Only With the Mind of Christ

So, has anyone noticed how crazy the world is getting? You have wars, you have ethnic cleansings, you have terrorism, you have financial instability, upset weather, natural disasters, disease epidemics. Is it just me? Or maybe it's just better reporting. or are we in a volatile period with very little leadership? [clears throat] Most people have opinions about the world, the situation, and what needs to be done.

You could ask a hundred different people and you'll get a hundred different views about, you know, the the conflicts and and they're at odds with one another, whatever they think must be done. >> [clears throat] >> What would you do if you were president of the USA? Well, [snorts] how about the secretary general of the UN? What would you do? Would you be supremely confident in your ability to fix the problems? According to research at Cornell University by a psychology professor, Dr. David Dunning.

Quote, [snorts] "People who do things badly are usually supremely confident of their abilities. They're more confident, in fact, that people who do things well." His research shows that most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent. One reason that the ignorant also tend to be blissfully self- assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence.

[clears throat] Quote, "Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs him of the ability to realize it," says Dunning. Those findings agree with uh the words of Thomas Jefferson who said, "He who knows best knows how little he knows." Proverbs 28:2, I'll just read it out of the message Bible, but it kind of says that the same thing.

Proverbs 28:2, it says, "When the country is in chaos, everybody has a plan to fix it, [clears throat] but it takes a leader of real understanding to straighten things out." Do you think you have that understanding? Several years ago, Joy and I, we [clears throat] attended a small get together to honor the volunteers at a at a family shelter program.

Joy helped in the office uh in the accounting area a few hours a week and we had we had a nice meal and there were a few speeches about the program. On each table there were some pieces of paper with instructions to write either one what you like about the program or two why you like to volunteer or three what one thing would you like to see changed in the world? nothing political.

Now, these were to remain anonymous and and not being a volunteer myself, I chose the third option. [clears throat] I wrote, "The one thing that needs changing in the world is human nature." Now, these they were all very nice, warm, friendly Protestant church-going people. You know, they were giving of their time and their money and to help families with young children to get back on their feet through shelter, through food, through counseling.

And it was a very good cause. But I wonder what they thought about that note when they read it or what they would do to solve the problems. The world's problems are or maybe given the right circumstances, they too might yield to baser pulls. Do they see the need for human nature to change? A total death and resurrection resurrection of a new man or just the refining of what we have now.

Maybe we just need more volunteers, better laws, you know, would that solve all the problems? We in the under in the church understand the need for a total replacement of human nature with God's nature. His nature joined to ours. The Holy Spirit joined to ours growing in grace and knowledge until a spiritual total spiritual rebirth in God's kingdom at Jesus Christ's return.

We see how bad the world is now. And we see the solution, the the final solution of the world tomorrow and the new Jerusalem and what life will be like under God's control. But right now, we're in the middle, aren't we? We're still human. We're still influenced by our nature. And you know, I wonder about the steps that God will take to bring about the answers to all of man's problems.

You know, what next? Do you see a a certain progression maybe that God has in mind? You know, [snorts] maybe US bankruptcy or maybe anarchy. You look out in the world right now and man, it's kind of scary. Or maybe a little bit more time for us. You know, what do we know? Would I do things the way God does or will do? God's like a it's like a giant chess game [clears throat] moving all the right pieces at the right time for the best outcome for everyone.

Or would I do as James and John wanted to do when Christ wasn't welcomed in that Samaritan village? Let's look at that in Luke 9:52-56. [snorts] Luke 9:52-56. This is when Jesus was was heading towards Jerusalem. Luke 9:52. [snorts] And Jesus sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him.

[clears throat] But they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? But he turned and rebuked them and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

" See, in their way of thinking, they thought they knew the answer to that situation. But Christ thought differently. Verse [clears throat] 56. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And so they went on to another village. Can we as humans know how God thinks? Would we on our own be doing things the way God is? Can we have that mindset of wanting to save man? You know that long-term thinking that God has you know we came into this world as as clean slates ready to absorb and learn

the mira the miracle of of childbirth and development amazes me more and more you know as I grow older and uh really appreciate those gifts from God and the potential that those young ones have. You know, they are so delicate and so dependent on their parents' loving guidance. You know, you can see their their little wheels turning in their head as they develop the mental and the motor abilities that they have.

