Understanding Mind

It's so good to have you with us tonight as we spend time in God's Word together You know, foundations that fortify the family. are essential for every single one of us And I hope that you're learning some things and hopefully tonight you're going to learn a lot of things Because we're going to do truly a significant Bible study when it comes to understanding what the Bible says concerning the foundations that fortify your family We began three weeks ago by looking at number one, and that was a forgiving spirit That's where it must begin

There are so many families who live in bitterness, anger, and resentment that they can't get off of square one to be able to grow their family And unfortunately, that is a huge hindrance to the opportunity God has for them So a forgiving spirit is essential because an unforgiving spirit Leads to an unholy life, and an unholy life leads to an unhealthy home And that's the way it always is across the board And so many times we have these inner feelings of resentment toward those in our family, which hinders the opportunity for us to grow

And yet, God demands that we forgive one another. that we truly forgive as He has forgiven us And while someone might not come and ask for forgiveness or repent of their sins, the forgiving spirit that we have is essential for us to demonstrate Christ to other people And that forgiving spirit helps us understand foundation number two, and that is overarching prayer It is that which overshadows, it's that which encompasses every aspect of our lives, that somehow we are to be people of prayer We told you last week that, as Mark 11:2 says, that when you stand praying, forgive

In other words, you can't pray to God unless you have a forgiving spirit So, a forgiving spirit is essential, but overarching prayer is that which encompasses everything about our family It permeates the home And so we told you that we need to call upon the Lord, for the Lord is near to all who call upon him, but you must call upon him in truth And so many people fall short of that, understanding that they go to God in prayer, nothing seems to happen It's simply because they don't call upon the Lord in truth

And Psalm 1 tells us that when you call upon the Lord in truth, not only does He satisfy the soul, not only does He save the soul, but He secures the soul And so therefore we must be people who call upon the Lord In truth Remember in Mark chapter 9, when the disciples were unable to do What God had called them to do, and that was to cast out demons And they couldn't understand because Christ was up on the mount with Peter, James, and John, and it was at that time It wasn the Mount of Transfiguration, it is now That's how we understand it

And they came down from the Mount, and they were unable to do what God had called them to do And so Christ talked to them as they were an unbelieving generation And he cast the demon out of the boy And the other disciples could not understand why they couldn't do that And remember what Christ told them? These things only come out by prayer See, they had forgotten They had become so used to doing ministry that they forgot the work of the ministry Which is prayer

We can be so involved in doing things in our family, for our family, work to make things happen, but forget that without prayer, nothing happens We must trust God We must live in reliance upon God So forgiving spirit is number one Overarching prayer is number two And number three is an understand mind An understand mind And this is going to be so over rich for you this evening Because we've looked at two verses that are foundational for us, Psalm:, that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it, right? And so the second verse is Proverbs 24, 3 and 4

So if've got your Bible, turn to that with me if you would, please Proverbs chapter 24, verses 3 and 4 These 25 words are the key 25 words To building your home These 25 words revolutionize the family unit These 25 words and two verses are what you need to have happen Every single day to understand how to build the foundation that God has for you and for your family Without these two verses and these 25 words, you are going to flounder and fail in your family God gave us these words to help us understand what needs to happen He says very simply, by wisdom the house is built

With understand, it is established And with knowledge, all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant Riches Now, I want to break this down for you, and then I want to expand upon it. I want you to understand that Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are interwoven together Okay? They are distinct, they are unique, but they all come together as one, but they are unique So let me try to explain it to you so you understand it Wisdom is that which applies tr to life acc Understanding is that which verifies tr in life vividly And knowledge is that which clarifies truth in life clearly

And yet they're all the same in terms of understanding how it is that God builds the house For example, the Bible says, Proverbs 24, verse number 3, these words By wisdom, the house is built Psalm 127: says that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it, right? So, how do you build the house? You build it with wisdom What is wisdom? Wisdom is the application of truth to life, you apply it accurately Wisdom in the Hebrew is a word of discernment It's a word of penetration It's a word that sees truth and the depths of that truth

So much so that it can take that truth and apply it to life every single day Wisdom applies truth to life accurately What it does, wisdom is that which builds the home Now, that word build in the Hebrew is a word that means to restore, it's a word of restoration And so many times our homes need to be restored because they're falling apart There needs to be a restoration of our homes That only comes through wisdom And then it says that understand is that which establishes the home In other words, the word established means to set erect or to stand up firm It's a word, it's a word of fortication

