John Perks - Becoming Disciples of Christ - Class 2 - Let This Mind Be In You

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   This is day two of the 2026 Idlewild Bible School. Our second period teacher is Brother John Perks. His general subject is becoming disciples of Christ. Today's topic is let this mind be in you.

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   Good morning. So I just want to begin by telling you a short little story about my teaching and a principal that I had early in my career who came to me, came to the staff and said, If I come into your class, I expect every student to be able to tell me what they're learning and why they're learning it.

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   I thought that was a really good challenge, and it really is the purpose of teaching. It's not just to teach random things, but to have a purpose behind it. And I've taken that to my Bible study and talks that hopefully, if somebody came in and asked any of you, that you'd be able to tell them, Well, this is what we're learning, and this is why we're learning it.

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   So hopefully you'll be able to do that. And if not, please talk to me after, and I can help you with that. But that's my goal, is to be clear with these things. And just to recap of yesterday, hopefully it was clear that we have been called to follow Christ's example. We've been called to be disciples of Christ.

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   There's no question about that. I don't think that's debatable. We've been called to transform our lives, to be obedient to Christ. And we've given a vision of what that could look like if we're following His commands. And not just Matthew 5, 6, and 7. I know that we have, I used to have a nice little, the commandments of Christ in a booklet.

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   And I know there's some ecclesias that will, every Sunday, read a commandment of Christ. And they go through that throughout the year, and I think that's a great idea.

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   But we've been given this promise, this vision, this promise of an easier yoke, an abundant life, rest for our souls, peace. But there might be a disconnect. There's a bit of a dilemma. Are we truly experiencing that? Are we seeing it in our family, in our ecclesias? Or are we struggling with challenges?

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   Are we struggling to actually obey what Christ has commanded? And so we want to go to a solution now. What is the solution? To try to get this vision and what we see in our lives to actually match up. And I think the goal of this week is to take our discipleship and make it very intentional.

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   So, this has been a key verse, and we'll keep coming back to it. When Jesus was departing from his disciples, he said, Go therefore and make disciples, make learners, apprentices of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

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    Challenge ourselves. Are we doing that? And this has something to do with Nebraska. How many people have been to Nebraska? All right. None of the teens have been to Nebraska.

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    What's Nebraska known for? Corn. So we've driven through Nebraska twice. Lots of corn. Lots of flat. Now, let's pretend you're on the tourism department for Nebraska. Nebraska, what would be a good tagline for Nebraska tourism?

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    Okay. So they did come up with one that I think was pretty creative. And it actually spiked tourism in Nebraska. It was, honestly, it's not for everyone.

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    Now, why do I share that? I think because discipleship, even though everyone's invited, but honestly, it's not for everyone. Everyone's invited. And God and Jesus would love it if everyone would accept it. It is a better life. But when it's presented, we realize it's not for everyone. Some people say it's too hard.

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    Some people say, I don't need a Savior. Some people say, I don't want a Lord. There's no kings in my life except for me. And it's interesting because whenever Jesus got a large crowd, Joseph and I were doing the readings a couple days ago, and this came up. Whenever Jesus got a large crowd, what did he do?

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    You'd imagine the disciples would be like, all right, we're getting numbers. Numbers are good. We need more. Just, you know, be gentle with your message. Don't offend anyone. We'll keep bringing them in. But if you could just turn to Luke 14.

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    Verse 25. It says, Now great multitudes went with him. Great multitudes. This is exciting. Maybe we can overthrow the Romans. Right? We're getting masses. And what does Jesus do? Completely counterintuitive. Must have baffled the disciples. He says in verse 26, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

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    He's saying, What are you saying? You know, stop. This is not going to bring people in. But what is he doing? He's saying, You have, This is a serious commitment. This isn't a social club.

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    Right? This is a change of life. A change of the way you think. The change of the way you view people. A change of your heart. And so he goes on and he gives these,

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    these analogies. Verse 28. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.

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    Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10 ,000 men to meet him who comes to him with 20 ,000? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

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    So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all he has cannot be my disciple. And so he's sifting this massive crowd. Who is going to take this seriously?

