The Importance of Renewing the Mind - Wednesday Service

well welcome to wednesday night bible study let's get right into it father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you lord that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force and father i pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me and all of you it's in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen praise the lord i was um going to start the series on the book of galatians tonight but i i believe the spirit of god spoke to me to to teach on the importance of renewing the mind that goes in and really uh uh plays a big role in what we're talking about on sunday so i think this is gonna help you out get your pads your pins your bibles let's go at it i'm gonna put a lot of information out there in the time that we have together amen romans chapter 12 and verse two beginning at uh let's look at verse one uh and two in fact let's look at one two and three in the king james and then look at it in the amplified bible so we're going to talk about the importance of renewing the mind and i want to start here at this verse of scripture here verse 1 says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service and verse 2 says and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind notice the transformation comes by the renewing of the mind that you may be uh that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and that perfect will of god and then verse 3 says for i say through the grace of god given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as god has dealt to every man the measure of faith the importance of renewing the mind i i would go so far to say that it's vital that your success or failure in life is going to be based on how you do where renewing the mind is concerned now let's uh let's uh slow up a little bit and let's look at these same verses in the amplified bible and i want to bring some points out here because this is so important the most important thing you can do as a human being is to get born again but the most important thing you can do as a christian is to renew your mind if you're wondering why is it that christian people who struggled before they got saved and then after they got saved they still struggled in some of the same areas it's because there was never the transformation because there was not the renewing of the mind look what he says in verse 1 in the amplified he says i appeal to you therefore brethren and beg of you in view of all the mercies of god to make a decisive dedication of your body so verse 1 is all about dedicating yourself to god dedicating yourself to the service and worship of god he said presenting all your members and faculties as a living sacrifice and that just means all of you i mean your body showing up in times of worship you know people say well you know i wasn't there with you in in in the flesh but i was there with you in spirit now god wants your body there you know what you're just talking about you know you were there in spirit he wants your body there he's asking for a dedication in light of the mercies of god in light of the grace of god in light of everything that paul had just finished preaching about the wonderful favor of god he's asking for now dedication and he says presenting all your members and faculties as a living sacrifice holy all right you're separating yourself now away from the things of the world you're you're going to stand opposite to what they're going through when they're sick you're healed when they're complaining you're rejoicing he wants you to be that he wants you to be devoted consecrated and well pleasing to god which is your reasonable rational watch this intelligence service and spiritual worship so he's asking for dedication in spiritual worship and look at verse two he says do not be conformed to this world don't be conformed to this age don't be fashioned after and adapt it to its external superficial customs now you've got to ask yourself that question am i conformed to the world have i become conformed to the world have i become a part of those superficial customs or ways of doing things in the world but he says instead of being conformed to the world's way of doing things instead of being conformed to the world's way of thinking he says i want you to be transformed and he hasn't parentheses changed i want you to be transformed or i want you to be changed well how am i going to be transformed in change i mean i'm sure lots of people want to know listen you know you you were hooked on this and and now you're born again and you're still kind of hooked on it or you used to do this it wasn't that bad but you're you're still kind of doing it and you're like i'm interested in the change i want to i want to be i want to change i want to be transformed i mean how many times you've heard people say i want to change or they say well i'm just trying to change well the bible tells us exactly what has to take place in order for this transformation this change to happen in your life and he says but be transformed be changed how by the entire renewal of your mind by its new ideas and its new attitudes so notice he says if you if you want change you're going to have to first of all change in your mind you're going to have to change your way of thinking transformation and change won't take place until you are willing to renew your mind with the word of god renew your mind with god's way of thinking with god's attitude with with the word of god's attitude he says like if you become a christian but you fail to renew your mind he says don't expect for transformation to take place you become a christian but you fail to renew your mind how can you ever expect to change and there are lots of christians who they do just that what and that's such deception you think you're going to change without spending any time with the word of god without changing the way you think change your thinking change your life and he says so that you may be so you can prove so when you when you when you renew your mind you will now be able to have proof for yourself of that good and that acceptable and the perfect will of god and i know people who want the perfect will of god for their lives and it's very difficult to see that happen without the renewing of your mind but it says when you renew