back to index2022-06-19 Where is your Mind
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Can you turn with me to Philippians chapter 4? 00:00:13.000 |
This sermon isn't about fathers, but I hope that because it's to everyone, and I guess 00:00:18.560 |
it includes you, make sure to pick up the photo frames and the gift, and you are very 00:00:24.240 |
Hope you feel very loved by your family this day. 00:00:28.520 |
Now, we're not going to read this just yet, but I wanted to open by kind of mentioning 00:00:34.880 |
the title of the sermon, "Where is Your Mind?" 00:00:38.760 |
And the thought of what we're thinking upon is so much more than just the passing thoughts. 00:00:45.240 |
The question I'm asking is more the passage we're going to be looking at, which is what 00:00:50.740 |
What have we been largely, regularly, deeply thinking about lately? 00:00:57.600 |
And those are the things that are going to be very important for us to consider, especially 00:01:01.120 |
in this day and age where we're constantly bombarded by all the noise of culture and 00:01:07.720 |
It doesn't matter, like if we're not on technology, we're just constantly being bombarded by so 00:01:13.520 |
And we have to be made aware of this and understand that as things are coming, if we're just passively 00:01:19.560 |
allowing these things to wash over us and there is no movement there, and then we come 00:01:23.880 |
to God to worship and say that we surrender our lives to Him without actively surrendering 00:01:28.600 |
our thoughts and our thinking and our dwelling and our meditating, then we are in for a losing 00:01:34.960 |
And so I wanted to address this today, especially in the realm, I guess, of like the smartphone. 00:01:41.200 |
Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, we have things just in us. 00:01:45.000 |
I know a lot of us have those earbuds, constantly music and podcasts. 00:01:50.200 |
You're in the car and you're listening to things. 00:01:52.840 |
It's very difficult to find yourself in a place where there's nothing to kind of bombard 00:01:58.400 |
There's that common fear nowadays where if you go to the bathroom, you don't have your 00:02:03.160 |
You know, there's those kind of fears that are there. 00:02:05.720 |
And it's because of this generation that we live in. 00:02:08.480 |
But it is not, I don't think it's the Bible's silent about it. 00:02:18.360 |
A man by the name Alistair Begg, he says this, he says, "Our thoughts reveal more about the 00:02:23.520 |
true character of our lives than any other thing. 00:02:26.760 |
When our actions follow our thinking, then we give testimony to our thoughts. 00:02:30.280 |
But when we conceal our thoughts known only to God and ourselves, they are a true monitor 00:02:35.280 |
And I think that was very convicting a statement because we can very easily change our words 00:02:43.000 |
and we can present ourselves to one another, but our thoughts are our thoughts. 00:02:47.360 |
What we're dwelling on, honestly speaking, I have no idea what you've been dwelling on 00:02:54.560 |
And if we're to look around, how many people know what you've been actually actively thinking 00:03:05.120 |
On the other hand, they might know very well what you've been dwelling on, right? 00:03:10.680 |
And that's not so much a comfort either because you're always angry, you know, or like you're 00:03:15.980 |
always like talking about this thing that you've been dwelling on. 00:03:20.840 |
And so there are these things about our thoughts that I think I wanted to just really address 00:03:25.560 |
today because it's been something that has constantly been plaguing me, especially, not 00:03:31.760 |
selective to, but especially the last few years and the craziness that we've been seeing 00:03:37.480 |
So again, title of the sermon, "Where is Your Mind?" 00:03:41.360 |
It's going to require you to ask this of yourself. 00:03:43.920 |
Like what have you been actively dwelling on? 00:03:46.840 |
What are these recurring thoughts, these things that have been captivating your attentions 00:03:51.320 |
and your motivations have been being affected by your thoughts? 00:03:55.360 |
These things that have causing emotions to erupt inside of you, what is that? 00:04:00.680 |
And the question that follows that is, are they appropriate to the Christian? 00:04:06.960 |
Have they been causing in you the fruit of the Spirit? 00:04:10.520 |
Can you say, looking at the thoughts of your heart, that this is unto God's glory? 00:04:17.400 |
That these thoughts are actively, I can see the change and the good that it causes in 00:04:24.080 |
Let me read for us Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. 00:04:28.040 |
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever 00:04:33.960 |
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and 00:04:38.680 |
if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 00:04:41.560 |
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things 00:04:48.160 |
Heavenly Father, I pray that we would be a thinking, dwelling people. 00:04:53.840 |
But the things in which we think and dwell upon would be the things that pertain to You. 00:05:04.320 |
Holy Spirit, we need You to be changing us inside. 00:05:08.040 |
And Father, would You cause us to be people who would obediently respond. 00:05:21.440 |
And what I mean by this is that as humans, we dwell on things. 00:05:26.720 |
And that's the word that's being talked about there at the end of verse 8 when it says, 00:05:35.220 |
Now this passage, it begins with, "Finally, brethren." 00:05:38.200 |
And the reason why it's because this is kind of an umbrella term and it kind of starts 00:05:41.840 |
to push together everything that he's been talking about. 00:05:44.840 |
We find that word also in the beginning of chapter 3. 00:05:47.840 |
And so he's using it as a device to help kind of push everything together and say, "Here 00:05:56.120 |
And he delves into these things that he calls us to think upon. 00:06:00.600 |
Philippians chapter 1 through 3, we already saw and many of us are very familiar that 00:06:05.300 |
the Apostle Paul is writing this in the presence of when he's in prison, right? 00:06:09.460 |
And so he's displaying to the church of Philippi the hope that he has and what he desires for 00:06:16.220 |
And that's a very challenging thing for people who are living their lives to be receiving 00:06:20.380 |
a letter from a brother who's in jail, right, who's been suffering. 00:06:32.580 |
So challenging because you begin to look at your lives like, "What right do I have in 00:06:39.420 |
the presence that I'm in to not be joyful when Paul's in prison saying, 'Be joyful.'" 00:06:46.740 |
And so, but that's kind of what's going on here. 00:06:48.340 |
And then in Philippians chapter 4 verse 1, at the beginning there, I think that imperative, 00:06:53.180 |
