THIS IS US : WEDNESDAY CONVERSATION

[Applause] [Music] show is [Music] is oh [Music] me [Music] oh oh [Applause] i just oh [Music] good evening good evening good evening we wanted to go a little old school tonight i love the top of the hour you never know what we're going to start with to kind of get our minds engaged and what the lord is about to share with us tonight and what a great night that you've decided to join us tonight because tonight's thing is going to be talking about the mind of christ and if if you need a change in your mindset somebody put in the chat i need a change somebody needs a change uh towards your coworkers or towards your family members i i need my mind right before i talk to my kids i need my mind right before i talk to that bill collector i'm cut y'all say y'all don't want to be honest tonight y'all you hey some of y'all need the right mind just to talk to your neighbor right and so if you've come tonight you have come to the right place we welcome you all to another uh night with this is us serious and i'm excited about what the lord has been doing in this series with dr medley and uh sister claudia allen and doc williams uh pastor esmen lord has just been blessing us let me tell y'all something break low you are blessed i'll see see some of y'all been eating well for so long you don't know what it was like to just be on ramen noodles i'll say i i pass along they're not hearing me tonight some of y'all been eating the filet mignon and we're going out to cheesecake factory for so long you don't remember but the lord has blessed you richly by what he has given you and so we praise god for another night shout out to our lead pastor dr anthony medley today is his birthday if you're able to send him a text send him some love let him know how much you love him uh today uh he's celebrating the birthday and we thank god for another day of life i'm excited tonight i hope you are too with what the lord has in store for us i'm going to uh before we press on turn it to doc williams as he leads us in prayer and ask the lord's presence as we go forward tonight thank you thank you doc washington and good evening everybody have you ever heard of the song i woke up this morning with my mind stayed on jesus oh that's what we're going to be dipping in tonight like marinara sauce we're going to dip down in it and we want to pray for the for the speaker the preacher the bible book opener for tonight as we continue our series this is us we have much to pray about it is prayer time here and i know some of you if not many of you have gotten off of the prayer line but we want to continue in prayer and we want to remember one of our first ladies sister patty jean brown dr jeff brown's wife who lost her mother and uh we want to pray for them they're heading to bermuda on sunday and we just thank god they were able to spend some time with her a few months ago before she passed amen somebody we also want to remember um brother simba lim leonard who lost his father in saint thomas had the great privilege to be able to pray with him even as he landed there but that's sister audrey our women's leader women's ministry leader that's her son-in-law and we want to pray for simba also we want to praise god for doc medley another year of life our senior pastor and i know he in india are praying and um are asking us to pray also for india's aunt joan in the philly area we want to pray for her health at this time also we want to continue to pray for sister carol wright pastor henry wright's wife who's on hospice and tonight um i want to pray that god will do something for us that if we don't have the mind of christ tonight that he will give us the yearning for it is that all right if you don't have the mind of christ lord give me the yearning to want to have the mind of christ so with that in mind let's bow our heads for prayer oh god tonight we thank you that we can come before your throne boldly because you said do so and we are obedient tonight lord because we run to the altar because we need help tonight we run to the altar because it is me it is me oh lord standing in the need of prayer we run to the altar tonight with praises you kept the drunk drivers on the right side of the street you kept the planes up in the air over us and lord you gave us even a place in which our minds can be in its right place and so tonight we say thank you for all of your blessings the lord we come with a long list of those who are standing in the need of prayer we're so glad that you are a god who's not made a brick or stone or wood we don't have to beat ourselves up but you hear even the small voice and so lord we pray for carol wright tonight we ask for healing on her we ask that you will be with her and walk with her husband and their family we pray tonight for brother simba over in saint thomas who lost his father bless his siblings and continue to be with their family and the loss of the patriarch uh oh god tonight we pray for pastor brown and sister brown we pray for their family and the loss of her or sister patty jean's mother walk with them through this valley and lord we pray for your comforter to be in in the midst of us in the midst of not just loss but separation lord there is anxiety there is the lack of peace um and it's like russian roulette right now lord who's going to get the virus so i just pray right now in the name of jesus that you will cover us and that you will give us peace in whatever the situation we find ourselves lord again we pray also um for uh joan uh on india's uh sister our first lady sister india's aunt we ask that you bless them as they minister to her and we pray for healing on her body as well lord we have uh launched another series called this is us and really tonight lord is a another special subject we want the mind of christ and i pray for our speaker our preacher of the hour pastor isaiah long i ask that you will bless him to give us child like faith as a result of hearing what he has to say bless our discussion bless our input open our minds and lord i do pray that if we don't have that desire tonight to have your mind and if we don't have your mind that you would give us that desire would you please lord give us the desire to walk every moment of our lives wondering what you would do how you would do it give us the mind of christ so this mind which is in us will be the same mind which was also in your son so walk with us will you lord forgive us lord tonight for not being like you and misrepresenting you and i pray for the restoration of your people as we open your word in jesus name amen i am excited about our study tonight pastor isaiah long one of brinkleo's pastoral staff members and the leader pastor of the baptized believers is going to walk with us as we walk with him as he shares the word of god praise the lord pass along amen amen amen god bless you dr ivan i appreciate you i appreciate your heart i appreciate your prayers and praise the lord to everybody amen out there in this virtual sanctuary to god be the glory i don't feel like a stranger i feel like i'm with family man your little cousin's in the house so we praise god for each of you um i thank god for uh this this is us series um to god be the glory for all of the messages that have gone forth and with the help of the lord um we're gonna add our contribution to the series in prayer that the lord would just help us take one more step closer to him is that your prayer tonight amen i just want to take one more step closer