On Eagles' Wings Pt 54 — Don Courville

Well, it's good to be with you again today on Eagle's Wings. We trust that God will use this in your life to encourage you to walk by faith. Remember the scripture says in Psalms 91, 4, He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.

Israel's Deliverance and God's Provision

His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Is the Word of God your shield? Is it the thing that strengthens you and holds you up? You've seen what I did unto the Egyptians, Acts 19, 4, and how I bare you on eagles wings and brought you unto myself.

One of the most beautiful illustrations of the grace of God to me is what God did with Israel in Egypt, how he brought them out of bondage and sustained them and carried them through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land.

He did it. He gave them water, he gave them manna, and they had God. That's all they needed. He revealed himself to them. And then the amazing thing is he brought them up to the land of Canaan, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, showed it to them and they wouldn't go in.

They wouldn't accept it. And that's just the way it is with the cross. The Lord Jesus at the cross sets us free from the bondage. Just as the Egyptians were the taskmasters over Israel and the Israelites were under their dictatorship and their rule.

And then when God moved in and set them free, they were free. They walked out free and they walked out rich. And that's the way it is with us. When you receive Christ as your Savior, you're set free from the old taskmaster Satan.

He's no more the one that's to run your life. And you're free and God will supply all your needs. And he will lead you. Oh, at Calvary, there was a wonderful thing done for us. Where the blood of Christ was shed, we were set free and we can stay free.

Returning to Bondage Through the Mind

But so many times we go back and we give ground to Satan. It would be just like an Israelite walking back into the camp of Egypt and saying, I want to be a brickmaker again. Well, you'd say, that's crazy.

When he was free, he had all the riches, all the food he needed. He had God. Why would he want to go back? I don't know. But many Christians go back into bondage and when they're free and they go back, I don't know.

But I'll tell you one thing, I'm learning that one reason that we go back is because we give ground to Satan in our mind and our thoughts. I want to take some time before I go in farther into this program to share some verses with you that I've looked up on thoughts and this is sort of going to be a continuation of what we did last week.

I didn't get finished with some of the things I wanted to share with you. And I trust that God's using this to encourage you and if you want to talk to me, I'm going to be back down into the Joplin, Missouri area sometime around this week when you're hearing this and I don't know, I might get back sooner than this, but if you'd like to talk with me, you write and the letter will be there at the radio station and I'll pick it up and I'll give you a call and maybe we can even get together.

I don't know how much time I'll have down there. But let me tell you, God is working in certain areas of the country. And our family, my whole family, we're dedicated to just doing what God wants. Our ministry is to encourage churches and pastors and believers in Jesus Christ.

We are specially burdened for families and the church that we're moving into now, our new assignment, God the Holy Spirit has led us and it's nothing that we planned, it's something that he designed and he led us and we were praying and fasting and seeking him as to his direction and he led us to go into this church that's experienced revival.

I've shared with you about this church and how a thousand, around a thousand prayed earlier this spring to receive Christ during a ten week meeting. And now there's believers, new believers all over the place and people are getting saved by the family since the revival meetings.

This is continuing on. And this is the thing that we're looking for is true revival. God bring in a church back to life again. Revival means life again. And we get into bondage and we're excited about what God's doing and we want to see it in your life.

We want to see it in your church. We want to see it in your family. Oh, we have a burden for families. That the Father would be the leader in the family. That he would lead the family. We've accepted thoughts and things that are not right.

David's Prayer for a Clean Heart and Mind

In Psalms 139, verse 23, David said, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Can I have a word of prayer with you?

Heavenly Father, my prayer is that you would search our hearts this morning. That you would know my thoughts and that you would see if there be any wicked way in me and that you'd lead me in the way everlasting.

And I pray this for those that are listening, that we would just take time this morning to let God speak to us. Holy Spirit, do that which you want. And my prayer is that we would be able to hear you speak to us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. What have you been thinking lately? Where have your thoughts been? You know, if you spend a lot of time watching a lot of TV and the entertainment that's put on TV, your thoughts are going to be garbage.

Guarding the Mind From Worldly Influences

Your mind is going to be so full of pornography, bad language, bad philosophies, bad ideas, and by the way, parents, if your children are watching a lot of cartoons, they're picking up a lot of satanic stuff.

A lot of satanic doctrine is being taught, especially Saturday mornings. It's almost total. I wouldn't say all of it, but I would say almost all of it is New Age satanic thoughts and philosophies and the toys and the stores, the comic books.

