“As a Man Thinketh in His Heart, So is He”

(Think on these things)

As preached by Paul Brake at Kelowna Tabernacle

Today we are inundated with ideas and theologies and philosophies trying to teach us how to think and behave. But we have been given the master theology from God himself. I believe, as do all Christians, that the Bible is the perfect, unfailing, inspired word of God. It does not contain all information or all history but contains the essential elements for life. There is nothing needed that has been left out, and nothing added that is not essential. That is why the Bible tells us never to add to it, and never to take away from it. We need the Bible, as it was written, in its entirety. It contains all that we need to live and find salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the user manual for life.

And on that note I would like to take an admonishment from the Bible for a text out of the book of Philippians.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

And may God add a blessing to the reading of His word.

Notice Paul’s admonishment to us. He is telling us to consciously control our thoughts. Not only is he telling us to control them but giving us a very specific direction in which to think. And if the Bible tells us that we are to think on these things, then by default are we not also supposed to avoid thinking the opposite as well?

Look what he tells us to think on; true things, honest things, just things, pure things, lovely things, things of a good report, things of virtue and praise. He is telling us to think only on good things and to not think about bad things. This is what we are told to think on. And everything God tells us if for a reason and for our own good.

Now we have to ask ourselves some questions. Why? Why does Paul tell us to get control of our thoughts and why is it so important what we think on? Why is it essential to think only on good things? Why is it bad to think on the things that are maybe not so good? What will

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happen if we do not think on good things? Asking the right questions is the key to learning.

He is telling us to control our thoughts. We have to look a little deeper, to see where our thoughts actually come from, what they are, what they do, and how they manifest themselves in our lives. We have all heard of “positive thinking” and the “power of positive thinking”. We have heard of the placebo effect with medicines, how someone’s belief in the medicine will affect the outcome of taking the medicine. We have all heard how Olympic athletes will “visualize” themselves performing their sports perfectly. Everything physical has a spiritual counterpart. It is like the negative and positive of a picture.

So where do our thoughts come from? Did you ever stop to ask that question? It will surprise some. Science will disagree completely with me here but I believe what the Bible says above all.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Did Paul say they were the thoughts and intents of the mind? He said they come from the heart. That is where your thoughts come from. They come from your heart, from inside. What dwells in your heart? A spirit dwells in each and every human being. Your thoughts come from the spirit or spirits that dwell inside you. Now this is not spiritualism. This is not voodoo, this is perfectly scriptural. I know it seems strange to most, having never ventured into these waters, but if you bear with me, I will show you by the grace of God through the Holy Scriptures that it is perfectly so.

For some I would say it is starting to make a little sense now. The thoughts in our heads come from our hearts. Every thought has its origins in the spiritual realm before it ever enters the intellectual realm. We wrestle with them in our minds but they come from our hearts, from spirits. And when we hear the Word of God, it will expose our spirits by discerning our thoughts, which come out of our hearts. When we hear the word of God, our spirit will either reject it or accept it. That is why the John writes to try spirits with the word.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and

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this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

John doesn’t tell us to try men, or to try preachers, but to try the spirits that are in the men. In the fourth verse he plainly tells us in black and white that we either have the spirit of God or the spirit of the world. Every man, woman and child on this planet is possessed of a spirit. This is a big piece of meat and not for babies. We are either born again and possessed of the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, or we are not yet regenerated and possessed by the spirit of the world, which is a devil.

So keeping this in mind, let us return to the idea of finding out where are thoughts originate and how they function.

Matthew 15:18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

It is not out of the mouth, or out of the mind that thoughts originate, but of the heart they come. Notice Jesus said they do come out of the mouth, but before they can come out of the mouth, they must first be a thought and the thoughts come from the heart.

