The Sound Mind of God

Good afternoon, brethren. It’s wonderful to see everybody. We’ve had such beautiful weather these last few days. It’s almost a shame we’re not outside having services. We’re not. We’re in here.

Let’s begin. I want to start with a... I was reading an article, kind of preparing for the message, and I want to just bring out a couple of little passages. Start with, some believe the human mind is connected to the universe at a quantum level of consciousness. “In twenty-twenty they found that the human brain’s connection and the cosmic web have similar structures. The power spectrum of brain slices also aligns with the cosmic web’s curve, suggesting that the universe’s complexity and information-processing capabilities are similar to those of the brain.” Now, I can breathe. That’s a lot to say. They go on. One little more passage here. It says, there are even roughly the same number of neurons in the human brain as there are galaxies in the observable universe.

Now, that literally has nothing to do with the message except what man was trying to do. What they were trying to do in this message was they were trying to understand and they were trying to find the importance in the mind of man while also, unusually, seeing the possible ties to something greater. Well, brethren, I’m here to tell you that there is a mind that we should know. There’s a mind that is greater than ours. There’s a mind destined to connect with us.

Show of hands, who wants this mind? I definitely want this mind. Brethren, this mind is here. This is the mind of God. Brethren, we need the mind of God. We need the mind of God. And that’s what we’re going to dig into today, the mind of God, and different aspects about needing it, the absence of it, and then fixing any issues. So we’re going to begin here. How important is having the mind of God? How important is it? Keep that ringing in your ears. How important is it?

So let’s begin with the first gift, the first gift God gives to His future sons and future daughters. The first gift. Please open your Bibles to the Book of Acts and turn to chapter two. Now you might think, well, I know what this is. Maybe. Maybe, maybe not. Acts chapter two, and we’ll begin in verse thirty-six. Verse thirty-six of Acts two. It reads, “Until I make my foes...”oh, that’s verse thirty-five. “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made the same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What actions must we take?” What did Peter say? “Then Peter said unto them, repent.” Stop right there. Repent. That’s the first thing Peter told them to do. Repent. Repentance is a gift. This is that first gift that God gives to his future sons and future daughters. It’s repentance. That is change. Now at this point, the person who is given this gift, they don’t have God’s Spirit within them, but they have God’s Spirit working with them.

We understand that. If you went through the baptismal training, the different classes and everything, and then was baptized, we understand that repentance, that’s the ability, to kind of break it down, to simplify it, we’ll dig deeper into it. That’s the ability to think and to see and to understand with the mind of God, to see ourselves. One aspect in the baptismal counseling we touch on are the four “yous.” You might remember it if you’ve been baptized, if you’re going through the counseling, or if you have... I’m going to give you the rest of the story right now as far as the four “yous.”

The first you is the you that you see. Look in the mirror. That’s me. That’s the first you. The second you is the you that others see. Now we get into the aspect of the gift, of this first gift, this repentance. It’s the third you. That’s where it begins. The third you is seeing ourselves through God’s eyes. Beginning to understand and grasp what it is about us that God sees. Then the fourth you is not only seeing us present but seeing our future, seeing our potential.

That gift is repentance. That gift is what allows us to make the changes. Think about it. If we’re told to make a change in our life, we don’t just go make the change, we have to think about it. We have to sit down and decide, all right, what is it that I have to change? When do I have to change it? Why do I have to change it? And where must I do it? Well, for us to do this and to do it properly, as Peter said, repent, that’s the very first thing. Before they even got wet. He said, repent.

So to do that, we have to think. We have to use God’s mind to be able to see what God wants us to change in our lives. To make that change. So as I mentioned we’re going to dig a little bit deeper into this first gift. If you’ll turn to Second Corinthians chapter seven. It’s amazing as I was preparing for this that my direction kept changing so many ways, but I learned so much. I didn’t realize how many times in the Scripture it actually talks about the mind of God. All right, we’re Second Corinthians seven, we’ll begin in verse nine.

“Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry but that you were sorrow to repentance. For you were made sorrow after a godly manner…” Where do you think that they got that godly manner from? They were given that access to the mind of God. That’s that godly manner. “…That you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world works death. For behold, this selfsame thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort…”

Once again, it keeps talking about a godly sort, a godly manner. That comes back to that first gift, that first gift of, they didn’t receive God’s Spirit yet, but they have access to God’s mind. “What carefulness it wrought in you. Yes, what clearing of yourself. Yes, what indignation. Yes, what fear, what behemoth desire, what zeal, what revenge. In all things, you have approved yourself to be clear in this manner.” You have used that access to the mind of God.