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    Now just those two, those two stories he tells there. If the tower is discipleship and if this army coming against him is discipleship and you're counting the cost, I don't know if any of us could say, Yep, I can do it. I can get there. Which of us can say, verse 29, it is finished.

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    There was only one who was able to say, it is finished. We can't build this tower on our own and we can't conquer that army. We need God to fill that gap, but we are going to start building. Right? I think that's what discipleship is. You start building. You start training for that war.

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    And yes, you're going to make mistakes and you're going to make errors, but you keep coming back. And you keep looking to the one who was able to finish that tower and was able to conquer that enormous, you know, army that was coming against him.

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    So, the question is, are we willing, in light of what Christ is calling us to, are we willing to commit to it? Are we willing to do something about it and say, I want to be intentional about my discipleship. Now, what do we usually do when we want, we recognize there's a need for change?

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    Some of us will start saying, okay, what we need in our family or our ecclesia is rules. We need more rules to make sure we're doing this right. And I want to compare that idea to school because that's what I'm in all the time. And public schools are in a very difficult situation where you have a kid for a year and then you pass them on.

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    Another kid comes and you pass them on. And so, we do a patchwork of how to get kids to be obedient. And we come up with lots of rules. You know, walk in a straight line. Don't pull anybody's hair. Scissors are for cutting, not for stabbing. All these rules that make it look like we've got a nice organized class.

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    What would be better would be character development. You know, develop students who don't need the rules. Who say, I'm going to walk on this side in a straight line because I know it's safe for me and other students. And I'm not going to pull Susie's hair because that wouldn't be kind. And I might hurt her feelings or, you know, and it doesn't reflect my parents well.

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    You know, you want to develop that character. But that takes a lot of time and years. And that really is the role of parents. And so what we actually end up with, and I will mention, we talked about AI yesterday in the coffee clatch. I did use AI for my pictures, but that's all I used it for.

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    Because I don't have to worry about copyright. Right? You get to make these pictures. But you might notice there's some things that AI does that are quite funny, like this boy's leg. I don't know why it's sticking out like that. But as a teacher, I get two types of students. I get the type of student who I think parents have developed a good character.

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    And they understand why they're in school, that education is important. And they have a kindness. They want to treat people well. And so I can leave the classroom, the boy in the green shirt. I can leave the classroom and know I won't have any problems from him. He's got a character that is about being obedient and kind and generous and friendly.

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    But then there's other students, like this guy, who I can control through a bunch of rules and consequences. But what happens when I walk out the door? Right? Things are thrown. Susie's hair is getting pulled. And it's consistent. And it doesn't matter about the rules and the consequences. And when a substitute teacher comes in, you know, I know it's going to be chaos.

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    That character has not been developed. And so, as disciples of Christ, what are we trying to do? Are we trying to set up a bunch of rules that make us look righteous? Or are we developing a character that doesn't need the rules? I'm going to follow Christ because I know it's what's right.

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    I know it's good for me. I know it's good for those people who are around me. And if we just look at Mark chapter 7.

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    You know, Mark chapter 7 is that brilliant teaching that we often go to when we're teaching people that sin comes from within us. And it's interesting. It starts out about the Pharisees and the scribes in verse 1. They came together, having come from Jerusalem. Now, when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.

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    For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. So they notice the disciples and they say, Hey, you're breaking rules. And those rules demonstrate whether you're righteous or not righteous. And so they come to Jesus and they're like, This is not good.

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    And look at verse 6. And he answered and said to them, You've come up with a lot of rules that make you look really good. Like in a classroom, lots of rules that make it look like the kids are all good.

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    But, verse 9, sorry, verse 8, For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do. You've got all these rules, but that's not going to transform your heart. And that's what he's getting at. And so he continues on to those well -known verses.

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    Verse 20. And he said, For what comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. And I go over this because if we're going to be disciples of Christ, it's not going to be through rules and setting up rules.

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    It's going to be about transforming our heart. Character development, not sin management. Paul picks up on it in Colossians chapter 2. If you could turn to Colossians.