um to the lord amen to be what he has called for me to be in these last and evil days amen the prayer has already gone forward but if i were to sing a song i would say pass me not o gentle savior hear my humble cry while on others thou art calling my god do not pass me by that's my prayer tonight amen i'm gonna take you to uh four scriptures this evening i'm gonna lead you to uh first corinthians chapter two verse fourteen through sixteen i'm gonna i'm gonna take you then to isaiah chapter 55 verse 8 and 9 then we're going to look at romans chapter 2 12 verse 2 and then we're gonna uh hit my man noah scripture amen wrong uh philippians chapter two verse number five amen uh we're talking about having the mind of christ this evening and and i thought it was um just a perfect timing because for the last couple of weeks we've been talking about spiritual warfare um claudia minister claudia last week talked about temptation and then uh pastor duane talked about uh the plan against satan's attack this past sabbath so we've been dealing with this whole idea of just fighting the enemy and what greater way to combat what the enemy is trying to do than to have the mind of christ amen so let's let's look at um uh let's look at first corinthians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. and i'm reading out of king james version but the natural man receive if not the things of the spirit but they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judges all things yet he himself is judged of no man for who have known my god the mind of the lord that he may instruct him but we have the mind of christ this particular scripture is is important to our study because what it's basically telling us is that being naturally minded we cannot know the mind of christ we have to be spiritual um this particular child is talking is written to believers um believers with issues of course but still yet believers um and it's saying that we as believers have the mind of christ right we the church have the mind of christ there's something that came in the download in the package that we really receive when we receive the gift of the holy spirit the gift of the holy ghost there's something that comes in that package that allows us to connect to the mind of christ but we have to be spiritual we cannot be in our flesh because the bible declares in the book of isaiah chapter 55 verse 1 through 8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways said the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts higher than yours we cannot understand the mind of christ in our flesh my god we have to become spiritual to understand the mind of christ let's look at romans chapter number 12 and we're gonna look at verse number two familiar passage of scripture i'm just gonna journey through some scripture tonight is that all right we just take our time just walk the text amen romans chapter 12 verse number two and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good the acceptable and the perfect will of god i'm talking about having the mind of christ and and what this particular scripture is telling us is that our minds in order to have the mind of christ has to be transformed not conformed to the world but transformed by renewing right um that we may prove let me let's just do a word study real quick um i wanted to do a word study and look at a couple words in this particular text um the first word i want to look at is the word prove now in the word proof uh we get a few definitions one we get the word uh to test or to uh to examine all right um be transformed by the renew of your mind that you may examine or prove or test what is the good acceptable and perfect will of god another definition that we we get and this is what i want to deal with is to discern all right and be not conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may discern what is the good the perfect the acceptable the perfect will of god right to discern his will this is important all right because we understand saying what the good is we understand acceptable but i want to look at perfect for for just a minute right um the word perfect if you get it from the greek um it means to become mature all right it means uh to become mature from having gone through the process from having gone through the necessary state the the necessary steps to consummate completion by fulfilling the necessary stages uh perfection is not talking about being without mistake it's talking about being complete it's talking about being mature having gone through the necessary steps okay all right so when it's talking about this is saying be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may be able to discern what is the perfect will of god though uh perfection again is maturity having gone through the necessary step now why why is this uh important i'm gonna explain to you through illustration um the best illustration that i could use would be the illustration of one of those old pirate telescopes y'all remember the old pirate telescopes uh that would extend uh piece by piece stage by stage right until it got to to full extension and when it got to full extension it it got to a maximum uh impact or or full strength if you will but it had to go through the stages to get to full strength to get to full completion well what paul is teaching us is is that the perfect will of god is his will for our life happening in stages i need y'all to track with me just for a little bit his his will happens in stages now why is that important because if we go through the entire book of romans from chapter one through chapter 11 you're gonna find things like justification you're gonna find things like redemption you're gonna find things uh uh like uh sanctification you're gonna find things like election you're gonna find the grace of god you're gonna find in chapter seven oh wretched man that i am who shall deliver me right then you're gonna find in romans chapter eight uh there is therefore now no condemnation to them who walk in the uh uh there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit then in chapter nine you're gonna find uh uh the potter who makes vessels of honor and then some vessels of dishonor right so throughout the entire book of romans you see uh that we need justification we need redemption uh we we may be a vessel of honor at one point we may be a vessel of dishonor at another point life goes up life goes down we're in the day out tomorrow uh we're full of sin we receive justification we're full of sin we receive no condemnation so the book of romans shows us how the life of the believer is up down in out over under you see what i'm saying and so what paul is teaching us is that the perfect will of god is showing us that god's will for our life happens in stages you didn't just get to where you are overnight my god i need somebody to understand you didn't just become who you are overnight but your life happened in pieces it happened in stages in order to bring you to the place where you are god had to take you through some stuff and what paul is teaching us is that you've got to have the mind of christ to be able to discern the fact that you didn't just get here overnight but every step along the way was god's will whoa jesus i'm getting excited alright i need something to slow my train you you've got to have the mind of christ for the mind of christ to be able to show you to discern to be able to look back over your life and say no god didn't just start when i