Renew Your Mind: Christian Thinking in a World of Conflict

Welcome to the Southwest Apostolic Church podcast.

This podcast is brought to you by the Southwest Apostolic Church,

located at 3161 South Rowena Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, 46241.

The podcast will feature preaching,

from our pastor and from other ministers, so we hope you enjoy it.

Without further ado, let's get right into it. God bless.

Kyle, about three years ago, Charlie Wright wanted me to go to the nursing home.

Said he had a guy there wanted to talk to a priest or whatever.

And I said, well, I'll go talk to him. So I went and talked to him.

He'd been in the military like 30 years, and he'd lost—he was injured in the

Army, and he talked to me about some things.

And he was over in Bosnia and different things, and he was confessing some things

about some of the things they did in the military and some of the things people did that he saw.

But he was—the things that he did, he felt—you know, and we talked about war

and, you know, different things.

And I said, well, I don't know about a lot of things. I said,

but, you know, anything that you feel bad about and you did.

All you have to do is really mean it and ask God to forgive you for it.

Somebody say amen to that.

And just ask God to forgive you. Well, never heard about it and heard from him for a while.

And then next thing I know, he got married and got some kids and then got to

call again the other day.

Well, a few weeks ago, and Kyle wants to talk to somebody again.

So me and Brother Danny went, and we took Brother Charlie right up there.

And we talked to him for a while and told us some of the things they did.

And they did some pretty bad stuff, didn't they, Danny, from what they said.

But, well, you know what I told him? I said, well, Kyle, all you've got is time.

He said he had stage 4 cancer, and he was going to die. And he didn't know when,

but he was making plans. and it didn't sound like he was going to pass away right away or anything.

And we just talked to him, told him, you know, God would forgive you.

And, you know, we talked about getting baptized and getting the Holy Ghost.

You know how we believe. And we just talked to him, and he didn't say a whole lot, and we left.

And we got the word the other day that he passed away. What day was that,

Danny? Last week, wasn't it?

Friday. I was sad about that.

You know, I was sad because, you know, every man's in God's hands.

I believe that, but I'm going to tell you what.

We don't ever know when we're going to be. The thing is, when none of us know,

when our days, we don't know. So all we got is time.

And I'll never forget Brother Means. I was with him to see a young man in the hospital.

Oh, boy. Years and years ago. But the young man, he wasn't 20 probably.

And he'd been doing drugs. And he was snorting cocaine or something. And he got brain cancer.

And I'll never forget Brother Means saying, well, what you've got now is time.

And he gave him that same advice. You know, the Bible says today is the day of salvation.

You know, make sure you're right with, because we live in the now.

We live in the now. Right now we're alive. We're here right now.

And what we need to deal with is our now.

You see, if you're not right with God, get right with God now.

Doesn't matter about yesterday. Get right with God now. Because you might not

have a chance to get right with him later, okay? Because we don't live in the future. We live now.

Coming across the mountains last night and was coming down the mountain.

And you go down and you go up. And I was going on the upside.

And I looked in the mirror.

And I could see, you know, you could see the road go back and go back around.

And I thought, now, just a minute, a few minutes, just a couple minutes ago, I was up there.

You know, I was up there. Now I'm down here. And I tried to think about,

but see, I wasn't there no more.

I was there, you know, I wasn't there, but I, it was interesting that you could

think about it. So I just came around that. I mean, it was just,

so we, cause we just walked in the door a few minutes ago, you know,

and, but we can't go back and we don't know the future, but we do know about now.

So we have to live in the now. And I think, you know, that's kind of what the

Lord said when he said, I am that I am, I am now I'm, I'm, I am.

And what I am now I'll always be. And what I am Now I've always been.

So now, today is the day that we need to be right with God, no matter who we are. Isn't that right?

Because we don't know the day. We don't know the future. We don't know.

We're not guaranteed the future.

And it just bothered me. But if you have a Bible tonight, let's go to the book of Romans.

Appreciate everybody being here. I'm glad you had good services, I heard.

