Not Mine but God's: Having the Mind of Christ

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. Say, not mine, but God's. But

God's. Because I believe in every area of life,

we need to learn to develop the skill. Everybody

say skill. Skill to not rely on what we have

or what we can do, but we need to shift. Our

focus, right? We need to rely on God's supply

and his ability, what he has and what he can

do. Amen? Amen? In this series, I was reminded

of my favorite Bible verse. That is 2 Timothy

1 .7. It says this, For God has not given us

a spirit of fear, right? He's not given us a

spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound

mind. Amen? Aren't you glad God has given you

some things, right? His word is full of those

things in which he's given us, right? That we,

he bestows on us, right? Helps us know that when

we're in fear, when our response turns to fear,

it's like we can know that, well, that's not

of God, right? It's not from him. He did not

give me that, right? What has he given us? The

verse says power. Right? Love and a sound mind.

But here's the thing, and kind of the whole,

you could say, crux of this series. When we look

at the Bible, when we look at Scripture, we discover

that it's not just Him empowering us, giving

us more strength or, you know, making us stronger,

right? He's actually... Giving us his power.

I want you to see this. He gives us his power.

He gives us his strength. He's not just elevating

my human abilities. He's indwelling me with something

that is his. It's his love, right? It's his love

that flows through us. It's not elevating my

love. My love is conditional, right, on what

someone says. If they looked at me the wrong

way, if they spoke out of turn or whatever, I'm

offended by it, and I fall into bitterness and

hate. Someone does something wrong to me, right?

But God never expects you to love from your natural

love. He gives you his love to love others with.

That's why it goes so far beyond what we have.

That's why we need to lay hold of what God has

and his ability. Because I feel like a lot of

us, if you're like me, a lot of us struggle in

areas because we're trying to work what we see

in Scripture. trying to make it happen in our

own ability, right? Trying to live for him in

our own power. But that's not what God wants.

He indwells you, listen, he indwells you to give

you his power. If he empowered you, it would

be lesser than who he is. So he comes on the

inside of you and he empowers you with his love,

with his truth. Right? And a sound mind. We're

talking about the mind today a little bit. We're

going to talk about other things. But as dad

mentioned during the offering, he made the point

where we need to view God as our source. Our

source for everything. He's not just a side thing.

He needs to be our source for each and every

day. A lot of people view themselves as their

source, right? Their ability to, you know, make

it happen, their ability at their job, things

like that. Some people view others as their source,

right? Maybe your boss, you know, maybe your,

whatever, your occupation is. You view that as

your source. But God never intended, those things

are all avenues for God's blessing, but he never

intended for those things to become your source

and what you're dependent on. Amen? Because who

you draw from, you depend on and display. I'll

say that again. Who you draw on, draw from, you

depend on. And display. This morning, when I

plugged in this cable here that connects the

computer to the projector, it has some words

on it. And in order for the picture to be up

there, this is the source. And then up there

is the display end. And for some odd reason,

the HDMI cable only works one way. Very strange.

I don't know why. This is just a unique one.

But I had this thought as I was plugging it in.

It's like... Who our source is, is what it's

going to look like on the outside. Are you tracking?

Right? If my source is my job, guess what? Your

job, most likely you won't have it. Something's

going to happen. There'll be hiccups, right?

You might have to leave. You might have to go

to another place. If that job is your source,

guess what? You're going to display some fear.

You're going to display some uncertainty, right?

But if you realize that God is my source, I'm

unmoved when those things in this world collapse

around me. Because I do not draw from those.

