This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is our last day together of looking through 1 Corinthians chapter 2, day 5,
and today we're going to focus on one verse, verse 16. In this verse, we are
going to have the opportunity to focus on how the wisdom of God can be revealed
in your life. We've talked together this week about the fact that the wisdom of
God comes through the testimony about God and the demonstration of God's Spirit.

We've talked together about the fact that you need God's Spirit in your life in
order to understand God's wisdom, and that God's wisdom comes through this
amazing relational interchange between God's Word and God's Spirit working in my
life, and then I sense God's direction, God's wisdom for my life. But in verse
16, there is this promise, this amazing promise that helps you and I to have a
new sense of confidence in knowing God's direction for our lives. Listen to this
verse, verse 16, "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct
him?

But we have the mind of Christ. " Paul begins this verse, verse 16, with a
question, a question many of us have had. Who has known the mind of the Lord
that we may instruct him?

We realize we can't tell God what to do, but the question is, how does God tell
us what to do then? But he says, we have the mind of Christ. He gives us that
assurance.

What does it mean to have the mind of Christ? The Holy Spirit reveals to us the
mind of Christ, and change begins to come into my life as I live life based on
the direction of God revealed in Christ through the mind of Christ. As you think
about God's wisdom in your life, you have to think about your thoughts and what
you think.

If I'm going to experience God's wisdom, somehow it has to come into my
thoughts. How does God's wisdom make its way into my thoughts? Paul says, here's
how.

We have the mind of Christ. I want you to remember three things about our
thoughts. Number one, God knows our thoughts.

Number two, God can change our way of thinking. And number three, we are
responsible for our thoughts. Remember first of all, God knows our thoughts.

Psalm 139, 2, "You know my thoughts before I even think them. " That's an
amazing verse. God knows my thoughts before I think them.

Now, many people, their first reaction to that is, "Oh, no. God knows what I
thought even before I thought it. I didn't even like what I thought after I
thought it, but God knew I was going to think it before I thought it.

Oh, no. " But on second thought, He understands. He understands your thoughts.

He understands why you thought those things. He understands why that came into
your mind. On second thought, He's involved in your life.

He knows everything that's going on. On second thought, you are not a mystery to
Him. You don't have to try to hide anything from Him because you can't hide
anything from Him.

But even though you can't hide anything from Him, even though you cannot hide
anything from Him, He loves you in Jesus Christ. God knows our thoughts. He
knows their limitations.

He knows their possibilities. Psalm 94, 11 says, "The Lord is fully aware of how
limited and futile the thoughts of mankind are. " What an encouraging verse.

But the truth of the matter is, when you look at the limitations of your
thoughts, it is a humbling thing to recognize those limitations, but it is also
a healthy thing to recognize those limitations. Because it reminds me, I am just
a human being, and my brain is a wonderful creation of God, but I need something
more than this brain. It can take me the wrong direction sometimes, and this
habit I can't let go of, and this way of thinking that I just cannot seem to
escape, our thoughts often seem very futile.

God knows of the limitations of our thoughts, but He also knows their
possibilities. He knows the power of what He can do in the thoughts of our mind.
He knows that He can transform the way that we think.

Now, I'm not talking just about positive thinking here. There's power to
positive thinking. There's no doubt about that, but I'm talking about something
that's much more powerful.

The power of positive thinking is very limited. It only lasts as long as the
circumstances turn out just right. It only lasts as long as you live in a
situation that you feel like, "Okay, I can control this.

" As soon as you realize the truth that you're not in control is nearly as much
as you think you are, you realize, "I need something more than positive
thinking. I need transform thinking. " When we think about our thoughts, God
knows our thoughts.

The second thing is God can change our way of thinking. Romans 12. 2 says, "Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.

" In Romans chapter 8, Paul talked about a mind that's controlled by the Spirit,
and in Romans 12, he talks about being transformed by the renewing of your mind.
How does that happen? How do my thoughts, how do I start to think in a different
way?

We have the mind of Christ. That's how it happens. God has given us His way of
thinking.

The power to think in a different way is more than just how you do it. That
would be easy to describe. How do I think like God?

Well, I would think pure thoughts if I was going to think like God. I would
think unselfish thoughts if I was going to think like God. I would think
thoughts of service.

I would think thoughts of love. God is love, so if I'm going to think like God,
I would think thoughts of love. It's easy to describe the kinds of thoughts that
you would think, but how do you think those thoughts?

How does that begin to happen in my life? Do I conjure them up? Do I work for
them?

How do I get there? And these verses remind us that it's all based on a promise.
It's not based on my effort, not based on your effort.

It's based on a promise. God has given you a gift. He's given you the mind of
Christ.

Through God's Spirit being in your life, you have the mind of Christ. What does
that mean? That means I can think like Jesus, and because I can think like
Jesus, then I can act like Jesus.

Now, do I always think like Jesus? Absolutely not, and I would guess that you
don't either. But I can think like Jesus.