"Stand firm, therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see my joy in my crown. 00:06:57.860 |
In this way, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." 00:07:00.500 |
That imperative pushes off into a litany of other imperatives that I think all fall under 00:07:08.100 |
He's telling them how not to just be taken this way and that way, how to be resolute 00:07:19.260 |
How it doesn't matter if we're up or we're down, if we're in places of dire need or we're 00:07:25.240 |
He's showing us what it looks like and how we're called to live unmoving and stable because 00:07:46.160 |
To dwell, Paul knew that as humans we dwell on things. 00:07:54.920 |
We lay down in bed before sleeping and the thoughts just like this, chasing the tail. 00:08:01.560 |
And there are those who are just like very simple-minded. 00:08:04.640 |
You might think like, "Oh, I'm not a thinker." 00:08:20.640 |
In most other translations though, it just says think. 00:08:24.400 |
To think upon this list that we're going to be going into in a moment. 00:08:29.120 |
This word dwell means to calculate or to reason over, to ponder, to remember, to bear in mind. 00:08:35.820 |
It's something that's so important to you that you're revisiting it multiple times over 00:08:44.240 |
When he's saying, "Think upon these things," he's saying, "Go deep into it." 00:08:50.000 |
Because as humans, going deep into things is what we do. 00:08:56.960 |
It's something that we've deemed worthy enough or important enough to think about. 00:09:00.480 |
It's to think about something in detail and logical manner. 00:09:05.240 |
Perhaps through the day we're thinking and we find ourselves browsing over the topic 00:09:09.760 |
Perhaps our checkbooks will display the things that we're thinking upon. 00:09:13.840 |
Perhaps our Google search histories will tell us the things that we're dwelling upon and 00:09:22.760 |
What is it that we've been hitting over and over and over again? 00:09:39.800 |
You go and then up through July something, I need to remember to cancel my subscription, 00:09:46.320 |
but you go and then every two hours you get a free drink. 00:09:49.040 |
In the beginning, I was like, "This is wonderful." 00:10:04.680 |
What I found is I found myself just looking at these teas because I have to kind of change 00:10:12.920 |
All these teas there, it was very interesting. 00:10:16.200 |
Because they don't have strings on them, they give you a tong. 00:10:21.240 |
You just kind of put it in scalding, like hot water. 00:10:28.200 |
When I first joined this club, I drank it in the beginning because I like hot tea. 00:10:33.040 |
Then when I drink it, I'm like, "Oh, that doesn't taste like it's steeped long enough." 00:10:38.520 |
Over time, I would figure out like, "Oh, I got to wait this much time before it's steeped 00:10:45.080 |
There were times when I would come back to it three hours later and take a sip and it's 00:10:51.840 |
When you look at it steeping, I think something very interesting is occurring because I think 00:11:03.360 |
I was just watching my tea bag steep and I'm like, "That's my heart." 00:11:13.480 |
Because we have a tendency with our hearts to really easily just kind of dip into things. 00:11:19.160 |
And whatever we dip into, whatever happens to them, nothing much happens. 00:11:28.800 |
If you were to be served tea that has been just... 00:11:31.440 |
It's an inflation and the Panera baristas are like, "Oh, we're running out. 00:11:35.800 |
And they just give you a dipped tea and they hand this thing over to you and drink it. 00:11:42.040 |
And so we know that when we look at this kind of tea, there's something that happens the 00:11:53.440 |
When he's saying, "Think upon, dwell, meditate, ruminate, ponder," he's saying actually steep 00:12:03.560 |
in it because our hearts are very much connected to our thinking. 00:12:10.280 |
In fact, when we think of our heart, when we think of what it means to give God our 00:12:15.640 |
heart, it's not that Western understanding of emotions. 00:12:21.760 |
We might even know that, but I don't think we all do that. 00:12:27.200 |
There are many of us who might come and say, "Here's my heart." 00:12:30.080 |
And what we're displaying, what we're giving up to God, what we're surrendering are our 00:12:35.820 |
And so when we say, "God, change our hearts," we're asking Him to change how I feel. 00:12:39.920 |
But I don't think the Bible talks about the heart just as our feelings. 00:12:45.700 |
It talks about the heart in the Bible as being emotions, your affections and your feelings, 00:12:49.960 |
but it also talks about your heart as being your will. 00:12:57.800 |
It's what you do, that your heart is very much connected to intention. 00:13:03.600 |
And then your mind, and that's what we're talking about here in this word, your thinking, 00:13:07.280 |
your logic, and your rationale, and all three of these things are intricately tied to your 00:13:12.840 |
heart, and they together make up your heart, and you cannot pull them apart from each other. 00:13:20.040 |
And so when we give up our hearts to God, it's all of it. 00:13:27.280 |
Now with your emotions, for example, then, how does it connect with your will? 00:13:31.240 |
Well, it connects with your will very clearly because when you're depressed, like what your 00:13:38.840 |
behavior looks like and how you act, the things you do, the decisions you make, all those 00:13:43.520 |
things become very much affected, don't they? 00:13:48.640 |
Depression will definitely affect your actions. 00:13:51.940 |
If you're in fear, it's going to cause you to act rashly or cautiously maybe. 00:13:56.040 |
If you're happy, it's going to cause you to act generously. 00:14:01.800 |
So you begin to base so much of your will and intention on how you feel. 00:14:06.800 |
Your emotions, though, also affect your thinking. 00:14:14.920 |
Their hearts are so emotional, so filled with feeling that they begin to talk nonsense, 00:14:20.320 |
And then it affects the way they live and it affects the way they think. 00:14:25.360 |
The love of their life started dating someone else and gets married to someone else. 00:14:28.960 |
And then just look at that person and see how it affects their thinking. 00:14:41.680 |
And you're like sitting there, you're like, "What are you talking about right now?" 00:14:45.760 |
You see like your affections begin to change your thinking. 00:14:52.320 |
All this to say, your thinking, and because that's what we're talking about today, the 00:14:54.800 |
thinking, the thinking actually affects your will. 00:14:58.480 |
And the thinking actually affects your emotions. 00:15:01.880 |
Because this all has to do with the control center of the human being, the heart. 00:15:05.960 |
In Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, let's look at it again. 00:15:08.200 |
