Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

As A Man Thinketh

As Larry was singing, I was just meditating on what Father has for us this morning and in the next couple of sessions. We're going to be talking about the battle for the mind, just the fact that so much of what we need is that illumination from above. Amen? We need Father to show us our hearts, to show us the age that we're living in. There's a true battle being waged this morning for our minds and for our hearts, and we need to guard ourselves in this hour. We're going to be talking about that aspect of it over the next couple of sessions and just looking for that visitation of the Lord where each one of us could experience that awareness of the love that Father has for us, the illumination for our lives through the Word of God, and how vital that is.

Let's turn to Proverbs  23. A passage that we're all very familiar, with and one that, very frankly, I think we use out of context quite often, but it doesn't change the magnitude of the truth or the principle. In the context this proverb is talking about a person who invites you to their house, they're telling you to make yourself at home, enjoy yourself, take whatever you want, and they resent what you take. It's as a man thinks in his heart that he is, not what he's portraying outwardly. But at the same time we do realize that this is a principle, a truth that we can work off of, and so the wisdom says this, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he" (verse 7). In other words, what you are internally, what's going on inside of you and your thoughts, your intentions, that's where you are-not what your actions are. Now, the Scripture says, "By their fruit you shall know them," but we're making the distinction between a natural by-product of the tree of what you really are, because every apple tree produces apples, and every orange tree produces oranges. It's the law of Genesis that we're all very familiar with. But there's another factor that we have to deal with in humanity, and that's hypocrisy, where we're portraying ourselves as something that we're not. And that's when, the Scripture says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). See, you'll know what people are by what they talk about in abundance. Not just flattery, not just setting an environment of wanting to flatter to make you feel at home or portray themselves as something, but when people are just themselves you'll know what they really are because out of their heart their mouth will speak. What people are speaking about in abundance reveals where their real treasures are. So we listen and are able to take stock in our own lives, and in those around us. But as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

So we want to ask the question of ourselves over the next couple of sessions: What is it that we spend the majority of our time thinking about and meditating on? We're going to really be spending our time talking about meditation, not transcendental meditation but biblical meditation. Thinking upon the things of God, the things that Philippians says we're to think on. The things that are true. The things that are good. Can you say that's what is really possessing your personal energy, or are you thinking about and worrying about the circumstances of life? I heard a rumor the other day. I don't know how much truth there is to this, but somebody said they heard on the news that gasoline was going to go to five dollars a gallon. Are you thinking about all of these different things of what's going to happen in the economy and what's going to happen to our nation, what's going on over in the Middle East? What's occupying your mental energy? You say, "No, I'm not really worried about all those things; I'm thinking about the sale at the mall." "I'm thinking about the new car that I've been looking at, and I just go do down there at least once a week, and stop by the dealership, and open the door, and just smell that new car smell." I've heard there are people that really like that. There are people that really like cars and get caught up in those things. Houses and lands and all of those things that can begin to distract us from what we should be thinking about. We're going to talk about the treasures that have been set before us and that we should be focusing on, and spending our mental energy on building up the greater things in our minds. What are you thinking about today? Are you thinking about what you have to do at work tomorrow? Are you thinking about the fact that you haven't filed, yet you filed for an extension on your taxes, and you have to deal with that? What are you thinking about? Are some of you young adults thinking about that life's mate that you don't have? Are you thinking about the life's mate you have and wish you didn't? What is it that's taking your time and your energy at this particular time? "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he."

