Mind of Christ | Deborah Hong

Good morning. Today's Pentecost Sunday.

Anybody know that?

>> 50 days after Passover where the Holy

Spirit fell on the people in the upper

room that waited 10 days after Jesus's

ascension where he promised his

followers that the Holy Spirit would

come. And it's a gift, our comforter,

revealer of truth. And so today, I have

the honor and the privilege to share the

word of God with you. And I'm just

praying that you are just focused and

ready to receive an impartation of joy

and breakthrough today because I truly

believe that's what the Lord wants to

do. And so before we do anything else,

let's ask the Holy Spirit to come and to

do a work in our hearts and to make sure

that we're not callous and hard towards

the Lord, but we want to be able to

receive all that God has for us. So

right where you are, just bow your

heads, close your eyes, and with your

own words, come on, say, "Holy Spirit,

>> Holy Spirit,

>> come. We ask you Lord

>> that you would do a deep work

>> and soften our hearts today

>> in Jesus name.

>> The church says

>> amen. Now we do have notes and if you

want to follow along and it's uh if you

text the number 8437556209.

If you want the notes in English you

just type notes. And if you want it in

Spanish, put notes. And then you you're

going to get a link to the Uver notes

and so you can follow along. But of

course, I'm gonna go a little outside

the notes, too. So, you might want to

write something down if I didn't put it

in there. But today, we're going to be

talking about the mind of Christ. The

title of today's message is the mind of

Christ. And I feel like the Lord has

taken me on this journey of this

revelation of how to truly be a

Christian who lives in the mind of

Christ. Because we have so many

opportunities to to set our minds on the

things of the world and set our mind on

the things of the flesh. But we as

Christians, we're not supposed to be

boring. We're not supposed to be

miserable. We're not supposed to be

struck down and destroyed. We're not

supposed to be falling apart. We're

supposed to be the salt of the earth. Do

you know how good salt is? Do we're

supposed to be the light. We're supposed

to be the best of the best. But we have

so many Christians walking around

miserable. And it is a sad day. And

we're going to turn our mourning into

dancing today.

He changes our sorrows for joy. And so

there has been a lot of research about

the brain. And I want to talk about a

little bit of that research.

Neuroscience shows something fascinating

that your brain does not simply record

reality like a camera. What it does is

it interprets reality through past

experiences, expectations, emotional

patterns, beliefs, repeated thoughts,

trauma, and habits.

So your brain is like trying to predict

what's about to happen. is trying to

interpret what's happening and trying to

get us out of danger as soon as

possible. That's what's that's what's

happening. And so there was this doctor

who did this example and he got this

picture and he told the people around

him, he said, "Hey, I want you to look

at this picture and in 3 seconds, I'm

going to give you five seconds, but in

the first three seconds, I need you to

find five red objects in this picture."

And so the people did that and they

found the objects very easily. And right

after he took the picture away and he

said, "Now tell me what were the green

objects and nobody could name them

because everybody was focused on the red

objects." And this is an example of how

our brain filters whatever we set our

minds to. It's going to amplify. It's

going to fire and wire and connect and

make those pathways stronger. But this

is something that the Bible has already

talked about. The Bible has been

teaching this for thousands of years.

So, let's open up our beautiful Bibles

to Romans 12 verse 1-2. Oh, Romans.

Romans 12:1–2

Telling you, Romans is one of the best

books in the Bible. All right. It says,

"Paul is writing to the church of Rome,

and he tells them, I appeal to you,

therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God

to present your bodies as a living

sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

which is your spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world, but

be transformed by the renewal of your

mind, that by testing you may discern

what is the will of God, what is good

and acceptable and perfect. I love this

because transformation happens

intentionally and it's through the

renewal of the mind. God changes us. He

changes our perceptions. He changes even

heals our traumas and he does that and

it affects the way we even interpret

reality. And this is really important

for us as Christians because we will be

useless in the kingdom of God if we are

not transformed by the renewal of our

mind. We will not be able to do what

God's called us to do if we don't think

different. If we don't think like the

Lord wants us to think, if we don't

think and interpret things according to

his word. So he doesn't want to just

change your actions. come and just look

like a good Christian, spill a seed,

give your tithe. He doesn't just want

behavioral modifications. He wants to

transform the way you even interpret

reality, the way that you even see the

mountain in front of you, the way you

see the giant in front of you. He wants

you to be able to see it, the way that

he's called his people to see it. So,

number one, you will live from whatever

mind you cultivate.