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    In Colossians 2, verse 20, Paul says, You know, Paul's picking up on what we just read in Mark chapter 7. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self -imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. You can set up all the rules you want.

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    But if it's not, if you're not changing what's inside, it's not going to work. Eventually, you're just going to go back to those things. You're going to break those rules. So we need a better way.

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    If transformation is the goal, which it is, we need to pursue a path that will actually change our hearts. And so Paul presents a better way. He actually starts in chapter 1, and I'll just read one verse from chapter 1, but he says in verse 27, To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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    Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he continues on in chapter 2, talking about getting Christ into you, into your heart, getting his mind into you. It's not rules. It's about getting Christ into you. Let's just look at some verses here. In verse 3, after he says, I have to go back to verse 2,

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    their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love, attaining to all the riches of full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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    In verse 6, he encourages us to walk in him. In verse 7, he says, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. In verse 10,

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    I'll start at verse 9 there. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are completed in him who is the head of all the principality and power. In him. Verse 11, he talks about, in him you are also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.

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    It's in him these things happen. In verse 12, you are buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. In verse 13, and you being dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he is made alive together with him, having forsaken you, having forgiven you all trespasses.

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    And finally, in verse 19, he says, and not, let's go back to verse 18 for connection. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head.

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    We need to hold fast to Christ. He has to be in us. This is a different way of approaching things. And then he goes on to get very practical in chapter three. So if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

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    Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. So hopefully we've established setting up rules is not going to bring about the changes we need. We need to be linked with Christ. He needs to be in us.

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    And so Paul is saying the first way you have to do this is you have to think about where you're setting your mind. Where are you setting your mind?

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    Our mind is a battleground. One of the most dangerous things that our Heavenly Father did was he allowed us the freedom to set our mind where we want. It's dangerous because we have the freedom to choose not to set our mind on God or on the things that are of him, of importance, of truth.

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    And we can set our mind on things that are not true, that are not good for us, that are not edifying. But he wanted to find out who is going to follow him, who's going to listen to him. In Romans 8, we have this beautiful picture of the scriptural principle that you reap what you sow.

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    And it breaks down those who follow the mind of the flesh and those who follow the mind of the spirit. And I'm going to pick it up in verse, let's start at verse 2. No, I have to go back to verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

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    So he establishes those two paths. For the law of the spirit of the life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.

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    He condemns sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Verse 5 is our key verse here. For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

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    There's a battleground for our mind. Everyone wants our attention. The world is saying set your mind here. Think this way. Behave this way. Vote this way. Spend your money this way. Be discipled by the world. Set your mind here. And Paul is telling us that's going to lead to a certain consequence. Or you can set your mind on the things of the spirit and live that way and that's going to lead somewhere.

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    And so he tells us in verse 6, for to be carnally minded is death. So if you sow, setting your mind on the things of the flesh, it's going to end in death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That's what Jesus promised. An abundant life. My peace I leave to you.

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    Set your minds. This is the first step of discipleship. Where are you going to set your mind? What are you going to pay attention to?

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    Verse 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So where are we setting our mind as disciples? This is step one.

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    So I want you to think about this. I think there's this cycle that happens in our life. Here's a mindset on the flesh. So we have a mind where we think about, we set our attention on earthly treasures. And then we reinforce it by practices. You know, it might be social media, might be news, activities, relationships, things that happen at work, entertainment.

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    And then that's going to lead to a certain lifestyle. It might be a vain lifestyle. It might lack meaning. And then it's going to be recognized by certain behaviors. Because you're being discipled in the flesh and watching those things and thinking about those things and setting your mind on them daily, it's probably going to lead to anger, cynicism, lust, envy.

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    I want to look at this practically. What would this look like on a day to day basis? This is being conformed to the world. So you wake up, you get out your first thing you do, social media. And what are you going to see in social media? You're going to see comparison. You're going to compare your life to other people.

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    And that might create some resentment, maybe some envy. Maybe you start scrolling through some news. Maybe you become angry, anxious, worried. Maybe you listen to the radio. Go back one. You know, a lot of people, they turn on the radio, they turn on the news. What sort of things are you watching? What sort of things are you thinking about?