We're going to analyze this and ask ourselves the question: Are we properly using-and think with me for just a moment, you have to understand the energy that's involved in our thought processes. The time that's occupied that should be being used for the glory of God. Is it being abused and misused for personal gain? The reason I want to emphasize this is because of the age that we're living in. Because if you'll stop and think for just a moment, Satan's one major purpose is to get you to think about one thing, and one thing alone, and that's you. Everything that's going on around you that we would call the distractions of life aren't the problem. It's those things that Satan is trying to use to get you to think and use all of your energy on self, to think about the "I". We find it in the mind sciences today. That's why there's such a great increase in psychology, and Christian psychologists and psychiatrists, and all of these things that want to come in and deal with the psychic realm to analyze self, to somehow be able to come to the awareness that somewhere deep inside the real you is ready to emerge. And the humanists today that call themselves Christian psychologists still present from a Freudian perspective the fact that man is good. You're really basically good, and we have to somehow tap into that goodness that's in you, and do away with all of the environmental obstructions, and deal with all of these things that have psychotically been placed upon you that cause you to have poor self-image, and once those can be dealt with the real you can emerge. The Scripture brings to us the understanding that it's the exact opposite. We are not all basically good. We are basically evil, amen? That's the starting point that we have to arrive at. We're going to contrast secular humanism, the mind sciences today that say man is basically good, with the biblical truth that man is totally depraved. See ourselves for what we are. "Romans, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think soberly and discreetly." Then focus on how can I take this totally depraved individual, and reconstruct the thought processes that are bent toward evil, and self only, and cause myself to begin to think about the things that are good, and true, and peaceable, the things that are godly. How can I begin to redirect my thought processes for God and for others instead of myself? So that's basically what we're going to be doing over these next couple of sessions.

How is it going to happen? How do we identify where we really are? Turn to Romans, Chapter 12 for just a moment and let's pick up here and begin to set forth a couple of truths that we're going to have to recognize before we can get into this in detail. Romans, Chapter  2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye might prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say though the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you not to think of himself [I want to pause right there.] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Let's take what Paul is saying here as one of the most important things that we can do, the need to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. "We are not our own, we've been bought with a price: the precious blood of Jesus." Our lives are not our own. So why would a man take thought, Jesus asked, for all of these other things? Don't take thought. Don't spend your mental energy on all of these temporal things, what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to drink, what I'm going to put on. To every man has been given the measure of faith. Your heavenly Father knows what you have need of. Your Father is going to provide all those things that you're worried about. "But seek ye first, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The first discipline we have to come to is seeking first the kingdom of God to where we reprogram ourselves to constantly realize the reason I'm getting up today. It's not to go to work, it's to go represent the kingdom. Amen? My job is more than just providing me food and raiment. My job is my ministry. That's my going into all the world and preaching the gospel. For me to live is Christ. We don't live like the pagans; we're not just existing in this life, we have a purpose. So why would we get distracted into advancements on the corporate ladder, whether or not I can get this raise so that I can buy this new trinket, when in fact our time our energy should be set upon how I can win souls on the job? Not make dollars. Where's your thinking when you go out daily? We're going to talk about renewing our minds. We're going to talk about where we live.

We can all get so easily distracted by the things that are just the necessities of life, can't we? Food and raiment are necessities; we all have to have those things. The good news is your Father knows what you have need of. But the enemy is out there constantly telling you, "Yeah, but needs aren't sufficient. You need more. Your wants ought to be satisfied. After all, you're better than everybody else. You should have more than everybody else, and besides that a man's life consists of the things that possesses." In exact opposition to what Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses" (Luke 12:15). But we're to be rich toward God. How do we get rich toward God? By redirecting what our treasures are, by thinking on the things that are above, where Jesus is seated at Father's right hand. We're rich when we're caught up into the heavens, when we're thinking about the eternal things. When we're laying up treasures in heaven, where thieves can't break in and steal. Are you rich this morning toward God? Is your time and energy being used in thinking about the eternal, the spiritual? Are we focused on all of those things that we've been placed here to do, and not the distractions that the god of this world's system is telling us that we're supposed to have, and that's the real reason we're here? The whole duty of man is to do what? Love God and keep His commandments. But we get distracted. Now, let's stop for just a moment and ask ourselves: "Where does this thing come from?" All of us are dealing with it on a daily basis. I'm very easily distracted because I'm a person that's fairly ambitious. I'm a person that's a type "A" personality. Whatever I get involved in, I just kind of go all in and go after it with all of my strength. Many of you are that same way. It's very dangerous for us to get off course because we become totally absorbed in what we're doing, and our energy, our time, our thoughts are distracted from what we should be really focusing on.