>> I want us to go to Colossians chapter 3.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 3 1-4. If then you

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

have been raised with Christ, seek the

things that are above, where Christ is

seated at the right hand of God. Set

your mind on the things that are above,

not on the things that are on the earth.

For you have died and your life is

hidden with Christ and God. When Christ,

who is your life, appears, then you will

also appear with him in glory. Y'all,

this scripture,

if you have been raised with Christ,

seek the things that are above where

Christ is. The problem is, we're seeking

everything. We're looking down. We're

seeking everything on the earth. We're

seeking all the validation we need.

We're looking for our needs to be met

from the trauma that wasn't healed. And

we're not seeking. We're not looking up.

We're not looking where Christ is. And

see, there's nothing new under the sun.

Thank you, Jesus. So that means you

don't have to walk around wondering how

to live this Christian life successfully

because there are so many examples in

the Bible of people who went through

exactly what you went through. People

who went through exactly the situations

and the difficulties that you've been

through. And you know what? God has a

response. God has an answer for that.

And so the the the Bible already tells

us set our mind on these things. But

also neuroscience shows us that whatever

you consistently allow to occupy your

attention eventually shapes your

perception. The brain filters reality

according to what it has been trained to

prioritize.

So fearrained minds notice threats.

Rejection trained minds notice

abandonment. Peacetrained minds notice

God's faithfulness.

So Colossians, let's talk about the

context of Colossians and why Paul was

writing this letter. So Paul's speaking

to believers who are surrounded by false

ideology, worldly thinking, spiritual

confusion.

He says, "Set your mind." That means we

have the ability to control what we can

perceive. That is our authority in

Christ. It's also our our God-given um

ability as a human. He's given us that

ability to set our minds. And what is

incredible is like we wouldn't look at

somebody who you say, "Okay, set your

clock to this time and then they refuse

to set their clock to that time and then

they're always late because they don't

have the right time." We would not be

saying like, "Oh, it's okay. It's

because you have a lot of issues to deal

with." We'd be like, "Set your clock so

you could be on time." And that's what

Jesus is saying today. Set your mind on

the things that are above so that you

can change and transform by the renewing

of your mind. It's as simple as that.

And so what you repeatedly meditate on,

what you rehearse, what you obsess over,

what you expose yourself to begins

wiring and reinterpreting your reality.

So what has been discipling your mind

lately? Because something's discipling

you. Whether you know it or not,

something is discipling you. What is

discipling you? What voices shape your

thinking more than God's truth? But

Deborah, you don't know how hard my life

is.

The Lord does. And he's given us the

tools. That's the wonderful, beautiful

thing about this big, beautiful Bible is

that you can apply what it says and it

transforms you. And I'm a walking

talking miracle proof of the

transformation of the renewal of God and

what his transformation power can do in

your mind. Are you feeding yourself fear

or faith? The mind is not just where

thoughts happen. It's where worlds are

formed. Number two, the mind of Christ

sees differently than the world. I want

us to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2

1 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

14-16.

It says the natural person does not

accept the things of the spirit of God

for they they are folly to him and he is

not able to understand them because they

are spiritually discerned and the

spiritual person judges all things but

is himself to be judged by no one for

who has understood the mind of the Lord

so as to instruct him but we have the

mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is

not simply smarter thinking a higher EQ

IQ. It is transformed perspective.

>> Transformed perspective. It's like

literally how we see the entire world

and the whole situation around us. It

matters to have Christ's perspective.

And so why again? Why is Paul writing

this letter? We need to always ask that

question. Why is Paul writing this

letter? So the church of Corinth, they

valued status, eloquence, intellect,

image, performance. And Paul is

confronting this worldly

wisdom and he says God's wisdom is

totally different. What the world wants

is power, self-promotion, superiority,

control, but Christ demonstrates

humility, surrender, servantthood,

dependence on the father. So your brain

predicts reality based on previous

frameworks. And so Paul is literally

telling us the spirit gives believers a

completely new framework. So it doesn't

matter whatever cultural context we are

in, whatever everyone else is

prioritizing. What does Christ say is

your framework to live life? And that is

how we should look and live life. So we

could put on all of these heavy weights

and all these heavy burdens of, oh, I

got to make money, money, money, money.

