As a Man Thinketh in His Heart

Transcript

A very present good morning to you, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is indeed a wonderful privilege to be here with you this morning and to share sweet fellowship with you brothers and sisters and more importantly to bring the very necessary words of exhortation this morning, which I pray might encourage us and strengthen us as we traverse this path through that leads to God's eternal kingdom. I bring with me this morning the greetings of our brothers and sisters of the Martin Ecclesia who sends their love, brothers and sisters, to you all this morning. Now to my brothers and sisters, it is indeed very powerful, isn't it? In fact, it is considered to be the most powerful part of us human beings when it comes to our service to Almighty God. And the world in which we live today, brothers and sisters, remains its greatest competitor from the very foundations of creation. It is the world, brothers and sisters, that stops at nothing to convince us of its point of view. It is the world that's swift and cunning, smooth and conniving. It is the world, brothers and sisters, that seeks every possible opportunity to persuade our minds and to press us into its mold. And even though every part of the body has its significance and need each other in every way, our head and our brains and our minds are often considered to be the most important. And for that reason, I believe, brothers and sisters, God has not only placed it at the top of our bodies, but also in the very center as it processes every single one of our thoughts and subsequently drives our actions. And so, by way of exhortation this morning, we'll tap into the very surface of the mind as God himself seeks to reclaim that which is within us. That is our hearts and our minds, even as it had been let astray in times past and deceived by the serpent. Now, the Genesis record, no doubt, tells us that having created the world in all fairness, upon creating man, he has given him the power of choice, or preferably put, the ability, brothers and sisters, to work things out logically in our minds. Genesis 2 and 16 and 17 reads, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Had not man been given the power of choice, this command would have been of none effect. Of every tree, but, the record tells us, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so, unlike all the animals in the world that had been created, man alone, brothers and sisters, was created with this power to think and to work things out logically, while all the other animals didn't. Why, one might ask? Well, the purpose and intent to which God ultimately created this world, brothers and sisters, was to establish a kingdom, wasn't it? God created man in his own image, the record tells us in Genesis 1. In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them, and God blessed them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subduate, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveeth upon the earth. My dear brothers and sisters, every kingdom must have four basic elements. Every kingdom must have a king. Every kingdom must have subjects or people. Every kingdom must have land or territory, and every kingdom must have laws. Dominion has the idea of kingship, doesn't it? People be fruitful and multiply, the record tells us. Replenish the earth, territory, land, and laws of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat, but. So God wanted mankind to dominate or rule over all his creation. God being the manufacturer of our lives, if you will, brothers and sisters, has the right to do whatever he wants to do with his creation, doesn't he? He could have made robots if he so chooses, but that's not what God wanted. He wanted to establish a kingdom and have man to rule over it. The idea of kingship, if you will. And so this God-given ability to work things out logically in our minds, unlike any other animal, aided man in making decisions and choices consistently with God's overall plan and purpose for the earth. And our Heavenly Father wanted us to serve him, to obey him, and to love him with all of our being. Of such, my dear brethren, were the very first man and woman ever created upon the face of the earth. We need not go any further than the very genesis of mankind to see the choice and decision they have made in their lives, but the power of choice given to them, and the ability to work things out logically in their minds, and how that choice and that decision not only affected them, brothers and sisters, but all of creation. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman in Genesis 3 and 1, Yea, had God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of every fruit of the trees of the garden, but that word of contrast if ye will, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden. God had said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in that day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be open, and ye shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, desire to make one wise, brothers and sisters, she took of it, she ate it, she gave to her husband with her, and he did it. Against the commandment of God, and we all know, my dear brethren, of the circumstance that subsequently followed, don't we? You know, Paul picks this up in Romans 5-12 where he says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. The underlying and most important question for us then this morning, brothers and sisters, what about us? What are we using the power of choice to do in and with our lives? What are we using this God-given ability to work things out logically in our minds to do, my beloved brothers and sisters? How are we using our minds? For what intent and purpose in God's plan for his creation? What are we inviting into the most sacred spaces in our hearts? That is to say, our hearts and our minds. And how is that affecting us as a person, as a son or as a daughter, as a