Now I want to take you to one of the most extreme cases and then we'll work back to where we are because we're not quite that bad, personally. But one of the most extreme cases, of course, was our original parents Adam and Eve. Now stop and think about this for just a moment. God has given them everything richly to enjoy. Everything but what? I wonder how much time and energy Eve was spending on being thankful for all she had or how much of her time was being spent upon what she didn't have? What do you think she was thinking about, all that she had or what she didn't have? What was it that Satan presented to her? The one thing she didn't have. What do you think about today? "That one thing that will really make me happy. That one thing that will finally fulfill my life. That one thing that will really distinguish who I am and cause it to be known; my purpose, my worth," whatever it might be. We spend so much time thinking about what we don't have that we fail to worship and be thankful for what we do have. We spend so much time worrying about losing what we have that our energies are not spent upon being thankful for and trusting in the sovereignty of God-Who gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord, and that all things work together for good to those that love God, and are called according to His purposes-because of the distractions of what we're thinking about. We're meditating and thinking about the things instead of about God. What's the real problem here? We're worshipping the creature, self, and not the Creator. I want to go back and deal with how much time we're spending thinking about ourselves. Self being what we perceive as our treasures or our possessions. Those that are close to us, our spouses, our children, our friends. How much time is being spent on those particular things rather than the real issues of life as to whether or not we're using our time and energy to renew the thought processes to the things that are above?

Turn with me if you would for just a second to Psalm 19, a passage that many of you have already memorized. If you haven't, you should before this day is over, because this is going to be the foundational Scripture that we're going to work off of for a little while. Psalm 19:14. "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." Now, in casual reading we lose what the real emphasis is here. "Let the words of my mouth the meditations of my heart be accepted in your sight," and then we begin to think about many things that are trivial, many things that are temporal, when he goes on in the rest of the phrase, and tells us what we're supposed to be really thinking about, and what our energy is to be used meditating upon: my Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer. Amen? God is my strength. God is my very present help in trouble. God is my strong tower, it's Him that I run unto and I'm safe. If God is for me who can be against me? Let God arise and His enemies be scattered. What are you thinking about today? The goodness of God, the greatness of God, the mercies of God, or the gifts that He's given us, the temporal things? Even this life that's such a vapor. We're here today and gone tomorrow. Life is so short. What are we spending our time meditating upon? He not only talks about God his strength, but he talks about God his what? Redeemer. I'm not my own, I'm bought with a price. We all know what redemption is: to redeem something. We used to redeem the Coke bottles. You'd go down and give the Coke bottle to the guy and he gives you three cents back. How many of you remember S&H Green stamps? Blue Chip stamps? Depending on what part of the country you were in or what area. I can remember going down to the store, many times, and Mom would have all those books of stamps, and you'd go in and give them those stamps, and get some type of utensil or something for the house. You'd redeem those stamps. He's our Redeemer. With His own body, with His own blood, He became sin with our sin. He purchased us; we're not our own. How much time do you spend thinking about that? You're not your own. You're not your own; you don't belong to yourself.

