How to Renew your Mind

Scripture gives us specific points about how to renew our minds.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Okay, there we go, we got it. So, uh, I need some help if you guys would pass out. I want to pass out one of these pieces of paper. Um you know what I even bring a pen. Everybody's gonna need a piece of paper. I've got some here. Anyone in the front here need a pen or pencil? You got one? Okay. You bet you have one? Pen or pencil? You got one there. It's blank so far. It's not gonna be blank. So what we're going to be talking about is the renewing of the mind. See, God, in simplicity, to see this, the framework of how God set up, God has done a work to make his people, to make people at large come into his image. And this is what God has aimed all people at. Now we know that not everybody wants this, but the ones that do want it, right? We have come into what's called the new birth. The new birth where we get born again of God's spirit, and this journey begins of being transformed into the image of God. God sent his word to be the link in the senses realm for us to come into his image. So the greater we understand and submit to what God says in his word, the greater that transformation will be. Okay. In one word, it's called humility. Humbling ourselves, meaning humility is God is the greater and we're the lesser. So my opinions, my experiences, all my great insights, all my great wisdom I've gathered becomes nothing before God and his wisdom, his insight, his understanding. So that's that's humility. When I've got that flip-flop, it really doesn't matter what God says because I've got it in my mind, what I need to understand. Nobody has that. That's pure deception, that whole trail. God wants everyone to understand these words so that they can walk in the greatness of the freedom from sin and all of its bondages. If you're thinking, what's sin and what's its bondage is, you've got a long way to go to gather a lot of insight. Um you're just beginning at this because sin is so massive, it's essentially taking over all of the earth right now, person by person, and it's by layers in each one. God wants to free us up from every bondage of sin. So he's given his word. I just want to look at some of these scriptures that make this point. Okay. So one is go to Isaiah 26. We'll start with that one. Isaiah 26. In Isaiah twenty-six and in verse three. Someone want to read that? You get that? The words are talking to Jehovah God. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Okay, so the person whose mind is stayed on God. Well, in error, just doing a cursory reading of this for years. I thought that I have to stay my mind on God, meaning, like, okay, so it's it, God, God, God, God, all day. Every time you dream, is it like one image in your mind that's just stuck there for hours? No, you dream because God designed your mind to be active. You can't put your mind on one single thought and keep it there. God literally made that impossible. The staying of the mind literally means the upholding of the mind. Um, there's another word I put in here. Yeah, the established mind, the mind being established. So think about look, it says, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is established in you, is upheld in you because he trusts in you. The trusting in correlates with the stay mind. So the mind that's stayed is it trusts in God. Now, we don't trust in anything we don't know, and the better you know someone who's trustworthy, the more you feel like you can trust them, right? You know, that's just the way it works. Well, it works toward God the same way. So God gives us words, and the we learn these words, and it's like, well, I don't know if I trust that. That's honest. You're just being introduced to it. Why would you trust that one person died 2,000 years ago and it covered all your sins and all the sins of the whole world? What event? What other one event in the world that we know of? Listen to the news, covers every single thing in all the world. So, how difficult is it to believe that message? It at first it's really challenging, but as we grow in understanding it in what it means, we put it to the test in our life, then we grow in trusting God, which is to trust in his word. So the one who trusts in him is the one that is able to keep his mind on, oh God, I know you're gonna take care of the situation. You've taken care of every other situation in my life. I know you want to take care of this one too. Oh, God, because you've sanctified me, now this thing that looks like a big problem doesn't look like such a big problem because I know you've sanctified me. That's the state mind. Your thoughts are being brought back to what God said. Let's look at another one. How about Proverbs chapter four? Or the fourth Proverb. There's this section of four verses here that really describes the renewing of the mind. God designed our mind uh somewhat the way men have patterned computers, and uh it's a lot why they pattern computers this way, but input determines output. Your computer will not output anything that's not input into it. Okay, the difference between computers and the human mind is one click of a button and all this input goes into a computer, and it mind is made up, so to speak. There's no questioning, the computer doesn't say, Well, I'm not sure I believe what you're keying in my key in the keyboard here. I'm not sure I believe that. Well, computers, the programming of computers is instantaneous. The programming of the mind takes time. Years and years have been invested by an adversary to your life to bring you into destructions to program your mind contrary to what God says. It's going to take time for your mind to be reprogrammed. You need the right information to replace the old information. Why? This is how it works. It's in Proverbs 4, verse 20, 20 to 23. Says, My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. So, you know, Jehovah God, his word, you know, put your eyes on what he says, incline your ears to what he says. First, you have to know what he says, right? To do that. Then it says, once you get that far, verse 21 says, Don't let them depart from your sight and keep them in the midst of your heart. You've heard it, you've seen it. Don't