Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000012
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01:05 I believe if there is any one word that
01:09 would characterize our desire for our 01:12 lives as we live day by day, that word 01:15 would be victory, don't we want to be 01:18 victorious especially for Jesus we want to 01:21 be victorious in Christ. You know, the 01:24 Book of Revelation uses a phrase over and 01:26 over again, to him who overcomes and 01:30 all the promises in Revelation are 01:33 promised to the one who overcomes. 01:35 We want to be overcomers. Amen! 01:38 "Amen" We want to be victorious 01:40 for Jesus in every aspect of our lives, but I've 01:46 discovered that most Christians are just the 01:51 opposite, haunted by the fear of failure, 01:58 hidden under a cloud of doubt and 02:01 discouragement, and what a pity because 02:04 the laws for successful Christian 02:06 living are so very clear in God's word. 02:13 Sometimes, I think we just make it too 02:15 complicated so that those who try get 02:19 frustrated, discouraged and give 02:21 up and quit. In another times, we 02:25 can reduce Christianity to a meaningless 02:28 simplicity, but I believe that, a little old lady 02:37 who sit up in prayer meeting one night and 02:38 gave her testimony hit the bull's-eye. 02:44 Her language wasn't as polished as perhaps it 02:47 could have been, but her message was right on. 02:51 She stood up in front of the church 02:53 and said I ain't what I ought to be and I ain't 03:00 what I gonna be, but praise God anyhow 03:03 I ain't what I was. Isn't that it, recognizing 03:09 that our lives are not all that they ought to be 03:12 and having a bold, calm determination to 03:15 do better and praising God all the way for 03:19 what he has done and how far he's led us, 03:23 but again many are just the opposite, so 03:28 this morning I want to take a look in the 03:30 battle for the mind, I want to take a look at 03:32 what I call three laws for successful 03:36 Christian living and another thing that I 03:40 want to make clear this morning is we are 03:42 going to do something a little different. 03:46 I don't want you to just sit here and listen 03:49 to the stories and go out and say, oh! 03:51 Pastor, good sermon, good sermon, because 03:55 many times it goes one in-in one ear and 03:57 out the other ear. So, I want you to get 04:02 what we are taking about this morning 04:04 and if you've been coming to the meetings 04:06 in the evening you're gonna get a printed 04:07 copy, if you haven't been attending the 04:09 evening meetings then you won't be able to 04:11 get a printed copy this morning, so you may 04:12 want to take notes, but we're gonna, 04:16 I'm warning you in advance, we're gonna 04:18 stop in the middle of this sermon and we're 04:20 gonna have a quiz because I want to 04:22 make sure you're getting this, it's gonna 04:23 do any good if you just sit here if you don't 04:24 get it, right? So, we are going to have a little 04:26 quiz and I'm not going to tell you when it is, it's 04:28 going to be a pop quiz, so be prepared. 04:33 Three laws for successful Christian living. In Romans 04:36 the 7th chapter we find them. Romans chapter7, 04:40 what is the first law, verse 7, what 04:42 shall we say then is the law sin, certainly not, for 04:49 I would not known what sin was except through 04:52 the law. Now we could ask which law is Paul 04:56 speaking of here, it's not sin, but it reveals sin, 05:00 which law is he speaking of, he tells us for I would 05:03 not have known what coveting really was if the 05:07 law had not said do not covet, which law said 05:11 not to covet. God's law, the Ten Commandments 05:15 right! So the first law is the Ten Commandments, 05:20 that's the first law for successful Christian 05:22 living. Remember that, the Ten Commandments. 05:24 There is nothing wrong with God's law, there is 05:26 nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments, 05:28 verse 12 even says so then the law is holy and 05:32 the Commandment is holy, righteous, and good. 05:35 He goes so far as to say in verse 14, the law is 05:38 spiritual. So there is no problem with God's law, 05:42 its holy, its righteous, its good, its spiritual, that's 05:45 the law that Paul wants to be obedient to, but watch 05:48 this. In verse 14, but I am unspiritual. See the 05:54 problem isn't the law, the problem is us, the people. 05:59 The law is spiritual, we are unspiritual. Paul says 06:02 I am unspiritual, that's Paul the Apostle, and he 06:08 calls himself unspiritual. I've been sold as a slave 06:13 to sin, I don't understand what I do, for I want to 06:19 do I do not do, but what I hate I do and if I do 06:23 what I do want to do I agree the law is good, 06:26 nothing wrong with the law is me as it is, there is no 06:29 longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 06:35 Do you see, I agree the law is good, I want to do good, 06:37 I want to obey the law, but sin living in me prevents 06:41 me from obeying the law and doing the good that I 06:44 want to do. So in verse 21, I find this law at work when 06:48 I want to do good evil is right there with me, for in 06:53 my inner being I delight in God's law, so again you see 07:00 there is nothing wrong with God's law. He has the 07:03 passion for God's law, in his inner being he delights 07:06 in God's law, he desires God's law. The problem is 07:13 he doesn't understand himself he says, I don't 07:16 understand what I do for what I want to do I don't do 07:18 and what I hate I do, you ever felt like that. So, he 07:23 wants to be obedient to God's law, he strives with 07:26 all of his heart to obey God's law, but there is 07:29 something holding him down, he never seems to be able 07:32 to arrive, he never gets to the place where he can say 07:36 I am obedient to the law of God, I have kept his 07:39 commandments. Why not, when I want to do good evil 07:44 is right there with me, for my inner being I delight in 07:47 God's law, but in