I got a little something on my heart tonight and see if the Lord helps me with it.

I got some notes here that I'm not necessarily going, I'm using part of them,

not all of them, but it's from a series I've got.

I'm going to get back on our Christian character. This is kind of a part of it, but it's not.

But we're going to read Romans 12, 1 to start with. But I want to use this,

but the title of these notes is the Christian in a violent society.

And I want to talk about some of that, but I want to talk about the Christian

mindset or the Christian mind or Christian thinking.

How many knows our thinking, Christian thinking, is not the same as the world's thinking?

So let's read Romans 12, 12-1. And it says.

I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies

a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable surface.

And be not conformed to this world,

but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is

that good good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Let's pray one more time. Jesus, we love you tonight. Thank you for your word.

We ask you to bring us out the way it should be, and we ask you to help us tonight.

In Jesus' name, it's your words, not ours.

It's your church, not ours. We're just trying to do our part. Everybody say amen.

Therefore, Paul said, you may be seated. I'm urging you, brethren, brothers and sisters.

In our language, the NIV says, in view of God's mercy, he said,

in view of God's mercy by, or as King James said, I beseech you,

brethren, by the mercies of God.

In other words, thinking about the goodness of God and what God's done for you.

I'm urging you, in view of God's mercies, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God, and that is our true and proper worship.

And then he says, do not conform to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is,

his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

Paul said, don't be conformed to this, you know, apostolic holiness people,

separated people, especially real strong, hard people.

We talk about being worldly. There's a world, you don't hear as much as you

did, but when I was a kid, apostolic would say, and they'd talk about something

and And they say, well, that's worldly, you know, like going to the tavern.

That's worldly, you know, or whatever. But I want to tell you something.

Being worldly is a lot more than where you go.

It's a lot more than what you partake in or don't partake in.

It's your what the worldliness is can be. How do I want to say it?

You can have a worldly mindset. But God lets us know that Christians don't have

a mindset. like the world.

If you want to go to Matthew chapter five, you can go there.

When Jesus, this is called the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 5 and 20,

Jesus starts talking to people.

You see, when Jesus did the talking, it's different than when everybody else talks.

They came to him. I feel good being in church tonight, don't you?

They came to him, and they were supposed to take him to bring him to the rulers.

But when they got there, he was talking, and they went back to the rulers,

and they said, where's he at?

Well, why didn't you get him? And they said, King James says,

never a man spake like this man. We ain't never heard nobody talk like this before.

There's something to what this guy says.

So when Jesus is up on the mountain here talking to people, and Jesus got their

attention because what he said was not what everybody else was saying.

And what he was promoting and what he was doing and the way he acted wasn't like everybody else.

And let me tell you, a church that goes around acting like everybody else,

thinking like I'm talking about like the world and thinking like the world and

acting like the world and doing everything the world does ain't worth a nickel.

Don't get so quiet on me. I ain't getting hard on you or nothing.

But it's a fact. You see, Bishop Tyson said he was in his college classes,

and he said his professor said the only church, the only churches making any

difference in the world, and this, I don't know how far back this was,

it has been a while back, but he said were the holiness churches.

And the words he used was breaking ice. The only churches breaking ice were the holiness churches,

because a holiness church or a church that has the mind of Christ,

and they're trying to be transformed, and they're trying to be what God wants them to be.

They're different than everybody else, and they don't think like everybody else.

So we have to be careful to not think like everybody else.

And you can have a worldly attitude.

I don't care, you know, you say, I won't go there. That's worldly,

you know. Well, I don't care if you ever go to King's Island or not.

But I'm worried about the Christian mindset is what I'm worried about today.

Because our mind's not supposed to be like everybody else's.

And Jesus told him in Matthew, the fifth chapter, when he began to talk to them,

it was different than everybody else.

He starts talking, you know, blessed are the, let me get there real quick.

I could start quoting it, but I don't want to mess it up.