got in my 30s god didn't just start when i joined the praise team god didn't just start when i joined the auxiliary god didn't just start when i became an elder at the church but god was with me back in the day when i was in sin a wretch undone god was with me when i was struggling god was with me when i was up god was with me when i was down god was with me when i was in god was with me when i was out i can discern his will for my life do y'all see that and so what paul is teaching us is that you've got to have the mind of christ to be able to discern the perfect will of god the fact is that god has been a part of your life even before you knew him even before you accepted him into your heart even before you had it all together even before you was on the right track when he was on the wrong right side of the track god was still there and it takes the mind of christ to be able to discern that you can't understand that in your flesh i need somebody to understand that's why i read first corinthians for you because i needed to point the picture that in your natural mind and your flesh you will never be able to understand the things of god his ways are too high above our ways as far as the east is from the west his thoughts are too high from our thoughts you've got to have the mind [Laughter] of christ are you with me amen look i i i don't i didn't want to labor there i i we got to go a little further i ought to blew my time on that one let me go a little further let's jump over to the book of philippians chapter two uh philippians chapter two my god we got we got to move through this amen amen but i i feel good in my soul philippians chapter two uh uh i'm gonna start you off i'm gonna start you off at one verse and then we're gonna go through as as time allows we'll go through uh the entire chapter in philippians 2. that's why i wanted to pull the meat from what we wanted to talk about amen olivia's chapter 2 verse number 5 it says let this mind be in you that was also in christ jesus okay so paul is teaching us something about having the mind of christ go a little further who being in the form of god thought it not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant that's the first thing i need us to understand that in order to have the mind of christ the mind of christ brings us into a place of servanthood my god it brings us into a place of servanthood okay uh and and was made in the likeness of men verse eight and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross jesus christ died on the cross the mind of christ brings us into a place of sacrifice all right servanthood and sacrifice that's what i want to talk to you about i'm going to give you five quick points real quick but i want to talk to you about servanthood and sacrifice now here's what i will propose i will propose you very humbly that you cannot be a servant and not live sacrificial my god but you cannot sacrifice and not serve you need one and the other amen servanthood and sacrifice now let's go through and let's let's look at uh chapter two um but in order to give you chapter two i got to give you some context let me let me put the scripture in context and if we don't get all the way through it that's all right we'll we'll pick it up in the in the discussion that's you you know i'll bite into this thing and then i'll leave the meat on the bones for the for the team to come back and discuss it amen all right but let me give you some context to this uh context is this all right paul has just now began to give some expectation for the the church in philippi he's given expectation and the expectation is that they operate in unity right and they operate striving together in unity striving together and and let me let me read that for you in chapter 1 verse 27 and uh uh uh it says this only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of christ that whether i come and see you or else i be absent i may hear of your affairs that ye may stand fast in one spirit and with one mind striving together for your faith you see that paul's expectation is that the church operate in one spirit and one mind striving together but but but look at how he shows us how he can tell if you're striving together in one spirit in one mind he says it here in the first part of chapter 1 verse 27 he says only let your conversation be as it become of the gospel of jesus christ listen i can tell where your mind is by what comes out your mouth come on somebody oh my god i can tell if you're striving to go can i teach you for a minute i can tell if you're striving together by what comes out of your mouth my god i could tell if you are of one spirit by the conversation that you have my god paul is saying that i need the church to operate with one mind and with one spirit okay and then he says this let's look at uh chapter two verse number one if there is therefore any consolation in christ any comfort of love any fellowship of the spirit uh if any bowels of mercy fulfill ye that's my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord and one mind okay so paul again is continuing with uh these expectations right but but what he does is he he brings to us a list of all of the things that we received he said if you've been comforted if you've received fellowship uh uh if you uh if you have received consolation he says respond with by receiving all of these gifts by being united okay do y'all see that right he says be united but watch what he says he says be united having the same love okay i need to talk to you before i go another step further i'm watching my time but before i go another step further i gotta give you this understanding of unity because he's talking about being united having the mind of christ but but the mistake that we make about unity sometimes is we think that you being united is everybody saying the same thing everybody looking the same way everybody doing the exact same thing but that doesn't mean united let me give you an illustration if i were to take a piece of paper and i would write a message on a piece of paper and then i go to a copy machine and i copy a piece of paper and i make a copy then i go across town i go to another copy machine i make another copy of the piece of paper then i go somewhere else i make another copy then i take another pencil and i write it down again i got 20 copies with the same message on them but that does not mean that the papers were all together do y'all see that however if i were to take a quilt or a comforter and i would have cut piece off the comforter then i would have cut another piece off the comforter i cut another piece i cut another piece until i cut the entire comforter every piece may look different but the fact that they are all coming from the same source i need y'all to understand this what makes them united is not the fact that they all look the same what makes them united is the fact that they all come from the same source i need somebody to understand that being united in the church is not everybody sounding the same looking the same saying the same thing no god brought you into the kingdom with your gifted self you are gifted you are anointed just being you your words your actions your mannerisms your persona your charisma your personality you are the best you that they will ever be i need somebody to hear what i'm saying you don't have to be me to be united to me what makes us united is the fact that we all come from the same source i need somebody to understand who is the so it's jesus