This is a simple idea but some people have trouble grasping it. A word is a thought expressed. When you speak a word, when I speak a word, when God speaks a word, that word is the expression of a thought. The evil thoughts in the heart, go to the mind where they are considered and either rejected or embraced. And when we embrace evil thoughts they will conceive and bring forth fruit; adulteries , murders etc. And when we embrace a thought, we are embracing and give obedience to the spirit from which that thought originated. When we reject a thought we are rejecting the spirit from which it came.

2 Corinthians 10: 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty though God to the pulling down of strong holds:) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Amen? We do not war after the flesh. We are not warriors of guns and swords. Our war is not in our body, but in our minds. The greatest battle ever fought is in the human mind. It is the chosen place of

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battle. For there to be a war, the two parties have to settle on a place to fight that war. There must be some place where they can both come and both fight. The chosen place for spiritual warfare is in the depths of every human mind. It is the “no mans land” of the spirit realm.

God and Satan are facing off, and it is not in Armageddon, it is not in some future battle or some historic epic, it is right inside of your head right now! The greatest spiritual war ever fought is going on right inside of your mind, right at this moment! You are hearing the Word of God anointed by the spirit of God, and the devil is telling you just the opposite. The Holy Spirit is standing right there pouring Himself out to you, offering you the gift of faith with the revelation of Jesus Christ and the devil is standing right beside Him pouring out his unbelief at you. Right inside of your mind at this very moment you are going to either receive or reject the Word of God. Right inside your mind you will either receive or reject Jesus Christ. Right inside of your mind you will determine your eternal destination, based on what you think.

That is quite the revelation in itself. Do you really understand what I just said? Are you able to believe that? It is one of the most important revelations we can receive, for if we do not know our enemy, and if we do not know where the battle is being fought, then we will surely loose. Our battle is in our minds and it is the battle of faith versus unbelief. It is the battle of good versus evil. It is the battle of the Truth of God against the lies of Satan.

Why did the allies win in WWII? Did we have better guns? No. Did we have better soldiers or better training than the Germans? Not even close. We won the war simply because Germany did not know where the battle was to be fought. Think about it. We were not winning WWII, we were losing and suddenly in the end we won. We surprised them when we stormed the beaches in France.

If they had known where the battle was being fought, they would have mowed us down like grass. But we kept it from them, we hid it from their eyes, and because they did not know where the battle was going to be fought they had no resources, no plan, no strategy and no chance. And if we do not understand where our battle is being fought today the devil with his inferior tactics, and his inferior power, and his inferior weak lies will defeat us! WE HAVE TO KNOW WHERE THE BATTLE IS BEING FOUGHT SO WE CAN COME AT THE DEVIL WITH EVERYTHING GOD HAS GIVEN US! We cannot let down our guard for a moment.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be

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able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

“Having done all to stand”. The devil will not let up so we must not let up either. We must do ALL. The devil has wiles. Wiles: scheming, craftiness, lying in wait. He will wait you out and when you least expect it he will attack. He knows where you are strong, he knows where you are weak. You cannot fool him, you have to stand with truth and faith. This whole world is ruled by darkness. The devil is not only the spirit of the world, but the Bible calls him the god of this evil world. He rules the politics, he rules the philosophies, he rules the religions.

14 Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Sprit, which is the word of God.

Do you recognize it? That is our first scripture. Whatsoever is true, righteous, lovely etc. The battleground is in our minds and we have been given the weaponry and the armour to win. But if we either don’t recognize the enemy, don’t recognize the battle, or fail to use our weapons, then we will surely loose. The devil will never give up. He has an appointed end, and until that day arrives he will fight tooth and nail. Even though he lost the battle 2000 years ago on Calvary, he will fight and fuss to the very bitter end.