How many of us are thinking incorrectly? How many of us-and I'm not looking for a show of hands-how many of us think that we have something to say about our lives? Until we come to that place of realizing we're not our own, we're going to be so easily distracted by Satan as he presents all of these other things that attract the natural mind, the carnal mind, the self indulgent. We, like everybody else, in our flesh can be so easily distracted until we realize, yes those things are appealing to me but it's not my decision. I can't decide whether or not I'm going to participate. My steps are ordered by God; I'm not my own. How much time do you spend thinking about your Redeemer, what it cost to purchase you, in opposition to what the world is saying today, "You're an individual, you have rights." Everything in our society today is about self-image, image enhancement. Oh, beloved, we're inundated. We've talked about it so many times, whether it's by Madison Avenue, they're just constantly telling us how we should dress, and what we should drive, and where we should live. We've talked about all that's in the world is the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. None of us are free from that. I was talking to someone yesterday and they were talking about new homes, and I said, "I just don't go look at new homes because every one I see I want. They don't make one big enough to suit me." I know who I am. I am absolutely full of lust and pride, and envy, and selfishness, and if I were to give myself over to that there would be no end. That's why it's such a battle with my flesh, with my members, to war against those things to the place where I have, and I think maybe even sometimes made mistakes. But if you're going to make a mistake, I'm glad I made the mistake, I think, to the right side of this thing; but like Abraham of old I've said, "It's not going to be said that any man made Abraham rich." I've gone to the other extreme I have turned down so much money and so many things over the years that seemed to have strings attached to them. "Blessed be the name of the Lord," the Scripture says, "the blessings of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow with them." Amen? Everything I have God gave me. I did not take anything. I didn't go looking for it. It came to me and I'm able to enjoy the blessings of the Lord. Now, that may sound very noble. I'm not saying that I don't lust and want other things. I'm not saying that I am one-hundred percent satisfied with what I have. I'm fairly content, but I would love to have an Enzo Ferrari, and a Learjet. I would love to have a mansion on all of the different strategic parts of the world. I'd love to have a yacht there at Monaco and tell Ted Turner to get his little piece of junk out of the way, and be able to roll mine out. Ted Turner has the largest mast yacht in the world. I saw it when we were down in the Bahamas. Tell Arnold Schwarzenegger to move his little 747 over so I could park a real plane. Is that in you? Does anybody know what I'm talking about, or am I the only guy in here that's messed up? None of us are any different; we all have the same propensity in our members. We're all sinners. We're all driven by lust and pride, and envy. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life." And if that's not bad enough, then we have guys that are getting rich off trying to seduce us, and they send us all these mailers. Isn't it nice that those people send you all those credit cards? Ninety percent of my mail is somebody wanting me to get a credit card, take all the equity out of my home to buy stuff I don't need or magazines of the newest, greatest things out from clothes, to Sharper Image, Brookstone. They have the coolest stuff in there. Every time I go in there I go, "I didn't even know that thing existed. That's cool, I need two of those." They have cool stuff in there. They have stuff in there that will trim your nose hairs and your lawn at the same time. It's really cool, a riding nose hair trimmer. There's no end to it, so we're constantly being distracted.

Now watch. Then we're being distracted by movies, music, clothes, automobiles, houses, vocation. So I ask you a question again this morning: What are you thinking about? What's dominating your thought processes? In the midst of all of this, from the latest nose hair trimmer that you didn't even know existed that you now have to have, what happened to our thoughts about the imminent return of Jesus? Where does Jesus' return fit in the midst of all this mental exercise? How about the great commission? How about loving your wives and your children? How about preferring others better than ourselves? How about turning off all of the electronics and meditating upon His Word, just sitting down quietly with God, and let Him change your heart, and reprogram your mind? "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be accepted in thy sight, O Lord...(Psalm 19:14)" We can't be still anymore. We can't be quiet anymore. We're driven. We're a generation that the prophets spoke of, running to and fro. Do not think for a moment that this cell phone phenomenon is an accident. It is antichrist. It is a programming of man to be incapable of being alone and quiet. Always having to have some connection with somebody other than God. The inability to sit down, be quiet, turn everything off and hear what God has to say to us in his Word. I love what Psalm 119:59 says, "I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." Get that in your notes this morning, Psalm 119:59. "I thought on my ways. I analyzed where I am at this moment and I turned my feet to Your testimonies." Would you say you need to spend a little more time with God and His Word? Where are your thoughts and how disciplined is your mind today? Even as we're sitting here trying to take a few moments in the Word of God how disciplined has your mind been in these last 15 minutes to focus on the principles that are being presented to us? Have you been somewhere else in the last 15 minutes other than here? How easily distracted are we as a generation who has lost the mental disciplines of concentration? We're a multi-media, multi-tasking generation, and we need to be single-eyed, single-hearted, and single-minded that we could perfect the course that we're on. "I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto Your testimonies."