my god what unites us is jesus oh my god i got to slow my train man this thing oh my god i don't you don't have to look like me to be united to me my god you don't have to agree with everything i say to be united to me you don't have to sound like me to be united to me what makes us united is we come from the same sort i say it like this we are cut from the same claw oh my god and who is that source it's jesus so what paul is teaching us he says yes i want you to be united but it's got to be in the same love i need you to understand that that thing that you do has to be saturated in love it's not just enough for you to just be doing stuff you can join the auxiliary you can sing on the choir but my god you got to you got to have that thing saturated in love what god is teaching us here's our first eye my god oh lord lord lord jesus i see the time look here's our first eye for the night i'm gonna give you five eyes i might have to just rush through it but the first eye that i want to give you is intention my god you it's it doesn't matter what you do as much as it matters the intent behind what you do so what god is saying to have the same mind to have the mind of christ you've got to have the intention why do i say that look at verse 3 in chapter 2 it says let nothing be done through strife or vain glory it's not just about you doing it for vain glory that thing that you do ought to be saturated in love do y'all hear what i'm saying so having the mind of christ god says i've got to start dealing with your intention here is why intention is important oh jesus i got oh thank you lord here is why intention is important intention is important because intention determines destruction or destiny in your life i'll say that one more time i got to teach you this i don't want to rush through this one intention determines destruction or destiny in your life why do i say that y'all remember y'all remember when saul was on his way to damascus the bible said that he had got letters from the officials and he was on his way to damascus acts chapter 9 and while he was on his way to damascus what was his intention his intention was to go and persecute every christian everybody that was a part of the way what was the way it was those that followed jesus christ so paul's intention was to go and persecute the christian the bible said that he had an encounter with the spirit while he was on the road while he was on the road he uh the spirit knocked him off the beast he looked up said who art thou lord the spirit said i'm jesus whom you persecuted uh it's hard for thee to kick against the prick the bible said the spirit directed the men to take him to damascus to a man by the name of ananias house ananias spirit went to ananias and said go lay hands on saul and and i said i can't lay hands on that man saw he been out here persecuting the children uh the uh the christian uh the spirit said no this is a chosen vessel under me come on somebody he said ananias the bible said ananias went and laid hands on saul and when he laid hands on him the bible says something like scales fell from his eyes those scales represent that his eyes were now open now he could see spiritually uh here is the thing that i want to leave you with that's a lot of meat in that text but i want to give you this one thing when paul was on his way he was on his way to a city named damascus when he had his encounter with the spirit of god it did not change his location he still went to damascus my god i need y'all to catch this the only thing that changed was his intention the first thing he was going to do was bring destruction but when god shifted his intention it shifted him from a place of destruction to a moment of destiny i need somebody to understand that your intention is the catalyst that will bring you into your place of destiny it's not what you do it's the intention behind my god somebody help me it's the intention behind what you do the only thing my god here is the thing oh god i'm gonna shut it down after this and then and then we'll talk about the rest the only thing that changed was saul's intention it was not his location see some of us we complained about where we are god i i don't like where i am god i don't like my situation god i don't like this i don't like that we murmur and we complain but god is saying no what i need you to do is shift your intention so with oh god i feel pastor ivan's prayer right now god as you begin to give us the mind of christ give us a yearning to shift our intention you may not change my status but change the intent of my mind why i am while i am where i am god show me what i'm supposed to be doing don't let me just sit here god and complain about it be upset be frustrated murmur be disappointed god shift my intention oh jesus my god i i got to slow my train so we got to have the mind of christ the first thing to have the mind of christ is our intention the second thing he says this i'm in verse three but in lowliness of mine let each esteem another better than themself the second i is interpersonal interactions having the mind of christ will affect your intentions having the mind of christ will affect your interpersonal interactions here go a little further verse 4 look not every man every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others here's number three the third thing that the mind of christ will do is it will shift you to have more interest in others so the first one is intention the second one is interpersonal interactions the third one is interest in others the fourth one is investment or service god is not looking for people that want to take gift and ability and hoard it and hold it god is looking for somebody that's willing to make an investment my god if i had the time i'd take you to the story of the five talents and the two talents and the one talent he took the man that had the one town and he told him get him out of here he uh cast him out why because he wanted to take what i had given him and he wanted to bury it hide it and hoard it and manage it god ain't looking for somebody that's gonna manage his gift god is looking for somebody that's willing to invest it in the lives of others invested in the kingdom invested in the ministry invest it my god help me jesus help the people have the mind of christ so that we take what you've given us and be willing to pour it into somebody else that's good that's good the last one investment the last one is interpersonal self-sacrifice interpersonal self-sacrifice the having the mind of christ will give you the ability to look introspectively and walk in a place of self-sacrifice the conclusion of this particular chapter we see a story about a man by the name of timothy and a man by the name of epaphroditus paphroditus brought a gift to paul from the church in philippi while paul was in rome in prison the bible said that he was sick unto death almost died on his journey my god but he did not stop the journey he continued to press on and what does that show that shows that when we have the mind of christ we got to be willing to go through some things yeah and we got to be willing to sacrifice and live sacrificially and give of ourself for the benefit of the assignment that god has called us to god is saying this is not the time for you to go through adversity go through trial and tribulation and be willing to just lay down your assignment somebody got to be willing to go through some stuff yeah and live self-sacrificially amen so that's intentions