What Were You Thinking? Killen 2/23/2025

Philippians 4:4-9   nkjv4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

❓What do you spend your time thinking about the most❓What do you try not to think about the most❓What thinking troubles you the most?

💥  Our mind is very powerful.  How we think affects everything we do in life.  Our mind is a powerful weapon that will work either for us or against us. 

⭐ Giving us life or bringing calamity or death to us.

The power of the mind1.   How we allow ourselves to think, determines the walk we have with God.  

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

• ⭐  The difficulty in living as believers isn’t so much what we do but how we think!
  • Because how we think determines the choices we make and what we do!

2.   How we think determines who we become. Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.👉 (No matter what comes out of our mouth, it’s what we believe in our heart that matters.)

• ⭐   Not changing our old ways of thinking prevents us from loving our neighbor as ourselves and treating others as we would want to be treated.   If we don’t know how to love our neighbors and enemies…. we don’t know how to be the children of God.
• ➤ Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

3.   How we think determines our stability in life.How we think affects how stable our life is or isn’t. 

James 1:8  He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

• ⭐ We struggle, not because there is no power in faith, but because we let our thinking talk us out of faith.  It’s our thinking that talks us out of doing what God says we can do!

4.  Changing the way we think transforms us as new creations in Christ! 

Philippians 4:22-24  22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

• ⭐  As we put off the old man and renew our minds (how we think), we put on the NEW man!
• ⭐  We know we are different when we start changing.
  • Not just breaking bad habits and not doing bad things, but when we begin to change from the inside out. ( Our thinking) 
  • And we become someone completely different than who we were before.

What does this teach?

I.     We must have Christ!  Have the mind of Christ! v2) 2 I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.  

• ⭐ 1 Corinthians 2:16) For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
• Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

***) Religion tells us to try harder.  Jesus invites us to be renewed, to think differently.  What Jesus invites us to do will produce permanent change! (***

A.   How can we have the mind of Christ in us without having Christ?B.   Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh

II.     Keep the mind going in the right direction. v4)  4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

• Rejoicing and being thankful in all things, acknowledges God in all circumstances. 

➢  1 Thessalonians 5:18) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  

• When we acknowledge God,He is able to give us clarity and show us the right paths to take.
  • Everything is going to be OK. I don’t know how, but I trust God.

III.     Treat people right, regardless of how they treat you.  v5) 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 👉 ****) (Lee’s Cadet story)  It’s not about how people think of us, but how we think of them! (****👈    

 It’s not about how people treat me, it is about how I treated them.

     I hit my sister because she had done something mean to me.

          I got into trouble for hitting her. 

          My dad conveyed to me I wasn’t being punished for what                she did to  me but for what I did to her!   ( that made sense)

IV.        Pray about your struggles / hardships / v6) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

•   Talk to God about the struggle you have with others.  AND FIND THE REASON TO BE THANKFUL. 💥  See what God wants you to see! The good!  The reason to be thankful.  The  understanding.   It will change everything!
• God will put a guard on our heart.  Don’t let the bad flow through it.

V.     Fill Your life with the Word. v8) 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.      

A.   Fill your life with God’s Word.   John 1:1) 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.     

B.   As we put on the glasses of God’s Word, we begin to see how God operates in all things.   Which gives us a reason to have hope and to be thankful!     

C.   THINK ON THESE THINGS! What we choose to think about affects our peace and relationship with God.