What’s On Your Mind? – Week 5 – Protecting Your Mind

Those out and turn to Philippians,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

in the new testament at Philippians, chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

Also in your pro grams, there's an outline

if you're a note taking person,

you're welcome to pull that out if that's

helpful to you as well. Grams And

we are in the the final message of

a series entitled what's

on your mind? What's on your mind? Well

Bob Wi

came in dead last in

New York City marathon.

He came in 19400

and third eighteenth place.

That's dead last.

His time, 4 days,

2 hours

47 minutes and 17 seconds. That's about 4

days longer than the the fastest guy. Now

here's the thing though. Wi

has no legs.

Bob is a Vietnam veteran. His legs were

blown off by a land mine during the

war.

A leather saddle strap beneath his torso, knuckles

padded.

He used his arms to propel himself forward.

At over a rate of less than 1

mile per hour to the finish line.

I lost my legs. He said, but I

did not lose my heart.

He was the first person ever

to run a marathon

with his arms.

Instead of his legs.

And when he was being interviewed, asked why

he ran the race, he gave 3 reasons.

He said,

I want people to know that I'm a

follower of Jesus Christ.

I wanted to test my conditioning.

And I wanna encourage others to pursue physical

fitness.

And then he went on said success is

not based on where you start.

It's where you finish,

and I finished.

That's a remarkable attitude. Isn't it? And, you

know, in life,

in life, the the greater challenges prove to

be not so much

how to succeed, but how

to last,

how to endure.

And the course that we choose is critical,

but so is the strength to stay on

that course. And that's true of our walk

as a follower of Jesus as well. We

come to recognize,

Christ and who he is

and what he is calling us to be.

We may decide to follow him.

But then so much so much can draw

us away,

distract us, dis us.

And the apostle Paul knew this, and he

spoke and he wrote about it numerous times.

As I mentioned, we're concluding this message. Series

entitled What's on your mind. And throughout this

series, we have considered numerous

teachings from Paul,

Concerning our

spiritual mind

and what we call our mindset,

the direction that we're moving. What it is,

what it does, what it impacts,

how we can serve god more effectively and

please him with our mind and with our

mindset.

We have explored

the truth that we are when we're born

again that we literally receive the mind of

Christ.

That is the ability to think in new

ways

influenced

by his holy spirit. We looked at the

process of setting our mind or our life

direction

toward the things of god as we grow

in Christian maturity, We emphasize the importance of

renewing

our mind regularly

so that we can discern God's will for

us, And then finally,

we were reminded of the spiritual vitality

that comes from losing our mind. We talked

about that couple of weeks ago. Have y'all

lost your mind? No.

But we are losing our mind. That is

we are giving up our way more and

more. Couple to pursue

Christ's way. Following his example, his mindset

of humility

of obedience

of service.

So I ask you once again, what's on

your mind

today

If the mind

represents our spiritual choices,

then we must make sure to guard our

mind,

from the myriad of false or ignorant or

skewed patterns of thinking

that are so prevalent

in our culture today. And so this morning,

we're gonna consider 1 final teaching from the

Great Apostle Paul on how we can live

with extraordinary strength as we

protect

our minds.

And this mind

protection begins from a position from a place

from a preference

for living in peace.

Wanna invite you to read together with me

a portion of Paul's teaching. Comes from his

concluding remarks to the Philippians church in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

we're gonna look at versus 4 through 9.

The words are on the screen. So let's

read this

together.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say, rejoice.

Let your reasonable

be known to everyone. The Lord is at

hand.

Do not be anxious about anything.

But in everything

by prayer and sup simplification with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of god which surpasses all

understanding

will guard your hearts and your minds

in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers. Whatever is true. Whatever is honorable.

Whatever is just, whatever is pure. Whatever is

lovely,

whatever is commendable.

If there is any excellence.

If there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard

and seen in me,

practice these things.

And the God of peace will be with

you.