interpersonal interactions interests of others investment and interpersonal self-sacrifice will bring you to a place of service and sacrificial living and give you the mind of christ amen amen oh jesus i thank you god for what you have sown into the lives of these your people i just pray right now god that as we continue god and move into discussion god that you will continue to pour into us god and give us a greater desire to have your mind in these last and evil days in jesus name amen amen amen amen amen my my my there is so much in here i'm i'm hyped to just dive into this thank you so much pastor long uh just for breaking down the word i don't know about you guys but this was just timely for me if i if i'm honest i got a lot going on right now just personally and at work and and in all these different areas and straight up i have not had the mind of christ in any way shape or form and this has just been such a powerful teaching and reminder even if it was just for me so thank you so much pass along i think one of the things that that stood out for me and there's like 10 so i'm just going to use one so the others can say some stuff but when you were talking about that example of the quilt and the unity man it was just just this idea that the i want to read how i wrote it it's the mind of christ that stitches the quilt of the christian church in unity so it's like our the unity of the christian church only exists when all of us as christians have the mind of christ i think that's just that that's a powerful powerful powerful idea uh uh i see we've got some help on here and so i'm going to come to uh uh pastor van dion griffin i see you here we're gonna go on around what is your what was one of the things that stood out to you the most uh right now we're trying to just let pass along kind of come down from from the mountain and you know in my in my tardiness uh god speaks and uh and as as i joined the telescope illustration um you know i um i am reminded that all of us um are at different levels and we're taking different steps and i think that um as we as we really center ourselves on actually having the mind of christ you know one of the things that that um you know i won't put it on anybody else but one of the things that i struggle with is once my mind is made up about something it doesn't necessarily mean that someone in my family's mind is made up well y'all don't want to hear me on that but that's all right usually when our mind is made up and when i say made up that means we're like convicted on something yeah immediately the conviction that is on us about this next step this next level in christ yeah uh we actually want to make it everybody's conviction and we don't understand that on this telescope you know we're we're going step by step and we're getting my mind uh uh uh dog long it's things are becoming more and more clear yeah you know what i'm saying like i you know i i don't see well as as as uh you know and i'm meddling now but i don't see as well as as dr ella simmons you know she's she's over here at gc so she seems a little bit different than i than i see a lot of it but i'm i'm you know i'm it's becoming clear you know what i'm saying but my conviction cannot uh be so dogmatic on someone else that i'm not willing to allow them to develop the same mind of christ that i'm developing as i go along as i continue to stay in god's word it continues to convict me i'm moving to another step and that this telescope is getting longer and lower and i'm seeing clearer and clearer and i've got to allow god to develop others um their mind as he's developing my mind so thank you so much thank you oh that's good those stages were good doc williams talked to me yeah the mind of christ brings us to servanthood i'm having immediate flashbacks of nominating committee time and unfortunately begging is in season to serve man i'm thinking about that oh he's stepping on toes right now i saw i saw this i know everyone's on mute but i i saw and sense a different kind of silence after you said that doc was the the mind of christ my goodness does he have to beg us to serve him um that that really struck home with me personally it brings us to servanthood not to be served for sure but to servanthood and so i can't let that go pass along thank you yes sir dr washington talk to me what what stood out to me uh what stood out to me is i ain't got his mind i i don't i don't have a mind of christ back long that's what said i mean you you know when when you talk about jesus and and and where he mentally had to be and we talked about this before we began tonight but just thinking about where jesus had to be forget the cross because i gotta get to the cross and there are challenges that jesus had with people that didn't like him that he was still nice to with dedication to needing to go to samaria where he might have wanted to go somewhere else just the dedication on the way to the cross and doc williams you said something so um you know you said during nomination time people want to serve but i'm i'm going to come at it from one of the points that pastor long said because sometimes we serve with the wrong intentions right we we don't just because i'm serving don't mean i'm serving with the mind of christ i may be serving for reasons that have nothing to do with jesus and so you know it just i was in a serious just reflection mode of myself during the whole time of uh of this teaching if i could add to that claudia the ambassador washington man you hit it on the head you mean i can serve and not be about service and servanthood that's what i hear you saying man yeah absolutely i've heard you know i know it doesn't happen to brinkle but i've experienced this in churches that i've pastored where you know people caucus or want to get on nominate committees or or push people to get in certain positions for whatever reason it has nothing to do with jesus whatsoever you know what i'm saying i want to get into service but i don't really want certain people that's not my intention i remember to your point we were i was doing a deacon in deaconess training and telling them you know biblically the reason why we even have deacon's dignity and i never shall forget this speaking that's raised hands like well i ain't know all this because if this is what it is then i don't need to be that i can i you know we i can sign up for another so you know i think a lot of times we serve and do it with with ill intentions and jesus i'm going back to the word he never served the people of god without the intended way that his father wanted him to serve them yeah wow man i i'm sorry no go ahead man oh you know because i i love how you know um isaiah was talking about the intentions of paul you know and you know it draws me back to um you know a church that i pastored that shall remain nameless uh called uh um ebenezer and um and you know this person intention was uh was not um or not good they were they were not they wanted to be the treasurer to control the pastor oh my lord and they fought hard i mean long and hard i'm like you know i mean somebody's already controlling me you know like my wife is already controlling so i can't be controlled you know what i'm saying but they thought that they can control the agenda but when you understand that the agenda is already set by god there's not a whole lot you can do you know i mean you can create some chaos and frustration for yourself and for a few people but at the end of the day if in fact this is