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, 00:15:11.440 |
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything 00:15:14.960 |
worthy of praise, dwell, think, meditate, ruminate upon the things that were just written 00:15:28.480 |
And this necessitates a couple of things because number one, if it's a command, it's a command. 00:15:39.320 |
It's not something where he says, "Think about it," and then go like, "Okay, like come back 00:15:54.440 |
But also, a second thing that comes up with this is that we're given a choice. 00:16:01.600 |
We're given this choice there to obey or to disobey. 00:16:09.320 |
The command is here because of the threat that there is to the human mind. 00:16:13.360 |
In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, it says, "In whose case the God of this world has blinded 00:16:18.960 |
the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the 00:16:26.200 |
Now, he could have easily have said, the Apostle Paul here, "In whose case the God of this 00:16:36.320 |
Or he could have just said, "He's blinded them." 00:16:38.560 |
But he specifically says, "He's blinded the minds of the unbelieving." 00:16:44.160 |
"So that they might not see the light of the gospel." 00:16:47.120 |
And then he says something very interesting, "Who is the image of God." 00:16:50.440 |
So what that means is there's something intricately connected with our thinking and with our sight, 00:16:58.000 |
With our thinking, with what we perceive to be reality. 00:17:05.600 |
And so when we fill our thoughts with something, will it not affect us? 00:17:14.000 |
That's why sometimes we know something is right or wrong, and we will continue to do 00:17:18.840 |
maybe what is wrong, even though we know in our thought process that this is wrong. 00:17:29.760 |
Here it's saying that Satan is blinding the minds of the unbelieving people so that they 00:17:38.920 |
In Psalm 115 verse 4, see what happens to the unbelieving people. 00:17:43.200 |
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. 00:18:01.720 |
Those who make these idols will become like them, everyone who trusts in them. 00:18:06.640 |
I like to think about this as like the unbelieving way of sanctification. 00:18:10.800 |
It's like the believer's way of sanctification where we're going to look at that in just 00:18:14.400 |
a moment where we're sanctified into the image of Christ, but with the unbelieving people, 00:18:22.120 |
Now let me turn our attentions here to the believer because the believer can see, right? 00:18:35.480 |
We have seen all these things, and this is our reality. 00:18:38.560 |
So 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16, "Therefore," it says, "we do not lose heart, but though 00:18:44.240 |
our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 00:18:48.360 |
For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond 00:18:52.680 |
all comparison while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are 00:18:58.800 |
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 00:19:03.800 |
And verse 18, we come across a choice because this is talking to the believer, and he's 00:19:12.600 |
saying we look not at the things which are seen. 00:19:19.880 |
We are people of light, and we're thinking, "But at the things which are not seen," right? 00:19:30.000 |
So right before this, in 2 Corinthians 3, he says, "But we all, with unveiled face, 00:19:36.240 |
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same 00:19:39.840 |
image from glory to glory, justice from the Lord, the Spirit." 00:19:44.400 |
Now I bring up all this because for the believer, there is an intentional choice we can make 00:19:50.840 |
to behold and to see and to think, to ruminate upon and to dwell on. 00:19:59.920 |
And there's something about the clearer sight that we have of God that causes us to become 00:20:06.960 |
Now my question to you is this, what happens when the believer, not the unbeliever, when 00:20:12.200 |
the believer chooses to dwell upon the worldly things? 00:20:22.880 |
Well for the unbeliever, it says, "They become like them." 00:20:35.160 |
And so what we're called to hear with this idea of the mind is to, when we say we want 00:20:40.040 |
to give God our whole hearts, we need to give Him everything we're thinking, everything 00:20:50.300 |
And this is powerful because I think what many times what we try to do is give Him our 00:20:59.360 |
And we have our hands up, I say, "I surrender." 00:21:01.400 |
But how can God take a portion of your heart? 00:21:11.680 |
We cannot say, "Change this," but I get to think upon the things I want to think upon. 00:21:20.540 |
No, it works in obedience to what's happening. 00:21:27.180 |
That's why in Matthew 22, verse 37, it says, "You shall love the Lord your God." 00:21:33.380 |
Actually, how sad a thing it is that He can't stop there. 00:21:39.080 |
This should be a given to us, but He describes it with all your heart, and He describes it 00:21:43.940 |
some more with all your soul, and with all your mind. 00:21:49.860 |
We can just look at this and be like, "Hey, let's wipe this all together," and just be 00:21:55.020 |
True, but let's take this time to think about it. 00:21:57.660 |
It's all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. 00:22:00.500 |
Let's consider the mind because it's part of your heart. 00:22:06.700 |
And so to dwell is a command to us to think in a different way because it affects our 00:22:12.460 |
hearts and it's mentioned quite frequently in Scripture if we were to look at it. 00:22:15.820 |
Colossians chapter 3, verse 1, "Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep 00:22:18.620 |
seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:22:22.620 |
Set your," not heart, but set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are 00:22:29.380 |
Romans 8, 5, "For those who are according to the flesh, set their minds on the things 00:22:33.500 |
Those who are according to the things of the Spirit, for the mind set on the flesh is death, 00:22:37.460 |
but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. 00:22:40.060 |
Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself 00:22:44.820 |
to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. 00:22:47.660 |
And those who are in the flesh cannot please God." 00:22:52.140 |
Romans 12, 2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing 00:22:56.140 |
of your," again, it's your mind, "so that you may prove what is the will of God, that 00:23:02.260 |
Even taking a moment to look at this, "That so that will show you that you cannot discern 00:23:07.580 |
what is good and acceptable and perfect unless your mind is being renewed." 00:23:15.060 |
Second Corinthians 10, 3, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the 00:23:19.660 |