It fortifies the home Once your home has been restored, it needs to be fortified and solidified Wisdom builds it so that it can be restored, and understand establishes it so it can be fortified You follow with me so far? And then know, know is the clarification of truth And with knowledge, all your rooms now are filled with precious and pleasant riches. I want to know. I don't want to know. I want you to know. I want you to know that every room in your house can be filled with riches It can be filled with that which honors the Lord

It can be filled with that which, where there are relationships that are that are clean and true, where character seems to Perm every single part of your home It's where attitudes are supreme and Christ-like That's what it means to fill every room with precious and pleasant riches And I wonder how many of you here tonight have every room in your house filled with every person in that house with pleasant and pres riches

Because if you don't, you've got to go back and ask yourself: is my home, has it been restored? Has it been fortified through wisdom and understanding and knowledge? Because those three elements are the key elements to the fortification of your home We are trying to give you the foundations that fortify that home An understanding mind is that which helps that happen Now, listen carefully If wisdom applies truth to life accurately, And understand verifies truth to life vividly, and knowledge clarifies truth To life clearly, then what happens is that these three come together as one

And what you have is a home that is strengthened and honoring to Christ My friends, these two verses are the two verses you need to understand For you and your family Listen to what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 16 Proverbs chapter 16 These words are spoken The wise in heart will be called understand See how the two go together? The wise in heart will be called understand, and sweetness of speech increases Persuasiveness Verse 22: Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it Understand is the fountain of life to the one who has it

Why? Because understand is that which truly unlike anything else Verif the fact that what you believe is absolutely true Because when you understand something, you demonstrate it through testimony You live it out So that others around you understand that Look at what it says in verse number 16: how much better it is to get wisdom than gold And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver So, again, you have wisdom and understanding interchanged in the same verse to talk about the beauty of riches and why it is you need to have them It says over

In chapter 19, verse number eight: He who gets wisdom loves his own soul He who keep understand will find good Friends, that is just so rich We need to be saturated with scripture to understand the beauty of the word of God and how it applies to our lives Listen to what the Bible says over in Proverbs chapter 14, verse number 29 Proverbs 14, verse number 29 He who is slow to anger has great understand How do you know that understand is that which fortifies the home? And how do you know you have it? You are slow to anger That's how you know you're an understanding man, an understanding woman

You are slow to anger And then it says in the book of Proverbs, the 15th chapter, 21st verse, these words Or, yeah, the thirty-first verse He whose ear listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise He who neglects discipline despises him But he who listens to reproof acquires understand In other words, reproof helps you become an understanding kind of person And as we go through the scriptures, as we go through the book of Proverbs, you begin to understand the beauty of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge

And how it is, how each of them are distinct in and of themselves, but yet they all form a picture of what it means to have a pillar that solidifies the family unit Wisdom, understand, and knowledge all deal with the truth of God and how it is applied How it is verified and how it is clarified in the home, so every room is filled with the precious riches Of character, of honor, of respect, of dignity, of love, of forgiveness, the things that matter in life These things need to be a part of your life and of my life

So, how does an understand mind be a foundation for your home that fortifies it? Simply this understand is required Or myself, is rooted in God Understanding is rooted in God, like wisdom Like knowledge, understand is rooted in God In fact, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 40 says these words Do you not know? Have you not heard verse number 28? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary or tired His understanding is ins It's impossible to grasp But our God is the God of understanding And so everything about the understand of Scripture is rooted in God Himself

Well, we need to realize that our Lord wants us to be of an understand kind of mind The Bible says in Matthew chapter 13, these words: that when the sower went out to sow the seed, and God gives a parable about the sowing of the soil and how God's word is going to be sown in the kingdom age It says in verse 23, The one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understand it Who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty In other words, the man who hears the word of God

And understand the word of God is able to live out the word of God because he bears fruit, some 100, some 60-fold, some 30-fold That's very important to understand Because the Bible says in the book of 1 Corinthians these words. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 These things For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the Spirit of man which is in him? Verse 11 Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God 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

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 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 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one For who has known the mind of the Lord? That he will instruct him But we have the mind of Christ Can you imagine that? We have the mind of Christ Our Lord is the Lord of understanding