let those words depart. In other words, nobody keeps their eyes on God's words, you know, all the time. But what we do is we can keep bringing our thoughts back to it. And that's been the largeness of scripture, what it's talking about, the renewing of the mind. Keep bringing your thoughts back to it. Bringing your thoughts back. So here, what the result is, is in verse 22. Next verse, for they, those words that are in the midst of your heart, that your mind is grabbing on to, you're accepting what God says over your own thoughts, over your own opinions, over your own great wisdom and understandings of life. When his words replace those patterns, the result is verse 22, they are life to those who find them and health to all their bodies. God guarantees that his words and his thoughts replacing our own will be life and health to our beings. Now we're just reading what these words say, right? This was penned several thousand years ago, and they're still good today. And if Christ didn't come back for another 15,000 years, God forbid that would happen. But if it was the case, then these words would still be true. Because God set up his word to be health to those who learn them and submit to them. The mind has to learn how to think this way. Okay, and this is the process. So let's go to what's written to us, one place anyway, Colossians chapter three, and then we'll start talking about this a little more. Colossians chapter three. What are we to put our minds on? We were reading out of the Old Testament, where they were under an old covenant, they were given words that God gave the nation of Israel through Moses. We've been given words that God gave to all people through Jesus Christ. It's called the new covenant. Okay, it's called the grace, uh, it's called the gospel of God. So in Colossians, gotta get to it in Philippians, Colossians chapter 3, and in verse 1, it says, Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. This is a phrase that needs to be understood. Where Christ is seated at, it's literally in the right hand of God. That word seated is like we use the term today, like we have a president in the presidential seat. It's not a special chair, it's a representation of a concept of authority. He's in the presidential seat, meaning he has authority over the country in a special way that you and I don't. He's in that presidential seat, so he has this authority over what that seat governs. Jesus Christ is seated in the right hand of God, and it says in Ephesians 1, over all things. So it says, set your thoughts there where he's positioned over all things. Okay, put your thoughts where he is the highest name above every name, in that name, in that seat, he's guaranteed to come back in the future, and he's going to restore everything to its pristine state. He's doing that right now in your life. How's he doing it? Through your mind, through you knowing what God says and learning to think that way. Okay, so look. Next verse, verse two says, set your mind on things above. Sounds a little repetitious, it's because it is. Set your thoughts on things above. It just says set your thoughts on things above. Set your mind, your thoughts on things above, not on things on the earth. Well, it's adding this point of what to not think according to. So, with verses like this, and there's many more we can go to, but that sets enough of a foundation. God arranged his word to replace thoughts that are contrary. How does this work? Well, we saw from Isaiah 23 when the mind gets established in what God says, it's perfect peace. The word perfect is actually the word peace. The only place in the Bible I found the word peace in two verses. It's peace, peace. What does that mean? It's emphasizing the result of peace. What peace? Everything's good.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Tranquil.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, tranquil. Everything's good. Circumstances can be going haywire all around you, but everything's good. See God gave me years ago, we're living in Glendale, south of here, to have a main street that is called Brand Boulevard. And I'm sitting there looking at this concept, and I saw myself walking down Brand Boulevard with all these. I'm gonna call them short skyscrapers, that's what they are. Um, but they're very tall buildings, glass, right? Um an earthquake hits, and I'm walking down Brand Boulevard, people are diving under cars. My mind just didn't happen. So they're you know, trying to get in frames, they're doing everything they can to preserve themselves, and God just says, I've got this. Keep walking now, step right. I step right, crash to my left, keep forward, crash behind me, step left, crash to my right. And I saw myself walking down Brand Boulevard, scathed and completely use Daniel tranquil, tranquil. How could that be? Circumstances like that, like Jesus going to the cross were totally contrary, but he went to the cross with joy and he went there with peace. How could that be? The same way you're going to do it more when you follow what I'm saying and what these scriptures listen. Your mind just has to get reconditioned. That's all. I gave you all a piece of paper and pencils or paper got out. And if you're either watching this live, some of you are, or the recording, this would be a good time to um stop the recording, get a piece of paper and a pen, and uh and follow the trail from here with us, okay? So let's take you to take any subject, let's take um sanctification. Sanctification, textbook definition means you're set apart as holy from everything that's not holy. All people, things, whatever. You're set apart as holy from everything that is not holy. Okay, we have been sanctified, made holy through Jesus Christ. So we are holy or sanctified, but that means that we're set apart from everything that's not. Okay, the other side of that same coin is you're sanctified unto God, unto the purposes of God. The word that another word that's used for sanctified is holy. There's a verse in the Old Testament speaking of the priests being sanctified or uh priests under uh Moses and the law, that they were holy or sanctified, and they were to wear a plate on their head that was engraved. It was a metal plate, and it said, holy to the Lord, you know, sanctified