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction 00:23:24.540 |
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, 00:23:28.500 |
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 00:23:32.660 |
And we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete." 00:23:36.740 |
It's talking about speculations, it's talking about knowledge, it's talking about taking 00:23:47.740 |
And there are a lot of like, by the way, this isn't like a word study where all of these 00:23:51.060 |
words are the same words, but these words are very intricately coming together to show 00:24:11.780 |
Have Christian godly thoughts been things we dip into like this? 00:24:18.660 |
I'm going to list out some things that maybe, I tried to get a wide array here, maybe it's 00:24:27.600 |
And music has been so, especially with the invention of the smartphone and wireless capabilities 00:24:37.100 |
You can now like put in your earbuds and be listening to music or even podcasts or whatever, 00:24:42.600 |
You're listening to it and then you get in the car and it automatically sometimes connects 00:24:48.440 |
And it's almost hard nowadays to get the quiet, right? 00:24:58.000 |
We could be distracted and thinking upon fashion. 00:25:01.600 |
This is not something I very much, for me it's like maybe like more like gadgetry. 00:25:07.200 |
We go into these things and we go on websites and we just start scrolling and looking and 00:25:12.640 |
And many of us know the lyrics to songs, 50 of them, or the capabilities of these gadgets 00:25:19.720 |
or the latest trends so much more in a deeper way than we know scripture, right? 00:25:27.880 |
It's kind of sad, but like there is a lot of that where we're able to kind of push out 00:25:40.600 |
Have we been dwelling on the things of God like we dwell on these things? 00:25:47.940 |
This is like, "Hey, let's just really think about what we've been thinking about." 00:25:51.200 |
Movies, getting lost in these imaginary worlds. 00:25:54.720 |
I know there are some movies that when you're in it, when you come out of it, you're like 00:25:57.480 |
dazed because you feel like you've been in a different world for three hours. 00:26:01.600 |
But there's a lot of this I thought was like so interesting. 00:26:04.320 |
When my wife and I were watching like one of, I think it was the latest Spider-Man movie, 00:26:08.760 |
somebody told us we needed to know, or we read it somewhere or something, we needed 00:26:14.360 |
to know all the other 50 Spider-Man movies that were out there. 00:26:17.760 |
And so we're like, "How are we supposed to do that?" 00:26:19.960 |
And then I remember looking up one of the recap things, but they were like, they would 00:26:24.840 |
You know where you scroll and then that little bar thing goes only a little? 00:26:27.560 |
Like, "Oh my gosh, this thing's really long." 00:26:29.720 |
And so somebody sent us a YouTube video, and the YouTube video of recaps of all the other 00:26:39.040 |
And it's just, we can get lost in these worlds even. 00:26:43.200 |
Shows, dramas, many people are into K-dramas and it sucks you in. 00:26:55.600 |
You look at these things and when it ends, you feel like your friends have died. 00:26:59.640 |
Like we're so deep into these things because we're dwelling. 00:27:07.040 |
I'm not saying it's wrong to do these things. 00:27:08.840 |
I'm just saying, "Hey, can we travel together here and wonder what it is that we've been 00:27:16.720 |
Is this too like childish to talk about video games here? 00:27:20.160 |
I don't think so because video games goes up to old ages now. 00:27:27.240 |
As a youth pastor, I remember just being like, "What is happening?" 00:27:32.360 |
I know I'm like, I'm still a young guy but like so quickly everything was changing. 00:27:36.080 |
I remember one of the girls, my former youth students was like talking about a cat game 00:27:40.920 |
where there's like a living room and you make this living room look really pretty and then 00:27:44.920 |
cats come and they hang out and then they leave. 00:27:47.600 |
And she said like, "Yeah, yeah, I have a problem Pastor Nate because I bought something." 00:27:51.320 |
I'm like, "What do you mean you bought something?" 00:27:53.880 |
I'm like, "What do you mean you bought a couch? 00:27:56.880 |
She's like, "Yeah, you spent real money to buy a couch on this game?" 00:28:02.560 |
And she was like, "I'm thinking about it too much." 00:28:05.360 |
A few weeks later she came up and she's like, "I deleted the whole thing." 00:28:09.480 |
She was like, "I was thinking too much about it." 00:28:12.000 |
I'm like, "Oh my gosh, we think so much about these things." 00:28:16.400 |
I'm right there with it because there was a time like I was really into like fantasy 00:28:20.600 |
football and fantasy basketball and things like that. 00:28:23.240 |
I'd be constantly thinking about it, constantly look up all the stats and it sucks you in. 00:28:29.640 |
One line, isn't it, between the dwelling, leisure, what about travel and vacation? 00:28:35.280 |
For those close enough to taste it, what about retirement? 00:28:40.760 |
Curating the best experiences that we can think of, devoting hours and hours, putting 00:28:47.600 |
And then we spend much time just looking at all the good places to eat, all the ways that 00:28:55.600 |
We're like just constantly thinking, "What are the best things that we can get out of 00:29:00.800 |
I'm not saying this is wrong, but we're all in this. 00:29:08.000 |
This is all around us, devoting hours and hours, fantasizing, weeks after weeks, months 00:29:17.840 |
That's my place I want to go to before I die. 00:29:21.280 |
That's where I want to go, ruminating, meditating, and dwelling, even more so than heaven? 00:29:28.440 |
You know, like there's a lot that we have to think about here. 00:29:31.120 |
In Hebrews 12, verse 1, it says, "Since we have, therefore, so great a cloud of witnesses 00:29:37.360 |
And let me take a moment here to remind us of what came before in Hebrews 11. 00:29:43.400 |
That he's saying, "Think about these cloud of witnesses of faith," right? 00:29:47.460 |
And he reminds us of what they walked and what they went through and how that ended 00:30:00.560 |
We take this back into our lives, and we're looking at this Hebrews 12, verse 1. 00:30:04.520 |
"We have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us who have such great things." 00:30:09.520 |
And then he says, "Let us also lay aside every encumbrance." 00:30:13.480 |
And then we think, like, what are our encumbrances? 00:30:22.040 |
How sad that it's sports and leisure and vacations. 00:30:29.640 |
That here, he's saying, "We must lay aside every encumbrance and the sin," so both things, 00:30:36.520 |
things that might distract us, "which so easily entangles us." 00:30:41.840 |
In 2 Timothy 2, verse 4, "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of 00:30:45.800 |
everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." 00:30:49.880 |
He's not saying it's wrong to entangle yourself in the affairs of everyday life. 00:30:54.280 |
He's saying it's wrong for the soldier, right? 00:30:57.080 |
It's not wrong to take a nap, but it is if you're in the midst of war and you're the 00:31:06.800 |
It's not wrong to partake in the things of this world. 00:31:12.680 |
Because we're saying a war is raging around us. 00:31:16.260 |
We are saying there is a lion here that has been uncaged, and he is prowling. 00:31:23.080 |
We're staring at this prowling lion, aren't we? 00:31:36.640 |
Like I don't think this is a place where he's telling us to dwell on these good things. 00:31:40.560 |
He is not sitting there telling us on all the bad things not to dwell on, right? 00:31:48.480 |
We have to pull this all out, because we have to think about this, because of how it's affecting 00:31:55.540 |
How much of us has gone into dwelling upon these worldly things that many of them aren't 00:32:00.760 |
in themselves bad or evil, but we can very clearly say that we have gotten caught up 00:32:05.680 |
in the affairs of everyday life, that we are getting tripped up by the encumbrances that 00:32:12.800 |
And so the command to us to dwell on the good things is a command also negatively to say 00:32:22.160 |
They're a necessary two sides of the coin thing. 00:32:31.760 |
It's like it's overused now, but CNN or Fox, right? 00:32:35.880 |
But I think nowadays it's like, "Oh, I'm not going to get caught this way or that way. 00:32:38.480 |
I'm going to be more balanced," and we found our independent news sources. 00:32:43.800 |
Find yourself dwelling, meditating on all these independent sources, constantly perusing 00:32:49.960 |
and feeling the need to stay up to date with everything that's happening in this world. 00:32:53.560 |
The thought of, "Oh, what about like children, the security of our children that we're getting 00:32:57.200 |
caught up dwelling on their futures and their success, their safety, because this world 00:33:02.960 |
Relationships, what about are we dwelling on friendships, investing in the realm of 00:33:08.880 |
What about romantic relationships, dwelling so much on certain individuals or dwelling 00:33:13.520 |
on the need to date or to get engaged or get married? 00:33:18.640 |
Also in the Christian sense that we can seek security in establishing something in front 00:33:22.280 |
of others, establishing relationships amongst peers or the church. 00:33:26.880 |
What about our careers, so invested in moving up the ladder, growing not in godly ambition 00:33:32.240 |
in career, but clearly and fleshly ambition in career, letting it bleed into the way we 00:33:37.520 |
feel about ourselves and how we present to others. 00:33:43.820 |
Yeah, Bitcoin and Ethereum, you've been like, "No, don't talk about that today. 00:34:04.820 |
We're looking at it and we're stressed about these things. 00:34:07.620 |
First John chapter 2 verse 15, he says, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the 00:34:13.380 |
Now, if we were commanded in Matthew 22, where all the commandments are, "Love the Lord your 00:34:17.540 |
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." 00:34:20.560 |
When he says, "Do not love the world," it means do not love the world with all your 00:34:24.500 |
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind as well. 00:34:27.900 |
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 00:34:30.540 |
And he's saying then that there is no arbitrary place. 00:34:34.260 |
There is no neutral ground that if you do not love God and the things of God, then you 00:34:38.180 |
are loving the world and the things of the world. 00:34:40.420 |
If you are not dwelling on God and the things of God, then you are dwelling on the things 00:34:43.460 |
of the world and the things that it has to offer. 00:34:47.100 |
He says in verse 16, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust 00:34:49.940 |
of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 00:34:53.340 |
The world is passing away, and also its lusts. 00:34:55.660 |
But the one who does the will of God lives forever." 00:35:03.780 |
Have you been dwelling on how bad the world is? 00:35:06.460 |
Chiming in with the chorus that this world is going down the drain. 00:35:13.540 |
Able to point out how wrong everyone else is. 00:35:16.320 |
To grab the people that we like to grab and say, "Boom! 00:35:24.100 |
And we continue bringing things in, into our world. 00:35:28.500 |
And building these things up where we're saturating ourselves and we're steeping in that. 00:35:39.500 |
Perhaps we've grown angry and constantly frustrated that there is no place of Christian joy that 00:35:45.900 |
When people look at us, they go, "Ah, that guy's always just not happy." 00:35:58.340 |
What about if you're able to keep your mouth shut? 00:36:03.140 |
Ultimately, it's only in a place of humility, right, where you begin to see where you've 00:36:11.780 |
been dwelling on the right things and not the wrong things. 00:36:14.180 |
You could say all the right things, but if you're coming from the wrong place, the whole 00:36:25.660 |
Have you been dwelling on sexually immoral things? 00:36:28.100 |
Now we can get into the realm of sinful stuff. 00:36:31.340 |
What do you think is going to happen when you're steeping in pornography? 00:36:37.100 |
What do you think is going to happen when you're constantly dwelling on things and you're 00:36:40.820 |
having to justify it's okay to watch this show despite the questionable morals, despite 00:36:46.300 |
the questionable scenes, and just look and be like, "No, but it's okay." 00:36:51.220 |
What do you think is going to happen to your heart when it's all connected? 00:37:02.900 |
Now here's the cool thing about today's passage. 00:37:06.420 |
It doesn't say anything about what I just said, right? 00:37:10.140 |
All the things we might have been steeping on. 00:37:11.860 |
The cool thing about today's passage is not just pounding about everything that we're 00:37:17.180 |
It's saying, it's reminding, it's commanding us to look at that which is beautiful. 00:37:24.700 |
So when we look at all the wrong things, it might not produce the righteousness of God 00:37:37.540 |
For the believer, we are given a choice to dwell and to ruminate on these things. 00:37:41.580 |
Now as a quick side note, we're not talking about positive thinking, Robert Shuler stuff, 00:37:46.140 |
We're not thinking like we have to, positive thinking is going to change us. 00:38:02.200 |
And whenever he gives a list, remember that he is giving special attention to each thing 00:38:06.620 |
It's not for us to say like, good things, godly things, let's just dwell on that. 00:38:13.100 |
