Participants: Marquis Johns
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000307
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00:01 Please stay with us.
00:08 3ABN presents 00:16 this closed captioned program. 00:29 My name is Marquis Johns and today our topic will be 00:33 'The Beautiful Mind. ' 00:35 But of course, before we get into our topic 00:37 Let's just have a word or prayer 00:38 Father in Heaven, 00:41 Lord we thank you for Your Beautiful Son Jesus Christ. 00:46 We thank You for His beautiful life. 00:48 And we thank You for His beautiful and perfect sacrifice. 00:51 For without it where would we be? 00:54 And now Lord we ask as we study your word 00:57 that You would give us the mind of Christ 01:00 that we would discern Your Word speaking to us 01:03 specifically and directly. 01:06 And we ask this in Jesus name because You said 01:09 That we should study to show ourselves approved 01:12 unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed 01:15 rightly dividing the Word of Truth 01:17 so we ask and we claim Your promise 01:20 in Jesus name. Amen, Amen. 01:24 Today's topic: A Beautiful Mind. 01:29 There's a story of two Christian monks. 01:32 They were walking in a drenching thunderstorm. 01:34 They came to the banks of a specific river and 01:37 the thunderstorm was so immense that the banks were overflowing. 01:41 They found a young lady standing there. 01:44 And in Christian sincerity one of the monks said to her, 01:48 "May I help you? " 01:49 She said, "Yes! I need to get to the other side. " 01:50 And so the Christian monk decided 01:56 not only to help her to the other side 01:58 but to put her on his shoulders and carry her to the other side. 02:02 After doing this, later on at the monastery 02:05 After doing this his companion turned to him and said, 02:07 "You know I have a bone to pick with you! " 02:09 Confused, the monk said, "What is it brother? " 02:13 He said, "You know, we have taken a vow " 02:16 "not only not to look at women " 02:19 "but not even to touch them " 02:21 "and you, my friend, have broken both of those vows. " 02:24 The monk, with a smile replied to him, 02:28 "My dear brother, I left that lady " 02:31 "on the other side of the river. " 02:32 "However, you're still carrying her in your mind. " 02:35 The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 10 02:38 we must cast down imaginations 02:40 and every high thing that exalts itself 02:42 against the knowledge of God. 02:43 and bring into captivity every thought 02:46 to the obedience of Christ. 02:47 Today, we will study the most beautiful mind 02:51 the universe has ever known 02:52 with the hope of having that mind. 02:55 Turn with me in your Bible to Philippians 2:1 03:00 and let's begin studying that mind. 03:03 Now, what lead me to this study is, being consistently told 03:07 that I must have the mind of Christ 03:09 but not having the answers on how to attain that mind. 03:12 Now the bible tells us in Philippians 2:1 03:15 the beginning of having that mind. 03:18 the Bible says this: 03:40 Now this is an important text 03:42 because this clues us in to the theme 03:44 of the book of Philippians. 03:45 The book of Philippians is a wonderful book. 03:46 The word Philippian 03:49 comes from the word Philippi. 03:51 This province was settled by 03:53 Alexander the Great's father whose name was Phillip. 03:57 And the name Phillip means, 'lover of horses. ' 04:01 It's a compound Greek word 04:02 coming from philos and hippo 04:05 which means, again, 'lover of horses. ' 04:07 And in ancient mythology 04:09 in most cultures 04:10 the horse was the quintessential figure of stamina. 04:14 and so this book is the quintessential book 04:17 on the stamina of the mind. 04:19 The word 'mind ' repeats itself at least ten times 04:22 in the book of Philippians. 04:24 telling us to have the same mind 04:26 to be like minded. 04:27 It tells us what we should think upon 04:29 what we should not think upon. 04:30 And so whenever you want to know about the mind 04:32 whenever you want to know about how your mind 04:34 your character and your personality 04:35 should be or what it should be like 04:37 look at the book of Philippians. 