Understanding is rooted in who He is Now we have the mind of Christ in us because we have been open to the truth about the understanding of Scripture Now we have the mind of Christ That's why Paul would say over in the book of 2 Timothy 2, verse number 7: Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understand in everything Why will the Lord give us understanding in everything that pertains to Him? Simply because we have the mind of Christ Therefore, it's essential that an understanding mind be a pillar in the home that causes us to come together as one and to be strong in the Lord

You need to have an understand mind Because that understanding mind is the one element that takes a home that's beginning to lean and fall over and cause it to stand erect And to be solidified and for You need to have the mind of Christ You need to have an understand kind of mind, as the Bible teaches, because everything about it Is rooted in God

Listen to what the Bible says in the book of Colossians, the first chapter, when Paul prays this: For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding There, the three words are all used in the same prayer by Paul We want you to be filled with spiritual knowledge in all wisdom and understanding We want you to understand exactly how to clarify, verify, and apply the truth of God in your life

The knowledge of God is not just a bunch of facts about God, it's actually God rubbing off on you in such a way that you act like God's Speak like God, smell like God That's what the knowledge of God is all about And Paul says, I pray that you would somehow come to understand the knowledge of the living God And then he says this So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God

Can you imagine what would happen if the people in your family did this? Can you imagine if knowledge, wisdom, and understanding permeated your home, so that everyone in the home would walk worthy of their calling, strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Lord The Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light That is the prayer of the Father for his family

But they would increase in knowledge and wisdom and understanding so that the people of his home would walk worthy of their calling So that every room would be filled with precious and pleasant riches Won't you want that for your home? Boy, I do That's all I want from my home Whether I live in a new home or an old home Whether I live in a tent, which I'm never going to do, or a shack, because I'm not a camper Okay? But the fact of the matter is, no matter where I live, I want every room to be permeated with the truth of God So that the true riches that God gives can be ev in our home

That's what every one of us should want to have, and to pray that that's what takes place You see, understanding and understanding mind is rooted in God Because he is the God of understand, who when we come to saving faith, we now have the mind of Christ That is so important because the Bible says that every mind that's born is d Defiled, depraved, and dead Okay When you're born, you are born a sinner, separated from God And your mind by nature Is dark, def, depraved, and dead So you can't have an understanding mind You can be smart in the things of the world, but that doesn't matter to God

You need to be smart when it comes to the things of God Listen to what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 17 These words Paul says So I say this, so this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer As the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, the emptiness of their mind Every person who is an unbeliever walks in emptiness They have an empty mind They think they have a filled mind, a smart mind They have an empty mind

Then it says this: being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness Paul says they are darkened in their understanding They don't know the mind of Christ They can't have an understanding mind Because they have a darkened m But not only that, they have a defiled mind The book of Titus tells us these words

It says, To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience is defiled So the unbeliever has a defiled mind They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed In other words, they profess to have knowledge But their deeds, their works, deny the fact that they truly know them Why? Because knowledge is the clarification of truth So clearly, that people know that you understand God and have the wisdom of God

But their works deny the fact that they know God Why? Because they have a defiled mind And because man is born with a dark mind and a defiled mind, he is naturally born with a depraved mind The Bible says over in 1 Timothy chapter 6, these words. 1 Timothy chapter 6 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, He is conceited and understand nothing Isn 't that great? Think about that

If you come across someone who advocates a different doctrine than the gospel that Christ Himself has given to us, does not agree with the sound Words of scripture, that person is conceited That person understand nothing Why? Because he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and dispute about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved minds. and deprived of the truth who suppose that goddiness is a means to gain They have a depraved mind. A depraved mind, according to Scripture, is a worthless mind

So a man is born, he's born with a darkened mind He is born with a defiled mind He is born with a depraved mind And what that means is that he has a de m He is spiritually dead The Bible says over in Romans chapter 8, these words: For the mind that are on the flesh is dead But the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mindset 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, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God

So, because you're born with a dark, defiled, depraved, dead mind, you need to be what? Delivered from that mind, right? And the only way you can be delivered from that mind is through the conviction of sin and the conversion of your soul There needs to be a conviction of sin so that there can be a conversion of your soul That's why the Lord says that the Spirit Who comes convicts the world of sin because it doesn't believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my Father In other words, all our righteousness is as filthy wags We need to have His righteousness imputed to us

