Nathan Lewis - The Mind of Christ - Class 5: The Practice

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

1. 0:01

   Good evening everyone, brothers and sisters, friends, young people and especially those who are watching in online, Father Colin and and the Jeffress family included. So we’ve come to. We’re up to our study five, so I’m sure we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed the study so far and we’re all looking forward to this talk which is going to be on the practice of having the mind in Christ.

2. 0:28

   So especially important part of of getting the theory under our belt and now we come to the real challenge. We’ll introduce Brother Nathan’s words this evening. We’ll ask Brother Andy to come up and read Second Corinthians chapter 10, verses 1:00 to 5:00. Reading with your brethren and sisters and young people from the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians, I pull chapters 10 verses one to five.

3. 1:05

   Now I pull myself beseech you. By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you, but being absent and bold towards you. But I beseech you that I may not hold, be bold when I am presence with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. Although we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every, every thought.

4. 2:04

   To the obedience of Christ. Thanks, Brother Andy. So I’d now like to ask our brother Nathan to come forward and to give us his talk. The mind of Christ, the practice. Thank you.

5. 2:17

   Well, thanks brother Luke, and good evening brothers and sisters and young people and welcome back tonight I suppose is a little less expositional and hopefully a little more practical and exhortational. As we look at the subject of putting these things into practice now, you remember from our last class that we looked at the central governing principle that really defined, we said, the essence of the mind of Christ. And I hope that last time you were a little affronted by the high calling that is the mind of Christ, death to self, if you were.

6. 3:03

   It is a completely natural feeling. If you had, you probably had instinctive feelings, a bit like the Apostle Peter, where he rebelled against the enormity of this idea. It doesn’t need to be so radical, Lord be it far from thee. And instinctively our carnal minds recoil at the thought of death to self. Intuitively it feels so wrong.

7. 3:31

   Our reptilian, instinctive natural minds feel threatened. You mean death to self? It seems so complete, so final. And naturally we want to reserve just a little something for self, don’t we? A way back we say things like but. I’m of no use to anybody else if I don’t take care of myself. I need time for myself.

8. 4:06

   Me time, like giving the carnal mind me time, won’t be addictive at all, like it’ll be satisfied with just a little bit of me time and then it will be content. Probably these natural feelings that we all have that arise in us, the fact that our natural minds rebel so readily, so strongly against this idea of death to self, is really, I suppose, the ultimate proof of its essential truth.

9. 4:38

   Death to self is so unnatural it can only be God’s solution. So tonight we want to move from. The principle to the practice We want to look at the practical ways in which this new way of thinking can really revolutionize our lives, change us forever. And then on Sunday morning, God willing, we want to. We want to look at a couple of a couple of life transforming ideas that we haven’t really mentioned yet, but are definitely part of the picture.

10. 5:15

    The power. Of the mind of Christ. So we’re keeping a little bit of that powder dry for Sunday morning. So if you’re sitting there tonight thinking this just feels like there’s a little more to this story of having the mind of Christ in us, hopefully, God willing, will get there on Sunday morning.

11. 5:32

    Well, the practice. I want to start tonight with a couple of quotations. The first one’s from brother Dennis Gillett. Genius of discipleship. The theory. Is that the truth has top priority. But every disciple knows that the practice is somewhat different. You remember, he said in another place. To talk of it is not to realize it.

12. 6:00

    The theory is that we are living above the snow line, where the air is pure, the vision is clear, the spirit is exhilarated. The practice is that more likely we are living in the valley. Where the atmosphere is sometimes murky, the children are sick. The bank manager is not as friendly as he’s made out to be in Too often we are tired and frustrated.

13. 6:24

    There’s a difference, isn’t there, between the theory and the practice. But the LG Sergeant says in his book a Sound Mind. If life and the truth were easy, it would not be true. How can we make this this? High calling and a little easier for ourselves. How can we put these things, these principles into practice?

14. 6:46

    How can we stop that will that we crucified today from resurrecting itself back to life during the night and re enthroning itself as the master of our universe by the time we wake up tomorrow morning? Well, I want to start back where we were in our last session in Matthew Chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16 in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15. 7:09

    Because if what we are saying is true, that there is extraordinary power in this idea of putting self to death, that killing self can be an immensely liberating and freeing thing, then this. Is the start of something very special in our lives. In fact, our Lord tells us exactly that in Matthew chapter 16 And look at verse 25.

16. 7:39

    For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. When we are truly prepared to put self to death, we find something. Something truly special, Something amazing. A new life. Christ’s life in us. Now you notice that the first half of verse 25 seems to be a simple opposite to the second-half. But there is a critical difference in the second part of the verse is only when we lose our life for his sake that we find it.

17. 8:26

    Self denial is not the same as denial of self. We can practice self denial to simply lose weight. We can lose our lives for all of the wrong reasons. But when we deny ourselves to the point that we put ourselves to death for his sake, we gain a new life, his life. It’s a truly liberating thing. Christ lives in us.

18. 8:56

    The new creature formed in us is Him, and it can change our perspective about everything. Because this simple truth is revolutionary in a world that’s all about me, me, me. Christ is not telling us to just dethrone self.

19. 9:20

    He’s not telling us to imprison self. To banish self, to punish it or to rehabilitate self. He’s not even telling us to have freedom from self, to rise above self, or even to be empty of self. These are all euphemisms. Nice. Ways of saying things that get around the harsh facts of reality. He is teaching something much higher, much harder. Death to self, brother Denis Gillett said. You’ll remember denial of self is the central thing, but I believe that what he meant by that was death to self. Just think how radically different this idea practically is in our lives.