But he lets us know that if we are a Christian in society and we face opposition,

what kind of mindset we're supposed to have, he lets us know,

and he says, he says, let me find it here. There it is.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

And he starts talking like that, and that was different.

These people were sitting up there in the mountains, and this was 2,000 years

ago, and they weren't in air conditioning, and they weren't.

And he starts talking to them about being blessed, and he starts giving them,

you know, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the peacemakers.

You mean to tell me if I'm a—but that didn't go good in the Roman world,

folks, because the peacemaker didn't get very far.

You had to be rough and tumble. You had to get your sword out.

Dog eat dog and all that, especially in the Old Testament. It was a dog-eat-dog

world. But he says, wait a minute. He says, blessed are the peacemakers.

And so they're hearing him talk, and they're thinking, this is not what everybody—let

me say the church is never supposed to say and sound like what the world says

they should think they—what the world thinks they should sound like.

The Christian church, the church of Jesus Christ, has a different sound.

It has a different mindset. that. It has a different attitude than what the world has.

And before a person can be what God wants them to be, they've got to have a

transform, Paul said, by the renewing of your mind, by the, be transformed by

the renewing of your mind.

Nobody can change their lifestyle unless they let their mind be renewed and

realize, hey, I'm going the wrong way.

Hey, what I think, You know, what I'm thinking now is not what I should be thinking,

so I need to start changing the way I'm thinking. Come on, somebody.

And the problem in the world is you tell somebody that's the wrong thinking,

and they argue with you, and they don't want to let go of their thinking.

People don't want to change their thinking, even if their thinking is wrong.

I want to tell you something. I'm not, I told you this before,

but I was, I was preaching for Brother Vance like years and years ago.

And I was talking along lines of, of, you know, second guessing.

I don't know how, you know, how you get on stuff when you're preaching.

And I, something about let the preacher be the preacher and don't second guess

or whatever I was saying.

But I got real carried away and I said, God didn't call you to think.

And as soon as I said that, I said, well, that didn't sound good at all.

Because actually, I do believe God does cause us to think.

God does want us to expand our mind, and he does want us to be intelligent,

but I'll tell you what, your true intelligence comes by doing that good and

perfect and acceptable will of God and seeking to find out what it is.

That's how you get it. You don't know.

So Jesus is talking, and when he talks about facing opposition.

And he lets them know, he lets them know that when they, he starts talking to

them and he tells them that, accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.

In other words, it's not about just making sure the law, it's deeper than just

following the dots of the I and the cross and the T, because the Pharisees,

they did all the right things.

They paid tithe of their mint and their spices, and they wore long clothes,

and they looked like, you know, Jesus said, he said, you're like whited sepulchers.

You know, you're white and clean on the outside. But see, he was concerned about

the inside. He said it's full of dead men's bones.

And let me tell you, our thinking has to be right. Apostolic Christian,

you know, and I told somebody.

Of the day about something happening,

preacher got himself in trouble and he'd get beaten up on people.

And I was surprised that the people that were defending the actions of the preacher.

Okay. So, and it bothers me and it bothers, it should bother all of us that

we, we can be worldly and have a wrong, you know,

we say, uh, pour it on him.

You know, we say, do this. The world says, yeah, beat the fire out of him.

Let him have it. That's what the world says.

That's not what Jesus says.

Yeah, kick him while he's down. Beat his brains out. Just let him have it.

That's not what Jesus says about it. Ooh, it's quiet now in here.

But we have a responsibility to have the right attitude, folks.

And we have the responsibility.

And my job is to teach you to have the right attitude. You know?

And I got to have the right attitude. Okay. So Jesus says to,

and I'm just going to go through here real quick.

He says, don't use harsh, hateful speech against one another.

If you have something with your brother or sister, try negotiation,

mediation, compromise, don't seek revenge. But in verse 38, 39,

he says, endure wrong patiently.

And he's lets us know that we are to give and loan to the needy.

And, and, those type of things.

But let's go back to Romans 12. I want to go there too, okay?

