Introduction:
Matthew 11:25 – At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children..."
John 16:13 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
How Do I Know if I Have the Mind of Christ? (Philippians 2:5–8)
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When I don't insist on my RIGHTS. (Phil 2:6)
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When I act like a SERVANT. (Phil 2:7)
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When I OBEY God All the Way. (Phil 2:8)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:44
Open up to 1 Corinthians 2.
00:47-00:49
Let's just pause for a moment.
00:49-00:54
Please pray for me to be faithful to clearly communicate God's Word.
00:54-00:57
And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it.
00:58-01:03
This is a complicated passage.
01:05-01:10
But I think that's one of the great things about expository preaching.
01:10-01:18
It allows us to slow down and see what exactly it is that God actually said in His Word.
01:18-01:30
Sometimes it's a passage that we have read through quickly so many times, like, "I'm not quite sure what's going on there, but next." And there's so much here that the Lord wants to teach us.
01:30-01:37
So please pray for me to be clear and accurate and I'll pray for you to receive it.
01:38-01:39
Alright? Let's just take a moment.
01:48-01:51
Father in Heaven, we need Your Spirit, and we always do.
01:52-01:58
I guess sometimes I feel it and I'm more aware of it than others.
01:58-02:01
This is one of those times for a lot of reasons.
02:03-02:09
I pray that Your Spirit and Your Word would do what only You can do.
02:11-02:15
Glorify Your name as we spend some time in Your Word today, Father, in Jesus' name.
02:15-02:21
All of God's people said, "Amen." Amen.
02:21-02:25
You know, I try.
02:29-02:35
But it gets harder and harder to keep up with the language that these kids are using these days.
02:38-02:44
Since I'm working with the youth group, I really wanna speak their language, but I'll be honest with you, I don't get it.
02:46-02:46
I don't get it.
02:46-02:49
I'm not sure Justin, you still get it anymore.
02:51-02:52
Mid, see, he gets it.
02:56-02:59
I just find myself so often, I don't get it.
02:59-03:00
I don't get what you're saying.
03:01-03:06
Like Pastor Taylor, a couple of weeks ago, dropped the six, seven thing.
03:06-03:11
Do you know like dictionary.com or something made that the word of the year?
03:11-03:12
Did you know that?
03:14-03:16
I don't, and do you know where that's from?
03:16-03:18
It's from some basketball player that's six, seven.
03:18-03:19
Like, aren't they all?
03:23-03:24
I don't get it.
03:25-03:30
I don't get it when the kids say words like skibbity toilet riz.
03:30-04:05
Have you heard this one? I had to have somebody explain it to me and I still didn't quite understand it, but that is a thing and I don't get it. I just don't get it. I remember many years ago when the nieces on my wife's side were younger, probably teenagers-ish, but one family gathered. It was Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever. I just remember the three girls were just walking around going, "I just bought a new alligator purse at Walmart for 4.99." And then they would laugh hysterically.
04:08-04:10
So I'm like, well, I went in on the hilarity.
04:11-04:15
So I'm like, "Well, I just bought a new alligator purse at Walmart for 4.99." And everybody laughed hysterically.
04:16-04:17
I don't get it.
04:19-04:24
I don't get, I don't get the Lulu and zhuzh it up.
04:25-04:58
And by the time this is on our website, somebody's going to listen to this and be like, "Oh, those are old words. We don't say that anymore." I try. I don't get it. And see, that is the point of the passage that we're looking at today. Here's the whole sermon. When it comes to the Word of God, unsaved Many people don't get it.
05:01-05:12
But those who are born again, who have the Spirit of God residing in them, we come to the Word of God and we get it.
05:14-05:21
This whole section that we're in, in 1 Corinthians, is contrasting man's wisdom and God's wisdom.
05:22-05:26
So last week we focused specifically on the show.
05:27-05:27
Why?
05:27-05:29
Because Paul says he came in weakness.
05:29-05:34
He wasn't like one of the lofty speaking philosophers putting on a show.
05:35-05:39
Paul says, "I didn't come to you like that." So last week we talked about the show.
