A Well Kept Mind (12/07/2003)

Park Meadows Church

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It's kind of a two -part message. We'll do one today and one next time the lord willing

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Today is on how to have a kept mind Or you could say healthy christian psychology

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And next time we'll talk about no worry mate no worries mate How to have no worries

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So turn to philippians chapter 4 and verse 4 with me follow along Well, let me put it this way.

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We're going to get to verse 4. Let's start with verse 1 I want you to notice as we read down here the number of times you see the word in and notice where they are

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Therefore my brethren dearly beloved and long for My joy and crown so stand fast in the lord.

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There's the first one So we are to stand fast, but we only do that in the lord

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He says my dearly beloved I beseech judaeus

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And beseech centike that they be of the same mind in the lord So we can only be of one mind as a church

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If we're both are all in the lord And I entreat thee also true yoke fellow help

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Those women which labored with me in the gospel with clement also and with other my fellow laborers

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Whose names are in the book of life? Rejoice in the lord now, there's another one see that in the lord

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So we can only stand fast in the lord We can only have unity in the lord and now the bible says we can only

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Rejoice if we're in the lord, but it says rejoice in the lord always and this is really where our message begins this morning

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Rejoice in the lord always and again, I say rejoice Let your moderation be known unto all men.

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The lord is at hand Be careful for nothing But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god

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And the peace of god which passeth all understanding Shall keep your hearts and minds

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Now you see this word through it could be translated in because it's the same greek word It's the greek word ain all the places where you saw in it's that same word.

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So shall keep your hearts and minds in christ jesus so we see

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A series of things listed here that can only be done in christ one is standing fast

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Usually that has to do with standing against an enemy when we stand fast standing against the devil the world and the flesh

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We can only do that in christ And then it says to have unity be of the same mind.

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We can only do that if we're each in christ And then it says to rejoice We can only do that if we're in christ and then it says that your hearts and minds shall be kept

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We're going to talk about that at some length But it can only be done in christ And then verse 8 says finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever.

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Things are honest whatsoever. Things are just whatsoever. Things are pure Whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever

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Things are of good report if there be any virtue if there be any praise think on these things and the implication is

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That it that's a command of god. Therefore if you think on other things other than those listed you're disobeying

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The lord if it goes against the sense of this verse because the sense of this verse is that you are to think on positive things

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And the things listed Such as true things honest things just and pure Lovely and things of good report and virtue

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Those are guidelines for the subsets of things. We're allowed to think about If you want to have your mind and your heart kept safe, then those are the things you let your mind think about Those things which we have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the god of peace

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Shall be with you Now let's go through this passage and see what What we can glean from it back to verse four

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Rejoice in the lord always and again, I say rejoice this word rejoice

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Is cairo It literally means Calmly happy Calmly happy Now that's important because we're about to get to a verse in a minute that's going to tell us not to worry

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It says be careful in nothing that doesn't mean don't be careful In the sense of the way we use the word in modern english.

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It's an old english usage What it really means is don't have any cares in the wrong sort of way. Don't have any worries

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And uh, so it's interesting to see that the little passage begins by telling us to rejoice

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But the word rejoice doesn't mean just to be happy. It means to be calm and happy to be calmly happy And the lord says to rejoice in the lord.

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The only way we can be calmly happy is if we're in christ If we're walking in the spirit not in the flesh

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And then he re -emphasizes he says again I say rejoice.

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It's interesting this word again in the greek language is pauline which means oscillatory repetition

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Think of things in life and in nature that oscillate Have you ever seen one of those pictures?

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On some of the science channels where somehow they let you look through The shell of an egg and you can see the little chick in there and you can see this little heart beating this kind of flutters

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In the same way with a human fetus At a certain point in the womb you can see the little heart oscillating and this greek word means to Oscillate when it says again and what it

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Really means is we look at it To be calmly happy in the lord and let that be oscillating throughout your life all the time.

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It's like breathing in and breathing out It's like the heartbeat This rejoicing this calm happiness should be just as natural to a born -again christian

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As the heartbeat as the breathing in and out it just oscillates which means it just keeps going

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Boom boom you don't have to think about it calm happiness, but only if we're in the lord

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The word always when it says rejoice in the lord always is a greek word that means

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Perpetually or unceasingly you could translate it with just the word ever and it's very beautiful to read it that way

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That's the literal translation rejoice in the lord ever And again,

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I say rejoice Now look at verse five Let your moderation be known unto all men.

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The lord is at hand that last phrase is the reason for it The lord is at hand. Does that mean that he's coming soon?