04:39 but here the author Paul is cuing us in to something, 04:42 He says, "we must fulfill the joy " 04:45 "that we be like minded 04:46 "having the same love, being of one accord " 04:49 "of one mind. " 04:51 That 'one accord ' is very important 04:52 because in the Book of Acts 04:53 the only way the disciples were able to receive 04:56 the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit 04:58 was because they were gathered together 05:00 in one place and of one accord. 05:02 The Bible tells us in the Book of Psalms 133 05:05 "Behold how good and how pleasant " 05:07 "for brethren to dwell together in unity. " 05:09 And then it talks about Aaron being anointed 05:12 and the oil dripping down his beard 05:13 even to the hem of his garment. 05:15 And at the hem of the garment of the priest 05:16 was a bell and a pomegranate. 05:19 A pomegranate is a fruit! 05:21 And so what we see is this symbol of Jesus Christ 05:24 going to heaven, being anointed 05:26 and the oil which represents the Holy Spirit 05:28 trickling all the way down 05:29 till it reached the fruit of His labor 05:31 then the disciples who were gathered together in one place 05:34 and of one accord were able to go out 05:36 and I tell you, that day 05:38 three thousand people put in transfers for church membership! 05:40 I tell you that Jesus Christ blesses exceedingly and 05:43 abundantly above all that we could have thought or asked. 05:46 However let us turn to our next text. 05:48 In the book of Philippians again reading contextually 05:50 let's look at verse three as we begin to look at 05:53 I really don't sometimes like using this word but 05:56 the evolution of the mind of Christ, 05:59 the mind that we are told to have. 06:00 The Bible tells us in Philippians 2:3 06:17 Look at that, we already see that this mind 06:20 being likeminded, being of one accord 06:22 fulfilling the joy, has something to do 06:25 with how we treat our brethren. 06:27 And where does Paul get this example from? 06:29 Well, I tell you he is paraphrasing 06:31 or very well quoting 06:32 another text in Matthew 11:28 06:35 Because the text just told us we must be lowly of mind. 06:38 Where have we heard those words before? 06:40 Well, I submit to you that we heard them in Matthew 11:28,29 06:45 from the lips of the greatest teacher 06:46 the world has ever known. 06:48 Let's go there and look at what Jesus Christ 06:49 has to say in Matthew 11:28. 07:13 Paul said, be lowly in mind, Jesus said be lowly of heart. 07:17 In the Bible the words heart and mind are synonymous. 07:23 Let's give an example, the Bible tells us in Proverbs 23:7 07:30 Note that 'mind ' and 'heart ' are synonyms. 07:55 We think in our heart? 07:56 Yes, because the mind and the heart are synonymous. 07:59 Let's follow out this thought. 08:01 Turn in your Bible 08:04 Solomon just told us that as we think in our heart 08:09 Now look at what Jesus Christ has to say. 08:11 Matthew 15:19 08:25 Jesus tells us right here 08:27 that those things come from the heart. 08:29 We think thoughts in our heart. 08:31 This is why we must pray that prayer 08:33 Create in us a clean heart 08:35 not only a clean heart but also a clean mind 08:38 and renew a right spirit within us. 08:40 The Bible is telling us here that the heart 08:42 and the mind are synonymous. 08:43 So when Paul begins to explain what this mind is like 08:46 or who we should be like minded with 08:49 he gives us the example of Jesus Christ 08:55 and tells us we must be lowly in mind. 09:01 quoting Jesus Christ who said He was lowly in heart. 09:05 Now, we need to look at this text very carefully. 09:08 Philippians 2:3 says we should 09:11 esteem others better than ourselves. 09:13 When someone tells you to have the mind of Christ 09:15 how do we have the mind of Christ? 09:17 We don't look at that person 09:19 who is homeless, who doesn't have as much money as we have 09:23 who doesn't have the nice car that we have 09:25 we esteem them better than ourselves. 09:28 And where do we learn this type of behavior? 