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    Then in the commute, you hop in the car, you listen maybe to the morning radio show, and you hear that kind of humor, those kind of jokes, those kind of discussions. You're involved in aggressive driving, although it's not as bad as Toronto.

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    And you're mad at somebody who's cut you off. And maybe you cut somebody off and you get in front of somebody. And then you get to work, and there's annoyances, and there's striving, and there's self -promotion, and you're always trying to outdo somebody. Maybe at lunch, you have idle talk. Maybe there's some gossip.

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    Maybe you have something on somebody and you share it. Maybe there's some more social media. Then the commute home, it's more frustration and anger, speeding, slowing, traffic. And it all weighs down on you. And then there's the busyness of life, the pursuit of happiness, getting the kids to all the activities, and stressing about that.

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    How are we going to get him there and her over there? You're racing around. In the evening, maybe there's some binging. You know, I listen to people in the staff room, and I have no idea how they watch that much TV and all the series that they talk about. It must take countless amount of hours.

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    Maybe some more social media, more distraction, more complaints, more worry, exhaustion. And then maybe you end the day with a mind that goes over the daily events and worries about tomorrow. And I think for a lot of people, this is their life.

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    And then, as a disciple of Christ, a situation arises. And do you automatically switch to, okay, what has Christ commanded me to do in this situation? Or do you fall back on your discipleship of the day in the world? Well, I've seen resentment all day. I think I'll go to that. Or I've seen anger, or vengeance, or envy.

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    I'll just go to that. Because this is what you've been discipled in. Or a mindset on the spirit. And it's the same cycle, only you've switched it. I've set my mind, my attention on things above. And I'm going to do that by doing certain practices in my daily life. We'll go over those in the next couple days.

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    And this is going to hopefully lead to a certain lifestyle that's a little bit more restful, a little bit less of a burden, a lighter load. And hopefully that will lead to certain behaviors, joy, peace, kindness, forgiveness, humility. And so what might this day look like?

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    Well, hopefully, now I know this might sound a little ridiculous if you have like three kids at home. But the morning routine. But instead of turning on things and listening, maybe you just let the noise of a kitchen, and the clattering of spoons and cereal bowls, and just be satisfied with that. Maybe some prayer with your kids.

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    Just let natural sounds. Don't fill it with other things. But maybe you do turn on some hymns or something. You're trying to set your mind on heavenly things. And then your commute.

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    One of the gifts is now we can choose what we listen to in the car. So maybe you go over the readings. Or we've got some great Christadelphian podcasts now. Driving can be an opportunity to practice forgiveness. To bless those who curse you. You know, you're putting those things into practice now. So later on, this is what I do.

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    This is how I react to these things. It's that daily practice. And then at work, maybe you're focused on serving. You look at your job in a different light. I'm serving people. I'm adding value to people's lives. You know, as a teacher, that's not hard to do. I'm working with, you know, 20, 25 kids.

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    And it's easy to see how you can help people. I was talking to my son, Owen, who does taxes for people. Like, how are you serving? He goes, I'm finding out how much money people have to pay the government. You know, but he's doing something that they don't have to do. You can change your view on things.

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    How am I serving people? Adding value to people's lives. At lunch, maybe you go for a walk. Maybe you do a reading. You're setting your mind on these things. You have positive engagement with your colleagues. Your commute home could be in silence. It could be, once again, a prayer. It could be a playlist that you've generated.

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    And then your evening, instead of just chasing and, you know, rushing about to things, you have connection, sharing. You play games. Maybe you're just in the same room together. You know, everyone's doing, playing Lego or whatever it is, but you're together. You're eating together. One of the greatest gifts, I think, in our family and my, you know, my parents, we always sat down together and conversed.

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    Entertainment can be reading, playing, resting, going for walks. It's just a different way. But this is, you have to be intentional about this, right? The world has, it's very easy to do the other things. This is a little bit trickier, a little bit harder. Takes a bit more effort. But so does discipleship.