verse 23, I see another law at work in 07:51 the members of my body waging war against the law 07:54 of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin 07:59 at work within my members. The second law is the law 08:03 of sin, notice God's law is not sin, God's law is good 08:16 and righteous. The law of sin prevents him from 08:22 obeying the law of God, he wants to obey God's law, 08:27 but he can't do it why not? Because the law of sin is at 08:32 work within my members. Oh! What a wretched man I am, 08:36 he cries out, who will deliver me from this body 08:40 of death. Now Paul doesn't excuse it when he breaks 08:45 the law, he doesn't say well I can't keep the 08:49 Commandments anyway may as well just break them, he 08:52 doesn't say well I'm under grace so it doesn't matter 08:55 if I break the law. When he breaks the law, he hates it, 08:59 he says what a wretched man I am, I hate myself, 09:03 God, deliver me from this body of sin. Aren't you glad 09:08 that he didn't end his letter to the church of Rome 09:11 right there. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, 09:20 so in my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but in my 09:27 sinful nature a slave to the law of sin, you see the battle 09:36 for the mind is the desire in our hearts and in our minds 09:41 to be obedient to the law of God, but the law of sin also 09:46 at work in our bodies is holding us back and 09:51 preventing us from doing what we desire in our hearts. 09:56 Two laws waging war against the law of my mind making me a 10:03 prisoner of the law of sin. The chapter 8, verse 1, we 10:11 find the solution, therefore there is now no 10:14 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, why? 10:21 Because through Christ Jesus, the third law, the law of the 10:26 spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death, 10:33 why? Verse 4 tells us, in order that the righteous 10:38 requirements of the law might be fully met in us who live 10:43 not according to the sinful nature, but according to the 10:46 spirit. So, the third law sets us free from the law of sin 10:53 and death in order that the righteous requirements of 10:57 God's law might be fully met in us. Notice, the law 11:03 of the spirit of life does not set us free from the law of 11:10 God, as some would have you believe, it sets us free 11:16 from the law of sin that prevents us from obeying 11:21 the law of God in order that we can obey the law of God. 11:27 So now we have three laws, the law of God that's the 11:31 good one that we want to obey, the law of sin that's the 11:35 bad one that's preventing us from obeying, and the law 11:37 of the spirit of life that enables us to overcome the 11:41 law of sin and obey the law of God. Now, we can see these 11:47 three forces at work in the laws of nature all around us. 11:54 When I was a little boy growing up in Louisiana every 11:57 summer we go out to the beach on the gulf and that was 12:02 one of my favorite times. We go out there in the beach 12:05 and I would love to be out there in my little bathing 12:07 suit, running around in the sand and feeling the cool 12:11 waves, the water just lapping around my feet and legs 12:14 and then I would look up and there he would be, a big giant 12:19 brown pelican just soaring through the air, have you ever 12:25 seen a brown pelican, so beautiful they hardly ruffle 12:29 a feather when they're flying and all of a sudden I just 12:34 forgot about everything else and I would just be fixed on 12:37 that bird and I had a burning desire in my heart. I wished 12:43 I could fly like a brown pelican, but there is a law 12:50 that holds me down, the law of sin, the law of 12:56 gravity holds me down and prevents me from doing 13:00 what I want to do deep down in my heart, but there is 13:06 another law, the law of flight enables me to overcome the 13:14 law of gravity and let me fly. I always remember the first 13:23 time I went out to take my very first ride on a B-52 13:29 bomber, I don't know if you have ever seen one 13:31 up close, but the B-52 is a huge airplane and fully 13:38 loaded with fuel and weapons weighs close to 500,000 13:42 pounds. The closer we got to that airplane the bigger 13:47 it looked and the smaller the engine seemed, even though 13:52 they were eight engines they just didn't seem big enough 13:56 to get us off the ground and I thought whoa, there is no 14:01 way that that thing is gonna fly. We did all of our 14:04 checklists and we got clearance to start the 14:07 engines, taxied out to the end of the runway, finished 14:10 our checklist and finally we got clearance from the 14:13 tower to takeoff. So we taxied out into position and all 14:19 eight throttles for all eight engines go full bore to the 14:23 wall and those engines begin to roar and that big bird 14:30 began to just inch down the runway and I knew we 14:35 would never get off the ground, but the law of 14:40 flight it's so powerful. I don't know if you have 14:45 ever noticed how the wing of an airplane is designed, 14:50 it's designed to take advantage of the law of 14:53 flight. Bernoulli's principle, and Bernoulli's principle 14:58 goes like this. Air that moves across the surface will 15:05 reduce the pressure that it exerts on that surface and 15:10 the faster the air flows across the surface the less 15:14 pressure it exerts. The wing of an airplane is curved 15:20 across the top and flat across the bottom and for 15:25 that reason the air flowing over the top of the wing has 15:29 to go further than the air flowing across the bottom, 15:34 that means its covering a lot more distance in less time 15:38 so it's flowing faster across the surface and remember 15:42 Bernoulli's principle, the faster it goes across the 15:45 surface the less pressure it exerts, so as the wing 15:49 moves through the air faster and faster the pressure on 15:53 the top of the wing gets lighter and the pressure 15:56 underneath is greater compared to the pressure on top until 15:59 you reach a certain speed that the pressure under the wing 16:03 is so much greater than the pressure on top that it just 16:08 lifts that bird 500,000 pounds off the 16:12 ground and I can swore and fulfill the desire deep down 16:17 in my heart to fly. The law of flight enables me to 16:23 overcome the law of gravity and do what I desire in my 16:27 heart and that is to fly and therefore the law of God is 16:32 what I desire, but the law of sin and death is holding me 16:36 down, but the law of the spirit of life enables me to 16:40 overcome the law of sin and death and swore in obedience 16:45 victorious for God, good news. Amen. "Amen" 16:52 Now, a word of caution before we learn how to put the law 16:55 of spirit of life to work in our own lives. 