20. 10:16

    There is no captive self imprisoned but scheming to get free. There is no self consigned to rehabilitation, waiting for improvements before release. There’s no fugitive self banished but plotting to overthrow the new government and return to power. There’s no abandoned self bitterly designing revenge. There is no self. That can seize control again.

21. 10:46

    Ever. It is deed. Now just think about how this changes our lives and just think about a subject we all struggle with a lot, forgiveness. I’d like you to come to 1st of Corinthians 13 and see if this doesn’t touch your life just a little bit in a practical way. First of Corinthians in chapter 13.

22. 11:14

    In this seminal chapter on love, Paul is going to describe is an E, the 8 positive and the eight negative characteristics of love. And we know God is love. So First of Corinthians 13 is really a description of the mind of God and by extension the mind of Christ. And we read in first of Corinthians 13 these words in verse 4. Love suffereth long and is kind.

23. 11:50

    Love envieth not love, vaunteth not itself is not puffed up. These are descriptions really of the mind of Christ. It does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. And one of the characteristics of this new liberated mind in Christ is that it thinks no evil.

24. 12:25

    You know, the Revised Standard Version translates that as love is not irritable or resentful. And this word thinks is actually the Greek word logismi, and it actually means to count. Means to count or to calculate. You know, it’s the same word translated in Romans chapter 4 verse three to describe Abraham’s faith that was counted unto him as righteousness.

25. 12:58

    So the New International version translates the end of verse 5. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love keeps no record of wrongs. It’s a word that describes how we keep a Ledger of wrongs, a list of resentments. Now think about our lives and how often we fall into resentment in a kind of way of thinking because we keep record of wrongs.

26. 13:31

    You know, we see our children do this all the time, and they’ve been born with a simple carnal mind. They say things like. Oh, but Johnny had two pieces. It’s not fear or but she got to sit in the front last time. Her lives are full of this stuff. Keeping record, keeping a Ledger, a scale of justice in our minds. And when we get a little bit older, well, it gets a little more complicated.

27. 14:01

    It looks like this, the scales of justice. Firstly, someone does something to hurt us. Could be a spiteful word. We could have been left off the invite list. We could have been taken advantage of anything. For the purposes of our discussion tonight, I’m going to say it’s Your wife forgets your birthday. So on this left hand side of the Ledger is a hurt, There’s a hurt, a wrong, a resentment.

28. 14:35

    And so now the scales of justice in our mind. Look a little like this, uneven, unbalanced. And we hate our minds to be untidy like this. So what we do is a few weeks later we well, we intentionally forget her birthday. We sin and we sin because in our minds this will even up the scales like 2 wrongs will make it right. You see then what happens very soon after is we feel terrible that we did such a thing to our lovely wife. We are overcome by reproach, self reproach, and the grievousness of our intentional sin makes us feel terrible, feels.

29. 15:24

    We feel guilty and our sin seems like well, a very severe punishment for what might have been a genuine mistake on her part. Our sins are now heavier than the hurts. And so in order for the scales to be even again, well, we have to have an excuse for our behavior. And so we run over things again in our minds, and we accentuate the hurts.

30. 15:52

    We make the hurts bigger. We make them feel more hurtful to even up the sins. This is called resentment. Reliving the hurt and making it worse in our minds. And so we imagine that maybe Suz forgot my birthday on purpose, that she was really being mean for some spiteful reason. Maybe she hates me and now suddenly if we accentuate how bad the hurts are. Suddenly the scales even up again, because now our sins are justifiable if we imagine the hurts to be bigger than they actually are.

31. 16:28

    We do what Isaiah chapter 29 says. We watch for iniquity and we make a man an offender for a word, and what we might have overlooked in someone else assumes a far more sinister appearance. We willingly believe the worst of this person who has hurt us. So we can justify our own wrongs.

32. 16:54

    Now you see the problem. In this particular situation, we are now grossly stuck. Our hurts balance our sins. And if we try to forgive the hurts, if we try to forgive the person, forgive the resentments that have accumulated on our Ledger, well, we’re suddenly just left with. Great big pile of our own sins, our own unjustifiable sins to deal with and the scales come crashing down on top of us.

33. 17:24

    We can never forgive because we keep record of wrongs. We balance them on a Ledger. But you see in first of Corinthians 13 Paul is saying that love, the mind of Christ does not do this. Look at verse 11. When I was a child I spake. As a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child and that word thought is logismai.

34. 17:56

    It’s exactly the same word as thinketh in verse 5I counted wrongs like a child, I kept record of wrongs. This is what we learn to do as children. When I became a man, says Paul, I put away childish things. When I realized the spiritual calling of a mature disciple, the one who has the mind of Christ, I learned a more excellent way. So now think about this little example of the forgotten birthday and how the mind of Christ can totally change our perspective and the way we think about forgiveness. I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown up a lot of my life. Thinking that well, we need to really become so spiritual, so compassionate to have such control over our emotions that we can be Christ like enough to like him graciously extend forgiveness.

35. 19:09

    But if what we’re saying about. Death to self being the essence of the mind of Christ. If that’s true, then this way of thinking is totally wrong. To forgive in this way, to wait till we feel spiritual enough to then graciously extend forgiveness, is to put self in the foreground. It is to attribute a gracious ability, a kindness to our carnal minds that it’s not capable of if self is truly dead, if we truly have the mind of Christ.

