David Mills - To Be Spiritually Minded Is Life and Peace

Work to worship and fellowship together. This is prime time, isn't it, of the entire week. Let's appreciate it, enjoy it, these two or three hours we have together, and try to come every Sabbath if you're able to. We'll get right into the sermon, and I'd like to begin by quoting a scripture that says, To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Where do we find that scripture? Anyone remember what book? Romans? Right. Anybody remember the chapter? Okay, that's good. Chapter 8. Let's turn to this scripture, because I'd like to base the sermon on this today, and especially the part about being spiritually minded, because we all need to be. We want to be spiritually minded, and how can we do that? Let's read that scripture then in Romans chapter 8 and verse 6.

And it says, To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

What does it mean to be carnally minded? That's death. We don't want that. What does it mean to be spiritually minded? That's life and peace. We do want that for sure. So the sermon title is that to be spiritually minded is life and peace. How can we be spiritually minded, and how can we grow to be more spiritually minded? Well, we'll try to answer those questions as we go along, but let's begin with another question. What does it mean to be carnally minded? Let's understand a bit about that. The word for carnal in the Greek is sars, s-a-r-x, and it simply means flesh. It means also, by extension, the fleshly nature, even going a little bit further, man's corrupt nature.

In my Bible, the new King James Version of the Bible, for carnally, my margin says fleshly.

The fleshly nature, then, to be fleshly minded is death. The carnal mind is set on the physical things. It's only able to really comprehend what it can see, the things that can be seen.

The carnal, natural, fleshly mind does not really comprehend. It's not able to see the things of God.

It comprehends the here and now, but it does not comprehend the eternal and the spiritual.

And we read the very next verse in verse 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So the carnal mind, the natural mind of man, is enmity. That means hatred toward God, and it's not subject to God's laws. And then it goes on to say in verse 8, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

That fleshly mind cannot please God. That's why it is death, and, of course, that mind cannot be in God's kingdom. We're going to be coming back to Romans chapter 8 later and get this verse that we're looking at in a greater context. But first of all, let's notice a few other verses that help us to understand the fleshly carnal mind. Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9.

Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9. This is a verse we've quoted and read often down through the years. I think we are very much familiar with it. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, the heart, and that's the human heart, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It goes on to say that God actually comes to know it. He searches the heart, and He does test the mind of every person to give according to His ways. So the human heart here is described as deceitful above all things. The Expositor's Bible commentary has this to say about verse 9, about the innate depravity of the human heart. All human difficulty is in the human heart. This passage best fits all humanity. The human heart is more deceptive, and the Hebrew word means tortuous or crooked than anything else. It is desperately corrupt and, humanly speaking, incurable. In fact, the Hebrew word here means sick. It is beyond cure. Who on earth can plumb the depths of corruption and sickness even its owner does not know it? So the human heart is able to deceive us. It is very deceitful above all things, incurably sick, hostile to God and His law. Jesus Christ talked about this carnal fleshly nature. Let's read that in Mark chapter 7.

So we're coming to see why this heart is truly death. It is deceitful. It is incurably sick or wicked, hostile against God and His law. In Mark chapter 7, in verse 20, Jesus said, What comes out of a man that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolish. What a list of evil things come out of the human heart. And, of course, we can attest to this all around us, don't we, see these things happening? Verse 23, All these evil things come from within and defile a man.

So the carnal mind is hostile to where God and His laws. And no wonder to be carnally minded, just to think about the fleshly things, is death. So that answers the question, what does it mean to be carnally minded? It means to have our minds on the things of the flesh, have our minds on the physical things, the things that can be seen, and things about just the here and now. What about the spiritual mind? What does it mean to be spiritually minded? Well, first of all, to be spiritually minded, mankind must receive a spirit from God, the Holy Spirit. It's not possible to be spiritually minded without God giving us His Spirit. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and we see this expounded, that God must give us His Spirit if we are to be spiritually minded. It's not something we can just work up on our own. I read an article many years ago about what future ministers believed. This was many years ago, and one minister said, my job, I believe, is to bring out well, every human being, he said, has good in his heart. My job is to bring out that good. The Scriptures do not teach that somehow deep inside each of us is good, and the idea is to bring it out from ourselves. No, the good that we must come to have is from above. It's not something we have deep down inside ourselves. And it's important to realize that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10, God has revealed—that's right after that verse that is quoted from the Old Testament—I has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. So man just is not able to see the spiritual purpose and plan that God is working out. Human beings just are not equipped. They're not able to figure it out.