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Or does it mean more than that? It means more than that. We know that he is coming soon, but he's at hand whether he comes soon or not

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Because he lives in our hearts by the holy spirit And so the lord is always at hand for the christian

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In fact one cannot be without the lord at hand and that's whether you're walking in the flesh or the spirit

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Even when you're walking in the flesh the lord is at hand You cannot hide from him

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There's nothing you can do that. He doesn't see and take note of and the bible says puts it in a book

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The deeds that we do we shall be judged someday for the works that we did in our bodies

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Whether they be good or whether they be evil so The lord is at hand and that's the reason given for this

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But what it says for us to do is to let our moderation be known unto all men this word moderation

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Is kind of an interesting word It's a very important word and you should remember this too when you're dealing with people in your lives sometimes out in the workplace um are different areas of our lives we have to decide whether we're going to trust someone whether we're going to place someone in the position of Of authority maybe to supervise other people or or we're going to trust whether we're going to do business with the person or whether we're going to Trust this person in any kind of relationship

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Let me tell you something to look at Does this person have moderation in the sense of this greek word and let me tell you what the sense of the word is

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It means literally it comes from two little greek words put together. It means sweet reasonableness

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Sweet reasonableness It is a word that means appropriate It is a word that means mild gentle.

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It's translated into the word gentle and moderation and patient But it literally means sweet reasonableness

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This is a person who well, it's interesting. It comes from The the greek word icos which means reasonable and the little word epi is in front of it

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Which means it adds intensity to a word So when you put that word in front

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Uh, and you call it epi icos then it means to be intensely reasonable

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Now think about that you deal with people all the time that are not reasonable, don't you? You watch them you say, you know, their emotions are not reasonable.

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They They overreacted to something that's not reasonable Or their logic is not reasonable now we have a real problem there, don't we?

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Because that defies the definition of logic There can be many areas in a person's life where they are not reasonable let alone intensely reasonable

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Which is what this word means So let your intense reasonableness

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Let your moderation let your appropriate nature be known unto all men

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Because the lord is in hand So a christian who is born again and growing and in the word and walking in the spirit

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Will be reasonable he will be a reasonable person So when you see these people who are not and they claim to be a christian

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You don't have to judge whether there are or not But you can see With some time whether they have this reasonableness this appropriateness in their life

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If they don't you may have a problem if you develop a relationship with such a person Verse six be careful for nothing

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But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto god

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There's a lot in that verse, isn't there? Whole sermon in that one verse. What does it mean to be careful of nothing?

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The greek word here means to be anxious about And I love the way we vine defines it.

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He says to have a distracting care Now think about that.

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The lord says be careful of nothing He's saying don't ever have a care that distracts you from my purpose that i've called you to do

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Does that make sense pretty good paraphrase of the verse? Don't ever Worry Or have a care in life that distracts you from the job.

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God has brought you here to do Be careful of nothing Nothing is a big word, isn't it?

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nothing Includes everything from the little aggravating things to the large

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Tragic things Nothing Be anxious about Don't be distracted by the care of anything the lord says, but what should we do?

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Now, let me tell you what we're embarking upon here with the beginning of verse six This is one of the greatest passages in the bible to deal with human psychological health of a christian of a human

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Yes, but those who are not born again are not going to perhaps understand the passage

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But we know that we can because it's written for us So look at it as the greatest place to find out how to have a healthy mind for a christian or one of god's children

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It starts out by saying if you want to have a healthy mind you don't worry about the things that you can't control and if The lord willing if next week i'm able to preach the follow -up message on this it deals with that specifically in great detail

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But Be careful for nothing But in everything by prayer and supplication

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What is the difference between prayer and supplication prayer means

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Literally, it comes from a little couple old greek words pro which means toward And kome a he which means to wish so it means to wish toward So literally it means to ask

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Prayer is asking now. We use the word in a larger sense in christian circles and that's fine

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We mean it to mean everything from praise to thanksgiving to worship And then also asking and then thanking god.

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It's the whole it's the whole discourse that we have with the lord. It is our Way of communication from us to the lord.

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We call that prayer, but i'm saying in the literal greek Uh, if you want to be strict with the definition of the word

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The word prayer is not talking about praising. It's not talking about giving thanks.

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It's not talking about worship It's talking about the part where where we ask So i'm not saying you have to use it that strictly but here in this text that's what it means

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So the first part where it says That not to be careful, but in everything by prayer.

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It means everything by asking god Everything by asking him and what's that contrasting with not depending on ourselves

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Be careful for nothing but in everything ask Rather than depending on yourselves that'll help the men in this room might even help the ladies

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Since I don't think like a lady it's hard for me to tell but I I would assume since the lord gives this scripture to you.