god's program there's not a whole lot you can do and i think we need to be careful about our intentions of wanting to serve and make sure that that the humility of christ is on us and man we counted a privilege i mean even to you know i've gotten to the point you know just walking into the space you know i'm saying we got to be careful of where our mind is and how we how we approach um the holy space of god period yeah no i i i'm gonna say this and i'm tossing it right to you uh pass along i think the thing about your point on intention that was so powerful is that god doesn't actually change the direction of your life he just changes your intention like that point when you were talking about paul's name change paul's physical condition change and that he went from being able to see to being blind there was a lot that changed about paul in that moment other than his destination he still went to damascus the only difference was his intention was altered and so i think so many times when we come into connection with god or communion with god we feel like well god's gonna tell me to to get a different job or get a different spouse or go to a different school or get new friends or get new this and god is like i'm not actually telling you to go anywhere else i'm telling you to go with a different attitude that's it go ahead go ahead powerful claudia powerful everybody's comments were powerful and and i'm gonna ask you about uh serving with through in adversity right uh epaphroditus um probably one of my favorite uh non-important people from the bible uh we don't hear about him we don't know his name um but what he did was so significant that paul had to acknowledge it throughout his entire book right um he served sick he served through adversity um talk to me about the challenges the adversity having the mind of christ a mind that gives a mind that tells you i gotta serve at all costs we've talked about the intention but let's talk about the adversity what's some of the things that we've got to fight through the adversities that we have to fight through to operate in the mind of christ i think it goes right back to pastor esmen's sermon from this past sabbath in the sense that we are always going to be leading or serving from that place where there will be spiritual warfare so the enemy will while we're serving is going to be sending distractions he's going to be sending discouragement he's going to be sending temptations there's going to be all manner of things that are coming at us and are do we have the armor of christ on are we kind of going to god asking god please help me adapt this as as my version says the same attitude as that of christ jesus the mind of christ jesus so that the mind of christ can then determine how i act in spite of whatever the adversities are amen i'll add to that um isaiah uh serving in adversity you you mentioned something that really struck me you said god's will is in stages you know whether i'm 30 whether i'm jobless or not whether i'm 60 god's perfect will is dispensed in stages and i've never thought of it like that man but yeah that was that was rich for me because um all of us face adversity in service of christ and whether that dislodges us or draws us closer to him is is based on the mindset that we have that is spiritual and so i i think that that is powerful man one of the things that's very important i think in this journey of adversity is we should expect adversity that's easy to say but we're not ready for it when it comes right so just understanding the mind of christ and i i want to throw out something here and i don't want to take you off of your question but if if our thoughts are not his thoughts his ways are not my ways you know as the scripture says are we chasing something that is unattainable what do you mean say more um let this mind and it's a rhetorical question but let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus so does that mean i can get there or does that mean that i will never be like like him i i i think in response to that pastor van dion kind of said it best when he said he spoke to the development right that that unattainable mind of christ the objective is never to get there the objective is to look more like him the objective is to take one step tomorrow that i didn't take the day the objective is to to gain a little bit more so so i think yeah i think that yeah his mind is so unattainable but yet we are all developing it and and everybody's on different levels everybody's at a different place a different stage i think i think the word for me is perspective and i'll try to marry both of what you asked doc williams and long um because your question long you know kind of hits at my core simply because i've had to for the last for 10 years plus now had to serve and struggle at the same time dealing with this disease yeah and i have felt still feel sometimes that if i wasn't trying to live in the center of his will i wouldn't be dealing with this and i told somebody one day what do you do when loving god attracts problems right and so i'm i'm learning i ain't there yet i i might i might just be on that first layer of the telescope that you talked that you talked about but i'm learning that perspective is everything so let this mind be in you that was in christ jesus what was his perspective i never shall forget one day i was leaving bwi on a plane southwest amen and i took off and i never i don't know if i've ever seen it like this before but i remember taking off doreen bwi southwest and i had a window seat and i looked out the window and i saw something that i had never seen before from from a plane as i was taken off i saw a traffic jam and so the higher i went the more of the jam that i could see i could see where the jam started but i could also see where the jam eased up and the higher i went i said man i so am glad that i'm in the plane because i'm above the traffic jam and it was so crazy because there have been times in our life where i was the 15th car of the car on the 30th car wondering when in the world is this traffic jam going even up and i know y'all thought this way i ain't the only one mathis that have thought this way i wish sometimes that being in a traffic jam i can just push a button i ain't got this much money even if the car came out but i wish sometimes in a traffic jam on 495 that i could push a button yes sir all of a sudden my my car gets wings and i can let my flight uh be on 495 and i can fly to where i am because when you're in a traffic jam you can only see what's immediately in front of you and isn't it the case that when you get to where it eases up you look at that traffic jam and say i waited in this traffic jam just for this come on now active as anything so i was in southwest and i was taken off and i saw where the traffic jam started and i saw it where it eased up and immediately god spoke to me and said for the majority of your life you've been living in a traffic jam and only seeing a singular perspective but when you have the mind of christ that is where the jam started and easy then you have a full perspective of his plan i said all that to say this yeah it is hard almost impossible yeah to look at things from god's perspective well my optic view is only what i see in front of me that's it right and that's my challenge i can only see sickness i can only see disease i only feel hurt i only feel pain but god is looking at our pain because i really believe this is not preacher talk i really believe