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Pastor Doug Wilson BETHANY A PLACE OF NEW BEGINNINGS

August 21, 2016 First in a series of messages

1. It matters

we think. We are

to think.

PROVERBS 15:14 (NLTse)

A wise person is hungry for knowledge,


while the fool feeds on trash.
PROVERBS 1:5 (TNIV)

...let the wise listen and add to their learning,


and let the discerning get guidance
PROVERBS 9:9 (TNIV)

Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;


teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.
PROVERBS 25:2 (TNIV)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;


to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
PSALM 32:8-9 (TNIV)
8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.

2. It matters
MARK 2:8 (TNIV)

we think.

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were
thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, Why are you
thinking these things?

God wants our thinking to be shaped by His

COLOSSIANS 1:21 (NLTse)

...you...were once far away from God. You were his enemies,
separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

ROMANS 1 (NLTse)
21

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldnt worship him as God or
even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas
of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and
confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
23
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they
worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
28

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that
should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of
wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers,
haters of God, insolent, proud, & boastful. They invent new ways
of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.

3. It matters

God wants us to think like

, not like

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.


In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
God wants us to focus our thinking on

things!

PHILIPPIANS 4:8 (TNIV)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is


noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things.
God wants our thinking to be under the
EPHESIANS 4:17-18 (TNIV) & 20-23 (NLTse)
17

This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of


them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and
refresh your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the holy
prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.
God wants our thinking to be influenced by His

PROVERBS 11:14

There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.


ACTS 15:28 (TNIV)

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...


COLOSSIANS 3:16-17 (NLTse)
16

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your
lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he
gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with
thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to
God the Father.

we think.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:20 (TNIV)

2 PETER 3:1-2 (NLTse)

direction!

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no
longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
18
They are darkened in their understanding and separated
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them
due to the hardening of their hearts.
20
But that isnt what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you
have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes
from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former
way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead,
let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

4. It matters how we

Whats love got to do with it?

about what we think.

PROVERBS 18:2 (MSG)

Fools care nothing for thoughtful discourse;


all they do is run off at the mouth.
PROVERBS 15:1 (TNIV)

A gentle answer turns away wrath,


but a harsh word stirs up anger.
PROVERBS 15:4 (TNIV)

The soothing tongue is a tree of life,


but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
1 CORINTHIANS 8:1 (TNIV)

...knowledge puffs up while love builds up.


1 CORINTHIANS 8:1-3 (J.B. Phillips)

...while knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that
can make him grow to his full stature. For whatever a man may
know, he still has a lot to learn, but if he loves God, he is opening his whole life to the Spirit of God.

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