05:40-05:47
This week we're going to talk about the content, the content of wisdom.
05:47-06:33
Look at verse six. He says, "Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away." Okay, so there's two kinds of wisdom. We talked about this many times in pastime, going through Proverbs, going through the book of James. There's two kinds of wisdom. There's man's wisdom, worldly wisdom, earthly wisdom, and there's God's wisdom. Okay? And that's what Paul's talking about here. Paul's like, "Don't throw out anything called wisdom because there's different kinds." We didn't come with man's wisdom, we came with God's wisdom.
06:34-07:02
Now listen, when we talk about man's wisdom, we are not saying that man is incapable of doing anything with earthly wisdom. Man has done so much with medical advances, engineering, art, obviously. But, but, man's wisdom cannot do anything about spiritual matters.
07:06-07:12
When you try to apply man's wisdom to spiritual matters, do you know what you get?
07:13-07:14
You get one of two things.
07:14-07:19
You get heresy or you get nonsense, or maybe you get both.
07:21-07:25
But Paul here talks about the rulers of this age.
07:25-07:28
It's not a wisdom of the rulers of this age.
07:28-07:31
Like who are the rulers of this age?
07:32-07:35
On Paul's day, right, scribes, Pharisees, Roman officials.
07:38-07:41
It's the important people, right?
07:41-07:43
And who are the rulers of our age?
07:43-07:44
It's pretty obvious.
07:46-07:57
Politicians, celebrities, the loud anti-God, actors, musicians, athletes.
08:01-08:09
You know, church, if I live to be a billion, I will never understand why we take so much stock in the opinions of celebrities.
08:09-08:11
I don't understand that.
08:13-08:22
You know, like somebody is paid millions of dollars because they're able to catch a ball, which is a talent.
08:22-08:23
Don't get me wrong.
08:24-08:25
It's a talent.
08:25-08:30
But all of the sudden, we're like, well, I gotta hear what his political views are.
08:32-08:33
Why?
08:34-08:39
Or you got some young lady who, she writes songs for a living.
08:39-08:43
She writes really catchy pop songs about bad relationships.
08:45-08:48
And we're like, man, I wonder what she thinks about immigration.
08:50-08:53
Why do we care what, right?
08:53-09:17
Or an actor whose very job is to pretend to be someone else, and they are fantastic at pretending to be someone else, and the world is just waiting to hear, "What do you think about God?" Paul says, "I'll tell you what to think about them.
09:18-09:27
They're doomed to pass away." God's Word will stand forever, but a celebrity's opinion will be forgotten.
09:29-09:30
So look at verse 7.
09:33-09:46
He says, "But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
09:47-09:59
None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." So you hear Paul talking about the secret wisdom.
09:59-10:10
These are spiritual truths that man cannot know unless God reveals them.
10:13-10:26
God has revealed knowledge about Himself, Paul says, for the glory of His people, and he says those who are not born again, they don't get it.
10:27-10:29
They don't get it.
10:29-10:31
That's why he says, "None understood.
10:32-10:38
None of the rulers of this age understood." They don't get it.
10:44-10:45
They can't get it.
10:48-10:53
Paul says in verse 8, here's an obvious point that they don't get it.
10:55-10:59
God showed up in the flesh and they nailed Him to a cross.
10:59-11:04
Like do you think for a second if they really understood who Jesus is that they would have crucified Him?
11:05-11:09
Do you think for a second if they're like, "Well, this is the God who created me.
11:09-11:12
This is the God who's ultimately going to judge me, and He's here right now.
11:12-11:15
What should we do with Him?" Do you think they would have killed Him if they got that?
11:17-11:17
Obviously not.
11:20-11:46
Now look at verse 9, he says, "But as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.'" So here Paul is paraphrasing concepts from the book of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 64 verse 4.
11:47-12:02
Now listen, when people read this verse, people immediately want to interpret this as, "You can't believe how awesome heaven is." "You can't believe the things that God has prepared for us." And that's really not what this verse is about at all.
