Hello, and welcome to this
message from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. We pray that this teaching
strengthens your relationship with the Lord. If it does, let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. Our minds are
constantly confronted with ideas, temptations,
principles, and values. The battlefield is found
in mainstream culture, social media, and universities. And what we ponder we
eventually practice. In the message-- Think What to Do;
Do What You Think-- Skip shares three ways
we ought to think. Now, please open your Bible
to Philippians chapter 4 as he begins. Let's turn in our Bibles,
then, to Philippians chapter 4, which is the last chapter
of the book of Philippians, and as you will notice
as you look at the page that we're almost
done with the book. Now, don't get your hopes up. It doesn't mean we're
finishing it today. We still are a
couple of weeks out, but we're winding things down. We're gonna look at Philippians
chapter 4 in just a moment. When I was in grade school,
my teachers used a phrase-- and I bet yours did, too-- and that is your thinking cap. They ever say that? They ever say, OK, kids,
put your thinking caps on. And I remember when my
teacher said that she meant or he meant, I need
your attention, class. I really want you to
process through what I'm about to tell you. But you know, that's
a figure of speech, but I remember
thinking, wouldn't it be great if there was such a
thing as an actual thinking cap, so that when,
like, you lose your way or you need wisdom you
just put the cap on and you're good to go? Of course, it doesn't
really work that way. Henry Ford said, thinking is
the hardest work there is, which is probably why
so few engage in it. Now, the human mind is amazing. You are capable of
logical thought, you are capable of
abstract reasoning-- deductive analysis. Your mind can emote. You can have emotions
from joy to sorrow, from confidence to fear, and
every emotion in between. Back in the 1600s,
a philosopher named Rene Descartes gave a little
philosophical postulate that he spoke in Latin-- very common language
at the time. And when I say it
you'll recognize it-- many of you-- cognito
ergo sum, which means-- I think, therefore I am. Cognito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. The point of that
little saying is that we validate our own
existence by the very fact that we can produce thoughts. So if you're ever in
doubt-- am I real? Is this real? I'm thinking. I think, therefore I am. Now, Paul wouldn't
disagree with that, but Paul wouldn't
stop there, either. Paul the Apostle
would have said, OK, but I think, therefore I do. That is, my thought
life is attached to the rest of my life. Whatever it is that you think on
is what you will eventually do. So that good thoughts
bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad
fruit, and guess what? You're the gardener. You're the one
doing the planting. And we've noticed that
the book of Philippians is a book about joy, but
this is all part of it. If you're going to have a
joyful life you're going to need a joyful thought life-- that's where it all begins. So a few years back,
15 college professors were given a challenge, and
the challenge was simply this-- if you could take all the books
on the art of moving people into action-- if they were condensed
into one brief statement-- what would that statement be? So they took the challenge. They thought of all
the famous books on getting people motivated,
moving them into action, and coming up with
just a short statement. This is what they said-- what the mind attends
to, it considers. What the mind does not
attend to, it dismisses. What the mind attends to
continually, it believes. And what the mind believes,
it eventually does. So they knew that if you can get
a group of people or a person to think long enough
about something to where they actually
believe in that something, then you can motivate
them to do something. With that as background we
look at verse 8 and verse 9 of Philippians 4. Finally, brethren--
some of us are so happy to see that word
finally, because it means Paul is almost done with this letter. Finally means the rest or
the things that remain. He's tying up some loose
ends-- some extra thoughts that sum up what he has
been saying in this book. Finally, brethren,
whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are
pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever
things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if
there is anything praiseworthy-- meditate on these things. The things which you learned
and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the
God of peace will be with you. Now, there is a definite
structure to these two verses linguistically-- and I know
most people aren't excited about linguistic analysis, but let
me just point something out-- what you have in
these two verses are two different
lists of things attached to a main clause. A single verb drives each verse. The verb in verse 8 is the
verb meditate or think-- ponder, think, on these things. That's the first important verb. Followed by verse 9,