We're all very familiar with the passages out of Joshua on meditation. Joshua 1:8, " The book of this law shall not depart out of my mouth but to meditate upon day and night, observe to do it, then shall your way be made prosperous, and then shall you have good success." You know, it sure would be nice if we could believe that again. How many of us are wearing ourselves out trying to be successful in life? I don't even mean necessarily bag loads of money or whatever, but just enough in our eyes to be content, a success. At least keeping up with the Joneses. At least transcending that position that your father said you would never occupy. "You'll never amount to anything." "I showed him; now I'm something." Whatever it is that's driving us and all that we're trusting in, our own strength, our own energy, our own tenacity. God says, "I want you to reconsider the course that you're on and begin to mediate upon my Word day and night, for then shall your way be made prosperous, and then you shall have good success." It works; I've experienced it in my own life. You make choices against your own natural tendencies. You make choices against the wisdom of this world that says, "Here's how you become a success." You have to learn how to package things, and they teach you how to lie. As a Christian they teach you how to lie. But it's not really lying in their kingdom, it's motivational, its networking, it's flattery, its salesmanship. It's the root of the god of this world, the father of lies. If our yea cannot be yea, and our nay, nay-How much of your mental energy is spent upon how to walk through this course without offending anybody instead of just speaking the Word of God at all times? You can rest if you know that all that's going to come out of your mouth is the Word of God. Your course is already set. You're not all uptight about who you're going to meet, and what you have to talk about; you just speak the Word of God, praise the Lord, and let it all fall where it may. Amen? Are you all uptight about what's going on? How are they going to accept this? Let me tell you how they're going to accept it. If you're standing for Jesus they're going to hate you. That takes off a little bit of strain right there and you can go out. Now, I'm not talking about being obnoxious, and I'm not talking about being abrasive, I'm just talking about being in the light and speaking the truth in love. When you mediate upon the Word of God and that's all that can come out of your being-for out of the abundance of your heart your mouth speaks-we rest in that, and we realize that if God is for us nobody can be against us. If we meditate upon the Word day and night, then shall our way be made prosperous and then we'll have good success. "Well, how can I succeed if everybody in the corporation is against me?" If God is for you nobody can be against you. Amen? We don't believe that. It makes good preaching and good doctrine. Are you meditating about that? Do you go to work with that assurance that if God is for you nobody can be against you? Do you understand that it's not vocation, it's ministry that causes you to be where you are? That's what it's all about.

Timothy says this, look over at Paul's epistle for just a moment to Timothy. 1 Timothy 4:15, Paul is speaking here to Timothy and encouraging him in the proper emphasis of life in ministry, and he's encouraging him to come to grips with who he really is. That's a way to really put into context what's going on here. He says, "You have to understand who you are from the foundations of the world." I think that's important for us this morning. We heard some utterances this morning about being loved eternally. We heard the utterance about the single eye and these different aspects. We're talking here about redemption, that we're not our own, we've been bought with a price. This is by the sovereign determinant counsel of God that you are who you are. We need to be content in that and realize that God has not only called us but He has placed us, He has gifted us. He set the course of seeking first the kingdom of God and He says in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation as we look around at society today, "Do you know who you are as the children of God?" The world's system mocks us, they despise us, but God boasts in us and delights in us. Whose praises are you looking for? Are your mental energies, what you're meditating upon, the course set, the things that you have as goals eternal, the kingdom of God, or are we being distracted by the world? Are we trying to live in two kingdoms simultaneously? You'll either hate the one and love the other or hold to the one and despise the other. You can't serve God and mammon. "Don't let any man despise your youth," Paul says. "Don't neglect the gifts that are yours with the laying on of hands." Now watch. "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." Step back for just a moment and let me ask the question again. What are you meditating upon? Are you considering your effect in the eternal, in the kingdom of God, or are you occupied by how you're affecting the temporal kingdom? In other words, are you satisfied with your contribution to the eternal or are you all bummed out because you're not doing better in the temporal over here? Do you understand who you are? You've been separated. There is no treasure. There is no reward in that other kingdom for us. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