You have seen through God’s direction what you need to change in your life. That is that first gift. Well, brethren, the first gift leads to the second gift. Turn to Second Timothy, please. There it is. Second Timothy, chapter one. Remember, we’re looking at digging into the importance of the mind of God. What we started off with was to be able to do that first thing, that first thing before we even get wet, before we have the opportunity to come up out of the water, before we have the opportunity to receive God’s Spirit we have to have access to the mind of God to know what we need to change.

So we’ve touched on that. So now we got Second Timothy, chapter one, and we’ll begin in verse six. “Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God…” Here’s another gift of God, “…which is in you by the putting on of my hands.” What do you think this gift might be? The putting on of hands is the gift of God. “…For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” This is after they’ve come up out of the water. This is when the minister is laying hands, putting hands on them and asking God to put that next gift. His spirit, and part of His spirit is God’s sound mind.

You ever thought about that? Power, love and a sound mind. I’ve used that so many times to help describe what God’s spirit is and the importance of proper thinking, correct thinking. You know, whether it’s of talking to your brethren and congregation or just somebody on the phone wanting to talk. These two gifts, the first one made possible to get to the second gift. We couldn’t jump to the second without that first gift, both involve... one is access to God’s mind. One is using God’s mind when He put it within us.

Now, think about, because these are gifts. Everyone has given a gift. I saw a young man give another young man a gift today. When we give a gift, when we’re preparing a gift, don’t we think about it? Don’t we put some thought? Don’t we put some effort? Don’t we put some maybe hope they’re going to enjoy and want the gift? Wouldn’t God do the same? Wouldn’t God do the same when He gives us first access to His mind and then gives us part of His mind?

So brethren, make sure you sure you sure... make sure... I’m talking to myself. I use these gifts that sound mind of God. So we’ll dig a little deeper into this. How important is this gift of God’s mind to God? How important... what does God think about this? You know, He put some thought in it. There’s a reason why. So let’s look at a scripture that I never associated with this until I started digging in and reading it. John three sixteen. I think this is only the second time I’ve ever went to John three sixteen in a message, but it’s applicable. Once again, how important is it to God that we not only have access, but have a measure of His own mind? What did God go through to make sure we have that? John three sixteen, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Christ had to come and die so God could give us access to His spirit. Don’t you think that’s important to God? Don’t you think that should be that much more important to us, to be more thankful? Thank you, God. Give me more. Help me to use your spirit, to use that sound mind to make every decision in my life sound not according to the mind of man, but according to your mind, Father.

I’d never looked at John three sixteen in that way. I probably will never look at it any other way now, or I’ll always see it in that light. I just never thought about it. Once again, how important is access to God’s mind and using God’s sound mind to God? I make a statement here that I’m going to return to a few times just to make sure I drive the point home.

Remember this, actions begin in the mind. Actions begin with thoughts. Before we do something, it runs through our mind. It might be consciously and sometimes it can be subconsciously, but it runs through our mind. Once again, how important is access to God’s spirit? Turn to Matthew chapter seven, please.

Matthew chapter seven, verse twenty-one. Matthew seven, verse twenty-one. “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven.” Remember what I said, actions begin in the mind with thoughts. So let’s break this down a little bit. Not everyone that just says, Lord, Lord, Christ will have access to the kingdom of heaven. But we must be doers. We must do something. We must do what? We must do the will, the thoughts, the mind of God if we want access, if we want to inherit, to enter into the kingdom of God. It’s that important.

I found this subject virtually everywhere I looked and had no idea it was almost anywhere and almost found it everywhere. I can’t believe I left a pile of paper with scriptures laying on the floor. Could have easily used, but there’s a time limit, so I couldn’t do that, wouldn’t do that. But with this, knowing and then doing God’s will will be required for the kingdom.

Now, coming off of that, can anyone know, can just anyone, I’ll use just, can just anyone know, then know to do God’s will? Can anybody? Here’s another scripture copy that I’ve had to enjoy, don’t say had to, got to, talk about, and explain many times. Stay in Matthew and turn to chapter thirteen, please. Once again, can just anybody know the mind of God? Can anybody then just know what to do according to God’s mind, His will? Can just anybody?