I draw from an unlimited source, right? Some

people, think about it, some people, their source

is the stock market, right? Their sense of security

for retirement, it's all found in the stock market,

and their emotions, their attitudes in life,

you know, fluctuate with the stock market. All

of a sudden, it's up, and everybody's, whoo,

high five, shaking hands. Kissing babies, all

that kind of stuff. Everybody's very happy. And

then as soon as it crashes, right? Oh no, what

am I going to do? What am I going to do? What

am I going to do? Who's your source? You know,

there's a lot of different avenues for God's

blessing. And we don't need to confuse those

avenues with our source. If God's our source,

the avenues can change. The avenues can change,

amen? And many believers struggle, I think. We

all get to this place where we're like, we love

God and we trust him with our eternity. We've

entrusted him with our salvation, but we don't

trust him with our every day. It's amazing to

me. We have faith that... He died on a cross

2 ,000 years ago, and that's applied and removed

all my sin, right? And I can walk in newness

of Him, but yet my day -to -day, my everyday

decisions, I turn to myself, and I expect that

I have to supply, I have to come up with the

ability, the work, the effort. I've got to have

somebody else's to figure out. And to live, man,

y 'all are too quiet this morning. Acts 17, 28

says this, listen, for in him we live and move

and exist. What does this mean? That God never

meant for you to do life, any area of life apart

from him. It's only from this position of our...

In Christ, being in him, right? That we live,

that we move, and that we exist. That means it

should impact every area of our life, not just

the areas in which we feel like we might need

him. We should be dependent on him as our soul

supplier, our soul source. Amen. John 14, 10,

Jesus was a prime example of this, and he even

said this, the words I speak are not my own.

Imagine that. Jesus saying, the words I speak

are not my own, but my Father who lives in me

does his work through me. Think about that. He

was not relying on his own. ability to speak,

his own abilities to do. He was fully dependent

on the Father. Get a hold of that. He's fully

dependent. He said, it's not my words. It's not

what I think. It's not that he developed to a

certain point where he was just like, well, I'm

going to do and work and say this and say this,

say this. A lot of times it's recorded that When

he would get even asked a hard question, he would

stop. And he would bend down. And he would think.

Why? Was he reasoning in his own head? Or was

he waiting for the answer from someone who knew

the answer? He wasn't relying on his own mind,

his own flesh to come up with it. He was fully

dependent on God. And he said, I will wait here.

until God wants to speak what he has to say.

As the supreme or the prime example, how much

does that differ from you and I in our day -to

-day experience, right? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians

and then later in 2 Corinthians, he gives us

this picture because... We are now in Christ.

Believers take up that position of being in him.

We are now God's fellow workers, just like Jesus

was on earth. He did the works of his father.

He spoke the words of his father. Now, listen,

since we are in him, we join with Christ to accomplish

that same work in the earth. Do you realize that

God has a plan and a purpose for your life? And

it's so far beyond just the making you feel good

today. His plans and his purposes are not for

your temporal. It's for eternal things in the

earth. We are supposed to be co -laborers with

God to carry out his will and his kingdom into

the earth, right? We are co -laborers with him.

As co -workers with God, then, we have the opportunity,

listen, to exchange our natural things for his

supernatural. To trade what we have for what

God has and what only he can do. Amen. This is

good news. Y 'all are looking at me like you

sucked lemons before you came in. But this is

some good news. Amen. We need to get a hold of

this. Because God did not take up residence in

us for us to live life apart from him. He didn't

move into my home for it not to impact my life.

Have you ever had someone move into your home?

It impacts your life a little bit. Changes some

things up a little bit, right? Right? Come on.

Imagine if God moved in. Woo! But then we act

like it just doesn't impact a thing. He's a great

gentleman in the sense that he doesn't force.

He doesn't, like, go, okay, now, Timmy, you're

mine and you're going to do what I want you to

do today. Right? He doesn't take away our will.

He doesn't take away our desires, our souls,

or our flesh, right? But he gives us an opportunity

to labor with him, to join with him in the work.

John 15, 5 says this, Yes, I am the vine, you

are the branches. Those who remain in me and

I in them will produce much fruit. For apart

from me, you can do nothing. Apart from him,

you can't produce the fruit that will impact

the kingdom. Talking about the fruit of the spirit.

