What’s On Your Mind?
What’s on your mind tonight? What are you doing downtown? Why are you here tonight? What are you seeking? Are you going out for dinner? Are you looking to get drunk? What’s consuming your thoughts and desires tonight? Again I ask, what’s on your mind?
Please listen to Colossians 3:1-10: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Do These Verses Describe You?
Professing Christian, do these verses describe you? Please notice the Apostle Paul says we once walked in anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk as well as lying. But we have put off the old self. Oh, does this describe you tonight? Also, Paul says that we are set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. Is your mind set on things above?
What is on your mind tonight? 1 Corinthians 2:16 states: “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. Oh professing believer, do you have the mind of Christ tonight? Jesus always did the will of God the Father when He walked this earth. Are you being Christ-like tonight?
Who or what has your heart? Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Who or what has your heart? What has your mind? Are you thinking of Jesus Christ our Lord tonight or are you thinking of the pleasures of the flesh? What are you seeing tonight? Why are you downtown? Are you being like Jesus and seeking to do the will of God the Father?
What Consumes Your Thoughts?
Who or what consumes your thoughts? What is on your mind? Do not be deceived. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He speaks what he knows. The devil will tell you a little sin is all right, you’re not hurting anyone. No one will ever know. This is a lie. Sinning a little never stays a little. A little sin always leads to more sin.
If Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Savior, then you are deceived tonight. Your own heart is deceitful. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly (Proverbs 26:23-26).
In addition to your own heart deceiving unbelievers, Satan also hinders you from hearing and believing the Gospel. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
Don’t Continue Rejecting Salvation
If this describes you, don’t continue rejecting the salvation that is only offered through Jesus Christ alone. We have all sinned against God and fallen short of His glory. There is none righteous, no not one. Even though we all have rebelled against God, He sent Jesus to suffer, bleed and die on the old rugged cross in place of guilty sinners. Jesus, the perfect One, took the place of guilty sinners, the place of those who repent and trust Him.
Whether you are an unbeliever or professing believer, who or what has your heart tonight? Do you aim to glorify God or please yourself? Is Jesus your Lord and Savior or do you foolishly think you are in control? What is on your mind? Are you Christ-like or Christ-rejecting?
You say you are a Christian? Then have you examined yourself lately to see if you are in the faith? Can you really say along with the Apostle Paul that these things describe the former you? Can you say that you once walked in anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk as well as being a liar? Am I asking you if you are perfect? Of course not. None of us are perfect (not even those who claim to be perfect).
But what I am asking you is are you truly saved? Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Does it grieve you when you sin against God? I’m not asking do you live perfectly, but does Paul’s description of those sins he listed really describe the old you or do they still describe the current you? Examine yourself and see if you are in the faith.
Be Compassionate, Kind, Humble and Patient
Colossians 3:12-17 says: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Say you are a Christian? Do these attributes describe you tonight? Are you kind, humble, meek, patient and forgiving? Are you thankful? Does the word of Christ dwell in you? Is everything you do in the name of the Lord Jesus? What’s on your mind? Are you seeking to please Christ Jesus or yourself? Who or what do you love tonight?
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
Who Or What Do You Love? What Is On Your Mind?
Again I ask, who or what do you love? What consumes your thoughts, desires and ways? Who or what has your heart? What is on your mind tonight? Do you have the mind of Christ or does Satan have you blinded? Are you a child of God? Have you truly been saved? Have you repented from your sins and surrendered your life to Jesus?
The Lord told us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. Does this sound like you? Are you in the faith? Is Jesus on your mind tonight? Are you doing the will of God or the will of the flesh? Who or what has your heart, your mind tonight? Are you serving God or serving the devil? Have you been born again?
If not, today is the day of salvation. Now is the time to get right with God. Recognize that you are a sinner and that God is Holy, righteous and just. Cry out for God to have mercy upon you. Repent from your sins and put your faith in Jesus. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
(This message was lifted up in downtown Springfield, MO on July 5, 2019)