It's all filled with occultic material. And these things are going into our children's minds if we let them read it. We need to be careful. They're going to be turning against Christ. Isaiah said in Isaiah 65 verse 2, I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts.

We need to come to the point where our thoughts are God's thoughts. This was the thing that the Jews were thrown about Jesus Christ. They thought he was coming up with stuff just from himself, but it was from God, the Father, through God, the Holy Spirit, to God, the Son, to them.

And they were caught up in their own thoughts and philosophies and traditions and ideas, and Jesus caught them that way. And those that were honest enough to realize their position that they were wrong, turned to Christ and were saved.

And those that didn't, missed out. I want to turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and invite you to follow along with me as I share a few things with you this morning about our thoughts, about our mind.

You know, one of the main definitions on thoughts is it's a perception, it's a purpose, it's the intellect, the mind, the disposition or will, what you will or will not do. One of the main verses, that's from 2 Corinthians 10.

I'll just share a few verses on this thought where it's the intellect, your mind. In 2 Corinthians chapter, let's start off with 3 and verse 14 and just work through Corinthians a little bit and maybe pick up a few more.

The Blinding of the Mind and the Need for Conversion

But in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 14, when Moses was dealing with Israel, Moses, remember he put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel cannot steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.

But it says, Do you know that your mind can be blinded from truth, from receiving the truth? You may be driving down the road or sitting in your church this morning and you think you're saved, but you've been deceived into thinking that you had this experience or you did this or that, but you've never personally repented of your sins and invited Jesus Christ to come into your life and be your Savior.

You've been deceived into thinking that you're saved. I was like that for many years. For almost 10 years I thought I was saved because I did this certain thing in church. But after I went off to college, I began to get very uneasy with life.

It had no meaning to me, no purpose. Why should I just go to college and make a lot of money and be miserable like a lot of other people? This was the thing, you've got to go to college so you can get these degrees, so you can make a lot of money.

And I began to think, why? So I can be miserable like you? And God brought me to Himself and I was saved. I didn't even know what was happening. But I do know that I was cleansed. I felt clean. And afterwards I realized I was saved at that point.

Not back years earlier when I had that experience, but I was saved when Jesus Christ became my life. But their minds were blinded. Over in 2 Corinthians 4, in verse 4, it says, in verse 3 starting there, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.

Are you lost? You say, no, I'm not lost. I'm a pastor, or I'm a deacon, or I go to church, or I'm a religious. I'm not anti-God. I believe in God. None of those things guarantee that you're saved. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them.

Has the God of this world blinded your mind? You say, I've got my church. Well, that's fine. Jesus Christ is to be the head of the church, the head of your life. But is He your Savior? You know, you can go to church all your life and not be saved.

You say, well, I was baptized. Well, that's fine. Baptism is identification with Christ. We receive Christ as our Savior, then we're baptized. But baptism doesn't save you. It's trust in the blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross for your sins, and the blood alone will save you.

It's not the blood plus your works, because the Bible says not by works that we've done. For by grace do you save through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God and not of works. Why? Well, God says, so no one's going to boast.

You get to heaven, you're there by the grace of God. What God did for you on the cross of Calvary. Has your mind been deceived? Have you received thoughts that were not scriptural, in whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them?

Can I say this to you very clearly? God only has one way for you to get to heaven, and that way is very simply for you to come to the point to where you realize that your loss, that your sin, has separated you from God.

And the wages of sin is death. That means when you die, your physical death, you go to a spiritual death, which is hell. Jesus taught us about hell. Jesus came down out of heaven, which was God in the flesh.

First Timothy 3 .16 tells us that God was manifest in the flesh. He came down and He died on the cross to pay the price for your sins, so that you could be forgiven and cleansed. And when you die, or when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us away in the air, you can go to be with Him.

Are you trusting in yourself? Are you trusting in the blood of Jesus to get you to heaven? I talked with a certain man this last week. He was a priest of a certain denomination, and he didn't know who I was.

I happened to be doing something that would have disguised me from a preacher. And I never did tell him who I was or what I did. I just happened to be doing some painting for somebody, because I enjoy that.

And I do that whenever I can. And I do some carpenter work. You might find me up on a roof somewhere. I love to get out and just be with people. And I don't tell them I'm a preacher. I'm just me. I love Jesus, and I want to tell them about Jesus.

And just talk to them about Jesus. Let's not talk about preachers or churches. Let's talk about Jesus. Anyway, he came by, and we got to talking, and I got to asking him some questions, and he got to thinking.

