Sing Talk—James Read
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Good evening. Well I guess I guess I'm supposed to use this so I will try to do that.
Let's begin with prayer.
Our God and our Father, we give thanks for this opportunity tonight to be here, to have time this week, to be set aside to consider the Word of God.
And we pray for our time tonight as we endeavor to consider some practical things about our walk.
We pray that we would not quench the Holy Spirit, but that we would have listening hearts and listening ears.
And so we pray for your help.
We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
All right, well, well, this will be a talk given from an iPhone. Pardon me for that.
A verse I'd like to start with and really base my talk on is Romans chapter 8 and verse 6.
It's a verse I've pondered over the years.
Romans 8 and verse six. I'll read it.
For it to be carnally minded is death.
But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
So I was, I've been intrigued with this verse because.
The apostle Paul is setting before us two ways that our mind can work. We can be carnally minded, which will put to death the spiritual life within us where we can be spiritually minded and have life and peace two ways. And there's really no Gray areas in those two realities.
So what? I trust that what I say tonight about this will complement what our brother Steve shared and also what's been said before this week.
I've also been intrigued with the promise there of life and peace.
That's the benefit, the blessing that comes from being spiritually minded. And don't we all want that to have life and peace?
Jesus said I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. That's in John 1010 and I will be reading some scripts or verses and for the sake of time you're welcome to turn to them, but I'll just read them.
So Jesus has come that we might have abundant life, but I know from my own personal experience.
That many times we as Christians in our practical lives are not enjoying abundant life. We're not enjoying that life and that peace that the apostle Paul talked to us about.
You know, I remember, I see a lot of young people here. I remember as a younger Christian.
Having many worries and concerns about my life and at times, you know, that took me into places where I lost my trust, my faith, didn't have the joy that I should have. There's a lot of things to think about when we're young, and even as an older believer, it doesn't take me much to get frustrated with the things in my life that aren't going.
The way that I think that they should be going.
And it's very easy for me to become overtaken with the cares and concerns of this world.
Well, I would submit first of all to myself and then to you.
That when we lose that sense of life and peace, we are momentarily out of our spiritual minds. We've lost that sense of being spiritually minded. And I know that positionally, we cannot lose our salvation. We cannot lose our spiritual nature. We are always God's children if we are saved. You can't lose that.
But we can temporarily or unfortunately it can go on for quite some time. We can lose that spiritual state of mind. We can lose that reality of being spiritually minded, as Paul talks about.
And so tonight I want to take just a few minutes.
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To talk about four principles, 4 principles for maintaining.
Our spiritual mind or forgetting it back if we've lost it.
Because in a room of this size, chances are there's somebody here struggling to maintain a spiritual mind with distracted or discouraged or concerned about something.
So I want to talk about four principles.
In the first principle is we must have absolute faith in the sovereignty of God.
Absolute faith in the sovereignty of God. And you know, that is one of the easiest things to agree to in a meeting like this, right? We're here, probably had a good day, had some fun. It's easy to sit here and nod our heads and say, yes, I believe that every circumstance.
Of my life is under God's control and He's working out everything for my good and for my blessing and for His glory. That's the most important thing. It's easy to be here tonight and to believe that.
But you know, as soon as something goes wrong in our lives.
I know from personal experience it can be very, very easy to lose that sense of God's sovereignty over my life. And typically when something goes wrong, and I'm not talking about, you know, pinching a finger or something like that, but when something really seems kind of messed up with life, two things happen.
We thank God has forgotten me, or is overlooking me, or doesn't like me or is punishing me or something like that.
And we think, what do I need to do to get out of this situation? What do I need to do? And that can be healthy that we look at ourselves, but we want to take control. We want to get out of the situation or fix the situation. And so it's very easy to lose that sense that God is completely over our circumstances.
And I I didn't have time to look at some verses that speak of God's sovereignty, but there's one that I go back to in my own life many times, and that is Psalm 1830.
As for God, His way is perfect, and anyone who's heard me talk before has probably heard me quote that verse. As for God, His way is perfect. His ways in our lives are perfect according to His plan, according to his, His perfect will for us.
There's another verse two that came to mind and that is in Revelation 17 chapter 17 and verse 17.
And that's a chapter that's Speaking of.
And perhaps we should turn there so I don't misspeak, but Speaking of some very evil, evil beings that are on the earth at that time.
The Woman and the Beast.
But Revelation 1717 says, For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will.
Those terribly wicked and evil creatures, or whatever you want to call them, that are on the earth at that time, it says God put in their hearts to fulfill his will.
And so we know the circumstances of our lives, the circumstances of this world are in His hands. They are under His control.
And so whatever happens to us, you know, things happen that can be caused by our sin, can be caused by other people's sin.
There may even be satanic opposition in our lives.
But if we can hold on to that belief that God is over it all, it helps us maintain that spiritual mind that Paul is talking about.
Well, the second principle is connected to this or follows from this.
Second principle for being spiritually minded.
Is prepare for battle.
Prepare for battle. Expect it.
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Expect battle.
In Acts 1422, Luke is Speaking of the work of Paul and those who were with him and how they exhorted the the people. And they said we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.