09:30 We learn it from none other than the Great Savior Himself 09:32 Jesus Christ, who saw in us 09:35 things that we don't even see ourselves. 09:38 Brothers and sisters I tell you today that 09:39 I should not be standing here. 09:41 There was a point in time in my life 09:42 where I was just a vagabond! 09:44 This is the worst person. 09:46 If you didn't let me into your home 09:47 I wouldn't blame you. 09:48 I wouldn't say that you were being 09:49 wrong or you were being mean to me. 09:51 I would say you were being smart. 09:53 I come from the streets of Los Angeles, CA 09:55 where we can esteem others better than ourselves 09:58 for you'd never know who might attempt to hurt you 10:01 or harm you or your family or 10:03 who doesn't have your best interest in mind. 10:04 But Jesus Christ tells us 10:06 that we should be like He is. 10:08 We should have His mind. 10:10 And how was that mind? 10:12 That mind is a mind that esteems others better than ourselves. 10:16 Don't clutch your pockets when you walk 10:17 by the person who might look like a thief. 10:19 You never know that may very well have been Jesus Christ. 10:22 He tells in Matthew 25:31 10:25 He tells us that when He comes back 10:27 He's going to start separating sheep from goats. 10:29 And what is the prerequisite for becoming a sheep or being goat? 10:33 Well it's simple. He goes on to delineate 10:36 the sheer fact that it's how you treated people 10:38 that you didn't know that could very well have been Him! 10:40 He said, "I was hungry and you didn't feed me. " 10:42 "I was thirsty and you didn't give me anything to drink. " 10:44 "I was in jail and you didn't visit me. " 10:46 And the goats say, 10:48 "When didn't we do these things for you, Lord? " 10:50 He said, "As much as you didn't do them for the least of these " 10:51 "you didn't do them for Me. " 10:54 So when God says to esteem others 10:56 better than yourself 10:57 this is the beginning 10:59 of what constitutes 11:00 the mind of Christ. 11:02 Let us read on in our text 11:03 The Bible tells us in Philippians 2:4 11:18 Don't look at yourself as better than someone else. 11:21 But look and see how you can benefit or help 11:24 someone else. 11:26 This is what the mind of Christ is like. 11:28 Christ was sitting in heaven 11:29 loving and being loved by His Father 11:32 dwelling in harmony and beauty 11:34 and He said to Himself 11:36 or said to His Father which is Himself 11:38 He said, "Listen, I want them to be better than what they are. " 11:42 "I can see something in them " 11:44 "that they don't even see for themselves. " 11:45 And that's why the Bible says here 11:47 "But every man also on the things of others. " 11:49 Jesus Christ looked on us and said, 11:51 "Listen, I have a plan for Marquis " 11:54 "I have a plan for you sitting out there today " 11:55 "that you are going to be some thing that you don't even see. " 11:58 And so we must follow this behavior 12:01 that Christ has modeled for us. 12:03 Looking at everyone better than ourselves 12:06 and not looking on our things 12:09 and being so happy that we have these nice things 12:11 but looking to see how we can use those things 12:13 to benefit the cause of Jesus Christ. 12:16 This is the beginning of the Mind of Christ. 12:18 Let us turn to another text. 12:19 This text is found in Philippians 2:5 12:24 because this is what we are talking about. 12:25 this is the climactic moment 12:27 of what Paul is trying to write here in Philippians 2:5 12:30 And all too often you hear this text quoted. 12:33 I know when I go to church 12:34 I hear the pastor say to me 12:36 let this mind be in you that is also in Christ Jesus 12:38 I heard that text so many times 12:40 that I started agonizing and praying and saying, 12:42 "Lord! How can I have the mind of Christ? " 12:45 The mind of Christ is pure and without taint 12:47 My mind has been tainted by everything from rap music 12:50 to movies and television. 12:53 "Lord! How can I now have this mind? " 12:55 And God responds in Philippians 2 by saying, 12:58 It's not about necessarily 13:00 what's in your mind, although 13:01 you must, again, cast down imaginations 13:03 and ever high thing that exalts itself 13:05 against the knowledge of God. 13:06 But it is about how you treat your brother. 