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    And then hopefully you go to bed with a mind settled, knowing that your Heavenly Father knows the things we need and we can trust Him.

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    So the mind, where we set our mind is so important. And in fact, that's what Jesus started His ministry saying in Matthew 4, verse 17. He said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That word repent, there was a book written. This is not a Christadelphian book.

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    Over a hundred years ago by Treadwell Walden. The great meaning of metanoia. And he argues that the word metanoia is the most important word in the New Testament.

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    And it means, the word meta means after or beyond. You know, here you are now. But after and beyond, this is where you want to be. And noia means your mind. So my mind after, or a change in my mind. And so Jesus' first words are, you have to change the way you think.

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    Because the kingdom is at hand. And then I love how Matthew then leads into the Sermon on the Mount, which is all about changing the way you perceive things. And it was shocking to the people who heard it. It was new to them. So change the way you think. Where you set your mind.

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    The way you perceive things. You do. Everyone in this room has a pattern of thinking. Some people are naturally positive. Some people are naturally negative. Some people are skeptical. We've all been discipled by the world. And Jesus is saying, whenever a thought pops into your head, I want you to question it. I want you to think about it.

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    Could very possibly be that the natural way of thinking is making things worse, not better. You've probably heard of cognitive behavior therapy, which is all about question your thoughts. Think about what you're thinking.

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    All right. We're going to finish in Philippians chapter 2. So it's very important that our minds are set on the right thing. That we bring Christ into our lives. Into our minds. Into our hearts. So what does that look like? And Paul, thankfully, said, hey, here's what the mind of Christ is. Such an important passage.

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    And he starts off and he says, in verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. This is a powerful section of scripture. Here's the way Jesus thought. This is his process of thinking.

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    And that's what he's saying. In the Greek, my pronunciation will be horrible, but phronio, tuto, phronio, which means think this thinking, or think this think. And this is not a statement of, you know, if you feel like it. This is an imperative statement. You must take on the mind of Christ. You have to think the way he thought.

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    So then we say, well, how did he think? What was this way he processed things? Well, the first thing Paul tells us, and it's a bit tricky, in the King James, he says, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Which, you know, I've tried to process and think about and looked at the Greek.

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    And so other versions, I think, are a little bit clear. The ASV, the RSV, and the ESV. They put it this way. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That's really interesting. What did Adam and Eve think? They thought equality with God was something to be grasped.

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    And here Jesus is saying, I'm not going to grasp this. And in his temptations, there were three temptations where it was like, grasp equality with God. You know, throw yourself down. Turn this rock into bread. You know, all these kingdoms can be yours. Grasp equality with God. And he said, no. This is not something I'm going to grasp.

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    I'm not going to hold tight to this. Which is amazing. Never did he use the fact that he was the son of God to elevate himself over anyone else. He was not going to do that. He was not going to take the chief place in the synagogue. He was not going to expect people to roll out the red carpet when he arrived.

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    He was going to be in the midst of people, sinners, you and I, right in the middle, experiencing everything like we did. This is what his mind was. What does this mean for us? You know, this was a reputation to build on. The son of God. You think about the doors that would have opened.

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    It would be like King Charles' sons, Harry and William. If one of them said, no, I'm walking away from this. I'm not going to use any of the privilege, any of the opportunity, the doors that will open. No, I'm just going to be a regular person and live amongst the people. It's greater than that.

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    It's not like that. It's greater. This is the son of God. He said, no, he let go of that opportunity. And it raises a question. If we're going to think the thinking of Christ, what do we need to let go of? So this is a project we do with students. We have them draw their face and then put in that all the things that you build a reputation on.

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    So if you look at these ones, some are built on sports. They do things about, I'm an artist. You know, I'm an athlete. One is about nationality. Does anyone know what that flag is with the star and the... Puerto Rico. Okay. So obviously her nationality is important. Now what happens

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     if you're holding on tight to the fact you're a successful business person and somebody comes along and insults your business knowledge? Or what if you are holding tight to the fact you're an athlete and all of a sudden somebody comes and beats you at your sport?