mother, as a father, and most importantly, as a disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Our Heavenly Father, throughout the ages after the fall of man, no doubt, established exactly what he wants us to do, and that is simply to love him with all our being, with every breath that we take, with every move that we make, with every step that we take. The children of Israel, who became a special and chosen generation to him because of the grace of one man, Abraham, and because of the covenant he had made with him, despite their constant disobedience, instructed them, brothers and sisters, in Deuteronomy, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love him, the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. You know, brothers and sisters, repetition is one of the most powerful tools that can impact the human mind. There are things in my life, for instance, that my mother had drilled into my head that left a profound impact upon my life onto this very day, and there's no way of forgetting it or even getting it out. In the morning, for instance, it was the Lord's Prayer, a non -Christodelfan at the time, brothers and sisters. Before lunch, we would pray, thank you, God, for the world so sweet. Thank you, God, for the food we eat. Thank you, God, for the bird that sang. Thank you, God, for everything. Against a woman who was not at that time a Christodavian. At night before we all went to bed, we prayed, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child. Pity my simplicity. Suffer me to come to thee. Teach them dilly, gently, unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest them, and when thou riseth unto thy brothers and sisters. Bind them for a sign upon their hand. There shall be frontlets between their eyes, that they might never forget it. Write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gaze. It is such a blessing when you enter the home of a brother and a sister, and you see these great plaques, as I've seen in Brother Stephen's house, and you can read them. And before you go to sleep, they're right there in front of you. And you remind yourself constantly of God's plan and God's purpose for us in the earth. Fathers, you have a responsibility to lead your children towards God's kingdom. Mothers, you have a responsibility to teach your children dilly, gently, the ways of Yahweh, to love God with their every being. You know, my dear brothers and sisters, our two sons are here this morning with us. Our daughter prefer to stay this morning and teach Sunday school. I remember, brothers and sisters, when in the early stages of marriage, when my sister wife had two miscarriages, devastated, heartbroken, tears, brothers and sisters, that if I were to drink him, I would have been poisoned. And we prayed to our Heavenly Father. We said, Lord God Almighty, if you bless us, only bless us with one child, we'll give him right back to you, that he might love you, that he might serve you. Brothers and sisters, he blessed us with not only one, but three. And we are grateful and thankful beyond measure that all three have given their lives completely to him, and have been baptized into the saving name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A true blessing, brothers and sisters. And we pray that they might continue, and so might you with your children, brothers and sisters, every father and every mother, the desires within our heart to help them. And some might come, brothers and sisters, in an early stage of their lives, some perhaps a little later. Never stop, brothers and sisters, praying for them. Don't ever give up on them. God calls us under very different circumstances, and through many varied situations of our lives. You know, on a parallel record, on the occasion when the Pharisee came to him, tempting him, they asked him, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets, all of them, brothers and sisters, love, all of them, the importance of love in our lives, brothers and sisters. Agape, if you will. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love God first and foremost. Love your neighbor as thyself. What is it about love, brothers and sisters, that Yahweh wants us to use all of our hearts, all of our soul, and all of our strength and mind to love him? What is it about love? Why is it so important in my life and yours, my dear brothers and sisters? Why is it, as human beings, God wants us to use our minds to agape him? Well, simply because God first loved us, isn't it? In 1 John 4 and 7, we read these words, brothers and sisters. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every one that loveeth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveeth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. And this was manifested love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him, hearing his love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins. If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. My dear brothers and sisters, from the very foundations of the earth, God loved us. God wanted us to be a part of his kingdom, eternal kingdom. And despite the failures of mankind, God still loves us, and is doing everything, brothers and sisters, that he might reclaim us, as rightfully as. He so loved the world, John says, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but hath everlasting life. This morning the apostle picks up the argument of love in the reading that was very well read by our brother, didn't he? The importance of love in the life of us Christians and Christadelphians. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not loved Paul says, I am become as a sung in brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Love, as described in this chapter, is best understood as a way of life. Lived in the imitation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is, focused not on self, as the world does, but on others. And so Paul writes that if one possess incredible abilities, like speaking in different languages, like the angels, without love, their words are meaningless and hollow, like a loud empty noise. Though I have the gift of prophecy, he writes, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. Spiritual gifts, such as prophecy, and knowledge, and faith, are meaningless, brothers and sisters, without love. Even selfless acts, like giving away possessions, or enduring sufferings, are meaningless, without love. I can give all my goods to feed the poor, my body to be burned, if I don't have love, it profiteth me nothing. What is love then? Paul said it's patience. It's kind. It rejoices in truth. It bears all our problems. It believes. It hopes, brothers and sisters, love to understand the faults of others, and love never fails. It isn't envious. It isn't proud. It isn't boastful. Love is not rude. It's not selfish. Love, brothers and sisters, is not short-tempered. It's not evil. Paul says love never fails. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, they shall vanish away. You know, my dear brothers and sisters, it's rather interesting that both in the Old and in the New Testament, the first time the word love is being used, it would respect to a father and a son. And in both cases, or Heavenly Father, it was. Genesis 22, 1 and 2 reads, It came to pass after these things, that God contempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here am I. Take now thy son, and only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a buoyant offering. If we might imagine that scene, brothers and sisters, here is a man who didn't have a son that he was promised, and because of his faithfulness, God ultimately gave him that son. And then he turned to him and says, Abraham, I want you to give him back to me. And we know the story well, brothers and sisters, that as he walked to the mount of Moriah, the young lad asked him, Father, behold the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for a buoyant offering? And he says, The Lord will provide himself a lamb for a buoyant offering. And as he laid that son upon the wood and the fire, brothers and sisters, and as he took the knife, and as he was about to plunge right into him, the Lord turned to him and said, Stop him, stop him. And brothers and sisters, God was moved. He was moved, brothers and sisters, because he know that in the fullness of time, he himself will have to give his only begotten son to the world that we through him might have the hope of life and life more abundantly. And when that son was baptized, brothers and sisters, he says, This is my beloved son, my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, because he did the things that pleased his father. The demonstration of such love shown by our Heavenly Father is to the extent that we might be moved to love him back, even the same. But how can we do so, brethren, if we fail to acknowledge his love towards us and fill our hearts and minds with the same measure of love? You see, we are what we think, my dear brethren, and all our actions in life are driven by a thought that precedes that action. For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And if we don't write the word of God in our hearts and in our minds, and if we don't teach them diligently to our children, that it might be written in their hearts and their minds, how can they learn to love God and subsequently love each other? The acts that we've seen in the world today is the absence of love, brothers and sisters, the absence of our Heavenly Father. The world today is moving farther and farther away from the principles of biblical truth. What about us this morning, brothers and sisters of like precious faith, those who have given our lives over to our Heavenly Father and have taken up our crosses to follow him? What about us this morning? Paul writes, for scarcely for a righteous man would one die. Yet for adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God had commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, in bondage and in Egypt, Christ died for us. Today we live in a world where people are concerned only with self. And we too can become self-centered, seeking our own interests, looking after those things which satisfies our own flesh, brothers and sisters, at the expense of everything else. And unless we change the course of our thinking, we cannot be disciples of our Lord. We know in part and we prophesy in part, Paul writes. In our current state of existence, brothers and sisters, our knowledge and understanding of God and His will and purpose is incomplete and fragmented. Similarly, our prophetic abilities, while divinely inspired or not fully comprehensive, all governed by our humanistic thinking, the attitude of self, the nature that we have inherited from our forefathers. But today, brothers and sisters, God has shown us the greatest example of love. Paul writes, now abided faith, hope, charity, these three. But he emphatically says the greatest is charity. I'd like us to consider, brothers and sisters, in closing, why is charity the greatest? Well, when our Lord and Savior returns back to this earth, in the reestablishment of His kingdom, brothers and sisters, I want to suggest to you that we no longer need faith, would we? Because our Lord and Master is Him. Neither, brothers and sisters, do we need hope. There is nothing to hope for. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is Him. But love, brothers and sisters, will never die. Love is what it takes to bring about the sense of oneness that the world needs, to obey God, to keep His commandments, to serve Him, to love Him. And so, my dear brethren, as we come before this table of remembrance, sitting before us at the emblem tokens of bread and wine, the greatest act of love shown to us from the very foundations of the earth in these emblems, the bread and the wine, symbol tokens of the body and blood of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, which He had given freely to us, that we through Him might be saved. And so, as we assemble as a community of believers, as brothers and sisters of like precious faith, I'd like us each to examine ourselves this morning, brothers and sisters, and to draw near before this table, in full assurance of faith, with a true heart, having our hearts sprinkled from evil consciences and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful as promised. And let us consider one another to provoke, brothers and sisters, unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