your mind you're going to see that good and perfect and acceptable will of god even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you i don't know about you ladies and gentlemen but to understand the will of god for your life and to understand the assignment for your life and understand the mission for your life and and to miss that mark over and over and over again nobody wants to die and stand before god and hear him say my good and faithless servant uh job incomplete and all because you know we're sitting there well come on god tell me come on god tell me you you're rubbing a lamp like a genie come on jesus and what he says is if that transformation into the perfect will of god is going to take place it's going to require the renewing of your mind and you will change by renewing your mind so what are some things you need you desire to have change in your life is it your attitude uh are there some things that you carried over from the world and it's still there what are some things that you want changed in your life well it won't happen without the renewing of the mind and notice what he says in verse 3 he says for by the grace this unmerited favor of god given to me paul says he says i want everyone among you not to estimate and to think of himself more highly than he ought not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance that's pride he says but to to rate his ability with sober judgment each according to the degree of faith a portion by god to him to him so you understand if there's this principle again that's going to be very difficult for the grace of god to have anything to do in the life of a person who has a a a high uh or exaggeration of his own self-importance because it'll be by the grace of god but we cooperate with him by renewing our mind in that word and we cooperate with with the spirit of god so most people they become christians and they still remain conformed to the world and all of the world's failure and all of the problems until they renew their mind that's something i want you to you hear i i hope it's something that's a light bulb's coming on like oh wow so no wonder i'm still the same most people become christians and still remain conformed to the world and all of its failure and problems until until they renew their mind here's my question tonight are you still renewing your mind renewing the mind is not a a one-time event and i'm going to say that over and over again it's a lifetime process so it's not well i've renewed my mind if you if you can say i've renewed my mind you're in trouble because it's it's got to be a continuous renewing of the mind to keep you uh from being conformed to the ways of the world now you may be born again on your way to heaven but at the present time you're living in hell on the earth why because you're still conformed to this world you're still fashioned and molded and controlled by the ways of this world and if you're still depressed and if you're still afraid of life circumstances and you're still treating your spouse badly and you're still struggling in poverty you're still having to see uh uh you you're still having to uh to to to to adjust certain things that you used to do when you were not saved you're still having sex with someone who is not your your your your spouse or somebody you're married to you're still caught up in pornography you're still mad at the world and then though you may be born again you're still conformed to the world and that's why all that happens if you're still doing something that you thought that getting born again would stop i'm telling you that's not how it happens you can get born again and don't renew your mind and you'll still be caught up in the conformity conforming to the ways of the world and that's what that's all about that's why people keep doing that because they have not understood the importance of the word of god and renewing their mind with god's word we keep doing our best to try to throw the bible away and say it's just no good and i'm telling you it is the very uh essence that god has provided to us as christians for change and transformation in our lives so some believe that if christians were to ever sin in some of the ways i just called out that they couldn't be born again well you know that's that old tradition that just really doesn't understand the word of god but let's look at what john said in first john chapter 2 verse 1 and two and so you know your concern may be oh my goodness i find out that i'm doing all those things but you know god god god still got you back in a lot of areas look at what he says in verse one he says my little children these uh things right eye unto you that that you sin not that that's god's best that you sin not and if any man sin he says listen we have an advocate with the father verse jesus christ the righteous that's our advocate verse two and he is the propitiation for our sins he is the peace offering for our sins literally he is the ransom that has been paid already for our sins and for all of the consequences of both sins that's powerful jesus is the ransom he is the peace offering uh he is the sin offering for all of your sins i mean to me that's just enough to want to be dedicated to to this to be dedicated to spiritual worship because he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world do you get that do you get that jesus did not come to just take care of our sins only but while he was at it he took care of the sins of the whole world so people who are not even born again and they don't even know that their sins have been paid for i tell you what a tormenting thing to die and go to hell when all you have to do is accept what jesus has done for you he's paid for your sins he but you know you have to accept it you got to sign for the package you got to receive what jesus has already done you see how important it is to renew your mind in that area and and because you don't renew your mind in that area and you don't know this or may not understand it then you you're going to be condemned shamed and continued to be beat up in guilt and condemnation because you don't and have not renewed your mind to what jesus has done where your sins are concerned and so you'll continue to conform to the world and not renew your mind and so it's one thing to be forgiven uh to be forgiven another