36. 19:41

    Then there is nothing in us that has been wronged. There is nothing that needs to be forgiven. The part of me that felt hurt, that felt harmed, injured, embarrassed, wronged when Suz forgot my birthday is dead. It was the self important part of me that felt aggrieved. It was the proud part of me that wasn’t crucified that got upset when I got forgotten. A part of me that thought I was so important that everybody needs to remember my birthday.

37. 20:18

    But a sound mind, the mind of Christ doesn’t keep record of wrongs because it’s already put that proud self, important self to death. The mind of Christ does not need to forgive each time it remembers no injuries or wrongs to itself because self is dead. It does not deceive itself by waiting to feel spiritual enough to forgive.

38. 20:43

    It simply puts self to death. And so lives a life of forgiveness, so simple and yet I think, so powerful in our lives. This is a high calling, brothers and sisters, but extremely, enormously liberating for us. We don’t have to be slaves to ourselves anymore. We can put our old master to death and live free now. I’ve been really struck by the power and the simplicity of this idea over the last year, 18 months as I’ve thought about this subject and I think it has really changed my thinking. This death to self principle really is able to change our lives if we let it.

39. 21:34

    And I want to share with you a very simple, practical question that I asked myself to help myself with this. But but before I do, just quickly I want to share with you what I’m calling here, the six sins of self. Did you see how I very cleverly wrote the East in a different color to look like a six? 666 It was in the middle of the nine. I thought that was a great idea at the time. The six sins of self.

40. 22:07

    Alright, one of them we know is self importance. We saw that in Romans 12. If any man think more highly of himself than he ought to think, self importance and self importance is going to lead to self justification. You remember the man that came to Christ and asked him who’s my neighbor and it says he sought to justify himself and our Lord told him the story of the Good Samaritan.

41. 22:38

    Self importance leads to self justification. Self justification leads to self righteousness. These are the Pharisees who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others and self righteousness. Is going to lead to a sense of self entitlement, self gratification. I get to do do a few nice things to myself. I deserve it.

42. 23:09

    I’m righteous. And once we’ve gratified ourselves to the point of being sick, we feel sorry for ourselves, self pity and self loathing and we go then into a cycle of self pity. Self gratification. Self pity, self gratification. We feel sorry for ourselves. So we go out and spend some money and buy some new clothes, retail, therapy, and then we feel that doesn’t really satisfy ourselves. We feel sorry for ourselves again. So we go out for dinner, we eat, we have a nice meal and then that didn’t work, so we so then we go have a holiday and then still don’t feel that great.

43. 23:53

    We’re in this endless cycle here. Self pity and self gratification. But do you know what it all starts with? Brothers and sisters. This tremendous cycle downwards of self, self, self. It starts with what Galatians chapter 6 and verse 3 calls self deception for if any man. Think himself to be something. When he’s nothing, he deceiveth himself. We are enormously talented at doing this now, often in life decisions.

44. 24:38

    Sometimes we get stuck, don’t we? Wondering what does God want me to do? What does God want me to do? Should I apply for this job? Should I buy this house? We have lots of questions in life like this and sometimes this question what does God want me to do? Is a valid question that needs thought and care. But if I speak just for myself, I know I am a world expert at this self deception of deceiving myself into thinking. What God might want me to do.

45. 25:24

    And it’s very easy for my thinking to become muddied and complicated. But I’ll tell you brothers and sisters, there is one thing in my life which is always crystal clear. I’ve never been confused about it. It’s never been complicated or muddy. And that thing is, what does Nathan Lewis want to do? What does self want to do?

46. 25:52

    I have never ever once had a moment’s indecision or confusion about what I want to do. It comes so naturally and so swiftly. As we saw in our first study on the can of mine, 2 milliseconds, we are hardwired to think only about ourselves, so to clear away all the murkiness and to clear away all the self deception.

47. 26:18

    All I need to do is simply ask what does self want to do and then put self to death. Let me give you an example. We went on holiday at the end or the start of this year and we thought providentially that we had stumbled across a property for sale which we really wanted to buy a holiday home.

48. 26:48

    That we, well, we really wanted to purchase this property. Do you know, it’s amazing how easy it is for us to convince ourselves that if we owned that holiday home that would be so great for our family. I mean, think of all the wonderful family memories we could create at this wonderful place. It would be perfect for visitors. We could extend hospitality.

49. 27:09

    We could be so loving and caring in the Ecclesia. And do you know what? We could probably have School of the Prophets at this place. When the reality was, well, our motivation was probably almost entirely selfish. It’s a holiday home for us. And do you know what the kicker is? We don’t have any money.

50. 27:36

    We can’t buy the property anyway. But do you know how many hours I lay awake at night wondering how I could manage? To maybe get to a situation where I could have a go at purchasing this property because it would be so great for the truth. Her mind is so capable of deceiving ourselves.

51. 27:59

    I don’t even have the money and I still am thinking about it. Let me give you another example. This time it’s purely hypothetical. Imagine you have a wife who is. Home schooling. Two children. And she has another small toddler who’s running around the house to boot. And you are clearing away the dishes after dinner. And I know what you’re thinking.

52. 28:30

    You can’t imagine my me doing that. But just imagine that for a moment. You get to the dishwasher and you open the dishwasher and it’s full and. It’s it’s clean, full of clean dishes. We all know that feeling. Now I’m just going to share with you what happens in my mind. My first thought is I’m going to put the dishes on the bench.