the main verb is do-- these do. So meditate first or think,
first, and then do, second. Isn't it amazing how consistent
the Bible is in describing how our thoughts produce actions-- that what we think
drives what we do. So here's an example-- Jesus taught often on
humility to his disciples, but then one night at The
Last Supper, He got up, washed their feet-- they were all a little
bit dumbfounded by this-- and then He said to them,
if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Knowing is one thing, taking
the knowledge into action is quite another. If you know these things,
happy for you if you do them. Here's another example--
when Paul writes, his writing style typically
is to give knowledge first, application second. Think on this, now do this. Best example, Romans--
the book of Romans. He spends 11 chapters telling
us what we should know, how we should thins-- about God about sin, about
the world, about us-- and then, finally, in
chapter 12 verse one he writes, I beseech
you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy
and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. So you've thought about
this, now do that. He also follows that in the
Book of Ephesians chapters one through three. Paul writes about what we have-- all the wealth we
have in Christ-- who we are in Him. Then in chapter 4-- therefore, I beseech you,
walk worthy of the calling you have received. So you see, there is always this
relationship between knowing and doing, between
doctrine and duty, between living and learning-- we
learn and then we live it out. So what I want to do in
these two verses is show you three simple things-- three ways that
we ought to think. We ought to think carefully,
we ought to think righteously, we ought to think actively. Let's say all those. We should think carefully,
we should think righteously, and we should think actively. So we've engaged the mind--
we're all on the same page. Now, let's explore. I want to draw your attention,
again, in verse eight, to that main clause
I told you about. It's at the end of verse
eight in my translation. It says, meditate
on these things. Here's the deal-- our minds
can go in a million different directions, therefore, we have
to be very careful about what we are going to let it ponder-- concentrate on. Now, look at the word meditate. Some translations just
say think on these or ponder these things. Now, the word meditate-- I'm going to tell
you the word in Greek and you're going to
listen to it and you're going to tell me what it
sounds like in English. Logizomai-- sounds like logic. That is where we
get our word logic. Logizomai means
to think logically or to concentrate logically. The idea is to
reason logically so that your actions are
based on carefully thought out principles. Do you know, according
to scripture, thinking is paramount. Solomon, the writer of
Proverbs, in Proverbs 23:7 says, for as he thinks
in his heart, so is he. As a man thinks in
his heart, so is he. For years, people have noted
that we are what we think, and I agree with that. What you think about you,
what you think about God, what you think about
the world around you, what you think about sex, what
you think about homosexuality, what you think about politics--
all the things that you can think about, in the end
really define who you are. That is what you are. You are the sum
of your thoughts. People's lives are the
product of people's thoughts. You remember when Jesus
said in Mark seven, for what comes out of a
man, that defiles him. Listen to a little
more of that-- I'll read a little
more of what He said. This is in the New
Living Translation-- Jesus speaking-- it is the
thought life that defiles you. For from within, out
of a person's heart come evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness,
deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure,
envy, slander, pride, foolishness-- all these
vile things come from within. They are what defile you and
make you unacceptable to God. Now that's the negative. The positive, the
reverse, is also true. Point being, people's
doings are just the result of people's thinkings. We do what we think. Now, in the Bible, God
actually commands us to think. Isaiah chapter one
verse 18-- come now. Let us reason together,
says the Lord. I've always thought
that Christians ought to be great
thinkers, and I admire when I find one who is. Unfortunately, for some
of us, our brain cells are seriously under exercised. And partially, that's
because some people's view of spirituality
is not intellectual, it's just mystical. It's not if you know the truth. In fact, if you know
the truth, you're sort of placed on the
second or third shelf. Aw, it's more than
just head knowledge. It's more than just-- it's one thing to know
something and it's true, but for so many people it's all
about the mystical experience-- the deeper life. Well, you might know things,
but if you experience the deeper life. I'm all about the deeper
life, but some people who are after the deeper life
have gone off the deeper end. A.W. Tozer put it this
way-- aimless activity is beneath the worth and