12:04-12:14
Listen, this verse is about unbelievers not being able to understand salvation.
12:15-12:52
Unbelievers don't get it. That's what this verse is about. Look at it again. He's saying that spiritual truths about salvation can't be obtained Through natural processes look at look at it again. He says what no I has seen nor ear heard He's saying unsaved people can't understand spiritual truths by external means Meaning, you can't look at a sunset, or the stars in the sky, and understand salvation.
12:52-12:56
You can understand some things about the power and beauty of God, yes.
12:58-13:03
But you can't look at a sunset and understand salvation.
13:05-13:07
You can't perceive it with your eyes or your ears.
13:08-13:41
Then he goes on to say, "Nor the heart of man imagined." saying that's internal, that you can't come up with truth about God from your mind. You can't just sit around and say, "I wonder what God's like," and you imagine truths about salvation. It can't happen. People try, though. You hear people say things like, "Well, you You know, I think that we're all God's children.
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I believe love is the only thing that matters.
13:44-13:46
I don't believe God condemns anybody.
13:46-13:49
And with all due respect, it doesn't really matter what your opinion of God is.
13:53-13:57
It's like a fruit fly trying to figure out how an iPhone works.
13:58-13:58
It's not going to happen.
14:00-14:04
And you trying to figure out on your own how God works, it's not going to happen.
14:05-14:07
You can't do it.
14:10-14:18
Truth about God must be revealed by God.
14:19-14:20
That's Paul's whole point here.
14:20-14:26
Human perception or wisdom can't contribute to this.
14:27-14:33
People have no idea, externally or internally, what God has prepared.
14:35-14:49
for those who love him. They're like, "All right, I have a question. How exactly did God reveal His truth to man? How did He do that?" Well, that's what he goes on to answer.
14:49-15:04
Look at verse 10. He says, "These things," what things? "The things that God has prepared, content of the gospel message. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
15:05-15:23
For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. So Paul says, "God revealed the content of the salvation message." He said he revealed it to us, and us in the Greek is emphatic.
15:24-15:27
You're like, "Well, who is us?" Well, go back to verse 10.
15:27-15:31
Us refers to those who love Him, right?
15:33-15:34
Like what is He talking about here?
15:36-15:55
Well, really, He's talking about something Jesus already gave us a heads up on back in Matthew chapter 11 when Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have, look at this, hidden these things.
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What things?
15:56-16:00
Matters of salvation, revelation from God, truth about God.
16:00-16:08
You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, the important people, the rulers of this age is what Paul calls them.
16:09-16:19
Jesus says, "You've hidden them from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children." That's the point of this passage.
16:20-16:22
Do you think you're so wise?
16:23-16:23
No, no, no, no.
16:25-16:28
God has to reveal truth if you're going to know anything about God.
16:29-16:32
And God didn't reveal it to the important people.
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He revealed it to the children - people who love Him.
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That's His point.
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He gives an easy analogy.
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Look at v. 11.
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He says, "For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him.
16:50-16:56
So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the spirit of God.
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That's an easy analogy.
16:58-17:01
No one knows a man's thoughts except that man.
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I mean, I can wonder all the live long day what Bob Brown thinks.
17:11-17:13
I'm never going to know.
17:16-17:20
his thoughts, his opinions, his hopes, his dreams, his fears.
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That's all within him.
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Nobody knows that about Bob Brown the way Bob Brown knows that about Bob Brown, right?
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And the only way I'm going to get a clue on any of that is if he tells me, right?
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And that's what Paul's saying here.
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Only God's spirit knows God.
17:40-17:48
No one knows what God thinks but God, and God's spirit has to reveal God's thoughts to us.
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You're like, what is that?
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He's talking about the Bible.
17:57-18:05
This book is the Holy Spirit revealing things that are known only to God.
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Like, wait, wait, okay.
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So you're saying that this book is the book of God's thoughts.
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Yes, that's what the passage is saying.
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Well, how in the world could an infinite, holy, awesome God reveal his thoughts in a way that we could understand them?
18:27-18:29
'Cause he's way above us.
