Mind Renewal Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Teachers Notes
1. KNOWLEDGE
Elbert Einstein said “it has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
In other words, knowledge does not equate to character.
The apostle Paul warned us about:
1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know;
Knowledge isn’t the end purpose but love from a pure heart.
5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 EAGERLY PURSUE and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments (gifts), especially that you may prophesy (interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching).
The smartphone has changed the way we live. Information about almost anything is at our fingertips. The accumulation of knowledge doubles every two years,
but where is the personal transformation?
are we better off? I think sin has increased because of it.
There is still wars, murder, death.
So we are getting all this information and not getting any better as a human race as far as the human condition.
2. WHY DO WE STRUGGLE?
Its the same as Christians. We ask the question if I’m learning about God why do I struggle to have the same issues, thoughts, and feelings over and over as I did before I gave my life to Christ?
Illustration
Suppose you just started out playing baseball:
OLD: The coach was abusive. He belittled his team and ruled with fear and intimidation. In order to make the team you had to learn how to cope, succeed, and survive under his authority.
MOVE: Then you ended up moving to a new town and started on a different baseball team. The old coach was gone. You were no longer under his authority and no longer had any relationship with him.
NEW: New coach was nothing like the old. He was kind and respectful to his team, and he motivated the players out of love.
OUR CHANGE: You might relate to your new team and coach in the manner you were trained under your old coach. Hopefully that would change over time as you begin to have a different attitude towards the team and how you see the game.
STARTED WRONG: We all started on the wrong team. We were born physically alive but spiritually dead. (Eph 2:1)
We learned how to live independently from God
We had no relationship with God and no knowledge of His ways
We tried by our own effort to succeed in this fallen world(Eph 2:2-3)
As a result sinful thoughts and desires were deeply ingrained in our minds
3. TRANSFORMATION
Then one day we became Christians. We were transferred to a new team and got a new coach. But nobody pushed the clear button in our memory banks. All the previous training experiences, memories, and habits were still programmed into our minds. That’s why Paul wrote:
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 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.
2. This is why believers still struggle with many of the issues they had in their former lives before coming to Christ? The same old issues, thoughts, and feelings. Because the mind hasn’t been renewed to the Word of God yet.
3. Our mind is renewed to the degree that our daily actions are dictated by the Word of God.
4. How do we move from information to transformation? By a relationship with Jesus Christ to the point we are living out what God is saying to our spirit.
5. Transformation begins at salvation and continues throughout our life as we renew our minds.
4. STRONGHOLDS
6. Before we come to Christ, we developed defense mechanisms or flesh patterns as we mentally processed the environment in which we were raised.
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
What is a stronghold?
7. A military stronghold is a secure or fortified place dominated by enemy or friendly forces.[1]
8. The strongholds that scripture is talking about are not physical barriers that fortify a city. They are mental strongholds raised up against the knowledge of God.
Place of defence and safety. Its place of trust and security. A fortress is to keep one safe. It provides security, comfort, joy, acceptance, and peace. It’s what one puts their trust in. These are all things that we want and need.
My testimony growing up in a broken home.
Cigarettes - Pot - Alcohol - Porn - Bad Language - Yelling - Fighting - Low Self Esteem -
Research shows that we form attitudes and beliefs early in our childhood. We are not physically born with the presence of God in our lives, so we absorb these mental attitudes from our environment in 2 primary ways.
experiences such as the homes in which we were raised, the schools we attended, and the neighborhoods in which we played. These values are more caught that taught.
through traumatic experiences like the death of a loved one or parent, divorce in the home, or various kinds of physical abuse.
9. We are not in bondage to traumatic experiences but we are in bondage to the lies we believed as a result of those experiences.
Strongholds are mental habit patterns of thought.
Illustration:
These are like tire tracks in a wet pasture. After the ruts have been established and dried over time, the driver doesn’t have to steer anymore.
The vehicle will just follow those ruts, and any attempt to steer out of them will be met with resistance.
10. If we follow those thought patterns for six consecutive weeks, a habit will be established. If the habit persists, a stronghold will form.