And we loved watching the little children at the feast this last year. And we enjoyed the seeing the little ones here in the congregation. It's truly amazing watching them develop and grow. [clears throat] Unfortunately, Satan also sees the potential and also immediately begins to influence and distort their thinking.

[clears throat] The first few years can really, you know, set some patterns and attitudes that can help or be very difficult, very difficult to overcome as they grow older. So begins the struggle as we do our best to instill godly values until the time when they hopefully respond on their own to God's calling of them.

The problem is we ourselves don't always set the right examples of teaching properly because we're still human and we haven't fully taken on God's thinking or the mind of Christ. [clears throat] So today I want to speak about our mind and Christ's mind and how they must come together for man to have any hope for the future.

[clears throat] The question that I ask what would you do as president or secretary general to solve the world's problems? No human has the capacity to reason out or solve the world's problems. greed, corruption, shortsighted nationalism gets in the way. The American historian Henry Adams thought of the entire enterprise of philosophy as unintelligible answers to insolvable problems.

And that's what man is facing on their own thinking. I think we need to be very careful about being too dogmatic about what we think we know. Humanly speaking, we need to be humble enough to look at ourselves and admit we're not always right. I'll just read Proverbs 14:12 where it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the its end is the way of death.

" You know, most of what we know has come through human teachers passed down from other human teachers. There are agendas, halftruths, human reasoning, materialism in the sense of of nothing spiritual. Many things taught as as fact in science and medicine and child rearing have been shown to be just the opposite, at least for a while, until these new facts become questionable or suspect.

You know, except for the truth of God, I am not too dogmatic about many things. Jesus Christ came to this earth 2,000 years ago and began to tell people that they were thinking wrongly. They were confused and deceived. And he began to speak the truth to them. Let's look at that in Matthew 4:12-17. Matthew 4:12-17 [clears throat] [snorts] verse 12.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Napali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The land of Zebulun and the land of Napali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.

and upon these who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus began his ministry to open up minds to open minds. Like in verse 16, ignorance and darkness versus lit up and illuminated, you know, from darkness to light.

That's what Christ did. [snorts] And then you go on to the next chapters, you know, Matthew 5 through7, the biatitudes. He taught his disciples remarkable ideas completely comparing worldly physical ways of thinking leading to death with heavenly spiritual principles and thinking leading to life. And what was their response to that sermon? You look at the very end on Matthew 7:28, it said that.

And so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching. They were astonished. Weren't we also when we first heard the truth? Weren't we astonished? Much of it much of it the very opposite of what we thought we knew. You [clears throat] know, God God figuratively bought me up the side the head with a 2x4 to get my attention and then held me as a as a captive audience until I was able to hear the truth.

It was the autumn of 1968. Garner Ted Armstrong blasting out on radio XERB explaining the truth about Jesus being buried three days and three nights. Not one day and two parts of other days. It was like it was like verse 16 of Matthew 4 that we just read. I'll read that again. But in the in the message Bible says, "People sitting out their lives in the dark saw a huge light.

sitting in that dark dark country of death. They watched the sun come up. You know, those were dark days in my life and my [clears throat] mind was tuned into the world or or some of the teaching I had learned through sporadic Lutheran and Baptist attendance. But that radio broadcast was, you know, you ever seen the cartoon where there's a light bulb, you know, and the light goes on above the the cartoon character? That was me.

Every night at 7 p.m., I listened and I learned. I began to see that I couldn't trust man's ideas and thinking and speculation. When you read the Bible with the mindset of seeing how God views things, it becomes full of contrasts of man's thinking versus God's thinking. God's ways versus man's ways. You say this, but I say this.

You do this, but you should do this. When we do something, are we thinking, is this to please God or to please me? Is it to build godly character or is it something for myself? Is this of the old man or the new man? Do you acknowledge God and and believe that he is there to help you? Ephesians, let's look at Ephesians.

We spend a little time there. Ephesians 3 20 and 21. Ephesians 3:20. Now [clears throat] to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. You know God's Holy Spirit. I was glad to hear Mr. Sanders speak about God's spirit in us.