It has to be revealed from God. Verse 10, God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.

God has revealed these spiritual truths about Himself and about His purpose and His plan.

For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man except the Spirit of man that is in Him. There is a human spirit that is able to comprehend. That's how mankind has knowledge that is superior to animals. Animals are not able to think. They're not able to reason. But humans, we're able to reason. We're able to think. We can ponder in a way that animals are not able. That's because there is a Spirit in man that gives man ability to understand physical things, but not spiritual things. So that's how the Spirit in man is able to understand knowledge at the physical level. But it goes on the same verse 11. Even so, no one knows the things of God, really understands the spiritual things then, except the Spirit of God. We have to receive that Spirit from God if we are to begin to understand spiritual knowledge and to be spiritually minded. Verse 12. Now we have received we that have been called into God's church. We have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches. God's Holy Spirit then opens up the door so we understand spiritual knowledge, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man, the natural human being, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. They have to be spiritually understood. But he who is spiritual, that has received them in God's Spirit, judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. And so it is essential that we receive the... We're going to change out the battery here. So I think you'll be able to hear me if I lift up my voice. So we have the mind of Christ. If we have the Holy Spirit, we have the mind of Christ.

So to be spiritually minded, we must receive a Spirit from without, a Spirit from above, the Holy Spirit. How do we receive the Holy Spirit? Well, in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, we must repent and be baptized. Then Acts chapter 8 and 19 show that we receive God's Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands. Okay, I think we're back on the air again now. Thank you. So the Holy Spirit is given at the time of baptism and then the laying on of hands right after baptism. And it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to understand spiritual things and to be spiritually minded. The Holy Spirit from God actually joins with our human spirit. It is a spiritual conception. As part of that being born from above, born of God, it is the beginning. It enables us to begin to see and to understand spiritual knowledge of God.

It enables us to have God's nature and character. It strengthens our inner man. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 16. The Holy Spirit enables us, empowers us, and it does it with power and might, as it says here. Ephesians 3 and verse 16.

That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. So God's Holy Spirit strengthens the inner man, empowers the inner man to begin understanding and acting on spiritual knowledge.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 5. Let's turn and read this scripture, a very important one. How God's Holy Spirit spreads abroad God's very nature into our minds. Romans chapter 5 and verse 5. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was given to us. So God's very nature, His love, His joy, His peace is poured out into our heart. We can truly begin to be spiritually minded. No longer carnally minded, just thinking about fleshly things, the here and the now, but thinking about the spiritual knowledge and the spiritual things. Romans chapter 6 brings out the very next chapter that we can begin to live a holy and righteous way of life. Romans chapter 6 and verse 19. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you have presented your members as slaves of unclaimedness and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. We can begin to live a holy and righteous way of life. And it goes on to say in verse 20, when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Verse 22, but now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. And that verse we so often quote, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So through the power of the Holy Spirit, that is a gift from God at the time of baptism and laying on of hands, we can begin to be spiritually minded, truly spiritually minded. But let's notice something that after God gives us His Spirit and we begin to be able to be spiritually minded, and remember to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's what we want. But even after we receive God's Holy Spirit and are enabled to be spiritually minded, then a Christian still has to fight against the fleshly nature or the fleshly mind. The fleshly nature or mind is not taken away at the time of baptism. It is still there. And so we have to resist the carnal fleshly mind that is still there. And a Spirit-led person finds himself in a spiritual warfare with his carnal fleshly nature. He suddenly begins to see it in a way that he didn't see it before.

He has his mind opened up to see his carnal nature, and he begins to understand that he has to fight against it. In Romans 7, we're right here in Romans 7, we're getting the greater context of the Scripture that we're expounding to be spiritually minded as life and peace. All this is the greater context of that verse. In Romans 7, verse 14, the apostle Paul said, we know that the law is spiritual, but he goes on to say, I am carnal. I am fleshly sold under sin.

And let's just read then what a Christian comes to see. You, going through the process of being called into God's church, coming to understand this is what you and I go through. Verse 15, what I am doing, I do not understand. Don't we all? Sometimes we do things we just don't want to do. He goes on to say, for what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do.