dignity of a human being. The great weight of
exhortation, these days, is in the direction
of zeal and activity. Let's get going is the favorite
watchword for Gospel workers, with the result
that everyone feels ashamed to sit down and think. Jesus said to the lawyer,
you shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus also said, learn of me. Peter wrote and said,
grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hosea the prophet cried out,
my people perish for lack of knowledge--
not lack of zeal-- lack of knowledge. All of that to say this-- it's OK to think as a Christian. We don't put a sign out in the
foyer that says, check brains here before entering. No, we want your
mind fully engaged-- where you wrestle with,
turn things around, question, ponder, resolve-- all of that. I remember when I
first came to faith. My college professors and
my medical professors-- very few of them, if any, really
had a relationship or interest in the things of God. And so I was
challenged quite a bit, daily, and I had a
struggle in my faith-- I had a crisis of faith. And I really didn't know
what to do or where to go. I found a book that
changed my life, called Evidence That Demands a
Verdict by Josh McDowell. It just got reprinted
last month-- new edition. Evidence That
Demands a Verdict was all about the evidences
that substantiate the Christian faith. Man, I read this book, I
internalized this book, I memorized sections
of that book, but one of the first things
that I found in the book when I opened it up said this-- the heart cannot rejoice in
what the mind cannot accept. And I thought, I found gold. This is a book encouraging
me to think actively and to reason logically
with these truths. And by the way, if
you were to look back at the major revivals
in past history you will find that
knowledge is at the center of those revivals. One of the key factors
that is in common with every great
revival of the past is there's an emphasis
on biblical doctrine and theology and exposition
of the scripture. So there is a battle for your
mind today, which means you and I, we ought to think
carefully-- logically-- meditate on these things. That's one-- that's
the first way to think. Second-- not just
think carefully, but think righteously. Paul didn't just say,
think, therefore you are. He says, let me tell
you what to think about. Here's the parameters
of godly thinking-- and he lists six things--
finally brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report-- or good repute, some
translations say-- if there is any virtue, if
there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. All of that to say,
think righteously. Hey, guess how many
thoughts you have every day? You might say, well not many. Truth is you have many. Neuroscientists say the
average person thinks 70-- that's seven zero thousand-- 70,000 thoughts
every single day. 70,000-- you think
70,000 thoughts. Which means, in a year's
time you will have produced 25.5 million thoughts. So that's a lot
of options, right? We're bombarded with
a lot of thoughts, so we need to not just think,
but harness those thoughts. As the Bible says in
2 Corinthians 10-- we take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ. Or listen to what Paul
said in Romans eight-- those who live
according to the flesh set their mind on the
things of the flesh. Those who live
according to the Spirit set their minds on the
things of the Spirit. Now, notice the list
in verse eight-- whatever things are pure,
whatever things are noble, etc.-- he lists six
things, all of which basically say the same thing. All of those words describe
righteous thinking. In other words, true
things are noble, noble things are
just, just things are pure, pure things are lovely. It's all sort of a one-off
describing the same thing-- thinking righteously. Here's the point-- don't
you think that we need to be vigilant about what input
we allow into our minds-- In terms of what we
see and what we hear? Now, some will say,
well, as I see it I can just put whatever, cause
he says whatever six times. He says whatever things
are pure, whatever things are noble, and some
people have gotten hung up on that word, whatever--
like Paul isn't considering the source. He's being very
indiscriminate as to what you allow yourself to think on. But I would debate that
and say, when Paul says, whatever things, he just says,
if you look at the gamut of all of the possible thoughts
that can come into your head, find whatever thoughts
fit these categories. Moreover, in verse nine you
will notice that he says, these are the qualities he
taught and he lived by himself. These things which you have
learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the
God of peace will be with you. So all of the things that he
mentions in the eighth verse as parameters of thinking-- all of these are found
in the scriptures. And it could be
that Paul is saying, let the Bible govern
righteous thinking. And the reason I say
that is because I'm going to read to you a
little portion of Psalm 19, and listen how close
one sounds to the other. Psalm 19, I'm beginning in verse