And I asked deeper questions, and he got to thinking deeper. And his answers were foggy. And if I'd asked another priest in his particular denomination, I'm sure I would have got maybe different answers.

He didn't know what he believed. He didn't know how you were saved. He didn't know that you could have eternal life. He didn't know what the Scripture said. And I'm not saying this to really knock him or his denomination or anything, but he just didn't know.

His mind had been blinded, and I told him I loved him. And I wasn't talking to condemn him or anything. I told him, I love you, because Jesus loves you. And I'm praying for him. I'm praying that God will open up his mind.

Our churches are full of folks that their minds have been blinded to think that they're saved, and he thought he was saved by what he would do, and that God would accept him because of what he's done.

My friend, that's a lie. We've accepted the lie of Satan when we believe that. Let me share another verse with you. If you turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 3, in the area of our warfare, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.

Spiritual Warfare and Taking Thoughts Captive

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Can I share a little story with you? For years and years and years, I thought that I was supposed to go off to school and to get these degrees, and my goal was to get a doctor's degree, and whether I got it or not, you'll probably never find out.

I don't talk about my degrees, and I don't talk very much about schools I went to. If you get around me, you'll find that I don't do that. I used to. I had a desire for education. Now, why did I have that?

I had that because I had received into my mind these thoughts that were put in there by family, to be honest with you. I didn't need education. What I needed was Jesus. But I had these thoughts in there that told me, and I thought that I needed education.

And so I went off after education, and I've been to a few schools. But that didn't give me what I needed. What I needed was Jesus, and what that gave me was a lot of misery and a lot of discomfort and a lot of expense.

Now, I'm not knocking education. I believe it's important. But we need to remember that knowledge puffs up, and if we don't get wisdom with our education, we're just going to have a lot of knowledge. I believe personally that through the Word of God, we can have a lot of knowledge and wisdom at the same time, knowing what to do with that knowledge, and it can be very helpful.

I think we need to be careful that our children, in getting knowledge, also get wisdom. But anyway, this led me down a path, a path that was designed for destruction, and except that God intercepted in that path and showed me that what I needed was Jesus, and just Jesus alone, I would have gone down an empty path.

And just to show you that this is what many Christians have also gone down, I think I might have shared this story before you. I was preaching with you, I was preaching down in the south, Forest Hill, Louisiana one time, in a Baptist church down there, filling in for the fill-in.

And some of the people, it was a put-together thing real quick, the other speaker who was supposed to be filling in for the pastor couldn't make it, and so my pastor knew I was available, and he got me in there in the last moment, and so I went in there and preached.

Now, I remember what I preached, or whatever, all I remember is what happened after I preached. And what happened was, I was up in the front of the church, and these two ladies came down, and they said, Oh, Dr. So-and-so, I don't even remember the name they used, that was so wonderful, such a wonderful message, and a few other flattering things, and then I cut in and I said, Well, I'm sorry ladies, but I'm not Dr. So-and-so.

And they said, Oh. And then their jaws dropped, and then they just turned and walked away from me. Now, that really impressed me, and I've shared that with you before, I'm sure. Well, what were they after?

Do you think it was a respecter of persons? They never even thought to ask me, Well, are you a doctor? Do you have a doctor's degree, so we can be impressed with you now, that you're not who we thought you were?

They never even considered that. How much have we accepted thoughts and philosophies, and I'm not knocking doctor's degrees. I think that's important. In the right time and the right place. But a degree in the religious field, if a man has a doctor's degree, doesn't mean that he has the power of God in his life.

It doesn't mean that he's learned to live by the control of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't mean that. All it means is he's got some education. The most godliest man in your church may be a man that has a very low-paying job in a hard laboring field.

And I've seen this in churches before, where the most godliest man in that church was the humblest. And he was not counted as much, but yet he was a soul winner and he loved Jesus. And he had the glow of God on his face, the power of God in his life.

Have you accepted thoughts? Casting down imaginations in every high thing that has exhausted itself. You need to be focusing on the things that are coming into your mind, the thoughts. Listen to this.

The Simplicity of Devotion to Christ

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, Verse 1, Can I tell you that the Christian life is a very simple life? A very basic life of just trusting God day by day. I got up this morning, and I got up very early so I could come out and record.

Lord, it's your day. It's your life. I'm yours. You lead and do what you want. Have you been corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ? And some of our churches are so traditionally oriented that we've just corrupted the whole thing.