If we're supposed to think and ruminate and meditate and saturate and seep and steep and 00:38:17.180 |
dwell on these things, then we have need to engage our minds and to look at each of these 00:38:23.100 |
And I know that our minds have become very American, like couch potato minds when it 00:38:29.500 |
I know that because when I came back to this passage and I was looking at each word again, 00:38:32.980 |
I had to exercise my mind again because I had forgotten. 00:38:43.460 |
That means pertaining to being real and not imaginary. 00:38:51.860 |
There have been people I've counseled who are like, well, like how do I know God loves 00:39:00.660 |
It's just, there are certain things about faith. 00:39:10.020 |
These things about faith, it's like, well, do you believe it? 00:39:13.380 |
You know, faith is an amazing thing because it's that perfect intersection between just 00:39:18.060 |
believing and then everything just becoming a reality as a result of that. 00:39:25.380 |
So when we're saying that, when Paul is saying that we must dwell on true things, we have 00:39:42.340 |
You know, you can like make this the results of any survey, however you want. 00:39:46.780 |
But they were polling a bunch of people and saying, what are the things that you're worried 00:39:55.100 |
And then they arbitrarily figured out like, oh, only 8% of those people had anxieties 00:40:07.260 |
But it's still an interesting thing because when we were to ask ourselves the question, 00:40:10.940 |
the things that we're anxious about, how much of that pertains to what we believe to be 00:40:26.540 |
Because when we steep ourselves in the truths of God, like our very reality changes, doesn't 00:40:35.660 |
When we're looking at the things of God and we're thinking about the things of God, I'm 00:40:40.860 |
not saying that we can come doctrinally to the correct conclusions. 00:40:44.980 |
But when we're steeping in it, something is different. 00:40:48.060 |
My home church where I grew up in, it was a lot more elderly people. 00:40:51.500 |
So I was at the hospital every month, and many, many deathbed visits. 00:40:59.980 |
One of the interesting things is, you know that thing where we say, if somebody is going 00:41:03.220 |
through a difficult time, don't say, "Trust God." 00:41:11.740 |
But there's something about it where it's like, but that's the truth, though. 00:41:14.060 |
And so somewhere in the midst of that conversation or one day, like if that person refuses to 00:41:18.180 |
trust God, we have to be able to say, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 00:41:22.740 |
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your path straight." 00:41:24.900 |
Because that's the conclusion that we believe in. 00:41:29.700 |
But what was really sobering to me was when I'd go to these deathbeds of some of these 00:41:33.100 |
individuals who have been walking with Christ for decades, I would go, and you know what 00:41:38.820 |
In a place where I would have to, I should be telling them, "Trust God." 00:41:41.700 |
They were looking at me, young man, and said, "Trust God." 00:41:47.940 |
These people have been steeping in this truth. 00:41:56.720 |
And they're not just saying it because it's a doctrine to them. 00:42:05.620 |
And like a teabag, they've been steeping in it over and over and over and over again. 00:42:09.940 |
So when you're a kid, it could be a cut finger that makes your whole life turn around. 00:42:18.100 |
But they've grown in this and steeping in the truth. 00:42:22.980 |
What would happen to us if we stopped believing in the lies of the enemy and the lies that 00:42:30.620 |
When the world says, "You must buy this thing." 00:42:44.460 |
We're resolved for one month, but in three months, there's our car, sparkly, right in 00:42:57.260 |
We might know, and then we start dwelling on those things, and look at what happens. 00:43:03.820 |
What's going to happen when you dwell on these truths? 00:43:06.040 |
If God is for us, then who can be against us? 00:43:12.780 |
How would it change our hearts if we believe in this truth for to us to live is Christ 00:43:19.760 |
If we were to ruminate in the truth, the world is passing away and all that is in it, unbelievers 00:43:32.700 |
How will our wills and our motives and our intentions and our behavior and our thoughts 00:43:36.020 |
and our affections, how would we change as people? 00:43:50.380 |
See, we have this thought of like, "Hey, your feelings do not dictate the truth." 00:44:03.180 |
We look at these things and we move into what is honorable, this idea of what is pertaining 00:44:09.140 |
to appropriate or good or dignified or respectable things. 00:44:15.500 |
Now we go into a realm of truth that shows you actually what is good, things that are 00:44:23.140 |
Some translations say noble things, elevated things. 00:44:36.420 |
He's saying not the trashy things of the world, not the mundane things, the temporal things 00:44:43.180 |
He's saying do not dwell upon the things that are just kind of passing away. 00:44:46.980 |
He is saying look and dwell and think about the eternal things, the lofty things. 00:44:53.760 |
Because if we believe it in here and we're just kind of thinking about it, "Yeah, I agree 00:44:57.060 |
with that," and we're doing the Christian head nod and we're not dwelling on it, what 00:45:00.940 |
do we think is going to come about as a result? 00:45:06.380 |
Every once in a while dipping into that water. 00:45:11.220 |
Think of what you're reading, partaking in when no one else is looking, what you watch 00:45:16.260 |
on TikTok, articles you're clicking into, what images you linger on, what things that 00:45:25.500 |
See, he's not telling you what not to look at, he's telling you what to look at. 00:45:30.460 |
If we're coming and saying like, "Well, I'm allowed to," but what he's saying is, "Well, 00:45:35.300 |
not like what I'm not allowed to do," he's saying like, "Look at the things that are 00:45:42.540 |
Because when you dwell on those things, these things fade. 00:45:51.580 |
We're called not to let dishonorable things control our thoughts. 00:45:56.140 |
When we steep on the honorable, our hearts change, our reactions change, and it shows 00:46:00.100 |
us the moments of reaction where we've been steeping. 00:46:05.580 |
One of them, I think it's familiar with a lot of us, like the freeway, you go on the 00:46:08.940 |
freeway and then like as soon as someone cuts you off, it shows you how you've been walking 00:46:17.020 |
Not when you're with your family or with somebody else in the car, but when you're by yourself. 00:46:23.940 |
That when you're ruminating and mulling and steeping on the things that are lofty and 00:46:27.700 |
honorable and good, respectable, noble, just these things that are of God, someone cuts 00:46:37.500 |
That shows you where your heart has been steeping. 00:46:40.420 |