And so the Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment because he has already judged Satan, and judgment is the end of every man whose mind is dark, defiled, depraved, and dead Therefore, he needs to be delivered And that deliverance Can only come through the conversion of a soul because when a man repents, the word met means to change one's m And when you change the mind, you have an understanding mind, and an understanding mind changes the direction of the life, so it's going this way, now it's going that way, because now the mind is no longer dark Defiled, depraved, and dead

No, it's been delivered So now it delights in the law of God because it's been delivered by the Spirit of God In other words, it delights in the law of God, it desires everything that God has for it How do you know you've been delivered? You delight in the law of God, you've been delivered by the Spirit of God, and you desire everything that God has because you want God You want to be like God because you have the mind of Christ That's why an understanding of mine is crucial to the family unit You must understand the Christ So important

So, if an understand mind is rooted in God Then it's also re by God In other words, This is what he says in the book of Proverbs Look at this This is so rich Proverbs chapter 2 My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, accline your heart to understanding You see, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are used interchangeably all throughout the book of Proverbs And although they can be distinguished between one from another, they all are inter together

For if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure, then you will discern the fear of the Lord, discover the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understand Everything that you need to know about wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that fortifies, solidifies, restores your home comes from the mouth of the Lord, is recorded in the Word of God This book, the scriptures, is what you need In fact, I'm going to go as far as say this is all you need

You can read books about the family. I wrote one of that You know, it's just a book about the family But this is the book on the family By the word of God Himself, who gives wisdom, knowledge, and understand He says these words Discretion will guard you, verse 11 Understanding will watch over you, and the understand mind Has the mind of Christ Christ is the God of understanding He watches over you To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness Chapter 3, verse number 13

How blessed is the man who finds wisdom! Who's able to apply truth to life accurately And the man who gains understanding verifies truth to life vividly For her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her gain better than fine gold. I mean, all the money you make and all the gold you can have can't compare to wisdom and understanding She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all Who hold her fast? Listen, if you hold fast to wisdom and understanding, you are a happy, blessed individual That says this: The Lord by wisdom founded the earth By understanding, he established the heavens By his knowledge, the deeps are broken up There, you have wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, all used interchangeably to talk about the Lord Himself, the greatness of our God, and how it is He works He says, My son, let them not vanish from your sight

Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so they will be a life to your soul and a dorm to your neck Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble When you lie down, you will not be afraid When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet Who here doesn't want sweet sleep? Right? Everybody wants to sleep with sweetness Everybody wants to sleep securely Without wisdom and understand, you can't Then it says this Do not be afraid of sudden fear, nor the ost of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught

See how God watches over you? Takes care of you? That's what God does in the family Look what it says in verse number 5 in chapter 4: Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth Do not forsake her, and she will guard you Love her, she will watch over you The beginning of wisdom is to acquire wisdom And with all your acquiring, get understand, prize her, she will exalt you, she will honor you if you embrace her She will praise She will place on your head a garland of grace She will present you with a crown of beauty

Hear, my son, and accept my sayings, and the years of your life will be many Wow, that is just so incredibly marvelous. I mean, if you're sitting here tonight and this doesn't affect your soul, something's wrong You have a dark, defiled, depraved, dead mind You haven't been delivered yet Because if you've been delivered, you delight in the law of God and you desire all that God has, and He has wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, and you want to get all you can of what He has because you love Him so And when you do, all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches

That's the promise that God gives An understanding of mind is rooted, rooted in God It's required by God An understanding mind is requested by God's people Listen to Psalm 119, verse number 3 The psalmist says, Give me understand that I may obs your law and keep it with all my heart See that? It's requested by God's people They want understanding They want to be able to verify everything there is about truth So vividly, they cry for understanding Then, over in verse number 130, the psalmist says this: Psalm 119, 1: The unfolding of your words gives light, it gives understand To the simple

It gives understand to the simple The unfolding of your words That 's why we take the scriptures, we look at them As they're unfolded before us, they give us light to help us see and know and understand We have the mind of Christ, and so we only know his mind thoroughly Through the unfolding of the word that gives us light on his mind, that our minds might have his understanding That makes sense That's what God wants to do in your life and in my life. I wonder how bad you want an understanding mind Psalm said, Give me an understanding mind