So, here we are a people that are being pulled on every hand by the distractions of this world. Do this for just a moment, go back to last week if you can try to run it by. How much time was spent in some form of anxiety about the things that you don't have that you think you should have and how you're going to get them, etc.? How much of your time and energy was spent last week upon how you experienced all forms of injustice out there and you don't get the recognition on the job, and you don't get the camaraderie, and people don't appreciate you? Let's carry that over into the home, how you're not appreciated by your family, in the work that you do and what you've done. How much time is spent worrying about all of the plans that you're expecting, they're not working in your time, and in your methods? And what are we going to do with this economy? "It seems like I'm just one of those guys that buys high and sells low. I'm always a day late and a dollar short." Anybody ever feel like that? And all of the wicked are prospering. Are you caught up with any of that? "Why is everybody else and it seems like nothing ever goes right for me?" So we think about those things and we're caught up in all of these cares. Anybody have any time spent this last week in self-pity? How about anxiety with just the amount of things that you have to deal with? I'm really a weird person, in case you didn't know that. I'm one of those people that likes to stay active and I'm usually not content. It's not just as juggling, having all of the balls in the air; I borrow other people's, and throw them up there too. I'm a weird person because I like to do stuff, but I can't always enjoy what I'm doing because I'm always looking to the next thing I'm going to do. In fact, the thing that I looked forward to doing that I'm doing now is actually becoming a frustration because it's infringing upon the things that I'm planning to do. Is that weird or what? Okay, I understand that I need help. Father shared with me, and I shared with you a while back, that the Lord spoke to me and rebuked me, and I did better, and now I'm doing worse again. Does anybody ever go backwards besides me? But the Lord just spoke to me and in the vernacular of today, He said, "You need to learn to stop and smell the roses. You have so much to be thankful for and all you're looking at is what needs to be done, and what you have to do tomorrow, and what you have to do to accomplish this," and the Lord just told me, "You need to cool it man." "Be still and know the presence of God." I did well for a while and I really enjoyed it and now I'm uptight again. So I'm not really teaching this message for you, I'm teaching it for me. So you can listen to what God is saying to me, and see if it helps you out at all. You need to begin to bring every thought back into subjection to the obedience of Christ, to put every thought into the eternal perspective, and return the proper value on the presence of God, the worth of this great family we have, the body of Christ, and begin to see that God has given us treasures that so far transcend anything in the temporal kingdom that if we would spend some time in the Word and meditate upon them, they would become alive in us again, and they would become the delight of our hearts as we find His Word. That's not just talking about studying the Bible and getting some biblical principle, it's the fact that we begin to experience the reality of God working, and faith begins to surge in our hearts again. The one thing that I miss, because of this that I'm talking about, the position that I find myself in, and I've shared it with you just recently, I miss the awareness of that treasure of living by faith, living by the power of God. The constant expectation of supernatural visitation to where God orders our steps to where the souls that we're reaching are not being reached through mechanics, but God ordered my steps, put me here to speak this word in season to see that man's life redeemed, to see this guy saved, this guy healed, praise God. Not just the mechanics, the supernatural ordering of our lives through meditation through the awareness of the eternal.