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It'll help you too You don't ever have anything you'd worry about do you ladies Worry about nothing but in everything by prayer

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Rather than relying upon the self. I think that is easier for the ladies

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Because the ladies do depend on their husbands especially in crises

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And so they've learned to depend And the men don't the men have been taught by the very ladies their mama

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Son, you got to get out there and make it happen and the dad comes back and reinforces that son You know, you're the man in the house go out there and make that happen

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So it's difficult for the men To rely upon the lord totally All right, so by everything by asking and supplication.

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What is supplication? supplication Comes from a greek word that means the root of it means to bind oneself to another and then to beg

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So it's like a person if you can imagine in the media medieval times perhaps where a person has lost a just has absolutely nothing

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No way to feed his family. No way to clothe his family. No way to have a roof And he comes to a more wealthy person and he says

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I will become your servant for life if you'll just take care of my family And and the master says i'll do that.

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You'll come to work for me if you'll be faithful Do the job I'll put all of you under my roof and take care of you.

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That's he bound himself to that person Well, that's what this word means only is talking about to god so it says

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Don't worry about anything don't have a care about anything but in everything that you have in your life

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First by asking realizing the source of it is god not yourself not your own strong right arm

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That's not the source of anything It comes from god So ask him and then come before the lord with supplication means

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Meaning I bind myself to the lord as a servant and this is very important This idea of the servanthood is going to come in the next week's message as well

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And everything bind yourself to the lord so that you can now depend on him totally because you're not the boss man

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You're the servant not your responsibility to put food on the table not your responsibility to do any of those things

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It's the lord's responsibility. He is the household. He's the man of the house He is the one who has the resources.

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Therefore. It's his responsibility to make all these things happen So therefore we bind ourselves to him

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Through a servant relationship and we do so willingly so that he will take care of our families gentlemen

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Now you can't rely upon him take care of your family if you don't bring your family before him in asking

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In prayer because if you do Not pray for your wife and your little ones.

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It implies very strongly That you believe you are in control taking care of them and everything will be fine

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That's a bad thing to imply In life and god sees everything doesn't he sees a lack of a prayer life in a man?

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You know, you think god doesn't know that when you don't pray gentlemen that that makes Sense that what you really think is you don't need god you're handling it just fine without him

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And then the worries come God will make sure they come and then the man realizes

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Oh, I have to come before the lord the source of all things and rely upon him and bind myself to him as his servant

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And beg with him if necessary for the needs of myself and my family Not only that but we bring with this prayer and this supplication a thing called thanksgiving

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Now we have prayer which is asking we have supplication which is binding ourselves and reminding ourselves

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We are the servants. We're not the boss And we come before the lord in that Attitude and then we add to that thanksgiving and through prayer supplication and thanksgiving then

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We're able to make our requests known unto god. That is the proper method for letting our request be known.

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It is a a an attitude of asking which implies we know he's the one that has the resources it is an attitude of supplication which

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Reminds us we are the servant That this is not our life. It's his life

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And we're here to make his thing go better. That's what a servant's for The servant has really no purpose and no goals of his own other than to help the master meet his purpose and goals

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So our life is bound totally in his life. That's why everything in this passage says ain in in christ

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Christ is whose life. It's all about. It's whose purpose. It's all about. It's whose joy and rejoicing

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And happiness and well -being and purpose It is all about him

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And we are the servant we are in christ. We're bound to him Therefore supplication is natural because that's what the servant does but you if you don't have that attitude forget bringing the request to him

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Because it won't you've heard the expression it won't get past the ceiling These attitudes of asking which implies he has everything and we have nothing

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Of being in supplication which implies we're the servant. He is the master and of thanksgiving

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Which we will now discuss Those three things are keys to having prayers answered

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Thanksgiving comes from the greek word eucharist And it means literally

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Grateful, but part of the word means language. So it means to show grateful language, which means

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It's not just an attitude of the heart It is that and it stems from that but it's more than that It is something that comes out the mouth and therefore enters the physical world the physical universe.

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It is a thing. It is an action It's not just an attitude. It's an attitude with an action behind it

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Now thankful when we come before the lord to make our request known there will be a verbal thanksgiving

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Now it doesn't mean you have to talk out loud We can do that in our minds when we pray can't we we know that we can do that the lord hears us

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But in our mind if we don't have it verbalized if we don't verbalize the thanksgiving

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Then it's not what this verse is talking about So when we come before the lord with thanksgiving we are saying with our mouths

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Or with our language in our hearts Anyway, we are bringing before him the fact that we are grateful that yes

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We we see he's the one that has all the resources. We see he's the master and we are the servant

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And now we add the fact that we acknowledge that verbally to him that we know those things are true and we're glad about it

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We are not wishing well, I wish I could be the lord of this own all this property and I could run all these people around Get them doing what

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I want them to do. That's not a thankful attitude. Is it? Grateful we are grateful that it's the way it is

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We are grateful that even though gentlemen, especially we want to control things

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We're grateful that we're not really in control Grateful We're grateful that though we want to have things ladies

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We're grateful that we're not really in control of the resources God is Men never want things ladies is the reason

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I said it that way Thankful is grateful language is the literal, uh translation of it.