seven-- the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the
Lord are just or right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is
clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous, altogether. Sounds very similar
to the description of Paul in Philippians. He's saying, think righteously. So look at a few
of these things-- whatever things are true. Now, wouldn't you agree that one
of the great commodities of God is truth-- that he is the God of all truth? Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. When Jesus prayed
in the garden, He said, sanctify them,
Father, by your truth. Your word is truth. So God specializes in truth,
so think about what is true, and you'll find
that in His Word. And I'll tell you why
this is important. You and I live in a
world where people say there is no such
thing as empirical truth. There is no such thing
as absolute truth. Truth is relative-- your
truth may not be my truth. Right? So we're exposed to
that sort of thinking. That's why we need a constant
exposure and injection of God's truth, so that we're able
to discern what is right and what is wrong. And it's even more important
these days because a generation has arisen where, honestly,
truth isn't all that important. Feelings trump truth. To a whole new generation
it's not about, is this true or not true-- it's,
how does that make you feel? See, if it makes you feel
good, that's your truth. If it doesn't make you feel
good, then it's not your truth. And have you heard this? Well, what should I do? Well, just follow your heart. Just follow your heart. Now, that little bit
of pop psychology might sound really noble, but
that is, like, the worst piece of advice, ever, in history-- follow your heart. And here's why-- the
Bible says the heart is deceitful above everything
else, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So if you're driven by your
emotional feelings at the time, it might feel good
temporarily, but eventually you might go off the deep end. So meditate on righteous truth. It says, whatever
things are noble-- I love this word. It means worthy of respect,
dignified, worthy of awe. It's the opposite
of common, mundane. These are lofty thoughts. Whatever things are just-- that's a word that means
right or righteous. The scripture shows you how
to walk the righteous path. If you ever wonder what
is right, what is wrong, the Bible will tell
you the principles for righteous living. Psalm 119-- David said, Your
Word is a lamp to my feet, it's a light unto my path. Then notice the word pure-- whatever things are pure-- that means wholesome. It means morally pure--
it's the opposite of smutty. David said, how shall a young
man keep his ways pure-- then he answers
his own question-- by taking heed
according to Your Word. So God's Word will
give you purity. You know, you've heard
the name John Bunyan. He wrote Pilgrim's Progress. He was put in jail
for his faith. And in the flyleaf
of his Bible he wrote this, either this book
will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. And the Bible has the ability
to keep a person pure. So this book will keep
you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. I've discovered
something about people who say, well, I won't read
the Bible because it's so filled with-- it contradicts itself. Let me translate for
you-- it contradicts them. Usually people won't read the
Bible-- not because they're-- because when they say,
well, there are so many contradictions,
I always say, show me one, Mr.
knowledgeable about the Bible, show me a contradiction. Well, I know they're there. I don't know which one, but-- OK. Maybe you won't read it
because it really contradicts your moral behavior. Like Mark Twain
used to say, it's not the things I
don't understand in the Bible that
bother me, it's the things I do
understand that bother me. So whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good repute,
good report-- if there is any virtue
or anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. By the way, not just are there
are 70,000 thoughts that bounce around your brain a day-- you know how many advertisements
you're exposed to daily? And I don't know who finds this
stuff out, honestly, I don't. They could assign
a number to it-- I'm researching it and I
corroborated in a few places, but we are told-- by those who I think know-- that we are exposed
to 5,000 ads a day. 5,000 ads a day. You know how advertising
works, right? They're smart people
who know how we think, and the idea of an
ad is to influence the way a person thinks
about a product in hopes to motivate the person to,
what, with the product? To buy it. So they want to influence
your thought life in hopes that you might pull
out your wallet and buy what you think you
understand about that product. This is why we have to
filter what we think. Think carefully. Think righteously. Third-- think actively. Verse nine-- the things which
you learned and received and heard and saw in me,
these do, and the God of peace will be with you. So after presenting a list of
attributes for your thought life, he now shows that the