So Jesus' teaching is different than what the world says, and that's why we

need the Word of God. They'll tell us what God's plan is and what God wants us to do.

But let me tell you, it's not God's will for anybody in here to fly off the

handle and go beat somebody's brains out because you're mad at them.

Just that, that, that's a, that's a wrong way of thinking for a Christian.

Now I'm, I know I could get into war. I could get into conscientious objection.

I'm not talking about all that stuff. I'm not, I'm talking about,

and now notice when Jesus is talking, he deals with us as individuals.

I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about in your house. If somebody comes

breaking in your house and, and your wife and your kids are in there and they're

actually coming at you. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about getting mad and flying off the handle.

I hope nobody been throwing skillets this week. Praise the Lord.

All right. Let's go to Romans. Let's go to verse 14. Okay.

Verse 14, 12. Now listen, this is what Paul said. This is what the word of God says.

Romans 12. Anybody got that? Anybody following along or y'all about sleep or whatever?

Who's got it? Somebody say, yeah, I got it. Okay, I'll read it.

I'm glad you're all paying so much attention. That really thrills me. Praise the Lord.

You need to have a Bible and you need to know that I'm not just making it up.

Verse uh let's see what did i say romans 12 and 14 anybody got it if you got

it read it out loud so we can hear it.

Thank you wait a minute she's got it over go ahead beverly all right that's

pretty plain in it let's see.

Verse 14 bless those the niv says bless those who persecute you bless and do

not curse and uh let's see verse 17 is that what i said let me see where am i yeah Now, verse 17,

who's got us? Fernando, read verse 17 real loud.

To no man evil for evil, provide things honest and listen.

All right, let me read that. Recompense to no man or no person or anybody, evil for evil.

Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

The Amplified says repay no one evil for evil. take thought for what is honest

and proper and noble, aiming to be above reproach in the sight of everyone.

When you call yourself a Christian, you got some responsibilities.

And a pastor, I got responsibilities. Matter of fact, it's all over the Bible

that tells you what a bishop ought to be acting like.

And the Bible says, I'm going to preach it. I'm hoping they're recording it

because I'm going to put it on the podcast because I'm stirred up about it.

Because I love being a Christian. I love the word of God. I love what it really means to be a Christian.

And I think Somebody needs to try at least stand up for what the right thing is. Don't you?

I know I'm just a little nobody over here trying to tell everybody about somebody

who can save anybody. I understand all that, but I'm going to tell you what,

where are we at? Verse 17. We read that in me. Okay.

Of the same mind one towards another. Verse 17, recompense no,

there we go, provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible,

as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Okay. Avenge not, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place

under wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, sayeth the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy me hunger,

feed him, and if he thirst, give him drink.

For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

You don't overcome evil with evil, you overcome evil with good.

Good to people. Be good to the guy that's cussing you out. Bless you.

You know, how are we doing? Okay. Live in peace with everyone to the extent possible.

This is what the Bible teaches. This is a Christian thinking. This is the word of God.

Goodness, live, act, and with goodness in the sight of everyone.

Bless, do not curse, repay evil with good.

Do not seek revenge, but make God, make room for God's wrath,

help your enemy so he may be ashamed of his evil.

You overcome evil with good. And the purpose is, folks, is to maintain our self-respect

and a godly standard for ourselves.

That's why Christians, we don't think we're not supposed to think like everybody

else and act like everybody else.

Oh, now, am I perfect? No.

No, I'm not trying to say that I am. but I do know what I'm supposed to be trying to do.

Okay. And you maintain a self-respect, a godly standard for yourself.

Now, listen, the purpose of all this is to show the world that there is a godly alternative.

Every preacher is not crooked. Now, the world thinks they are, because you know why?

The Bible says, Peter said, because of these certain false prophets,

evil is or good is going to be evil spoken of,

and there's a lot of people that are against christianity because of the way

some not some preachers acting or what he's doing you know these flim flam guys

on tv and the flim flam guys on the radio send your money,

you know reverend isaiah he'll get you a good job he just needs a thousand dollar seed offering,

and people people are not dumb people aren't stupid they can see if a person

is different they can see if a person if a person's acting different,

if a person thinks different. What do you think they thought about?