If I then, if then I do what I would not do, I agree with the law that it is good.

But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. We come to see that. In our flesh and in our fleshly nature, there's not anything good. There's not a goodness deep down inside. It goes on to say, to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. God has to supply something so we can perform what is good. The good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. It didn't mean that he was just out sinning, breaking, openly breaking God's law, but there were thoughts and there were attitudes and sometimes, maybe words that would come out that he did not want to come out. And so in verse 21 he says, I find then a law, and we begin to discover that also, that a law, that evil is present with me the one who wills to do good. So we find that human nature, that fleshly carnal nature there is present, even though we want to do good, that evil nature is there. In verse 22, I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. And so do we. We delight in God's law. We would like not to sin, not to do anything wrong in the way of thoughts or actions or attitudes.

But verse 23, 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. And we come to see that. That's that fleshly nature that we described earlier that is actually hostile to God and to His law. We see that nature clearly more and more as we grow spiritually and we have more of the spiritual mind of God.

And we feel bad about it. You know, after being in the church then, have you ever said words that you wish you had not said? Have you ever thought something that you would wish you had not thought? If you had attitudes you wish you did not have? Well, that's what he's talking about here. Yes, we do. And we fight. We have to fight against that law of sin that is in our members.

Know that fleshly nature is still around. It's not done away. In fact, the spotlight is put on the kernel of nature. We see it in a way we never saw it before. Before we were in the church, I've had people tell me, well, I'm worse than I was before I was baptized. No, you're the same. You've got the same kernel of nature that you, as before, it's now that you see it. The spotlight has been put on it. You see that wretched law of sin that is in your members. And I see some of us smiling and nodding our heads. That's the process we're in, that we're going through. The process of taking on more and more, being spiritually minded, which is life and peace, and then putting down and suppressing that fleshly nature that we've had all along. But in the process, we feel bad about ourselves. Paul goes on to say that in verse 24. O wretched man that I am. We feel that way, too. Who will deliver me from this body of death? So we feel bad about our human condition. We don't like it, this warfare that is going on. And what is the way that we can be delivered? Who will deliver me? Well, verse 25 is the answer. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, God our Father, and through His Son, Jesus Christ, our High Priest, will deliver us. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So we come to see that only God and Jesus Christ can deliver us. We cannot deliver ourselves. But how do God and Christ deliver us? Let's think about that. How does God, our Father, and Jesus Christ deliver us? We come to chapter 8 now, and the answer is in chapter 8. That's how we are delivered from our carnal human nature. And guess what? It's a lifetime process. God doesn't deliver us all in just one instant, and then we're free of it. Guess, as long as we are human, we're going to be fighting this battle. Chapter 8 tells us how we must fight it and let God and Christ deliver us.

Chapter 8 is a wonderful chapter. It's been referred to as the Holy Spirit chapter. We're going to see a lot of reference to the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that strengthens us and makes it possible to ultimately be delivered from this law of sin in our members. Let's just read the first 14 verses and make a few comments. Verse 1, you know, Old Wretched Man that I am in verse 24, who will deliver me? In verse 23, I see another law in my members.

That's the way we are. But how should we feel about ourselves? Should we feel a self-condemnation? No, we should not, actually, because God is allowing us to go through this process of putting down the carnal mind in nature and taking on the spiritual mind and being spiritually minded. It is a process. Verse 8, there is therefore now no condemnation. No, we should not feel this sense of condemnation just because we come up short. We have thoughts that we should not have.

We say words that we should not say. We have attitudes we should not have. But if we begin to see those thoughts and words and attitudes, begin to suppress them, begin to control them, there's no condemnation if we are fighting in this warfare. To those who walk according to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh. See, we are striving not to live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That's what we desire. That's what we strive to do.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. We're actually set free from our sins and even our carnal nature that we're fighting against. That sometimes does pull us down where we don't do things we would like to do or we do things we would not like to do. He goes on down in verse five to say, those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh. And that's pretty much what the whole world does.

They live according to the flesh. They set their minds on here and now on the physical things.

On the things of this world. But it goes on to say, those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. As long as we are striving to set our minds on the things of the Spirit, that's the key. And we're striving to fight against that law of sin that is in our members. And that's where that verse we began with. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be. So those who are in the flesh, just living according to the fleshly pull of their own carnal nature, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh.