Amen.

Amen. God's word.

Well, for troubled followers of Jesus,

peace

is a divine

process.

I don't suppose any of you would admit

to ever being troubled from time to time.

Is that just me? Thank you, Tim. 1

of our elders raised his hand. I appreciate

that.

Yes. We're all troubled from time to time

aren't we.

Anxiety.

It's a buzz word today. Isn't it? It's

everywhere. Anxiety. And do you know that anxiety

is the opponent. It is the enemy

of peaceful living.

Well, the peace of god is the guardian,

the protector of our hearts and minds. Look

again at verse 7.

The image here is of a soldier,

standing guard guarding. That's what that means. A

soldier,

standing guard and that would be a a

really relevant

picture as Paul wrote this letter to the

city of Flip eye and the Christians that

were living there. That was a city that

was...

Protected

by a Roman garrison

full of of

of Roman soldiers.

It was a retirement community

for retired Roman soldiers.

Soldiers,

people that had lived the soldier life lived

in Philip pie, And so Paul takes that

word from their life and their lifestyle, and

he says,

God wants to be our guard.

The peace of god is our guard, like

a soldier

standing guard. You see friends,

anxiety really is the opponent.

It really is the enemy

of peaceful living. It attacks

our hearts.

It attacks our minds.

With false

information with erratic

emotions

with

unreasonable

demands

but the peace of god

is the guardian

of our hearts and minds. The soldier standing

guard over our hearts and minds, which indicates

what? Our hearts and minds, our entire

inner person, including

our emotions,

our rational thinking,

and our supernatural

thinking,

which we sometimes call wisdom.

So for the remainder of our time this

morning, I wanna consider together the process

of

spiritual mind

protection.

We're gonna look at 3 different things that

help to protect our mind. And first of

all, we see that protecting our mind includes

having a diverse

offense, a diverse offense, You know, some years

ago,

in the sport of football your football fan,

you'll be very familiar with this. There arose,

somewhat new, creative,

diverse philosophy. If of play that came to

be known as the spread offense.

And 1 of the most well known and

prolific p petition of this style of play

was right here in Eugene Oregon at the

University of Oregon, the Oregon Ducks, then coached

by Chip Kelly. Who was a guru of

the spread offense.

And this diverse offense and football uses a

multitude of different

formations and personnel grouping, it relies on speed

and accuracy to keep the opponents off balance.

And take take advantage of their weak spots.

Well, I share that with you because in

this text

Paul

presents for us a diverse offense, if you

will a spread offense.

In order to keep our opponent,

Satan, off balance,

so that our spiritual minds

can be protected by God's guardian of peace.

Are creative,

spiritual

offense includes

a number of things. And the first 1

that I wanna look at is joy.

Joy. In fact, Joy is so important that

our coach, Paul said it twice. 2 times

in a row.

Rejoice

in the Lord.

And again, I say it, rejoice. It's like

he's the coach riding on the on the

board and under lining it.

Rejoice.

Paul wants us to know how important that

is. Friends,

joy,

joy does not come from our circumstances.

Oh, it's a sunny day. I'm joyful. Oh,

it's raining. I'm bum.

My bank account is full. I'm joyful.

I'm running on empty.

I'm bomb. No. Joy doesn't come from our

circumstances.

Joy is a gift

from God

himself.

In fact, the word,

for joy in the original language

is closely related with the same word that

we translate as grace.

Grace.

Joy is both a gift from God,

and

it is our response,

to the gift of God.

That interesting.

And so we experienced joy, you when... Not

only when we receive from God, joy, but

when we recognize and are thankful

in

using that joy, and allowing that joy to

per and infiltrate and live, recognize in our

life.

So joy comes when we are aware

of God's grace

when we just re his favor.

We just desire to live within god's plan

and purpose for our life. And so with

that in mind, it's evident that 1 way

to experience joy is just to to focus

on god.