Jesus, when he, the way he was and the way he acted and what they did to him,

he tells him, he says, he said, I got to go back to the Sermon on the Mount.

But he said, hey, if somebody slaps you in the face, he said,

he said, you heard it said in the Old Testament, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But he said, but I say unto you, he was taking them to a different level.

He said, you heard it said in the Old Testament that if that thou shalt not commit adultery.

He said, but I say unto you, but I say unto you, if a man looks at a woman to

lust after her, he's committed adultery already in his heart.

So what was he dealing with? He was dealing with the way they thought about

things and their attitude and the thing that their mindset, you know.

Lot of people, I'm sure, you know, we can get our mind going on the wrong track

and think and justify ourself and say that we're doing all right. I don't want to do that.

I don't want to don't ever start justifying yourself. If you,

if it's wrong, don't try to tell yourself how right it is because pride goes

before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Best thing to do is somebody points out something and say, yeah,

that's true. You know, I don't know.

He said, but I say unto you, you heard an eye. Now, actually,

I could get into eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

That was actually more regulation. When they introduced eye for an eye and a

tooth for a tooth, that was actually calming the people down.

That was taking them to a next level because back in the old ancient times,

Bible times, if you put out somebody's eye, they would come after you and they

wouldn't stop with your eye.

They'd cut your head off or something, right? So actually they were saying, now, calm down.

If he lost an eye, okay, if we got to get revenge, just stop at an eye. Don't cut his head off.

Okay. But Jesus said, you've heard it's been said eye for an eye,

but he said, I say unto you, I say, the Christian, Christian,

they were called Christians first at Antioch.

Why? Because they acted like Christ. They thought, and they tried to,

and they looked at them and they said, those people are like Jesus.

Aren't we supposed to be like Jesus, really?

Isn't that what it's all about? If you've got a group of people going and singing

hallelujah and shouting, and they're not acting like Jesus wants us to act,

we might as well forget it.

We might as well go home. We might as well shut the doors because that's not going to do any good.

The only thing that's going to do any good is Christians acting like Christians, praise the Lord.

People of God acting like the way God wants them to act, and preachers doing

what God wants them to do and saying what God wants them to say.

Husbands living like you should live. Wives living like they should live.

Children living like they should live. A church being what a church should be.

That's the only way it's ever going to work. We got to have the right mindset.

People can get caught up on a lot on what people are doing, what they're not

doing, what they're saying, what they're not saying, and all this different kind of thing.

But the fact of the matter is he's looking at our mindset.

Now, what do you think about it?

You know, people think a lot about different things. But it don't matter what I think, really.

In the sense, my thinking, like to go back to where we started,

my thinking should go and my mind should be transformed, that I should be trying

to find what is that good and perfect will of God.

That's the kind of mind I'm supposed to have.

Paul said, let this mind be in you.

That was in Christ. Matter of fact, Paul even went a little further.

You know, see, people don't like anybody to tell us what to think.

You're trying to tell me what to think. Yeah, I am.

I'm trying to tell you what to think if it's right, and I'm trying to tell you

to think according to the Bible and think to the way the Lord wants it to be, not what you think.

That's the whole problem. Just because somebody thinks it don't make it right.

And Paul said it like this. Finally, he told the Philippians,

he said, think on these things.

He went as far as to tell them what to think.

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things

are peaceable, Think on these things, he said.

Don't get your mind out here on all kinds of other crazy stuff.

But the Word of God has the audacity to tell us what to think.

Somebody say amen. Because it absolutely does tell us what we should think.

And we should show the world that there is a godly alternative.

And actually, you should try to convert enemies to friends.

And sinners, sinners to saints.

Paul said years ago when the old church was across the street and they owned

the field and there was a neighbor there that he just dumped his trash in the field all the time.