But in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So we receive the Spirit from God the Father at the time of baptism.

But we are to receive the Spirit from Christ as we go along. And it goes on to say in verse 10, if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

In verse 11, if the Spirit of whom who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, which dwells in you. In verse 12, therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. All these scriptures are explaining a lot about Romans chapter 7, that law of sin that is in our members, that pulls us down to do things we don't want to do.

Well, this is showing that through God's Spirit we can engage in a warfare with that fleshly nature, and we can win through Christ in us. We are debtors. Then verse 12, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Verse 13, if you live according to the flesh, you will die, because to be carnally minded, fleshly minded, is death, as we read. But if by the Spirit, here's the key, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So we have to mortify, as the King James put it, so we have to put to death the deeds of the body. We have to fight against our carnal human nature. Verse 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself, by the way, the New King James Version here has the Spirit Himself. Anyone have the King James Version, the old King James Version? If you do, you will notice it says correctly, itself. But so often, the New King James translators and others will put Himself. They will put a personal pronoun with the Spirit. When actually in the Greek, the word is numa and it's neuter. It is not a masculine word at all. And the word Spirit should then always be it, or which, or that. It should not be the personal pronouns. The personal pronouns are used because of the belief that the Holy Spirit is a third person in the Trinity. That's why it's important that we understand this, to get the right pronoun. The right pronoun, then in verse 16, is the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Your God Spirit does bear witness with our spirit, with our human spirit. Something is happening in our lives. We see God at work, His Spirit at work, and if children, then errors of God. So how does God and how do God and Christ deliver us? It is through the power of the Holy Spirit. But guess what? As we go through this process, it can be frustrating. It's not an easy course that we are involved in. In verse 21, mentions the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now. We do groan, but not only they, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

While I know that I groan as I go through this process, does anybody else groan with me? Because I see my nature. I'm fighting against it, the law of sin that is in my members. I identify with what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 7. Do you? Do you? And I think we kind of groan. That's why we feel O wretched man that I am. We feel just like the Apostle. And so yes, we do groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the sonship, and the family of God. Verse 26 goes on to say, again, you can see a lot about God's Spirit in chapter 8 and how it helps us in our struggle against our fleshly nature. Verse 26, likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit, see the new King James again has himself. I think the old King James may have himself as well.

Itself. Okay, it has itself correctly. For the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he, or and that's God, our Father, he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because it, the Spirit that is, makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Correctly translating how that should read. So how do God, our Father, and Jesus Christ deliver us? It is through the power of the Holy Spirit at work, helping us in this warfare. No, it's important to understand that the carnal nature doesn't, that fleshly nature that is in the tea against God, doesn't just go away at the time of baptism. It was still there. But a new nature has been introduced, and that is the spiritual nature, the mind of God has begun. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, then our spiritual mind begins to develop with the power to overcome the carnal mind. You know, we have to be honest about this.

There are times that we let the carnal mind win out. We're in this struggle. We're in this battle. And just like the Apostle Paul indicates in chapter 7, yes, there are times that we lose out, and we let the carnal mind win. And that's true of, look at God's people in the Bible, the Apostle Paul admits that he fell short. And other scriptures say that we all like dumb sheep, ghostry. But the Apostle did say there's no condemnation as long as we stay engaged in the battle. If we ever give up fighting against our carnal nature, there is condemnation. There will be condemnation. There's no condemnation as long as we continue to use God's Spirit to fight against the fleshly nature in us. We see examples of people just beginning. For example, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It says it very plainly. The Apostle Paul here doesn't pull any punches. These people were not going on developing the spiritual mind that leads to life and peace. They just weren't, they were going the way that leads to death, the way of the carnal nature. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 1. I, brethren, could not speak to you, and you have to read chapters 1 and 2 to see why he says this. They were just not really growing, not as spiritually minded as they should be at this point. I could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal. You're just controlled by your carnal fleshly mind. As to babes in Christ, I fed you with milk and not with solid food. For until now you were not able to receive it, but even now you are still not able.

For you are still carnal. I mean, that's straight from the shoulder, isn't it? You are still carnal. You're still fleshly. You've got that fleshly mind controlling you that is leading toward death.