Apart from him, you're not going to be able to

produce those things, right? Like a tree, if

I cut off the limb, does the tree die? No, it's

just removed itself from the source of life.

So if we are like branches, we must abide in

order to what? Produce the fruit of the Spirit.

We're co -laboring with Him. It's not by working

to be the best you. Some people treat it like...

It's what I can do. I'm trying to work to be

the best version of myself, right? But the Christian

life is characterized by God's life flowing through

you. Galatians 2 .20 says this. Paul wrote, I

have been crucified with Christ. I no longer

live, but Christ lives in me. Amen? The life

I now live in the body, I live by faith in the

Son of God. Ooh. Who loved me and gave himself

for me. That's good. What is this, what is this

meaning? That, you know, we spend a lifetime

learning how to live. I learn how to use my facilities,

my motor skills. I spend a lifetime developing

these things. I learn how to interact with the

people around me. I learn how to respond. I spend

a lifetime doing that. But when you come to Christ,

we must learn. And what this series is about

is it's about learning to live again. Learning

all those things that happen in the flesh that

you need to learn. There's a whole life of being

yielded to the Spirit and the things the Spirit

wants to teach you and for you to walk in. There's

a whole lot of different things. It's not just

magically upon you. You don't just magically

walk into the things that the Spirit has for

you. You don't magically walk into, you know,

whatever is joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

all these things. We must learn to live again

as those in the position of oneness with Christ.

We have to live from that position, and it's

going to take some skill. It's going to take

some maturation to develop that. Proverbs 3,

5, and 6. It's one of my, like, another favorite

verse. I have a lot. But I like what it says.

I continually kind of like meditate on these

words, but it gives us a good picture. It says

this, trust in the Lord with all your heart.

The heart is the sphere of your existence. It's

everything. And it says this, do not depend.

Everybody say, do not. Do not depend on your

own understanding. Seek his will in all you do,

and he will show you which path to take. This

word depend here can also be translated lean.

Leaning involves shifting your weight over to

something for it to hold you up. We good? Right?

If I'm leaning on this, I'm relying on it in

a sense to hold me up, to sustain me, correct?

So he's telling us to not lean. That when things

get unstable, we don't need to lean on, the first

thing we lean on is our own self, on what is

ours. We need to lean on, we need to press into.

His word needs to carry more weight in our lives.

But often... This is something that's very hard

for us to do because it feels unnatural because

we spend our whole lifetimes learning to rely

on our own ability, on our own mind, on our own

facilities, on our own reasoning. We've studied,

we've learned, we've done. Right? And here, in

Christ, he's saying, we need to throw it all

away. Think about that. Do not depend. on your

own understanding. Some people say like, you

know, well, God gave you a mind. It's time for

you to use it. How many of you have ever heard

that? You've heard that phrase? Yeah, that's

true. That's talking about common sense. And

we need a lot more. Common sense is not as common

as it used to be, right? We need some more of

that too. in order for us to experience God's

best in the life, the abundant life that he has

for us, we got to learn again to live as one

in him and to not rely and not depend on what

is ours. We need to always shift our focus and

press in to God in every area of life. I know

this is super simple, but if we can get a hold

of it, it'll be transformative. Because we're

so good at turning to our own self. Things get

tough, situation comes, we're going to turn to

what I know, turn to what I'm familiar with,

right? Instead of going, God, what do you want

me to think about this? How do you want me to

process this information? When's the last time

you did that? When you just stopped? Before you

let your mind run off in a thousand different

directions, when's the last time you stopped

and just simply asked God, what's the next step?

When the doctor's report is really bad, what

do we do? Do we rely on our own understanding,

on past experience, or do we say, God, what do

you want me to do? What do you want me to take?

What action do I need to do next? Because guess

what? Without him, there's no restoration and

there's no healing. Doctors can do a lot, but

healing comes from God. The surgery can be your

avenue, but get this straight. God is your source.

Okay? And this goes in a lot of different directions.