Transcript

Now, between our ears and our skull is the most complex structure in the whole of the universe. There is nothing more complicated than what is in your head, which is in effect your brain and what is in your mind. And the final frontier of science tells us that the human brain is made up of over 86 billion neurons, yet we don't really understand a single cell. However, the Bible has a lot to say about the brain, the heart, the mind, the thoughts of man. And today we'll consider some of its message in this class. Now from the very genesis of mankind, we would remember, brothers and sisters, how God flooded the earth. And he destroyed mankind from the face of the earth. And it's written in Genesis 6.5, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The minds of people, in other words, brothers and sisters, had become corrupted back then in the time of Noah, which subsequently led to the violence, the corruption, the thoughts at heart, imagination is what it was, brothers and sisters, that caused these things to happen. Those very thoughts and those imaginations no doubt multiplied themselves exponentially throughout the world in which we live today. To the extent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says, as a man thinketh, as in the days of Noah, sorry, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. You know, God wants us, as we were exhorted this morning, to love him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength. Yet, Jeremiah had something very differently to say about this very heart that God wants us to love him with. He says that the heart, the inner man, as the Hebrew word suggests, the mind and the understanding is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Yet, God wants us to love him with our hearts. In Mark, we read, from within, out of the hearts of men, the soul, the mind, it's the fountain and seat of our thoughts and our passions and our desires, proceed evil thoughts. There they are, adulteries, fornications, lusts and murders and suchlike. All these evil things come from within, Mark wrote, and that defiles a man. There's a book that was written by a doctor, a man by the name of Dr. Stephen Peters, and he was a resident psychiatrist with the British Olympic cycling team, and he was responsible for the success of many of its athletes, and the second most decorated cycling Olympic athlete of all time was a man by the name of Sir Chris Hoy. He won six gold medals, one silver medal, and during the period of 2012 to 2021, and he quoted this theory of Dr. Peters, this mind theory, if you will, that helped him with those medals, and he says that it all had to do with what he considered controlling of your chimp or of your mind. Most battles are lost or won within the mind, from the greatest of athletes they were, whether it was Michael Jordan, whether it was Mike Tyson, whomever it was. I mean, I don't think any one of us think for a second that Tiger Woods was any less better before his demise than now, but his mind was so disturbed and corrupted from all that had happened that he was never ever the same man again, all in our minds, right? And this best spiritual athlete that Christ expects in us, as we run this race with patience that is set before us, we have got to also manage our thoughts, our minds, and as we run this race with patience that is set before us and look on to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith, we will have our minds focused and thinking on those things that are far-reaching, those things that are heavenly, and those things that lies ahead. Now, I'd like to make it clear at the first that this paradox supposedly that this doctor spoke about has absolutely nothing to do with evolution or any idea associated with it whatsoever. This concept, however, will hopefully, brothers and sisters, hopefully enable us to understand how our minds really work and also teach us how to do three important and absolutely necessary things in the life of the believer. One, to recognize how our minds are working, to understand our emotions and our thoughts, and to manage our thoughts and our emotions to become the disciple that God requires in each and every one of us. And here is a picture of the human brain, and Dr. Peter says that it is easier to consider the human brain as a system of seven brains working together in somebody's mind. And those seven brains can be further simplified as seven lobes, the frontal lobe, the parietal, the limbic, the temporal, the occipital, the cerebellum, and the brain strain. However, of all those lobes just mentioned, only three of these lobes right here are what really make up the psychological mind, the frontal, the limbic, and the parietal lobe. And he sort of, what was interesting to me, simplified these terms into symbolic pictures so that the average person like you and I can sort of comprehend and understand how our brains actually work internally. And here it is in picture form, the limbic lobe, the frontal lobe, and the parietal lobe of our brains. That makes up the psychological mind. Now the limbic lobe is a part of the mind that is like having what he considered to be a chimp or an animal in our brain. And we'll briefly look at what it does, how it works, and how you can control it. Again, it has nothing to do with evolution, brothers and sisters. It's a symbol to explain how that part of the brain works. Now the frontal