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     Does becoming, does following the commandments of Christ become easier or harder? Being forgiving, serving others, turning the other cheek, blessing those who curse you. If you're holding tight to a reputation other than that I am a child of God, I am a disciple of Christ. Holding on tight to other things is going to make it harder for you to follow the commandments of Christ.

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     It doesn't mean you give up on being an athlete, an artist, a musician, whatever it is. But that's secondary to being a disciple of Christ. And so people can insult you, they can say things about you, you can be, and you'll be like, that's alright that I lost in that game. Or that somebody's better at business or had a better idea than I did.

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     Because I'm a child of God. This is more important. And we're told you're going to have to take on this thinking if you're going to obey Christ and be a disciple.

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     Everybody has to let go of something. So what else did Jesus do? So we take on this thinking. Let go of that. It says, verse 7, But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

105. 41:34

     I think it's important, just that note, it says, he made himself of no reputation. It wasn't the doing of other people. And he humbled himself. He wasn't humbled by other people. He humbled himself first. It's almost like, you know, somebody tries to humble you, and you're already there. You know, we're going to need you to sweep out the, you know, the pavilion.

106. 41:58

     Oh, they're already doing it. You know, you're already there. You're not playing those games with people. You know, the only way he was going to accomplish what he accomplished, and be a representative to us, was to do this. Was to let go of being, you know, the son of God, and became like us, so that we could follow that example.

107. 42:38

     And as it says, he became obedient. That's huge. I know there's a discussion in Christian circles about, can we take Jesus as our Savior, but not as our Lord? Because that'd be wonderful, eh? To be saved, but not have to do the things he asked. Which is a strange debate to get into.

108. 43:13

     Four times in Scripture, and they're all in 2 Peter, it says Lord and Savior. Savior Jesus Christ comes up six times. Lord Jesus Christ comes up 84 times. 84 times. He's our Lord. He is the one who's setting the rules. Some just want the Savior part. They kind of want Jesus as a life coach.

109. 43:41

     They're not really interested in obedience. If you say the right things, and I kind of like them, I'll follow them. But the things I don't like, I won't follow them. As we know, it says many will come to me in that day saying Lord, Lord. And he'll say, I never knew you. And so this is a quote from Dallas Willard, who's written some very good, he's obviously not Christophian, he's written some very good books on discipleship.

110. 44:10

     But he says this, if you are on the throne of your life, you won't want to think about God, because after all, he's God. And there will be no room for both him and anybody else on the throne of your life. You know, it's a tricky thing, this idea of obedience, to be completely obedient.

111. 44:34

     What that means is, when you open up your Bible, everything he's said, you accept. You're my Lord. I'm the servant. I'm going to follow what you asked. And yes, there's going to be things maybe we don't understand or maybe we don't like, but that's what being a servant is. And gradually, hopefully we realize, oh, this is good for me.

112. 44:59

     This is good for my family and for my ecclesia. I'm going to follow you. And that's what we're told, this was the thinking of Jesus. Look what it says. He became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. If this is what my Heavenly Father is telling me to do, I'm going to do it.

113. 45:20

     That's the point that we have to get to. If we're going to be disciples, we have to take on that thinking. We have to bring Christ into our lives. We have to let go of things and become obedient.

114. 45:37

     It's interesting. Paul, just to close, just give me two more minutes. You think about the transformation of Paul. Here's a man who everything you would expect from somebody who is grasping on tight to his reputation. He was a religious zealot. Right? He was ravaging the church, entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

115. 46:11

     He was breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He says, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. He was holding tight to that reputation. How does that man then write later on in his life, love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude, it does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

116. 46:52

     Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Here is a man who is just bent on destroying these disciples. And then he writes this, probably one of the most beautiful things about love, and I think it is what we read here in Galatians 2 verse 20 where he says, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

117. 47:25

     And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So that is the first step in discipleship. We have to let this mind which was in Christ be in us. We have to let go of what this world offers and all the reputation and status it can provide so that we can be a bondservant so that we can humble ourselves under our king and become obedient. Thank you.

118. 47:58

     Thank you.