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Thank grateful language So be careful of nothing don't worry

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But in everything by asking By being bound to the lord and pleading with him as a servant in grateful language

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Let our requests be made known unto god. Let me ask you this. How come god didn't already know about it?

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Why do we have to make them known to god because he commands us to but the reason is because we're making it known to ourselves that That we're doing the right thing.

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This is for us God already knows the request That god knows if we don't pray now

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This is where this is where the person who's strong in the sovereignty of the lord has to be careful

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Because we get stronger and stronger in the sovereignty of god. Sometimes we do less and less which is the way you don't take care of it

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Well, he is But he never calls us to have that attitude either In fact, you're going to find the whole passage ends with the word do

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So he calls us to pray Even in the midst of his sovereignty

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He calls us To pray in the midst of his purpose And part of his purpose is that we pray

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Because it reminds us That he owns all things it reminds us that we are the servant

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And it reminds us we ought to be so happy about that. We can't even express it very well that we're not in control

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That he is Verse seven look at the result of this type of prayer

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And the peace of god Now we're talking about our minds

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Have you ever been to the limit almost where you didn't think you could put one more thing in your mind? You couldn't handle one more thing

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And then your child comes up wants to talk to you about something really serious in their life Or your wife comes up wants to talk to you about something really important in her life

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All of a sudden you just can't handle one more thing well

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If we're saved And we're walking with the lord We don't have to lose it

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We don't have to Um, I forgot what the phrase is people use all the time.

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What is it burnout? It's not so new anymore But I know through the 70s and 80s everybody used the phrase.

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Oh, he just What happened? What happened to old dave? Well, man, he just suffered burnout He was on the job, you know

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Man, he's there for some of her burnout. She was at home with Five kids and man. She just had burnout.

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What does it mean? Absolutely went crazy Lost it mentally Well, you don't have to ever have that happen because look at verse seven

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I'm, not saying you won't come under the pressure The same pressure that the one that burned out came under. Oh, you used to hear it all the time about people in the ministry

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Why that pastor committed adultery? Oh, man, he just suffered burnout. It's just terrible. Just he just burned out

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Well, it's because he didn't have verse six and seven in his life verse seven says the peace of god

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That rejuvenates the mind That strengthens the mind and brings it back into a right state

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No matter what it's been through The peace of god look at this which passes all human understanding

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No one is able to figure out how you're walking around with a sane mind after you've been what you just went through and you

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Didn't burn out The other guy did why is that? Well, it passes the understanding of men.

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It's because you had the peace of god But the reason you had the peace of god is because you were up in the area of verse six

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And then you were down in the area of verse eight See you you see verse seven is surrounded by two key verses that show us how to be in verse seven

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We've already talked about the first one We'll get to verse eight in a moment, but the peace of god which passes all understanding now this word keep is very important shall keep your hearts and minds

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The word through should be in Because in the greek the word through is usually dia

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This word is ain Ain even sounds like in doesn't it? It means in So it should be translated this way shall keep your hearts and minds in christ

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Well, what does it mean to have a kept heart And a kept mind this word keep

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Is through ray o and it means to be a watcher in advance

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To be a watcher in advance is the literal translation of it to mount a guard as a sentinel or to post spies at the gates

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Or watches is a better word to post watches at the gates This is a military term.

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We talked about jericho um In sunday school this morning and the spies that went in They were really watchmen for israel, they were watching out for israel

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They were going in looking at the enemy to see what his strongholds were coming back Telling the army here's what with god.

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Here's what we can do. Here's what we can't do. They were watchmen god has watchmen

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That are set as sentinels over your very mind your sanity

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Your mind and your heart Which is your even deeper than that Goes into the areas of your cleanliness your holiness

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Your emotional state All of it. There is a keeper of that.

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There is a watchman Over that and it says in the peace of god, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and your minds

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In jesus christ, so what is the watchman? Well, we have to be in christ to have it but the watchman is the peace of god

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It is the peace of god that keeps you from going crazy It's the key piece of god that keeps your mind thinking in a healthy way

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Rather than the way the world has tried to teach us to think Now all the little harmless tv shows we watch

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And the music little music, especially if you're into country western, I mean, I don't advocate that it's evil

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It's wicked stay away from it And I say that simply because I don't like it. It has nothing to do the bible.

