXfF4

Length: 47min 19sec (2839 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 18 2014