13:09 How do you look at your brother? 13:10 How do you look at your sister? 13:11 You see I love when the Gospel becomes practical. 13:14 Because all too often I hear the text of Matthew 24:14 13:19 "And this Gospel of the Kingdom " 13:21 "shall be preached in all the world " 13:23 "for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. " 13:25 But we stop there and then we 13:27 jump over to another text that's a beautiful text 13:29 in Revelation 14:6 which says, 13:31 "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven " 13:33 "having the everlasting gospel " 13:35 "to preach to them that dwell on the earth " 13:37 "to every nation, to every kindred " 13:39 "and tongue and people. " 13:40 However I want us to back to Matthew 24 sometimes and start 13:43 looking at what happened before. 13:45 What happened before and let this mind. 13:48 What is this mind? and it says, 13:49 "He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved " verse 13, 13:53 And verse 12 says, "Because iniquity abounds " 13:57 "the love of many waxes cold. " 13:59 But what is interesting is in verse 10 14:01 where this thought really begins in verse 10 14:03 Jesus Christ starts talking about hate and deception. 14:07 He says that hate starts making people betray one another. 14:10 And then after that he goes on and 14:11 in verse 11 he says, "And then many false prophets arise. " 14:15 So what prepares the way for deception? It's hate! 14:18 And then He says, "Because iniquity abounds " 14:20 "the love of many waxes cold. " 14:22 What is the remedy for deception? 14:24 It's Love. 14:25 Just like hate prepares the way for deception 14:27 the remedy to deception is Love. 14:31 And that Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached 14:34 unto all the world for a witness 14:36 unto all nations and then shall the end come. 14:37 It is the Gospel of Love! 14:39 Now some people out there say, 14:41 "You know, we can't dwell on the character of God " 14:44 "or the Love aspect of God, " 14:46 "we must also look at other things. " 14:47 But let me tell you something: the Bible tells me very clearly 14:49 in 1 John 4:8 that "God Is Love. " 14:54 That's who He Is! 14:55 It's a transcript 14:56 of His character. 14:58 and so if we really want to be 14:59 or have the mind of Christ 15:00 we must have also the love 15:02 of Christ in our hearts. 15:03 Without the love of Christ 15:04 in your heart how can you very well have the mind of Christ? 15:06 This is a question we must be asking ourselves. 15:09 How can I have the mind of Christ 15:12 without the love of Christ? 15:13 And if I don't have the love of Christ 15:15 then I am deceived! 15:16 Jeremiah 17:5 tells us we shouldn't worry about deception 15:21 coming from somewhere else. 15:22 We should worry about deception coming from the heart. 15:25 Because in Matthew 24 the disciples come to Him and say, 15:28 "Lord, what shall be the sign of Your coming? " 15:30 "what shall be the sign of the end of the world? " 15:31 And the first thing that Jesus Christ tells them is, 15:33 "Take heed that no man deceive you. " 15:38 Where is the greatest threat of deception? 15:39 Jeremiah 17:9 says, 15:41 "The heart is deceitful above all things " 15:44 "and desperately wicked. Who can know it? " 15:45 My heart is more deceitful than any man could be to me! 15:50 And that's why we must think in our hearts 15:53 or in our minds -cause remember they're synonymous- 15:56 we must think the way Christ thought. 15:59 This is why Romans 12 tell us this, 16:01 Romans 12:1 says, "I beg you therefore brethren " 16:08 "I beg you therefore brethren by the mercies of God " 16:11 "that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice " 16:14 "holy, acceptable unto God, it's your reasonable service. " 16:17 "And be not conformed by this world " 16:20 "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind " 16:24 "Be transformed by the renewing of your heart. " 16:27 Because the heart is desperately wicked 16:30 and deceitful above all things. 