Remind them of last sermon: What do you see? Perspective, paradigm, perception. That line of thinking led to a deeper study and aligned with a thought in class.

Stats in 2022:

Only 37% of Pentecostal Pastors have a Biblical worldview

Barna defines “biblical worldview” as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

One professor told me in my reaction to this that Barna’s worldview is “very narrow.”

Barna’s research shows that only 17 percent of Christians who consider their faith important and attend church regularly actually have a biblical worldview.

Research with practicing Christians (who go to church at least monthly and consider their faith very important in their life)

My response:

The statistic that only 37% of Pentecostal pastors have a biblical worldview is deeply disturbing. How can we live a life full of the Spirit of God and not have a biblical worldview? How can one be a minister of the gospel and not have a biblical worldview? I am flabergasted at even the thought that there are so many who preach and teach as Christians, and especially as Pentecostals who do not have a biblical worldview. It's no wonder the church is becoming more secular when the pastors themselves are becoming more secular. God we need revival! I weep as I type these words in humble, righteous indignation. How dare we proclaim to carry the most precious news in all of history, but do it removed from the very Word from which it is revealed! Revive us again, oh Lord. Heal our broken hearts and bring us to our knees in repentance!

The way we think is important to God!

(not just the way we act)

i.e. not behavior modification, but transformation…

Not adapting to a culture, but being born into a kingdom…

Matthew 22:36–37 NASB95

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

God is not just concerned with action, but also with thought!

This was the point Jesus was making in the sermon on the mount when He said,

Matthew 5:21–22 NASB95

21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Matthew 5:27–28 NASB95

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Proverbs 23:6–7 NASB95

6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies; 7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.

As a man thinks within himself, so he is.

Who are you when no one can hear? Who are you when no one holds you accountable? Who are you in your thoughts? As you think, so you are.

Its who you are in secret that God sees. For those who act a certain way to be seen by others have received from that behavior all they will ever get, but God who sees what is done in secret will reward those who are faithful in secret…

That not only means out of the sight of others, but also in the confines of the most private arena you have… Your Mind…

The bible is clear about this: We must align our mind…

Align Your Mind

The Pharisees thought that they could so alter their behavior, look so clean, appear so holy that God could not refuse their entry into heaven…

In addition to this, they expected that all others should look to them and they were the ones in charge of the spiritual health of the people…

But clean on the outside was not enough for Jesus…

Matthew 23:24–28 NASB95

24 “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

The root of repentance is not restriction, it is transformation.

The pharisees were good at restriction, but freedom comes from transformation.

They were right in their behavior on the outside, but their thoughts betrayed them!

They had the right action, but the wrong mind…

We as Christians are to have the mind of Christ:

Philippians 2:5 NKJV

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

We are to do more than just act right, we are to think right.

Our worldview is important to God! Our thought patterns are important to God. The way we think is important to God.

We’ve got to ALIGN OUR MIND… Align it with the scriptures… Align it with the word… Align it with the MIND OF CHRIST…

Tis is the key, that we are not left on our own to bring our mind to this place, but God has sent His Spirit as a help to give us a new mind!

The mind of Christ.

This is what Paul said about it:

1 Corinthians 2:10–16 (NASB95)

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Dr. Jimmy White - it’s one thing to believe in Jesus. It’s another to believe what Jesus believed.

This is the mind of Christ, that we not only believe in Christ, but that we believe what He believed.

Here’s the key, we must have the mind of Christ. We cannot do it on our own. It takes the transforming power of the Holy Spirit!

The bible is clear about three things that we must do when it comes to our mind…

the first thing we have to resolve to do with our mind is:

Change It!

Everyone talks about how they stopped behaviors when they got saved, but it starts with the mind…

You can’t just change your behavior, you have to let God change your mind!

He will change the way you look at life… change the way you look at other people… and change the way you look at yourself…

the Greek work for repentance is metanoia (μετανοέω). Metanoia is a compound word comprised of meta and noeo.  Meta comes from the root for “after” or “beyond,” while “noeo” is simply defined as “to think.” So metanoeo means to reconsider or to rethink something, or to change your mind.

Repentance is literally the image of a mind being changed by the power of God.

Before we committed our lives to Christ the scripture tells us that we are “futile in our thinking” (Rom 1:21) and that our minds are “set on the flesh and are hostile to God” (8:7).

Romans 8:5–6 NASB95

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

The next verse is what makes this mind transformation so scary:

Romans 8:7 (NASB95)

7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

In order for us to walk in the Spirit and think with the mind of Christ, we must be submitted to Him…

That is the scary part. Because our pride tells us that submission is weakness.

Our pride tells us that to become genuinely vulnerable involves the risk of pain and heartache…

What if we follow Him, let Him change our mind, but then all those defenses I had built up in my mind will be broken down and I have to be vulnerable again!

This is the mind of Christ. You cannot think like Christ thinks without also being vulnerable as Christ was vulnerable…

This is the only way we can have the mind of Christ! We have to become vulnerable to His transforming power,

This is not to say that we are open to everything that comes our way.

In fact, I think the second thing we do with a transformed mind is to guard it.

Guard It

Just because we submitted ourselves to God many years ago does not mean that our part is done.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB95

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

Take every thought captive… Guard your mind…

The world would like nothing better than a hostile takeover of your mind…

Negativity would like to take over your mind.

Temptation would like to take over your mind.

Darkness and depression would like to take over your mind…

BUT We take every thought captive and subject it to the obedience of Christ…

Negativity and gossip and darkness and depression and temptation is a cancer that would love to spread through you and those around you until thats all there is, but we take captive every thought!

The last thing I think we need to do to align our mind is:

Renew It

Romans 12:2 NASB95

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

We need to allow God to transform our minds, then we need to guard our minds, and finally we need to keep our minds renewed…

I’m not very good at this one, but on Casia and I’s vacation, we spent some time away and allowed ourselves to be renewed without the distraction of…

We need time as believers to get away from the distractions of life and allow God to renew our minds…

We can only be renewed by time in His presence and the Word:

Ephesians 5:25–27 NASB95

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

The water is the Spirit, that’s the presence of God and the Word is the scriptures. We need Jesus to cleanse us and renew us by the washing of the water and the word!

Align Your Mind

Altar Call

Let’s pray for one another as is our custom on Wednesday Night.