that pain is always a prelude to growth right most of us don't learn in peace most of my god right and so god sees i know they're not gonna like this but when they get to the other side of this i do like the song there will be glory after this god is gonna see that and so when you talk about is it attainable i think i think god wants us to get when he says let this mind be in you i need you to get close to me so that you can have a different perspective so that you can have intentions interpersonal interactions interest in others investment and service interpersonal sacrifice yeah that in my humble opinion is only attainable when your perspective changes to look at stuff from that sky level and not like behind the car yeah that's so good so so this just came to my mind while you were talking about that some of y'all on here uh uh andorine van diana lois y'all happen to know uh elder janet moore y'all having to know who my mother is okay so dr karen allen the one and only uh she raised my brother and i very problematically at least we believed for the first 25 years of our lives okay and so what she would do is we got to this place y'all where you know clifford and i we had he had graduated from university of chicago clifford's your brother my brother all right i don't know he graduated from university of chicago i graduated from georgetown and you know everyone around us is celebrating everybody's like oh my goodness you you young people are so great right just so young and successful the lord lord is blessing me and clifford we were just like okay whatever on to the next thing and as we were sitting and we were talking we realized that for the entirety of our lives we had not actually been able to take on this mindset as though we had attained whenever we hit any moment of success and we actually thought that we were very problematic with it and so we went to the one and only dr karen allen thinking that we were going to get sympathy for our plight and we went to her we said ma you know why is it that we never actually feel good you know we we never feel like we've attained anything we always feel like we're on this the language we use was we feel like we're on this never-ending ladder where we're constantly moving and the goal of life is not to actually attain success but that rather success is a lifelong never-ending journey and why in the world are we like this i feel like you did this we definitely came in with with some hardcore blame language and energy like we was trying to make her feel bad okay this is the this was the goal she looked us dead in the face and said fantastic i did my job uh i should be getting an award right now we said what and basically what she said was i don't want you to ever feel like you have attained anything but i want you to be on this journey in life where you're constantly going after the next thing and i feel like the lord by by put by having the mind of christ jesus is saying i want you to have a mindset to where you have never attained any spiritual thing but rather you are on this never-ending ladder like it's impossible to attain i can't attain the mind of christ i can't truly be humble i can't truly have a servant's heart i can't truly manifest the character of god i can't truly do all of these things and so you're literally just walking it out like noah preached in the beginning you're just walking non-stop until he calls you home and says okay you don't have to do this thing anymore but there is no actual destination or acquisition it's it's it's it's about the walk and the journey and the climb itself claudia i got to jump in there on you on that one because that is so powerful and then when you look at what jesus did in this text in chapter 2 the bible says that he made himself of no reputation yeah and the actual term making himself of no reputation literally from the greek means that he emptied himself out wow so in other words he at the height of glory in order to fulfill the next assignment emptied himself out it doesn't matter how much i've obtained let me pull all of this out so that i can accomplish the next thing and and i think that what you just said with i never met dr alan but man that was powerful was she but she imparted me you all because what she's basically saying is it doesn't matter where you are right now keep striving keep pushing keep going forward keep attaining keep reaching but in order to reach don't take your pride don't take that accolades don't take all them pat's on the back empty yourself out yeah so that you can be ready to be refueled on the next level man that's it it's good you know what isaiah i think that's the answer to your question man that's how you serve that's how you keep serving in in adversity you know what i'm saying um you keep you keep pouring yourself out you keep humbling yourself before god yeah here's the reality if you don't do it he'll you don't do it but it's a great point i mean it's it's much better if you you know if you if you take it on yourself but you know i i mean i am i am uh you know i'm laughing you know because i remember coming to uh to to the to the division and uh and and and i even said man the vandy on the the water's okay he's like man you all right the water's gonna be all right you know and the reason why i was there is um man it's crazy because the the journey in other words like i had to serve in adversity like i have to take a responsibility that i did not want like like try that off like you you getting paid to do something you literally do not want to do you get up every morning with an attitude and you i mean i mean your spirit is never right i mean you're sitting there eating's angry you know and uh and isaiah that's your job you got to get up and do it and then you got to go out and tell and encourage and train others to do an assignment you despise mercy wow i'm telling you you know after you've enjoyed you know you said that's why you can't you can't be like enjoying the accolades you know what i'm saying when i when i was youth director in in south central man i you know i feel like i was just living the life you know but one life but but they have those things called uh we call those things oh yeah yeah term limits you know and uh and so they said uh you're about to be the cyber school director for the conference sabbath school man i don't even go to cyber school oh y'all ain't listening to me probably listening to me you know so now you have this assignment yeah and you are angry you got to serve in adversity i mean you've got to get up and preach and and and declare sabbath school is the best thing that i mean i you know i don't know you know i don't know if we can talk frank here tonight but i'm just assuming go ahead sir go ahead and even if we can't you know say you know i'm going to be all right i continued yeah they're at cyber school on time talking about do you know that when i was extended a call to the north american division do you know what my assignment was they called me and said we want you to come and lead cyber school for young people that's my number one assignment we're assigning you to serve as the create the best cyber school program you can for the north american division teams wow now imagine had i not continued to serve in adversity wow assignment that i despised that's good that's good sir you know what i'm saying that's good but man i was faithful uh yeah the stages i mean stages at every round you know it seemed like it took a while to get higher