another to overcome those failures you can it's one thing you can be you know it's one thing for you to be forgiven it's another thing for you to overcome those failures so i'm grateful that i am forgiven i'm grateful that jesus has uh paid the ransom for sin in in my life and the consequences of those sins but it's another thing to be delivered from those failures wow i i believe god wants us to overcome those failures i i don't think it's enough for us to go around oh praise god i'm forgiven or even go around say oh god loves me i mean yeah god loves you yeah god loves you and yes you're forgiven but god wants you to be delivered think of that now oh god loves you oh god forgives you but then he just leaves you in failure no no he's got something to get you out of those failures and it's all going to be based in your decision to renew your mind so how how do i overcome these failures listen to me carefully by renewing your mind renewing your mind is exchanging your thoughts with god's thoughts your ideas with god's ideas and and and and your ways of doing things with god's ways of doing things it's wow it's it's the most important thing a christian can do and yet i can't understand how is it that people who call themselves christians and they wear christian t-shirts and they don't even they don't know anything that's in the bible and somebody says well that's not important god loves me yeah but you're not going to overcome your failures until you renew your mind until you exchange your those thoughts and those opinions that you have and you line your thinking you line your thinking up you know with the word you don't you listen you allow the word to change the way you think you don't try to change the word and there are lots of people in our world today they're doing everything to change the word instead of allowing the word to change the way they think you know they celebrate sin god's forgiven them of it but they celebrate sin they celebrate perversion when god says you can be delivered from all of that but you're so busy celebrating your liberty in it you don't understand when jesus set us free he didn't set us free to do wrong he set us free to do right you know and grace is not a license for us to do wrong grace is the answer for sin it's not the excuse for sin it's the answer for sin let me show you something in jeremiah chapter 4 14. i want to read it out of the king james and then the amplified jeremiah 4 14 this was prophetically written in jeremiah but even then i mean the human system if you're going to get born again is still subject to dealing with those thoughts look what he said he said o jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain fault lodge within thee wow how long will those vain thoughts lodge within thee and then look at the amplified here and i'll make my point he says oh jerusalem wash your heart from wickedness that you may be saved how long shall your your your in iniquitous and grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you you know what he's saying there's no change until you begin to change the way you think there's no change until you begin to change those those those thoughts that are that are in your mind look at james chapter 1 verse 13 through 15 because i know i'm challenging people but listen it this is this is all bible this is all scripture you know there are always going to be somebody to say well i don't agree with that well just because you don't agree with the bible you're still trying to find a way to justify you know what you're doing and how you're living then you're still trying to change the word instead of allowing the word to change you james 1 13-15 i want to look at that in the king james and then the nlt verse 13-15 he says let no man say when he is tempted or tested or tried that i'm tempted of god for god cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and enticed then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and then sin when it is finished bringeth forth of death now this is so important for you to understand these are the things that are available for folks who just won't renew their minds i mean this bible is the most important book that a christian can have and when it is rightly discerned and rightly divided it will change your life look at this in the nlt uh verse 13 he says and remember when you are being tempted do not say god is tempting me think about that don't say when you're being tempted with especially with evil don't say that's god god's not the one tempting you he said god he says uh don't say that you're being tempted do not say god is tempting me god is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else to do wrong god's not tempting somebody to do wrong look at the next verse 14 temptation comes from our own desires temptation comes from those those desires that have not been dealt with those desires that derive from a unrenewed mind he says that pressure that that temptation those tests those trials they keep showing up because you won't allow the transformation to take place by renewing your mind temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and then they drag us away and verse 15 says these desires give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death well god wants all of that to be dealt with by renewing the mind but god can't come and renew your mind for you you've got to be willing to cooperate with god you know the holy spirit the bible says works on the inside of us and he changes our desires to to do what pleases god and gives us the power to be able to do that and i think the idea is is that you know as christians we just chill out and just don't do anything but that's why i talked about dedication first can you dedicate yourself to this i mean something happens when you renew your mind with the word now i understand what what it feels like when you're you're you're trying to renew your mind with the word but you're you're not getting the right teaching and then the teaching becomes condemning and and it becomes it's shaming you and all that well that's that's not it's not being rightly divided but when you get an understanding of how to rightly divide the word and you start letting it renew your mind it brings freedom and all you want to do is do what's right you're not you're going to be more into