Oh, okay. I got to I got to do this by

this age. I got to have this. Did Christ

say that or is that the cultural context

and the pressures of the world that

you're putting on yourself? And when the

Lord is telling us we have to think

differently, we have to look

differently. And when I think of people

who think differently, I I think of

Caleb in the in the Old Testament. But

before we go to Numbers chapter 14,

Numbers 14 · chapter mention

let's go to Ephesians chapter 4 because

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

I want to read this because the Lord, he

he transforms our mind, but he also puts

a different spirit in us. And so since

today is Pentecost Sunday, we need to

talk about the power of the Holy Spirit

and why the Holy Spirit is still alive

and active and needed today in believers

because Ephesians 4:1 17- 24 it says,

Ephesians 4:1

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord

that you must no longer walk as the

Gentiles do in the futility of their

minds. They are darkened in their

understanding, alienated from the life

of God because of the ignorance that is

in them due to their hardness of heart."

Y'all hear that? Ignorance because of

their hardness of a heart. They have

become callous and have given themselves

up to sensuality, greedy to practice

every kind of impurity. But that is not

the way you learn Christ. assuming that

you have heard about him and were taught

in him as the truth is in Jesus to put

off your old self which belongs to your

former manner of life and is corrupt

through deceitful desires and be renewed

in the spirit of your minds and to put

on the new self created after the

likeness of God in righteousness and

holiness. Boy, he was he was preaching.

I hope y'all got that.

So what really stood out to me in this

is verse 23 where it says, "And be

renewed in the spirit of your mind." So

what kind of spirit controls your mind?

Is it the Holy Spirit? You can't be

talking, thinking, acting like the world

and say the Holy Spirit. You can't also

be walking in condemnation and say the

Holy Spirit. You can't be living in

shame and also say the Holy Spirit. you

you also so when we're talking about

this new spirit numbers I want to go to

numbers chapter 14 verse 24 because

Numbers 14:24

Caleb when we're talking about the Lord

had told his people I'm going to give

you this land it's going to be amazing

milk honey all the stuff you want and so

he basically tells Moses send 12 people

over scout out the land they're just

they're just supposed to get excited

right they're not supposed to form all

of these lofty opinions but what

happened was 10 of them were not under

the Holy Spirit. They were not in they

did not have the mind of the Lord and

instead they formed their own opinions

and their own perceptions based on

previous situations of slavery because

they had come out of slavery. So they

still had the mind of a slave. And so as

they're scouting out the land, they come

back and they are discouraging literally

everybody. They are prophets of the

devil. They come over here and they said

we can't do it. We are like grasshoppers

in their eyes. These people, have you

seen how big they are? We can't do this.

And they start interpreting everything

through the filter of the world and

through their trauma and through their

previous experiences. But there were two

who had the mind of Christ. They had a

different spirit. And it was Joshua and

Caleb. And they were they were like,

"Y'all, we can do this." Of course, this

is paraphrasing. We can do this. What

are you talking about? Like God said we

can do it. We can do it. Did you not

remember how he brought us over the Red

Sea and then defeated our enemies for

us? Have you already forgotten? And

they're trying, but the people are

already discouraged. The people

immediately go into an agreement with

this demonic mindset and filtering

everything through the impossibilities

of the flesh.

But it says in Numbers 14:4, "But my

Numbers 14:4

servant Caleb, because he has a

different spirit and has followed me

fully, I will bring him into the land

into which he went, and his descendants

shall possess it." Yes, they will. And

they did. Ezekiel 36 26- 27. And I will

give you a new heart, and a new spirit I

will put within you, and I will remove

the heart of stone from your flesh, and

give you a heart of flesh, and I will

put the spirit within you, and cause you

to walk in my statutes, and be careful

to obey my rules. Ezekiel 11:19. and I

Ezekiel 11:19

will give them one heart and a new

spirit and I will put in them. I will

remove the heart of stone from their

flesh and give them a heart of flesh.

Daniel 5:12 Because an excellent spirit,

Daniel 5:12

knowledge and understanding to interpret

dreams, explain riddles, and solve

problems were found in this Daniel.

Daniel 6:3 then this Daniel became

Daniel 6:3

distinguished among all above all other

high officials and and sats because an

excellent spirit was in him. Joel 2:28

Joel 2:28

the promise is and it shall come to pass

after that I will pour out my spirit on

all flesh your sons and daughters shall

prophesy your old men shall dream dreams

and your young men shall see v visions

Romans 8:9 you however are not in the

Romans 8:9

flesh but in the spirit if in fact the

spirit of God dwells in you anyone who

does not have the spirit of Christ does

not belong to him

I love that part you know that you're a

son of God when you have the spirit of

God. And do you know what the Bible

says? Paul even wrote this. You know

what the earth is groaning for? The sons

of God to appear. You cannot be a son

and daughter of God unless you have the

spirit of God. You cannot have the

spirit of God unless you have the mind

of Christ. You cannot have the mind of

Christ if you continually set your mind

on the things of this world. And you are

getting worried over nothing.

