Serving God With My Mind
Bible Text: 1 Cor. 2:15-16 | Speaker: Pastor Jerry Irwin | SERVING GOD WITH MY MIND
You can never get over that painful thing in your past with all that hurt until you first give up what and how you think!
1 Cor. 2:15-16
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Romans 7:21-25.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
INTRODUCTION
If you watch a person over a period of time, you will discover that a mindset usually prevails in all activities in good times and bad. As you observe his personality traits, convictions habits, and response to life itself, a pattern will become clear, thought processes that reveal certain God influenced values and beliefs. I myself have a mind that is so tenacious. I’m a get it done, stick to it, don’t stop, keep working, everything is gonna be all right. But sometimes my heart doesn’t agree with my mind, and the result is a huge fight. You might call it war! And the problem is that my body joins in on the war as an ally of my heart.
I myself have a mind that is so tenacious. I’m a get it done, stick to it, don’t stop, keep working, everything is gonna be all right. But sometimes my heart doesn’t agree with my mind, and the result is a huge fight. You might call it war! And the problem is that my body joins in on the war as an ally of my heart.
We’ve talked many times about the pressures of life and the effect they have on our hearts. When my heart aches and hurts, it affects what is going on in my head. Some of life’s greatest struggles have occurred in my heart.
God and you have helped me with those struggles that were actually a heart attack! Stress and pressure will not only make you physically sick, but anxiety will also make you spiritually sick You have oft refreshed me, loved me, and strengthened me in my infirmities both physical and spiritual. Victory and healing in my heart is a wonderful thing.
Truth is, in that same heart, I have suffered some of my most painful defeats. A great heart sometimes works for you and sometimes it works against you.
My heart will sometimes cause me to do things to help a situation, when my mind says, “Leave that sorry good for nothing alone!” You see, a great heart can love big, and worship big because it emotes! It can emote great worship and happiness in life, but it can also emote great pain and suffering. It can also hate big, causing you to do and say heinous things. Our hard and ungoverned heart will kill us if it is not tempered by a mind that is submitted to Christ!
The heart is deceitful, it will fool you!
Out of the heart flow all the issues of life!
We have no greater example than the Lord Jesus. In fact, we are instructed to walk in His steps. Scriptures tell us that “He set his face like a flint”, another way of saying that He was determined to do God’s will for His life. His mind was always focused on the things of God and the kingdom.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
In context, that verse means for us to imitate the humble similitude of the Lord Jesus in His passion to serve others. The mind of Christ is never reflected in lawlessness and injurious talk and behavior that hurts others; but on the other hand, the mind of Christ is one of subjecting oneself to always thinking of the best choice for all concerned.
Not long ago I preached about, You Gotta Have Heart! I told you then, and I tell you now, ITS ABOUT CAPACITY! Some of you have a big heart, and things are magnified. You worship in a big way. You serve in a big way. You also hurt and feel pain in a big way. So, then you can be going through the worst thing in your life, while at the same time, you are living in the best time of your life! While you’re walking in favor, and grace is flowing, and anointing is powerful, and you’re doing great things for God, and people are saying mean things about you, and people find out that you’ve got a big heart, and they’ll kick you and abuse you, because you’re tenderhearted and forgiving, faithful and steady.
Look to I Sam 16:1-7
And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.
And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
To have the mind of Christ, you must avoid presumption. What you have in mind, may not be what God has in mind. There are many things that you are hurt over, and disappointed, not because they are wrong or bad, they just didn’t happen the way you wanted them to. Most of the pain and frustration with life is not because its bad, but its just not what we had in mind! It’s hard to be thankful and content when life is just not what you had in mind!
Because of this disappointment, we begin to resent others who have handled life in a positive way. They worship in a big way and seem to be happy and well adjusted, and the miserable person inside us, says “Yeah, its easy to dance around, and clap their hands, and say amen, hallelujah, and praise the Lord. They don’t feel what I feel and go through what I do. I recorded a little song that said,
Friend how would you feel, if your heart were made
With a window on each side,
So that all may see, just what pain you bear,
Would they see Christ by your side?
People often see you, as you are outside,
Jesus really knows you, for He sees inside,
How about your heart, is it right with God,
That’s the thing that counts today.
Truth is, into every life, rain must fall. It rains on the just and the unjust. No one is a stranger to pain and suffering. When you are broken and battered, dancing in the Spirit won’t help you. When you are bruised and burdened running the aisles won’t help you. It’s common to man.
But there is a balm in Gilead. But the mind of Christ looks not at the cares of this life but rejoices in hope of eternal life with our Christ. Many are saved but they are sick! I know Christians that it’s not safe to love! You can get hurt loving them! Some Christians, it’s not safe to trust them! You can get hurt trusting them. There are Christians that are smart, got degrees, but it is not safe to listen to them and take their advice. You can get hurt
listening to them.
One man’s stumbling block is another man’s stepping stone!
Eliam looked like a king. He was the obvious choice. Samuel thought he had it all figured out! But God looked on the heart!
When talking about that great woman in Proverbs, the wise man said, “Her husband trusted in her, because of what was in her heart.”
Joseph was blessed above his brothers because God knew his heart. God knew that his heart would remain true even when sold into slavery, tempted by Potiphar’s wife, locked in prison, forgotten by the butler, and would come out saying, “you meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” Its all about the heart that is ruled by the mind of Christ.
Your inability to get up and go over your Jordan is because you just cannot see past the outside! God will always trust us according to our heart.
You see, power without passion is dangerous. God is a God with a pure, righteous, loving, compassionate heart. Don’t worry about how people feel about you, just make sure that God sees your heart and knows your love for Him. David knew God’s heart. Even when he sinned and did wrong, he never doubted the heart of GOD. He was a man after God’s own heart.
Heart test
Do you do things for others, and pray for others first, hoping that somebody will treat you the same way.
Do you search for good, when others are critical and fault finding.
Are you passionate about your feelings.
Do you have a feeling for other people’s burdens.
Do you find it difficult to get over things and move on?
When I’m brokenhearted and burdened down with sorrow, the devil attacks by telling me that God doesn’t care.
Peter asked “Carest thou not that we perish.” But in I Peter 5:7 he answered the question.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.