doing what pleases god and less into doing what pleases you when you begin to really understand the gospel and so when our minds are renewed by the word of god and i say the word of god i've got to be very precise the word of god or in the new testament or you know after jesus rose from the dead the word of god was that word of grace and and i'm specifically talking about renewing your mind with that word of grace so it can bring you to a place you've never been before when that happens we will overcome negative desires and we will live in god's perfect will for our lives now renewing the mind is more than learning it's changing renewing the mind is more than just learning it's changing somebody says well my my mind is being renewed because i didn't know this but now i know that no no no the acid test here is re when you know you're really renewing your mind it's changing not just knowing and so many christians have been taught that if they if they just read the bible if they just pray if they just come to church that they'll become stronger christians and and i really want to deal with that because i'm thinking about you know first of all you're a christian and you read the bible but you don't know how to rightly divide the bible you're reading the bible but you don't know the contrast between the old covenant and the new covenant you're reading the bible and you don't understand the contrast between the the gospels matthew mark luke and john versus the rest of the new testament after jesus raised from the dead and if you don't understand the structure of the bible and and the dispensation and and the time and who's doing the speaking and the place and all that kind of stuff if you don't understand that dude you you know you listen to somebody tell me what you start reading the bible from genesis revelation you probably on backslash by time you get to john because it it's it's that's not how it works and so it wasn't enough when somebody told me if i read the bible i become a stronger christian because i didn't understand it enough to read it and then they said well you know just pray just pray well how do i do that oh just talk to god just like you talk to people that ain't right i tried talking to god like i taught the people it didn't happen real prayer is saying to god what he already said in his word real prayer is recognizing that it's already done and that i'm approaching god from a place of victory to victory praise that's what real prayer is and that's why we spend so much time you know spitting and screaming and hollering because we don't really understand what real prayer is and uh you know so they said you become stronger when you pray but i don't know how to pray you become stronger christian when you read the bible but i'm not read the bible and then it says well if you just come to church you'll become a stronger christian if you come to church well it depends on what church you're going to you follow what i'm saying and unless unless you get some precision on all these things that's just not enough to tell somebody you know read the bible and pray and go to church and you'll become a stronger christian see right believing is going to produce right living and if you don't believe right you're not going to be able to live right amen and so you know what about persons who sin all week but as a faithful church attender you know you hear me they sin all week but they come to church all the time or what about the pastor who preaches great sermons but eventually he's caught into adultery you see renewing the mind is so much more than going through a bunch of religious motions it is a conscience on perfect on purpose effort or pursuit a conscious on purpose pursuit to number one be aware of how we really think and believe are you are you aware are you really aware of how you think and how you believe are you aware that your thinking doesn't line up with the word it lines up with something else are you aware that you you you say you believe in god but you you really don't secondly you know uh what about you know becoming aware i mean you're gonna you're gonna have a conscious and and a and a very purposeful pursuit to become aware of how god wants you to think are you aware of how god wants you to think god wants me to think in line with his word but are you aware of how god wants me to think thirdly are you are you focused will you focus your thoughts on god's thoughts or his word fourthly will you practice the thoughts of god until they become your own are you willing to dedicate yourself to to practice the thoughts of god into until you own them and then you know finally are you willing to live the thoughts of god in your everyday life that's renewing the mind man that's the pursuit we're after i'm after the pursuit of understanding how i really think and how i really believe i'm after and i'm pursuing and being aware of how god wants me to think i'm i'm pursuing to make sure that i focus my thoughts on on god's thoughts and i'm pursuing to practice those thoughts of god until they become my own thoughts and then i'm pursuing living the thoughts of god in my everyday life this is what renewing the mind looks like this is not an overnight change you can't get this through laying on of hands you can't you can't get this what i'm talking about remember in mind you can't get it through laying on the hands can't come down and we lay hands on you and bam the mind has been renewed look at second corinthians 10 uh verses 4 through 5 in the nlt uh second corinthians 10 4-5 in nltc renewing the mind is a lifestyle it's not an event it's not an experience it's a lifestyle look what he says here in verse four and five he says we we use god's mighty weapons we use god's mighty weapons not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments there are lots of human reasoning going on in the world and we use the word we use the weapons of god not the world's way look at verse five we destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing god we capture their rebellious thoughts and we teach them to obey christ are you willing to capture the rebellious thoughts that have somehow been lurking around in your mind for quite some time but you just just didn't really take note of it look at ephesians chapter 4 verse 22-24 in nlt and uh i'm running out of