thoughts should lead to deeds. Now, again, please notice
the two main verbs. The first in verse eight--
meditate, think, ponder. Second, in verse nine-- do-- these do. In the original language-- [NON-ENGLISH]. That's a command. That's the parent-- the
present, active, imperative-- It's a command. So [NON-ENGLISH] is translated,
literally, this way-- these things I'm commanding
you to keep on practicing-- keep on doing. That's what Paul
says in verse nine. Why does he write so strongly? Because he knows that we can
never separate the thought life from the outward life--
the inward thoughts from the outward action. That what we ponder is what
we're going to practice. What we think about is
what we're going to do. What we learn is what
we're going to live. By the way, this is always
the hope of a pastor-- you know this. Any leader, any
teacher, any pastor, always has the hopes that
if we can expose people to truth through the
preaching of The Word, that the mind will attend to
that, and in attending to it, somewhere in the process enough
people will go, I believe that. Because if they attend to it
and attend to it regularly, they'll believe it. If they believe
it, they'll do it. That's always the hope-- is to graduate to
the doing phase. This is why Paul writes
in Galatians four-- I feel as if I'm going through
labor pains for you, again, and they will continue
until Christ is fully developed in your life. This is why he adds
the list in verse nine. He didn't just say, hey, all
the things you meditate on, do them. Please notice, he
says, the things which you learned and received
and heard and saw in me, these do. Why does he do that? Well, because he understands
that you can learn something, but not really receive it. And you can receive something,
but not really hear it all. And the graduation comes when
you go, I've attended to it, I've listened to it, I've
exposed myself to it, I believe in it, now I'm
going to try it on for size and practice it. I can only speak from
personal experience. I grew up in a church. I was exposed to the Trinity,
Jesus is God, virgin birth, death on the cross,
resurrection-- heard it all my life. It made no difference at all. At all. At all. I was 18 years of age--
something changed. I listen to a sermon
by Billy Graham-- I've heard this stuff before--
that's familiar stuff. I believe that. I believe that and
something has to change. There's going to be a-- that's
called repentance, by the way. That turning around-- changing. How I think about it
and what I do with it. So in the last 35 minutes
we've been exposed to truth and some have listened casually,
some have listened actively, some actually take notes-- God bless you. I love note takers. It shows me you're serious
about taking this truth home. Others listen to
it very casually. Others listen to it almost
like, are you done yet? Can we go now? And still, others
just, well, they nap. They nap during the-- I'm glad that I can be a cure
to your insomnia at some level. You will also notice
that in your bulletin you're always, every
week, given an outline. I always want to give my
outline to my assistant to produce in the
bulletin, because I believe it's just another level-- it adds handles to
make truth memorable, so that it can add
to the life change. But let me give you a
warning, now, for all of us. If when you hear truth-- if you believe it's truth-- if when you hear truth
if you do not come with the determination
to practice that truth-- here's the warning-- something
will happen to your heart. You'll get calloused. You'll be very good at
hearing truth and immediately dismissing it--
marginalizing it-- not letting it penetrate-- that's the danger. So that you could come,
effectively, every week and remain unchanged
because your heart grows harder and harder, because you
don't determine to actually put that into practice. And what that means
is you can have what we call
unchurched-- or excuse me-- churched unbelievers. Unbelievers not on
their way to heaven, but they go to church
every single week, and the truth hasn't
penetrated to change behavior. This is why James says--
you know the verse-- be doers of The Word and not
hearers only, because, he said, if you do that, you
deceive yourself. And then he goes on
by saying, for if you just listen and don't
obey, it's like looking at your face in a
mirror, but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away,
and forget what you look like. Now, we all understand
that analogy-- we do it every day. I got up this morning-- 5:30. I turn the lights
in the bathroom-- look at my face in the mirror--
same reaction that I have every day-- uh oh. It's like, this is
me in the mirror. Now, I look there and I
go, I can fix some of that. A lot of what I
see is irreparable, but I'm good with that. But now, if I walk
out of the bathroom-- forgot what I just
saw, then you're going to see me like this. Woo hoo. Hey, what's up? So in getting a
revelation of truth-- the mirror-- I now have
to have a consideration of how I'm going to implement