16:31 This is why the Holy Spirit inspired Paul 16:35 to write a whole book about the mind. 16:39 And how do we have the mind of Christ? 16:42 We've seen thus far in verses 3 and 4 16:44 that as we esteem others better than ourselves 16:47 we do nothing through strife or vainglory. 16:49 This goes back to a point I make all the time about 16:51 "what is our motive? " 16:53 Now, I can't judge your motives or your character. 16:55 But we can look in our hearts and see 16:57 why are we doing things. 16:59 Many people send money off to people 17:00 in the foreign mission fields 17:01 only because somebody's watching 17:04 When Mission Spotlight comes around 17:07 somebody stands up and says, 17:09 "I'm sending this much or sending that much. " 17:11 That's not what it's about. 17:12 It's about doing what God tells you. 17:13 If God tells you to extend $1 that's better than if you 17:17 tell yourself to send $1000. 17:18 This is what we must concentrate on 17:21 is having the mind of Christ. 17:22 And again, I can't say it enough, 17:24 'What is the mind of Christ based on? ' 17:26 It's based on how you treat your brother. 17:29 You can keep all the commandments in the world 17:32 but if you are treating your brother badly 17:33 your breaking the commandments. 17:34 You will be breaking the commandments if 17:36 you're not treating your brother the right way. 17:38 If you walk into church on the right day 17:39 but have hatred in your heart towards your brother 17:42 you are breaking all the other commandments. 17:44 Because Christ told us if 17:45 you hate your brother you've murdered him. 17:47 Brothers and sisters we really need to think 17:50 about how we treat one another. 17:52 Stop thinking about how we are seen. 17:55 Stop thinking about how nice you come to church. 17:57 That's not what it's about. 17:58 It's about how you're treating your brothers. 18:00 How are you treating brothers and sisters 18:01 of other denominations. 18:02 Do you look down on them? 18:04 How do you treat people in your own denomination 18:06 who don't have the truth you think they should have? 18:09 Do you look down on them? 18:10 Or, do you esteem them better than yourselves? 18:12 Are you willing to resist unto blood for that person, 18:17 Are you willing to go to the cross for that person? 18:19 'Cause if you're not you need to get down on your knees 18:22 and you need to start praying for yourself and them. 18:25 Jesus died for that person. 18:27 And that's what we must always remember. 18:29 We must remember that every person that you see 18:31 is a person that Jesus shed His precious blood on Calvary for! 18:37 This is the most important thing. 18:40 This is what Philippians 2:5 is talking about. 18:43 Turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians 2:5 19:00 That's the mind that doesn't look on how many things 19:03 he has amassed. 19:04 It's the mind that doesn't look at everybody 19:06 as if they're lower than himself. 19:08 It's the mind that's willing to sacrifice 19:10 for people that he might not even know. 19:14 You know, my wife and I just got back from Bolivia. 19:18 There we were on a mission trip. 19:20 And this is one of the hardest things we've ever done 19:23 'cause we're city folks. 19:24 And we went out to Bolivia 19:26 and we're thinking, 'we're going to go out there ' 19:27 'and we're going to help out ' 19:29 'and we're going to have some nice place to sleep. ' 19:30 Oh no no no, we had to bring tents. 19:33 We brought tents and we camped for 14 days. 19:40 Not only did we camp for 14 days 19:42 but in order to get to the site we were going to 19:44 we had to drive 20 hours through the Andes mountains 19:47 on a road called Death Road! 19:48 So we drove down this road; 19:51 we got to this camp. 19:52 The moment we got to this camp it started raining and pouring. 19:55 And we had to move our luggage from the bus to the camp site 19:58 where there was only a tarp set up. 19:59 Then we had to pitch camp during this rain and this was 20:02 South American tropical rain. 20:05 Pouring down. 20:08 So we set up our tent 20:09 and those of us who'd been traveling for 20 hours 20:11 what did we want to do? 20:12 Well we wanted to take a bath. 20:14 We were pointed to where we'd be bathing. 