>> You know what I'm saying?

Hallelujah. Number three, what you

repeatedly practice will rewire you.

Let's go to Philippians 4:8.

Philippians 4:8

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.

Like, it doesn't get any more simple

than that. But let me tell you what,

when I was choosing to have a mind of

the flesh and allowing my trauma to

shake me and not allow the Holy Spirit

to heal me, that scripture annoyed me

cuz I was like, Lord, what do you mean?

And also, I'm surrounded by lovely

people who have the mind of Christ. And

let me tell you, when people have the

mind of Christ and you don't and you're

around them and then they they point out

that is not the mind of Christ, that is

annoying.

Who wants to be annoyed?

So the Lord had to take me on a journey.

You know what I'm saying? He had to take

me on a journey. But this is what he did

because this is what this was my this

was my failure.

I would I would think like I would I'd

go in agreement with the demonic lie

that it would always be like this.

Every time I song wrote that I would

just think about my brother and then I'd

get sad and then I don't want to song

right.

So it would always be like this. So

whatever cycle it was, I would always be

sad. I would always be a moody girl.

Whatever it is, and I would come in

agreement with that demonic lie. And

then the Lord transformed that. I don't

it just it's just me being submit

submitted to this word and then

something just clicked. Something just

clicked where one day I was like the

Holy Spirit gave me this revelation. It

doesn't always have to be that way that

set me free.

That set me free that I grew up in the

church. I grew up with wonderful

parents. The worst thing that I

experienced with the death of my brother

and the death of our good friend and

then you know some you know chronic pain

here and there with you know my body

because of the accident but that's not

even that bad right it's not you know

we're not comparing pain but everybody

got pain right but that set me free that

set me free because I was like it

doesn't always have to be like that so

then I started telling my friends and

family because one day one day I'm going

to leave this person in my family

unnamed. But this unnamed person,

they they looked at me and said,

"Deborah, I'm just glad you didn't roast

me today." And I had this epiphany

because I thought we were laughing

together. I didn't know that this person

felt like I was roasting them. And so

then I was like, "Okay, give me 30 days.

30 days and I will transform and I will

not roast you anymore." They've

restarted the clock like three times by

now.

But but I'm but I know and I know that's

funny, but I really do say that to

people who are around me. Give me 30

days. Now that that doesn't mean about

sin. I'm not talking about sin, y'all.

Okay? But I'm talking about I I was

under the the delusion, the the

confusion, the demonic thought process

that it would always be this way. I

would always be stuck this way. I would

always whatever lie. But the truth of

God's word is that he can transform us.

He can transform us.

So you may not need 30 days. You could

decide today. You could set your mind on

things today.

And that is the beauty of it. And even

neuroscience talks about

neuroplasticity.

You can literally transform your brain.

You don't have to stay ignorant like

they that like they were in I think

first Corinthians, whoever Paul was

calling ignorant. You don't have to stay

ignorant. You can be renewed.

Hallelujah.

>> That's right.

>> And so I love 2 Corinthians. Now that

I'm not Now that I'm not annoyed by

this, 2 Corinthians 10:5, it says, "We

2 Corinthians 10:5

destroy arguments and every lofty

opinion raised against the knowledge of

God and take every thought captive to

obey Christ." You You know, it's not

cute just to stay in your trauma. That

ain't cute. That ain't cute. It It

really It really is not. And the Lord,

he's telling us right here, we have the

authority to destroy the the arguments

and every lofty opinion. That even means

your own opinion about yourself. Stop

thinking about you what God doesn't

think about you.

He said you are fearfully and

wonderfully made. He said you were

created for such a time as this with

purpose and a plan. And he wants you to

execute that plan.

>> And you cannot do that walking around

all miserable and all sad all the time.

We have to do that by believing that

Christ lives in us and the hope of glory

is in Christ Jesus.

>> Do you know what hope is? Hope is the

expectation for good. We should be

interpreting reality looking for the

good. Now I tell you what that is what

my mother does. Okay, very well. She

does that very well. She looks like the

whole sky is falling and she's like look

we can repaint it.

I'm just like, "No,

but she shouldn't be like that, y'all."

Cuz she doesn't come from a family that

thinks like that.

I'm a lot like my grandmother

and me and my grandma. But that's before

I have the mind of Christ. Okay. No, my

grandma has the mind of Christ, too.