time but i want you to get this he says uh ephesians chapter 4 22 he says throw off your old sinful nature and your formal way of life which is corrupted by the lust and deception 23 instead let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes 24 put on your new nature created to be like god truly righteous and holy i hope you notice something here he says before you can put on your new nature you got to take off your old nature it's kind of like changing a diaper you if if a kid has an accident in in a diaper you don't just put a new diaper on top of the old diaper you have to take the old diaper off clean them up and then put the new diaper on and i think this is what he is saying here in the book of ephesians you know are you willing to to trust god and allow the holy spirit to do the work in you and then you do your part in renewing your mind to take off the old diaper so that you can put on the new nature the new nature of god which is truly righteous and truly holy renewing the mind is so important being born again the most important thing you can do as a human being renewing your mind is the most important thing you can do as a christian we'll pick up with this on next wednesday let's pray father we thank you so much for this opportunity to minister this word to these your precious sheep i pray in the mighty name of jesus that the holy spirit was speaking while i was talking and sharing things to people individually and uh god we know we know that you love us but lord help me to convince people that we've got to get back to the the life of renewing our mind and living this as a lifestyle i praise you for it and i thank you for lives that are changed for it now in jesus name amen now if you're here tonight you've not been born again that's the most important thing you can do and then once you get born again you got to get connected to a place where you can get the word hear the word understand how to do the things you need to do to become stronger mature christians but if you're not born again i want you to just pray this simple prayer after me ready heavenly father i realize that i'm a sinner but right now i repent of all my sins i make you my lord and my savior i believe that jesus died for me and he rose again on the third day lord jesus coming to my heart be my savior and right now by faith i declare in jesus name that i am saved thank you lord for saving me amen now if you prayed that prayer with me if you could just text the keyword i'm saved to 51555 and provide your name and email address i'd like to send you a free ebook as a gift to you today we welcome you to the family of god and we pray that you will just continue to stay tuned in to what's going on and we'll do our best to give you some spiritual food to help you to grow into a strong christian amen congratulations uh go online and and right there in the comment section and tell people i just got saved and uh world changers nation let's celebrate with them tonight amen well praise god let's complete our worship right now our worship is it's an opportunity for us to uh i can't read that that's too little our worship is an opportunity to go before god and complete our our worship we we had music we had prayer uh we had a sermon but now our giving is so so very important and when we give it's just an opportunity for us to um to celebrate what jesus has already done an opportunity to celebrate what jesus has already done so uh if you want to give through your text you can text world changers and space and then the amount to uh whatever that is on your screen hey man put the old one up i can't i can't read that that's too small and maybe those of you at home can read it but you know i i can't that's just too small put the old one up or something yeah there you go and get rid of that other one because it's just too small it's just too small somebody should have looked at it so well i mean you we're acting just like you're here so that this is what i'd normally do when you're here amen so you you want to use your text you can text world changes space and the amount uh to 74483 and uh if you want to call the number on your screen uh you can call that number on the screen and uh if you want to go on the web world changers.org you can do that and if you want to call the number you can go ahead and do that so uh you guys know the deal text to give is not what should be on the screen it should be those other things that's on the screen so please put the right thing on the screen put the old one up there because i want to make sure everybody doesn't get confused with that information and get the text to give off the screen and put the three or four ways to give on the screen that should be on the screen the three or four ways put it back up because i want to make sure that people have an opportunity to get it that's not it we don't we're not just talking about text to give we're talking about the ways to give just leave that up and i pray that all y'all can get that at home i'll get them to magnify for me but you can give through texts you can give through a phone call you can give through mail or you can give through the web amen well hey i hope you enjoyed this tonight i hope you got something out of it and um i'm just telling you once you realize how much god has done and once you realize how much god is willing to do for you then giving is just a reflex it's like man look at what god has done for me and then i get so excited about wow i'm not given to try to manipulate god into doing something for me i'm giving because i know what he's already done for me so let that always be in the back of your mind that when you complete your worship it's what god has already done for me and sometimes it's giving god gratitude for what he did for you right in the middle of a message and that becomes pretty powerful as well hey look god we love you so much have an amazing evening thank you for coming and spending time with us uh remember jesus is lord in everything that you do and you make him lord get him involved in everything that you do praise god now to him who's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen good night everybody we'll see you sunday

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Length: 37min 1sec (2221 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 03 2021