53. 29:01

    I’ve already done a good deed and I’m going to walk away and pretend that I never noticed. My second thought, which comes in pretty quick, is this. She’s been home all day. What has she been doing? Why hasn’t the dishwasher been emptied? Then I suppose if I allowed my thinking brain a little bit of time, I asked myself this simple question. What does self want to do?

54. 29:34

    Do you know what? That’s a very easy question to answer. I want to blame Sues for not emptying the dishwasher and make her feel guilty, lazy, And then I want to be unhelpful, selfish, lazy myself and sit on the couch. It’s easy. I can answer that in a blink of an eye. Then I Simply put self to death. I empty the clean dishes, put them away, and restate the dishwasher.

55. 30:03

    I don’t try to be spiritual enough. Or Christ. Like enough to magnanimously empty the dishwasher out of pure goodness. You might all be virtuous enough to do such a thing, but I just have to identify what self wants to do and then put it to death. I’ve found this to be a life changing idea.

56. 30:32

    My decisions are often simple. It doesn’t make life easier, so I’m not promising that. Having the mind of Christ is enormously difficult because we have to struggle so much against their natural minds that rebel so strongly against the mind of Christ, death to self. But it does make our decisions a lot less complicated. And whilst this might not be the full picture, I understand that death to the flesh also requires living to the Spirit. I think most of the time, brothers and sisters, if you were like me.

57. 31:06

    When it comes to serving God, we actually want to, don’t we? We want to live in the spirit. It’s just that there’s this dirty, great, big, hulking thing called self that keeps getting in the way. And if I just stick to this simple question, what does self want to do? And then put self to death, I have yet to go wrong.

58. 31:28

    By the way, I hope you’re getting very strongly the impression that I am definitely a novice at this. Floundering around, making so many mistakes in these things, trying to figure it out. I am so far from being exemplary in this, so please, whatever you’re thinking, do not think he’s got it all sewn up. I am so far from that.

59. 31:49

    But we’re all trying, aren’t we? We’re all trying. He’s something else that I find helpful to me when it comes to decisions and perspective and practical. Helps to have the mind of Christ. Do you remember this slide? Sound mind in the middle, death to self with the two thieves on either side, the high minded and the feeble minded, Self righteousness and self pity.

60. 32:19

    No prizes for guessing that this is a reminder, isn’t it, of the crucifixion. This picture begs me to think about where Christ is to be found and when I ask this question of myself, the answer always is. In the middle, in the middle, between the two thieves, who are the extremes on any subject. So if we rearrange things a little and just think about it like this, in the middle, we have the mind of Christ. It is the truth being sound minded, but on either side if we replace high mindedness.

61. 32:58

    And feeble mindedness, those two extremes with other extremes, Any extremes. I think we’ll find that this is also true for life. And if we were to ask ourselves, where is Christ? He will always be in the middle. Whether we talk about Gnostics and the and their immorality or Judaizes living after the works of the Lord, these two extremes will always. Find that Christ is in the middle. Or if we were to say liberalism and conservatism, or if we said legalism and salvation by works or unconditional grace, we don’t need to do anything.

62. 33:45

    Our our, the truth. Our lives in Christ will be in the middle. We are saved by our faith. And our faith will produce works. We’re not saved by works in and of themselves. Neither are they unnecessary. Or if we were to put up something like this, these two ideas on the atonement. Without even knowing the technicalities of the arguments on the atonement, for instance, I think this is a very helpful picture in my mind. To think about where Christ is, we just need to draw a line that represents.

63. 34:20

    The spectrum of ideas on any subject with the extremes on each end. And then ask ourselves where will the truth lie. And the answer is in the middle. Christ is always in the middle. The extremes are thieves of the truth. Some, some people might abandon peace to vociferously pursue truth. Others might hide truth for the sake of peace, but our Lord Jesus Christ will always be in the middle.

64. 34:57

    He will balance truth and peace. It’s not that Christ is just a compromise between the extremes. He’s the center. He’s the truth. The extremes are a deviation from the center. And just as we need balance so we don’t fall over, we need spiritual balance. So coming back to our point, I find this picture very helpful.

65. 35:19

    Christ is not one of the extreme views on anything. If we are in an extreme camp we probably need to re examine the spectrum because the extremes are self. They are falling away from the center. If we put ourselves to death, if we have the mind of Christ occupying the middle, If we put ourselves to death.

66. 35:45

    We will be much more likely, won’t we brothers and sisters, to be balanced, to not swing to extreme positions. Now we know that this is all a process, a journey, the renewing of our minds. This metamorphosis or transformation of our thinking is not just something that happens to us with us being totally passive, uninvolved, almost against our will. This is something that.

67. 36:14

    Well, if we’re willing to be part of the gift of renewal, then there are some things we have to do, some things we have to practice. It’s a daily task. We are renewed day by day in the inward man. Second of Corinthians foreign verse 16. Do you remember? It was Jonathan who said to his armor beer. I think we looked at this on Tuesday night. There is no restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few. But just not with none.

68. 36:49

    We need to do our part. We are in partnership with God. Now. I find the words of Philippians 2 very helpful in explaining this idea. In Philippians 2 and verse 12 Paul says workout your own salvation and then in the very next verse he says it is God which worketh in you. We both have to do our part.

