Knowing God Series

Think, Act, Be like Jesus

Knowing God

Colossians 2:6-8

Introduction-

This morning we begin a new series Think, Act, Be like Jesus. It came to me as I read a book by the same title by Randy Frazee. So if this helps you, it is a combination of God’s Holy Spirit, God’s anointing, Randy Frazee, and my thoughts. End result is that God gets all the glory.

One of things that I see as a pastor is that we give out teachings, people agree that they need to make some changes but struggle being able to make those changes.

If I asked you do you want to be more like Jesus, I would hope that you would have a sincere yes an answer.

The difference of what is in our head and what is in our heart is the longest 12 inches known to man. Be able to get head knowledge down to the heart is the difference of weather you will live out your beliefs.

There are a lot of things we know we should or should not do in our heads, but stopping or putting into actions begins that struggle within us.

I think that is why people struggle coming to church on a consistent manner. College kids leave the nest and go off to school and all their fears are never settled and all those questions go unanswered.

You have to be able to address your fears and have your questions answered. Now this does not miraculously happen without your participation.

So what I hope happens is that you and I get honest about where we are with God and we will actively participate in a study of God’s Word that takes His Word from head knowledge to your heart and answers questions that you are diligently seeking answers for. Say Amen.

To Be like Jesus would be our virtues.

Virtues by definition Is our behavior of keeping high standards.

To be like Jesus would be to take His virtues and lives them in our lives, that is God’s design for our lives.

To think like Jesus- it is our beliefs.

To believe something is not enough, you must believe it as a way of life.

Act like Jesus is practices and disciplines such as Bible studies, engaging community, worship, prayer, and sharing our faith.

That is what we will be looking at in this series

Setting our standards and moral lives to the standard God desires of us and living it out in our beliefs, and producing disciplines that will keep us strong in our faith and accomplishing what God wants for us. Say amen, and let’s go!

Thinking like Jesus- just saying that makes me feel inadequate, how about you?

I have been a Christian for a long time, but I have a past, I have issues, I have shortcomings, I have kids and a family, I have weaknesses, I have an attitude. All these things keep me from thinking like Jesus, because all of these things show my imperfections.

Thinking like myself will never get me close to thinking like Jesus ( repeat )

God tells us that we need a renewed mind.

We cannot think like Jesus unless we have the mind of Christ, and the only way we can do that is let Jesus renew or change the way that we think.

Text- Colossians 2:6-8

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than in Christ.

As you journey in your Christian walk with the Lord, your goal is to allow God to renew or change your thinking about the truths of God.

The first truth to thinking like God is to know the God you claim as savior.

“Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your life in him.”

Christ has saved us from the penalty of our sins,

He adopted us into the family of God because of what Christ has done for us.

We had to go from knowing about Jesus to Jesus being the center of our lives.

There is a big difference between knowing of Jesus and having a relationship with Jesus.

Randy Frazee says

“Every thought, action, and virtue produced from our renewed and redeemed mind and heart is born from and empowered by the presence of God. (That is a mouth full)

For us to have the correct belief in God we have to put God in His rightful place and we have to understand what Jesus has done for us.