lobe of our brains, we can think of this part as the human part. All other animals besides human have what is considered to be either underdeveloped or no frontal lobes whatsoever. With humans, it is fully developed. And this part is really what makes us human and separates us from all other animals there are. And the parietal lobe speaks for itself. It's the computer. It stores information like a hard drive. And whether good or bad, as our senses interact with the world and everything around us, that is sort of downloaded onto this parietal lobe. And so what we have in essence is a part of our brain that acts like an animal, one that acts like human, and one that acts like a computer. Now I'd like to break down the limbic lobe just briefly before we get into the part of our talk this afternoon. It's as when we were in the womb, the frontal part and the limbic part both developed independently of each other. And they sort of introduced themselves by forming connections. And there was one problem, however. They found that they were not in agreement about most things. Either of these two brains, however, could run your life as an independent part of your brain. But they try to work together, and therein lies the problem. They have independent personalities, very different agendas, different ways of thinking, different modes of operation. And effectively, it's like having two brains in your head. Animals, all animals, are born with the limbic mode. The purpose and the agenda of the limbic mode are defined right here. For sex drive and emotions, self-survival, desire for food, desire for shelter, laws of the jungle, powerful drives and instincts. That's all part of the limbic lobe, and it's in every animal irrespective of what that animal might be. And so all animals are born with that core. It offers emotional thoughts and feelings that can be constructive or destructive. And a quick example is you're driving on the road and someone cuts you off, and the limbic part reacts. And the person that cuts you off, sometimes you get out of the car, you're upset, you're angry, your emotions take over, and we see some of the tragedies that happen as a result of that. How do we then manage our emotions is really what makes the difference in our lives. We all have it. We need it. Without it, the human beings will be in extinction. And God is the one who would put it there for a specific reason and purpose. We remember the apostle Paul when he wrote, he talks about this wrestling that happens within his mind. And it really happens between the frontal lobe and the limbic lobe of the mind. Constant wrestling. The limbic mode wants to do its own thing. The frontal lobe is more rational and reasonable in its thinking. And Paul had much to say in Romans 7 and verse 9. The good that I want to do, I do not. The evil which I would not, that I do. If I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find in the law, he says, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man, you would remember Paul saying, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And sometimes we find we can sort of be two different persons at times. And there was a survey that went out and a hundred people were asked who had unwarranted thoughts and so forth. And have you ever asked yourself, why am I thinking that? Or what silly thought is in my head? 80% of our thoughts are said to be negative thoughts and we at all at some point have them. And the answer to that question is embodied in how do we manage our emotions? How do we manage our chimp and harness its strength and power when it's working for us and neutralize it when it's working against us? And that's the important thing that we need to know as we go through life as disciples of Christ. How do we manage these thoughts? How do we harness them? How can we use it to work for us versus against us? And helping to understand that is how we can manage our own lives in remarkable ways. You said that having a chimp is like owning a dog. You're not responsible for the nature of it. God is. But you're certainly responsible for managing it and keeping it well behaved. And therein lies this whole aspect of freedom of choice. What do we do? Do we serve self or do we serve God? What do we as an individual do with the time and the life that God has given to us? Has God given us this part of the brain with natural instinct but also something bad? Absolutely not. God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good. Now let us turn our attention rather quickly to the frontal lobe and this part of our brain is basically the bit that makes us human. All animals have the limbic portion as we said earlier. There it stops. And the one difference between the species of us humans is this frontal lobe. And we want to look at that and see what it does. The purpose and agenda of the human or the frontal lobe is self-fulfillment and the search of the meaning of life. Purpose of life, building of society, ethical principles, logical thinking, rational behaviors and perspectives and understanding. And that's what that part of the brain does, the frontal lobe. It is the front part of the brain that asks these questions brothers and sisters. Who, what, where, when and why the limbic lobe doesn't. And if the frontal lobe therefore is blocked out, when we think of it, we are no different than all the animals there are in the world. And sometimes we act like them and we behave like them. And sometimes you hear the phrase you're behaving worse than an animal because you block out the frontal part of our brains. What is said that I find rather interesting is that whenever something happens in humans, in the life of humans, begin to work out what is first happening by establishing the facts, the frontal lobe is. Gather all the information available before beginning to make plans. And having gathered these facts, we try to establish the truth. And then base our beliefs on that truth. And when something