Matthew thirteen, we’ll begin in verse ten. Verse ten, “And the disciples came and said unto him, why speak you unto them in parables?’” Now if you stop right there, if you were to look up to verse two, you’ll see what the them is. Great multitudes. The them is great multitude. That them is great multitude. There is another them in there. That them is great multitude. Christ was speaking to them, the great multitudes, in parables. Christ answered and said unto the other them, the disciples, because it is, you know, why did He speak to them? He speaks to them “…because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

But to them…” that multitude, “…it’s not given. For whosoever has to Him shall be given and He shall have more abundance, but whosoever has not from Him shall be taken away even that he has. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” And this is fourteen, “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, ‘By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand. And seeing you shall see and shall not perceive.’” Who wants to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God? I do.

Here, if you don’t have access to God’s mind, there’s going to be a parable to you. Is it the them’s fault? It’s not their fault. God’s not calling them right now. He was calling the disciples. Now, uniquely, the disciples were still, had only received the first gift at this point. They hadn’t been baptized. They didn’t have God’s Spirit within them, but they had access to the mind of God. Even just that access opened up the mysteries of God. So how much more when we have the mind of God within us, that sound mind?

How much more will, should, the mysteries open up? Should open up. This is another scripture that I’ve talked about. One way I would explain to people, you know, they were always asking, I don’t know if I’m being called. I said, well, walking through other scriptures, and I said, well, the world, look in the Bible, I don’t see one plus one and get anything but two. It’s not their fault. But they’ll get anything, but they get one point nine or two point one. They’ll never see the two. It’s not their fault because it’s a parable to them.

They don’t have that access. Brethren, we have that access. Make sure you use that access. Don’t let it go to waste. So we’ve kind of driven home, I’ve tried to drive home the importance of the mind of God. To see God’s view on it, to see our benefits of having it, just the access, let alone having the mind of God within us. So now we’re going to take a little slight turn, a little direction here. We’re going to look at the consequences of wrong thinking or let’s say a non-godly mind or non-godly thinking  to see what...

All right, what might happen if we don’t go follow the will of God, the mind of God? And I’ll reiterate that statement I made, actions begin in the mind with our thoughts. So let’s go to Luke. Luke chapter six. Luke chapter six. Here’s one that was a little unusual. I never thought about it in this sense, but there were so many other scriptures that touched on this. I said, well, that might be a separate message with that.

But Luke six, forty-five. Luke six, forty-five states, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil. For the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” It’s kind of a long version of that, you know, “out of the abundance of the mouth, the mouth speaks.” But I chose that because it’s talking about the good treasure of the heart and the evil treasure.

We understand that we are commanded to put our treasure in heaven, toward the kingdom of God. We do that with our tithes, we do it with our offerings. You know, that’s a physical treasure. What else might God consider a treasure? Might it be that gift that took the death of His Son as a treasure? That mind of God, those thoughts? That the thinking of God, might that be a good treasure if we have good righteous thoughts as opposed to wrong evil thoughts?

I can only imagine God considers His Spirit a treasure within us. I’m sure much more than money, but we faithfully give our physical treasure eagerly, joyfully. Brethren, we need to make sure we give that spiritual treasure, that treasure that costs the blood of our Savior. Without His shed blood, without His death, we wouldn’t have had access to the mind of God. It’s that thinking, it’s that will of God. That’s a good treasure. That’s a good treasure.

Now, you can always tell when somebody doesn’t have a good treasure in that sense because it says it right at the end, it fills up and spills out their mouth. So if you see that in yourselves, you can say, “Oh, wait a minute, where’s my treasure? Am I picking the right treasure here?” Not just the physical. Christ in different scriptures talked about there’s a physical law, but there’s a spiritual aspect of it too.

Let’s go to First Chronicles. First Chronicles chapter twenty-eight. Don’t think I ever heard this scripture, but we just heard it the other day and it resonated. So I said, “I’ve got to use that one.” It kind of fit. First Chronicles chapter twenty-eight, verse nine. Twenty-eight and verse nine says, “And you, Solomon, my son, know you the God of your Father, and serve him with a perfect heart, with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

If we don’t use that mind of God that we have access to, to constantly, continually seek God, or those in the world that literally have no idea to, you know, Solomon obviously did. Solomon had a willing mind, but he had to make sure he kept that willing mind. What might be a willing mind? Sound mind of God. You know, with Him, a perfect heart and a willing mind, willing to follow God, willing to know God’s will, willing to do the will of God. And it gives the warning right at the end.

“But if we don’t, we’ll be forsaken. We will forsake Him, and we’ll be cast off forever.” Those are, you know, those are consequences of wrong thinking. Consequences of... Where’s the word there? I’m missing it. With an unwilling mind with that. Now, these are harsh words. God can be blunt. They’re always true, and they’re always helpful, but these are harsh words right there at the end. “But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.” You know, has God ever cast off and forsaken anyone prior to this? Might Solomon have had an example? Say, “Oh, yes, wait a minute. I remember that. I remember the story about that happening.” Well, obviously the answer is yes, if you’ll turn to Genesis.