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How in the world could he reveal his thoughts so we could understand them?
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Verses 12 and 13, Paul answers that.
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He says, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
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And we impart this in words." Look at this.
18:56-19:09
"And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit." Here it is, "Interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
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He's talking about how we got the Bible.
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When he says we here in verse 12, he's talking about the apostles, right?
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He's talking about, it's obvious from the context.
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God didn't give you books of the Bible to write down, right?
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You might have some blank pages at the end of your Bible, like in the book.
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That's not for you to write your own book, okay?
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That's not what those are for.
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You're like, "Well, what are they for?" I don't know what those are for, but they're not for writing your own parts of the Bible.
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That was for the apostles.
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The apostles, Paul's saying here, received the Spirit to put God's thoughts into human words.
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Again, this is something that Jesus promised would happen.
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Look at John, what is it, 16?
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Yeah.
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It says, "When the Spirit of truth comes," the Holy Spirit, "He will guide you into all the truth.
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For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come." The things that are to come, excuse me.
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This is how you got your Bible.
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God's Spirit gave God's thoughts to these apostles and He enabled them to write God's thoughts down in a book, an objective source of God's truth.
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And you're like, "Okay, all right, all right.
20:46-20:57
So if that is what the Bible actually is, the thoughts of God written in human words, Why doesn't everyone accept the Bible as the Word of God?
20:58-20:59
Why doesn't everybody just get on board with that?
21:00-21:01
Why doesn't everybody just understand it?
21:04-21:07
All that Paul has said is to drive us to this point.
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Are you still with me?
21:10-21:11
There's no sermon today.
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It's like Sunday school.
21:12-21:13
There's a little sermon at the end.
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This is like Sunday school class.
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Everything he's saying here is to drive us to this one point.
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Understanding the thoughts of God revealed by the Spirit of God put in this book, understanding this book also requires the work of the Holy Spirit.
21:34-21:50
This is what he is driving us to. Look at verse 14. He says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." Foolishness to him.
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And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
21:58-22:07
You see, Paul's saying the Holy Spirit gave God's Word to the apostles and he makes known the meaning of God's words to those who love God.
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Non-spiritual people.
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Listen, you're like, "Why do we theology?" Because right now there's a whole lot of light bulbs that are going to go off.
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Non-spiritual people cannot accept the Word of God, and they do not understand the Word of God.
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That's what he says in verse 14.
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Non-spiritual people cannot accept it.
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People who hate the Bible are just acting naturally.
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"Why do you hate the Bible so much?" Well, I'll give you a reason.
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He tells us right here in verse 14, "They don't understand it.
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They don't understand it.
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It makes no sense to them.
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And listen, if you refuse to believe in the Word of God, you will never understand it.
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Never going to happen.
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This is interesting, but like, what does this mean in real world application, Pastor Jeff?
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Well, let me tell you a lesson that I had to learn some time ago.
23:15-23:25
I had to learn that you cannot put biblical standards on non-Christians for this very reason.
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They're like, "Can you be specific?" Yeah, how uncomfortable do you want this to get?
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All right, let's talk about people that are living together, but they're not married.
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They live as if they're married, but they never got married.
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Cohabitation.
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I've dealt with this a lot, especially at my old church.
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It was a downtown church.
23:48-23:55
It was a big, old, beautiful building, and we would have complete strangers come in off the street, and they're like, "I want to get married here." Why?
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Not because they knew me or anybody else at the church.
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It's just pretty architecture.
23:59-24:03
"I want to get married here." But they were living together.
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We've had people like, "I want to join Harvest, and I want to actively serve at Harvest," And they're living together, but they're not married.
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And in all of these cases, people are outraged that we would say, "Well, that's sin.
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It's sin." People were like shocked and outraged that you would even hold such an opinion.
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What do you mean it's sin?
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And this is tying into Paul's point here, my friends.
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When a couple was in that situation, understand their biggest issue is not cohabitation.
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The biggest issue is they have no regard for God's Word.
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That's the issue.