something to change what I see. Fun little story-- William Penn. William Penn. Some of you recognize the name. He was the founder of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania-- it was named after William Penn. He was negotiating with
the Delaware Indians for a parcel of land to
make an exchange for, and they agreed that whatever
land William Penn could walk around circumnavigate
on foot in a day, they would work out a deal. The next day, William Penn
sent one of his young men at daybreak with a map to
walk around until sunset. Came back and
encompassed 40 miles-- had the map, had the
little markers to show it-- went to the chief of
the Delaware Indians who was shocked that
somebody actually did that. You know, he just said that--
didn't expect them to do that, but he made a promise. They walked it. And that 40 miles became-- what is today-- the greater part
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That little illustration
simply points out, here's a guy who simply
acted according to a promise. There is a promise-- you said it. You know, William Penn could
have listened to the promise and gone, oh that's good. Hallelujah. I'm writing that down. I'm underlining that. I'm memorizing that. He said, I'm going to walk that. I'm going to walk that out. So I wonder how many promises
of God lay in these pages, untried, not walked. So we must think carefully and
righteously, but also actively. And you'll notice something
Paul says in verse nine, and he does this-- this is
something very Paul-like-- he says, the things which you
learned or received and heard and saw in me. Now, he's not saying he's
perfect, but he is saying, I am an example to you. In fact, Paul does that a
couple of times in this book and a couple of
times in other books. He says, follow me
as I follow the Lord. Here's the point-- find a good
godly example in your life, because that will just
reinforce good godly thinking. You'll see it lived out. There's an old poem that I
memorize and I've said 1,000 times-- this is 1001-- you are 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 what is the gospel
according to you? See, I take truth
and I internalized it and I live it and people
get an impression of God based on me, so in effect
you are looking at the NSV-- this is the New Skip Version. But I'm looking
down at the NMV-- the New Matt Version. The NCV-- the New Chip Version. And we all are living letters,
like Paul said, you are-- 2 Corinthians three--
you are our epistle, known and read by all men. So we're going to
take the truth that's exemplified in that we hear
and we're going to live it, and we're going to become
some kind of an example to others who watch us. And look at how he ends
that little verse-- and-- don't miss this-- and the
God of peace will be with you. It's the crowning
achievement of good godly right thinking and living. God of peace will be with you. Now, I can't help but do
this-- verse seven ends and the peace of God, which
passes all understanding, will guard your hearts. Now, it's the God of peace. And we love the
peace of God, but we love when the God of peace is
so intimate and close with us that we experience that
intimate fellowship. Here's the point-- if you think
godly thoughts and you live godly lives, you'll
feel God's peace, because the God of peace is the
one that you're walking with-- He'll be with you. Now, let me close. You're going, whew. Good. Let me close with
some practical tips-- these are just
takeaways-- practical tips on wholesome thinking. Three things to walk away with. Number one-- evaluate. Evaluate content. It's very simple. You listen to things, you watch
things, you focus on things, you meditate on a
number of things-- evaluate those things. And what I'm going
to say is going to hurt because
we're all Americans-- most of us are Americans
or probably all of us are. OK, so this is according
to the Nielsen group. You've heard of the Nielsen
ratings-- television ratings? The Nielsen company says
the average American watches four hours of TV a day. OK? That's just a fact. The average American
watches four hours a day. Now, some of you
go, I dispute that. I'm at 3 and 1/2. OK. Bravo. [CLAPS] Like it or
not, here's the point-- we fill our minds with
whatever we happen to be watching on television. Now, I'm not here
to tell you what you can watch and not watch. I'm not going to get legalistic. Let me just say,
especially to parents-- the average American
adolescent will end up seeing 14,000 sexual
references every year. Did you get that? 14,000 sexual
references on TV a year. How many of those are righteous,
holy matrimony, relationships? One? Two-- if, like, you
saw the right show. So there is a
bombardment of values that we expose ourselves to. Not only that, but by
age 18, the average child will have seen 20,000 violent
acts, including 16,000 murders. So just evaluate content-- that's number one. Number two-- punctuate. Punctuate your day with truth. Begin the day, end
the day, with truth. Get up in the morning
or whenever you get up-- some people get up
in the afternoon. This is an early
day for some of you. Whatever, you might
have a work schedule. The point is-- begin the day