But it helps us in ways we don't even comprehend or even think about. Verse 21. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. God wants a new man, new ways of thinking. You go into the next chapter. Ephesians 4 verse 17. Ephesians 4:17 through 24. This [clears throat] I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in and the futility of their mind.

utterly futile, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, [clears throat] who being past feeling have given themselves over to lwdness to work all unclean cleanness with greediness. you know, referring to the gentile way of thinking, the the futility of their mind and their darkened understanding, excuse me. Verse 20.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. begin to think differently in a new way and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

you know, the same idea. I'll just read it in the New Living uh translation, Romans 12:2. It says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." By changing the way you think, then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

you know, the same old body. We still have the same old body, but the new man, the new mind is up here. And what is that perfect will of God? Go back to Ephesians 1 vers9. Ephesians 1:9, [clears throat] a perfect will of God, having made known, verse 9, to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, he might gather together in all in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in

him. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. the first fruits that have obtained an inheritance. That's us.

That connection between God as a spirit and us as physical beings through the renewing of our mind through the Holy Spirit. You know, we can't be joined together unless we are agreed. Unless we are agreed, you can't be joined together. You know, as Mr. >> [clears throat] >> Sanders said, "You know, we started the holy day year with Passover and Days of unleavened bread.

It was a it was a time to remember what Christ went through for us, the suffering and the sacrifice for each one of us. We rededicated our lives to that calling of allowing the loving risen Christ to live in us and to do a work through us. We physically delevened our homes and we spiritually cleaned out all the little nooks and crannies in our temple of spiritual uncleanness.

But see, nature abhores a vacuum. Whatever you have taken away has to be replaced. Hopefully we are continuing to remove Satan's ideas and modus operandi of living our lives and how we think and relate to others and to life in general. You're getting rid of the old ways we used to think and replacing them.

Being replaced by right knowledge, God's ways of thinking and relating. Putting on Christ, putting in Christ. That's the unleavened bread that we were taking in. Isaiah 55 verse 6 and 7. Isaiah 55 verse 6 and 7. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. And let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him. and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. It ties so much in with unleaven bread and and getting sin out of our lives. And uh God, you know, he's there for repentance and forgiveness. We are to forsake our unrighteous thoughts and bring every thought into captivity.

you know, as it says in I'll just read 2 Corinthians 10:5. I'll refer to this um first, no, 2 Corinthians 10:5. It says, "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." And see, that's that's what it's really about.

bringing every thought into captivity, putting Christ's mind on. And then comes Pentecost. Pentecost pictures the first part of the spiritual harvest, the calling out of the church, the very ones I mentioned, submitting to the perfect will of God. And we see that in Acts um 2:1. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

and jump up to verse 38 and 39 of uh Acts 2. And Peter said to them,"Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are a far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

" It is this group, us, the first fruits with that same Holy Spirit that was given at that first New Testament Pentecost. It's that same Holy Spirit, you know, given to us. And, you know, we're being tried and tested now. Now, that's what we're doing. That's what we're going through. And hopefully to meet Christ in the air at the seventh trumpet on the feast of trumpets to be kings and priests in God's kingdom.

And our job will there be to teach the billions who come up at that second resurrection. But our training now is to develop that mind of of God to work on that the way we think. Conversion is the degree you have put off the old man and put on Christ and begun to think like Christ. You know what would Christ do? How would he think in this situation? [clears throat] Would he answer here or not answer a fool? Would he give a handout or would he teach that person how to work and help himself? There are so many gray areas or nuance

situations that take discernment and a godly perspective to properly understand. God doesn't just zap our minds at baptism. You know, free moral agency is still there. It has to be there. We have to choose what is right. We have to keep choosing what is right. That is the only way we can continue to grow toward perfect righteous character.

And we still we still have questions and we struggle with concepts or degrees of right and wrong. You know, we don't always make right decisions. We still don't always think clearly godly all the time. I know I don't too often we dig up the old man, you know, we breathe a little life into him. We resurrect him to get a second opinion on a certain situation that's going on.

When we're stressed out or maybe we're really tired or we're worried or we're angry, we often will go to that default setting, human nature, and bad choices. Mark 8:31 Mark [clears throat] 8:31-33 Mark [clears throat] 8:31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief peace priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise Again, he spoke this word openly, and then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned around and

looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." See, Peter was overwhelmed with the thought of Christ dying. He didn't yet fully understand God's plan and how necessary it was for Christ to die. This was, you know, before the Holy Spirit had been given to him.