And we’ll see an example of wrong thinking and consequences of that wrong thinking, of that wrong mind. Genesis chapter six, and we will begin in verse five. Genesis six, verse five, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually. And it repented, the Lord, that He made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repents me that I have made them.’”

These every imagination of the heart that were wicked, that were evil, brought consequences. And these weren’t just local consequences, this was global. How important is it to have correct thinking? This wrong thinking led the only one family surviving on earth. God takes it serious. He takes following His will, following His mind, very, very serious.

Now, like I said, there are consequences to what we do. For instance, if we have a poor physical diet, it leads to poor physical health. Well, brethren, if we have a poor mental diet, well, we just saw some consequences. It leads to poor, you know, spiritually, mental health with that, and we don’t want that. Nobody wants that. God doesn’t want that. The mind of God doesn’t want that, but He also wants righteous thinking. He also wants us to obey Him. He wants us to be able to call Jesus Christ Lord Lord and to inherit the kingdom of God, but it requires us being in tune, being in line with the mind of God.

All right. We’ve looked at some of the importance, you know, of the mind of God, you know, for man and then from God’s point of view. We’ve looked at some examples and consequences of wrong thinking, of not being aligned with the mind of God. So now, it’s more the fun part. How do we make sure we are aligned? How do we fix any of these issues that may arise within us?

And brethren, we’re actually going to be the ones out helping fix this in the world, too. So you say, “Well, I’ll never have to fix it.” Well, this world needs it everywhere you look, but don’t overlook that first you again. I tell myself that all the time. The me in the mirror, I’ve got to make sure I have that right mind, too.

So now let’s look at the solutions to the problem. I mentioned, you know, something first earlier, the first start off, that first gift, so let’s go back to another first. What does God instruct us to do first? What’s the first thing God tells us, “You do this first.” Turn to Matthew. And this kind of sets the stage. You could almost do this and say, “That’s it.” But I’m not going to do that. I’m going to keep talking for a little bit.

Matthew six, verse thirty-three, the scripture that if it’s not a memory scripture by chapter and verse, you know the scripture, but Matthew six, verse thirty-three says, “But seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Seek first. Well, going back to what I was saying, I’m going to reiterate this over and over. Actions begin in the mind. So for us to seek, we have to think about it. And if we’re thinking about seeking the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, that’s driven by the mind of God.

That’s likely? I’m not that in tune with the mind of God to say, that’s exactly why God put that in there, but I can speculate that that’s a wonderful reason. He said, do that because that keeps us thinking about Him, which is kind of what it talks about. The kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. What’s more righteous than God Himself, than the mind of God, that sound mind?

And when we do this, He says, all things will be added unto us. That’s all things, that’s all good, that’s all wonderful, that’s all joyous, things will be added to us when we seek first. Don’t put anything else ahead of it. And we can do that by using that gift of God, that mind of God that helps us to do it first, helps us to want to do it first.

Turn to Luke, please. Luke chapter eleven. There in Matthew, it did give us an action word. We’re going to see that action word again right here. I thought about throwing that out and mention it, but I guess I just did, so. But Luke, chapter eleven and verse nine, it goes right along with Matthew six, thirty-three. Verse nine. “And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given. You seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. “

Well, brethren, we ask according to the mind of God, we seek after the mind of God and we knock wanting more of that mind, that will, that understanding, that thinking of God, and He will open up to us. These are action words. Seek, ask, knock. It’s not, “All right, we got this wonderful gift. I’m going to sit back and let it do all the work.” No, we have to use this gift. This is one way we can use this wonderful gift. Seek after it, ask for it, knock.

When I hear the knock, I think of somebody, you know, at a window just, “Let me in.” Well, look at it that way. Father, give me more. Give me more access to this wonderful gift that helps me to have access to your son, to you, to the kingdom, to eternal life, your mind. Action words.

Turn to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. Flip it there. And where are we here? Verse six. Just read verse six right now. Philippians four and verse six, “Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God.” Ties right into seek, ask, and knock. Don’t be careful about it. Don’t be timid. Be bold. God gives us that spirit of boldness to go ask Him.