24:55-25:01
And it's a scary thing because this is evidence that they don't have the Holy Spirit.
25:03-25:07
And it's evidence, if all this is true, it's evidence that they're not born again.
25:08-25:11
So you see, cohabitation isn't the biggest issue.
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Non-spiritual people don't get it, they can't accept it, they don't understand.
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Light bulbs should be going off.
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I hear this all the time, I hear this all the time and my heart breaks, but I hear people say, you know, people have adult children.
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I raised my kid in the church, and now he absolutely refuses to go to church.
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He doesn't want anything to do with church or Bible study.
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My teenager hates going to youth group, refuses to go, and they won't listen to any biblical instruction, and I don't understand why.
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I'll tell you why, if this passage is right, and I certainly believe that it is.
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The Bible makes no sense to them.
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They don't believe it.
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They don't get it.
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And when they come to church, they don't believe it, they don't accept it, they don't understand it, they don't get it.
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They come to church and They're like, "What's that all about?" They don't get it because it has to be spiritually discerned.
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You're like, "Oh, so you're saying I shouldn't drag my kids to church.
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You're saying I shouldn't teach my kids the Bible." Of course I'm not saying that.
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Come on.
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But they aren't really going to get it if they don't personally make a decision to receive Jesus. That's what you need to drive them to. Look at verse 15. He says, "The spiritual person judges all things." Stop right there. This is a statement. We who are spiritual, we who have the Holy Spirit can judge all things. What's he talking about? He's just We're simply talking about this.
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The Bible, when rightly understood, makes sense of everything.
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It makes sense of the world.
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It makes sense of man.
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It makes sense of God.
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It makes sense of the way sin works.
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Understanding the world through the lens of God's Word when we understand it, makes everything make total sense to us.
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We get it.
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We get why lost people act like lost people.
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We get it.
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You're spiritually dead.
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We get it.
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Bless you.
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We get why people get old and die.
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We get it.
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Why does that happen?
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We get it.
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We get it when we have a loved one that's stuck in an addiction.
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Like I get it.
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It's a worship disorder.
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They're worshiping something and it's not Jesus.
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It's an addiction.
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We get it.
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We get it when a believer still struggles with sin.
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Like why is he still struggling with sin?
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We get it.
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Because He's a spiritual person that lives in fallen flesh, so there's going to be a war going on until He's removed from the fallen flesh.
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We get it.
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It all makes sense.
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We get it, church.
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We're rightly able to judge these things, and we're rightly able to judge what's happening out there.
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We can watch the news.
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We can rightly judge all of that stuff, if you really understand the Bible.
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Like for example, what was the big news story last week?
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The SNAP benefits getting cut off, right?
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We can understand that through the lens of God's word.
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Anybody not offended yet?
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'Cause you might be here in a second.
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Understand it through the lens of God's word?
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Look, the government doesn't need involved in that, in feeding people at all.
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Whose job is that?
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It's the church's job.
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And here's what should happen, the church should be providing for those in need who are unable to provide for themselves.
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But someone who can work and refuses to work doesn't get to eat.
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That's what the Bible says.
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We can rightly judge all things, right?
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We rightly judge all things, things like racism is idiotic.
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It's just stupid.
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able to judge that.
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Why?
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We realize we all came from the same parents.
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We all come from Adam and Eve.
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So if your skin's a different color, your eyes are a different shape, who cares?
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It's stupid, but people make that an issue because they don't get it.
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We get it.
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We get it.
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Why has Israel survived for thousands of years, even though everybody's constantly trying to exterminate them?
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Why are they front and center in the world stage all the time?
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We get it.
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We get it.
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That's what Paul's saying, "We judge all things." Like, yeah, we get it.
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But look at the back line of verse 15.
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He says, "But is himself judged by no one." "But is himself judged by no one." So Christian, don't worry about how the world judges you.
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Don't worry about how the world looks at you.
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You close-minded, anti-science, misguided, uneducated, unintelligent, fairy tale believing, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic jerk.
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Don't worry about what the world calls you.
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They don't understand the Word.