Give me an understand that I might what? Adhere and love your law and obey all that your word says See, if that's not your desire, then your home is going to falter And it's going to permeate everybody in the home And as men, especially, as we lead the way, this has got to be our cry, our desire, our passion, our motive every single day So an understanding mind is rooted in God, required by God, requested by God's people Okay? And then number four, an understand mind receives God's reproof It receives God's reproof We read this earlier, Proverbs 15, verses 31 and 32

He whose ears listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise He who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understand How well do you listen to reproof? How well do you receive God's reproof? You see? If we request understanding from God Then we will receive reproof from God when He reproves us for our misunderstanding of Him and His Word and the wrong direction that we are going You see, if I'm ever going to viv portray the truth of God's word, then I must be able to receive God's reproof

Interest thing, that the way you as a father or mother receive God's reproof manifests itself in the way your children receive reproof from you Did you know that? It's a trickle-down effect They observe how you respond to reproof And how you respond to reproof is what they catch And how you respond is a way that they learn how to respond when you reprove them because you are representatives of God to them as their parents, because you've been given to them by God And if you have a hard time with God's reproof, your children are going to have a hard time with your reproof

But if you submit to God's reproof, As painful as it may be at different times, as He comes to you and talks to you through His Word and explains to you, and you come under the direction of God's Word, and you accept it with joy It affects your children because they now follow in your footsteps We talked last week, what you do is caught by your children more than anything you ever say They catch everything you do Your attitude, caught by them Their bad attitude, guess where they got that from? They learn that from you You say, Well, I don have that attitude Ah

But you see, you don't know what they catch from you Some way we portray to our children bad attitudes, complaining, groaning, mumbling spirits We portray arrogant attitudes You got arrogant children? Are you portraying an arrogant attitude? Do you have children who like to criticize and complain? Ask yourself: are you critical and complaining all the time? They pick up on those things So when God reproves you and you receive it with joy, you say, Yes, Lord, I understand, and submit to His authority, guess what? Your children see you submitting to a higher authority

And they learn that authority structure in the home And they sing you know, and the understanding mind begins to permeate the family unit And it begins to take that which is leaning over and causes it to come up and stand erect And that's what Proverbs 2: and 4 says Know this: an understand mind rooted in God, required by God, requested by God's people is received Receives, understand mind receives God's reproof And number five, listen to this: an understanding mind rests in God's sovereign promise Very familiar verse, and you know it well Philippians chapter 4, verses 6 and 7

Here's a prohibition Don't be anxious about anything God prohibits that God prohibits you to worry about anything It's a prohibition Be anxious for nothing In fact, it says in Matthew chapter 6, he calls it a sin When you worry, it's a sin Because you're doubting God's provision and protection for your life And so Paul says, don't be anxious It's a command, it's a prohibition Be anxious for nothing With that prohibition comes a pl Right? You follow me so far? Be anxious for nothing, but and everything by prayer, this is last week's sermon, by prayer, with supplic

And supp with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God Here 's the plan: here's the prohibition Don 't worry, don't be anxious Why? Because God has a plan for you What's the plan? Pray about everything And you do it with Thanksgiving Pray about everything with a thankful he Here 's the promise And the peace of God, which surpasses all what? Understanding Will guard your hearts and mind The understand mind rests in God's sovereign promise, which is what? I am going to guard your heart and mind because there's a peace that surpasses all natural understanding

That's why the Bible says, lean not on your own understand In all your ways, acknowledge him He will direct your paths Don't do that Don't lean on what you think you should do Lean only on an understanding m. that is rooted in God and required by God and requested by God's people, that receives God's reproof and rests in God's sovereign promise That he will guard and protect your mind and give you a peace that goes beyond anything you could ever imagine and give you something that you so desperately need: a good night's rest Because you have trust in the promises of the living God And lastly

An understand mind real its ultimate responsibility Realizes its ultimate responsibility What is that? To gird up, as the Bible says in First Peter chapter one My mind Gird up your minds Here's my responsibility An understanding mind realizes its responsibility Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1: Because you've been born again unto a living hope, right? We have a living hope Why? Now we have the mind of Christ Because you've been born into a living hope, now you can effectually gird up your minds That is, it's an Oriental word Because in those days the men wore long robes

And so you would gather them up and tie them around your waist and in between your legs so that if you were in a hurry, you had to run fast, you wouldn't trip and fall And so you gird up the loins of your mind Okay? You gird your mind Peter says, I don't want your mind Out there hanging loose with all these different things happening in them. I want you to grab it all together as one So your mind is an understanding of mind gird up Your mind, okay, bring it all together, tie it all together That's your responsibility