For where there is envy, there was envy in this church, strife and divisions among you.

Are you not carnal and behaving like carnal men? When one says, I am a Paul, another I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? So they were not going on to be spiritually minded the way they needed to be.

You can read many other examples. The Galatians got off track. The Galatians were being tempted to get off track. The Hebrews were letting down, neglecting their salvation. What about the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3? They were falling short of being spiritually minded.

So spiritually minded Christians, we should realize this, and again the apostle indicates it in Romans 7 that we read, spiritually minded Christians can lose skirmishes in this warfare. We can come up short and lose some of the battles because we like dumb sheep do go astray. And we end up sometimes doing things that we should not do and don't want to do. We're saying things we should not say, but still say.

You ever lose your temper? You ever say things you wish you'd not say? We still do. We lose some skirmishes with the fleshly nature that leads to death. But we don't want to lose the war, right? We want to go on to win the war that we are involved in. I want to, again, remember the title to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's what we're talking about. That's the title. To be spiritually minded is life and peace. So how can we grow to be more spiritually minded and overcome our fleshly mind? I want to give us seven points.

There are things that we know, but are very important. Number one in how we can be spiritually minded, which will lead us to life and peace, number one is to ask for more of the Holy Spirit. God gave you and me the Holy Spirit at the time we were baptized and had the laying on of hands. He promised, and he did that at the time you were baptized. Now if we have anyone here not baptized, of course some of the young people are not yet baptized, someday, I hope you will be when you come to the beginning of adulthood.

We feel somewhere probably around 18, 19, 20, somewhere along there we're going to come to adulthood. And leave our childhood behind. We hope our young people will want to repent and choose this way of life and be baptized. And when you're baptized, God promises to give the Holy Spirit. So how can after he gives us the Holy Spirit, we need more of it? How can we have more of his spirit?

Turn to Luke 11. There's a wonderful verse about how we can receive more of the and be more spiritually minded. Luke chapter 11. And in this passage talking about seeking and you shall find, knock it shall be open to you. And if children ask for bread, in verse 11, parents will not give a stone. Verse 12, if your children want an egg, you will not offer him a scorpion. But verse 13 is the verse I wanted to come to. If you then being evil, and we've already described, we do have that evil nature to contend with. If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Notice? So let me ask you, do you ask for God's Holy Spirit every day? And even every person every day? And even every prayer? Do you ask for God's Holy Spirit? You know, I have to say that down through the years I have not. And I need to improve on that even now.

To be sure that I ask for God's Holy Spirit every time I pray. And even during the day that we ask for it. God is so willing. He's eager even to give us more of His Spirit. The more of His Spirit we have, the more we can be spiritually minded, which is life and peace. So how can we have more of the Holy Spirit? Ask for it. Ask for it. Every prayer. Also, as far as the Holy Spirit, once God gives us His Spirit, we have to stir it up.

Stir it up. And not just let it become dormant. Let's turn to John 5. One other scripture on how we can have more of the Holy Spirit.

John 15 and verses 4 and 5. Jesus said, well, He said in chapter 15 verse 1, I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit He prunes. Verse 4, He said, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.

And we know that, don't we? If you cut a branch off from a tree or a vine, it's going to die. It's got to stay firmly attached. As a branch cannot bear fruit, except it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. We've got to stay firmly attached to Jesus Christ. He said in verse, He went on to say in verse 5, I am the vine.

You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. So, how can we grow to be more spiritually minded? Number one, we can ask for more of the Holy Spirit. If we want to be spiritually minded, we need to ask for more of the Holy Spirit every day, every prayer. Don't forget to ask for more of the Holy Spirit.

God is eager to give it to us. More than parents are willing to give food and clothing and things to their children.