She's being transformed, too. She's

80some and she's still being

transformed. But me and my grandma will

look at each other and then we'll just

gang up on her like what are you talking

about? Let's talk about all the

impossibilities and we'll start naming

all the impossib. But the truth is she

was thinking like Christ

>> and we were not.

Christ looks at the dust and he sees

you.

He looks He looks at the void and he

sees space and he sees stars and he sees

the earth and he sees the universe. He

sees we see nothing and he sees endless

possibilities of create creativity and

he wants to impart that to us.

And that's something that I have learned

is that when something doesn't unfold

the way that I wish it had unfolded.

I refuse to go down the roller coaster

of emotions and I grab it and I'm like,

"Okay, hold up. I trust this God

and he has never failed me

>> and he will never fail me. So no matter

what this situation, this impossibility

that I'm facing, literally nothing is

impossible for him. And if I believe

that, then why would I be worried?

>> Then why would I be burdened? But the

problem is we're trying to do stuff in

our own strength.

>> We're trying to build our own promise

with our own hands. And remember, if the

Lord doesn't build the house, the labors

labor in vain. So you over here wasting

time. And we don't have time to waste.

We got to be joyful. We got to be

exuberant. We got to be the light and

the salt. We got to get up and have the

mind of Christ. We got to transform

every area that we walk in. We got to do

something.

We can't just manufacture something. We

got to partner with the spirit of God.

And we got to see what is the solution

to every problem because there is one

creatively in Christ Jesus.

And I just love that we can be so

overwhelmed by God, none of our problems

have the authority over our hearts.

>> I literally always remember Stephen in

the New Testament, the moment he was

getting stoned, he was having a vision.

He was having a vision of the

heavenlies. He was having a vision of

Christ. Do you know how annoying that is

for someone who wants you dead and you

still thinking about God and you still

have a smile on your face?

The enemy cannot stop the people of God

when they have the mind of Christ.

Because nothing in this earth can deter

us because we are so consumed with the

heavens. We are so consumed with the

eternal that the temporary does not even

bother us.

We have that authority, y'all. I'm not

just talking to talk. This is legit

eternal word of God I am bringing to

you. And I hope that you are receiving

this because this will change your life.

This has changed my life.

The joy of the Lord can transform your

whole paradigm.

>> So when you see a giant, all of Israel

are cowarding in fear. But then David

has the mind of Christ. He's like, "Who

is this? Do you know the God we serve

and he's he comes and he talks the best

trash talk I've ever heard in my life?"

He talks the best trash talk. And you

know what? He defeated the giant. Not

because David was some sort of like huge

person. He was like a teenager, you

know, we all know what he was probably

looking like. But it was because he had

faith.

>> He had faith and trust in the Lord and

lean not on his own understanding and he

literally had the mind of Christ where

he believed nothing was impossible for

God. It is it is well time for us to

stop looking at impossible situations

and coward in fear like all the rest of

Israel. But there has to be a spirit of

David, a different spirit like Caleb or

like Daniel who had an excellent spirit

that falls on us today on Pentecost

Sunday. And that we would be different

and we would have the mind of Christ. We

would think different. We would walk

different. We would talk different. And

people will notice it. People will

notice it

>> because the earth is groaning for the

sons of God to appear.

>> So boring, miserable Christianity is in

the past.

>> It's the mind of Christ. It's a new

creation in Christ Jesus. That's the

that's the moment that we are in right

now. And we get to either step in it out

of obedience and faith or we can lack

faith and just stay in a victim

traumatic brain mentality and not allow

the Holy Spirit to heal us and we'll

just stay miserable and we'll stay

useless. Do you know those 10 spies who

had that mentality didn't get to possess

the promised land? Their the spirit of

their mind stopped them from being able

to possess what God had them to possess.

>> Right? So because you have a different

spirit and you have the mind of Christ,

you can possess what God has said you

can possess.

Nothing can stop us if we walk in that

faith. And so right where you are, I

would just love for you to stand to your

feet. And there might be some of you who

like, I don't even have Jesus in my

heart to begin with. We want to start

there because you can't have the mind of

Christ if you don't even believe that

Christ is your Lord and Savior. You

can't even transform. You can't even

become a new creation if it's not

through Christ.

And so this is important for us to

believe in his death and his

resurrection.

If we believe, he who the son sets free

is free indeed.

That is so exciting.

That means you stay free. You're kept

free. You don't run back to slavery. You

are kept free from sin. You are kept

free from shame. You walk in victory

because the Holy Spirit emboldens you.

The Holy Spirit empowers you. The Holy

Spirit reveals the truth to you. And

you're not going to go back to believing

a lie when you have the Holy Spirit

residing in your mind.