69. 37:13

    We can’t do it without God, and he won’t do it without us. The mind of Christ is something, therefore, that we can learn something we can practice a habit we form by reason of of use, while it’s God in us working the miracle, slowly, imperceptibly changing us. Into a butterfly. We are willing participants, partners in his work, and so it’s the practice of a lifetime. No sane person would expect any of us in one single bound to suddenly become a doctor or a scientist, and neither does our Heavenly Father expect us to suddenly, in a single leap, achieve the mind of Christ.

70. 38:04

    It takes training. It takes effort. Takes practice. If I want to be physically fit, none of us expect to achieve that, do we in a single day? But we do know what to do. We know what to do. And it’s just the same for the fitness of our minds. The exercise of thought. If a man makes no effort to overcome evil by the exercise of strengthening thought, it indicates that his desire to avoid the evil is not.

71. 38:38

    Very sincere. We have ample opportunities to practice this every day, and to our shame, we often fall into this category like we get a report card from school. Makes no effort. How often is that ourselves? Well, here’s what the scriptures have to say. Ephesians 4 Just listen to these words. But ye have not so learned Christ.

72. 39:05

    If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Renewal is something we learn. Colossians chapter 3 and verse two, set your affection on things above. Literally, we should translate that practice occupying our minds.

73. 39:27

    It’s a practice of having the mind of Christ in us. For Hebrews 5 and Hebrews 12. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age. Even those who by reason of use the margin has habit have their senses exercised. To discern both good and evil, we have to practice these things. We’re not going to be transformed unless our minds are open to transformation.

74. 39:55

    We need to exercise our minds like our muscles, and like our muscles they will grow. To grow anything in a natural sense, we have to establish conditions of growth. It’s just a natural law, isn’t it? If you think about gardening, when we get rid of the rocks, when we get rid of the weeds, we get rid of the pests.

75. 40:15

    Well, who would have guessed a garden blossoms. Nothing will grow where it’s not allowed to flourish. And the conditions of growth are nourishment and use. We have to nourish and use our minds for Christ. If our mind is a garden, what type of garden do we want it to be? Here’s what Brother Collier says in his book, The Guiding Light. We are aware that many thoughts flit into the conscious mind, unbidden and perhaps even undesired. They may be presented to us through the senses, or they may be thrown up from the great store of memory. We cannot prevent this fleeting presentation even of evil thoughts.

76. 41:09

    But we are perfectly conscious that we are able to make our selection of which thoughts to encourage and which to reject. The tragic truth is that most of us fail to realize properly that thought. Is real, yet in one sense it is the only reality. It precedes and causes action, and it remains after the action is over.

77. 41:39

    A man may indulge in evil thought, supposing that it is only a thought and of no importance. It may be only a thought, but in the final issue it is the man himself. Or as Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7 puts it in Rotherham’s version, for just as he had thought in his own mind, so he is.

78. 42:07

    Our thinking defines who we are. That’s why it’s so important that we practice these things. Just think about that for a moment, brothers and sisters, and especially young people, when we get to the judgment seat.

79. 42:25

    It will be totally, totally fair. It’s just a simple assessment of what we have thought about the most. We are what we think about the most. And minds will be opened up in the in the millions of neural connections that we have made. Our Lord Jesus Christ will determine. Have we thought about Him enough?

80. 42:55

    Well, are there billions of neural pathways that we’ve formed in our minds for sports and for many, many, many other things, and he has to search hard to find himself. What fruits are brought forth in the garden of our minds? Fruits to self, as Hozier Teen says, or fruits of the spirit? Well, what are some things that we can try and remember?

81. 43:21

    Some tips, if you will. To practically allow the mind of Christ to be formed in us as we try to put ourselves to death, what little things can we do that might be helpful? To put the carnal mind, our reptilian way of thinking, to death and allow the mind of Christ to flourish?

82. 43:41

    How can we practice what Peter calls in first of Peter one verse 13, girding up the loins of our minds? Now, this is not an exhaustive list, but just some thoughts. Hopefully some of them are helpful.

83. 43:56

    The first one is very, very simple and very practical one. When we’re stressed, control our breathing. Do you know that controlling our breathing is the only part of the autonomic automatic nervous system that we can have any control over? We can’t control our heart rate. We can’t control our blood flow. Vascularity. Anything like that. But we can control our breathing. And when we do, we know that it settles our minds. Remember our thinking.

84. 44:27

    Brains need oxygen. Think of Soil of Tarsus. Remember that picture of the wild bull in Acts Chapter 9, Verse one? He’s breathing and threatening some slaughter. He’s tearing around in a foaming fury so that he didn’t have to think. There was number pausing, No thinking going on. We’ve got to breathe a couple of times when things are hectic or rushed. Nothing’s so important in life that it can’t wait just a few seconds so we can gather our thoughts and let our thinking brain catch up with the game.

85. 45:02

    Here’s just an example. And and if you are a parent or I suppose particularly a father, I should say maybe you might know this feeling. I know it says in Matthew 7 that fathers know how to give good gifts unto their children. And it’s true, isn’t it? We all love to give little treats to our kids, and I’ve got little girls and I just love to give them treats. But you know what?

86. 45:26

    We’re not irritating and frustrating, which happens a fair bit, and I’m tired, which also happens a fair bit. It’s very easy instinctively, immediately, isn’t it, to just say no to the kids? We have some more water, Dad, No, but but if I give it a few seconds thought and actually probably I’ll find I could probably easily say yes to that, a little bit more water, sure, that will be fine, no harm would be done. And actually being a parent who stops, thinks and then says yes or no and sticks to it.