16:59 Romans, chapter 8, is not instruction on how 17:05 to be saved. The first part of Romans talks about how to 17:10 be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not 17:14 by works. We are not saved by overcoming, we are not 17:20 saved even because the law of the spirit of life enables me 17:24 to overcome the law of sin and death and become 17:26 obedient to the law of God that does not save me, that 17:29 is the result of being saved by grace through faith in 17:33 Jesus and we need to be clear on that, but nevertheless it 17:39 is a power, it is a force that God has enacted in our 17:43 lives and made available to us, so that we can be 17:46 victorious for him without excuse. How do you put the 17:59 law of the spirit of life to work, that's the question, 18:00 but before we answer that question you have to 18:03 answer three questions because its quiz time, 18:08 quiz time, so get your thinking caps on, this is not 18:14 that hard a quiz folks, don't worry. There are three laws 18:19 for successful Christian living. The first law is? 18:23 "God's law." God's law, say it nice 18:25 and loud for the camera now. The first law is? 18:28 "God's law." God's law, the 18:30 Ten Commandments, that's the one we want to obey, but 18:34 the second law prevents us from obeying and the Bible 18:37 calls it the law of? "Sin." 18:39 Sin, very good, it holds us down. But the third law 18:43 enables me to overcome the law of sin and be obedient 18:46 to the law of God and that's the law of? 18:49 "Spirit." The spirit of life, 18:51 very good, you get an A this morning. Now, how do we 18:55 put it to work, how do we get the law of spirit of life 18:59 to work. There are two things that have to happen. The first 19:03 step is your part, the second step is God's part. 19:10 Remember God never operates by force, he operates 19:14 by love and choice you do your part and God will do his, 19:20 so what is your part. I'm going to read the verse 19:23 to you and see if it just doesn't jump out at you, 19:27 see if you can pick it up. How do you get the law of 19:29 the spirit of life to work in your life, here is the answer. 19:32 In chapter 8, verse 5, those who live according to the 19:36 sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature 19:43 desires, but those who live according to the spirit have 19:47 their minds set on what the spirit desires. 19:53 Did you catch it. How do we get the law of the spirit 19:57 of life to work for us, set your mind on the things of 20:06 the spirit and that's what you're gonna do. If you set 20:11 your mind on the things of the flesh then that's 20:15 what you'll wind up doing. The secret then 20:18 to the battle for the mind is to set your mind 20:24 on the things of the spirit. Now, don't confuse what I 20:32 call mental discipline, setting the mind, don't 20:36 confuse it with some of the popular things like 20:41 positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale or 20:46 Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, 20:48 or think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. All of these 20:53 books are good and all of these men have made 20:55 contributions to understanding how the mind works, 20:58 but they all leave out something. Mental discipline 21:03 is God's plan for us, so what is mental discipline. 21:08 There are three texts in the Bible that define 21:12 the three steps of mental discipline. The first one is 21:17 Proverbs 23, verse 7, and you don't even have to look 21:20 this one up. You probably know it by heart, whatsoever 21:23 a man thinketh in his heart, what, so is he. Now that 21:30 means in simple terms that you are what you think 21:34 about, your thoughts determine what you are. Now that's 21:40 something to think about, Amen You are what you think about. 21:45 Whatever man thinks in his heart, so is he. The second 21:47 verse, Luke, chapter 6, verse 45, the good man does 21:53 good from the good stored up in his heart while the evil 21:56 man does evil from the evil stored up in his heart, 21:59 not only do your thoughts control what you are, 22:02 your thoughts control what you do, your thoughts 22:08 control your behavior. So, the third step then seems 22:15 rather obvious if your thoughts control what you 22:18 are and your thoughts control what you do, your thoughts 22:21 control your behavior, then in order to change your 22:24 behavior you simply need to change your mind 22:30 and that's exactly what Paul says in Romans, chapter 12, 22:33 verse 2, be transformed by the renewing of the mind. 22:41 It's simple in theory, but it's not so simple in practice 22:52 and the reason is because these thoughts in our minds 22:57 that control our behavior are actually thought patterns, 23:05 patterns of thought that are called habits and habits are 23:13 very, very powerful creatures. Most of what we do on a daily 23:23 basis is the result of habit, that's a fact, now usually 23:30 when you hear the word habit you think bad, but that's 23:36 not always true. A habit is bad only if it's a bad habit. 23:44 Habits can be good. God made our minds to work 23:48 that way, most of what we do on a daily basis is the 23:51 result of habit and habits are formed through the process 23:58 of repetition doing something over and over again. 