But we do not have to lose. We are not in darkness. We have been given the light of the hour. In this day the entire written Bible has been revealed for us. And the Bible not only tells us of God but it also tells us the devils tactics in detail. It shows us how he attacked Job. It shows us how he attacked Eve. It shows us how he attacked Jesus. It shows us every move the devil makes and how to overcome them. We have the devils playbook. We know his tricks. And not only that, but Jesus has already won the victory for us. We are fighting against a defeated enemy. We cannot lose because we have already won in Christ Jesus. When we are born again we are already victorious and sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Can you imagine if you were a boxer going into a title fight against the champion and you walk into a boxing ring to find your opponent has

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already been beaten up and knocked out and all you have to do is stand there for the count of ten? That is the case here. Jesus beat up and knocked out the devil 2000 years ago and He told us in Ephesians that all we have to do is put on the armour, the spiritual boxing gloves and stand. That’s all, just stand. Stand on what? Stand on the word of God. Stand on God’s promises. No matter what the devil says, no matter what the physical evidence seems to say, no matter what the doctor’s diagnosis says, no matter what you pastor or church say, no matter what I say, stand upon what Jesus Christ says and you have already won the victory.

It is all in our minds. It depends on our attitudes. What we think and believe will determine the battle. And what we truly believe is what we will act on. That is another important point. It is easy to subscribe to a theology or doctrine, or to profess a belief, but it is when the rubber hits the road that you will find out what you truly believe. There is where your trials come in to play. Do you believe in divine healing of Jesus Christ? Get sick and find out. Do you believe that he is your provider? Go broke and find out. Our trials, and more importantly our actions and reactions to those trials, will show us what we truly believe.

Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

We saw earlier that a word is a thought expressed. So we need our thoughts to come to fruition, to be expressed. That is where they get their power. As long as God was just thinking about light, there was total darkness. But when God spoke the word, “let there be light”, then the thought of God, expressed as a word, brought forth the light in power. So to we must overcome in our minds and bring forth the expression of our thought. We believe in our hearts and then in our minds we claim that belief and manifest it in our words, and by our words, the confession of our lips, our belief brings forth salvation. Jesus said if we would confess Him before men then He would also confess us before God, but if we deny Him before men then He would deny us before God as well. Again the Bible says that all those who cry out in the name of the Lord shall be saved.

In Hebrews Paul calls Jesus the high priest of our profession. Not of our belief, but of our profession. We must not only have the thought, we must express that thought.

Luke 6: 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of things men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is

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good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

It is not out of the abundance of our minds, but of our hearts that we speak. When we believe the word of God we will confess it with our lips. When we disbelieve the word of God we will also confess that with our lips.

Our thoughts both reflect, and effect, our faith. They show where our faith stands and determine whether our faith is increasing or decreasing.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing the word of God.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Not by hearing dogma. Not be hearing church creeds. Not by hearing philosophy. Not even by hearing testimonies. But faith comes only by hearing the word of God.

What happens when we hear the word of God? It goes into our mind. It goes into the battlefield. The words you are hearing right now are going into battle in your mind. It all depends on what you do with them. Will you receive them and accept them and believe them? Then you will increase in faith. Will you reject them, disbelieve them, deny them, argue against them? Then you will decrease in faith. There is no standing still with God. We are always thinking something so we either move forward or backward but we are always moving. The battle never stops. We win or we loose but we never get to step out of the battle. Look at what the Apostle and Prophet wrote about himself:

Romans 7: 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul was constantly warring in his mind. There are two opposing forces, one of good and one of evil warring in his mind. The devil will play to your flesh, to the lusts thereof but the Holy Spirit will deal with your soul, with its needs. And when you are a Christian, the two forces will war in your mind day and night. We are soldiers of the cross. And the two forces will have two conflicting thoughts for you to deal with, one of faith in God’s word, and one of disbelief in God’s word. And we have the right and the power to decide which thoughts we will reject

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and which ones we will accept. God granted us free moral agency, the right to choose.

Let’s take Abraham. Abraham fought a great war of faith. His fight of faith was so great that he is called the father of faith. A great war indeed. Here was a man a hundred years old. He had been given a promise by God that he would have a child by his 90 year old, barren, wife. And here it was 25 years after he had been given the promise, getting older and weaker by the moment, and he was still fighting a war of faith for the promise had not yet been fulfilled. But what does the Bible say of him?