Like any father, any mother, if their child needs and wants something, they want them to come to them. Mother, father, I need this. And our father is going to give it to us, but we have to make it known. Ask Him. Ask Him in prayer. Ask Him in supplication continual, over and over, and thinking all these help get us closer, keep us in touch, to stay in line with the mind of God. With God’s will.

I still can’t believe, everywhere, I could almost flip through the Bible and just touch and find a way to talk about the mind of God, be it through His will, through His thoughts, through His thinking, through the imaginations of the heart, the thoughts of the heart, all of that is tied to the mind of God. All right. Now that was the first part of the fix. I label that seek, ask, and knock. The second part of the fix. As I say, this is kind of the fun part.

How are we going to get even closer to God? How are we going to get even more in tune with the mind of God? That’s what this last section iss designed to kind of hopefully do. Turn to Proverbs sixteen. Proverbs chapter sixteen and verse three, “Commit your works unto the Lord, and your thoughts shall be established.” Brethren, if we commit to God all that we do, but again, actions begin in the mind. And so if we commit our thoughts powered, inspired, grown by the mind of God, God will further establish them. I kind of wrote something down. It’s like committing our works establishes our thoughts, which further commits our works, which further establishes our thoughts. It’s repetitive.

It grows and grows and grows. One leads to another, which leads to the first one being bigger, which leads to the second one being bigger, back and forth. Committing ourselves, whatever we do, whatever we, you know, are commanded to do. I think Solomon said whatever your hands find to do it, do it with all your might. Here’s another scripture that ties to that. Commit. Make that commitment. I know you have. Brethren, I can make an even better commitment. Can you? I can say, you know, I can do even better. That’s a commitment.

I want to do better, and God will establish His sound mind even sounder within us so we can make that commitment possible, so we can even do better and better and better, and our mind becomes sounder and sounder, more in line with the mind of God.

I label that such and commit. So where are we at here? Stay in Proverbs. Go to the next little bullet point, I guess, for lack of a better word, chapter eleven. This is a big one. This is one that I really had to make sure I didn’t get too deep into it or I really would have run out of time. Proverbs eleven and verse fourteen. This is counsel. Counsel

Eleven, fourteen, “Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counsel, there is safety.” Brethren, where there is no counsel, people have wrong thoughts. Where there is no counsel, they don’t know that they don’t know that they have wrong thoughts because they don’t know, but with a multitude of counsel, first with the Father in our prayers, in our study, but with your minister, and I found one of the best ways to get counsel is, brethren, sitting and talking to you. Potlucks, socials, hearing the mind of God in you talk is inspiring. It’s helpful. It brings safety. It brings comfort.

Don’t forsake the counsel. Ever. Please don’t. It’s so helpful. Like I said, I really had to make sure I didn’t get into all the different scripture. I love to get into this. I love to talk about this, but we’ll move on. We’ll get one more though, like I have time for one more in this one. Go to Psalms one-thirty-nine. Wasn’t sure if I’d have time with this, but I’ll make time. One-thirty-nine verse twenty-three.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.” Give me counsel, Father. Give me counsel. That’s what it’s saying. “Search me and know my thoughts, Father, so I can better know your thoughts, so I can better be in tune, in line, and knowledgeable of your mind.” It goes to counsel. So important. All right. As we get closer to the end, but I guess you’re always getting closer to the end. Turn to Matthew. This one I titled, “Humility.”

Matthew twenty-six. Matthew twenty-six, context is Christ, He’s in the garden praying, so we’re going to look at humility. We’re going to go ahead, verse thirty-nine, “And He went a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” Jump to forty-two real quick. Pretty much the same thing. “And He went again the second time, praying, saying, ‘O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.’”

This is a perfect being. This is that sacrificial, pure, without blemish, Lamb of God, that is saying to the Father, “Father, I want to do what you want to do. I want to be in line with your mind. I want to know your thoughts. Doesn’t matter what I think, Father. It’s what you want. It’s what you think.” How helpful would that be to us, to the world, to have that attitude? Instead of, “Yes, I want to do my way.” “No, no, Father, I want to do your way.” This is the humility of Christ.

And in conclusion, we’ll... got to wind it down here real quick. Here’s a scripture I planned on being the very first one, but it’s going to be the very last one, kind of wrap it up. We looked at the importance of the mind of God, you know, for and to man, and in God’s eyes... we’ve looked at the wrong thinking, and then how to make sure that ours stays right, how to fix any issues, and how to learn maybe how to fix those in the world when it’s our turn to do that.

Philippians chapter four, verse eight. “Finally, brethren, finally, 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, if there be any praise, think on these things.” Brethren. think on these things with the mind of God.