Do not let yourself be fooled into thinking that you can believe yourself to be a double-minded 00:46:44.740 |
person, that with a group of people, you can say all these lofty things about God, and 00:46:49.700 |
then in these situations, in these places of the hidden heart, there aren't honorable 00:46:56.500 |
That's not right, and you cannot give that kind of heart to God. 00:47:03.400 |
What is right, the ESV says what is just, the things that are right, that which are 00:47:07.940 |
morally right, the holy things that conform to God's commands. 00:47:14.400 |
So often I think we are righteous upholders of God's law. 00:47:17.540 |
Hey, God doesn't need us to like defend who he is. 00:47:23.020 |
We are just called to show people who God is by our lives and through the word. 00:47:33.380 |
On right things, to think upon right things, we must not laugh along with jokes against 00:47:38.420 |
God, to root along with storylines of immorality, to partake in the things, to dwell upon the 00:47:44.140 |
things and say like, "It's my Christian liberty." 00:47:51.460 |
It's a present continuous, continuously every day, steeping, ruminating, mulling on the 00:48:03.100 |
My kids, I'm going to stop using names because I realize I should stop using my kids' names. 00:48:09.100 |
There's one kid who comes and this person comes and tattles and says, "Oh, this other 00:48:19.340 |
And then they're, "You know, I see this and as this individual," this is kind of hard, 00:48:34.500 |
So when she's like, "Oh, this person did this." 00:48:38.380 |
Like, it's actually a good thing that she told me this because that thing was like dangerous 00:48:46.820 |
But the problem is this, and if you're a parent, you might be familiar with this. 00:48:49.620 |
When this person comes like, "This person did this." 00:48:53.460 |
It's like the attitude in which she comes is like, it's really like bad. 00:49:00.580 |
There are times when like when they act like that, like I actually audibly just want to 00:49:08.420 |
She's saying the right things, she did the right thing to tell me, but she's like, "He 00:49:34.180 |
When we're dwelling on right things, it's like we can like just say the right things, 00:49:38.780 |
we can do the right things and all this kind of stuff, but that's not actually a person 00:49:43.620 |
who has been steeping their heart in right things. 00:49:48.420 |
The love, the kindness, the grace, and even the rebuke and the exhortations and the wrath 00:49:56.760 |
Oh, man, if you're a parent and you've ever had to discipline your child, you can say 00:50:04.980 |
And if you use that to punitively take out your anger upon the person, that is expressly 00:50:15.900 |
So that when the truth comes out, that's good. 00:50:24.060 |
Pertaining to being without moral defect or blemish and pure. 00:50:28.220 |
Purity of thought, purity of purpose, sexual purity. 00:50:33.660 |
There is no disjointedness in a person, it's integrity. 00:50:36.780 |
It's someone who's virtuous and wholesome, somebody who's without impurity, unmixed with 00:50:43.260 |
And so we can't think like we have to try to get a little better at this. 00:50:46.540 |
The standard that's being talked about here is God's standard of purity, to dwell upon 00:50:55.220 |
It's not that we're trying to make ourselves pure. 00:50:57.620 |
I'm saying dwell upon the pure things of God. 00:51:05.820 |
Other ways, stop looking at the garbage, the trashy things of the world. 00:51:13.380 |
To dwell upon the lovely things is pertaining to that which causes people to be pleased 00:51:21.700 |
There's an attractiveness to us, again, because there is no disjointedness. 00:51:26.820 |
There's a person who says something and lives it out. 00:51:29.620 |
There's nothing more ugly than somebody who says all these things but lives in a different 00:51:34.180 |
It's just so unattractive when you see something like that. 00:51:37.540 |
But somebody who, like for believers, we must be people who are lovely because not only 00:51:43.320 |
are we saying all the right things but our conduct and our behavior and our way of life 00:51:48.380 |
Is that what's gonna be lovely in the eyes of the people? 00:51:52.300 |
In the eyes of the people that we must look lovely because not only are we saying that 00:51:55.940 |
the things of the world are passing away, we are now partaking in those things because 00:52:02.340 |
It inspires awe of love in people and wonder. 00:52:11.340 |
Good repute, things that are excellent and praiseworthy, and I'll let you do the work. 00:52:16.180 |
Now, there are plenty of us who can talk about each of the items on this list. 00:52:22.300 |
But the Christian is not just someone who's able to occasionally pull this out and let's 00:52:32.260 |
We can even try to persuade ourselves of the truth of God's Word. 00:52:40.020 |
But the Christian is not somebody who's able to just talk about the things of God. 00:52:50.300 |
Our lives become a testing to the things that are being said. 00:52:54.600 |
We have to say them, but our lives do not give us away. 00:53:01.660 |
We steep, we meditate, we dwell on lofty, godly, beautiful things. 00:53:11.420 |
And so we ourselves are becoming godly and beautiful. 00:53:16.300 |
We must dwell on these things and allow the Word of God to richly dwell in us. 00:53:20.240 |
If we're not dwelling in these truths, you know what's happening? 00:53:23.100 |
We're just steeping in the Word of God for one second every morning. 00:53:34.580 |
If we're not dwelling in the Word of God, then we're not allowing the Word of God even 00:53:40.300 |
a chance to look into us and examine our hearts. 00:53:44.820 |
This is the difference between someone who is walking with God and someone who has facts 00:53:50.220 |
This is the difference between someone who is academic and scholarly concerning the things 00:53:53.620 |
of the world and then somebody who is abiding in Him and thinking about and knowing about 00:54:00.200 |
And I believe that this is the problem with many Christians and churches today of which 00:54:06.380 |
Especially as individuals, we are not innocent to these things. 00:54:09.660 |
And it's been grieving in recent years, not because of what the world has looked like. 00:54:15.860 |
That we're not grieving that just the world looks like this. 00:54:18.500 |
The Bible has already told us what the world is and where the world is headed and what 00:54:30.900 |
I think that's what's been happening in our society nowadays without getting too deep 00:54:37.300 |
Wondering if this is why the words that are being used, the things that are being said 00:54:42.020 |
sound so similar to the unbelieving and secular world and how they would respond and speak 00:54:51.740 |
And of course, there's the, "But for God's glory and to the glory of Christ are added 00:54:57.820 |