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They don't value the Word, so they're not going to understand you, and they're not going value you either. You're judged by no one. Right? Now look at verse 16, "For who has understood the mind of the Lord as to instruct him?" That's Isaiah 40 verse 13. He says, but we have the mind of Christ." That last line, that's the punchline here.
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Everything he's saying gets to this one sentence, "but we have the mind of Christ." And if Paul would have just come out and said that first without any explanation, we would have been like, "What in the world are you talking about?" Well, who's the "we" here?
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Why is he saying "we"?
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Why doesn't he say, "You have the mind of Christ"?
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He could have.
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Why does he say, "We have the mind of Christ"?
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Why "we" here?
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Well, what's Paul talking about throughout the first several chapters of 1 Corinthians?
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What's he talking about?
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Unity, right?
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Here's the point, unification can really only happen if we are all thinking the same way.
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If we have the mind of Christ, if we think like Jesus, that is what will unify we.
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That is what will unify us.
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This unity comes when I walk around here saying, "You all need to think like Jeff.
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You need to think like Jeff." That's the problem with this church.
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Y'all don't think like Jeff.
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That causes disunity, right?
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And then like Laura gets up and she goes, "No, the problem is you need to think like Laura.
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"That's the problem with this church.
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"Everybody think like Laura, we'll be good." And then Brian gets up.
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Brian's like, "No, no, the problem is "everybody needs to think like Brian.
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"You think like Brian, we'll be in good shape.
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"That'll unify us." No, no, no, that just causes division.
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We need to think like Jesus.
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You end with a statement like this.
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I couldn't just be like, "Okay, we have the mind of Christ, you're allowed to see you next week, so let's sing a song." That's such a statement that I figured we have to take a couple of minutes to unpack that.
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You have the mind, not, you should have the mind of Jesus.
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You have the mind of Jesus.
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You do.
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And until you think like Jesus, church, we're never going to have unity here.
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We're always going to be fighting over something.
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So I do want to leave you with this.
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Just a couple more minutes here.
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So just grab your neighbor's sleeve right now, give them a shake and say, okay, the Sunday school lesson's over, now we're getting to the sermon.
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Take a minute and do that.
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Some of you aren't shaking hard enough.
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We're just gonna close with this.
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Like we have the mind of Christ.
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And you're like, well, how do I know?
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How do I know if I have the mind of Christ?
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Well, Paul tells us.
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Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in Philippians.
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Turn over in your Bible to Philippians chapter two.
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I know usually we like camp in one passage, but we can't just end with that statement.
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We have the mind of Christ.
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What's that mean?
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Turn to Philippians chapter two, just over a few pages.
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Look at verses five through eight.
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Paul says, "Have this mind among yourselves." And you look at the context, He's talking about unity here again, right?
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Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
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Do you have the mind of Christ?
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Well, how do I know?
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How do I know if I have the mind of Christ?
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Write these three things down very quickly.
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Number one, you know you have the mind of Christ when I don't insist on my rights.
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I know I have the mind of Christ I don't insist on my rights.
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Look at verse six.
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He says, talking about Jesus, "Who, though he was in the form of God, "did not count equality with God "a thing to be grasped." I know I have the mind of Christ, but I don't insist on my rights.
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In Jesus' mind, he didn't feel the need to tightly cling to the privilege that comes with being God.
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And oh, Jesus would have had every right to demand everyone treat him as God because he is.
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Jesus could have walked around on the earth and said, serve me, serve me, get me this, fetch me that, now chop, chop, I'm God, serve me.
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He could have gotten away with that.
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He's the only person in history that could have.
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He let go of that.
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That was his right and he let go of it.
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and you have to get to the place where you made up your mind that you don't have to insist on your rights.
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I deserve more, I deserve better, I can't believe you asked me to do that, do you know how important I am?
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Not thinking like Jesus.
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See, the world says, "Hey, you go out and you demand your rights." But when you think like Jesus, you say, "Eh, I let go of my rights." When you do that, you get it, you get it.
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How do I know if I have the mind of Christ?
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Number two, when I act like a servant.