24:03 For example, learning to drive, how many of you 24:09 learned to drive on a stick shift. Well, that's a good 24:14 number of hands, you know, how to drive a stick shift. 24:16 You remember when you learned how to do it, you knew that 24:21 you had to put the clutch in, change the gear, and let that 24:28 clutch out at just the right timing and speed and give 24:32 it a little gas at just the right moment in order to 24:35 accelerate and takeoff, and you remember the first time 24:39 that you did it. You sat in that car and you had to 24:46 even think well which way do I turn the key this way 24:49 or that way, and you had it in neutral, the clutch is in, 24:54 break on, turn the key, start it up and then you put it 24:58 into gear and you had to let that clutch out at just the 25:01 right and you're thinking through all of this and it 25:03 just started going so smoothly down the road first time, 25:08 it didn't, what happened jerk-jerk-jerk-jerk and then 25:15 it stops right, at least that's what happened to me 25:19 jerk-jerk-jerk-jerk and it stopped again, and I don't 25:23 know how many times I have to do it and when I finally got 25:26 it going it was jerk-jerk-jerk-jerk, oh! 25:29 Finally got it and then remember when you had to 25:32 stop for a red light on a hill and somebody is behind 25:39 you, too close, but can you remember the last time you 25:47 started your car up and took off and even stopped at a 25:51 light on the hill, probably not, why not? Because 25:56 through the process of doing it over and over and over 25:59 again those thoughts became entrenched as patterns 26:03 habits, so now you can jump in the car, turn the key on, 26:08 start it up, take off, drive to where you're going 26:11 without even thinking about what you're doing and that's 26:15 good because it leaves your mind free to do something 26:18 else like look for other cars. See so habits are not bad, 26:24 habits free our minds to be able to do constructive and 26:28 positive things. God made us that way, it's a wonderful 26:33 way, the way that he made the mind and it's through the 26:36 process of repetition over and over again these habits 26:39 become ingrained and established and they happen 26:42 automatically. Example, if I'm listening to my wife's CD 26:50 every morning when I'm getting dressed, I listen to 26:52 my wife's CD, I'm shaving, I'm listening, one day at a 26:54 time. Oh! I like that song over and over and over again 26:57 one day at a time everyday when I'm shaving, 26:59 all this goes on for two or three weeks. Finally one day 27:02 I'm driving down the freeway and it's time for me to hum, 27:05 so I look at my watch and say oh yeah, time to hum, 27:07 what am I gonna hum, oh one day at a time, hmm, 27:10 that has goes. No, what happens, I'm just driving 27:15 along and all of a sudden it comes out, why? Because 27:21 it's been established as a pattern of thought and it 27:23 just comes out automatically without even thinking, so it's 27:27 the process of repetition that sets these patterns, 27:32 these habits, these thought patterns up in our minds. 27:36 Now the other thing that we need to know is that these 27:40 patterns are very, very powerful creatures and that's 27:46 why it's not so easy to change our behavior. I'm gonna 27:52 demonstrate this and I know I'm gonna get in troubles, 27:55 I always get in trouble when I do it, but it's such a good 27:59 illustration I'm gonna do it anyway, alright. You ever 28:03 heard of this jingle, it goes like this, Pepsi Cola hits the 28:09 spot, 12 full ounces that's a, yeah, I heard about 3 or 4 28:14 ounces out there, 12 full ounces that's a lot. Now tell 28:18 me those of you that know the answer, tell me when 28:25 you heard that jingle did you say oh! man I really like that 28:28 I'm gonna write it down 150 times and memorize it, 28:31 is that what happened? Nope, you probably heard it 28:34 150 times and after hearing it over and over again it 28:36 becomes established as a pattern, a thought pattern, a 28:39 habit and it's a powerful one. Now, here is where I get 28:44 in trouble, do you know how long it's been since 28:50 that jingle has been broadcast on the air. Well, just to be 28:57 safe, I'll say it's been over 40 years, way over 40, but I 29:05 won't say how many. You haven't heard that 29:08 advertisement for 40 years and yet I can say Pepsi Cola hits 29:12 the and you instantly respond with spot, a few of you, 29:16 12 full ounces that's a lot, after 40 years it just shows 29:20 you how powerful these thought patterns or these habits are. 29:25 That's why will power alone is not always enough to 29:27 change your behavior, have you ever noticed that, you 29:31 make a decision, set a New Year's resolution, I'm gonna 29:33 stop smoking, I'm gonna stop this, I'm gonna do that 29:35 and maybe it lasts for a day or two and then right back 29:38 to where you were, because these are powerful, 29:41 powerful creatures. Now, listen, one last thing that we 29:43 have know about how the mind works and then we're gonna 29:45 put it altogether in a package that you can use easily and 29:49 that is that your brain has two halves to it, a right side 29:53 and a left side and everybody has both halves to their 29:56 brains well, almost everybody here, both halves to the 30:01 brain. Now, the right side of the brain is what we typically 30:06 refer to as the subconscious and the left side is the 30:09 conscious. The left side of the brain does all the 30:12 reasoning and logic, it makes decisions, it decides what is 30:19 the best thing to do in any certain situation. It's kind of 30:24 like the general in an army. The army, the general makes 30:28 all the decisions, but he does not have the power to execute 30:32 those decisions. He may say we need to take that hill, but he 30:37 doesn't have the power to take the hill. The army on the 30:40 other hand has the power and that's the way the right brain 30:43 brain works. It has all the emotion, all the feelings 30:47 that drive our behavior and that's where the power is. 30:52 The general makes a decision and issues the orders and 30:55 the army automatically, indiscriminately, without 30:59 trying to decide is that a good order or bad order, 31:01 if it's a good army it goes. The general says take the 31:04 hill the army says yes sir, let's go. And you see that's 31:09 the way your brain works. The left brain decides 31:12 this is right, this is true and the right brain obeys 31:17 and after that order has been given a number of times it 31:21 becomes established as a pattern in the right brain. 