But just like somebody who would come up and say all the right things but has not been 00:55:02.260 |
steeping in it, I wonder if perhaps that's why we look so much like the world. 00:55:13.220 |
I believe that even Christians have been dwelling, meditating, steeping and saturating in social 00:55:18.260 |
media and stories and articles and friends and things that are ultimately man-centered 00:55:26.780 |
And so the results, though if you thought about those things in an appropriate way, 00:55:32.700 |
The results come out looking the way we see it today. 00:55:38.420 |
I'm not saying here's the line and we place everyone here or we place everyone here. 00:55:45.140 |
These taglines of reparation and reconciliation, representation and repentance. 00:55:52.620 |
All of these things in themselves, not wrong. 00:55:55.460 |
Maybe some things that must be and should be considered, though I think that today has 00:55:59.140 |
hijacked it, but it reveals and exposes what we've been dwelling upon, the things central 00:56:08.780 |
I believe that many of us have been dwelling on these things. 00:56:11.940 |
Now, I'll take it to a third and last point, we must practice what we must dwell on. 00:56:17.660 |
Verse 9, he continues by saying, "The things you have learned and received and heard and 00:56:21.620 |
seen in me," he says, "practice these things." 00:56:23.500 |
This means to do or to carry out or to perform. 00:56:26.740 |
This means that the things that he calls us to think about, now you must go and do because 00:56:30.940 |
these things, again, are not separated things. 00:56:36.860 |
That when we say we believe something, if our actions do not follow, then we do not 00:56:43.140 |
That this is because when we give our hearts, we give him everything about who we are. 00:56:47.140 |
Our hearts is not something we rip out of our chest and say, "Here's my body, here's 00:56:51.700 |
It's saying that I give you all that I am and so the practicing follows. 00:56:55.860 |
And so he says, "All that you've learned and received and heard and seen, practice. 00:57:02.820 |
So dwell on these things over and over and over again. 00:57:08.740 |
Dwell on the good and lofty and beautiful things. 00:57:11.780 |
Dwell on the way in which that it would reveal to your own heart how you are, what you're 00:57:16.660 |
like, how much you're in need of repentance, what God has done for you so that when you 00:57:20.420 |
go out into the world, you become a steeped person. 00:57:25.460 |
You are someone who is not just espousing a bunch of things and you're angry all the 00:57:31.540 |
I was so frustrated last week and I know I was so frustrated because I saw what I was 00:57:37.580 |
I was on Twitter a little bit too much last week. 00:57:42.940 |
But I had to catch myself and come back and I was so thankful for this passage. 00:57:55.060 |
And then from there, out of the proper thinking, he says, "Practice." 00:58:01.460 |
I think this is where a lot of talking needs to happen between us. 00:58:09.820 |
And he concludes at the end, he says, "And the God of peace will be with you." 00:58:13.940 |
And I love that because he tags it at the end. 00:58:16.540 |
He did that, by the way, a few verses earlier. 00:58:22.300 |
Don't we many times come before God in prayer asking for peace? 00:58:30.540 |
Honestly what we're saying is we're emotionally in disturbance, right? 00:58:35.580 |
And yet we're refusing to stop reading articles. 00:58:39.460 |
Like, I'm not saying it's wrong to read the articles. 00:58:40.780 |
Like, just dwelling and thinking about these over and over again. 00:58:49.940 |
And then we're just constantly looking at these things. 00:58:51.820 |
"God, please help me to do these things and watch some more TV. 00:58:55.900 |
And if we're to sit back and stop and look at the whole of our lives and ask ourselves, 00:59:03.460 |
Please, today, would you take some time to consider where your minds have been? 00:59:07.780 |
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, his last thing, long quote, he says, "Faith, according to our Lord's 00:59:16.140 |
teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, is primarily thinking. 00:59:19.740 |
The whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. 00:59:26.940 |
Life comes to us with a club in its hand and strikes us upon the head, and we become incapable 00:59:33.920 |
The way to avoid that, according to our Lord, is to think. 00:59:36.560 |
We must spend more time in studying our Lord's lessons in observation and deduction. 00:59:40.660 |
The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. 00:59:45.220 |
We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. 00:59:57.620 |
Look at the lilies of the field and consider them. 00:59:59.700 |
The trouble with most people, however, is that they will not think. 01:00:03.060 |
Instead of doing this, they sit down and ask, "What is going to happen to me? 01:00:11.220 |
Our Lord here is urging us to think and to think in a Christian manner. 01:00:16.660 |
Faith, if you like, can be defined like this. 01:00:19.340 |
It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him 01:00:25.280 |
The trouble with the person of little faith is that instead of controlling his own thought, 01:00:28.820 |
his thought is being controlled by something else. 01:00:31.660 |
As we put it, he goes round and round in circles. 01:00:36.900 |
That is the absence of thought, a failure to think. 01:00:39.700 |
I want to conclude by, because it's Father's Day, just the last point of application. 01:00:45.180 |
Fathers, this is the most important thing for us as fathers in this room, to be people 01:00:53.060 |
Take time to really think about what you've been dwelling on. 01:00:56.580 |
It could be the obviously distracting things, but it could also be the things that you're 01:01:01.020 |
trying to give which are kind of good to the children. 01:01:05.900 |
Just like how when we steep our hearts, it's going to shape us and change us, as fathers, 01:01:10.340 |
as husbands, it is going to shape and change our families as well. 01:01:22.480 |
As we go, the children are called to obey us. 01:01:26.460 |
If you have not been dwelling on the things of God, it is expressly important for us, 01:01:31.120 |
every father in this room, to say, "Today, as for me and my household, we will serve 01:01:37.100 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your truths, and we pray, God, for more of your spirit 01:01:40.980 |
to come and help us, that your spirit might richly allow the word of God to dwell within 01:01:48.020 |
us, but God, that it would not be simply mystical, but that we would be doing the work of coming 01:01:53.060 |
before you, of giving to you all our thoughts and everything we've been meditating and looking 01:01:57.740 |
and thinking and dwelling upon, and God, to surrender to you and say, "God, all this is