Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Mastering the Mind" by Neal Pollard

Transcript

"Mastering the Mind" by Neal Pollard · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

• 0:00
  The Center for Humane Technology is a project that was started by some people that you might
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  not think would do so.
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  These were some of the pioneers, some of those who were formidable in the early stages of
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  not just giving us the internet, but of giving us apps on our phones, smartphone technology,
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  and all that has come with that.
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  They began to see as they were developers and designers that there was an evolution
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  taking place that has continued to this very day.
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  That there was this attention-harvesting design in many of the apps and the notifications
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  that was taking place with the engineers and the programmers and developers on the other
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  side of your device.
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  And they began to notice some things about it.
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  That it began to deteriorate our ability to focus.
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  Began to weaken our real-life relationships.
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  And it began to affect our mental health.
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  Now there's a great many reasons why, and which we won't get into those today, but one
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  of the things that is driving all of this is a tale as old as time.
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  As former quarterback and UFL coach Rick Neuheisel likes to say, and I've repeated it before,
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  the answer is money.
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  Now what's your question?
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  You know, he is just repeating something that Solomon said a long time and exposing a belief
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  system that a lot of people have.
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  That money is the answer to everything, Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 19.
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  Now if I haven't thought about this, if time travel was possible and people from 25 or
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  30 years ago could come to us today and see our daily behaviors with our phones and our
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  tablets and our computers, they would believe that they had entered into a sci-fi horror
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  film.
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  The change would be so radical.
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  But we would begin to talk with them and we would walk through all of that and we would
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  say that really there has been an attempt to impact our values and to influence our
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  thinking that's ancient.
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  And we'd be right.
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  In fact, we would be echoing what the Apostle Paul writes a lot about when he writes that
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  second letter to the Corinthians.
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  As he speaks to them, he says that we are not ignorant of the devices, the schemes of
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  the devil.
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  We don't want him to take an advantage of us.
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  Second Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11 and that word schemes and designs is the word
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  that's ordinarily translated mind or thoughts in the New Testament.
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  And there's always this message that Paul's giving us this message in second Corinthians
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  that there is a force in this world, the devil, that would like to influence our minds and
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  by that shape the direction of our lives.
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  Why does that matter?
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  Verse 23 and verse 7, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
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  And as we consider that, the direction of our minds impacts the directions of our lives.
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  Jesus often taught this, if you think about it, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew
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  chapter 5 and verse 21, especially going through verse 32, he says that adultery and murder
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  begin in the heart as lust and hatred.
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  He would teach it again in Matthew chapter 12 in verse 34 and 35, he would say that out
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  of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks whether good or bad.
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  And then in Matthew chapter 15 verse 18 and 19, he says the things that come from within,
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  from the heart of men, these defile the man.
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  And we're talking about things like murder and adultery and fornication and evil thoughts
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  and slanders and false witnesses.
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  Matthew 15 verse 18 and verse 19.
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  The apostle Paul fleshes this out for us in 2 Corinthians and he says the one who would
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  like to shape the direction of your mind and thereby alter your destiny is at work.
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  In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 14, trying to harden the mind.
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  Chapter 4 and verse 4, he's trying to blind the mind.
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  Chapter 10 and verse 5, he's trying to capture the mind.
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  And chapter 11 and verse 3, he's trying to lead the mind astray.
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  And so since we see that there is this battle going on, whether we find ourselves thinking
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  of ourselves as engaged in that, as in fighting that, it's taking place all the time.
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  It's not just a matter of technology and even smart technology.
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  It's something that has always been a challenge.
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  But as it always is, when we're facing some challenge that would keep us from living with
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  God forever, which is what He wants, God is going to give us the counterbalance.
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  He is going to tell us how to master the mind.
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  When we consider that the culture is trying to impress us with its message, that religious
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  error is trying to sell us on its message, that sometimes at our worst we're even selling
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  ourselves within the body of Christ on a message that's just not so.
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  And Christ would say, I want to be, as your master, the master of your mind.
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  How can we master our minds in a world that's trying to do that for us?
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  I want us to just notice, and we can't be exhausted, but I want to point into a couple
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  of areas and see how the New Testament tells us that we can master our minds.
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  In the first place, if we're going to master our minds, we've got to wake up.
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  Now when we think about this, Paul is going to make that point in 1 Corinthians chapter
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  15.
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  But he's going to talk about the fact that if we want to wake up spiritually, we've got
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  to realize that what makes this possible is the fact that Jesus Christ woke.
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  He came up out of the grave.
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  He was dead physically, and he lives again.
