4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We conclude this month's Sunday message with Obstacles: Change your focus. I thought this song was fitting for this theme. We all facr things that cause us to feel disappointed or discouraged, but we must not give up. Enjoy this song and then view this Sunday's message. Then, let's talk.....
8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2
So a man thinks, so is he ~ What are you thinking?!
“Letthismind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5
Obstacles: Wrong behavior
Jeremiah 6:20-22
New International Version (NIV)
20 What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.” 21 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I will put obstacles before this people.
Parents and children alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.” 22 This is what the LORD says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings. 17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2
For the last two months we have been studying on carnal-mindedness. This month, in a sense the theme is the same but we will shift somewhat. We will take a look at what types of thoughts we are to embrace.
There are two types of thoughts. There are the thoughts that are pure (godly thinking). These are the thoughts we have by choosing to think on the things of God. These are thoughts that the spiritual man embraces. The other type of thoughts is those generated by our emotions, circumstances and what we see, feel and hear (our senses). As we have discussed before, these are the thoughts generated from out carnal nature.
Love vs. Hate
1 John 3:11-18
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[b] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