31:25 So that the right brain who has the power automatically 31:28 takes over and you obey that order without even the 31:32 left side thinking about it or issuing the order, 31:35 that's exactly how it works. Some of you have been 31:39 learning some new things and some of you are here 31:43 on a Sabbath morning for the very first time in your life 31:46 and it feels a little strange. It feels different you know 31:50 in your head that it's a right thing to do, but it just 31:54 doesn't feel right because for so many years you have 31:57 been doing it differently. The right brain is saying 32:01 wait a minute, wrong day, wait a minute, I should be 32:04 watching the ballgame on television in just a 32:07 few minutes, wait a minute what's mom gonna think, 32:09 what's your dad gonna think, what are all your friends 32:12 gonna think, wait a minute. Have you have been wrong 32:14 all this years oh! Wait a minute, I don't know if 32:17 I can do that, you see all the emotions, all the fears are 32:20 stacked in the right side and they've been controlling 32:22 your behavior for so long that it seem so difficult and the 32:26 left brain is saying yes, but it's the right thing to do. 32:32 That's why we have such a battle and such a struggle 32:35 and so we need to keep giving those orders over 32:37 and over to the right side of the brain until it becomes 32:40 established as a habit or a pattern, and then it will feel 32:43 like the right thing to do. The other thing is that for 32:49 most people, most of the time those orders are given to the 32:51 the right brain in terms of the images, pictures. 32:56 For example, if I say the word car, you didn't see the 33:00 letters CAR in your mind did you? Probably not, 33:04 what do you see? Saw a car, how many of you saw a car. 33:10 Yeah, your car or one you wish was your car. Alright, 33:14 we think in terms of images, most people do images and 33:18 so your orders are given to the right brain as an image, 33:21 a picture, if you have an image of yourself as a 33:25 dummy. A failure in life, never being able to mount 33:31 anything than that image becomes a goal for your 33:36 right brain to accomplish and that's exactly what you 33:40 are going to be. On the other end, if you have an 33:42 image of yourself as successful, powerful, a 33:46 Christian obeying Jesus then that's what you are 33:48 gonna do. The student who sees themselves as a failure is 33:52 going to give instructions to fail their test that day. 33:56 Student who sees themselves as successful and smart and 34:00 brilliant is given instructions to their right 34:03 brain to do the things that are going to make them 34:05 pass their test. Parents, I hope that you are getting 34:12 the full implication of what we are talking about this 34:15 morning? I've been in homes and I've heard parents 34:20 talking to their kids. I've heard things like he is a 34:25 little monster, he will never amount to anything, he is 34:29 so dumb, he will never accomplish anything in his 34:31 life and we wonder why they grow up 34:34 not accomplishing anything. Because everything you say 34:38 is giving an order to your child's right brain to obey 34:42 and he is going to obey it. On the other hand, children 34:46 that are brought up in an environment where they 34:48 thought that God has given him a brain and they're 34:51 bright and they are smart and they are intelligent and 34:54 they are successful and they can accomplish all things 34:57 through Christ who gives them strength those children have 34:59 images of themselves as goals to accomplish that are 35:03 going to be successful and positive in life. Parents be 35:09 careful what you say to your children because it 35:12 becomes a prophecy. Now does all of this really work, 35:20 I'm going to prove it to you right now all right. So I'm 35:24 gonna ask you to experiment with me. I'd like for you to 35:28 put your feet on the ground, flap your hands in your lap 35:31 and close your eyes, but don't go to sleep. It won't 35:34 work if you're sleeping, this is gonna be fun. 35:38 Alright, so close your eyes, put your feet down, hands 35:40 on your lap and tune in the television screen of your 35:43 mind so that you can see a lemon. A bright yellow 35:48 lemon and I want you to get it in crystal clear focus, 35:53 look at it. Look at that wrinkled skin, look at the 35:56 little green stem on the end, rotate that lemon in your 36:01 mind until you can read the letters sun kissed written 36:06 across the yellow skin in green letters then picture a 36:11 knife slicing through the lemon, this lemon is so juicy 36:16 that the juice just erupts around the blade of the 36:19 knife, squirting everywhere and you pick up half of that 36:24 lemon and you squeeze it over your outstretch 36:27 tongue. Squeeze it hard, let it drip down, catch a 36:32 mouthful of that lemon juice and whew! It is sour, you 36:38 have it, taste it, swish it around, get another 36:43 mouthful. Oh! It is sour, now open your eyes. 36:52 How many of you have noticed that your mouth started to 36:54 water? Did your mouth water, look at that, did you say 36:59 mouth water. Did you tell your mouth to water, no 37:03 what did you do, you presented the image and that image 37:06 becomes a goal and your right brain automatically 37:10 embraces it and begins to do the things that it 37:13 accomplished and that's why your mouth begins to water. 