And we do that

instead of dwelling

on our difficulties.

On those things that are robbing our contentment

instead,

we dwell on God. Now, this is not

to say that we should, you know, deny

hard times or discontent.

Or difficult

negative

emotions. I'm not saying just think positively and

everything will be fine. Don't get me wrong

here.

I love the psalms, and and I would

just commend you to spend some time in

the psalms because the psalm writers

in the old testament.

They're so good at pouring out their hearts

to God,

including when they're mad at God and frustrated

with God and confused and don't understand But

what I love so much about the psalms

is they might start with that negative stuff,

but they always come around at the end.

To recognize, okay, God.

You've got me,

and I've got you, and we're gonna be

okay.

And that's where joy comes into play.

That's where it comes into play. And so

following the example of those psalm, we can

pour our hearts out to god, we can

tell him

We can be blunt about it. We might

as well be because he already knows what

we're thinking it's not secret.

So go ahead and tell God, all the

things that ey, all the things bug you.

But then

work through it to that point where you

could submit those things to him,

Release them to him

Remember who he is.

And that is when you will find rest

and joy

in

God.

But it's not just joy. In addition to

re the next offensive tool that Paul offers

to us is this interesting word reasonable

Reasonable.

Your version might translate it as gentle

or patient.

Followers of Jesus ought to be gentle

and patient

and reasonable.

In our dialogue in our conversations with 1

another

with the people that we work with,

people we go to school with, people we

live in the community with, We need to

be known as reasonable

people.

That means

we don't wanna have a reputation of somebody

that's easily angered

or foolish

buying into things that are obviously not true,

but rather as reasonable.

Wise people who can handle

difficulties and even disagreements

with maturity.

This is a a most

important tool

It's such an important tool available to us

because

it allows that guardian of peace.

To dwell at our doorstep,

providing us the protection.

And it is an especially useful trait in

this culture in which we find ourselves living,

full of

polarization,

full of harsh words,

d meaning

attitudes,

resentment towards anybody who thinks differently

or looks differently

than we think they might not.

When we reveal a gentle

reasonable

spirit,

we can often diffuse the anger.

And the rage

that's so prevalent

in our culture,

and we'll find ourselves

dwelling more in the arena of peace

and peace is the guardian

that allows us

to represent the Lord well.

And then finally, Paul offers a third offensive

weapon in our battle against our enemy of

anxiety and stress that seeks to just dis

derail our peace. And that tool is prayer.

Prayer, rather than succumb to anxiety, we are

called to practice

a

lifestyle of prayer. And I want us to

really understand this. It's not just a quick

throw up prayer and not said, oh, I

prayed. You no, a lifestyle an ongoing practice,

or of living in prayer. It's so important

that Paul uses 4

distinct worst to describe bringing

our problems, bringing our stuff to the lord.

He uses the the generic word prayer,

He uses another word sup,

another word request and a fourth word thanksgiving.

And so we might see it as is

this. Prayer is coming to God.

Sup simplification or your version might say petition

is admitting to see your need

for his help. That's a big 1 isn't

it,

especially for us that, yeah, and we can

do it on our own. No.

We need to come with sup dislocation with

petition, with prayer, and then requesting

requesting,

give gives an idea of a specific

intervention. It identifies how you need god to

help.

Well, what doesn't god already know how he

needs to help me.

It's for us, folks.

When we make the request, We are identifying.

We're verbal.

We're thinking through what is that I'm requesting

of God. Is it reasonable.

Is this something within his clear, spoken, word

and will.

We wanna make good requests, not arrogant requests,

not ridiculous requests.

Right?

And then finally, each of these things, Paul

says, should be done with thanksgiving.

That is we should be thankful.

That God knows best,

that he is in control and even when

our requests

perhaps aren't granted.

We're okay with that.

Because we understand God

is in control.

And so it might sound something like this.

Father God,

I'm hurting.