happens, both parts of your brain instantly are going to try to deal with the situation at hand the way they know how. But information always go to the limbic part first. And if the limbic mode is not too concerned or bothered about it, it's a little more calm. It goes to the frontal lobe and the human part kicks in and things begin to work the way humans would do things, the way humans would think. And hence our decisions and actions follow subsequently. And so the same example, someone cuts you off, you're going to work, your frontal lobe is healthy. It's working. You step back. God is good. I'm alive. I'm still going to get to work early. It's okay. You wouldn't get out of the car and behave in irrational ways. And that's when it's working for you. The limbic load, however, is needful because when things happen and sometimes the reaction that is needed, something is coming at you, a car is driving at you, you need to jump, get out of the way quickly. Yes, that's when you need it. But for ethical things, for the things of God where animals cannot think the way that we do, they don't have the ability to rationalize things, to work things out, to think things through. We do. And it's important for us to understand how we go about developing the relationship between the two and to be the disciple that God requires in us and expects in us as an individual. Now, we won't spend too much time on the parietal lobe because it's the computer. It downloads information, all the experiences in life, all the things we learn throughout our lives from all the sources and mediums we come into contact with from the day we were born. And what is said of this computer or the parietal portion of our brain is that it is most powerful, the most powerful lobe. It's vitally important, therefore, that we write godly things. The things of God, goodly information on our hard drives. It's the reference source of all our information. It's the reference source of all our beliefs. It's the reference source of all our values. If the Bible, my dear friends, the word of God is not downloaded onto our parietal lobe and become the reference point in our lives, what is? If it doesn't become the reference source of information in our lives, we have to ask ourselves, what is? Hence the importance of reading the word of God daily, understanding God's message. The animals can't do that. Other animals does. We can. And that's why we are special in the eyes of Almighty God. And he chooses us to be a part of his kingdom. And he wants us to do so. But we have to build a relationship with him by understanding who he is and what is his planet purpose for our lives. How else can we know that if we don't understand the message of the Bible? So a constant association with it, therefore, is what helps us to be different, doesn't it? Now, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. All of it. And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect. And that word means wholehearted, truly furnished onto all good works. The ESV writes that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. So if we're going to be good, and if we're going to follow the ways of God, and if we're going to obey his laws, his statutes, and his commandments, we have to be associated with his word. Without it, brothers and sisters, there is no way we can. No way we can. Now, this brings us then, with that backdrop of thoughts, to a reading in Matthew chapter 13, where the soul went out to sow, and when he sowed some seed fell by the wayside, the fowls of the air came and devoured them. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and forthwith they sprung up because they had no depthness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched, and because they had no roof, they withered away. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and choked them, but others fell into good ground, and brought forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He that received seed into the good ground is he that heard the word and understand it. This parable is all about what's going on in our minds, in our brains. Other animals cannot do that except us. The word of God, which is being scattered as seed, is actually, brothers and sisters, falling into people's minds. That's where it's falling, into people's minds, and subsequently it affects the way we think and the way we act. He that received seed on good ground is hears the word and understand it. The word understand it is the Greek word sinemi, which means to put together mentally or to be worked out logically in the brain. And when the word of God gets into people's minds, it's really affecting the way we think, isn't it? We hear it and we sort it out rationally, and which further propels us to act. Going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he that believe it and is baptized shall be saved. So salvation to us comes from belief and baptism. So we've got to hear this word. We've got to work it out in our minds mentally. It propels us then to act, to be baptized into the Savior name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as brethren in Christ, we all have this common belief in our way of thinking, in our understanding of scriptures that brings us together as one, yet sets us apart from the rest of the world. I've traveled around a bit, brothers and sisters, and for every home that I've entered, every Christadelphian brother or sister that I've been in association with, there's a sense of oneness in our thinking, in our attitudes, in the way they do things. There's a common belief system that exists amongst all of us, that separates us from the world and makes us unique in our own way. We all have a common understanding, if you will, in the word of God, don't we? Paul says there is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. The lexicon has the idea of oneness, says it's in opposition to many, and it occurs seven times, which is rather interesting here in Paul's message, speaks of the complete man, if you will. The idea to become one as a husband and a wife, those separate, their thinking is one. God has called us to no longer be two, but one with each other, in our service to him, in our attitudes, in our way of life, in our thinking, that's what brings us together as one. Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave, join together, not physically, in our thinking, in our character, in our attitude, in our way of brother and sisters, right? Unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. You know, when we think of us Christians and Christadelphians, indeed we are separated from the world with this sense of oneness, and Paul again spoke brilliantly of this in Romans 12. When we talk about love this morning, he says let it be without dissimulation. Regard with disgust and hate that which is evil and cleave to that which is good. The idea of clinging together with the things of God and what he has expounded to us, how we should live and what we must do, and if we're not in association with the word of God, how can we? If it doesn't fall in our minds and affect our thinking, how can we do that? That's what separates us from the rest of the world around us. Not that we're better in any way than them, but because our thinking has been transformed as Paul calls us to be. Not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed how Paul says in Romans 12, 1 and 2, by the renewing of our minds, brothers and sisters. We have got to change the way we think. As this word of God falls upon our hearts and upon our minds daily, that we might be the disciple that God and Christ expects us to be. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. That's not the world. The world is selfish and it thinks about itself only. But we are called to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate you, right? The natural man doesn't have the ability to do that. It's our association with the word of God that we have downloaded onto our computer, that we can reference it for the information when we're faced with varied types of situations in our lives that makes us different than the rest of the world. Be of the same mind, Paul says, one towards another. It's all about how our minds are affected by the word of God that brings about the difference in our attitudes, in our lifestyles, in our characters, and in our way of life. Philippians, again Paul writes, Philippi only let your conversation be as become the gospel of Christ. That whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in the one spirit, one mind, striving together, not as separate together as one. And finally in 1 Peter, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one to another, love as brethren, pitiful, courteous. So the Bible is very much instructed in our minds and what we're doing with it as we live in a world that stops at nothing to convince us of its point of view. There's a fierce battle of the mind that goes on in our heads daily. The big question against a world where 80% of our thoughts are negative is how do we as an individual, as a sister, deal with these daily challenges? As a man thinketh, the writer to the proverb says, in his heart, so is he. The writer to the James, James says, let no one say when he's tempted and being tempted of God, by God rather, for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. We all live in a world where temptations are never-ending. We face with them in every environment in which we dwell, in our school, in our homes, in our workplaces. How do we deal with that brothers and sisters on a daily basis when those things fall upon our hearts and upon our minds or come up against us? How do we deal with them? Our Lord and master, Jesus Christ, showed us exactly how to deal with it. He was a man of like passions. He was in all points, Paul says, tempted like as we are. There is no temptation that we have experienced or we can experience in this life that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was not faced with in his own personal life. What then separates him from us? Why can he live a life that was completely perfect and just and upright? And why can't we do the same? We're in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And so, I was forced to look at Jesus Christ to see what it is in him that separates him from us. And how can we, learning from that, be better disciples, be better sons and daughters, be better individuals, fits towards for God's kingdom? What can we learn from the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Now, we remember the occasion when our Lord and master was tempted after he fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And when we go through, and in the interest of time, I will not dissect all the verses here, but I'd like us to look at the response when Jesus was tempted. In every case, brothers and sisters, he used the word of God as the basis to determine what his actions and what his thoughts were. The basis of it, he referenced it. How could he if he didn't have the word of God in his life at the first? It is because he spent his life and his time and marinated his mind every day of his life with the things of God that he was able to overcome every single challenge, every single temptation. And we see the evidence. Man shall live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. It is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve. And then interestingly, Matthew 4 .11 says, then the devil leave at him, the thoughts left him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. What happens to you and I when we are faced with temptations in our lives? What's our reference point? How do we work things out logically in our minds? Do we satisfy flesh first by just reacting as what flesh does without thinking? The limbic portion of our minds kicking in immediately, and we haven't taken the time to work things out logically within our minds. I remember