37:18 This stuff works, the brain is an incredibly powerful 37:24 instrument that God gave us and we must use it in the 37:28 right way. You cannot, you know people ask me 37:32 sometimes Pastor, I don't know what's wrong with me I just 37:35 can't seem to get victorious for Jesus, I can't seem to 37:38 get over certain sins, my life just doesn't seem to get any 37:41 better and I always ask number one, what do you 37:44 watch on television? What kind of books do you read? 37:48 What kind of magazines do you read? What kind of 37:52 images are you putting into your mind? You cannot take 37:58 a picture of a pile of garbage, develop it and expect 38:03 it to come out looking like a rose. In the computer 38:08 industry they have a formula called GIGO and it means 38:14 garbage in garbage out. You cannot program a 38:19 bunch of errors into a computer and expect it to 38:22 give you the right answer. We cannot feed our mind 38:27 on the filth and the cesspools of this world and expect to 38:32 swore in obedience to God. Fix your mind on the things 38:38 of the spirit and you will do the things of the spirit, you 38:42 cannot spend four or five hours or more a day 38:46 watching the things that are tearing and holding you 38:50 down and expect to be obedient to God. Mental 38:59 discipline is the key and mental discipline must be 39:03 total. In fact, Paul tells us in chapter 4 Philippians, 39:07 verse 8, finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is 39:10 whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, 39:14 whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if 39:16 anything is excellent or praise worthy think about 39:19 such things. God not only tells us what we ought to 39:24 think he tells us how we ought to think, he tells us 39:26 what we ought to think. Fix your mind on the things 39:31 that are good. Fix your mind on the things of the pure 39:34 and those are the things you are gonna do. And our 39:37 mental discipline must be total, we must die to sin, 39:42 the dead don't respond to anything and that's the way 39:44 we need to be to sin. You know sometimes people say 39:47 Pastor, I don't know what's wrong with me, I keep getting 39:49 all these bad thoughts in my mind what's wrong with me, 39:51 nothing. There is nothing wrong with a bad thought 39:56 coming into your mind, that's called temptation, 40:01 it becomes wrong when you choose to keep it there 40:06 and that's the battle for the mind. Recognizing when a 40:10 bad thought comes in and instantly putting it out and 40:13 replacing it with a good thought. Folks that's 40:16 the battle for the mind, that's where it all takes 40:19 place and you have the power, you have the control by 40:23 controlling what thoughts you keep in your mind. 40:29 And the secret to mental discipline is what I call the 40:33 secret of the banana tree. Now you don't know about 40:38 banana trees up here because it's too cold and you don't 40:42 have banana trees, but I'm from the deep South and 40:45 before we moved up here, we lived down in Texas in 40:48 the southern tip of Texas and we had banana trees in 40:51 our backyard. That was the first time I ever had any 40:53 banana trees, I didn't know, I learned some things. Did you 40:57 know that a banana tree only makes one bunch of bananas 41:00 and then dies did you know that? Just one bunch and 41:03 than it's dead. And so they keep sending up little 41:06 shoots, new banana trees and they send up a lot more 41:11 new banana trees than the banana trees that are there. 41:15 So you have to weed out your banana trees, chop 41:19 them down, get them out of there, otherwise there will 41:21 be so many they will all die. So I got a machete, like 41:27 a good banana plantation owner and I went over with 41:31 my two little boys and we chopped down that first 41:34 banana tree and so the three others myself and two little 41:38 boys started dragging that big banana tree to the back 41:41 of the lot, there was a big ditch and we were going to 41:43 throw them in there. Have you ever tried dragging the 41:46 banana tree all the way to the back of your lot, they are 41:49 heavy, they're almost all water. They are heavy, so 41:52 pulling this thing and they thought they were 41:54 contributing a little bit too. You know, pulling this big 41:57 banana tree to the back and then, oh! I've to go chop 42:00 down another one by now I'm tried, I drag it to the 42:03 back, I don't really wanna do another banana tree, but 42:05 there are a lot more that have to chop down and we are 42:08 dragging these trees to the back and I'm getting 42:10 so tired. Finally, I looked in there and I thought. Aha! 42:16 I got it, the secret of the banana tree, there was a 42:21 little shoot growing up out of the ground about that big. 42:25 I took my machete and went, shook and I pick that 42:29 banana tree up and put it in my pocket and chopped off 42:34 another one, shook, put it in my pocket and chopped off 42:38 another one and put it in my pocket and then when 42:43 my pocket got full I just walked to the back of the lot 42:46 and dumped out a whole bunch of banana trees in 42:49 that ditch. You see if you wait until those thoughts 42:55 take route in your mind and grow tall, it's almost 43:00 impossible to get them out. It takes a lot of work, you 43:03 can do it, but it takes a lot of work, but if you learn to 43:07 come off the instant they sprout up, it's a lot easier 43:14 and you can be successful. Mental discipline must be 43:19 total. A man is coming to Revelation Now meetings 43:24 and made a decision since his body is a temple of 43:27 Holy Spirit, he is going to stop smoking cigarettes. 