So here are some principles that I'd like to present to us. Psalm 1:2, let's take two more passages and we'll end for this morning. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." This is where it all starts. If you're going to think properly, if we're going to allow ourselves to be delivered from the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things, for all that's in the world is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. Now remember, many of these things that we're talking about are not immoral. Many of these things are amoral, but they've caught our attention they've distracted us. They've taken and robbed our minds. They've occupied our minds to where we're not delighting in the law of God any longer. It's not our focal point. It's not the thing that we think about the most. Whatever it is, the yard, housework, the kids, the vocation, the recreation, the latest [statistics] for the basketball or football team, whatever it might be. Can you quote the latest statistics of your favorite basketball team, but you haven't memorized the Scriptures? Can you quote some of the, (I don't even know what they're called) on the ticker tape the different stocks. Do you know how your stocks are doing? You pour over it. Every morning you get up and you look at your stocks? Do you do your devotions every morning? I don't mean just out of necessity or out of guilt. You see, when you read that paper and look at your stocks there's an anticipation, there's an expectation, there's a worth in there. Do you approach the Word of God that way? When the latest lust magazine showing the new shoes or the new clothes that are on sale at the mall comes in, or the new automobile magazine comes in-the anticipation. Do you approach the Word of God that way? See, that's what I'm talking about. Is the Word of God a treasure to us? Do we delight in it? This is what this Psalm says. It says, "His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he mediate day and night." Not out of obligation; out of worth, out of expectation, out of delight. This thing satisfies me, praise God. That's when this Word is worth something to you. You can't wait to open it up, because there's something valuable in there. God is in here. His wisdom. His power. That faith surges in me from hearing the Word of God, that visitation, that one nugget. One phrase changes my course for the day. People spend thousands of dollars lying on sofas to have guys with degrees talk to them, and they don't change. One phrase can change your life forever, praise God. That's what I'm talking about. Is that what we're meditating upon and giving credibility to? When I talk about meditating, remember the word in and of itself doesn't mean to just think about it means to muse, it means to mutter, to talk over. How many of you periodically talk to yourselves? Let me see your hands. Do you? You enjoy an intelligent conversation. Now, a lot of times I talk to myself in the negative. "Man I wish I hadn't done that!" Why did I do that?" But in the positive, too, we talk to ourselves and we begin to encourage ourselves in the Lord, and we begin to say what God said, and you begin to walk, and though everything opposes you, you say, "Praise God, it's written. There's more for us than there are for them, and all things are working together for good to those that love God, and are called according to His purpose, and I'm anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer, and supplication with thanksgiving if I let my requests be made known unto God, the peace of God that passes understanding keeps my heart, and my mind through Christ Jesus. Lord, You said if I cast my care upon You I could rest, because You care for me. You said the steps of the good man are ordered by the Lord. You've given a hedge around me, praise God. Your glory is my rear guard. Your Spirit has gone before me and made a way, every place I put my feet." You're just saying what God says. That's meditation; just muttering over and over what God says about the circumstances, about what's true. Because everything we're hearing from the other kingdom is a lie, it's distorted. There's no truth in it. He's the father of lies. So are you meditating upon truth or lies?

Can you imagine buying what Eve bought? You need to understand. Put yourself there again. Everything is yours but this one tree. Everything else is yours. Now just for a word picture-I don't even know how all this works so it will make the point. But if somehow in a moment-you know Satan was able to take Jesus up on the mountain and He couldn't literally see it, so there was some type of a vision or whatever, and he took Him up, and to tempt Him he showed Him all of the kingdoms of the world. Not just the momentary, but even the futuristic kingdoms, and he said, "I'll give you all of these if you'll bow and worship me; they're mine to give." Now, digress and take Eve for just a moment. Here she is and she's going on a cruise. She goes down, and she's getting on her cruise ship, and she's cruising the world. Can you imagine, here's Eve and she stops by and here's the Yosemite Valley, Yosemite Falls, and Half Dome. And that's just her side yard. She's wandering through the garden, and a little stop at the island of Kauai, and the beautiful rain forest, and the majestic cliffs, and everything that's taking place there. A little panoramic view of the Grand Canyon, and then we see Angel Falls, and we look over the Rift Valley, and we see the beautiful coral of the Caribbean, and the Great Barrier Reef, and the beauty of the Garden of Eden. And then this person comes up and says, "You know, it's too bad your Father is holding out on you. Is that all you have? Look what you don't have right here. If God loved you why is He holding out on you? You see, God is afraid that the moment you eat this and you become independent and your eyes will open, and you'll be as gods. He's keeping you ignorant." If that was ignorance, I'd like a lot more of it, wouldn't you? Innocence, peace, prosperity, vacation. Some people love the work ethic. "I like working hard and I like sweating." Not me. I like hammocks man. Work is a consequence of sin; I like rest. I like angels coming by and bringing me slurpees or smoothies. God is holding out. We are so blessed; we have so much, and all that the devil does is try to get us to focus on what we don't have, and what will make you happy if you only had this.