How do you do that? Four ways. I was going to say four ways in four minutes, but that's not going to happen Okay? Four ways Okay? Those who gird their minds are always armed for the attack If you gird up your mind, you're armed for the attack How are you armed for the attack? Remember the helmet of salvation? What's the helmet of salvation do? Prot you from doubt Protects you from de And so when you put on the armor of God, you are armed for the attack It's the helmet of salvation Also, it says you are to gird yourself with the belt of truth The belt of truth is tied together

It ties all the paraphernalia of the armor together The belt of truth does And so, therefore, what you're doing is you're arming yourself with attack What attack? The attack that comes against your mind Because Satan is a master deceiver, is he not? He wants to cast doubt on every decision you make He wants to cast doubt on every place you go He's a master at deceiving you and a master at casting doubt on the decisions that you make He does that The helmet of salvation, as Paul says in Thessalonians, is the hope of our salvation It's our hope

And so we stand secure because our head is protected, because we have a hope that's secure And the mind that understand is the mind that's protected by the helmet of salvation Those who gird their mind, tie it together, are armed for the att That armor is what protects your mind Number two, not only are they armed for the att, they are bath In the Bible Bathed the Bible You are made clean to the Word, right? Sanctify them in truth, for your word is truth. I have treasured your word in my heart that I may not sin again thee

We need to cleanse ourselves constantly, saturate ourselves totally in the scriptures That is the only thing that keeps us clean When you are armed for the attack You protect your mind When you're bathed in the Bible, you purify your mind That's how you gird up your mind Thirdly, those who gird their minds are captivated By the Christ They're armed for the attack, so their minds are protected They're bathed in the Bible, so their minds are purified They are captivated by the Christ so that their mind is pre with one thing Christ And the understanding mind is completely preoccupied with Christ

We set our affection on things above, not on things below We take every thought captive To Christ We are the kind of people who truly are to dwell on the things as Philippians 4 says that are true and noble and righteous and pure and gracious and praise How are you captivated by the Christ? You think upon the things that Christ says to dwell upon? That's how you do that And when you do that, you now become preoccupied with the Christ

When you become preoccupied with the Christ, What that does, it affects everything that you say and do, and where you go, and how you interact with people because Christ is everything to you If you're armed for the attack, your mind is protected If you're not armed, your mind's unprotected You're susceptible to deception You're susceptible to doubt You're susceptible to all kinds of distractions If you're bathed in the Bible, your mind is purified, it's cleansed Before the Lord, we need clean minds And listen, any mind is a clean mind So be bathed in the Bible so your mind is purified

If you're preoccupied with the Christ, It's simply because you are captivated by his presence You think of the things and dwell on the things that are pure and true and holy and love And fourthly, you need to be devoted to your one duty Devoted to your one d, and that is this: let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus Humility will always breed harmony Humility will breed harmony And that's what the book of Philippians is about: harmony within the body of Christ By looking at the Christ, having the mind of Christ, have this mind in you, which is also in Christ Jesus

That he was the one who did not think equality with God something to be grasped, but he humbled himself and took on the form of a servant Wow Wouldn't it be great if that's what our families did? They truly devote themselves To that one duty, to have the m that Christ Himself had in the inc That will always prioritize your mind Our mind needs to be prioritized, purified, protected, and preoccupied by the Christ And then you have an understanding mind You're well on your way And that begins to take your home that's faltering and leaning over And cause, as the Bible says, to be established

Right? Isn't it interesting that Paul says, Acts 20, these words: I commend you to God and the word of his grace Which is able to build you up, to establish you See that he knew that He knew that He knew, as he talked to the Ephesian elders, that without the word of grace, you can't be built You can't be established You can't be fortified But with it, you can This is your hope This is your foundation If you have a forgiving spirit, over prayer and understand mind, you are well on your way to establishing a home that is strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Let's pray

Father, we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity you give us tonight Lord, I firmly believe that your word is so clear That enables us to truly live for you. I pray for every man and woman in this room that God you do a mighty work. I pray, Father, that their hearts would be pricked and their conscience stirred And that they would look at their lives in the light of your word and ask some serious quest about where they are with you To make sure that those dark, def, depraved, dead minds have been delivered by the Redeemer Himself

So that we might delight in the law of God and desire the things of God for the simple gl of our God We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.