-Transcript-
00:35 Thank you for joining me. Welcome to another KJV Cafe short. Good to be here today. Amen. Today we’re talking about what to think on, what do we fill our mind with? You know, maybe you’ve heard a preacher say, once or twice that the mind will react or act with what you feed it. If you feed something good to your mind.
01:01 Goodness will come out of it. It’ll react to the goodness and so on and if you feed something bad to your mind evil, things will come out of it and bad things will happen. And hey, I can give you a real example.
01:12 I’ve got an older brother, he’s a year and a half older, but he might as well be many years older when we were young because He was the older brother this his job to beat me up, not me around and he’d watch some of these old karate movies so to speak. I don’t know what category they are exactly, but they were violent. He would watch them. And you would immediately tell me to come over and hear him him and he would try out those moves on me and he went pretty good and it was no coincidence of what he watched and what he saw, what he put into his mind, he then acted out and look if we’re honest we all are like that. It’s not just my big brother. It’s myself. It’s you. It’s everyone listening here today. 01:52 What we take in is what we put out and how about this what we think about what we choose to think about is that we become in a lot of ways because what we think on, I mean, how about this, how many different things can you think about at once? If you’re normal, if you’re like me you can only think about one thing at a time. Amen. If you try to think about two things at a time, everything gets messed up and confused. So what should we think on.
02:15Philippians 4: 8 tells us what to think on it gives us instructions. And this is such a blessing, Philippians 4:8 finally, Brethren whatsoever. Things are true. What sort of things are honest, what sort of things are just whatsoever, things are pure. Us over things are lovely. What’s over things are of good report.
02:35 If there be any virtue, if there be any praise think on these things, He is a very powerful verse because he realize As you study the scriptures how important the mind is, right? How important the mind is To your day-to-day life, a lot of the spiritual battles, they take place between your ears. Do they not in the mind is so important and to keep a strong mind on Godly things and and, and to keep out the negative, uh, worldly things that distract us.
03:09 I mean think about sinning, what is lust? It happens in the mind, what does coveting and happens in the mind uh what is doing things like stealing or murdering it happens first in the mind with premeditation The mind is is really the battleground here, spiritually.
03:27 And and in the book of Philippians were instructed that we can think on certain things and those things will help us, it is for our good. Amen.
03:35 And you know, you’ll notice how this verse starts finally Brethren, who is his verse 4 It’s for the saved. It’s for the brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s very important to understand that these are instructions for those that are in the spiritual realm. Those that have been born again and those that that are facing spiritual battles. Because if you get on fire for God, the devil is going to be pointing his fiery darts your way more and more. He’s going to be tossing them your way trying to get you off track and that happens in the mind.
04:04 So there’s many ways to prepare ourselves for spiritual battle as Paul writes about, uh, in in the Epistles. But once you’re fire way to especially with a little bit of time, we have today to get on fire for God and to be at peace and to be of a, right mind and of a sober mind, and to have our priorities, right? Is to think on the good things,
04:25 and I want to start here by saying there’s eight attributes, there’s eight attributes listed and I I just like looking at things, like the idea that this is Philippians 4:8, there’s eight attributes listed and you ask the question, what is the number eight signify in scripture? You know, you may have studied numbers in scripture, not even know it, you know, that the number of six is man, you know, and you see 666. That’s God, or that’s the Antichrist and the devil.
04:54 And I believe that the number of five represents God’s grace, And the number eight represents New Beginnings. It represents a resurrected new creature, new beginnings. We see that in scripture, a lot of different ways we see. There was eight writers of the New Testament. There was eight days from the time Christ. Entered into the crucifixion, he’ve selected as the Spotless Lamb, that was on Palm Sunday. To go through the being accused and the mock trial and the scoraging, the beating dying that brutal death. On the, on the cross there of Calvary, spending three days in the ground and then resurrecting from the dead.
05:36 Now, you can look at that from Sunday to Sunday, but truly if you really look at the calendar dates, that next day Monday would be the eighth day that is the day of the new beginning
05:47 The number eight signifies new beginning, Abraham, the father of the fateful had eight sons. Total eight sons total Abraham signifies God’s people the new beginning there. Um, Jesus showed Himself alive eight times after His resurrection from the dead. I got that from, I think his Bible study.org. I want to make sure I cite that correctly. Bible study.org, I don’t want to leave them out. What else do we have here?
06:11 Uh, God saved, eight people on the ark in order to have a new beginning from mankind after the flood. We see the number eight signifies New Beginnings, there’s more examples of that, but hopefully you’re convinced. The number eight means new Beginnings.
06:28 We look at Philippians 4:8, we see these eight, eight characteristics, eight things to think on in Philippians 4. We said herself. Okay, we get it new beginning. What is the new beginning? The new beginning is for your mind. Amen, the new beginning is for your mind. Now what does that mean? That means that there was an old time or an old way.
06:46 There was a time when you maybe didn’t think like you should. Maybe there was a time when you were focusing on the things of this world. I will give you a testimony that I have of myself as a pastor, it’s my job to lead the flock, and it’s my job to stay in God’s word. And to be an example, I mean, what good can I be for the flock at our little congregation if I’m out here? Living like the world, I can’t do any good. And so the Lord is really worked on me and some accounts. One way would be, I don’t read much news anymore. You can ask my wife, there was a time there be a pile of newspapers. Uh, either at our doorstep or inside the living room there by my recliner, there’d be a pile up halfway to the ceiling, I subscribed to all these newspapers and I read. And I read, I read so much news. And I don’t do that. I don’t subscribe to a single paper and I try to stay away from as much news as I can. Amen, you say, why isn’t it good to be informed? It is good to be informed. And some news does find its way to me, my smartphone or email and so on.