He just dumped his trash in the field. They'd go over there and clean it up.

And that guy throw his stuff in the church property.

Now they could got mad over there and got all that trash and put it in a bag,

took it back over and dumped it in that guy's yard.

But what good would that do?

So, oh, he said they just cleaned it up.

Somebody threw the trash on their lot again. They cleaned it up.

They didn't go over and threaten to beat him up. They didn't go over and threaten

to, you know, have a feud with him.

Hey, the spirit of Hatfield and McCoys should not exist in a Christian's life.

Hatfields and McCoys.

We hate all Hatfields and we hate all McCoys.

And if you're a McCoy, you,

the Hatfield, we're going to fight. Well, that's not right.

Now, I don't know if the Hatfields and the McCoys said they're Christians or

not, but if they were, they was thinking wrong. Matter of fact.

For the grace given to me, Paul said, I say to every one of you,

do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,

but rather you think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the

faith God has distributed to each of you.

The problem is we can justify ourselves with how we act, and we can justify

ourselves about what we think.

But I'll tell you what, we better make sure we're in this book enough to know

and let this book affect what we think.

And the problem with our world is the way they think the crazy things that they

do is because they have rejected this right here.

And ladies and gentlemen, let me say that is a kind of a new phenomenon in the

last 100 years or so, 150 years, because people used to pay attention to what the Bible said.

They used to pay attention to what God thought about things.

They used to pay attention to what you thought about things. Did it line up?

Just make it simple. Thou shalt not lie. Now, can I go around saying it's okay to lie?

But you know what people do? They justify it and say, well, it wasn't that big

a deal. It was just a little white lie.

But see, the Bible says don't go...

Bible tells me to act a certain way. Follow peace with all men,

the Bible says, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Okay.

A lot of people, they hammer the holiness part, but they can't get along with

the next preacher across the street.

They can't get along. There'll be apostolic Pentecostal. Boy,

they preach holiness. Get them dresses down there. We don't want to see no flesh

and get them sleeves down there.

But I can't, but he can't, you can't get, don't tell me about that.

You can't even shake hands with the guy that pastors across town.

I told you about the time we had a guy, I didn't really have a feud.

It was just a weird thing that happened and it really wasn't right.

And we was at a camp meeting out there one night and they had all the preachers come up.

And I told you this and all the preachers come up because they're gonna have

everybody come get prayed for.

And I'm walking up there and this guy's standing there and something in me said,

go this way. But you know what? I stopped myself, Danny.

Oh, we ain't going down that road. You know what I did?

I didn't walk off and act like I didn't see him. You know what I did?

I walked right toward him, stuck out my hand and smiled and said, praise the Lord.

How can we be a Christian and can't get along with nobody?

How can we say we're a Christian and not act the way God wants us to act?

How can we say we're a Christian? If somebody makes us mad, we're.

I'll tell you. But the bottom line is, we are to think and be what God tells

us to be, acceptable unto God. Okay, you know what?

Here's the thing, folks. People need to realize, God don't just accept everything.

He don't accept everything. There are things He will not accept.

It's not acceptable to God. Example, Old Testament.

The prophet told the people, the Lord told the people through the prophet,

hey, you're supposed to be bringing a sheep or an offering that's unblemished.

You're supposed to bring a little lamb that has no blemishes.

And you're bringing these old corrupt lambs to the house of God to offer up

these sacrifices. What?

Everything we think. The idea is to seek what is acceptable to God.

That's my whole, that's my responsibility. It's for me to find out what is acceptable

to God and to try to teach you what is acceptable unto God.

And a Christian, a group of people, a group of church assembly,

or a group of people that are trying to find,

what is acceptable to God. If you get people that are trying to do.

Everybody else does because we won't make it. We won't break any eyes if we do that.

Matter of fact, we do more than that. We don't, that's not, we're not only,

are we not breaking eyes? We're not doing good to the society.

We're not setting the right example.

We're not letting the world know that there is a godly alternative.

