Renewing Your Mind Series

RENEWING THE MIND

INTRODUCTION

1. Beloved of Jesus Christ, what a wonderful day that this is. A definite gift from God. What a wonderful Savior that I have.

2. Is He your savior too? I pray that He is Beloved, as it would be too much to live without Him, as the whim of the devil and at the whim of the people of this world.

3. As we continue in our Christian Walk series, I want to discuss with you a discipline that we really need to get down.

4. Beloved, if anyone wants to be the best at anything, he needs to show discipline in his training, learning and conditioning. If you don’t believe me, just watch an athlete and see the torture that he goes through to achieve the prize.

4. The first discipline that we discussed, was that we needed to make the conscious decision to follow Jesus Christ. It was not something that would just fall on us, or that we would feel. We also saw that we could not totally rely on feeling, as it would lead us astray.

5. Secondly we saw that we needed to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and Make Him Lord of our Lives, not just our Savior. We saw that only in being close to Jesus, our shepherd, could we be kept safe.

6. Today, we are going to discuss the next step in our Christian Walk, that is so important. Let me just say, that we cannot swap these around, we need to perfect them in this order, or as we work out our salvation, we will leave out an important ingredient, and we will fail.

7. There is however, a terrible tragedy that many people face today.

I. THE 21ST CENTURY CHRISTIAN’S TRAGEDY

A. The Carnal Christian Of Today.

1. Dearly Beloved of Jesus Christ, what is the most important thing that we should be trying to achieve in this life? Is it trying to amass large sums of money, is it trying to have long life, is it trying to be popular or perhaps it is trying to have a large church building.

2. Beloved, non of these things will ever amount to anything. They are temporal, and only last for the time while we are hear on this earth. In fact the Jesus warns us in MT 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

3. In the 21st Century, it is hard to be a true Christian. There are many who make the claim that they are a Christian, and yet their very lives betray that they are not. 2TI 3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

B. The Most Damaging Lie Ever

1. Now I don’t know your walk with Jesus Christ, all I can do is judge the fruits of your life that are evident to me. How you live your Christian walk is not my decision, it is yours, but one thing I do want to say to you today is, “Do not lie to yourself.” You see, there are many in this world who live a lie, and they are not truthful to themselves. Wouldn’t it be terrible to arrive in front of Jesus and hear that you had believed a lie all this time, and now you cannot go back.

2. Here is the truth from God’s own Word. You are clever enough, so you interpret what it says, no one has to be told what it means. John says 1JN 2:4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

3. Wow, heavy stuff, but this is the truth, and it is the lie that is being spouted by false prophets out there, who are leading people astray. They say, “Just believe, you can act however you want, but just believe and you will be saved.” THIS IS A LIE, IT IS NOT THE TRUTH.