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Verse seven.
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Verse seven.
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He says, "But made himself nothing, "taking the form of a servant, "being born in the likeness of men." We've done sermons on this in the past.
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This one phrase really stands out to me more than anything in this whole passage, really.
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It says that Jesus took the form of a servant.
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And you know you have the mind of Christ.
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You know you're thinking like Jesus when you act like a servant.
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By the way, God's wisdom is opposite of the world's wisdom.
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If I said, "Who's the greatest person in the world?" You would say, "Well, it's whoever has the most people serving Him," right?
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That's how we determine greatness.
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Who has the most people serving them?
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Jesus said, "The greatest among you will be the servant of all." And His life was an example of such greatness.
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You know you have the mind of Christ when you act like a servant.
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Like, well, how do I do that?
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Well, you won't know.
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You won't know if you're a servant until somebody treats you like one, then you find out.
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I mean, if you walked in here today and I had one of them stickers that said, hello, my name is, and I wrote on there, my name is slave, tell me what to do.
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And I slapped that on your chest.
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How would that make you feel if that's how everybody regards you?
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"Hey, they're a slave.
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I'm going to tell them what to do." You won't know if you're a servant until somebody treats you like one.
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But God took the form of a servant.
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When you're like, "I'm here to serve," then you think like Jesus.
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Number three, how do I know I have the mind of Christ when I obey God all the way?
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All the way.
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Conditionally, no limits. Look at verse eight. He says, "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient." How far did you take that, Jesus? Obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. You see, Jesus' way of thinking determined what he did. He humbled himself and became obedient to his father all the way to death.
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And not just death, all the way to the worst way to die, death on a cross. All the way and everything else along the way, all the way, everything Jesus did was in obedience to the Father. So how far are you willing to take your service to God and to others?
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How far are you willing to go? How much is too much? If you say, "Well, yeah, okay, all All right, I'll serve in the church.
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All right, I'll serve, but only when it's convenient.
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You're not thinking like Jesus.
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If you're like, okay, all right, I know I'm supposed to give to the church, and the Bible says that, we've walked through that, I'll give, but listen, I'm only going to give a little bit.
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I'm only going to give like what I won't miss.
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You're not thinking like Jesus.
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And if you're like, yeah, you know what?
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That person wronged me, and yes, they reached out, they apologized.
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I will never forgive her.
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I will never forgive her for what she did to me, no matter how many times she says she's sorry, I will never forgive her.
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You're not thinking like Jesus.
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The world says be true to yourself.
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When you think like Jesus, you say, "I'm obedient to God no matter what.
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I'm going to take it all the way." You get it.
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You get it.
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Our worship team will make their way back up front.
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You know, we could go on and on and on about the mind of Christ.
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But really, it can be summed up in one word.
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If you really say that Philippians 2 passage, the word is selfless.
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Are you a selfless person?
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You will be if you think like Jesus.
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But when you have God's Spirit within you, enabling you to discern and understand and apply God's Word, you will think like Jesus.
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You'll get it.
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You will get it.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, That's such an interesting thing, the way your spirit works with your Word.
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Somebody could stand up here and preach the most biblically accurate message and it's going to go right over the head of people that don't have your spirit.
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Father, when your Spirit moves in the hearts of people and your Word is proclaimed, you You do something.
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And God, that's what I'm asking.
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Is that You would soften the hearts of those maybe who are sitting here and are hard-hearted and haven't been getting it for a long time.
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Those who are closed-minded towards Your Word, they don't get it.
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Maybe they think they do.
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And I just pray, Father, for Your Spirit For all of us, You draw us just one step closer to You today.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 and Philippians 2:5-8
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why do you think the world is so interested in the “wisdom” of celebrities and politicians, the “rulers of this age” (1 Cor 2:6)? What does God say about them?
What is this passage saying about how the Bible was written (1 Cor 2:10-13)? Why is this important for unity in the church?
According to Philippians 2:5-8, what does it mean to have “the mind of Christ”? Give specific examples of what that looks like.
Breakout
Pray for one another.