Not I hope to think like Jesus someday. I can think like Jesus. Why?

Because I have the mind of Christ. I can choose to think like Jesus as I trust
in God and trust in God's Word. I've been asking people this week about the mind
of Christ, some friends, some small groups.

I ask them, how does this truth impact you? How does it make you feel you have
the mind of Christ? And one person surprised me.

They said, "It gives me peace. " Now, that's not the first way I feel about
having the mind of Christ. For me, it could almost create anxiety, like I have
to work harder to try to understand the mind of Christ.

But as they said that, I knew that what they were saying was right. This is a
promise. This is an assurance.

You have the mind of Christ. It is meant to give you peace. God is saying to you
here, "I have given you a gift.

" You can now think like Jesus so that you can begin to act like Jesus. I cannot
tell God how he should think. I cannot figure out all the things that God is
doing, but I have the mind of Christ.

I have the ability to see this world like Jesus would see it. That's true in
your marriage. That's true at your work.

That's true with your friends. That's true at your school. That's true in your
church.

The people that you see today, the circumstances you come across today, you can
see them like Jesus sees them. Because through God's Spirit, we have the mind of
Christ. God knows my thoughts.

God can change my thoughts. There's a third truth we talked about, and that is
we are responsible for our thoughts. Having the mind of Christ does not, you
probably noticed this as a believer, does not automatically mean you begin to
think like Jesus every moment of the day.

No, you still have to choose to think like Jesus. That's the transformation that
God wants to work. We have the mind of Christ, but I choose through God's Spirit
to say, "How would Jesus see this?

" 2 Corinthians 10-5 talks about this battle and how it works. It says we
demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we, listen to this, we take captive every thought to make
it obedient to Christ. There's the picture.

We take it captive. If you ever played a game like capture the flag where you
try to take captive somebody else's flag and take it to your side, you know all
the human effort that goes into that as a kid's game. Well, this is not a game.

This is the reality of life. And so the idea of thinking like Jesus, there is
the discipline of mind to take captive a thought and in that moment to say, "I'm
not going to think selfishly here. How could I think like Jesus?

" Now, the power to take it captive is not in you and it's not in me. It's in
God's Spirit. If you think I could never do that, you have the mind of Christ
through God's Spirit.

And the truth of the matter is, yes, you can. Now, if you're like me, it is a
struggle. You take this thought captive and then you lapse into selfishness.

You take this thought captive and then you lapse into the way you want to do it.
You take this thought captive and then you lapse into pride. What do you do
about it?

You keep taking thoughts captive. Through the power of God's Spirit in your
life, you keep saying, "Jesus, help me to think like you would in this
circumstance. " Because the most amazing thing happens.

When you think like Jesus in a circumstance, you will act like Jesus in that
circumstance. When you think humbly, you will act humbly. When you think with
love, you will act with love.

When you think service, you will act in service. If you don't have the thought,
the action will not happen. So taking thoughts captive, taking thoughts captive
today for your life, what does that look like?

It looks like Jesus. If it feels complicated to you when I say, "Have the mind
of Christ," just go back to the simplicity of it. Remember, the wisdom of God is
simple.

So go back to the simplicity of, "Jesus, how would you see this? Jesus, what
would you say? Jesus, what would you do in this circumstance?

Help me to see this like you would see it. " And then you trust in that moment,
you have the mind of Christ, that he can reveal that to you, and you act on what
he has revealed. If you think of something often enough, you get to the point
where you can't stop thinking about it.

That is a truth about bad habits, but it's also a truth about good habits. If
you think this often enough, you get to a point where it is the natural or the
supernatural, the spiritual way that you think. If this feels like a promise
that could never happen in your life, I want to let you know.

Even today, I believe that God wants to do something in your life to show you
that you can think like Jesus and act like Jesus. If you've been living like
this for years, and maybe have fallen back from it recently, I want you to know
that even today, God can restore you to that way of thinking like Jesus. And if
this has been your pattern of life for years, and it's still your pattern of
life, then you know like no one else that even today, you need new strength to
think like Jesus.

So let's pray for that strength today. Jesus, we pray for strength today. To see
things, to see life like you would see it.

It's easy for us to see things selfishly. That's just what everybody else is
seeing around us. We need you to see things differently.

So I praise you. We praise you together that you have put your spirit into our
lives so that this is not a matter of our effort or our study. It's a matter of
you revealing through your word, your direction.

So use your word to help us to see people, to see circumstances, to see
promises, to see ourselves, to see our sins, to see our opportunities, to see
all of those things Jesus today like you would see them. We have the mind of
Christ. But help us to, by faith, trust in that, look to you, and as you show
us, as you reveal to us the direction you would take, the thing that you would
say, help us to have the faith to follow you.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love for us. In your name, amen. Next week, we're
going to look together at chapter 3.

In chapter 3, Paul answers the question, "What do you do when Christians don't
act Christian?