to the Lord. And that's the other side of sanctification or holiness, is you're set apart from everything that's not, and you're unto God. That's the simplicity of it. Every one of us is in the process of growing in sanctification and understanding it. You're placed in it by Christ's work, you've been made sanctified. Now it's learning how to think that way. So I gave you this piece of paper. Think of something in your life that is not according to God's way, and you know it. And especially if it's like a repetitious point, you know it's not God. You know that God's way is different than what you are doing. Thinking, a problem keeps coming up. It could be you keep getting in car accidents, it could be uh you keep having ill health. Um, you it could be it could be anything that's contrary to God. You get it? Um, you know, some other things. You always get unpeaceful when the certain circumstance happens. But think of something in your personal life that you know is a trail, and especially the computer trail, that's not according to what God's kingdom is. And we'll start with that, and then we're gonna come back. I'm gonna in the recording, I'm gonna pause it here. Okay, so we're back.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

So how put on the help and I can see both.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Oh, good. That's great. That's great. Okay, so I'm not gonna explain it. So go back to your seat. No, we're gonna no, we're gonna talk about it neighbor. Okay, so take that thing, okay. Now think of you being sanctified, you're set apart from what's not holy, and this thing is not holy, whatever that thing is, it's contrary, it's an unholy thing. You're set apart from that unto God. Okay, so unto God is this area, whatever that is, is going to get replaced with God's way of thinking against it. And what you're going to see if you follow this trail, you will see health to your flesh. You will see a peace come upon you that you didn't experience in this area before. You're going to see the joy that Jesus Christ went to the cross with in this area of your life. This thing will no longer defeat you, it will become an area where Christ worked age of victorious. Okay, here's how to do it. Okay. So we talked about the mind being active, it's not static, it keeps moving. You can't stop it even when you're sleeping. That's why you dream in motion, it's always in motion because the mind keeps going. Okay. So if you take this thing, whatever you wrote down or whatever you were thinking about, and you sit down with the father and see that thing being done according to what God says. In other words, uh, I don't know, say it's some kind of ill health. So you say and think according to this thing. Wait a minute, say, you know, say I messed up my finger when I was a kid, it's a bent, you know, the wrong way. It just needs to be restored. So I look at that finger and say, you have been restored by the work of Jesus Christ. You can see Christ dying on the cross and all that funneled energy going right to that finger. Okay, see yourself according to what God says, and this is how you renew your mind. So if it's that finger thing, I would say, wow, you have been brought into holiness. Yes, you look like you're unholy, you act like you're unholy, but you have been restored to wholeness, you have been restored to holiness by Jesus Christ's work, and you speak to and think of that thing from what according to what God says, and what you're doing, if you would turn to Romans chapter one, what you're practically doing is believing or building belief of what God says. How does that work? Listen, in I'm not turning there, but Romans 10 17 says, faith comes by hearing. Faith will come regarding that thing, it just comes. How by the word of Christ. What's the word of Christ? The gospel. What is the gospel? Look at Romans 1:16. It says, for Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it, speaking of the subject, the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation, unto wholeness to everyone who believes. Now, this word believe is not a fly-by-night word. This word believes means you're convinced. You're convinced. We're talking about with the renewing of the mind is how to get your mind convinced to where you believe it. When you believe what God says regarding your life, regarding that situation, and every situation, what happens is it restores you to wholeness. That's the word salvation. So I'm doing this backwards. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. So the believing, the can being convinced is another word for believing. You're fully persuaded or persuaded, uh, but you're you're persuaded. It couldn't be another way. Like when you go to start your cause. What happens if you go to turn the key and it doesn't start? What do you do? You don't say, Oh, I guess it's not gonna start. You turn that key maybe five, six, a dozen times. Why? Because it's supposed to start and you're convinced it's supposed to start, but the more you turn the key and it doesn't Start, you're now getting convinced that it's not going to start. That's how the mind works. So by repetition of the truth, you're building your mind into what? Salvation. Your mind is being built into believing the gospel because you're setting your thoughts on things above. You're putting your eyes and your ears into the word. By this investment of time, and yes, it's work. Christianity is work. You're not saved by works. His work saved you. Your only work left is to learn to think what God says is true. That's why it says set your thoughts on things above. It doesn't say hope your thoughts trip into it. Or get the right Bible and you'll become a believer. It doesn't work like that. The word comes in and it does faith. When faith comes into being, salvation results. How could salvation result from just believing a message that's at least 2,000 years old? Because God set it up that way. I'm doing it backwards again, but look at the first part of verse 16. Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it, this gospel is the power of who? Whoa, say if that is true, I'm being prestigious. Of course it's true. If that is true, look what we have here. We've got the power of God in words to be activated by the last word we read, believing. It's crucial, crucial for us to understand what God is talking about regarding believing. What is he made known to us? Well, that believing, that faith comes as our eyes and our ears get attuned to what he says. Back to the broken finger, the funky finger, right? So say my finger, funky. I'm doing this for a week. There's no change. What do I do? Every time now I think of my finger, I I'm going to bring my thoughts to what God says, set my thoughts on things above. Finger, you're restored. I was something, and I go to pick something up, and man, that Jesus Christ healed you by this, and you keep speaking the reality of the truth to that situation. And I'm talking silliness almost, about a finger. What we're talking about ultimately is your whole being coming into tune with the wholeness of God, your emotions, your relationships, you know, how you raise your children, how you speak of and think of your spouse, about that neighbor who keeps, you know, parking his car in front of your driveway. Everything about your being is going to go through this transformation into salvation. But it says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. I'm gonna throw in a little zinger in here. This word power is a word which doesn't mean active power, that energy that turned on that light overhead. Not that kind of it's the power that's potential, the power that's running through the lines that when you go turn on the light switch, the light goes on. The power that's in the line is this word power, the potential power of the gospel is unto salvation. It's trying to turn the light on in our lives for who those who believe, those who know how to turn on the switch. That's it, that's the simplicity of it. God's word is his power to produce his effects of wholeness, restoration, wholeness, salvation. They're all the same word to everyone who believes. So the key for us is the believing or the acceptance, the being convinced of the truth. Your mind is right now convinced of things because of input of information and usually repetition. Everything you do, your job, when you got introduced to your job, they probably did a walkthrough. What's the facility like, what are your responsibilities like? This is input of information. As you embrace that through, you were able to function in that capacity. If you didn't believe that that copy machine and the facility you work at is something you have access to, you're going to see that potential power stay dormant. You will not use the copy machine. You don't think you have the ability or the uh authority to use the copy machine. But as soon as somebody's fan you out and says, Oh no, that copy machine is just as much yours as the other 20 employees that work here, and you change your mind, now that potential power becomes active power. If someone doesn't know the gospel, they cannot see potential power activated in their life. If they've heard the gospel, but they haven't taken the time, God says, to invest into setting your thoughts on things above, this potential power stays potential. The copy machine stays there with you not accessing it. And this is why we say, Oh, I I know, I memorize verses about the gospel. I can quote them, I can put a few verses together. But I honestly don't think that way. And I've got you know a personal situation where somebody away from our ministry work because he said, What you're preaching doesn't work. Well, within minutes of the conversation, I said, Did you honestly put this application in your life? And the person happened to be honest, and they said, No, I haven't done that. You're right. I didn't do it. You don't do the work, the coffee machine will stay dormant. The work God is getting. So all you got to do is get your mind tracking with the truth. How do you do that? Exactly what we're talking about. See your life, your situation has sanctified. You will see such powerful results in your life, you won't recognize all the fears and anxieties and darknesses that are going to leave your life. There's so many and so big. But that's what God says, His light will dispel darkness. This is a power of God, potential, word-filled book, and specifically New Covenant for us. And as we learn it and learn how to think its way and get convinced of it, right, or fully persuaded of it, you will see the potential power of God activated in your life more and more and more. It in much more than others. Some of us have done it maybe at all. If you will take these words of God, as God says, This is who you are, learn to think this way, and you will see my potential power become active in your life, take care of everything contrary to me, God says. Everything, his salvation is wholeness in everything, just a few things. So he is in the in the process of restoring all of us all the time. He just needs complaints. So the reason I shared with you and had you right on the so that you can see that situation God's way more and more. And I strongly encourage and please call me if you want help with this. I would love, I would crawl to your house to help you if you seriously want this help. This is what it's all about. This is why we're preaching the gospel, so that people understand and that they have the love for God to say, God, I'm tired of my way, it's not working. I want your way, I want to see your power make my life the way you've designed it to be in the place, and you've given me the means. I just need your help, these words on. And if I can help you in any way with that, please let me know. I'm gonna be mad if you don't. Because man, the thing that when you see more and more the power of God take over an area that you were experiencing and identifying with that, well, that's just the way I am. When you get that restoration, you go, I I was that way, but it's because I was tricked, I was walking in words that were contrary to my father, and you see that deliverance, it is work to get there, but it is so sweet on the other side. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Is it sweet on the other side or what? Yeah, exactly. So, anyway, that's a little what I had to share, but please, dozens of verses talking about the same thing. I just gave you a few if you need more. Okay, so does anybody have any coming up?