You know, sometimes we don't understand the plan either. There's so many things we don't understand exact, you know, where it's going or how it's going or, you know, we're still learning. But we have to trust God and know and believe that he knows what's best. We are to be of like mind with Christ. Romans 5 uh 15 verse 5 and 6.

Romans 15 verse 5 and 6. >> [clears throat] >> Now, may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be likeminded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're not there yet, are we? A similar idea in Philippians 1:27, I'll just read.

Philippians 1:27 says, "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." You know, the only way to have one mind is is for all to strive together to emulate the highest example of perfection.

You know, we we certainly don't want to be of one mind compared to any human mind. You know, that's what happens, you know, to some cults or these leaders that, you know, mind wash these people to follow him. You don't want to be of one mind with something like that. Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

" That's the mind that we strive for, you know. And again, why why do we do that? It's a life and death affair. This is something that that's why we're sitting here and we're learning and studying and uh it's a life and death affair. His mind was directed to and at one with the father. The mind of Christ equals the mind of God.

At one with Christ, at one with God. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's Romans 8:6. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Until we're spirit beings, we also will struggle for clearheaded thinking. That is part of our growing se process.

You know, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes, repenting, overcoming, seeking God's help and mercy. And as he promises, he will help us if we ask. You know, there are so many biblical misconceptions that have been taught and perpetuated. the ways in which man has been deceived and what he thinks about the things of God in relation to man.

The Pharisees and Sadducees kept trying to trap Jesus in his words or test him in his credentials. Jesus said the only sign would be one taken from a previous time. The signs of the prophet Jonah. We see that in Matthew 12:38. Very familiar. 1238-4. H [clears throat] then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.

" But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Three days and three nights.

That seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? 72 hours. So, what does man come up with? Jesus placed in the tomb shortly before sunset on Friday and rising sunrise Sunday morning. Two nights and one day, the Good Friday, Easter tradition. You know, the truth becomes quite plain when taking God at his word, believing it rather than man's tradition.

You know, studying the Gospels show Christ had to have died and been put in the tube on Wednesday just before sunset and raised Saturday just before sunset. Another example of human reasoning, God says, "Remember the Sabbath day." So on the authority of a false church, the Sabbath was replaced by Sunday observance and most Christians fell into step.

The tradition of men, pagan compromising, doing the opposite of the Jews. There were a lot of reasons. All man's ideas rather than the clear teaching by God. The keeping of which would have been a tremendous blessing for those people. What about Christmas? The Bible no work instructs Christians to commemorate Christ's birth. No one knows the day or the month he was born.

So what did man do? The simple fact is as more and more people from throughout the Western Roman Empire became converted to an increasingly popular Christianity, they brought many of their favorite customs with them. The pagan winter festivals of the Satn Saturnelia and Bromelia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be a set set aside by Christian influence.

The pagan festival with its riot and mirrorm making was so popular that Christians were glad and an excuse to continue its celebration with little change in spirit on manner. So there the article goes on, but we all I'm sure are familiar with those. You know, you open your Bible to just about anywhere and you'll find examples of how God's thoughts are the opposites of man's.

I just listed some here we'll briefly go through, but it's amazing really. We are told that to become leaders, we must become servants. Matthew 20 verse 25. I'll just refer to these scriptures. You can look them up later. Uh you probably there's a lot more than just there's several scriptures to any one of these dichotoies or whatever you want to call them.

Jesus called them to himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. The same idea we need to to be exalted, we need to be humble.

Matthew 23:11, but he who is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. You know, that's certainly not the way the world looks at it, is it? Humble is equated with weakness. Another thought, when someone is evil toward you, return good toward them.

And we are to pray for our enemies. That's the opposite of what the world thinks. But in Romans, it says, Romans 12:17, it says, "Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men." And in Matthew 5:44, it says, "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

" Not returning evil for evil and praying for your enemies really clash with our natural ways, don't they? We hate to see anyone get off easy or not be aware of of the outrage that we have toward their behavior. You know how many movies are based on vengeance and getting even with the bad guys? It's all we've ever known.

It can be very hard sometimes to root out th those thoughts or that hatred, but we must. Another one, we are told that soft answers should be our responses to wrath and anger. That's another one very hard to do. But in Proverbs 15:1, it says, "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs [snorts] up anger." Again, we feel angry that that person is really off base and out of balance.

