Minding Gods Things - Ethan Housser 6-8-2024

Good evening, Greetings in Jesus name this evening. The topic that I agreed

to take was the second one on minding God's Things. I hope that's okay.

We're going to try to look at some perspectives from maybe an older youth.

It would have been interesting to have this follow something from the perspective of

a younger youth. I would have really enjoyed that. As we think about

minding God's things in relation to an older youth, especially we're thinking of somebody

that's single, it brings many things to mind. I'm sure what we can

say here would apply to much more than just youth. Minding God's things should

be our goal no matter where we find ourselves in life, not just youth

or older youth or whatever. The field of responsibility changes as life goes on,

but at the end of the day, God's things are what really matter.

We can accomplish ever so much. We can start a business, we

can be involved in charity work, or go to a faraway mission field.

But if we're not minding God's things, we're not pleasing God in our hearts.

I'd like to look at three areas where we need to be minding God

we'll look at some practical areas here. The first one is meditating. I'd

like to turn to Genesis twenty four for this one. Look at Versus sixty

two and sixty three. Verse sixty two. And Isaac came from the way

of the well lehiro lehiroi, for he dwelt in the south country. And

Isaac went out to meditate in the field at even tide. And he lifted

up his eyes and saw it, and behold, the camels were coming.

Meditates. We as we're using it here in this section, we're this is

not an endorsement of the modern meditation that we hear about sometimes. What we're

talking about as a connection with God not a connection with ourselves. We're talking

about understanding ourselves for who we are, and understanding God for who he is.

Meditate, as used in this verse and described by Strong's, means to

muse pensively. So to break that down a bit, mewse, according to

Webster's means to become absorbed in thought, especially to turn something over in the

mind meditatively and often inconclusively. And then the definition said to muse pensively pensively

would have the idea of sad thoughtfulness so maybe the antonym to pensive, which

is an antonym, might be unreflective, So maybe that helps put that in

perspective somewhat. So to combine all that into one new definition as Christians,

we might come up with something like this thoughtful and productive reflection of our lives

and how we fit into God's plan. Taughtful and productive reflection of our lives

and how we fit into God's plan. A proud person can't meditate. They'll

think only about themselves and their own desires and wishes. Isaac gives us a

good example of meditating quiet time with God. This appears to be something that

he was used to doing. Seems like he was in the habit of taking

time out to to go out to the field and meditate. I'm sure he

had plenty of other legitimate things to do, but instead he took time to

go out there to the field and walk out there and reflect on God.

Meditating doesn't happen without effort. Our minds are inclined to natural things, and

meditating doesn't come naturally. It takes perseverance to keep our minds focused on spiritual

things, even even in these meetings or even in our personal devotions. We

have to. It takes effort to block out the cares of life that weigh

in on us. I'd like to look at three reasons why we need to

meditate. The first one is for spiritual growth. I'd like to look at

Psalm one. Turn to Psal one, if you will read a few verses

there. Read the first three verses. Blessed is the man that walketh not

in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,

nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the

law of the Lord. And in his law. Doth he meditate day and

night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth. His fruit in his season is leef. Also shall

not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Delighting in God and meditating

come before fruitfulness. You notice the order how they're listed in there. It

talks about meditating, and then it talks about fruitfulness. An unfruitful tree is

chaff which the wind drives away. It talks about that. In the verses

following that we didn't read, it says it talks about meditating day and night.

You know, what is our first waking thought? The first thing that

we think about when we get up? Is it our business? Or what

do we think about? What do we think about if we have a wakeful

night we're not able to sleep? Is our first thought? Is our first

thought? To reflect on God's word? What about what about during the day?

Maybe we're what are what are our thoughts during the day? Maybe a

practical question here, can can we meditate on God? If we have an

earbud in all the time? That's maybe something to think about. Spiritual growth

comes when we listen to God's voice and allow him to speak to us.

So another point under why do we meditate would be to recognize our smallness.

We could spend quite a bit of time on this one. A read Psalm

one five. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all thy

works. I muse on the work of thy thy hands. There's the word

muse again. And we looked at earlier. God's creation has so much for

us to ponder. We could look at so many different things. It's there's

so many things that are amazing, uh, that God has made for us

to enjoy, from us, to learn from the solar eclipse and that we

a few years ago, and then the recent northern lights are two examples.

Actually, maybe some of you even saw the one back east, the solar

eclipse that happened back east. He unfortunately did not get to see that.