the words of our brother Bob Lloyd, for those of you who know him. And I remember as a young boy when I was in Guyana in 1997, there about brother Bob came and he, very demonstrative and wonderful speaker that leaves such a lasting impression in our hearts and minds. And I remember him giving me a little thing that he called it to it. And at the back of it had the kingdom of God. And he says, did you hear about the kingdom of God, young man? Are you baptized? And at the point in time, I wasn't. Have you got a run to it? I said, no, brother Bob, but he says, here, you got one now. You got one now. And that left an indelible impression in my heart and in my mind. And I remember reading one of his writings, I'm sure it was in the minute meditations, where he says, whenever you're faced with temptations, ask yourself, what would Jesus do? And if we all can take a moment to ask ourselves what Jesus would do in those varied type situations that we're faced with, not different than he was, our choices and our decisions in life will be so much different brothers and sisters, wouldn't it? But lots of times we're so self-centered, we're so selfish, wanting to please our own desires and our own flesh and our own lusts that we act accordingly. And before you know it, we end up doing the wrong thing, making the wrong choice and the wrong decisions in our lives. And so, we ought to use our brains then and fill it with the right things while we have the opportunity and while we have the time. Whatever is happening in our brains, in our thoughts, in our hearts, in our minds, are subsequently reflected in all of our actions. If I were to put it another way, brothers and sisters, all of the actions of every single human being has been preceded by a thought. We think of it first and then we act. If we can only learn to manage our emotions and use the word of God to overcome the negative thoughts that constantly plagues us in life, there is no way we'll do the wrong things that displeases God. Therefore means the disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, every moment we have, every opportunity that we have, the time that we have, and we all have different things to do. Yes, brothers and sisters, we do. But the one thing that God has given to all of us, the common commodity that he has given to us, is time, 24 hours a day. To you and to me, the difference in our lives is how we use that time. That's the difference. I would say moreover, the relationship that we all have with our Lord and our Heavenly Father are different. And the quality of that relationship is determined on the time we invest in that relationship to know him. We hear the common phrase in life, I don't have time. There's an older brother of my ecclesia when I got baptized at the first as a young brother, busy in life, and I often use that phrase. Did you do this, brother Nigel? I'll get wrong to it, but I didn't have the time. And he pulled me aside one day and he said, brother, God has given you 24 hours a day. Do you know how much he has given to me? 24 hours a day. And that's all the time that God has given to us. So when we use the phrase, I didn't have the time, it's not true. God has given you all of it. What you do with it is what makes a difference in our lives. And that has stuck with me ever since, brothers and sisters. I wake up in the morning at two o'clock just so I can get through the readings. And some think I'm crazy. But I know that if I wait until I get home in the afternoon, I don't have the capacity to sit and read God's word. I'm too tired. I'm too exhausted from my daily chores, trending back and forth, two hour trip, one went to New York City. There was no way on that four hour day. So I choose, I make a conscious choice to do it because my relationship with God is vitally important as we traverse this pathway that leads to God's kingdom. And so as we come together as an ecclesia, as a people, as an individual brother and sister, we're all on this road towards God's kingdom now. And God wants us to be a part of his kingdom. Do we? And if so, what are we doing with our lives and our time? And how are we letting it affect us, affect our thinking that we might do that which is good and pleasing and just and upright in the eyes of God? Abraham wasn't born with the faith that we see at the end of his life. Neither was Isaac nor Jacob. We think of David meditating upon the word of God day and night, day and night. There was a reason brothers and sisters, they invested so much time in the word of God because it affected change in their lives. David was considered a man after God's own heart, not because he was perfect, but because whatever he did and God's judgment against him, whether he was right or whether he was wrong, he agreed with God principles every time and he strived to be a better man every day. So must we. And we've got to continue to think of the things of God and massage our minds with it daily, fill our hearts with it daily, write it onto our peripheral mind or computer so that when things happen in our lives, we can reference the right source of information. And if it's not the word of God, what it is in your life and in my life. And so I'd like to enclose and leave you with these thoughts, brothers and sisters. The words of the apostle Paul to Philippi. For whatever life brings upon us, through the many varied situations and circumstances, that we all face as human beings, that we all face as individuals, that we all face as disciples of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul said, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think, think, think, brothers and sisters, of these things. It is the only way we can bring forth fruit. It is only where the word of God affects our minds in a way that we can be fruitful and bring forth some 30, some 60, some 104. The fruit of the spirit as it were, not the works of the flesh, but the fruit of the spirit, which is love in our lives. Thank you.