43:31 He was a farmer in Oklahoma and that next day he was 43:36 driving around his tractor plowing up the field and he 43:38 said this is it, I think I'm going to stop right now. 43:40 So he took his cigarettes out of his pocket, threw 43:43 threw them over his shoulder and then he turned around 43:46 to see where they hit. So he starts around the field again 43:50 and he starts thinking just one more, man if I could 43:54 just have one more cigarette, oh! It would taste so good 43:56 right now. I don't know how long I'll able to go, 43:58 if you think you'll be able to make it, man it's going to 44:00 be tough by the time he gets back to that spot where 44:02 he threw them down, he stopped got off his tractor, picked 44:06 up his cigarettes and smoked another one. 44:08 Now he really got disgusted with himself, I've gone 44:11 longer than this without smoking not even trying to 44:13 quit before, so what's wrong with me. He throws 44:16 them down, he stumps them in the ground, he plows 44:18 around that field round, round and round and then 44:21 he goes into the house, the sunsets, he sits there at the 44:23 table for his big farm supper and after eating his hand 44:27 goes in his pocket, no cigarettes there, he threw 44:30 them out in the dirt, so he got up and he starts looking 44:33 around in all the drawers of the house. His wife beating 44:36 to the punch and they were all gone. So he starts 44:39 looking for the ashtrays, just one butt that's all, can't 44:43 even find a butt, she washed them all. But he did 44:47 find the flash light. So he took that flash light went 44:51 back out into the field digging around in the dirt 44:55 until he found those cigarettes, sat out there in 44:58 the dirt clods, smoked three cigarettes in a row. He was 45:01 really disguised with himself now and says that's it, I'm 45:04 gonna stop smoking and I'm never gonna think 45:06 about another cigarette again. As far as I know that's the 45:09 last cigarette that he ever smoked. Mental discipline, 45:13 the power of the mind, but we must die to sin and 45:16 don't let those thoughts come into your mind 45:18 anymore, when they do come put them out. It's like 45:21 the ancient proverb, Chinese proverb, it says 45:24 that you can't stop the birds from flying over your head, 45:29 you can't even stop them from landing on the top of 45:31 your head, but you can prevent them from making 45:34 a nest in your hair, the bad thoughts are out there folks, 45:38 we live in a world of sin, they are gonna come in, but 45:41 as soon as they come in put them out, mental discipline, 45:44 fix your mind on the things of the spirit and you will do 45:47 the things of the spirit. That's the secret to 45:51 victorious Christian living, you do your part and then 45:56 God does his. What's God part, verse 9, you however 46:00 are not controlled by your sinful nature, you are 46:03 controlled by your spirit. Verse 11, and if the spirit of 46:08 him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you 46:12 then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give 46:15 life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives, 46:18 the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will 46:21 give life to you and to your body. Therefore if by the 46:24 spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you 46:28 will live the Bible says, you do your part and God does 46:33 his part, God will never force you, he'll never force 46:36 you to stop smoking, he'll never force you to stop 46:39 eating too much, he'll never force you to stop sharing 46:42 that little juicy bit of gossip, but if you do your 46:46 part mental discipline signaling to God that you 46:49 want to change, signaling to God that you freely submit 46:52 yourself to him by mental discipline, he will change you 46:56 and you will be victorious. "Amen." 47:00 You decide, I want to stop smoking and you go around 47:05 all day thinking about how long can you go till you get 47:07 your next cigarette then you're signaling to God 47:10 you don't really want to stop, he's not gonna force 47:13 you, you decide I'm gonna stop this terrible habit of 47:18 gossip, but as soon as you hear something you start 47:20 making a list of everybody that you think ought to 47:22 know, then you're signaling to God that you don't really 47:26 want to change, if you decide I'm gonna stop 47:29 overeating, but all the way home from church you start 47:33 thinking oh! If I could just have a Baskin-Robbins 47:35 ice cream cone, then you're gonna stop and get one 47:40 because you're signaling to God I just don't want to quit, 47:45 but once we learn to fight the battle where it is in the 47:48 mind then the behavior is gonna change, you can be 47:54 successful in fact one of my favorite verses in the Bible 48:00 that sums up the whole sermon is found right here 48:05 in Second Corinthians Chapter 3 verse 18, "and we 48:12 who with unveiled faces all behold the Lord's glory are 48:18 being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing 48:23 glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 48:30 By beholding Jesus, we become transformed into his image, 48:37 into his likeness, the more you fix your mind on 48:42 Christ, the more like him you become transformed, 48:47 so the secret to success in life is to follow the lamb. 48:56 And now you know how to do it. Fix your mind on the lamb, 49:04 turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful 49:10 face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim 49:17 in the light of his glory and grace, follow the lamb. 49:26 Pray with me, Oh! Lord God, we have learned the 49:36 secret in your word, mental discipline, fix the mind on 49:43 the things of the Spirit and that's what we'll do, we've 49:49 learned Lord that that's what it means to follow 49:51 the lamb, help us by your grace to follow him, 49:59 become transformed into his image by beholding 50:02 him, we ask in Jesus name. Amen! Wanna do 50:08 something a little bit different this morning, 50:10 we've talked about the mind and how we can discipline 50:15 our thoughts so that we can learn to screen out the bad 50:19 thoughts and allow those good thoughts to take root 50:22 and to grow and that the way we think is gonna 50:25 effect the way we live and change our behavior. 