But listen, God expects us to develop the skill

of relying on his mind, his thoughts, his ways,

and not our own. Get this, 1 Corinthians 2 .16

says, it's actually Paul quoting Isaiah here.

It goes, who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who

knows enough to teach him? And then he writes,

but we understand. I'm glad he understood. We

need to understand, right? I'm glad he got a

hold of it so I could get a hold of it too. But

he goes, we understand these things, right? For

we have, what? The mind of Christ. We have. Everybody

say that. I have. Say, I have. The mind of Christ.

If you are in him, the fullness of who he is

is in you. Not just the area you think that benefits

you the most. His mind, his power, his love.

The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead,

what? Is alive on the inside of you. Filling

your mortal body. Come on. We understand these

things. Do we, church? Do we understand this?

Have we got a hold of it? We can. We can. It's

available to us. You have his mind. So why keep

going to yours? Why keep relying on yours? In

every area. Why run to yours? Because guess what?

You can exchange what you have for what God has.

You can exchange your confusion with his clarity.

You can exchange your struggle with his stability.

Amen. But listen, just because you have the mind

of Christ does not mean you are utilizing it.

Does not mean that you're turning to it. It's

in you by the Spirit. But that doesn't mean that

you, so like, you possess something that you're

not partaking of. Like, I have food in my fridge

that I possess right now. And I'm kind of hungry

because I'm thinking about food. I have food

in my fridge, right? It's mine. But unless I

take it out and eat of it, I don't experience

the benefit of it. I don't experience the nutrients

that it has for me. I have to be a partaker,

not just a possessor. You and I as Christians,

we need to learn to be partakers of Christ, the

greater one inside of us. Instead of partaking

from our flesh and our own mind and our own emotions

and our own will, we need to partake of him,

his spirit alive on the inside of us. Because

only then will transformation happen. He's not

taking the things of you and elevating them.

He's given you himself for his spirit and his

life to flow through you in every area. Amen.

So just because you have the mind of Christ,

it doesn't mean that you're utilizing it. It

doesn't mean that you're walking in it. Romans

12, 2 says this. Get how strong these words are.

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world.

Don't copy them. Don't copy the behaviors and

customs of this world. But we think the world

teaches us that if we do everything that someone

else does, we'll achieve everything that they

have. And in some degree, maybe that will happen.

But guess what? More times than not, you'll chase

something and it will not happen in your life.

Because why? You are not them. You are unique.

You carry a unique... image of who God is. It's

personalized to you and his plans for you are

personal for you. They're not just universal.

They're personal to you. And he's telling each

one of us to not copy just because, well, that's

what someone else did. That's how someone else

acted and responded. Therefore, I need to act

and respond that same way. I need to copy that.

That's what everyone else does. It's their custom,

right? I shouldn't copy that. It shouldn't be

like that. But it says this. Let's continue reading.

But let God transform you into a new person.

Let God transform you into a new person. How?

By changing the way you think. Then. You will

learn to know. Everybody say, learn to know.

Learn to know God's will for you, which is good

and pleasing and perfect. Amen. Paul didn't say,

listen. Paul didn't say, be transformed by trying

harder. Be transformed by doing your best. He

says, be transformed, how? By letting God change

the way you think. But he's not just saying to

think on, you know, whatever you can think on

that's better. He's actually supplying the thoughts

on which you should think and which you should

meditate on. Because we're not supposed to do

it without him. Amen? And this goes in full circle

for the Christian life and the Christian experience.

But today we're just talking about your thought

life. and that arena of your mind, right? He's

going to give you new thoughts. So how do we

apply this to our day -to -day? How do we have

this mind? How do we partake of it? It's not

by transformation, you know, by trying to think

better thoughts. This is the world's ideology.

This is how they have twisted God's Word. Right?