20:16 It was a stream. 20:17 We had to bathe in a stream. 20:19 Now the ladies had a stream that was sectioned off from the men 20:23 and they bathed upstream. 20:25 But upstream from them was where 20:27 we cleaned our pots and pans. 20:28 So we cleaned our pots and pans in one part of the stream 20:31 it trickled down to where the women bathed, 20:33 they bathed, then it trickled down to where the guys bathed. 20:35 Then we got up everyday and had worship. 20:38 And after worship we got to work mixing cement. 20:41 Now I went there, I'm the chaplain, 20:42 I'm supposed to be spiritual but 20:43 God told me, "Don't preach. " 20:45 "Don't preach the message, live the message. " 20:48 "get out there and mix the cement " 20:51 "dig 3 feet holes, carry bricks " 20:54 "carry cement, carry mortar. " 20:56 And this is what God was giving to me 20:58 as an experience because I was doing this 21:00 for some people I did not even know. 21:02 I didn't know these kids. 21:05 But these kids, as we were there with them 21:07 and we met them and we talked with them. 21:09 These were children who had lost their parents, 21:11 children who their parents had abandoned them 21:15 or were on alcohol and didn't care where they were. 21:17 And God gave a young lady a dream, a vision 21:20 of building in Ruranabake, Bolivia 21:23 a place where these kids could have refuge. 21:25 Now she didn't know these kids. 21:28 We didn't know these kids. 21:29 But as we lay hold of the mind Of Christ 21:31 we do things for others and we esteem others 21:35 better than ourselves. 21:36 We give up these precious amenities 21:38 that we have at home, 21:39 the washers and dryers because 21:40 we also had to wash our clothes in that stream. 21:43 We give up the nice warm bed. 21:45 We sleep in tents where it rains 21:47 and people are flooded out and have 21:49 to go to other peoples tents and sleep with them. 21:51 We gave up the nice food that 21:54 we can go to the restaurant and eat. 21:56 We ate limes and lemons. 21:58 We take for granted here in America 22:01 that we can go to the market and get any fruit that we want. 22:04 In America we can 22:05 go to the store and if it's 22:06 orange season or not 22:07 we can get oranges. 22:08 If it's apple season or not, 22:09 Gala or Fuji which I like 22:11 you can get them year round. 22:13 But there you can only get the fruit that is in season. 22:17 We missed mango season so what were we living off of? 22:21 We were living off of grape fruits, limes and lemons. 22:24 I grew up detesting grapefruit. 22:26 But I ate so many green grapefruits that I probably 22:29 don't want to see another grapefruit. 22:30 But these are the things that you do 22:33 when Christ is in your heart. 22:34 I'm not saying that I'm any better than anyone else. 22:37 I'm saying that I decided to give God a chance. 22:40 I decided to try Him. 22:42 You know, there's a story about a young man. 22:44 This young man who was wayward 22:46 and his mother had been praying for him. 22:48 And finally he came around. 22:51 When he came around the first thing he asked his mother for 22:54 was for a Bible. 22:56 His mother decided because she didn't have time to go out 22:58 and buy him a Bible she'd give him her old Bible. 23:01 So he took this Bible home and he began studying it. 23:04 He began reading it. 23:06 As he began going through different 23:07 books, chapters and verses 23:09 he began noticing T's next to certain verses 23:12 and P's next to others. 23:14 He kept noticing this to the point that 23:17 he had to know what these represented. 23:20 The best way to find out was to go to the person who 23:22 may have very well have put them there, his mother. 23:24 So he goes to his mom and says, 23:26 "Mom, I've been reading the Bible. " 23:27 "I've been studying it. " 23:28 And this just made that woman's heart rejoice. 