I'm hurting because my friend is rejecting me

and Lord. I don't know. I don't know

if other people are putting pressure on my

friend or if they're influencing my friend negatively,

but that's sure how it feels, Lord.

And so father help me not to worry.

Not to get angry

about this situation, please, Lord help me to

think rightly.

And clearly.

And God, I thank you for your love

and your faithfulness to me, and I thank

you for the good that I've experienced

in the past with my friend,

and father as I I look for ways

to reconcile

with my friend I trust in your ways,

Lord.

Amen.

Little model for you. You can adjust it.

Just it to your circumstances

to your events to your situation, but I

want you to think about how your prayer

life is formed through these 4

specific

what we call maybe facets of prayer.

As we learn

to use this diverse set of tools in

our spiritual life,

we will find a growing sense of peace.

Guarding our hearts and minds from the negative

thoughts

and ideas

that are so prevalent in our world today.

But as useful as a a diverse offenses,

our coach Paul

believes in a well rounded approach.

Alright?

And so next, we see that protecting our

minds includes a strong

defense.

A strong defense. Now, in football,

left tackle

are arguably the most important of the 5

offensive line. The left tackle

is the guy that protects the quarterback

blind side from the oncoming pass rush. So

they're they're responsible

for protecting the quarterback from the people he

can't see.

Sometimes they're even called the quarterback best friend.

Because they're constantly

guarding

the quarterback

in vulnerable

situations.

And friends that is what the peace of

God

can do for you.

God's holy spirit, the spirit of peace is

like our left tackle.

He's on the lookout constantly

to protect us from the onslaught.

He is our strong

defense.

But you know what? We have to play

a part. In that strong defense as well.

To fully

experience the peace from god that Paul says

surpasses our own understanding. Isn't that a great

phrase.

It it means we can't even fully verbal

it. I can't even fully tell you about

it this morning. You just have to experience

it when you do, you'll know it.

But it surpasses

our own

understanding. And to get that to experience that,

we need to readjust our thought pattern.

Like a a quarterback

and his Line,

we need to be on the same page

of the playbook.

We need to work in concert

with god's holy spirit of peace, and how

do we do that?

We do that when we adjust our thought

patterns, and Paul tells us

exactly how

In verse 8. What does he say? Whatever

is true.

Whatever is honorable.

Whatever is just

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable.

If there is any excellence,

if there's anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

Now I don't need to spend a lot

of time.

Identifying what these words mean for you. Do

I? They're pretty self explanatory.

True,

pure,

lovely,

commendable. You know what those things are excellent.

Think about these things. That's what Paul says

is the recipe,

The rest of he for being on the

same page

as

our left tackle,

our guardian of peace. You know, recently, there

was some research done. They asked a thousand

adults in the United States between the ages

of 25 and 54.

They ask them what they think about

while they're taking a shower.

Alright. Now here are the top 3 reasons

or 3 3 things, 3 responses that they

think about in the shower. Number 1,

To do lists.

To do lists. Number 2,

problems and worries,

and number 3,

work.

It's a top 3.

I'm taking a shower. That's what I think

about. And what an interesting glimpse I think

into what we kind of ob over?

When we wake up in the morning or

when we wind down in the evening, those

are the 2 times that most of us

take a shower.

And I just to thinking, you know, while

we clean ourselves to start the day,

at the same time, we're already soil ourselves

with stress,

and disappointment and worry.

Think about that. When we try our best

to to clear the clutter from our minds,

maybe with a nice long shower or a

bath in the evening.

What happens instead?

We fill our minds.

To overflowing with what thoughts about places to

go and people to see and task to

accomplish and things I'm worried about

We are people who can barely go 1

minute without pondering

the many things that we feel we need

to do. We must stu. We should do.

We we should not be doing oh, on

and on it goes.

And instead,

instead friends, what if

what if in those times of

relaxation

and slowing down

in refocus, I don't care where it happens

if it happens in the shower somewhere else.