Meditate upon these things-what you do have, what your purpose is here. The goodness of God. The sovereignty of God. The eternal consequences of your obedience. All of these things that are not what the world is trying to sell you. New cars, new clothes, new houses. "But our delight is in the law of the Lord and in His Word do we mediate day and night." This is the last verse for this morning, Psalm 39:3. "My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue." How long do we meditate? Till the fire starts to burn, until it becomes real, until this thing catches on in our lives. You haven't meditated long enough until it fires you up, and you have the ability to speak now out of conviction and boldness the Word of God. Out of the abundance. It's become so abundant that you can't help but speak the things that you've seen and heard. That's how long you need to meditate upon it. That's how long we need to lock ourselves up with God, and be quiet, and be still, and know that He is God. "And on our beds," the psalmist said, "we meditate, and prevent, through the night watch, sleep to our eyes until He's come and our heart is new again" (Psalm 119:148).

Father, we ask that You'd make these things real to us. Everything around us is contending for our minds, and we have the treasure of your Word here before us. Many of us are planning now trips, cruises, vacations, months in advance we have to schedule our timeshares. Multiple trips per year to get refreshed and to decompress from the pressures of society, and we hold in our hands the greatest decompression chamber known to man, the Word of God. We say we're getting away to meditate and we spend all of our time being distracted by the natural. We could save ourselves a lot of time and money if we'd just stay home and meditate, and then when you go on vacation you could really enjoy yourself. I'm not saying don't go away, I'm saying don't put any hope in it; don't think that's going to refresh you. This is what will refresh you, praise God. There's nothing wrong with going away, but go away refreshed. Go away encouraged. Go away prepared for the temptations that come with vacations and stand strong. I get more witnessing done on vacations than any other time. It's amazing, all the opportunities you get to share the gospel out there. So with this just being a slight introduction, we're going to spend the next couple of sessions, but I want you just to focus this morning, and ask yourselves the question now: What's occupying my mind? As a man thinketh. What's occupying my energy of my thought processes? Is it fears? Am I anxious? Am I worried? Some of us are occupied by that, others are occupied by ambition. Four hundred different things that I can do and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that, and I'm going to start this business, and I'm going to accomplish this, and I'm going to go there. Our mental energy is caught up with all of these things that are temporal. Be still and know that I'm God. Let your delight be in the law of the Lord and in His law meditate day and night. How much of your time is being spent worrying about how spiritual you are instead of about how good God is? We'll be talking about that in more detail. Many of us in this fellowship, especially, we're people that are trying to pursue God, and trying to be as holy as possible, and wanting to be instruments of God's glory, and because of that, many times, we become ambitious; because of that, many times, we become prideful; because of that, many times, we become fearful, and we need to step back, and rest, and mediate upon the fact that God is going to work it in us to will, and to do His good pleasure. Rest in the promises and the finished work, and not in our own abilities and strengths and methods. There are many things that can distract us when we lose focus on the delight of the law of God, the methods of God, the glory of God. Help us, Father, as we prepare ourselves to think of You, to rest in You as You make our ways prosperous, and give us Your success. Be glorified, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. We'll take just a moment as Gary plays for us; we'll unhook for this morning. What have you been thinking about? What occupied your thoughts last week? What made the top ten list? Did the rapture? Winning souls? Loving your wives more? Devaluing your opinion of yourself? Not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think? "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." Don't think of yourselves. Take a long pause right there when you quote that today as you're going back over the Scriptures, and meditating, and [reviewing] these Scriptures that we've written down to ourselves that we might memorize them that we can hide them in our hearts. "Be not conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, proving what's the good acceptable perfect will of God, and don't think of yourselves [Long pause.] more highly than you ought to think." If you'll read the context of Romans 12 there and you continue down, he starts talking about body ministry, caring for others, being patient, and kind to others, and edifying others, and esteeming others. He's talking about the need to offer ourselves up so that we're not so caught up with self, because the greatest is servant of all. Let's sing it together and thank Him for what He's doing in our lives this morning.

Thank You, Father, for Your goodness. Hallelujah! With the psalmist, our heart's cry is to let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight. Help us speak of Your glory. Help us to speak to edify one another. Let our meditation be upon Your Word, Your promises, Your eternal purposes, that You might be all in all. It's our heart's desire, Father. Grant it, in Jesus' name, amen. Before you go turn to somebody next to you and say, "As a man thinketh so is he." Amen. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

Back to Top | Audio   |   Purchase Audio   |   Bible Teachings   |   Print