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No i'm kidding But People that listen to that I'll pick on it because I don't like that form of music so I can pick on that one

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All of these things the little phrases that they put in the songs and so the other music too is not just country western

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I'm, just kidding If katie were here i'd be picking at her. She likes it a little bit how a mitchell got that place.

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I don't know But anyway She you the little catchphrases in those songs You heard the joke before hadn't you?

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What what do you do? Uh, if you've lost your wife, you've lost your house. You've lost your pickup truck.

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How do you get it back? You play the country western song backwards Sad isn't it

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All these little catchphrases that the world throws out there Is really the devil trying to teach us how to live

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And how to think in the wrong way Young people teenagers listen to me a minute

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There are catchphrases in the music and the tv shows you watch and in the movies you go to see That'll teach you the wrong way to respond to your spouse

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You watch how they respond to each other in those movies and songs and all that It's not the right words to say and i've heard young people saying before young marriages

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Uh, I think it seemed like it was my household where I heard that when I was first married And you find yourself, you know

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Your wife says something and it's similar to something you saw in one of these things So you come back with the same answer they gave in it wrong

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It doesn't work You see that's just a movie. That's not life It doesn't work

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How do you want to how do you think you can learn to think? Correctly You have to have the peace of god in your life

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You have to be about prayer and thanksgiving and have the right attitude But you have to have the peace of god as a sentinel over your heart

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And over your mind and you have to be walking in christ and look at verse eight gives

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The best key for healthy thinking in the whole bible And there is one other one i'm going to give it to you.

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There are two that go together hand in hand These would be great life verses for everyone in the room

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They're not just the kind of life verse that motivates you and inspires you These are the kind of life verses that are action verses

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They are real literally truths that you should use every day of your lives

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If you're not already using them, it may be just because you hadn't seen this yet. But after today you'll have them you'll be equipped

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Use these every day of your life There'll be opportunity to use these and to the extent you use them your mind will be kept safe Your heart will be kept safe Your mind will think like god wants it to think in a real normal way, you know god is one who made us

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If you think of us and he gives us this as the owner's manual for how we operate

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So if you want to think like god wants you to think Look at verse 8 finally brethren

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Now what does finally mean? It means after you've learned these attitudes of prayer After you've learned these attitudes of prayer

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And you've learned that you're the servant and god is god. He's in control of everything You can't make everything happen that you think you can so quit worrying about it after you've learned that basic lesson

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Finally you come to this lesson God says now i'm going to teach you the right way to think

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The wrong way to think is to worry thinking you can make it happen the right way to think is right here finally brethren

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Now this is only for the men. This doesn't say sisters here No, this is for all christians

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It's just that the men need it more probably I don't know have a clue about that since I think as a man

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Finally brethren Whatsoever things are true. Now god is going to give you a list of things

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You are allowed to think about and still have a healthy mind If you go outside this list

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You are not guaranteed by the word of god that you'll have a healthy mind. In fact, you're not guaranteed that you won't burn out

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But if you stick with this list you have a guarantee You can have the peace of god and this is a practical verse

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That shows you what to do you've seen in the previous verses what god's doing god's in control of all things

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God is the one who has the resources to meet every need you have if you go and ask Consider yourselves servants in his court

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So he's he is responsible to take care of the needs of the servants.

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That's what the master does You think that way you understand those things it really really helps to take the pressure off of ourselves

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But this goes to the point of Of saying now here are some things i'm going to demand that you do to keep a healthy mind

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First of all when you start thinking Realize that there are

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Two in there because you couldn't talk to yourself if there weren't Think about that When you talk to yourself who you're talking to When you're praying you're talking to the lord, but when you're just talking to yourself who you're talking to You So you got to understand that one of those voices in that head of yours is the real

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New man is the real you and that's the one that should be controlling everything that's going on inside there

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Everything going on in here Has to be controlled or it'll go out of control It is the new man

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When you got born again, you have a new nature It is the new man that should control everything that's allowed to stay in this place you cannot always control what comes into it

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I had this sermon charlotte and I heard when we were in boston the other day the man spoke about the gates

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Your senses your eyes your your sense of touch a smell and sight and hearing

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Those gates are always open you you can't really close I guess you could do this But you can't close all the gates ever they're open

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So you can't always determine what's in here, but you can't always determine what's allowed to stay in here to remain in here

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That's what this lesson is about So when you hear yourself thinking You need to be thoughtful about what you're thinking

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You need to be listening to what you're thinking there needs to be a sentry there there needs to be a watchman

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That's watching over what you're thinking and that watchman is you Because the real you is always in union with the holy spirit.