But what if in those times?

What if we thought instead about the goodness

of God.

God, you are so good to me.

Thank you for the goodness I've experienced today.

What if instead,

we thought about the beauty of God's

creation, Lord, thank you for this glorious beautiful

shiny day. I'm looking forward to living in

it.

What if we just thought about the power

of God's grace.

God your grace is overwhelming and awesome and

powerful.

Thank you, Lord,

that I walk in your grace and not

in your judgment.

What if we instead of thinking about what

we needed to do. We thought about the

promise of heaven.

What if instead of ob about our to

do list, We celebrated God's already done list.

That's an awesome list. Isn't it?

God's already done list. Think about these. Things.

What if instead of our anxiety over current

events and politics

and wars and the things that are going

on in this world What if instead of

focusing on those things?

What if instead we ponder the power.

Of the peace that is to come

in the life that is to come that

god promises for us. Friends, the antidote

the divine promise, the strong defense of God's

peace is available

to you and to me right now,

All we have to do is think about

it. Think about these things.

And here's the thing.

These minds can only do so much. And

so to think about these things, we've got

to clear out some of the junk. Right?

So that there's room to think about these

things.

So there's some homework for the week. Alright?

Don't think about...

Those things.

Whatever's is on your list.

Think about these things.

A diverse offense.

A strong defense. And then finally, we see

that protecting our mind

requires

and abundance of practice.

Just a whole bunch of practice.

Have you ever wondered why a house cat

can climb up a tree

but sometimes they just don't know how to

get back down.

I I read about this. This animal expert,

doctor Temple Grand has theory. She claims that

at some point, mother cats teach kittens how

to climb and descend from high places, the

just as they teach their young great many

other things

that were once thought to be innate cat

behavior.

They teach them out to hunt, how to

bury their waste, how to deal with live

prey, how to approach an unknown person or

a dog and so forth. These are things

that the mother teaches

to the kitten.

And so doctor Grand speculate that cats that

get in stuck in trees according to her

theory, are cats

that were perhaps taken from their mothers

before the lessons about getting out of the

tree, was taught.

Now, that's just a theory, but we know

from scientific studies that a great deal of

animal behavior is learned behavior. It's not just

instinct.

Scientific studies have been done on all kinds

of animals.

Tigers and wolves and c and lizards and

fish, even even ants. And those studies show

that animals,

learn how to be a particular kind of

animal by watching,

observing and I,

their mothers or other members

of their animal group. They learn by

imitation.

And in the same way friends, we learn

how to follow Jesus

by watching

and I

other followers

of Jesus.

And this is both brilliant

and scary

Because sometimes

we don't act the way we ought to.

Right?

And we don't want other people I us.

And so I'm talking about when we see

these traits being lived out, carried out. People

of wisdom, people of peace.

People that are walking in God's spirit. When

you see those people,

watch them.

Learn from them,

imitate them.

In the closing verse of our text in

in verse 9,

Paul says to the Philippians church and to

us.

That's why these words have been preserved for

2000 years carefully.

What you have learned

and received

and heard

and seen in me.

What does he say?

Practice

these things.

And the God of peace will be with

you.

Do you see the abundance of practice?

You know, the football team with a diverse

offense and a strong defense,

That doesn't just happen. Right?

They spend all week

practicing and preparing for the game on Saturday.

And you know what? The game of life

is no different friends.

Paul says, follow my example.

Watch me. Observe me. Listen to me. Follow

me, And then you too will have the

guardian peace standing outside your door.

And you know what's so interesting to me

and so humbling to me about and I

read that.

It's this that is Paul right these words

to the Philippians church. These deep and meaningful

words about protecting their minds in their hearts

and experiencing supernatural

peace as Paul writes these words,

he is in prison,

He is chained

to a Roman guard.

And friends that guard was not there

to bring Paul to a place of peace.