But these are just two examples of God's handiwork. God has put so many

things in place like that that show his handiwork and show us how small we

really are. The fact that life exists within a seat and can reproduce to

bring forth many times more than what was planted. The fact that the Sun

is just the right distance from Earth to give sufficient heat and light, but

not too close to burn the earth up. The fact that the Earth is

supplied with all the natural resources necessary for life. The stars showed God's handiwork

as well. He didn't need to make the stars function as a GPS for

sailors, did They worked for that. We can look at the big things

like the stars, we can look at the small things like the ant or

even smaller. We can look at a cell and that the amazing things that

happen in a cell. There's so much that shows God's handiwork and show us

how small we are. And it should cause us to reflect on our place

within God's plan, what God's plan is for us, and meditating should should

bring us to that conclusion. The third point here on why do we meditate

is to bless others. I'd like to look at two verses here, and

I'll just read them. The first one is Joshua one verse eight. This

book of the Law shall not be part out of thy mouth, But thou

shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayst observe to do according to

all that is written therein. For then shalt thou make thy way prosperous,

and then thou shalt have good success. And the other verse I'd like to

read is in one Timothy one Timothy four fifteen. Meditate upon these things,

give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Joshua

has always seemed to me to be younger than he actually was. It seems

like he was eighty years old when this was written about Joshua, and he

just doesn't seem to me to be that old. I think he was maybe

young at heart. I think Joshua had qualities that should be evident in our

lives as well. When Joshua and Timothy meditated on God's word. The ones

that they were responsible for, the ones they were leading, benefited. They

profited from their meditation. We may never know how much good we can do

for those around us living consistently as a stabilizing factor in a especially for the

younger ones looking on. They need that example of older youth that are stable.

If you find yourself in an obvious place of responsibility, this is especially

for you, take time to meditate and allow God's work to work in and

through you. I'd like to look at another area that we looked at meditating

in minding God's things, I'd like to look at contentment. I guess this

is taking it a little bit of a different direction than what we heard in

the panel discussion, but that's okay. I guess contentment is certainly a part

of minding God's things. Contentment is achieved when we find our place where God

wants us to be. If we're not content with where God has placed us

right now, very likely we won't be content later on with some other aspect

of our life, whatever that may be. My mind goes to Daniel and

his three friends. You know they had every right to be discontent with where

they were. They were taken from their family, they were in a strange

land, they didn't have the other Jews around them were not faithful, you

know, they ate the king's meat, and seems like very likely some of

them were ones that bowed down to the idol. And you know, we

don't have any record of the marrying, so they obviously had lots of reason

to be discontent. Right. No, I don't think that that Daniel allowed

that to be part of his thought process. He was content with where God

had placed him, and that was that. Maybe a side note here on

contentment, Maybe we need to be content with where somebody else is in life,

Maybe somebody else is position, or or maybe somebody else's singlehood is is

is a bother to to another person. Don't let that be be content with

where God has placed them in life, and don't don't don't contribute to potential

discontent. We understand that that there's desires, there's I think it's pretty normal

to wish for things to for life to to move on, But let's not

contribute to discontent. If if God has placed somebody in in in Ah as

a single person, let's not contribute to discontent if that's where God has them

and moving on to ourselves. Discontent SAPs all the joy out of daily living.

If we're living in discontent, when we constantly think about how bad our

situation is, how much better we would be off if we were in a

different stage in life, we will not find joy in daily living. Discontent

can lead to bitterness if it's not curbed. Contentment and resignation are somewhat related.

Contentment says what I have is sufficient, and resignation says whatever God allows

in my life, I'm okay with. When contentment and resignation about in our

hearts, we can graciously receive whatever God brings into our lives. Another aspect

of Daniel's life that is challenging is his prayer life. He took time,

even in the middle of the day to spend time with God. Daniel's connection

with God has been had been in place long before that writing was signed.

He didn't wait for that to happen, says that he had. He went

into If you read that verse there, it says he went in as he

did before, as he before time. He was in the habit of going

up there and praying. Just like that. He did not, And it

doesn't seem like the situation of the writing and the threat of what would happen

if he did pray doesn't seem like that weighed very heavily on his mind.

Daniel's prayer life certainly contributed to his contentment. So what about us? Do

we find things to be thankful for where we are now? Even maybe sometimes

it feels like there's not very much to be thankful for? I think most

of us can find plenty of things to be thankful for, though, what

is our outlook on life? Though? Can we can we find those things

to be thankful for? Or is that really a challenge to find things to

be thankful for? Minding God means living contented, thankful lives, and a

person that is truly thankful will be content with where God has placed them.

The last point I'd like to look at is minding God in being examples of

the believers. I'd like to read one Timothy four, verse twelve. Let

no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in

word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in

purity. Let no man, and not even yourself, despise your youth or

your older youth. God has allowed us to be in this place for this

time. Let's not despise the place that God would have us fill. God

has a reason for you to be where you are in life. God needs

you to do His work for this time and place. So don't despise your

singlehood. If that's where you are, that's primarily who we're talking to here.