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He is never separate The new man is never separate. He is one with the holy spirit

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So it means you are supposed to watch what you're thinking listen to what you're thinking and you and the holy spirit together will then

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Keep the mind healthy. So it says whatsoever things are true. So something pops in your mind

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And you start to think about it and it's not the truth You should cast it out

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Well, how do you know if it's the truth or not? Someone told you it was true. The only guide that you have is this book so to the extent that you've been in the word

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You can do this better To the extent that you're not in the word personally yourself you can be deceived by a greater number of entities in the universe

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So stay in the word study the word strongly and understand that every time something pops in your mind

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Hold it up against the word of god See if it matches Doesn't match you cast it out.

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How do you do that? Let me tell you a practical way you can think up your own way if you want to but let me tell you what

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I do All right, and there's a couple of ways but one very common ways many times a day.

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I do this I say lord Um, I don't believe that's your thought

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Help me have the mind of jesus christ with regard to this situation Let me think just like he would if he were here in this situation

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Cast this thought out of my mind and give me the mind of christ Now I literally pray that in my heart and mind

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I verbalize those words in my mind and instantly god removes it It's instantly removed

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So if something comes in my mind I start thinking about it I say well Now that makes some sense and then all of a sudden

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I said wait a minute. That's not even the truth I say lord

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Let me think like you would think about this and that thought goes away and then you can you're left with only the good thoughts

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All right, whatsoever things are honest You know as well as I do that we have things across our paths every day where we have an opportunity to fudge a little bit

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And it's natural to fudge It's natural To to get an advantage over other humans when you can

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And so what do you have to do that thought pops into your mind, what do you do with it? You say lord, let me think like jesus would think right now

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Take that mind out. Just I mean if you want me to do this, okay But if it's not what the lord would think then please remove it.

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Boom. It's gone Whatsoever things are just That comes into the whole arena of knowing the difference between right and wrong

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Of justice as opposed to injustice If it's not a just thought let's say you another person enters your mind.

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You're starting to think about this other person And they've done something and you're kind of irritated about it and you're running over that thing and you've invented five reasons why they did that So now you're god

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Because you've read their mind and you know why they did that, right? That is wrong thinking

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Did you know the only person that's really probably going to hurt is you primarily But it might hurt them, too

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In fact, it could defile a whole number of people if it turns into bitterness And the way that you deal with that is if it's not just You say lord, you know,

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I don't know that they did that for the sole purpose of hurting me Maybe there's something behind it.

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I don't know So let me think about this like jesus would because he would know the reasons behind it

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And if I don't need to be worrying about this or thinking about it or Concerned about this thing. This person said then just cast it out of my mind and boom.

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It's gone Whatsoever things are pure Young people that's one you need to deal with we all have to deal with it

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But you if you're a teenager today you deal with this more than anybody else Is it pure?

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The world is telling you one way to live The lord jesus lives another way

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So ask yourself the question would jesus want me to do this act In this manner at this time

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And if the answer is no You cast the thought of it out of your mind. I'm going to promise you something if you're not thinking about it

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You won't do it There's nothing you can do without thoughts coming into the mind first So if you cast out the inappropriate minds that are not christ -like remember all of this says that you'll have a piece of god in christ

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So you say lord if this is you know, lord, give me the mind of christ And this is for adults as well

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We don't you know, the bible would not warn us to flee youthful lust if they didn't still come up in our lives

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No matter what age we are I don't hear a lot of amens on that, but I didn't expect to hear them but in your hearts,

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I know they're going on And so when when you have thoughts you have to be in control of them

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Do you hear what i'm saying? You are the master of this mind you in conjunction with the holy spirit You must control it and when a thought comes in there you say lord

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That is not From you jesus would not be thinking this way lord. Give me the mind of christ and boom that thought's gone

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Can you see this almost like sweeping out the kitchen, isn't it? Whatsoever things are lovely

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Lovely this word lovely is a greek word that means something that Is friendly towards something else to be friendly towards It's acceptable

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Let me tell you now. This is an interesting one if a thought comes in your mind That is not friendly towards your own state of mind and your own well -being and doesn't make you edified and feel good

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About things and feel stronger about things and Stay in a right standing with the lord on and on and on Then that's not a lovely thought in the sense of this word

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If you have a thought running around in your mind that is tearing you down Brother rocky used to teach me consider the source of it because it's not god

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He said if you ever have a thought that is not edified. It doesn't build you consider the source

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And cast it out And you cast the thought out if it's not a lovely thought remember lovely means friendly towards if it's not a thought

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It's friendly towards you and i'm talking about the the new man you If it's not friendly towards the existence of that new man in the life of that new man in christ

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Cast that thought out of your mind immediately now don't ever think you can do it Always call upon the lord to cast it out say lord.