There's no simplicity there. We've lost a lot of things. We've lost a lot of the beauty of Christ. I'm turning over to Philippians 4. And I've been in Colossians a little bit, sharing with you on things in Colossians.

But Philippians 4, Verse 7,. And many of us are thinking about things that we shouldn't be thinking. But he said, And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Let me encourage you to let the peace of God rule in your life. If you don't have peace about it, then you check that. That's the Holy Spirit saying, Hey, uh-uh-uh. Don't get involved with that. Don't read that.

Don't sign up on that program. You don't have peace on it? That's one of the reasons we ended up here. We were looking for a place to settle in down in our home area there in Missouri, around the Joplin area.

And we had a couple of houses, but we had no peace to move in. So we decided we'd just settle on the ranch. My wife's folks have a ranch. And just pray and wait and see what God wanted to do. And what He wanted to do was redirect us to this church that we're going to that needs help.

And that's our ministry. To just help. To be an encouragement. We had tremendous peace over this. No doubt about it. That God was in it. He directed from His Word. And then He directed in the circumstances.

Everything fell together. The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Another thing on thoughts. 1 Timothy 6 .5 You can flip over. I hope this doesn't make too much noise in the mic.

Godliness, Contentment, and the Dangers of Materialism

But 1 Timothy 6 .5 on the mind warns us that there will be men, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such, withdraw yourself. I've been around those that thought that you were godly or spiritual or successful in the Christian life by the sower you make.

And you say, that's sick. Well, that is sick. But what I've said is true. I've been around them. And I have even been repulsed by that type of thing because it's totally untrue. The Scripture goes on to say, but godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. If you've got a big fat bankroll and you're a Christian, you better be very careful with that. You're going to give an account to God with that.

What you leave behind, you be careful. Be very careful. Easy for that to become our God. Our thoughts. Our thoughts. I want to share with you a little bit from a book. And I haven't seen this book around much.

It's by Warren Wiersbe, The Strategy of Satan, How to Detect and Defeat Him. A powerful little book. And one reason I know it's powerful is because I can't keep track of this thing. I keep losing it. I'm not kidding you.

Anytime I get a hold of it and start to breathe a little bit, I set it down. I can't find it again. And even today, before I brought it here, it's a wonder it even made it. It's a powerful little booklet.

You go find you one. Order one from Back to the Bible or get one in your bookstore. Warren Wiersbe, The Strategy of Satan. Very simple. A lot of scripture. And he starts off in chapter 1 that Satan is the deceiver.

Satan as Deceiver and the Fall in Eden

He deceives the whole world. Revelation 12, 9. And remember, in 2 Corinthians 11, 3, Paul said, But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your mind should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

Remember that Satan is a deceiver. He wants to get you away from the simplicity of being in Christ. For many deceivers have gone into the world. 2 John 7. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman, Indeed, as God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.

And the serpent said to the woman, You surely shall not die, for God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.

And then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves lion coverings. Are you trying to cover up your life? Have you been deceived by Satan and you have made a mistake?

You've bought the lie of Satan. You've done something. Would you come back to the cross? Would you come to the cross to Jesus for cleansing? To have your guilt removed? To have forgiveness of sins? And then go make restitution with whoever you need to.

You see, that's part of it, going back. You see, Satan's target is your mind. You may come back to the cross and confess your sins. And you may receive forgiveness, but you won't be completely cleansed because you haven't gone and made something right with your brother or your sister.

And he'll say, now that's not necessary. That's just going to stir things up. And he works in your mind. This is why you take all these thoughts. Satan's target is your mind. He wants to destroy your mind.

Renewing the Mind According to God's Truth

Ephesians 4, you read that, This I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their minds. And it goes on about how we are to be renewed in the spirit of our mind.

Romans 12, 2,. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God, what is that good and acceptable perfect will of God. Jesus said, Sanctify them in the truth.

Thy word is truth. And Philippians 4, 8, says whatever is true, whatever is honorable, right, whatever is pure, lovely, whatever is good, repute, good report, if there any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Remember the Bible says in Proverbs 23, 7,. As he thinks within himself, so he is. Be very careful about your mind. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, Isaiah said. Well, it's time to go.

Our time is up. And I trust that God will use this to encourage you. If you haven't trusted Christ as your Savior, come to Him. Come to Him. And believe that He died on the cross for you. He rose again.

Confess your sins to Him. Ask Him to come in. He'll change your life. Until next time, my friend, may God richly bless you.