and higher but it was it was you know halfway around it was getting higher you know you know what i'm saying and to the point where um you know i i was late tonight because we're planning a cyber school convention this coming weekend so you know my my thing is that if you if if you gonna do this thing you know and i just sent something to uh to to ivan and uh and and and noah if you want to permit me i promise i won't say nothing else but one of my favorite writers and no pun intended i hope nobody's offended but here's here's what my aunt says she says this train come on train and discipline the mind she says no matter who you are i wish i could throw it on the screen uh ivan no matter who you are the lord has blessed you with intellectual faculties capable of vast improvement so i remind our mind must grow there's absolutely nothing keeping us from having the the mind of christ all right she says this she says this cultivate your talents with persevering earnestness train and discipline the mind by study by observation by reflection you cannot meet the mind of god unless you put to use every power wow the mental faculties will strengthen and develop if you will go to work in the fear of god in humility and with earnest prayer yeah currency he's gone that was good man i said it again and i'm done i promise you the mental faculties will strengthen and develop if you will go to work in the fear of god in humility and with earnest prayer a resolute purpose will accomplish wonders wow yeah wow to god to god be the glory but that that was all i had uh uh i i just i i would go around and just ask everybody and your final remarks um to explain what you feel emptying yourself out looks like what to you what does if jesus in all power had to empty himself out to fulfill his assignment um and this is our model what does emptying your stuff out look like and i'll go around uh who's going to be the brave one dr ivan you want to go first you know i um i don't know that i have an answer other than it's a moment by moment day by day striving it is it ain't cookie cut it's not um because tuesday looks different than monday of emptying true that's good that's good i just say moment by moment day by day of striving praise god amen what about you pastor noah so the thing i thought about when you asked me that what does emptying out look like um i'm thinking about a cup and you're pouring the contents out you're pouring the contents out because you don't need what's in the cup anymore and so for me every day every morning when i go to god that's good whatever i thought i knew learned understood etc i'm pouring it out asking him to fill me up for another day so it's it's asking for another deposit of the spirit of god in my life that's good amen praise god pastor van dion i know you just fed us man but one one quick statement what is what is emptying yourself out look like permitting god to take out of me the stuff i want to keep that's good that's good praise god and what about you claudia emptying yourself out ah for me it's ego emptying out the ego emptying out the pride emptying out the part of me that believes i'm all that and and the bag of chips with a soda on the side and a platter of fried chicken um and being and being willing to say like like this verse you're emptying yourself out for a purpose instead of he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant so i'm not emptying myself out for nothing i'm emptying myself out intentionally because it is in being empty that i am a better vessel to be used by him praise god praise god and in my final statement and then i'll pass it to uh uh pastor uh washington uh emptying myself out i'ma go right where you were claudia that's what i was thinking he did it to take on the form of a servant servanthood has a form it has a structure it has a a type and so that means i can't just serve god the way i want to serve him i can't do what i want to do i can't live the way i want to live but i have to get into his structure and into his embodiment to be what he has called me to be and and that's how i emptied myself out pastor washington warren that's good we are never out of word it's always out of time and i love when i consider that defeater pass along and just receive um i don't know what it is man his excitement for the word is is exciting and it makes you want to go back to the word and be like i ain't read that i don't know that was even in there and um by god's grace if you were blessed this evening just throw some in the chat and say i was blessed and um i was encouraged to have the mind of christ and to to to kind of ride the train of what doc williams was saying lord give me the strength yes sir you even want the mind of christ because how many know sometimes you want to do what the mind of christ is telling you not to do am i about okay i'm by myself uh i'm by myself i'll take it i'll take that one on the chin but how many of us know that in order to be intentional and interpersonal interactions with people and have interest for other people and have investment in service and an interpersonal self-sacrifice it takes the mind of christ dot long thank you we were so blessed by the word tonight and uh before we end and we'll pray i just want to uh lift up we just got this word our sister monique smith lost her uncle kenneth and his funeral is next week thursday and so we want to remember uh monique smith her family in prayer as they funeralize her uncle how many are so tired of death it is too much death and disease and dis-ease in this season and i can't wait for the day when jesus says enough is enough and michael stands up and we learned this in the last series it's time to go home and so um let's get closer to jesus if you haven't learned anything else tonight let's just get closer to him sit at his feet that when jesus comes he will recognize us as the people that he's poured his spirit in father thank you for the word tonight thank you for using pass along to pour out that we might receive your word tonight and take on uh a different perspective that we might love people like you love them and that we may follow the father's will just like jesus did thank you for tonight is my prayer in jesus name amen before you leave tonight we want to remind you if you have not registered already we only have a certain amount of uh people because of our restrictions but if you're able to sign up for in-person service this sabbath as we continue this is a series the topic this week you don't want to miss how to have a powerful prayer life how many of us need that i know i do some of us ain't talked to god uh since last sabbath come on tell the truth same devil so listen this week this is us we're in person if you can't we'll see you virtually we got some stuff that's coming that's going to help us to be a lot more interactive as we seek to help all of us grow whether we're in the building whether we're virtual whether we can uh watch it on our tablet or on the screen we want to make sure that people of god are blessed and blessed in a wonderful way so god bless you we'll see you sabbath at 11 30 a.m eastern standard time don't miss another presentation of this is us god bless you until we meet again good night everybody good night good night bye good night all right good night good night

Channel: BrinklowSDA

Views: 246

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: oyW6xRDu6zg

Length: 77min 29sec (4649 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021