50:29 and so I want to challenge you, you know, 50:31 it's one thing to come to the Revelation Now or to 50:34 watch Revelation Now on the air, those of you sitting 50:37 at home, it's one thing to watch it, to hear it, and then 50:40 walk away and say Oh! Yeah, that was nice, but it's 50:43 another thing to bring it into your heart, bring it 50:45 into your life, so that it makes a difference in 50:47 your life and that's what we want to do. This one that 50:50 you heard this morning was so important, it's the most 50:55 important one I believe of the whole series next to 50:58 in fact the impact it had on my life is more important than 51:01 anything I have ever done except to accept 51:03 Jesus Christ as my savior, so I want to challenge you 51:06 to do is what I call the power formula. We are half way 51:09 through Revelation Now and I want to challenge you 51:13 for the last two weeks, for the last half of the series to 51:16 do the power formula and here is what the power 51:19 formula consists of. There are two parts, the first part is 51:23 for you to commit yourself over the next two weeks, 51:26 let's give it a trail here over the next two weeks you 51:29 commit yourself to spending 15, 20, 30 minutes a day 51:35 in the word of God first thing before you wake up in the 51:38 morning, if you can do that, that's better yet, first thing 51:43 after you wake up in the morning, alright, before you 51:46 do anything else. So what I like for you to do is to 51:49 commit yourself to spend a little time everyday with 51:53 Jesus, that's the first part and then the second part 51:58 of the power formula is to commit yourself throughout 52:01 the rest of the day to practice mental discipline, 52:05 remember those little banana trees its so much 52:08 easier to whack off the banana tree when it's 52:10 big then to wait until it gets full grown. So the moment 52:13 you find the wrong kind of thought coming into 52:16 your mind, what I want you to do is learn how to 52:18 recognize those thoughts and you learn how to do 52:20 that by spending time with Jesus everyday and then 52:23 when a bad thought comes in immediately you put it 52:26 out, alright. Now, let me talk a little bit about your 52:28 time with Jesus, now we've been spending time looking 52:31 at Revelation and we are into the Antichrist and 52:34 the mark of the beast and all of those things, but folks 52:36 if you are not spending time with the lamb everyday 52:40 it won't do you a bit of good to know all about 52:42 Revelation. And so spend time with the Lord, and let me 52:46 suggest the way to do it. I don't suggest that you start 52:49 in Genesis and start reading through, because if you do 52:54 you gonna get to Chronicles with all the begets and the 52:57 begots and you know I guess kind of bogged down 53:01 a little bit until you really learn how to understand 53:03 that part of the Bible. What we are really looking 53:06 for is how to find Jesus in the scripture, so I want to 53:09 suggest that you start in the Gospels, pick one that you 53:14 like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, I like Luke, Luke had 53:20 a neat way of writing, I like Matthew because Matthew 53:22 is so steeped in the Old Testament, pick one 53:25 that you really like and then read it through. Now when 53:29 you read the Gospels, you're gonna read stories 53:32 about Jesus, so pick a story and read it and then ask 53:38 yourself and this is important you may want to jot it down 53:42 as a little reminder on your note book, desktop, computer, 53:46 on your notepad or whatever you do everyday, read a story 53:50 and ask yourself this question. What did that 53:54 story teach me about what God is like, you see that's 53:59 what you want to know when you study the Bible isn't it. 54:02 What is God like, what did that story teach me about 54:05 who Jesus is and what he's like, ask yourself that 54:09 question, think about it and then pray. Now when you 54:16 pray, I want you to practice and try something that may 54:21 be a little different from what you are accustomed 54:25 to doing in your prayer life, but I promise you its 54:30 powerful and effective, try this, may be one morning 54:38 you read the story about the time when Jesus 54:42 healed a leper, think it through, what did it teach 54:50 me about God and then pray like this. Pray, Lord, 54:59 I read about the leper this morning you know that already, 55:04 Lord I know you do, but you know this time it was 55:08 different for me, this time I realize that I'm the leper, 55:19 I'm the one that's unclean and I'm the one that's 55:27 walking over the hillside coming down on the other side, 55:31 seeing the multitude out there, trying to get close 55:37 to you. Lord, I want to get close to you, but I can't, 55:43 they won't let me, because I'm unclean. But Lord, 55:47 I'm coming anyway, I'm coming, I'm not gonna let 55:51 anything stop you, stop me, I'm coming to you Lord 55:55 I'm walking through the crowd, they pull away in 55:58 horror, but I'm coming, here I am Lord, 56:03 I'm kneeling at your feet, the crowd's pulling away, 56:08 but I know that if you just touch me I'll be healed, 56:14 I know, Lord I can feel your hand, I can feel 56:19 your hand on my head right now, you're the one 56:23 who reached down and touched the untouchable 56:25 when everybody else pulls away. I can feel the power 56:31 surging into my body, I know that you've made me holy. 56:36 Lord, I know you've empowered me to make it through this 56:39 day, I'm gonna walk with you step by step. 56:44 Oh! Lord, I just want to love you more and more, 56:48 thank you and praise you. Amen. You see pray like 56:54 that everyday, it will change your life. And then 57:00 discipline your mind, would you do that? Just 57:02 make a note to yourself right now, those of you 57:04 who are watching at home and those of you here in 57:06 the congregation, just make a note to yourself 57:09 power formula everyday for two weeks and you 57:12 watch what God does. Thank you, God loves you, 57:16 God bless you and follow the lamb. 57:19 "Amen!." |
Revised 2014-12-17