Did you hear that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God?
It's not easy. Being a Christian is not easy.
And moving forward in life and fully enjoying the Kingdom of God is going to involve tribulation.
You know, that's not what we want to hear when we're young and hopefully those who are younger, more mature than I was when I was your age. But I think really I had this idea that if I, you know, was a good a good Christian, that that kind of be my my past from suffering and I could kind of get around it wouldn't have to deal with too much difficulty in life.
But you know.
Life. Life is difficult and God intends it that way to refine us and to make us more like His Son.
There's another verse that's related to that, this idea of of being in battle and escalations 5/24.
Says in They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
So for Christ, we're in the business of crucifying our flesh with the affections and lusts.
And you know, God will use the circumstances of our lives to bring us face to face with the ugliest parts of ourselves. He will bring ourselves right up in front of us so that we can see our flesh.
And what's wrong?
See those things of us that are still wiggling on the cross and that need to be fully crucified?
And so accepting this reality.
That we need to prepare for battle. That life is a battle. That we have work to do, hard work to do to crucify our flesh. Understanding this helps us maintain a spiritual mindset. When we go through life, Life and things aren't going exactly the way that we wish they would go.
Well, there's a third principle as well that I believe can help us.
Maintain to be spiritually minded.
And that is never forget your citizenship.
Never forget your citizenship.
You know when you travel to a different country, you carry a passport?
And everywhere you go, that passport identifies you as an American or as a Canadian, whatever the case may be.
And, you know, I think you could be in the deepest of deep sleeps and a policeman could come to your hotel room and knock on the door and shake you and say, where are you from? And you would say I'm an American or I'm Canadian. It's just so ingrained in you. That's who you are. That's your citizenship here on earth. But we need to have that same sense of our heavenly citizenship as well.
There's a verse I'd like to look at in Philippians.
Chapter 3.
And verse 20.
It says for our conversation and in the new King James it says citizenship.
So I'll read it that way for our citizenship is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
We are heavenly people.
If we have been saved, and that means that we will of necessity be different from those around us in the world, we will have to go a different path. We cannot do the things that we see other people do because we are citizens of heaven and not of this world.
You know a citizen, a citizen of this world. How does he or she act?
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In their interactions, typically they're seeking their advantage, right? Business and life, they're seeking their advantage. They may be very nice about it, but they want to get what they deserve.
What about in relationships with the opposite sex?
Especially true of young people, but of any age a citizen of the world seeks.
Seeks pleasure, seeks to get what they want, whether or not it may be God's mind they seek to get what they want.
The citizen of the world says, well, this, This is who I am. This is who I am. I have to do what makes me happy. I don't really have any other choice. That's what a citizen of the world thinks.
And you know that is normal according to the flesh, right?
If all that we have is that we are born and that we die, and that all that we have is what happens in between those two milestones? If that's true?
We need to make it as enjoyable and make it as good for ourselves as possible if that's really all we have.
But you know, as citizens of heaven, we know that this life is temporary and what we have to come is eternal. That's reality.
And so a citizen of heaven lives for Christ, and for others a citizen of heaven.
Honors godly standards in relationships with the opposite sex.
A citizen of heaven lives for the honor and glory of God. It's not normal.
From the earth's perspective, but it is normal according to our citizenship in heaven.
And you know when we see Christians falling into ongoing habitual sin.
We can surmise that they forgot their citizenship. They've got caught up in worldly thinking about I got to get what I need to get, and so I speak to myself. But remembering our citizenship is key to being spiritually minded.
Well, I have one more principle.
It's a cover and I'm sure there are others. These were just some that I could think of this evening.
But the 4th principle is to rest in who you are as a son or daughter of God.
Rest in who you are as a son or daughter of God.
It's a verse in Colossians chapter one and verses 21 and 22.
Or a portion I'd like to read.
It says in you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you wholly and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.
That is our destiny. That is what we're headed for. And that's how we're seeing positionally even now as holy and unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God. And there's there's so many other verses that that we could look at that talk to us about who we are in Christ and what our inheritance is and what we have before us. And we can meditate on that and.
And be formed by that.
Will maintain that spiritual mindset that's so important for for life and for peace.
But there's one one more verse I'd like to close with.
And that is Luke chapter 12 and verse 32.
Luke, 1232.
Jesus speaking and he says, fear not, little flock.
For it is the Father's good pleasure to give you.
The Kingdom.
Does the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And as I look out across this room and I see Rob over there and Matt right here.
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My wife over there and others.
What a what a marvel.
To consider that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. And that's, that's what we we we have it now in part, but we'll have it someday in whole, and that's what's before us.
And so.
I trust that these four principles, and as I said, I'm sure there are others.
Will help us maintain that spiritual mindset to be spiritually minded, which is life and peace.
All right, let's close and we'll give thanks for the refreshments as well.
Our God and Father, we thank you for this time that we have this evening. Consider these things, and we thank you for what we have before us and.
Help us and pray to the spiritual. So we give thanks to now for the refreshments that we will enjoy.
Hands to prepare them. And for all your many, many blessings, commit the remainder of this planet into your care. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen. Amen.