Back in the 60s, Brother Spall said they went down to the courthouse back in

race riot days, you know, back

when the days when they had separate water fountains and all those things.

And Brother Spall said that they'd be at the city county building,

and they would be in the court.

Sometimes pastors have to go to court with people. Isn't that right, Jimmy?

Are you asleep over there, Jimmy?

He's asleep big time. I hope he's just asleep. Is his heart beating?

Oh, golly. Oh, I was trying to be funny, but I laughed with him,

but it didn't work for him because he's probably dreaming about it right now. Praise the Lord.

Oh, that's one for the books, boys.

Oh, it's good to be back home. Hallelujah.

But anyway, he said the preachers would be down at the city county building.

Oh, hallelujah. The preachers would be at the city county building,

and there would be black preachers there and white preachers.

And it was amazing. People would see these apostolic Christian Pentecostal preachers,

and the black men and the white men would say, praise the Lord,

brother, and hug their neck.

Well, that's pretty common now. We don't have, you know, we see,

we don't remember, Brother Watkins, anybody come in and praise the Lord.

But it wasn't always like that. You know what they were doing?

They were showing the world they had the right mindset.

And they were showing the world that there is a godly alternative. Come on, somebody.

Let me say, that's why ladies should be like ladies. Follow what does God accept?

Am I a lady acceptable to God? Am I a man that's acceptable?

What kind of mindset do I have? Am I trying to please God?

And if I do try to please God, if you try to please God, what is that good and

acceptable and perfect will of God?

You'll let the world know there is a godly alternative. Amen.

You don't have to run around naked. You don't have to run around looking like

a rooster. You don't have, oh, nevermind. Praise the Lord.

But it goes all the way through, all the way through. What is that?

Hang on, hang on. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable

unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Okay? And be not conformed to this world. Conformed is be fashioned like the world.

Don't follow the same pattern of the world, but be transformed.

Renewing of your mind that your mind you see the renewing means renovated i'm,

going to tell you we're living in a world people's mind needs renovated folks,

there's so much trash out there in our world that's acceptable to the world and so many ideas

that's one thing that's wrong with 500 television channels and 24-hour news

cycles they got to fill it with something so everybody Everybody that has an

opinion, they listen to them and give them a microphone.

And that's another thing they do. Social media gives everybody a platform.

Well, let me tell you, some people are dingbats.

Some people are dingbats, and just because they got an idea don't mean it's

a good idea. Do I sound like a gray-haired old man or what? Hallelujah.

But I'm telling you the truth. Every idea is not a good idea.

Hey, Captain, we need to get them lifeboats.

I think it'd be a good idea if we put a hole in the side of the ship to get

them lifeboats out faster.

No dingbat, the ship will sink.

Every idea that somebody, and every thought somebody has is not a good idea,

and it's not a good thought.

We need to make sure that our mindset and our thinking conforms to the perfect

and acceptable good and perfect will of God.

But our world is so far off. Well, that's your truth.

Huh? What do you mean my truth? Well, that's your truth. That applies to you. No, truth is truth.

Reality is reality, and reality applies to everybody, okay?

And the problem is we got people walking around the day. They're not living

in reality, baby. That's the way it is.

And the problem in the world is they except there's somebody walking around not living in reality.

And I'm supposed to tell him it's okay for you not to live in reality.

But I'm going to tell you what, God don't tell us we're okay when we're not.

He don't, the Bible tells us, no, he doesn't call it. He doesn't call blue red.

He, you know what he does? He know what he tells us. He says,

repent, you're not doing good.

You need to change your ways. You need to do right. You need to get,

so that's totally different than the world's thinking, isn't it?

I'm going to quit here. So the renewing of your mind that you may prove,

I wanted to see what that world was, that you might test,

that you might discern, that you might examine, and you might try what is that good and acceptable.

Good is good in any sense. What is beneficial?

What is well? Okay. All these things mean something good and acceptable. and perfect.

Good mental and moral character. What gives us completeness?