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  And Paul says, I deliver this unto you as a matter of first importance.
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  He says that the gospel which I preached unto you, which you believe wherein you stand and
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  by which you are saved, if you continue in this message, lest you have believed in vain.
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  For I delivered unto you that first of all which I received of the Lord, how that Christ
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  died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
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  the third day according to the Scriptures.
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  First Corinthians 15 verse 1 through 4.
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  This is, this fact is the ultimate game changer.
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  It spells the difference between hope and no hope.
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  It's the difference between life and death, and Paul says this ought to make a difference
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  in your daily life.
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  If you believe and you live your life on the fact that Jesus is alive, then you're going
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  to make sure that you don't see life as just one party to go to, and you don't associate
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  yourselves with folks who think that way, verse 32 and 33.
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  And he says, in summary, you don't give your life to willful sin, verse 34.
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  In order to keep that from happening, what he says is, you've got to awake to righteousness,
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  verse 34.
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  You've got to awaken from your drunken stupor, the ESV would say.
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  Other versions say it different ways.
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  Some might say, return to your right mind, snap out of it.
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  There is an attempt being made by the great adversary for us to fall asleep, to fall under
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  the sway and the spell of the evil one, to have our values distorted, and so what Paul
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  says is, because we want to be raised with him in glory at the end, we want to be a participant
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  in the victory, we've got to make sure that we are not being rocked to sleep.
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  When I thought about this and was studying 1 Corinthians 15, I don't know where your
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  mind might naturally go, and I'm not sure this is the natural place, but I thought about
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  Aladdin, the movie.
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  We were young parents when that movie came out, and of all the characters you may be
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  thinking of, I couldn't help but think about Jafar, Jafar and the sultan, and you remember
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  how the sultan was being mesmerized by Jafar, he was the grand vizier and he had that snake
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  staff and he would hold it up and the otherwise somewhat rational sultan would come under
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  his spell, and it seems to be symbolic, you know, we think about that, and I don't know
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  how you felt, but as I watched that I was like, come on man, can't you see what's happening?
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  Break the spell!
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  But it was others too.
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  I thought, even today, we can find ourselves under the spell.
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  We can become mind-numb robots and not even know that it's taking place.
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  You know, if you think about the device that really, they really figured it out to put
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  it all in one little small place where you can get everything, do you have some way to
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  keep up with how much time you're spending on your phone every day?
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  Do you know how many times you get notifications from the different apps?
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  How many times have you checked the notifications since the sermon began?
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  You see, there are ways for us to really dial in and ask ourselves, am I going to sleep?
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  But this is about more than technology.
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  The devil doesn't care what kind of way that he does this.
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  All he wants us to do is to be rocked to sleep spiritually because in the end that's what's
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  going to matter.
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  And so what Paul is saying, moved by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 34 is, snap
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  out of it, return to your right mind, wake up.
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  And so Christ can be the master of your mind.
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  Then we go to a different passage and we see another principle that's given to us and that
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  is that if we are going to master our minds, we've got, not only wake up, but we've got
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  to renew our minds.
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  In Paul's transition in the book of Romans, after he has taught us the facts of the gospel
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  and what it should mean in our lives, in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 he says, and be not
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  conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may
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  prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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  We often talk about transformation, and we'll say a word about that in just a moment, but
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  it's a very fascinating word, that word renew.
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  Did you realize there aren't a lot of these words, but this is one of those words that
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  doesn't appear outside of ancient Christian literature.
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  It's a word that's found here and then it's found in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5.
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  And Titus in Titus 3 and verse 5 says that you were baptized and you were born again
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  and then you were renewed by the Holy Spirit.
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  The word indicates this idea of being new and improved.
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  And when we become Christians, we are given the opportunity to be new and improved.
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  So how do we renew our minds according to this passage?
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  In the first place, we're transformed.
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  Have you seen the Chair Tachi commercials?
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  I mean if you're ever on YouTube, it seems like maybe it's just my demographic.
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  They say these older guys, you know, here's what can happen, is that you give us 30 days,
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  you disappear for a month, and you spend 7 minutes a day, and when your friends and family
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  see you again, you're going to be a different person, you're going to be totally transformed.
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  And I admit to being a little skeptical over the fact that you can have so much change
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  in so little time with so little effort, and yet it's a principle in a much more deliberate
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  way what Paul says in Romans chapter 12.
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  He says you can change.
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  You can become something different by the renewing of your mind.
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  What a beautiful thought.
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  We all struggle with something.
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  Maybe you struggle with using angry words.
