Sunday, January 15, 2017 - A Renewal of Our Minds
Pastor Roger Marcos
January 15, 2017
Renewal begins by offering up our whole body, soul, mind and spirit to the Lord. It takes a conscious effort to present oneself to the Lord by disciplining ourselves for godliness.
Paul urges us to be present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Every day we are required to re-surrender, re-submit and realign our mind, will and emotions with the purposes of God. Set aside at least fifteen minutes every morning to worship, pray and read the Bible to allow the Lord speak to you about how He is worthy of your re-surrendering yourself to Him afresh every day.
The average brain weighs about three pounds - It contains 12 billion cells.
Each one of these cells is connected to 10,000 other brain cells, totaling 120 trillion brain connections.
Dr. Duane Gish has observed that “the human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe.”
Some have compared the brain to a sophisticated computer, but technology still has a long way to go before it can duplicate the brain’s capabilities.
The brain is not only the most complex mechanism in the world; it is the most influential organ in your body.
It accounts for your ability to think, remember, love, hate, feel, reason, imagine and analyze.
Everything we see, hear, touch and smell is recorded on the lobes of the brain.
Your brain elevates you high above the animal kingdom - It literally sustains your life. If your brain dead, you are dead because the brain supervises everything you do from the involuntary beat of your heart to the conscious decisions of daily life.
Proverbs 23:7 summarizes so well the over-arching significance of the mind as far as God is concerned in this poetic declaration:
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. - Proverbs 23:7a (NASB)
- We may rightly conclude that the human mind is the single most important entity in Creation - for as it goes, so goes the person and the society in which he/she lives.
The degree to which we attain the mind of Christ will determine the quality of life we enjoy as well as the eternity we will experience.
When we train our minds to become like the mind of Christ Himself we will find ourselves well on the way to personal renewal, because we will begin to think, act and do things like Jesus Himself.
- Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. - Romans 12:2 (NLT)
- The point of this is simple - the pattern of conformity to the world is broken and a person’s life is transformed only if and when the mind is renewed.
Don't be discouraged if your desire isn't very strong right now. As you learn more about Jesus and the Christian life, your desire will grow stronger.
- Our thinking may be dominated by the Holy Spirit or the evil one.
- We make the determination - we give the permission - we exercise the control.
- Our thought life is the real battleground - it is in our thinking that the most basic spiritual struggle takes place.
THE GOAL: TO OBTAIN THE MIND OF CHRIST.
- We’ve talked about personal renewal through the Holy Spirit, and through Vision- now is the clincher - if we are going to be thoroughly and completed renewed, OUR mind must be like Christ’s mind.
- There are three things I need to do continuously for that to happen.
1. I NEED TO KNOW CHRIST.
- When Paul writes to the Corinthian church He mentions the deep secrets of God and quotes the prophets to show that no one can really know the depths of God’s mind - yet there is one exception to this rule - those who have the Spirit of God can understand the mind of God.
- He puts it like this: "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?" But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ. - 1 Corinthians 2:16
- This “mind of Christ” that Paul talks about is able to discern the things that God Himself is thinking.
- This, to me, is one of the most astounding statements in the Scriptures - that I, a mere human being, have the ability to understand what God is thinking.
- This promise is not made to just anyone, but only to those that know Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
- In fact, just a couple verses earlier Paul stated this:
- People who aren't Christians can't understand these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. - 1 Corinthians 2:14
- While the concept here is profound, my point is very simple - to possess the mind of Christ we begin by knowing Christ through the salvation experience.
If you are a Christ follower you can have the mind of Christ.
2. I NEED TO SURRENDER CONTROL.
And that is because I know this is probably the biggest hindrance to most of us experiencing personal renewal.
- We allow many things to control us - sin, our schedules, our friends, our culture, but for some reason we have trouble allowing God to control us.
- If we just cut to the chase here, we need to recognize that someone or something is going to control our minds - and it is up to us to decide who or what it will be.
- There are really only two choices - our sinful nature or God.
- If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. - Romans 8:6
Call God: Jer. 33:3- "Call to me and I will answer you, and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. " Jeremiah 33:3
"For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God." Romans 8:7-8 NLT.
- Until I surrender control of my mind over to the Holy Spirit I will not be able to possess the mind of Christ in all of its fullness.
- This mind of Christ that the Bible talks about is something that seems to move in and out of our possession in varying degrees.
- Let’s put it this way: When I am fully surrendered to God I am able to discern His will and His way with clarity and precision.
(God) cannot bless us unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There's no bargaining with Him. - C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”
If we are going to exist in the heavenly realms, thinking heavenly thoughts, and being able to discern the heavenly mind of God, I must give up the sinful nature which is controlling me - I do that, when I let go and let God take over.
3. I NEED TO WAGE WAR WITH EVIL.
- Some in our modern culture have trouble accepting the fact that there really is a Satan, and that there really is a demonic army that exists in the unseen world.
- I even hear Christians sometimes making light of these things as if they are too sophisticated to take such a view of the supernatural world.
- Those who deny these beings exist are the most vulnerable to their attacks.
- The most volatile battle zone in which Satan wages war is the battlefield of the mind
- the last thing that he wants is for us to possess the mind of Jesus Christ.
- He attacks us through words that cause us to doubt the God we worship.
- He attacks us through circumstances that leave us vulnerable and weak.
- Sometimes his attacks are successful and cause us to give in to his purposes.
- .there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. - Romans 7:23-25
- Paul describes his internal struggle as a “war with my mind.”
- It is a war that we are all too familiar with - but what can we do? How can we overcome? How can we win when Satan is bombarding us?
THE OUTCOME: PERSONAL RENEWAL
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we are in agreement with God’s Vision, and are in possession of the Mind of Christ, we will experience personal renewal at a level we have never even imagined before.
- And what is the result? Three things I’m going to give you very quickly.
1. SATAN IS DEFEATED.
- Through personal renewal, relying on God’s power, I can completely and utterly destroy the work of Satan in my life.
- That doesn’t mean I won’t be tempted, but the temptation will not be given into because I am now experiencing something much greater than anything Satan has to offer me. Remember, only God can turn a MESS into MESSAGE, A TEST, in a TESTIMONY, A TRIAL, into a TRIUMPH.
2. GUILT IS REMOVED.
- Keep me from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. - Psalms 19:13
- How would it feel to go through life with absolutely no guilt on your conscience?
- We can know exactly what it feels like when we have been renewed.
- God promises us that not only will every sin be wiped from our record, but that the guilt will go out the door right along with it.
3. GOD’S WILL IS DISCERNED
- The closer I walk with God, the more I know God, the more I know God, the better I understand God, the better I understand God, the more I think like God, and the more I think like God, the more able I am to discern His will.
WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST I AM FREE TO BE THE PERSON GOD CREATED ME TO BE
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. Jn. 3:36
Salvation Is Free!