87. 46:12

    Is much better than one who says no and then the child says oh, but why not dead? All right, And we give way where our word is meaningless and every no just invites A whinge to change our mind. Are you sensing experiential knowledge? Maybe if we just pause and just think for a second or two breathe, we can make a better decision on a similar note, but on maybe a slightly longer time scale. Is this thought here?

88. 46:43

    Always slow down and wait till the emotions pass to make the best decision. Remember, the reptilian brain reacts in two milliseconds and it will quickly shut down the thinking analytical brain and starve it of oxygen and nutrients. Our thinking brains take a second or two to start up and they react 100 times slower.

89. 47:08

    So slow down. Proverbs 14 verse 29 says he that is hasty of spirit, exotis folly. You know, there’s an excellent reference in Nehemiah chapter 5 and I’d like you to come here because I really find it. Whilst this might not be what you might call a golden thread that runs through the scriptures, it’s certainly here as a practical aid to us developing the mind of Christ.

90. 47:36

    Nehemiah and chapter 5. And verse 7. Nehemiah is in the middle of building the wall and he’s got enemies on every hand. And now he finds out in chapter 5 that the Jews, amongst all of the other problems he’s got, are extorting their own brethren of their livelihood. In a Nehemiah chapter 5 and verses 6 and seven, he was furious and I was very angry when I heard their cry in these words then. I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury everyone of your brother.

91. 48:20

    And I said a great assembly against them. Do you know literally that phrase? I consulted with myself. Literally, that should be I ascended the throne to reign. In other words, he slowed down. And he took control of his emotions. Rather than react in white hot anger and frustration, he took the time, as it sees in the margin, to consult with his heart. And then he responded rather than reacted. And there is a huge, huge, huge difference between reaction and response.

92. 49:10

    There is always an interval between the first contemplation of the problem and the final time for action. So when a crisis moment suddenly appears, don’t react, breathe, think, pause, consider, ascend the throne to consult and then respond. As James puts it, be swift to hear. Slow to speak, Slow to Roth. There’s great wisdom in these things.

93. 49:44

    We take this time. We will undoubtedly make better decisions, and we might even choose to do what is right when it feels bad. That is completely contrary to our instinctive brains. And don’t forget, our emotions can either be controlled by our basic instincts or the moral sentiments. Emotions are not bad in and of themselves. We need to make that clear, don’t we? They just need time for the mind of Christ to regulate those emotions rather than our instincts. So what’s the lesson?

94. 50:23

    Delay. Our actions. Don’t make decisions when we’re either happy or sad. Our emotions are able to sway our thinking brain. Wait until the emotions have passed and we will almost always make a better decision. Do you know one of the things I’ve tried to do, which may sound very much like procrastination, but it is Ask myself when’s the last time I need to make the decision by? Because if I do that then.

95. 50:58

    I let my mind Mull over these things and usually you come to a better outcome. It’s amazing how 3 days and three nights can change your thinking. Who would have thought? How about writing down your feelings, Getting them on paper? Do you know Abraham Lincoln used to control his anger? He’s a president of the United States, by the way. Abraham Lincoln used to control his anger by writing letters that he would never post.

96. 51:28

    He would vent his feelings on paper. That would satisfy the reptilian brain. And then he’d review it in a week’s time later with the thinking brain. And then he’d screw it up and pop it in the trash. Wise counsel, you know, Second of Corinthians 13 and verse 10 says. Therefore I write these things being absent.

97. 51:53

    Being present, I should use sharpness. Paul knew, didn’t he, that writing things down would would slow himself down and temper his feelings and give him better perspective. If he was present he would use sharpness. He’d be angry and frustrated. But if he wrote it down he would be able to respond in a much more Christ like way. So if you were this way inclined then get yourself a journal and start writing down some thoughts. Here’s another obvious one.

98. 52:24

    Pray and meditate, and peace will follow you. Remember what Philippians says, and they they really are wonderful, wonderful words. Be careful for nothing and everything. By prayer and supplications with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds. Through Christ Jesus giving everything into God’s hands. Remember what Wahtherms says about Philippians chapter 4 and verse 7.

99. 53:04

    The peace of God which rises above every mind shall guard your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. Just think about those words, brothers and sisters. That’s a promise from our Heavenly Father. He promises us. He guarantees that if we pray. We meditate. He will give us peace. We just don’t do it. But that’s his promise.

100. 53:30

     Another obvious one. Keep reading and being renewed in knowledge. It’s the lesson of the Caterpillar. Do you know what if you feel spiritless or weary? It says in Hebrews 12, lest you be weary in your minds. If we feel spiritless and weary, is it because we’ve stopped devouring the Spirit word? Actually, probably yes. Remember Hebrews 5, verse 14 speaks of those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. We saw on Sunday why reading is so important. We don’t know, do we brothers and sisters, how Providence works, how the angels work, how sometimes just the right quote just pops into our minds that’s that answers our question. Or we think my mind’s just all, let’s see, I’ll do a Bible reading, and right there in the daily Bible readings is the answer to our problem.

101. 54:40

     This has happened to us probably many times, for sure. Is this providential? We might never know. But I tell you what, brother and sisters, we can be absolutely sure about this. We will never be able to recall a verse we’ve never read. Think about the power of that. We will never be able to recall a verse to mind at a time of need if we’ve never read it. Our minds are insensibly or unconsciously affected. Keep reading, and young people especially. I’m almost your generation, so I include myself. Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking it’s all on my device, it’s all on my phone, or it’s all on livoniatapes.com. I can access the information whenever I want. Instead, ask Can God access his information in our minds whenever He wants?