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Give me the mind of christ and cast this thought out of my mind You see that's the practical way you do this

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Whatsoever things are of good report Good report literally means something that is well spoken of and of good reputation

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If it's not that way don't think about it Now listen to me don't go to sleep on me quite yet.

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This is vitally important to your mental well being It is vitally important to you obeying god

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And how he says for you to think if a thought comes into your mind And that thing or that person is not of good report.

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It is not something that could be well spoken of You know, you've heard the thing say if you can't say something good don't say it

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You know what this verse says if you can't think of something good don't think it You got a person floating around in your mind and you're thinking oh, oh my soul this person, you know, this person just It just does this stuff.

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It's bad. You don't need to be thinking This way Because sure as the world the more you think it the more you're going to say it sooner or later to somebody

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So cast the thought out of your mind if it's not something if you can't be thinking. Oh, man, you know,

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I am so proud of the way that Virg and russell took up the offering this morning

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Then I don't need to be thinking about it. I think man Virg didn't even pray right and he tripped over his feet when he walked down the aisle taking the money out and spilled some

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Of it. I don't need to be thinking that It may be true, but I don't need to be thinking it

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And brother russell, maybe you better pick somebody else next time sure as the world that's what i'll be saying if I keep thinking it

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If there be any virtue The word virtue is a male word in the bible, it's the masculine gender

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It means manly valor as in battle Now it doesn't mean this is not for ladies, but i'm saying this this is a strong word the word virtue means

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Moral excellence, but it's in the male gender of a strong man fighting a battle and winning

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You watch the gladiator the movie about the gladiator picture that guy. He's whipping everybody He is strong in the physical sense.

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This is in a moral sense if There is not virtue behind this thought cast it out

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Don't think unvirtuous thoughts don't think about any thought that would lead you to be less strong morally

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If there be any praise if it's something you can give praise about think about it, it's okay Think on these things

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Now go back over that list write them down in your life. Put them up on your ice box

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And Put them on the dashboard of your car And don't let yourself think about anything that's not on that list or that's not, you know in the sense of Those at least those ballparks of things we're allowed to think about I'm going to end with this one and jot this down second corinthians 10 3 through 5

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Put it in your bible if you could right beside philippians 4 8 Write down second corinthians 10 3

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And over there on second corinthians 10 3 write down philippians 4 8 so you can always find both of these and use these in conjunction because The things where I told you to pray in a certain way and say lord

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Um, give me the mind of christ and cast this out of my mind That practice comes from this verse in second corinthians 10 3 the way

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I learned that that's how you do. This is from this verse Now Many of the thoughts that come in our minds deal with the flesh don't they?

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I mean in the in the bad moral sense the fleshliness the the old man the nature of the appetites the carnal appetites

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And those you deal with as we said lord Give me the mind of christ because he doesn't think that way does he doesn't think in the realm of those appetites

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So lord, give me his mind whether it's a sexual thing sexual uncleanness of some kind whether it's uh, um too much cherry pie that's

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Tempting us anything that does in the realm of the flesh. We say lord. Give me the mind of christ But now there is another realm and that is in the realm of satan himself and his demons his demonic consorts

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They do come into play in the life of a christian not in the way. Some people fear they can't possess you

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They can't own you But they come against you with fiery darts They attack your mind when they choose to And so when you sense that the attack might be from that area rather than just the flesh now

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Sometimes they do it in conjunction with the temptations of the world and the weaknesses of the flesh

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They bring it all together and they attack Then you might add to your prayer when you sense that it's coming from satan himself or a demon that's bothering your mind

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You might say lord rebuke satan and his demons

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And bind them and cast them away from myself my household my loved ones I many times i'll say

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Remove them from this hill because I live up on a hill And my house is there and my parents house is there

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And when I say that to the lord i've discussed with him before that what I mean by that is everything on that hill remove

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Them that means get them away from my mom my dad my wife my children and me, please You can never do that yourself you always must rely upon the lord himself

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To bind demons or the devil and to rebuke them you never rebuke them yourself, but you say lord bind

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Satan and his demons and rebuke them and send them away Now some of the thoughts that come into your mind can be placed there by that entity

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It can just pop in your mind I will not debate whether that's because he causes you to remember something you've already seen that came in through the gates previously

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Or whether you can insert it into your mind. I won't debate that because I don't know but I know this from my viewpoint

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It's as if he inserts it in my mind And from your viewpoint, that's exactly how it will be

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Satan and the demons insert the thought in your mind to see what you'll do with it What do you do with it?

