Sermon Tone Analysis

A man got lost in the Sahara Desert.

He had used up the last of his water two days before, and he was lying on the sand, gasping, when he suddenly heard a voice calling, “Mush!

Mush!”

He knew he was hallucinating and turned away—but then he heard it again, closer this time.

“Mush!

Mush!”

He mustered up his strength, pulled himself to his knees, and squinted.

There, of all things, he saw a Snow Sled Driver, bundled up in furs and driving a sled with a team of huskies across the dunes.

He slowly lifted one arm and called, “Help!”

The driver pulled the sled to a halt next to him, the huskies panting in the heat.

The man said to the sled driver, “I don’t know what you’re doing here, or why, but am I glad to see you! I’ve been lost in this desert for days!”

The Sled Driver, with sweat pouring down his brow, said, “You think you’re lost?”

We can get lost sometimes too.

I’m not talking about getting lost in a desert, or even a physical location.

We can get lost in our own thoughts.

We can think things that are just downright wrong.

These things can range from how we view ourselves, others, our situations, relationships, and we can even have the wrong thoughts about God.

Our church has embarked on a study of our thoughts.

We are looking to the Word of God to find out how to have Sanctified thoughts.

Sanctified is a fancy word that really just means “set apart”.

You might ask, “why is it important to have set apart thoughts?”

Well, the Bible says that how we think is an indicator of what we believe.

Romans 8:5 (NLT)

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

As a believer in Jesus, we don’t want to be controlled by our sinful nature anymore.

We have been set free from the bondage of that nature through Christ.

Our lives should be set apart from non-believers in part by how we think.

If we are believers we need to be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who can leads to peace in our lives.

Romans 8:6 (NLT)

6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.

But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Why is it important to have set apart thoughts?

First, because we have been set free from our carnal nature through Christ, and Second, because Sanctified thoughts lead to peace.

Can’t we all use a little peace?

In a world full of chaos, we need to find a place of rest, comfort, and peace.

It all starts with how we think.

Our anchor scripture, the one you should be meditating on right now every day, is Philippians 4:8.

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

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.

Because we have Christ we can have peace.

Our thoughts prove whether or not we are walking in peace.

We will think on these things because we know God is with us no matter what we face.

Our circumstances don’t determine our peace.

Our thoughts on who God is and what He’s done in us is what give us peace.

He is with us!

Paul is writing to a church that was NOT in peace with each other.

The church in Philippi was the first church in Europe and the converts were mainly non-jewish.

Over a period of time that early church started to develop some arguments of whether or not they had to follow the old testament laws to be saved.

They were preaching a “works” base religion instead on a “faith” based relationship.

Paul heard about it and decided to write them a letter to put an end to the division.

Keep in mind, Paul had bigger issues to focus on in HIS life than these arguments.

He was actually in prison.

He was a good example of a person with sanctified thoughts, because instead of focusing on his circumstances, he was focused on God’s work.

I like what he said describing those people who were teaching that they had to follow the old testament laws to be saved.

Philippians 3:2 (NLT)

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.

He called these divisive people dogs!

Next time there is a an argument in the church maybe we should write each person a little note that tells them to stop acting like dogs.

I wonder how that would go over?

When Paul wrote to this church his overall theme was to get them to focus on the things that really matter.

Chapter one, he encouraged them to have a single mind focused on the gospel.

In that chapter he mentioned the Gospel 5 times and Christ himself 17 times.

He was single minded in his mission and encouraged the same of those followers.

Chapter two, he encouraged them to have a submissive mind.

In verse 2 he told them that he would be so happy to hear that they were living in harmony.

To live in harmony and unity we must have a mind commited to loving other people.

Chapter three, he reminded them to have a spiritual mind.

He told them to focus on what really mattered in life - running your spiritual race.

Our goal is not perfection, but living a life in pursuit of a closer relationship with God which starts in our mind.

Chapter four, he tells the church that when they have a mind that is single focused, submitted to Christ and each other, and spiritually maturing then we can expect a secure mind because we KNOW God.

He says in verse 5 that the Lord is WITH us.

In chapter four we get to verse 8 which is our anchor scripture for this series.

Really, boiled down, verse 8 describes what a person who is single minded, submissive minded, spiritual minded, and a secure minded thinks about all the time.

Not only that, it tell us that if we think on these things then we will have peace that comes from God and peace knowing that God is with us! It’s a promise.

Here are the things we need to keep on mind on:

True, Pure, Right, Holy, Friendly, Proper, Worthwhile, and Worthy of Praise

If we keep our mind on these things we prove that we are followers of Christ and we will receive the promise of peace that goes beyond our circumstances.

It’s more than people outside of our faith can comprehend.

I love it!

What a blessing!

What a promise.

We need peace.

Let me ask you a question - Are you enjoying this promise in your life?

Do you have this kind of peace?

Well, if the answer is no, then you’re in the right place.

We are studying this scripture to help you walk in this promise.

We are looking at those things Paul tells us to keep our minds focused on in order to have this peace from God.

Last week we talked about true thoughts.

This week I want to give you three ideas regarding what the New King James version calls “Noble” thoughts.

What is a noble thought?

Based on the original word Paul used we could paraphrase it like this: ...keep our minds on what is worthy of our respect.

Respectable things are things that are good, proper, correct, or pure.

Things that are worthy of our time.

We can have the promise of peace if we keep our thoughts on things that are good, proper, correct, or pure according to the Word of God.

Now, that means there are thoughts that we shouldn’t spend time on.

Things that AREN’T worthy.

Our thoughts must rise above the bad, improper, or incorrect things of this world.

Those things don’t deserve our respect.

Those things are not noble.