Because you can get some natural benefits from

thinking better thoughts, from meditating on

better things. But if you want supernatural transformation

in your life, you're going to have to go beyond

what you can think in the natural and step into

God's mind and God's arena. The things of heaven

are greater than the things of earth. It is exchanging

your thoughts for his. How do we do this? By

learning to know his thoughts. We have to learn

to know his thoughts. Paul gives us a breakdown.

It's all throughout scripture, but I like...

This set of passages in Ephesians 4, 21 through

23, says this, Listen, since you have heard about

Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from

Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your

former way of life, which is corrupted by lust

and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew

your thoughts and attitudes. That word renew

means to make new. not to, it's actually a full

exchange for that which is new, to be spiritually

transformed to take on a new mind, to rely on

it. So let's go back to this verse. Since you

have heard about Jesus, we must first have to

hear. In order to have the mind of Christ, to

be partakers of something which we already possess,

Work with God to take hold of what he's given

us by being on the inside of us. Like a good

example of this, like I have a push mower that's

self -propelled, right? And if you don't know

what that means, it's like when you cut your

grass, I have this push mower, and I have to

engage a throttle on it even after I cut it.

I don't have to do all the effort myself. If

I engage that, it'll actually just move for me.

It'll just propel itself. I don't have to put

that effort in to push it. But just because I

have that doesn't mean that this afternoon my

grass is going to be cut. Unfortunately, right?

It's really bad. Florida grass is different,

I think. It grows twice as tall between lunch

and dinner. It just keeps growing. You keep cutting

it, and it just keeps growing. But to be co -laborers

with Christ is kind of like we realize that it's

his power propelling us forward, moving us forward,

but to be a co -laborer means that I have to

come and put my hands on it. I have to realize

that it's his power through me, but then I have

to correspondingly act in faith, right, and put

my hands on it to propel and to cut the grass

for the job to be done. Right? In order for us

to have the mind of Christ, in order for us to

partake of it, we're going to have to hear the

word. Everybody say hear. This is so simple,

but yet I think we miss it too often. When we

hear, we have to saturate ourselves in the word.

The Bible often compares God's word to a seed,

right? And he compares us to his soil. So his

word, right? We hear this word and then it's

implanted into our hearts, right? And then we

have the opportunity. How many of you know in

the natural world, if I plant a seed in the ground,

I'm going to have to do some things in order

for it to grow and produce fruit. And I want

to go ahead and say this, only the seed in which

you allow enter your heart is going to be the

harvest in which you reap from in the next season.

You don't just get a hold of everything there

is in God in one seed, in one word. It's multiple

words. It's getting a hold of God will supply

all my needs according to his riches in glory.

It's getting hold of his provision. It's getting

hold of his peace. That word, you're hearing

it. You're putting yourself in an environment

to hear it, to receive it. And then you continue

to go back to let that seed be watered. Continually

watered. You water it through relationship by

spending time in his word and that specific thing

that he's laid on your heart that he's shown

you, he takes you and he guides you. You say,

God, help me to see this greater. Help me to

see things the way you see them. And when you

spend time in fellowship in the word, what are

you doing? You are watering that seed that's

within you. So it's about word saturation. It's

about placing yourself in environments to hear,

for the word to be watered. And then it's also

about relationship, about fellowshipping with

him and with his spirit, right? So we must hear.

And then we also must learn it. We must learn

the truth. We have to get to a place where it's

not just... the exercise of learning, but it

must come to a place where it produces fruit.

And what the scripture is talking about here

is not just hearing, hearing, hearing information.

It's talking about when that information turns

to revelation in your heart and then starts impacting

your life and you start reaping the benefits

from it. It moves beyond just the process of

learning to all of a sudden, I know something.

I've learned it. I've heard it. I've allowed

it to be established in the soil of my heart.

And therefore, I'm going to stand in faith. Not

because of the storm, not because of the surround.

