Renewing the Mind #1b
We started teaching last week on “Renewing the Mind.” And we’re going to pick up from there.
I) So if you have your Bibles with you turn with me to ROM 8:6.
A) The words “CARNALLY MINDED” mean “FLESHLY MINDED,” or “FLESH RULED.”
1) You can be flesh ruled or spirit ruled, and actually many Christians are a little both.
2) In order to be spiritually minded we must get our minds renewed to the Word of God.
a) Our thought process has to change.
b) For us to become spiritually minded, no longer can we think according to the course of this world or as the world thinks.
(i) We have to get ourselves so saturated in the Word of God so that we begin to think according to God’s Word.
(ii) The only way that our thought process is going to change so that we think in line with God’s Word is for us to get our minds renewed with the Word of God.
B) According to the verse we just read in Romans, Paul says, to be carnally minded, fleshly minded or just natural minded, thinking as the world thinks, is death. It leads to DEFEAT or will bring about FAILURE.
1) Paul said to TITUS in (TIT 1:15) that the defiled mind or the unrenewed mind is unbelieving.
a) You can’t receive from God without believing.
b) If you’re not receiving from God, you’re only receiving what the world has for you, and the world does not want to offer anything good.
(i) Basically, the world is against you. No matter where you are in your vocation or how high you’ve climbed the corporate ladder, someone always wants your job.
(ii) The world doesn’t want you blessed. It wants to take away from you.
C) But (ROM 8:6) goes on to say, “To be spiritually minded {is} life and peace.”
1) That’s the God kind of life and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
2) Many times people have lost their peace and don’t know how to fine it.
3) And so many do not have the life that God is talking about in this V ZOE, “The absolute fullness of life.”
a) Jesus said in (John 6:63) that my words, which is the Word of God, is spirit and life.
b) If we put these two vs. together it tells us that if we get my mind renewed to the Word of God, then we will be SPIRITUALLY MINDED and then we’ll have the PEACE OF GOD, and we’ll experience LIFE in its ABSOLUTE FULLNESS.
D) 2TIM 1:7.
1) The words, “SOUND MIND” comes from the root word “WISDOM,” it also means, “A DISCIPLINE MIND.”
a) We have been given a sound mind and wisdom from God.
b) But a lot of Christians aren’t walking in it.
2) We have the promise of God for wisdom and a sound mind, but because people don’t renew their minds to the Word of God they’re not walking in this promise.
a) That wisdom and a sound mind only comes by the Word of God.
E) The Bible says in, (1st Corinthians 2:15-16) That those that are spiritual, spiritually minded and walking in the spirit “have the mind of Christ.”
1) The spiritual person is the person that has their mind renewed to the Word of God.
II) ROM 12:2.
A) How are you going to know the Will of God?
1) 1st of all this V says that there has to be a transformation, a change.
a) A transformation from the world’s way of thinking or you could say “from the carnal mind to the spiritual mind.”
b) The only way that you get a spiritual mind and know the Will of God is to renew your mind with the Word of God.
B) As I was reading 1 commentary (the BKC) it gave some interesting light on this verse.
1) As we get our minds renewed to the Word of God we will know what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God, but that goes without saying. In other words, it will come automatically.
2) What this verse is actually saying in the Greek is that, as we get our minds renewed to God’s Word, no matter what God’s will is, we will know that it is good, acceptable, and perfect for us.
a) The important thing that Paul is telling us here in this verse is that we have to get our minds renewed to the Word of God so that we’ll be changed and that we’ll be in unity with Him in every area.
b) And as that begins to happen the blessings of God will begin to unfold in our lives.
(i) That’s when God can truly blessed us. That’s when we can walk in prosperity and walk in health and walk in victory in this life.
(ii) That’s when we can have the abundant life, life in the fullest sense.
C) Eph 4:22.
1) The word “CONVERSATION” means “MANNER OF LIFE, THE WAY OF LIFE OR CONDUCT.”
a) We have to put off the old way of thinking.
2) Let’s go on reading EPH 4:23.
a) The NIV says, “To be made new in the attitude of your minds.” (EPH 4:23)
b) PRO 23:7
3) Thinking comes from your mind.
a) The way you think of yourself is what you will become.
b) Do you want to think of yourself according to the Devil’s standards or do you want to think of yourself the way God sees you.
c) God sees you as blessed, the head not the tail...
d) That’s 1 reason why we need our mind renewed with the Word, so that we can see ourselves like God does.
(i) “As he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he.” (Proverbs 23:7)
(ii) (COL 3:10) Says, “And have put on the new {man}, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
(iii) The NIV says it this way, “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
(iv) The Barclays’ translation says, “And you have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is PROGRESSIVELY RENEWED, until it reaches fuller and fuller knowledge of God.”
4) There’s something that I found very interesting in this verse. When it’s talking about the “NEW MAN” it’s talking about the “BORN-AGAIN SPIRIT.”
a) This verse says the BORN-AGAIN SPIRIT IS RENEWED.
(i) The word “RENEWED” literally means, “TO GROW UP, NEW STRENGTH AND VIGOR.”
(ii) As we GET A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, we are GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY and we’re getting a NEW STRENGTH on the INSIDE.
(iii) We are being transformed more and more into the image of God.
(iv) The Word of God renews that new nature, which is on the inside of us.
5) Without renewing our minds to the Word, we can fall back to that old nature, that carnal, fleshly nature.
III) The 1st thing that we need to do is for us to read, study, and meditate on the Word of God.
A) Another thing that we need to do in renewing our minds is to Cast down imaginations.
1) Turn back to 2COR 10:4-5.
2) Imaginations take place in our mind. But we have a weapon that can stop those imaginations and that is the Word of God.
a) We need to stop thinking on failure and start thinking on the Word of God.
b) When our minds are renewed to the Word of God you'll begin to think the way God thinks.
3) Paul said in (Romans 8:6), “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
a) The spiritually minded person always agrees with the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
(i) For example, if you have a FINANCIAL PROBLEM, you probably sit down and think about what you should do.
(ii) Right away your spirits says, “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give unto your bosom.” (Luke 6:38).
(iii) But then the natural mind tries to kick in by saying, “Give money away, I’ll have less money to pay the bills and even worse off.”
b) But then your spirits says, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mind house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.”
c) The spiritually minded person, the person that has their mind renewed to the Word of God, will side in with the Word of God.
(i) But the naturally minded person will override the spirit and reject the Word of God.
(ii) The spiritually minded person is going to act on the Word of God, whether they understand it or not.
4) The Bible says, “By whose stripes ye were healed,” then think that you’re healed and act like you’re healed.
5) The Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ.” Then think and act like you can.
6) The Bible says, “My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” And it also says, “Give and it shall be given unto you.”
a) Then think that you’re prosperous and act on the Word.
b) The Christian that has their mind renewed to the Word of God is going to act on it no matter what and when they do the blessings of God will begin to come upon you and even overtake you.
c) When our minds are renewed to the Word of God we’re going to start seeing the move of God in our lives.
June 30, 1990 TFC Sunday AM From the book “Renewing the Mind” By Casey Treat. Pg. 15-? and WOLCC Sun AM 1/1/95 Sunday, September 13, 1998. Also preached on Sunday, September 20, 1998. & wolcc Sunday, April 21, 2002