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  Maybe you have an explosive temper, but you can be transformed.
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  You can become patient, and you can become kind.
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  You may have a sharp tongue, and you may have a criticism ready.
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  You may be a negative person.
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  You think about all the behaviors, and the Gospel has the power to change that, and you
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  can become somebody different.
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  Think about people who obey the Gospel who are totally transformed over the process of
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  time as their mind is renewed.
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  Paul is writing to some of them in Ephesians chapter 4.
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  He says, This I say, therefore, in testifying the Lord, that you no longer walk like the
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  other Gentiles walked in the vanity of their minds according to the darkness or the blindness
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  of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work
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  all uncleanness with greediness.
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  But you have not so learned the Lord, if in fact you have learned and received the truth
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  as the truth is in Christ Jesus, that according to the old man, that you put away the old
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  man with a lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new
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  man who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
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  Renewing your mind means holiness and righteousness, and the good and acceptable and the perfect
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  will of God.
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  It's not just an ideal you read in the Bible, it is a reality that can happen in your life.
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  You renew your mind by letting the Gospel transform you, but you also prove what is
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  the will of God.
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  All these behaviors that we've talked about, that the master of this world would like us
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  to fall prey to, they just prove what our will is.
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  But when we live according to the pattern of those behaviors that he calls for, we can
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  prove what the will of God is.
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  And when we prove what the will of God is, think about the change that occurs in our
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  lives.
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  We no longer have to curate the perfect life that makes the others the envy of us, or we
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  no longer find ourselves trying to be the envy of others, or we no longer try to play
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  the comparison game.
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  We want to prove what God's will is by the way that it's making a difference in our lives.
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  Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, the God of this world wants to blind the minds
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  of those who believe.
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  But when we let the master be the one who masters our mind, and he shows us in Scripture,
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  we renew our minds.
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  Second and third, we want to master our minds, we've got to think the best of each other.
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  This is a phenomenon that has intensified in the last 10 to 15 years.
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  If you look at social media and internet websites, they will have you believe that we could not
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  be more different from one another.
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  They want to highlight how divided we are.
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  Did you know that study after study and proof after proof have shown us that we are not
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  nearly as divided as the internet would like us to think that we are.
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  But as the result of, and listen, here's the point, there is an intentional effort going
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  on to divide us.
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  We have kind of dropped into these two silos, these echo chambers, where we hold each other
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  in resentment and anger.
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  And we see each other as enemies from one another.
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  And think about some of the big issues in the last 5 to 10 years.
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  COVID, elections and politics, immigration, and AI.
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  Man, the most extreme views, and listen, the answer is money.
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  Now, what's your question?
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  There are advertisers who would like to see us divided from one another.
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  And the more divided we are, the more we are prey to what they would like to do to make
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  money for them because we're going to have to support our cause and our belief system
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  is going to be shaped so that we do those things.
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  But what it's also doing is it's changing the fundamental way that we look at one another.
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  You know what I've seen through all of this?
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  In some instances, Christians are just as ready to sling the mud and get as dirty as
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  the world does and to carry out that battle in such a public way.
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  We begin to think the worst of one another.
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  We begin to assume about others.
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  You know, so often a world that is looking for hope, that feels hopeless, has watched
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  us as we have fought against one another on things as inconsequential to this life as
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  what heaven is going to be like.
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  We label people false teachers without the benefit of facts at all.
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  We hold one another in suspicion and we carry the idea that you are guilty until proven
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  innocent.
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  That's the world.
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  But if we're going to master our minds, then Scripture tells us, not just in 1 Corinthians
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  13 and telling us that love thinks no evil of one another, but look at how Paul calls
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  the Christian community to give the world an alternative.
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  Be of the same mind toward one another, Romans chapter 12 in verse 16.
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  Philippians chapter 2 in verse 2.
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  We are to be like-minded, having the same mind one of another.
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  You know, one of the things that makes it harder for us to be of the same mind to one
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  another is when we do kind of go off into our own tribes.
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  If we're not talking to one another, if we're not spending time with one another, if we're
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  not involved in each other's lives, we begin to draw conclusions about the words and about
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  the actions, even the facial expressions of one another.
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  And the way we solve that is by spending time engaged in each other's lives.
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  And Paul says, if you want to master the mind, stop wondering what other people are thinking.
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  Engage them.
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  And by that, we can tear down that barrier that the devil wants to use to keep us divided.
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  And so, if we're going to master our minds, we've got to think the best of each other.
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  But then forth, if we are going to master our minds, we need to elevate our perspective.
