Tired Thinking Part 2 Series

Tired Thinking

Our Thoughts Are Not God’s Thoughts

Scriptures: Isa. 55:8-9; 61:1; Luke 4:18; Pro. 3:5-6; Rom. 10:8-9

Introduction:

This is part two of my message on “Tired Thinking” and as promised last week, I want to address the issue of a broken heart. Last week I shared with you the stories of my good friend and my father. In those stories were illustrations of how powerful our minds are and how our spirit man can overrule the requests of our fleshly man (our minds). In part one I shared with you the differences between having a thought and the process of thinking. Both of these take place in what we often refer to as our minds and what the Bible refers to as our hearts. For this reason Paul recommended that we needed to renew our minds bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Whatever thoughts come into your mind that is not of God needs to be “caught, suppressed, and brought before the Word.” It is through this process that we will begin to renew how we think and not be conformed to this world.

Isaiah 61:1 says “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.” This is what Jesus read when He entered the synagogue in Nazareth. This is where I wish to focus this morning – healing the brokenhearted.

I. Healing the Brokenhearted

When Jesus went to Nazareth, as His custom was, He went to synagogue on the Sabbath. He stood up to read and He read Isaiah 61:1. Luke 4:18 says “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” He read this section for the purpose of letting those present know that this scripture had been fulfilled in their presence. Please take a moment and focus on the sentence “He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted.” I want you to think about what it means to be brokenhearted. I spent some time during the last two weeks meditating on what it means to be brokenhearted. We think about this often as it relates to relationship. Something bad happens in a relationship and one person’s heart is broken. There is pain, hurt, and a shifting that possibly takes place in that relationship. When we are younger our hearts are often broken until we enter into the next relationship. However, as adults it’s not that easy. You see, when you research what it truly means to be brokenhearted, it carries a long lasting impact on the person and how the person thinks. To understand this we need to understand how the word “heart” is used in the Bible as often it is not the physical organ. Turn to Proverbs 3:5-6 so I can illustrate this.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall make your paths straight.” The Hebrew word for heart in this verse is “Leb.” It means “the feelings, the will, the understanding and even the intellect – the center of everything.” In other words, this word denotes the core of a person – what makes you you and me me! This verse is one of many examples of where this word is used. These verses speak of our decision to trust God with what makes us who we are – our hearts – our mental capacity. It’s not the physical organ; it’s everything that makes us unique – how we think and feel. We turn this over to God. Now turn to Romans 10:8-9 so I can show you how it is often used in the New Testament.

The New Testament word for heart is “Kardia.” Like the Old Testament word Leb, it means “the thoughts or feelings (mind); man’s entire mental and moral activity.” This word is used in Romans 10:8-9 which say, “But what does it say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” What Paul is saying that we make a choice to accept Christ with the core of who we are – our minds – turning over to Him our thoughts and mental activity. We believe in Christ with that part of us that makes decisions! This is why simply getting baptized does not save us! We get baptized because we have already accepted Christ and are saved! Paul states that this decision to believe and accept Christ comes from our heart.