Philippians
4:8-9 “ Finally,
brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things
which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God
of peace will be with you.”
Bad luck or spiritual attack, the home
computer is down again. But no problem, it’s with the (IT) Information
Technology repair guy now, and the backup laptop is working fine. Continuing
with Pastor JJ’s Sunday Sermon series notes, we come to his message on the Philippians
passage above.
The word “Holy” means to be “set apart”
by God, for God’s purposes and for His glory. The child of God lives out of a
different reality and has a deeper purpose that we are called to than this
world. So, despite our circumstances, we always live as a “citizen of heaven”,
and that is our true home. We do not slap on the label of “Christian” and
continue to live as if this is our home, because Jesus is our King and we are “Ambassadors
of Christ” (2 Corintians 5:20). When the Devil tempted Adam & Eve with the big
lie that led to the Fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, telling them in Genesis 3:4-5 " Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”, Satan perverted the thinking from “a good God to be obeyed in love”,
to “a jealous God that lies to keep good things from us”. This deception marinated
our original earthly parents minds toward the focus of the things of this
world, instead of the things of God; the love of the world (carnally-minded), not
the love of God (spiritually-minded). And lie continues to deceive the world today.
1 John 2:15-16 “ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
all that is in
the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is
not of the Father but is of the world.”
Do we, the church, act like the pagan
world around us, doing what others in secular society do? They do so because being further from God is
all they know in the free exercise of licentious passions, doing what is “right’
in their own eyes. They are living life rejecting the reality of Devine judgment
and everlasting punishment. But the people of God are not to do that which we
were not created to do, or think on those sinful things. Sin is a crime against
God and His wrath is the wages earned. A just, holy, & righteous God must
punish sin. Do we do it our way or God’s way? God’s way should be ours too.
Romans 1:18-23 & 25 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because
what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to
them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not
glorify Him as
God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. Professing to be
wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like corruptible man. Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 8:5-9 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the
things of the flesh, but those who live according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God;
for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But
you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells
in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
We were born with trust. Made to
love God and focus on His perfect way and purpose in our lives. Where do we put
our trust? We need to live according to truth in the Word of God (John 17:17), walking in the Spirit and
not fullfilling the lusts of the flesh (Galatians
5:16), looking to Christ (Hebrews
12:2), and fix our thoughts Jesus (Hebrews
3:1).
2 Corinthians 10:5
“ We
demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
We can redeem this world to
glorify God. God uses us, His children, to move the hearts and minds of others
to a “saving’ knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We are not
chained to this lawless world system. We live and think like our Lord Jesus.
God can use you and I to bring light to the world and glory to Him. Take your
thoughts captive for God. That which is true, the
noble, the just, the pure, the lovely, the good report, the virtuous and
praiseworthy, meditate on these things. If your mind is on the things of this world, change your thinking.
Revelation 7:12 “Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to
our God forever and ever. Amen!”
In Christ, Brian
2 comments:
Hi Brian,
I'm sorry your computer is out of service, nice you have a back up! :)
Change our thinking pattern!! I totally agree! This is key into working on our relationship with Jesus. In order to be like Him we must think like Him, and this cannot be once in a while it must become who we are.
Thanks for sharing, I do believe I needed this reminder again. :s
Blessings,
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Good point Child of God. Our personal relationship with the Lord is the basis for our "belief system, which sets our purpose and direction through the truth found in the Word of God, that we view and live our lives by. It is truly an "eternal" perspective ... growing, learning and maturing in the godly knowledge and wisdom of our Lord & savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for writing.
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