Romans 4: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief: but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

He staggered not through unbelief. He fought a battle in his mind. And a great battle it was. How would we fair in his shoes I wonder? A hundred years old and his wife 90, older and weaker by the day and still believing a 25 year old promise that he was going to have a child. He fought that battle every day and every night for 25 years. Do you think the devil gave him a day off? Would the devil say “oh Abraham I have been at your heels for a few years, I think I will give you a holiday and leave you in peace for a few weeks”? NEVER! Day and night, wake or sleep the devil was attacking Abraham in his mind telling him that it was impossible, that God had forgotten about him, that God didn’t want him anymore, that he went too far and was out of the will of God and lost salvation and his promise. Daily and nightly this went on. And Abraham was up to the fight. He did not back down. He had on the whole armour of God.

And when Abraham finally got his son what did God do? He sent him right back into battle. He told Abraham now that you got him, I want you to sacrifice him to me. Could we do that this morning? Abraham was up to the task for he was persuaded that the same God who gave him a son from the dead could raise his son up from the dead as well.

And Abraham was so filled with the spirit of God that not only did he overcome the devil in battle, but he also prophesied of Christ in the process. He said “God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice” and there was a ram in the bushes. Not a lamb but a ram. Abraham did not just prophesy that God would bring an animal, he prophesied that God would send Jesus, the lamb of God for the sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice for all sin, for all men, forever.

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God is the victory giver. He is the overcomer. We just have to take Him at His word the way Abraham did. We just have to fight and win our mental battle.

So how did Abraham overcome? What did he use? Abraham decided to consciously control his thoughts and to think only of the good things. Both good and evil thoughts were presented to him. He could either believe God or reject the Word of God. He decided to think only of that which was true, that which was holy, that which was righteous. He consciously rejected every doubt presented by Satan. He consciously accepted all faith presented by God.

And we should point out here that it is not logic, or intellectualizing, or how smart you are, or your education, or what church you go to, or that we have to figure things out. It is simply a matter of accepting one thought over another. Wisdom, earthly wisdom, actually gets in the way. That is the devils trick. He used it on Eve, he will use it on you. Earthly carnal wisdom is not of God.

What was Eve’s mistake? She was deceived. She had two thoughts, one from God, and one from the devil. The devil’s thoughts played to the lust of her flesh. In her mind was a battle. On the one hand God said if you eat you will die. On the other hand the devil said, you won’t really die physically, but it will be a death of your ignorance and you will be wise like God. How long did this battle rage? We are not told. But what we are told is that Eve decided to reject the Word of God and believe the devil’s lie over God. It was her decision as to which thought she was to think. She decided to think the devil’s thoughts. And that is where she actually fell.

We this morning have two sets of thoughts going into our mind. We too have to decide which thoughts we are going to think. And like I said earlier, when we accept the thought, we become obedient to both the thought and to the spirit from whence it came. This is a critical point.

Romans 8: 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The mind, the thoughts of the mind determine us. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be spiritually minded is to have spiritual thoughts, or more precisely thoughts from the Holy Spirit. To be carnally minded is to have carnal thoughts. And the carnal thoughts are an enemy against God. Carnal thoughts disbelieve the Word of

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God. Carnal thoughts deny the power of God. Carnal thoughts build our pride. Carnal thoughts play to the lusts of our flesh. Carnal thoughts come from the devil. By our thoughts we decide whom we serve. If we embrace the thoughts of God we are serving God, but if we embrace the thoughts of the devil we are serving the devil.

Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness: 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Whom do you obey? Notice the use of the personal pronoun, whom. He does not say what you obey, as of a thing, but whom as of a person. Unbelief leads unto death. What does it mean to obey unbelief? It is simply to believe and accept the devil’s lie. When we obey an idea we are obeying the author of that idea, and when we reject and idea we are rejecting the author of that idea as well. And the authors of all ideas are spirits.