Don't despise the position that God has put you in. God has something

for all to do, and being an example is a very important calling.

I feel like those of us who are older youth are in a unique position

to relate to younger youth. Younger youth look on and see how we face

the tests and trials of life, the joys and the disappointments. They can

see whether we respond with bitterness or sweetness to the changes in plans or whatever

God places in our pathway. I think it's good to think about our example

and to think about how that can affect the younger ones especially, but maybe

more than that as well. There's other people as well. But I'm thinking

especially of how the younger ones as they see older youth relate to the challenges

of life. When we recognize what our level of influence is or can be,

should inspire us to live god to lives and lives of maturity lies it

reflect the character of God. Us be available to the younger youth if they

need to share a burden with someone. Life seems to only speed up as

time moves along, so let's take those opportunities while life is perhaps less busy

than it may be in the future. The time may come when some of

the younger youth will be considered older youth. So let's be examples to them

they can that they can safely follow as they move towards older youth. The

word example in that verse that we read from First Timothy has the thought of

a mold fitting, fitting something in, and making an exact representation of something.

Would our lives be safe patterns to follow? I trust that they would

be. I certainly hope that that's how we're living our lives. I'd like

to quickly go over the words listed in the verse in First Timothy and just

give some practical, some practical ways that we can live this out in our

lives. The first one is in word, and this has to do with

our speech and with the technology of today. I think this would include our

phone communication, our phone usage, and what do we talk about the most?

How often do people hear us talking about God and what he has done?

Does God get credit for what he has done in our lives? If

there's some questions to ask ourselves about our communication with others, The next one

was in conversation and this is our behavior, this is how people see our

daily lives. To our driving habits provide an example that the younger youth can

follow safely. As people observe our daily lives, they should think, oh,

that's a believer. That's what an example of the believers should be like.

And the third one is in charity. Be an example of the believers

in charity. And we could look at one Corinthians thirteen for definition of love

and how that works out. I'd like to look at a couple things that

one Corinthians thirteen talks about. I'm not going to necessarily turn to it,

but it mentions and somebody mentioned it earlier today about the scenarios that in life

that are not pleasant and in relation to maybe church life or I forget exactly

the scenario where it was how it was used God's love in our hearts is

necessary for responding rightly to situations when things are not pleasant. Most of the

most of the things that are where love is required, usually at some point

or another, there's something unpleasant involved that needs to be overcome by love.

There's the thought of long suffering in the selection of verses I was going going

to read long suffering has a thought of pati and that was according to we,

that's according to Strongs, And then websters would define patients as being able

to remain calm and not become annoyed when dealing with problems or difficult people.

Love goes beyond just tolerating though or just putting up with the problem. Love

seeks the good of the situation that is causing us or that could cause us

annoyance. And the other thing that I would like to pull from one Trenthians

thirteen is the phrase where it says not easily provoked, and that has the

idea of not becoming exasperated, or we could say not being irritated or annoyed.

Love doesn't get its feathers ruffled when somebody crosses our paths. We don't.

That doesn't that doesn't need to bother us. The fourth one was in

spirit. We need the spirit of God in our hearts to be able to

be an example the believers. When God's Spirit dwells in our hearts, we

will exhibit the fruit of the spirit. We could look at the fruit of

the spirit and see the qualities that should be present in a believer's life.

This is the fruit of the spirit, is what shows that the Spirit is

dwelling there. We think about that tree that we read about in Psalm one.

That tree was planted and growing and then there was fruit. We can't

produce the fruit of the Spirit without the Spirit dwelling in us. The fifth

one is in faith. This is our belief, our theology. Do we

know what we believe or do we just have a well rehearsed line or set

of lines that we repeat. Our faith keeps us pointed in the right direction

when things are uncertain. We know what God says, we know what we

believe, and even though the way is dark or there's some uncertainty, we

know where we want to end up and we do what it takes to get

there. And the last one was in purity, And my mind goes to

Joseph and his commitment to purity and how determined he was to stay faithful to

God. He understood that impurity was a sin against God, and he didn't

He did not consider it an option to fulfill the desires of the flesh.

Purity just goes beyond just action. Purity starts in our minds. We need

to have pure minds and minds that have been sanctified. Be an example of

the believers in purity. Humor's a good thing, but don't let your humor

be clouded with impurity. There's no shortage of suggestive jokes or outright impure humor.

A believer can take no part in that. Show by example to those

around you how Christ would relate to those things. Minding God involves so much

more than we can cover here. I've just scratched the surface, but it

affects all of us, not just the older singles. But to the older

singles here, thank you for the part that you fill in the church.

And grow and grace in the knowledge of Jesus, and keep minding God's things.