I'm going to stay in faith. Why? Because I know

something greater than what my situation's telling

me. I know something greater than the thoughts

the mind is trying to put into my head. I know

something, that the joy, like we were singing

about, the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's

not my joy, it's His joy in me, through me. So

it's not dependent on the world around me, it's

dependent on me leaning, pressing into Him. It's

hearing, it's learning it, it's allowing it to

be the truth in our lives, not just a better

truth than the world. It has to be the truth,

amen? And then, because we've heard, because

we've learned, we've allowed it to become established

in us, therefore, now we have the ability to

disregard our old way of thinking. We can throw

it off, as the passage said, right? He's telling

us a command to throw off, right, our old sinful

nature and your former way of life, which is

corrupted by lust and deception, right? He's

talking about the mind. Your belief happens in

the mind. And you're saying you can throw off

that old nature, that former way of life. We

can disregard our old way of thinking. And then

when we do that, guess what? When we do that,

we can yield to our spirits. Because like I said,

we've learned really well to rely on our flesh,

to rely on our souls, our mind, our will, and

our emotions. We rely on those things, but now...

We have a substitute, a great exchange for those

things in Christ so that we can press in, we

can lean into those things. So we yield into

the Spirit and what the Spirit wants to do in

and through us. And only then will we reap the

benefit, the full benefit of who He is. Amen?

Matthew 11, 28, and 30, and I'm done. I really

like this passage because I really think it gets

to the heart of it. And I believe it's what God

would really want to say to us. Jesus said this.

He said, come to me. It's an invitation to leave

what? Physically come, no, no, it's an invitation

to draw near to him. It's an invitation to experience

him. He's saying, come to me, all who are weary

and carry heavy burdens. Some of the greatest

burdens you can bear are those in your mind and

in your heart. And he's saying, come to me. If

you're weary and heavy laden, come to me. Exchange

what you have. Throw off what you have. Your

old sinful ways of your flesh and your corruption

and the lust. Throw off all those things. Come

to me. Why? Because he's got something for you.

He's got rest for you. He says, I will give you

my rest for your burden, for your weight that

you've been carrying. I will give you something,

not a nap this afternoon. I will give you a peace

that surpasses all understanding to guard your

heart and mind in you. Because it's not the world's

peace, so therefore it can't be taken away. Look,

if the world didn't give it to you, The world

can't take it away. I like that old song. Have

you ever? I don't know. No, I'm moving on. But

listen, the thief comes to steal and kill and

to destroy you. Guess what? The enemy's not stealing

God's peace. The enemy's not moving God. He's

not moving God. God's not concerned about what

happens in the earth. Why? If he's not concerned

with it, I shouldn't be concerned with it. Because

I'm in him, he's in me. I'm operating in his

power, his ability, his mind, his thoughts. And

all he's saying for me to do is come. It's so

simple. Come to me. Exchange what you have for

what only I can give you. He will give you rest.

Amen. Continuing on verse 29, take my yoke. This

word yoke was describing a beam that would go

between two animals. Instead of being yoked with

your flesh, instead of being yoked with your

mind and all of its burdens and all of its stuff,

you can throw off that old way of life because

it has no power over you, as we've looked at

in Romans in our life group, if you've been part

of that. You can throw off. It has no power over

you. With your authority in Christ, you get rid

of it and you put on the yoke of God. And what

is this? He goes, let me teach you. Because some

things have to come into your head before you

experience them in your life, right? Because

what you think about determines how you live,

what you say. right, determines how your life

is going to play out. So he's saying, take my

yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am

humble and gentle at heart and you will find

rest for your souls, your mind, your will, rest

in your emotions. Amen. A source, God is our

source. For our souls. For my yoke, verse 30,

for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I

give you is light. Just wanting us to place our

hands on it, right? It's his work. It's his power.

It's his joy. It's his peace. It's his mind and

not my confusion. Not my disillusionment. Not

my reasoning. Not what some influencer told me

online and so therefore I can do it. No. It's

a reliance on his mind in every area of your

life. This online worship experience was brought

to you by the friends and partners of Elation

Church.