Sermon Central
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Christ In Your Mind Series
Contributed by John Dobbs on Jul 9, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Christ is the Center of Everything and Everything relates to the way we think about things. Our thoughts, our heart, our mind - this is the core of who we are. And Christ is at the center of this also.
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Christ and Your Mind
Colossians 3:1-11
Introduction
Christ is in the Center of Everything!
The Center of our Faith and Prayers
He is our only hope - Christ in you, the hope of glory!
He is at the Center because of who He is.
He gives us the power to see it through by making us alive in Christ when we were baptized, forgiven, and given victory through the cross.
Christ is the Center of Everything and Everything relates to the way we think about things. Our thoughts, our heart, our mind - this is the core of who we are. And Christ is at the center of this also. But that is especially challenging these days.
*A recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the pandemic had negatively
affected the mental health of 56 percent of adults.
*In April, texts to a federal emergency mental-health line were up 1,000 percent from the year
before.
*The situation is particularly dire for certain vulnerable groups—health-care workers, COVID-19 patients with severe cases, people who have lost loved ones—who face a significant risk of post-traumatic stress disorder.
*While the pandemic affects our mental state more than we probably realize, it’s always been true that the daily life of the Christian spills over from the mind.
*That, along with all the other issues and pressures of life can occupy our minds. We do have to think through things, but at the center, our mind should be centered on Christ.
Keeping Christ in the center of our mind is a practical matter that requires our attention. Three ways to keep your mind on Christ:
1. SET YOUR HEARTS ON THINGS ABOVE (Colossians 3:1-4)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
This is the result of the truth we talked about last week. When we were baptized we adopted the identity of Jesus and made Him Lord of our lives. Our focus then rises from the things of this earth to the things Christ in heaven! This is the new perspective of the Christian - and we often forget it. We can get so caught up in our own temptations, the world, everything around us, that we forget important things like:
*We belong to a Kingdom that is not of this earth.
*We live in the shadow of a returning Messiah.
*We live under a different set of guidelines in life
*We walk through each day with hopes that go beyond our own boundaries
*Philippians 3:20 ...Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
*The heart is our mind - the inner life we live every day. It is crucial to point that inner life to the beauty and truth of Jesus Christ.
Love God (Matthew 22:37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’)
Love Others Have the mind of Christ toward one another (Romans 15:5, Philippians 2:5)
Live with the outlook that we will see Jesus (1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.)
Keeping our mind on things above doesn’t mean we ignore the things and people around us, it means we adopt the loving view that God has for all people!
Keep your mind on Christ by setting your heart on things above… and...
2. Moving Away From the Life of the Past (Colossians 3:5-9)
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
We are always in a battle. Set of books “Every Man's Battle”. This is why it does not behoove us to have a judgmental spirit - we’ve all got our battles to fight. When we give in to them, God is not pleased with us. We are to be moving away from the life we lived in the past before we devoted ourselves to following Christ.