To obey righteousness is to accept the word of God, for we are told that we “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine” that was delivered us by the apostles. So to believe the Word of God is to obey God and to disbelieve it is to obey the devil. And we fight the battle in our minds and when we have made our decision on what to believe, we open our heart to it and it enters in. Amen? When we make our decision on what we are going to believe, we open our heart to it and both the thought and the author, the spirit, of the thought enter in.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The words that Jesus spoke are both spirit and life. When we receive them, when we decide within our minds that we are going to believe them, those words and the spirit from whence they came enter into us. It is when we decide to believe the word of God that we become servants of righteousness. It is when we reject the word of God that we become servants of unbelief, servants of sin, servants of the devil. Everyone that rejects the revealed word of God for the hour is a servant of the devil. Now that also brings the topic of interpretation of the Word of God. We can settle that right quick.

2 Peter 1: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by

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the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The first one to “interpret” the Word was the devil in Eden. We find the devil interpreting the word to Jesus after his forty day fast as well. All private interpretations are demonic. God interprets his own word by bringing it to pass. It is as it is written, and it means what it says. We do not need to interpret a single word. The Bible interprets itself, word upon word, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little.

Every denomination has its own “interpretation” of the scriptures and every single one of them is wrong. The moment we try to interpret that is the moment we fall away. We interpret because we do not believe it as it is written. Or more to the point we do not believe.

The battle rages on. We hear the word of God the same as the world does but to us it is eternal life, peace and hope. The difference is that when we hear it we decide to believe it. We decide that the word of God is true. We accept what we hear, the way we hear it, and when we do it goes into our hearts. And more importantly when we accept the word of God, we also receive the Spirit of God into our hearts.

When an unbeliever hears the word of God he decides that it is not true. He either rejects it flatly, or puts his own twist on it to make it fit his fleshly lusts. That is interpretation. An “interpreted” word is a lie. When the unbeliever hears the word of God he rejects truth, rejects faith, and accepts unbelief of the word and the unbelief, along with the spirit of unbelief which is a devil, enters his heart.

Hebrews 4: 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

The unbelievers and make believers heard the very same words that the believers heard. It is the same today. The difference is that the unbelievers rejected the word and did not believe it as truth. The unbelievers prefer a lie over the truth.

When we hear the word of God, it corrects us, shows us the right way. In order to accept the truth we have to admit that we are wrong in the first place. We have to be humble and teachable to receive the truth. If we are proud and cannot admit our faults, cannot receive correction, then we have to reject the word of God. We then will gladly accept the lies of the devil because he will tell us exactly those things that our proud, carnal, lustful flesh wants to hear.

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Look at Cain and Abel for an example. They both heard the same message from the same prophet, Adam. They both went to church to worship. They both had altars and brought sacrifices. But they had different thoughts. Abel’s thoughts were in line with God’s thoughts and Cain’s were not. Then even when God went to Cain to straighten him up, and God spoke to Cain lip to ear and told him the truth, Cain decided to reject God’s words and instead accept the devil’s thoughts. The devil is a murderer and his thoughts are murderous. When Cain accepted the devil’s thoughts he fulfilled the devil’s lusts by murdering his own twin brother.

Whose thoughts are we accepting? Are we accepting God’s thoughts this morning? Are you accepting the Word of God or rejecting it. If you’ve gotten this far I am thinking you are accepting it. What is in your mind right now? The battle is raging, whose thoughts are you going to accept? Who are you allowing into your heart? Are you going to accept the Holy Spirit or Satan?

Hebrews 9: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

We are not just freed from the guilt of sin but the blood of Christ will actually purge your conscience. It will utterly clean you out. It will take away the desire for dead works, for the lies of the devil and for fleshly things of this world. It will give us victory over the battle in our minds. We have overcoming power in Christ Jesus that did not exist before the crucifixion. They used to sin, and then bring sacrifices and then go back to sin. But we have the opportunity to receive Jesus himself into our hearts. We have the opportunity given to us to receive both the spirit and the mind of Jesus Christ. And it is that mind of Christ, that holy mind in us that will give us victory over our thoughts so that we can freely choose to believe the word of God.

Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.

Here in Romans Paul is discussing a lot of bad things done by people. And he gives the cause as well. They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They did not like the thoughts of God and rejected them. When they heard the word of God, they rejected that word. And because they did God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Their minds were reprobate. And because their minds, and thus their

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thoughts, were reprobate, they performed all the disgusting evil acts spoken of in that chapter. If, however, we have the mind of Christ then we will think his thoughts. We will believe his words. We will overcome in the battle. And it is a promise to every Christian. And it is only for the Christian, only for the predestinated seed. It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can know these things, and only by the Holy Spirit through revelation that we can believe them. Without revelation we will never understand the things of God. And if we choose to disbelieve them, we will never get revelation.

When Jesus told the people to eat his flesh and drink his blood the apostles did not know what he meant, but they chose in their minds to believe his words regardless. Not knowing the revelation they believed the words and because they chose to believe him, they were later given the revelation that he was speaking of the Lord’s Supper.

1 Corinthians 2: 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teachet, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Do I hear an AMEN?

Are we receiving this morning? Are we choosing to believe the word of God or are we passing it off as foolishness? Are we thinking God’s thoughts or the thoughts of the devil? The devil will surely in telling you his thoughts too, but which thoughts are you choosing to believe? Do you believe this word? That is God. Do you understand this word that you are hearing? That is God, for without revelation from God you would not understand a single thing I am writing. If you are not called for eternal life then you will believe that everything I am telling you is pure foolishness.

2 Thessalonians 2: 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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Reject the word of God, decide not to believe it and you will believe any lie that comes your way. If we decide to believe the truth, the Word of God, and we think the thoughts of God, then God will reveal that word to us by his Holy Spirit. But if we reject it, consider it foolishness, decide not to believe it, then we will be completely blinded to it and in total darkness we will gladly receive any lie the devil feeds us.

In the Old Testament we are told of the feast of Jubilee. Every fifty years they had a celebration and one of the activities was the freeing of slaves. If you were a slave at Jubilee, when they blew the trumpet, you could go free. But if you preferred to be a slave, then your master would take you to the gate of the city and pierce your ear with an awl and you would be a slave to him for all eternity.

2000 years ago Jesus paid the price for our deliverance. Today when we hear the gospel trumpet proclaiming our freedom we can walk free from the slavery of the devil. But if we reject that trumpet then the devil will pierce our ear and we will become deaf to the truth and no matter how many times that gospel trumpet blows in our ears, we will be reject it in favour of the devil’s lies. That is the strong delusion. When we reject the word of God, the trumpet of salvation, we become deaf and blind to the word of God. We will not be able to discern right from wrong. We will look at a scripture written simply in black and white and not get it. That is why no church baptizes according to Acts 2:38 any more, they have rejected the truth and been pierced.

The religious world rejected Luther’s message and went off into a catholic apostasy. When the Lutheran’s rejected Wesley’s message they too went off into a catholic apostasy. And on up it went to where you can hardly tell the difference between a Pentecostal and a catholic today. And if we reject the message to this hour, we too shall surely fall victim. Perusia. Return ministry. Seven thunders. How many others are out there today?

Get back to the word. We have to keep our minds on the word thinking God’s thoughts with the mind of Christ.

Our thoughts determine both our words and our actions. Proverbs 23:7 tells us, that “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he”. Remember where the thoughts come from and where they go to. The thoughts in our minds that we decide to think about go straight to our hearts along with the authors of those thoughts.

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Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Can we say this about ourselves today? I surely hope so and I trust that I can. I do believe that we all are receiving the word of God with readiness of mind, choosing to believe what God has said. And I trust that everyone reading here will search these scriptures and make sure that what I have said is indeed Bible.