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You cast it out If it doesn't fit the list in verse 8 Then look here at second corinthians 10 3 for though we walk in the flesh

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We do war after the flesh. We do not war after the flesh. He means I am walking around in a body the great apostle paul

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Perhaps the greatest christian that ever walked on the face of the earth says yeah, but I walk in a body of flesh But he said even though that's true.

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I don't do my battling with the weapons that muscle can provide He said I do not war after the flesh

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Verse 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal because they happen all right here

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Your battles are all between your ears The battle is in here. It is not out here the spiritual warfare.

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It's right here The battle takes place the battleground is there If satan is going to take ground he's going to take the ground right in here

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If he's going to try to take the hill that you're living in he's going to take it right in here so so The weapons of our warfare cannot be carnal because it has to do with spiritual warfare

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Happening in here in the mind in conjunction with our soul and our spirit and so They are not carnal but mighty through god

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That word through his end Only in christ. Can we even do this battle? It is mighty in god to the pulling down of strongholds that have been placed right here in our minds by the enemy

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Now, yes, he'll use the world which means tv music everything out there he'll use that to put these thoughts in there

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He'll use demonic activity to try to take hold of a certain area of your life Whether it be a habit that you've allowed that's unclean

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Or you brought it in before you were saved you got saved and you hung on to that habit If there is a stronghold in your life, you need to recognize it as such

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Recognize it as the enemy who has the stronghold and you need to do what this verse says now

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Look what it says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down Imaginations, what are imagination?

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They are thoughts It's what's going on in your thought life you cast down imaginations and every high thought

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That exalts itself against the knowledge of god what you know god says is true

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And bringing that thought into captivity To the obedience of jesus christ where it says to cast down the greek word is to demolish

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To it's like tearing a building down is the sense of it to bring it low In order to demolish it

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So we are supposed to demolish these wrong thoughts that are in our minds You just you just demolish them you get them out of there

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Imaginations means computation or reasoning It's active reasoning type of thinking that's going on in these this type of imagination where we're into an area

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Where god does not want us thinking He does not we're not in the area of truth.

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We're not in the area of good report We're not in the area of things that are edifying us. They're not lovely things that build us

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We're not in the area of virtue We're off in the wrong area with a wrong imagination

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That's holding itself up against god. It's a high thing that tries to exalt itself against the ways of god

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We're supposed to bring that thought into captivity every one of those thoughts it says

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Bring every thought into captivity of the obedience of jesus christ the word obedience here means attentive hearkening to Compliance or submission

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Attentive hearkening. I mean you gotta be listening to what you're thinking about all the time If it's not right

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You've cast it out And the way you do it is you ask the lord to do it You say lord give me the mind of jesus christ.

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I'm not thinking right If you think it's a demonic attack on your mind say lord Find the demons rebuke them and send them away from my life and from my family from my household give me peace

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And what does the bible say? the peace of god then Which passes all understanding?

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Will be yours The whole passage ends

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Back to the philippians passage. It brings us to the final verse in our text this morning, which was verse nine

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Those things which you have both learned which we learned some things this morning And received and heard and seen in me that means paul do

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And the god of peace shall be with you it ends with the word do This message is as practical of a message as you've heard in all of 2002 from my preaching

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A lot of times I know we go to the very throne of god when we're in the word Now that's practical because that's really the best place to live your everyday life

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But this is where the rubber meets the road This if you can't master this with the lord's help

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In here, you're not going to be a healthy thinker. You're not going to be a healthy person This is how a christian has a healthy healthy strong Vital thought life by practicing these verses in this passage.

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Let's stand and have prayer together Father we thank you for your word.

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We thank you for this passage that Keeps our thinking healthy keeps us from having to worry

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About anything but to bring all things before you it teaches us how to pray it teaches us the right heart attitudes

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And then it literally teaches us what we're allowed to think about and what we're not allowed and how to deal with it when wrong thoughts enter our minds so help us to become experts at this in our lives to become experts of monitoring what we're thinking

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And to keep the kitchen swept out all the time and to keep the evil thoughts away

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All the time and to cast them out one at a time every day So that we can think about the things you've brought us here to think about and we can glorify you with our hearts and our minds and our lips

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Help us to be so thankful That you are in control of all things And that you have taught us how we ought to think

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Lord, uh lead us as we go in our time of fellowship bless our meal together and we ask it in jesus name.