in The Word and close the day, not with a commercial on TV,
but even if it's a short Psalm or a proverb-- just thoughts from
God's Word to put your head on the
pillow at night and go to sleep with those thoughts. Punctuate your day with truth. So evaluate, punctuate,
and the third tip, meditate on scripture. Now, when you hear a
Christian say, meditate, I don't mean put your
hands out like this and go [MYSTICAL HUMMING]-- transcendental meditation
where you disengage the mind. Biblical meditation
is the opposite-- it's where you engage the mind. And to meditate on
scripture means you read it, but you don't just read
in it, you feed on it. You feed on it
and you ponder it. You take and emphasize a word
and another word in the phrase and you ask what
it means to you, so it's really internalized. So evaluate, punctuate,
and meditate. There was a couple who
were married for 40 years. The husband died in
this relationship. It was a loving relationship. The wife was left
very, very lonely-- didn't know what to do. She had a period of grief. You can imagine
the kind of grief after being with a partner
so long-- some of you know what that's like. This gal remembered that she had
a friend who owned a pet store, so she thought,
you know, I'm going to go talk to this store owner. And the store owner said, you
know, you out to just get-- I know it's not going to be
a husband, but get a pet. So she looked at cats and
dogs and fish and snakes-- none of them were
something she wanted. She wanted something to talk to. So the owner of the pet
store said, well, we have-- it's expensive, but we have
this parrot that just-- it's a chatterbox. It talks to everybody. She goes, I'll buy it. Bought the parrot. Dished out a lot of money. Took the parrot home. Big cage. Came back in a week. The owner of the pet
store said, that bird talking to you, right? A lot, huh? She goes, he's not
saying one word. Not a word. It's been a week, not a word. I sit there, I talk
to it, not a word. And so the owner of
the pet store said, well, have you thought about
putting a mirror in the cage? She said, a mirror? He goes, yeah, it's funny
but birds like parrots like to look at themselves in
the mirror-- it sort of loosens them up and that bird
will start talking. So she bought a mirror,
put it in the cage, came back 10 days later hoping
that it would have talked, and the guy the pet store
said, worked, right? She said, not a single word. He said, well, have you
put a ladder in the cage? She said, a ladder? He said, yeah, you
know, listen, birds-- they look at themselves
in the mirror-- they like to get a little exercise. And they get a little exercise. They feel more at home. They're in their own space. That bird will talk. So she bought a ladder. Took it home. A couple of weeks
later, came back-- she's not smiling. Said, the bird is not
talking, and so the owner of the pet store said, well,
if you put a swing in the cage, like, up toward the top
of this large cage, what's going to happen is
the bird's going to look at itself in the mirror,
climb up and down the ladder, swing a little bit,
make it feel like it's in it's natural
habitat, the jungle-- the bird's going to talk. I can almost guarantee it. So she did it-- bought it. Came back, walked in the store
a couple of weeks later mad. And before the owner of the
shop could say, how's that bird? She said, the bird died. That expensive parrot is on
the bottom of the cage, dead. And the owner of the store
said, I'm just befuddled. Did the birds say
anything at all? The woman said, yes,
as a matter of fact. As that bird lay, taking
the last few breaths, it says, don't they have
any food down at that store? OK. So that's a lot like you
and I that we think about and we focus on things that
aren't even important when we're starving to death
for the kind of truth that could transform
us and make us dynamic. To feed on the right
things is one thing, to learn them and
assimilate them-- be changed by them, is another. Let's ask God to do that. Father, the food that we
get help forms for us-- and I mean the things we
listen to or watch or read-- all of those things will
form thoughts in our minds. And we can listen actively
to your truth-- we can listen passively to your truth. We can listen passively
to your truth, but then actively
watch certain things or listen to other things. All of that is forming who
we are, because we really are what we think. So would you help us to attend
to, to consider, and then to believe and then to do
what is true even if it poses challenges to our intellect? All the better
because it forces us into a logical line of
thinking that, once resolved, makes us even more
stable and stronger. Make us thinking
and doing believers. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. It's impossible to
go through a day without bumping
into the thoughts and ideas of the world, so we
must carefully, righteously, and actively, manage them. How do you plan to do that? Let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for joining us
for this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church.