07:43 But you know what, my mind was focused on these things of this world. This dying world that people that were living in this world that did not know God and did not know Jesus Christ. As their Savior, in my mind was yoked up in those things, you know. Maybe you don’t have a problem with news, maybe your problem is your into what’s going on with your friends and what’s going on with sports, or what’s happening at the workplace? Or Whatever else it is politics. 08:08 I mean, you know what it is, but these things take our minds away from what is Holy and what we have here in the Book of Philippians is this is what we should think about. We should think about what is Holy, you know, this verse starts with think about whatsoever, things are true, where is the source of Truth for the Christian that is God’s word. Is it not? That is the Bible we should think upon the truth in the Bible.
08:39 So when God has in His word that He will never leave us, nor forsake us, that’s a truth and we can focus on that truth and we can take that to the bank and we can know that even when things seem out of control and we’re worried about this that and the other, we know that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
08:55 Similarly, we see secondly to focus on honest, whatever, whatever things are honest. Well, what’s honest, honest is things that things are people that wouldn’t lie, right? Who’s the devil? He’s the father of all lies as Jesus called him so we don’t want to focus on the devil and the things of the devil. Another way to look at this would be vanity and just preached on vanity uh Sunday morning at church. The idea that vanity implies improper use or is kind of a lie, when you look at what things are supposed to be used for, if they’re vain, they’re not being used for what they’re supposed to be used for. We need to think on what’s honest. And what, what is telling the truth in our life? And again, we know that that comes from God’s word, we know that God cannot lie.
09:39 So He is always honest. And you know what honesty? Often brings it often brings Uh, critique it often could bring getting your toes. Stepped on sometimes honesty isn’t always what you want to hear but it’s what you need to hear. Amen. God’s not. Here in living in us or the working of the Holy Spirit or giving us His word. Just so we can feel better about ourselves. He is here to mold us to be more like Christ every single day to bring Him glory and that’s by thinking on things that are true and things that are honest.
10:10 How about this next one here, think about whatsoever things are just well. What is just? I think of justice, right? You think of what is just, uh, that’s Justice. That is, what is right? Or correct. Not again in man’s eyes or in this broken world’s eyes, but in God’s eyes, so we should think on what’s just, we should think on. What’s true? And what’s honest and that’s, that’s God’s word and that’s what’s in His word.
10:36 The truth that it brings to our lives and the truth that it’ll bring to this world this broken world and then we think about just or justice. We think about how God is the judge and how when we think about Him being the judge and Him being omnipresent Him seeing all and knowing all then we don’t have to worry so much about getting our revenge or making things writing every wrong that we see.
11:00 And what I mean by that is, you know let’s say yeah you go out to dinner and you have a waiter and they just don’t like you and you know, they find out that you’re Christian, you’re they they don’t like even more and you know, they they charge extra and you’re so mad and you want to write the wrong uh but you don’t want to jeopardize your Christian witness. You know what you do? Uh, you just thank Him and you bless Him, you smile at Him, and you go ahead and maybe you pay the bill, you know, maybe you talk to the manager, but you’re very polite and you leave praying for that poor soul.
11:28 That did you wrong? Asking God? To help them because He is the judge and He will judge all. And you say, well brother Clark God, going to judge a small little event like that, I believe He will, I believe He’s perfect.
11:39 No sin will pass through God, without Him judging it. Now, only reason that we will be saved from all of our sins is through the blood of Jesus Christ, we accept Christ finished work on Calvary, but those that commit sins, they will face judgment for every single one of their sins.
11:55 And we have to understand, we think on, who’s just, what does that do? That relieves us of the burden that release us of the burden of having to feel like we need Justice.
12:05 And I knows the restaurant example, a silly example, but you can think of many ways that we are tempted or tried, or tested, when we want Justice, what we want to take things in our own hands and we need to give it to God. Be still and know that He’s God, let go and let God Amen.
12:18 Next one, here, we Think on what server things are pure. What is pure? And you look at pure, what is the inverse of that? That would be adulterated or corrupted. The devil is a perversion. He’s a corruption of God. He tries to pervert everything that God does. If you look at the Bible and God’s plan, you look at what devil’s trying to do, the devil’s trying to do pervert, everything in God’s plan. And so when we think on what’s pure, we think on God’s pure and true plan and we think on who that is, that’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Amen.
12:49 God in the flesh, our payment for sin are redeemer, our help the one that blesses us every single day. As we look to Him, we look to what’s pure and He is pure, he is His love, you know, He literally is love. Amen. And we have to look to God and think on those things, think on how pure Jesus Christ is as Lord and Savior.
13:11 There was none, ever so pure. The Bible gives examples of this by using color as you know white as snow uh white as wool. Is this pure white. I saw a critter the other day that had It was very white and it said to myself. Oh, that’s what the Bible says about our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. He was the spotless land the one without blemish that signifies His Purity and His Holiness.
13:36 And as we turn to Him, Amen. Isn’t this exciting as we turn to Him? We can think on that purity and say, look, even though we are not perfect. Even though we are not pure, He is pure. And when we accept, He’s his free gift to Salvation His Purity. His righteousness is imputed on us, quickly here. We’ve got lovely Jesus Christ is lovely, a good report.
13:57 Jesus Christ of a good report and any virtue any praise. It all comes down to Jesus Christ. What we think on in our life defines, what we do and how we act and it should be about Jesus Christ all day long until He returns again and you will have true Joy for doing it.
14:13 Thank you so much.