What brings completeness to our life? What brings completeness to your home?

What brings completeness to your family?

That's what you need to seek after.

And I'm going to tell you, anybody believe God's got the answers?

I believe his Bible's got the answers. I believe God's got the answers.

If we just have to just do exactly what he told us to do.

Seek after his will and have our minds be transformed by the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Okay. Let me, I'm going to quit here in a minute, but I'm going to tell you something.

If you're a so-called Christian and you don't have a prayer life,

you better hang on because you're going to be messed up.

Because I'm going to tell you, there's stuff out here floating around in the world.

There's ideas out there. And I want to tell you what, and the only way you can,

stay with God is to stay in his word and have a communion with him.

And you pray, because I'm going to tell you what, the Bible says,

when you pray, pray, Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

But if we don't pray, and if we don't read the word of God, and we don't have

that mind, that's what I'm getting at tonight.

It's all about, do we have a mind to serve God? Do we have a mind that says, I want to seek God?

Do we have a mind that says, I want to please God? Do we have a mind that says,

what does God think about that?

I mean, more than just your little, what would Jesus do bracelet?

I mean, that's a good thought, really. What would Jesus do?

What would Jesus really think about it? How would he act about it? Hey, what's up?

You doing all right? Okay, good.

Hallelujah. So we trust in God. We trust God to fight our battles.

Our warfare is spiritual, not physical. Come on, somebody.

If you are involved in self-defense, you don't have to try to kill them.

You can defend yourself, but you don't have to try to kill them. Isn't that right?

Well, I think we better quit here tonight. Did I make any sense at all?

Did I make just a little bit of sense?

This Christian thing is big, folks. This living for God is real, and it's not just about.

And let me say, the idea is to try to please God in every aspect of our life,

not just the parts we want to and then justify ourself because we,

you know, we think it's okay because it's me or whatever.

Anybody remember the story about the little boy that the king would come out

and everybody's telling him, and he'd come out with no clothes on and everybody'd

tell him how wonderful his outfit was?

Oh, doesn't the king look marvelous today?

A bunch of sickle fans and they did and nobody had the guts to tell the king,

but some little boy looked at him and when the king come out and everybody's

telling about how wonderful the king looked and the boy looked at him said the

king don't have no clothes on,

somebody's got to say the king don't have no clothes on,

it doesn't matter what everybody thinks it doesn't matter i want to tell you

the one we need to worry about is what he thinks about it and he tells us what he thinks about it.

And he gives, aren't you glad he lets us know what he thinks about things? Amen.

Let's stand tonight. Man, you could, I could start on the next chapter.

Okay. Let's just, just an example.

Let every soul be loyal, subject to the governing civil authorities.

Bible, folks. For there's no authority except to come from God by his permission,

his sanction, and those that exist do so by God's appointment.

Boy, is that different than what the world thinks or what?

I'm going to tell you, you get in this Bible and it'll get your head right.

And as Christians, we need to make sure our head's right.

Because as a man thinketh, right? In his heart, so is he.

You can go around thinking you're right and be dead wrong. And I tell you what,

I don't want to be wrong, do you?

I want to be right with God. I was praying today for this. God,

lead this church in the way we should go.

Lead me the way I should go. Lead the people the way they should go.

Lead us all, God. Let this church be a good example of what you want us to be,

from the youngest to the oldest.

And if we get that mindset, if we get a incorporated, unified spirit around

that, you got something there.

You got somebody that'll break the ice. You got somebody that'll make a difference

in the neighborhood. Come on, somebody.

You got somebody that'll be what God wants them to be and do what God wants

them to do, and they'll be effective like He wants them to be.

Amen. Amen. I about forgot something. I'm terrible about this.

Let's pray real quick. Lord, we love you. Thank you for your blessings, for goodness.

Thank you for listening to our podcast. Southwest Apostolic Church is a place of refuge.

If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. Pastor's cell number 317-469-3100.

If we can help you, we'd be glad to do it. God bless.