23:30 He said, "However, I have a question for you. " 23:33 "There are certain texts that have T's next to them " 23:37 "and others that have P's. " 23:39 "Why is that Mom? Why is that? " 23:41 And she smiled and said to him, 23:44 "Well the T's stand for when I tried God. " 23:46 "And the P's are when He proved Himself. " 23:49 I submit to you brothers and sisters try God 23:51 and He will prove Himself. 23:52 And all I did was, try God. 23:56 He said, "There's a mission trip. Go on it. " 23:58 I went on the mission trip. 24:00 And as I was there He started changing my heart and mind, 24:07 giving me the beautiful mind of Jesus Christ. 24:11 And giving me the will to mix cement 24:14 because we didn't have cement mixers. 24:16 We had to mix cement by hand, 24:18 5 barrels of sand to every 12 bags of cement. 24:23 We had to mix them by hand, we had to dig these holes. 24:27 With shovels we dug 3 foot deep holes. 24:30 We had to lay this foundation. 24:31 We had to lay bricks and I'd never laid bricks in my life. 24:34 But I was out there because Jesus would have been out there. 24:39 And that's what He was showing me. 24:40 He said, "Don't look at all these nice things " 24:42 "you have at home Marquis. " 24:43 "Look at these young kids who don't have these things. " 24:46 "And I died for them. " 24:48 "I died for them the same way I died for you. " 24:50 "So, sacrifice. " 24:52 And so for 2 weeks my wife and I sacrificed. 24:55 And Lord have mercy, now my wife is telling me 24:57 she wants to go to the foreign mission field. 24:59 So please pray for me. 25:00 However, I want us to key in on this idea 25:02 of having the mind of Christ. 25:05 You know, I'd like to tell you a story. 25:07 One that is very close to home. 25:09 I grew up, as I said, in south-central Los Angeles, CA. 25:13 and back home I grew up looking up to gang members 25:18 and drug dealers 25:20 not only those on the street but some that were in my own house, 25:22 some that that were my own family members. 25:25 And there's a particular story about this one gang leader 25:28 not just a gang member but a gang leader. 25:30 He was known to carry a knife 25:31 and not afraid to use it. 25:33 He would frequently harass the locals 25:36 and didn't mind traveling to other neighborhoods, 25:38 as it were, and harassing people over there. 25:40 His name was caught up in 25:44 one of the most notorious murder cases of his day. 25:46 But one day this gang leader 25:50 he met Jesus Christ. 25:52 And upon meeting Jesus Christ 25:54 he decided to accept Christ into his heart. 25:57 And he went from a pusher to a preacher. 26:01 He began preaching not only to the people who 26:07 he saw as his brothers and sisters 26:08 but also those people he once harassed and annoyed. 26:13 And his heart was so touched 26:16 because this to him was the essence of Christianity. 26:21 He had been given the beautiful mind, the mind of Christ. 26:24 This gang leader was infamous not only in Los Angeles, CA 26:29 but the world over. 26:30 you know him, his name is Paul. 26:32 Yes, Paul. 26:34 And once Paul accepted Jesus Christ 26:37 he became one of the greatest evangelists 26:40 the world has ever known. 26:41 If it can happen for Paul, 26:43 it can happen for me 26:45 then it can happen for you. 26:47 Paul not only accepted Christ into His life 26:51 but he traded in that knife for a new weapon. 26:55 And that weapon is found 26:56 in 1 Peter 4:1 27:00 Turn with me if you will in your bibles to 1 Peter 4:1 27:04 And the bible says this: 27:21 Paul decided to put down his knife 27:23 and pick up a new weapon, 27:26 the mind of Christ. 27:28 How many of us are wielding weapons today 27:30 that profit us nothing 27:32 and need to put those weapons down 27:34 and arm ourselves with the mind of Christ? 27:36 Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10 27:39 "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal " 27:41 "but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. " 27:44 I submit to you that what you should do 27:47 is what Paul did. 27:49 Put down the weapon 27:51 and pick up the mind 27:53 the beautiful mind of Christ. 27:55 God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17