102. 55:49

     What are we giving the angels to work with in our minds? This is a powerful reason to keep reading. We can’t expect to be transformed unless we give the angels something to work with, because we’ve put the Word of God in and we’ve read with understanding.

103. 56:11

     Here’s a thought that I find very helpful. Always remember that while we can’t control the first thought, we can control the second. Do you know that’s extremely comforting to me? Christ had a mind just like ours. If it wasn’t just like ours, his victory over our mind is meaningless. He’s susceptible in just the same ways we are.

104. 56:39

     He’s tempted in all points as we are. He had those first thoughts too. Pride. Resentment. Anger. Frustration, Lust, envy. But never once did he allow the second thought to linger on. Never once did he dally with sin. Was always death to self. I find this extremely helpful. I can’t stop the first thought coming into my mind this side of the Kingdom, and neither can you, brothers and sisters. It’s part of a brain that needs replacing. But I can.

105. 57:22

     I should, I must take responsibility for the second thought that follows. And not allow that first thought to dwell in my mind. I’ve got to choose, as we saw a little earlier, which thoughts to think on and which to abandon. It’s fighting the battle in the little things that connects us to the sacrifice of Christ every day. When we feel wronged, don’t keep record, but pray for other people’s welfare and seek to cover their sins. Instead of falling back on our childlike thinking where we compile a Ledger of hurts and we keep a record of wrongs, pray for those people that have hurt us. Pray for those who despitefully use us. Pray that they are just as blessed as we are, as we would like to be ourselves.

106. 58:22

     And then, And here’s the hard part, and I’d like you to listen carefully. If it just concerns us and no one else is going to be injured by the hurt that’s happened to us in the future, then make sure that nobody else ever finds out about that other person’s sin. That’s a high calling.

107. 58:52

     All we want to do is sneakily surreptitiously. Quietly mention it to someone else so that we feel a little bit better ourselves. That is not the mind of Christ. If we have been sinned against and that sin is not going to harm anybody else, then let’s make sure that nobody else ever finds out about that brother or sister’s sin.

108. 59:21

     Love covers a multitude of sins. Let’s not keep a lidger of wrongs. But you know, making a lidger is not all bad. We just have to make one about ourselves, about our own defects of character. I’ve found this extremely helpful thinking about how I can put myself to death. Do you know I was 33 or 34 before I ever sat down? And wrote a list of my defects of character. Can you believe that?

109. 59:59

     That’s how self obsessed I was. I was pretending, I suppose, that I wanted to follow Christ, but never had. I examined myself where I wrote down. Well, how fast short am I falling? Am I guilty of these things? Let’s pray for others, but judge ourselves. My job, brothers and sisters, is not to point out the carnal mind in each of you.

110. 1:00:21

     I know it’s there. My job is to identify it in myself and then put it to death. Make a list of our own character flaws, judge ourselves, and then actively seek to do the opposite. If you are a spiteful person, deliberately do acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, and see how God can slowly transform us if we put our feet on the right path if we act first. Then the feelings of wanting to will follow. Be quick to apologize when we fall short and be willing to take the blame when we do fall.

111. 1:01:06

     Suffer ourselves to be defrauded even when it’s not fear. Do you know our Lord died on the cross like a criminal when he was the farthest from a criminal that a man could ever be but self importance and self? His own reputation was dead already. Let it be the same with us. Let us make the first moves towards healing and reconciliation and forgiveness. If we’ve put ourselves to death, then we have the most room to move.

112. 1:01:40

     Let us celebrate this freedom by being the 1st to take the blame, the first to seek healing, the first to forgive. That’s the mind of Christ. And lastly, at least in this very short list, let’s forget the mistakes and successes of the past and strive only on running towards Christ. Let’s touchdown in the Gospels, brothers and sisters, before we go to Philippines 3 and come to Luke Chapter 9 just very quickly and see how this principle is seen.

113. 1:02:21

     In the in the presence of Christ, he’s how the practice of following Christ is always harder than the principle. Luke, Chapter 9 and verse 23. And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. That’s the principle. Death to self daily. Every day is a new day.

114. 1:02:48

     Here’s the practice. Verse 57. And it came to pass that as they went in the way, certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee with us, whoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests. But the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

115. 1:03:12

     If the principal might have seemed appealing in verse 23, the practice was appalling. What have no comforts? Isn’t that taking death to self a little far? And then follows 2 incidents concerning people trying to follow Christ, trying to take up their crosses and follow him? Verse 59 And he said unto another follow me.

116. 1:03:37

     But he said. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father, Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury thee dead, but go there and preach the Kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

117. 1:03:56

     And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God. Focus on the present. Forget the future and forget the past. Discipleship, Death to self is about taking up our cross, not yesterday or tomorrow. It’s verse 23 daily. It’s all about today, One day at a time. There’s immense power in this thought. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. We don’t have to put self to death for the rest of our lives all at once, brothers and sisters. We just have to do it today, just for today, one day at a time.

118. 1:04:47

     But notice the problem with these two disciples. They both have the same problem, don’t they? But me first. But. Me first. That’s about as opposite to death to self as you can get me first. They’d missed the central principle. A big part of dying to self is dying to self’s future and to self’s past. It has to be abandoned.

119. 1:05:20

     I’d like you to come to Philippians in chapter 3 because the Apostle Paul learned all about abandoning his past. His fleshly credentials that are listed here in Philippians 3 versus 4 to 9 circumcised the 8th day Hebrew of the Hebrews, A Pharisee, blameless. All of these things were abandoned in the past. His past life was irreparable.

