Philippians 4:8 4/24/2018*10*

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

The word “Brainwashing” is a negative term that means the opposite of what it seems. It actually means the polluting of your brain with untruths in an effort to confuse you…  And that is what the world does on a minute by minute basis.

You cannot turn on the television, listen to the radio, or read the news without pollution being inserted into your conciseness by those who have an agenda.

There is an ongoing assault on your mind in an effort to drag you into untruth, and mental sickness. This verse gives you the antidote for that disease.

If you want to be physically healthy, you monitor what goes into your mouth. If you want to be spiritually and mentally healthy you monitor what goes into your mind.

If you live long enough in this fallen world, your brain will need washing.  Like changing an oil filter on your car, you must find a way to remove the filth that contaminates your life. 

This verse says you must choose to meditate on the opposite of what the world constantly pushes on you. Think about the things of God… goodness, purity, truth, excellence.

That is the filter.  Overcoming evil with good.  Put so many cleansing truths and purifying thoughts into your mind that they overpower the garbage of this world. 

You cannot overestimate how import it is to watch your mental diet …” think on these things”.  It’s a choice … and it produces results.

“The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius

Romans 6:13 4/17/2018*15*

“and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

When dealing with sin you can’t just play defense.

When temptation comes you not only have to abstain…but you also must replace.

This verse not only tells us to stop presenting ourselves to sin…but to likewise start presenting ourselves to righteousness.

If you have a song stuck in your head and you spend the day thinking about how much you don’t like it, it will just become more entrenched.  Instead find a song you love…hum it, whistle it, think about it…and before you know it the other song is gone.

When the enemy attacks with temptation we must not only resist, but we must hit back with righteousness. We don’t just play defense, but like Christ did in the desert, we quote scripture and focus on God’s righteousness. 

The bible says to resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7) …so if there is a sin that seems to defeat you, memorize verses that deal with it. Have a counter attack ready.  When tempted quote those verses and meditate on what they mean.

That is what the enemy fears…that is what will make him flee…the power of God through His Word.

So, the next time you are tempted don’t just block, but counter punch.  

If every time you are tempted it drives you to the Word, maybe the enemy will learn it is counterproductive to attack you in the first place.

“The aim of the gospel is the creation of people who are passionate for doing good rather than settling for the passionless avoidance of evil.”
― John Piper

Mark 1:35 4/10/2018*17*

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

Sometimes we forget that our relationship with God is more important than our ministry.  We get so busy serving God that we fail to remember that we were created to fellowship with Him.  Viewing Him like a mascot that we cheer for, rather than a Loving God we spend time with.  If we aren’t careful, what was designed as a comforting Father child relationship can become a regimented, legalistic, and structured responsibility. 

Instead of pursuing Christian accomplishments maybe we should be pursuing time with God.  Instead of fighting for the cause of God, let’s fight the temptation to be too busy to spend time with Him. If we don’t, we will find ourselves trying to do the Lord’s work with our own power… and that is a recipe for disaster.  You cannot give what you don’t have.  You must fill your heart with the love of the Father before you can give that love to His children.

According to this verse, Jesus made it a practice to tune the instrument before the concert.  He prepared for the day by getting up early, leaving his bed,  and going off to be alone with God.  Jesus, the God/Man found it important to charge His batteries by connecting to the power of God. Is there any way of avoiding the clear message that we should do the same?

Don’t forget that before sin entered the world, we took long walks in the garden with our loving Father. That is what the cross reestablished, and the restoration of that fellowship is what the gospel is about.

We all have a long list of things to do today, and people who need a portion of our time.  But like Jesus did, we must make time to get up in the morning,  go to a solitary place, and connect with our Father… on purpose, and often.

Commit to intentionally setting aside time to spend alone with God. Church work and ministry accomplishments will never happen without the strength found in stopping the race for a while, being still, and knowing that He is God.

“… no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often long alone with God.” - Austin Phelps

1 Timothy 6:20 4/3/2018*22*

“Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.”

Do you actively defend the integrity of God’s word? According to this verse we have been entrusted with that mission.  We are to stand guard against the forces that would water down truth to make it more palatable.  That will not make us popular, and just like the world hated Jesus, they will often hate His disciples as well.  But that is not our concern, because pleasing God must be our exclusive goal.

 

The gospel is pure truth, and Paul instructs Timothy to keep it that way. We must not bend the truth to fit our lives, we must bend our lives to fit the truth.  Truth is not defined by comfort, inclusion, happiness, or contentment.  Living in truth often produces those things, but truth is a static component that reflects the righteousness and the power of God. 

It has been said that we must all find “our own truth”. That kind of nonsense is what Paul calls “godless chatter” and is what is falsely called knowledge today by those who seek teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  The mantra is to eliminate “hate speech”, the problem is that those who hate truth, call truth hate, and our culture is quick to attempt to cancel it. There is only one truth… and it does not belong to us, it belongs to God. What belongs to us is the charge to defend it against such mind-numbing conversations.

This verse gives us the responsibility of guarding the purity of God’s word. If you do this, you may be called unloving… but the opposite is actually the case. If I see symptoms of an illness in you but say nothing because I do not want to offend you, that is the opposite of love.  Love points out danger and offers deliverance. That is the gospel and that is our job.

Speak the truth in love.  Never water down the Word, and never let others pollute what God has made clear. Pure gold has been given to us… let us make sure it is gold that we pass on.

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” - John Calvin