Study Notes

Foundation Statement: Meditation is the tool through which you renovate your mind

 

I.      Believers know that they’re supposed to have their mind renewed, often times they know some things about what it’s supposed to be renewed to, but most haven’t engaged the process of changing their way of thinking 

A.    What’s happened a lot times is that we’ve come into church and heard a message, but we didn’t go home and engage the process of  changing the way we think and therefore we have knowledge of it, but our way of thinking hasn’t changed and consequently we’ve lacked in efficiency in doing it

B.     Your mind doesn’t get renewed on Sunday

1.      Sundays are the very early stages of the process of renewing the mind; It’s here where you find out where your mind is supposed to be renovated to

2.      When you come to church you get the blueprint for the renovation and then you go home and start renovating

II.     You become a person of character/a doer of the word by changing your way of thinking through  meditating the Word (James 1:21-25)

A.    13-15-That’s how you miss it and don’t walk in character

B.     16-Do not error-Don’t be led aside from the path/way of virtue or character

1.      If you won’t error in thinking,  you won’t error in doing, but to not error in your thinking you’re going to have to not error in the words that you spend the most time with

C.    20-26-This is how you do the word and walk in character

D.    21-The implanted, rooted, and attached word is able to save your mind, your will, and your emotions and in turn make you a doer of the word

1.      Grafting – They cut two plants and then attach them together with a rope.  The tissues of one plant are encouraged to fuse with those of another through this process.

a.    In most cases, one plant is selected for its roots, and this is called the stock. The other plant is selected for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits and is called the scion. The scion contains the desired genes to be duplicated in future production by the stock/scion plant.

b.    For successful grafting to take place, the tissues of the stock and scion plants must be placed in contact with each other for usually a period of a few weeks.  This resulting in the growth of a single plant.  This is done to produce desirable characteristics in the new plant.

2.      Engraft the Word to and in your soul until this word and your soul become one

a.    You attach your soul to this word until this word as overtaken and infected your soul and this word and your soul have become one

b.    The word that’s attached to your soul and stays attached will save your soul

1)       You stay attached to this word, hooked to this word, and it will save the way you think

2)       The word will save your way of thinking and in turn your doing

c.     The unattached word will not save your soul

1)       You can’t expect one plant to effect another when their not attached 

d.    In grafting these two plants are attached day and night until they become one; they don’t unhook (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2)

1)       The word that saves your soul (changes your way of thinking) is the one that’s attached to your soul 

E.     The hearer of the word who didn’t do

1.      His way of thinking didn’t change

2.      He looks    at himself in the mirror and Goes his way – Departed, apart, go off

a.    Forgetful hearer – He separated from and neglected the Word 

3.      People who’s way of thinking doesn’t change and who aren’t people of character separate from and neglect the Word

a.    The don’t stick with it long enough to graft it in

b.    A neglectful hearer is someone who neglects what he heard and separates from it

c.     The word didn’t save his soul because he unhooked from it, departed from it and went his way

4.      He heard it but didn’t do it because after he heard it he left it

a.    He heard the word, but only the attached Word his able to save the soul

b.    When you’re a hearer and not a doer it shows that what you heard didn’t change the way you think

c.     Chances are it just introduced a new thought, but you have to take that new thought and engage the process a changing the way you think

1)       That’s what happens a lot in church; people hear the word and then leave it well their way of thinking didn’t change

F.     The doer of the Word

1.      The other guy left the mirror, he’s continuing to look at it

a.    Continue – Remain beside, continue always near

1)       The word was attached to his soul because he continued keep his eyes on it

2)       The engrafted word saved his soul

b.    The doer of the word engaged the process rather than separating and neglecting

2.      Through meditation he’s staying hooked and attached to this Word and he’s changing his way of thinking

G.   They both looked into the mirror: the both had knowledge of what they heard, but only one change his way of thinking and become a doer and was blessed; only one walked in the way of the blessing

III.   Joshua 1:8 – You meditate the word day and night to stay attached to it so that you can be a doer of it

A.    Meditate it so that you can do it; if you don’t meditate you won’t do it 

B.     8 keys to meditating the Word

1.      Separation is key in meditation (Matthew 6:6, 14:23, 26:36, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, 9:28)

a.    Separate yourself from distractions

b.    You want to do this with purpose, you want to do it effectively, and you want to give it your full attention

c.     This is the process that’s going to change my life and I don’t need to be distracted during this process

2.      Speak the word out loud in your meditation time (Proverbs 18:21)

a.    Meditate – Utter a sound, the act of thoughtful deliberation with the implication of speaking to oneself, to speak, to talk, to imagine

1)       Matthew 6:30 – What you say with your mouth becomes key because it determines the thoughts that you take

b.    You’re sending word building blocks to your mind building a stronghold of thinking

1)       You say something different to think something different until you don’t have to say something different to think something different any more

c.     James 3:2 – We measure your character by watching what you say out of your mouth because your words control your way of thinking, your way of thinking determines what you do

3.      Always meditate the Word with purpose – Don’t just go through the motions (Acts 11:23, James 5:17)

a.    Meditate – The act of thoughtful deliberation

1)       My purpose is to change my way of thinking

b.    James 5:16 – Meditate the word with zeal, passion, and purpose

4.      Place yourself in agreement with what the Word says about you

a.    Make a decision of quality to agree with the word by faith (John 20:25)

5.      Remember your blood covenant and realize that God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:17)

a.    It’s impossible for God to lie; this must be true

6.      Apply the Word to yourself personally (Acts 10:34)

a.    This is God talking to me, this is God’s promise to me, this is what God has provided for me

7.      Ponder how the Word changes your situation

a.    Knowing that this is true how does that change my situation and my attitude? 

8.      See yourself as the Word says you are

a.    Hebrews 11:1 – Faith is now, see yourself with it, see it as being already done

b.    James 1:21 – This Bible is a mirror and it’s reflecting back to me my present state.

C.    Mediate the Word day and night (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1-3, 2 Corinthians 10:5)

1.      Keep the Word on your mind all the time

2.      Cast down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of god

IV.   Engage the training process by meditating the Word

A.    Exercise yourself unto Godliness by meditating the Word and changing your way of thinking (1 Timothy 4:7)

1.      To act godly you have to exercise your mind to think godly

B.     How to make character you what you do habitually (Hebrews 5:12-14)

1.      They need milk because they’re babies and because they are babies they are carnal (1 Peter 2:2, 1 Corinthians 3:1)

a.    If they’re carnal in their doing, they are carnal in their way of thinking

2.      They had been taught once what’s right and therefore have knowledge of what’s right, yet they’re still carnal

a.    They got knowledge, but they never took that knowledge and changed their way of thinking

3.      They are babies still because they didn’t take that knowledge they gained and train their minds through vigorous exercise to think like that

a.    Dull of hearing – Not willing to be diligent to hear and when you do hear unwilling to train vigorously with what you heard

4.      You can train your mental faculties (Perceiver, Understander, Judger) separate God and His way from the wrong way

a.    By reason of using your mind can be exercised to discern

1)       They used their mind and made it think in line with God’s Word and by reason of that use it’s exercised to separate good and evil

b.    You see the situation God’s way, you understand the situation God’s way, you judge the situation God’s way

1)       You can train your mind to do that automatically

c.     EX: The power of words and now I hear people I’m not trying to hear, but I hear it because my way of thinking has changed

d.    The more developed you are in the way you think, the more you’ll walk in character