Ask for more of the Holy Spirit. Number two, how we can grow to be more spiritually minded, maintain the habit of daily prayer. Prayer is speaking and conversing with God, is contact with God. And God is never asleep. He is never too busy. 24-7-365. God is never asleep. He is always there, ready to listen. Isn't that wonderful? You wake up in the morning, early or late, and you pray. He's there. You pray during the day. You pray at night. You wake up in the wee hours and pray. God is there. He's on the job. Never asleep. We have unlimited minutes. Some telephone plans have limited minutes. But we have unlimited minutes with God, or ours. And think of this. God hears our prayers. And He appreciates the simplest of prayers. Young people, you can pray. I asked one young person before services if he prayed. And he said, yes. I was glad to hear that. So I hope all of our young people will begin to pray. Develop that habit of prayer. And by habit, I mean it's a habit. It's something that happens every day. Every day. And God appreciates the simplest of prayers. Prayer with God is a pleasure, and it's a privilege. What a privilege it is. Let us in Psalm 55, verse 17, turn to Psalm 55 and verse 17. A wonderful example that we can follow. The man after God's own heart. And should we not also strive to be a man, a woman after God's own heart, a young person after God's own heart? In Psalm 55 and verse 17, and this is by David, he said, evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud, and he will hear my voice. And we want to follow that example of King David. Evening, morning and at noon. Three times a day, he specified, he would pray and cry aloud. He was fervent in his prayers. It wasn't just some kind of mumbling of a prayer, but he cried aloud. The Scriptures mention being fervent in prayer, crying out to God because we need his help.

In Daniel 6 and verse 10, Daniel prayed three times a day also. Daniel 6 and verse 10, we won't read that right now. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 says to pray without ceasing. So if we are to be spiritually minded, then we must develop and maintain the habit of daily prayer. There's just no way that we're going to be able to be spiritually minded unless we speak and converse with God every day, often during the day. 3. If we are to be spiritually minded, we must read and study God's Word daily.

God's Word is about God. It begins that way. In the beginning, God. In this book, the Bible reveals about God, what he's like, what his plan is, what his purpose is. Reading the Bible, this book, is God speaking to us. God is, and we need to listen and make sure that we hear. We need to be receptive to what God says and to listen with a humble and teachable attitude. Are we enthusiastic and passionate for God's Word? We should be. It seems like if you sit down with God, what you are doing when you study the Bible, you should be enthusiastic about it. You should be happy to be there listening to what God has to say to you. We need to immerse ourselves, then, in God's Word. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. There are a lot of words here from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. A big book. I feel like there's so much of it yet, after all many, many years, that I need to understand and know more than I do. So, keep then reading, keep studying God's Word. And may I also add to that that we have booklets that are wonderful to help us in reading God's Word. We have articles in our magazines. This current issue of Beyond Today has wonderful articles. I hope our young people are reading Beyond Today magazine. It's got articles that will be very helpful to you. I know I began reading our church magazine, the Plain Truth magazine, when I was probably about 14 with interest. I may have looked at it some before then, but somewhere around 13, 14, 15, I began to study the Bible correspondence course when I was about 16. So, I know that young people can begin to study God's Word. And we have a Bible study course that will be very helpful. For anyone that has not taken it, it will be very, very helpful. So, if we are to be spiritually minded, we're going to need to study, we're going to need to listen to God as He converses and talks with us. We'll need to study His Word daily. Don't miss many days if you miss a day. Number four, if we are to be spiritually minded, which is life and peace, we must then meditate day and night on the things of God. Meditate day and night on the things of God constantly. When we meditate, we focus on our awesome God. We ponder what He is like. We think about His plan and His purpose for mankind. We meditate upon His laws. We ponder on how we can internalize His words and His ways, how we can have His law written upon our hearts.

Meditation also includes self-examination. We do some soul-searching, thinking about ourselves. How are we doing? We are walking on this earth and in our relationship with God. How are we doing? We are to evaluate ourselves as we go along. Meditation is that time where we search and we evaluate and we examine. Look at 2 Corinthians 13. We are to examine ourselves. How are we doing? God, we can be sure, is evaluating us. God is evaluating us. He is testing us. He does see how we are doing. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless, indeed, you are disqualified?