So I have mentioned the thoughts of God. Let’s find out what the thoughts of God are concerning us so that we can think His thoughts. I am not talking about major doctrines right now like baptism and the godhead. We’ll hunt lions later but this morning lets hunt foxes. The little foxes spoil the vine. The daily thoughts in our heads spoil our vine and sour our fruit.

What is our daily attitude like? It is easy, maybe to be up on Sundays and Wednesday evenings, but what about all the other times? What will our thoughts be on Monday morning? Tuesday at lunch? Will we be thinking God’s thoughts? Will we be completely immersed in the things of the world? Will we have forgotten this sermon? These are questions we need to ask ourselves and answer. We need to search ourselves, to examine ourselves whether or not we are in the faith.

It all comes down to attitude. What is our attitude, towards the word of God in particular and life in general? Have you ever been around a complainer? No matter what is going on they will find something wrong with it, something to whine about. They depress you and sap the life from you. It is a spirit. That same spirit will talk to you to. That same spirit comes to all of us and points out what is wrong. He has already told you what is wrong with this sermon, what is wrong with the way I am speaking, what is wrong with my suit, what is wrong with the scriptures I have used, what was wrong with the song service, what is wrong with the way the benches are placed in the church. He will find something wrong with everything and point it out to us. But our attitude will make the difference. Our attitude will determine which thoughts we will embrace, and which ones we will reject.

We as Christians need to have the attitude that the Bible is our absolute and every word is true. Then we need to act on that thought. We need to claim every promise in the Bible as our own. Regardless of what the physical circumstances seem to be, we as children of God have a right and a duty to stand upon the revealed word of God. We have an inheritance in Christ Jesus and since it is by his grace and not of ourselves it does not matter how unworthy we are, we still have full

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right and access to it. We are not saved because we were worthy but because He IS worthy. He overcame death, hell and the grave for us and we have free access to the holiest of holies today. He is our perfect, unblemished sacrifice. We are not covered by our own dirty blood, but by the holy, perfect blood of Jesus Christ.

What are the thoughts of God towards us? What is the mind of Christ?

The Bible says that we are overcomers! The Bible says that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus! The Bible says that we are saved! The Bible says that we are healed! The Bible says that we are delivered! The Bible says that all of our sins, past, present and future are forgiven! The Bible says that we are sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! The Bible says that we are the elected lady, the Bride of Jesus Christ, the predestinated children of God! The Bible says that we have eternal life! The Bible says that God will rapture us before the tribulation falls! The Bible says the dead in Christ shall raise first, incorruptible, and then we who remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be caught up to meet them in the air.

The devil will tell you contrary stories. He will tell you that the signs and wonders were just for the apostles. He will tell you that we don’t need divine healing because we have medicine now. He will tell you that the days of miracles have passed.

Who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to the devil? NO! Rebuke him! The Bible says resist the devil and he shall flee from you. Resist the devil with the Word of God just as Jesus did in the desert. You are an overcomer! You have the victory.

When the devil tells you that you are sick, rebuke him. The Bible says that by His stripes I am healed. “Oh, but you feel sick”. I am healed! “But you have swelling and pain”. I am healed! “But the doctors have given it a name, and it’s a bad one because you can’t even pronounce it”. I am Healed. Get thee behind me satan! By His stripes I am healed.

“You have sinned and God hates you”. All my sins are in the sea of God’s forgetfulness! I am covered by the blood of the lamb! “You are serpent’s seed”. If I was serpent’s seed I would not even believe in serpent’s seed doctrine in the first place! Get thee hence Satan you are defeated, you are exposed, you are a liar and God’s truth has exposed you as a fraud.

The devil is a liar. Everything he tells you is a lie. The mere fact that he is bothering you and telling you these lies is the proof that you are a child of God. The devil never bothers those in the world, he already got

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them. He wants you and he comes to meet you in the battlefield of the human mind. Our defense is the word of God. Our defense is to control our thoughts, to reject the lies of the devil and to cling to and claim the promises of God.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Do you get it? So what are we going to think about from now on?

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

And let us close with one final thought to add to this scripture.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Think on these things.

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