Is that right? That guard was not there

to assist Paul in his times of anxiety

or stress or fear or disappointment. Do you

think that guard cared anything about any of

that?

Absolutely not.

And yet,

because Paul has spent years

practicing these deep, deep truths, he knows

that his readers can experience these truths as

well

if they will follow the pattern.

And he knows that because

unseen by that Roman guard that is chained

to Paul is another guard.

A more powerful guard, a guard who does

seek what is best for Paul, who has

his back, who is protecting his mind and

his heart

and who is there to encourage him,

especially in the difficult moments.

Like being in prison.

The guardian

of peace,

run a little football theme today.

Aaron Rogers

is 1 of the more well known

and more controversial football players in the Nfl.

He was a first round draft pick.

He is a herald throw with a rifle

arm.

It's currently quarterback back for the New York

jets

But for many years, he was the quarterback

for the Green bay packers.

Aaron Rogers was raised.

In an evangelical Christian household.

But soon after winning the Super Bowl

The greatest achievement of football player can can

get to.

He won the Super Bowl in 2011.

And soon after that, he began questioning his

Christian faith.

In an interview with Espn,

Roger says he no longer identifies. Their religious

affiliation. He now believes that organize religion can

have a a mind debilitating

effect with

because there's an exclusive visit

exclusivity that can shut you out from being

open to the world to people to energy

to love and to accept.

That's Aaron Rogers take.

On the life of faith.

Oh wanna contrast that though.

Contrast Aaron Rogers with a far lesser known

football player. Probably nobody here. Has heard of

this football player, but you've heard of Aaron

Rogers.

This football player's name is Ryan Su,

He's a field goal kicker,

and he was the last, the very last

overall pick.

Number 256.

In the Nfl draft that he participated in

out of college.

Now, the media famously labeled the very last

picked

mister irrelevant

because the last picks rarely

make the team

Su though,

not only made the team.

He played for 14 seasons,

in the Nfl.

And he has ranked as 1 of the

top 20 all time in career field goal

percentage.

Could say he's at the top of his

game.

In fact,

he was the first mister or irrelevant to

play and win

a super Bowl.

He won a Super Bowl just like Aaron

Rogers.

The first 1 to win as a starter

and an active player.

A being the last

chosen.

Su up,

thanks God for his success,

in an interview.

He said this.

Every gift and ability I have obviously comes

from the lord.

Kicking field goals

is a high stress

occupation

He goes on and he says, when your

perform before 75000

fans out there and you mess up

every single 1 of them knows it.

And you're all alone.

Su

said this in his interview. He says I

read

Philippians philippians 4

6 through 8

before every game.

And I recite some of the words in

my head before every single kick.

Every time I read that scripture and pray

that prayer. The Lord has blessed me with

peace.

In connection with my ability.

God makes clear

that he doesn't want us to be anxious.

Every time we're anxious about something,

we're not trusting

in him.

Friends, it seems to me like Aaron Rogers

has made a decision to trust in his

own understanding

of how things work in this world.

While Ryan Su has chosen to have his

mind

and his heart protected.

By the guardian

of peace.

And this morning, I wanna say that that

choice

is available

for each of us. As well. Friends, the

guardian of peace can be there for you.

No matter the location

No matter the situation you find yourself in,

He is just waiting for you.

To call.

Practice

these things,

and the God of peace

will be with you.

That's a promise

from the the apostle Paul.

Let's pray together.

Father we thank you for the power of

your spirit that is available

to each person who would choose

to follow you.

Father, we thank you that we can live

in peace

despite

contentious times,

Despite confusion and uncertainty even in our own

lives father, we can live in peace.

When we trust in you.

Father my prayers for each person in this

building

each person that's listening to this message today,

Lord that they would find their way to

that place of peace

as they come to understand what it means.

To follow Jesus as Lord and savior.

What it means to receive the gift

of the holy spirit

when we are born again

into the family of God.

Guide us today, Lord we pray

in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well not only am I on,