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  Colossians also divides in two, and Colossians 3 in verse 1, after dealing with the fact
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  that Christ is better than all, how does that change my life every day?
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  How does that change my mind and my thinking?
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  Paul says, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
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  sits at the right hand of God, set your affections on things above, and not on things of this
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  earth.
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  You know, there is a British painter by the name of Arnold Hughes who has created a type
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  of painting known as reverse perspective.
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  You're seeing an example of it right there.
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  Reverse perspective has this effect that if you're looking at the painting, the thing
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  that is actually the farthest away is painted so that it looks like it's the closest to
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  you.
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  And the thing that's closest to you is painted in such a way that it seems like it's farther
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  away from you.
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  And the way that you can interpret or read that painting is you look at it very closely
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  and you'll see that it's three-dimensional.
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  And if you'll look, turn your head just slightly, you can see that there's depth and even sometimes
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  this seeming movement.
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  Did you know that the Bible tells us that we've got to live with reverse perspective?
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  When we look at this life, what we can see, what seems so up close to us is the physical
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  things.
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  The things of the here and the now.
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  And the thing that's harder for us, all of us, to see are the things that we can only
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  see by faith and by hope.
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  And so Paul says we walk by faith and not by sight, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
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  7.
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  We orient our mind and our thinking, looking for and searching for what we've got to wait
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  to the end of this life in order to see.
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  We've got to elevate our perspective and see past this life and to see toward the life
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  which is to come.
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  But then if we are going to master our minds, we've got to prepare our minds.
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  In 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13, Peter says, prepare your minds for action, keeping sober
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  and fixing your hope completely on the hope that is to be revealed at the revelation of
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  Jesus Christ.
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  Now your version might say, gird up the loins of your mind.
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  And I found out that this is actually a saying they used in the ancient world.
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  It was a very simple principle.
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  It was, before you ever leave the house, make sure that you're dressed.
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  I wonder sometimes when I go into some of the grocery stores if folks even know that
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  passage is in the Bible.
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  But this is talking about something far more important than that.
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  This is saying, before you leave this life, make sure that you are properly dressed.
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  And the way that you do that is you prepare your mind for action.
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  How do you do that, Peter?
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  He gives two principles there in the verse.
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  He says, first of all, you keep sober.
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  And what's remarkable to me is that whenever that idea of being sober appears for us in
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  1 Peter, it's always connected to the end of all things.
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  In fact, that's what he says in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7.
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  Keep sober.
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  Again, that idea of alertness in view of the end of all things.
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  He says, keep sober because your adversary the devil is walking about as a roaring lion
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  seeking whom he may devour.
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  First Peter chapter 5 and verse 8.
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  And then there's this idea of fixing your hope.
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  And every time the word hope is found in 1 Peter, it's connected to the resurrection
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  of Jesus Christ.
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  Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of the Lord
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  Jesus Christ who has made us born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
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  Christ from the dead.
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  And then in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 20 and 21, Christ was ordained from the foundation
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  of the world to be the sacrifice for us that our hope may be in God.
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  That's a resurrection passage.
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  How about 1 Peter 3.15, be ready to give an answer.
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  That's tied to the reality that Christ is no longer dead, 1 Peter 3.15 and 18.
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  And right here is the same idea that by having a hope in the resurrection of Christ, it keeps
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  your mind prepared for the action that you need to take in this life.
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  Then as we think about what scripture says, we master the mind by remembering what matters.
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  Peter emphasizes knowledge in the second letter that he writes in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse
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  1.
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  And he says, I want to stir up your sincere minds by way of reminder.
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  When I consider this, he says, I know I'm about to fold this tent and I want you to
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  have a remembrance after I've left, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13.
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  We all have some system of remembering or either that or we go through life with chaos.
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  We have to have some way to capture that.
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  Maybe it's a physical calendar, a planner, or maybe it's on Google calendar or Apple
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  calendar or maybe you write it on your hand or you have some way so that you remember.
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  You don't want to forget.
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  Peter's saying on the thing that matters the most.
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  If you want to master your mind, you've got to keep thinking about what matters the most.
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  Some of these things are going to pass away.
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  A lot of what we worry about is not going into eternity with us, but there are some
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  things that will matter beyond this life and don't forget those.
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  And he tells us what they are in verse 2.
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  He says they are the commandments of the prophets and of us, the apostles of Jesus Christ.
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  To me, that's the Old Testament and the New Testament.
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  It's anything that matters, I find it, and we've got to be reminded.
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  We keep going through the same spiritual disciplines.
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  We keep teaching the same fundamental subjects because we never grow beyond our need for it.
