Think on these things, Do - The Weekly Sermon

1 SundayAugust 10, 2008 Miklase-mail 21 The Book of Philippians Text:Philippians 4:8-9" Think on these things ,Do"Introduction: We again come to the 4th chapter of the book of Philippians where weread from verses 5-9. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (6) Becareful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let yourrequests be made known unto God. (7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shallkeep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (8) Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoeverthings are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be anypraise, Think on these things .

2 (9) Those things , which ye have both learned, and received, and heard,and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. We can truly say that we worship a great God whose greatness is unsearchable,Amen!! And as such our God has numerous concerned about the universe He created and its concerned about His own heavenly home. Jesus said "I go to prepare a place foryou." And He is doing just that, right concerned about His Word. God is concerned this morning that His Word is beingrightly divided (interpreted or spoken).Godis concerned about His prophetic agenda, that all the details He has foretold arebeing carried concerned this morning about the souls of men and women, and boys and girls,here and around the world who have yet to respond to thegospel and be concerned this morning about His church, even about this church, about thegrowth of this church, about its development and the warmth that ought to be found in abody of Philippians 4.

3 1-9, Paul expresses some ofGod s concerns for the ministry of God'speople within the local verse 1 God is concerned that believers STAND FAST in the verse 2 God wants in our church a HARMONIOUS verse 3 God wants in our church an INDUSTRIOUS verse 4 God wants in our church a JOYFUL verse 5 God wants in our church a CHRIST-LIKE verses 6-7 God is concerned about our PRAYER verses 8-9 God is concerned about our THOUGHT is herethat we need to pause, and examine closely this morningGod s concerns aboutour THOUGHT LIFE and our ACTIONS resulting from that thought life. In verses 8-9 Godis concerned about theHEAD, theHANDand theHEARTof the child of Psalm 199:113 David said,"I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.

4 "Now by vainthoughts, I would image the Psalmist was referring:to lustful thoughts, and he had them, andto vengeful thoughts, and he had them too, andto hateful thoughts, andto immoral and did David say,"I hate vain thought?"Perhaps it was because they had a negativeinfluence upon his mind and did damage to his life. You see, negative thinking leadsto negative action. That's why we must realize that thoughts are real, andthey arepowerful. In II Corinthians 10:5 Paul said we are to be"Casting down imaginations(allthose vain appeals and vain thoughts presented to us by Satan to control our minds)and every highthing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God(thatis, prideful thoughts),and bringing intocaptivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

5 "When we come to today s passage in Philippians 4, the thoughts we are to Think uponare just the reverse of vain thoughts. Paul spells out six thoughts on which the mind isto dwell:Whatsoever things hink upon things that are true, genuine, and things hink upon things that are noble, that are worthy of respectrather thanthings thatcomefrom things hink upon things that arefair andrighteous by both divine andhuman things upon things that are of moral purity. Thinking purelyinthis very sinful, contaminated and corruptworld of ours isone of the consistent themes of theNew Testament. In I Timothy 5:22 Paul challenges us to"Keep thyself pure."Whatsoever things upon things that are pleasing, orderly, beautiful things areofGOOD hi nk upon things that arepositive andnoteworthy, things that are thoughts will have a positive influence on our lives.

6 They can be characterizedby the words"virtuous"and"praiseworthy."If it is"virtuous,"it will motivate us to it is"praiseworthy,"it is worth commending to said,"no Christians can afford to waste "mind power" on thoughts that tear himdown or that would tear others down if these thoughts were shared."When Paul said" Think on thesethings,"it was not the first time in Philippians that thethought life of the believer was brought into the verse 2:2, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of oneaccord, of one mind. Notice verse2:5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Notice verse 4:2, I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind inthe Lord.

7 As we read God's Word, what should our thought pattern be? If God s primarypurpose ofproviding the Bible is to get us to Think the way God thinks, then weshould be determined to do just that. Our thoughts should be on:WHAT God thinks about our God thinks about our God thinks about our history and our us to Think of life the way He thinks about life. He want us to have themind of Christ. God is not the author of anything that is impure, unjust, dishonest, orof bad report. Those thoughts are authored by God's adversary, the Devil. On theother hand, as we read God's Word we discover:God is the source of is the source of is the source of things that are is the source of is the source of things that are is the source of things thatgive a good the word" Think "that Paul uses in Philippians 4:8 is a word which means,"toponder, to consider, to meditate upon.

8 "In Psalm 1:1-2 we read,"Blessed is the man whowalketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seatof the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he MEDITATE dayand night."If we are to keep ourselves fromfollowing the counsel of the ungodly,standing in the way of sinners, andsi tting in the seat of the scoffer,our MIND must be occupied with the Word of God. The word meditate simply meansthat I take what I have read and go over it again and again and again in my mind, as Iponder its Paul has in mind when he saysto" Think on these things "is tomull these thingsover and over again; to let your mind be constantly occupied with these example, let's pause and look at that phrase"Whatsoever things are of good report.

9 "Now a"good report"is the opposite of a "bad report" and a "bad report" might be, forexample,TALEBEARING, 17:9,"He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matterseparateth friends."Proverbs 18:-8,"The words of a talebearer are as "GOSSIPhas been the favorite indoor sport of some Christians. They don't call itgossip; they call it sharing prayer passing on information about a person. Whether the information is true ornot, much damage can been #1: "Oh; did you hear what I have just heard? Someone just told me this inconfidence, but I thought you should knowabout it also,so we can pray about it."Theresult is moving lips and loose tonguesstartinganother fireof #2:When we don't seeeye toeye about a matter, we run to others spelling out thedifficulty instead of solving the problembetween us.

10 So again, some groundless information ispassed onastime iswasted andfriends are #3:Wehappen tofind out about a problem in a person slife. Now instead of goingto thatpersonand consoling, or helping, or finding out from themthe true story, we pass onwhatever information we have to would soon DIE OUT if we all refused toentertain it in our to these chilling win without killing. I teardown homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. No innocence is strong enough to intimidateme, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth,no respect for justice,no mercy for the defenseless. My victims arenumerous, and often innocent. I never forgetand seldom forgive. My name is somehow entertain the mistaken notion that gossip and criticism is only wrong ifit is untrue.