So the Scriptures do admonish us to, in our meditation, examine how we are doing. Meditation is a wonderful thing to ponder the things of God. Joshua chapter 1 brings out, if we want success in life, then meditate day and night. Let's do read Psalm 1 and verses 1 and 2. This Scripture admonishes us how often to meditate. Psalm 1 and verse 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. My margin in the New King James translation for meditate says he ponders by talking to himself. Meditation is like that. We talk to ourselves and we meditate about how we are doing. We examine ourselves. So if we are to be spiritually minded, which is life and peace, we must constantly, day and night, meditate and ponder about God and his law and his plan and his purpose. So that means as we walk around on our jobs, as we drive back and forth, as we do our chores, whatever we do, we are pondering and meditating about how we are doing in our relationship with God and what is pleasing to him. Number five, if we are to be spiritually minded, declare days of personal fasting. I don't mean days in a row necessarily, but days during the year when we fast. Fasting is a powerful spiritual tool. It's a power tool if we are to be spiritually minded. It draws us close to God. I tell you, fasting humbles us. In the basis of that fleshly nature that tends to word pride and self-sufficiency, we see how puny and how weak we really are. We see how great God is. Fasting helps us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus said, when you fast, he did not say if you fast. He said, when he was taken away, his disciples were fast. So from one day of atonement to another, how often do you fast? How often should we fast? I can't give you a number. But when we begin to no longer be spiritually walking with God, we know we're just not sharp with God. We need to declare a day of fasting. It's an emergency tool to draw us back close to God. And we don't use that nearly as often as we should. But I would say from one day of atonement to another, we know that we are required, commanded by God, to fast on that day. But from one day of atonement to another, I would think there are several days alone that we should declare a day of fasting. You're going to need to do that, I believe. Unless you're different than I am, you're going to need to do that in order to stay close to God. I know that I have not fasted as much as I should, so I'm preaching to myself as well.

But we should look at declaring days of personal fasting because we cannot be really spiritually minded, I don't believe, without several days of personal fasting each year.

Number six, in being spiritually minded, growing in that, be acutely aware of our battle with our human nature, our carnal fleshly nature. Remember, just because we're in the Church does not mean that our fleshly carnal nature has gone away. It is constantly there. It can flare up lust, pride, greed. It can flare up so quickly. You can very quickly be drawn into some type of confrontation with your mate or with other people. So we must constantly resist and overcome the fleshly nature. Let's go to Galatians 5, the Scripture that really lays it right on the line as to what our human nature is like and that we have to do battle against it.

Galatians 5 and verse 16. The Apostle Paul writing, I say then, walk in the Spirit. That means to be led by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, lived by the Spirit. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's what we're talking about today. Walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, they're opposites, to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. You're not going to be breaking the law and be under it. You'll be striving to keep it.

The works of the flesh are evident in what a list is given here. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Of which I tell you beforehand, just as I've also told you in time past, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. No, those things won't be in God's eternal family. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there's no law. And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh. We're put in the flesh. We're mortifying the flesh. We're crucifying the fleshly nature. With its passions and desires, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So we need to be acutely aware of our battle with our fleshly carnal nature. It's warfare with that law of sin that is in our members. The fleshly thoughts and attitudes and words that can arise so fast. So if we are to be spiritually minded, we must do battle every day against this fleshly nature. Number seven, the seventh point, the spiritual mind must be renewed day by day. You know, you and I have been given God's Spirit, but we can become unspiritual very, very quickly. Go a day or two or three without prayer, without Bible study, without meditation. Just thinking about the physical things, and you will lose your spiritual focus. So we must constantly be renewed. Just like we have food every day, we must constantly have God's Spirit given to us every day. Let's go to 2 Corinthians. And we're going to be ending here in just a very few minutes now. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16. Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So that inward man has to be renewed day by day. And we can lose our spiritual focus very quickly if we don't renew it every day. 3 Corinthians 3 brings out the first few verses. Set your affection on things above. If we are to be spiritually minded, we must be renewed, and keep our minds on the things not seen, the things of God. So let me conclude very quickly by saying, we must remember that we are in a warfare against our fleshly nature. Sometimes like dumb sheep, we do go astray, like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7. But through God and Jesus Christ in us, we can and will win this war. Remember, our goal is to be spiritually minded. It's not going to come easily or naturally, but we are to be spiritually minded, not carnally minded. To be carnally minded, just thinking about here and now the physical things, and not put in the physical things we think about, but put them in a spiritual setting that is all part of seeking after God's kingdom and preparing for His eternal kingdom. But we must keep our minds all along the way, all day, on God. And the things of God, His nature and His purpose that He's working out. And if we do go on to be perfected in becoming spiritually minded, we will have the mind of Christ fully developed in us. We will have the nature of God fully developed in us. Being spiritually minded, then, is a process. But if we continue the process, then it will be life, eternal life and eternal peace in God's family.