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  Because maybe the truth of the gospel hits us at some future place where we're not where
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  we are right now.
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  Or maybe we're going to encounter something and we've never thought deeply about what
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  scripture says about something until we go through that crisis, that thing.
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  That we maybe become different people and so the truth is going to hit us maybe at a
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  deeper level.
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  But if you live for 50 or 75 more years, you're going to have to continue to dig and to study
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  and to remind yourself of what matters.
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  I love the song that says, I love to tell the story for those who know it best.
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  I'm hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest and when in scenes of glory I sing
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  the new, new songs will be the old, old story that I have loved so long.
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  Some of the best students of the Bible that I've ever known have gray hair and wrinkled
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  skin.
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  They've read it and they've read it and they've read it and yet they continue to hunger for
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  it because they realize their need of it.
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  And as we all are at some stage of development, what God wants us to do if we're going to
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  master our minds is remember what's going to last and what's not.
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  What means something and what really in the grand scheme of things is irrelevant.
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  Studies are beginning to expose the idea that the so-called Gary Project started 120 years
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  ago in Gary, Indiana and it was a fundamental attempt, it was the first of many, to try
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  to shift the focus in education from reading, writing, and arithmetic to progressive ideology.
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  Many people say that the internet and social media is just a place to get information and
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  just to entertain ourselves.
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  It is not a place that's really having an impact on our thinking and shaping our values.
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  We could cite all kind of studies that would show the contrary to that, but here's one
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  thing that we know for sure.
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  Something will master our minds.
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  In Romans chapter 8, verse 5-8, Paul sets up the contrast, he says, our minds can be
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  set on the flesh or our minds can be set on the spirit, but the mind that's set on the
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  flesh is death, but the mind that is set on the spirit is life and peace, for the mind
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  set on the flesh is hostile against God and cannot submit itself to the will of God.
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  Those that are in the flesh cannot please God.
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  God's telling us this because he knows that there are forces that would like, and it has
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  always been that way, to master our minds, and we've got to be the master of our minds
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  by letting the master master our minds.
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  You know, I don't know how you think about your thoughts.
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  There's two theories about that, that the mind is like one big boulder.
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  If you're going to change your mind, you've got to lift that big heavy boulder and you've
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  got to put it where it needs to be, but I like the theory that says that your mind is
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  really made up of millions of rocks, and what you're doing is you're trying to move a pile
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  of those rocks from one place to the other, and you do that one rock at a time, but we
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  are slowly becoming the process of what we tell ourselves and what we're thinking.
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  I know who the preacher is that you listen to the most.
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  It's not Hiram, it's not me, it's not anybody else, it's you.
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  You are constantly saying things to yourself in your head.
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  All of us do.
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  The question is, what are you saying to yourself?
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  Is what you are saying to yourself, what you're preaching to yourself, does it harmonize with
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  what God's will has to say?
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  When it comes to your spiritual direction, is what you're saying matching up with what
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  His Word is saying?
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  And that can go one of two ways.
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  You can be churning and beating yourself up and saying that you're just not right, you'll
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  never be good enough when what Scripture says is that Christ was good enough, and as a result
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  of that, you can be made right in the eyes of God, that you don't need to be held captive
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  to your past and your sins, because those things have been forgiven.
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  You can put it behind you and you can be restored and you can begin life anew.
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  It's dangerous for us to listen to that.
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  It's also dangerous to listen to ourselves telling ourselves, I'm okay, I can stay here
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  a little while longer, I've got time, it's going to be okay.
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  You know what, God loves me, because I'm me, and I'm going to be fine.
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  The message going on inside of us needs to be His message.
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  His message is simple.
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  God did what we couldn't do for ourselves, and having done that, He asks us to do what
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  all of us can do, and respond to what He did by doing what we must.
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  And what we must do is be obedient to Him, to believe that Christ is the Son of God and
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  the Savior, to repent of sins and to be baptized, to have those sins washed away, to be buried
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  with Him in baptism, to rise, to walk in newness of life, to be added to the body of Christ.
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  You know, there's a song we used to sing, I don't think it's the song of invitation
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  today, Only a Step.
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  It can be very difficult to take that step, but if we're thinking the way we should, if
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  there's a reason for us to take a step, we wouldn't let anything keep us from doing that.
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  If you're a child of God who needs to take that step, to make some changes, to make things
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  right, we want to give you that opportunity.
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  Jeremy's going to lead the song he's selected to encourage and invite us, if we need to
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  publicly respond, to do so right now as we stand and sing.