And sometimes we feel that we must outshout them rather than gently reason with them. How about to be wise, we're told to keep our mouths closed. I really like that one. Proverbs 12:23. A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness. Many believe that wisdom comes through many words.

I think Plato uh said that wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools because they have to say something. Another one to re to receive we must give. I mean these go on and on. Proverbs 11:25. The generous will prosper and those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

You know, have we proved that one to ourselves? Do we really believe that? You know, or is this one that you ask your old man for a second opinion on? Self and selfishness sometimes are the order of the day. To become strong, we must become weak. The first will be last and the last first. We are told to hate sin yet love the sinner.

We are told to turn the other cheek and walk the extra mile. We are to rejoice in trials. This is another one that's, you know, easy to say when someone else is going through the trial. Do you rejoice in the trials that you get? Do we believe it? Do we believe that we are to do that? When trials come, is my mind on the things of God or man? is my thinking on learning from the trial and growing or woe is me.

Why me? We must be willing to sacrifice our lives in order to live. You know, the list goes on and on all [clears throat] pointing to the dramatic difference between God's thoughts and ours. You know, how do you do on a list like that? You know, that's probably something we should go through quite often and pick one out each each day or week and work on.

Am I really doing that? [clears throat] Is our thinking more in line with God or man? And do we practice what we preach? You know, do I you know, you condense down all those dichotoies down this versus this, that versus this. God's thinking, man's thinking. You know, God is eternal and patient. His focus is on long-term development and eternal purposes, which is often the very opposite of how we look at things.

He is rooted in absolute and unchanging truth. It isn't true one day and not true the other day like we tend to do. He defines power through humility and sacrifice and service and surrendering to his will. God operates on grace and mercy and redemption. And God sees trials as tools for refinement to build perseverance and character and hope.

You know, so [clears throat] what's the end of all I'm saying? You know, if we want to be in God's kingdom, we must put on the mind of Christ. To begin thinking like God, you know, that is, you know, to be converted, we can either begin to change by making right choices or or wait for God to get our attention in some other way to to wake us up in a way that maybe uh might require a more urgent response, you know.

And I would say it's better to maybe question, examine the self and consider the possibility, you know, just the possibility, mind you, that we don't know everything. Just, you know, maybe that we aren't totally converted, that some of our thinking is still carnal and needs to be addressed. To put on the mind of Christ is indeed an awesome challenge. Awesome.

You know, with verses like [clears throat] Romans 11:33 and 34. Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways pass finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor? Unsearchable. So who am I? Why am I why am I saying this that we need to How about the verses in Isaiah 55:8-9? [clears throat] Isaiah 55 8-9.

My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. His ways are infinitely higher than ours. So, are we [snorts] wasting our time? Did I just spout this for nothing? No. We can we can know God's mind.

Luke 10:21- 24. Luke 10:21- 24. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my father.

And no one knows who the son is except the father and who the father is except the son and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. Then he [clears throat] turned to the disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it.

and to hear what you hear and have not heard it. You know, others had yearnings, but they didn't have God's Holy Spirit. We can see, we can hear. You know, it's very encouraging to to read verses like that. We have the privilege, the privilege and the responsibility now to hear and to change. 1 John 5:19-20. 1 John 5:19-20. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

And we know that the son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. We know we can have confidence. Confidence in God not in ourselves. So you know all of our thinking should be filtered through the lens of the Holy Spirit which you know produces the fruits of his spirit in our lives.

You kind of look at the rays of you know sunlight you know streaming down and going through a prism and and through raindrops which act as prisms and they divide the light into colors we see in rainbows. You know, it's beautiful to see a rainbow is beautiful. It's a blessing from God. We are to be a light which is a reflection of the light from Jesus Christ.

And that light filtered through the prism of the Holy Spirit comes out in our thinking and actions as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If all our thoughts and actions stem from these fruits, as it says in Philippians 4 6-9, it's the last scripture, Philippians 4 6-9.

I'm going to read this out of the New Living Translation. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me. Everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. God's way of thinking and doing things are very valuable to us.

the the human mind and the human body are beautifully and wonderfully made and it's one of life's joys watching a tiny baby develop you know intellect but even more wondrous is God's plan for the character being developed by that mind the character of God and learning to think like God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us so let's you know use the brief time we have on this earth to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and allow him to work through us and putting on the mind of Christ.