120. 1:05:50

     He couldn’t alter it, he couldn’t change it. And look what he says in verse 13. Brethren, and I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Do you know when you’re running a race, the past, the past is either full of failures that might discourage us, or successes that might breed complacency, and both endanger the present moment. And Paul’s race was about each day. Each moment, one day at a time, renewed day by day, straining to be an exact replica of Christ, the past, brothers and sisters, is gone.

121. 1:06:33

     Even our Heavenly Father can’t change the past. We need to inquire whether the things that lie behind can shed light on the path that lies ahead. Learn from it, and let it go. Let’s not waste time in our lives of discipleship, obsessing about our failures and shortcomings in the past. They’re like rungs on a ladder, hitting upwards, step up, cast away, all thought of the making of the rung. Whether it was made of failure or success, joy or heartbreak, that matters only that we climb.

122. 1:07:12

     I reach forward. The revised standard vergencies. I strain forward to that which lies ahead. Every fiber of every muscle must be strained to win the prize. Do you know that word? Well, let’s read verse 14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Do you know that word high means actually it means upward. It’s an uphill race.

123. 1:07:41

     It’s tough if the law was tough to follow. Try following Christ. Try cultivating his mind. I mean, the law was negative and restrictive. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Christ is positive and unrestricted love with no bounds, even your enemies. It’s an uphill race, isn’t it, brothers and sisters? But we don’t look back down the hill towards the law and works. We strain forwards uphill towards faith. And grace.

124. 1:08:16

     And you know, Paul knew intimately, didn’t he? The power of this idea of not looking back down the hill in the past was only blind self righteousness, misguided zeal, terrible mistakes, haunting sins, bitter regrets, humiliation, and a ridiculous reliance on self, in fact, behind him. Littered down the hill lay everything about himself. A ruinous history, the wreckage of his past and a head lay only Christ victory, a crown of life, do you know, Brother Dennis? Gillett said.

125. 1:08:58

     Keep her broad back to the years the locusts have eaten and a full face to the appointed goal. This needs to be us at some point in our race, brothers and sisters. We need to stop running away from the past, running away from our sins, stop looking back at our failures, and start running towards Christ. There’s a huge difference of us running away from the past, thinking about things we can’t change and running towards Christ.

126. 1:09:35

     This is spiritual maturity. It’s not about us anymore. It’s all about him following him. Let us therefore, verse 15 as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal this even unto you. We need to be perfect and mature. It’s a much more mature attitude to forget ourselves and to focus on him at the top.

127. 1:10:08

     He the top of the hill, He’s aware of that imperfections. But it isn’t our righteousness that will gain the crown. It’s him. It’s his righteousness. Don’t ever say, brothers and sisters, that it’s too hard or that Christ’s example is unattainable. Because even though it’s an uphill race towards Christ, we don’t have to finish the race. Only he has actually finished the race. Hebrews 12.

128. 1:10:39

     We should run with patients the race set before us, but to never forget that he’s the author and finisher. We just have to make progress, just day by day progress. All we have to do is be running uphill, even if we’re chasing someone else’s example in Christ who’s already won the race and the crown and the victory will be running back down the hill towards us. With the finishing tape, it would be a disgrace, brothers and sisters, not to finish this race. That’s what Paul’s saying.

129. 1:11:11

     It would be a disgrace, this race, to be like him. Remember what he said at the very start of Philippians tipped to one and verse six? What God has begun in us, he will finish. He will finish this job of completing the mind of Christ in us. I’d like you to come in conclusion to our reading Second of Corinthians 10, and just for one or two minutes let’s just close with the thoughts here in these remarkable verses, Second of Corinthians 10 and verse one. Now I pull myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you. Not being absent and bold towards you, but I beseech you that I may not be bold when I’m present with that confidence we’re with, I think, to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations, reasonings, thoughts, every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. That’s our own minds, brothers and sisters. And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

130. 1:12:48

     Incredible words, Paul says. We are to be gentle, verse one. Gentle warriors, verse four Why do we have to be gentle warriors? Because we’re actually fighting ourselves. Our Calling is to be freedom fighters, abolishing pride and ambition and greed and taking captive every thought for our new master, Christ. This is our goal. We’ll never reach perfection.

131. 1:13:19

     Our Heavenly Father knows that. But we strive for progress. Day by day we move slowly towards the light, slowly but surely having a little more success at bringing every thought, with his help, into subjection to our new master. This is what Brother Dennis Gillett says about spiritual progress. In conclusion, every disciple therefore ought to be concerned about making spiritual progress.

132. 1:13:51

     Sometimes the progress is imperceptible, but that is not failure. To fall is not to surrender. If soldiers abandoned the fight because sometimes they were halted, no battle would ever be won. From the new position they take stock and plan the next advance, sometimes forward, sometimes backward. But as the sun westers, they are forward from where it dawned be the advance ever so small, so it is with the life of discipleship. Let’s be ever so grateful, brothers and sisters, that our father has a solution to our carnal mind. Let’s be ever so grateful for the partnership he has offered us, that he cares about us enough to work together to transform our minds.

133. 1:14:38

     That if we conform our thinking, he will one day conform our vile bodies to be like his glorious body. Let’s do our part, brothers and sisters, be it ever so small to, as the Apostle Paul says, learn Christ, to practice putting death to self, to practice occupying our minds on things above and not on things on the earth.