Study Notes

Foundation Statement: To develop in character we must change the way we think

 

I.      People who walk in character are the ones who walk in the spirit (Romans 7;14-8:9)

A.    Notes

1.      7:18-Wanting to do it is there, but how to do it he doesn’t know

a.    How do you perform that which you know you should do?

b.    What do you mean how do you do it?  You just do it

1)       There’s more to doing it than just willing your way through it

2)       There’s a process that must be engaged

2.      7:20-He says it’s not the spirit me doing this it’s the sin in my mind, the sin in my feelings, and the sin in my will that’s doing this

3.      7:23-There’s a law in his flesh attacking what he knows is right in his mind, bring his spirit into captivity where it doesn’t have a say in what he does

4.      7:25-He knows what’s right in his mind, but he’s not minding what’s right and his mind is not renewed in what’s right

5.      8:1-Condemnation stunts growth b/c you’re not repenting, forgetting, and growing

6.      8:4-To walk in character we must walk in the spirit

B.     8:5-The key to walking in the spirit/walking in character, is to mind the things of the spirit

1.      Those who fulfill the righteousness of the law are those who walk in the spirit, those who walk in the spirit are those who mind the things of the spirit

2.      Mind – To direct one's mind to a thing, To set your mind on

a.    Where you direct your mind to determines where you direct yourself to

1)       Your way of thinking is determining the way you’re going (Isaiah 55:8-11)

2)       Where you have directed your mind is where you are directing your life

3.      Jn 6:63-To do what’s right you’re going 2 have 2 mind what’s right & the Word is right

C.    The problem is in what you’re doing is your way of thinking  (Romans 8:7)

1.      7-It didn’t say the flesh was enmity against God it said the carnal mind is

a.    The carnal mind is against God and won’t submit to the law of God

2.      You don’t correct wrong actions w/right actions; u correct wrong actions w/right thinking

a.    People who try to change the way they act without changing the way they think are out of divine order and will continue to fall short in the way the act

b.    You change the fruit without changing the root that produced the fruit

3.      IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

D.    We’ve heard a message and then we try to just go out and be a doer of the message & continually our lacking in our doing b/c we skipped the necessary process of changing our way of thinking

1.      We’re going to strive to be doers of it the moment we hear it; when we have the opportunity to do what we’ve heard, we’re not going to say my way of thinking hasn’t changed yet so I’m just going walk in flesh; we’re doing right as we get opportunity, while understanding I’m in the process of changing my way of thinking

2.      Knowing what it says it’s not the same thing as changing your way of thinking

a.    Knowing what the Bible says doesn’t mean that you’re mind has been renewed

II.     Change your way of thinking

A.    What they know and the way they think are two different things and you can tell by looking at the way they act.

1.      Evidence then, that you’re thinking is right is that you’re acting is right

a.    EX: You can think yeah it’s right to walk in love, but that doesn’t mean that your way of thinking has changed.  Evidence that your way of thinking has changed is that you’re doing has changed. 

2.      Romans 7:18,23-He knows what’s right in his mind, but 20-His way of thinking hasn’t changed

B.     Renewing the mind is something that we’re always doing (Romans 12:1-3)

1.      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

a.    Your mind doesn’t get renewed on Sunday

1)       Sundays are the very early stages of the process of renewing the mind

2)       Sunday is the day that you find out where your mind is supposed to be set

2.      Renewing – a renewal, renovation,

a.    Renewing – Present Progressive – That means it’s something that we are presently doing right now; we are constantly making renovating our way of thinking

1)       You got to renovate that thing & tear some things down build some things up

2)       When you come to church you get the blueprint for the renovation

b.    Words are building blocks that produce fortresses of thought called strongholds (2 Corin 10:5)

1)       Stronghold – Greek word ochuroma that describes a fortress.  Ancient fortresses had exceptionally thick, very high, impregnable walls that were designed to intruders outside. They also used this word to describe a prison.  Prisons keep insiders from getting out. 

2)       Strongholds in the mind are designed to trap people in a way of thinking and doing and keep others getting them out

3.      There are ways of thinking, that trap us in ways of doing, that keep us from the blessing

4.      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.    Evidence that ur mind has been renewed is that ur proving the perfect will of God Rom 12:3

C.    Meditation is the tool through which you set, renovate and renew your mind

1.      James 1:21-25 – Be doers of the word---How?

a.    24-The one who heard & didn’t do it, didn’t do it b/c after he heard it he left it

1)       When u r a hearer & not a doer it shows that what u heard didn’t change the way u think

a)     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

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

b.    25-Through meditation he’s changing his way of thinking

1)       The other guy left the mirror, he’s staying near it

2.      Joshua 1:8 – Meditate the word so that you can do it

a.    God’s telling Joshua his prosperity is connected to his character, his protection is connected to his character, his power is connected to his character, but his character is connected the way he thinks so meditate the word day and night

b.    2 manifestations of meditation

1)       There’s the prayer closet meditation that you need everyday

2)       Casting down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

3.      Practically how do you meditate the Word and change your way of thinking

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

b.    Matthew 6:30 – You take the thought by saying it

1)       You’re sending word building blocks to your mind building a stronghold of thinking

c.     You say something different to think something different until you don’t have to say something different to think something different any more

4.      James 3:2 – We measure your character by watching what you say out of your mouth

a.    Your words control your way of thinking, your way of thinking determines what you do

III.   How to develop character

A.    To develop in character you have to make a decision of quality

1.      You make a decisions of quality to put that away non-character things

a.    James 1:21-You make a quality decision by faith to put away that character thing that doesn’t reflect Jesus

1)       Put away – 1) Away, 2) To place or lay something down

a)     To lay something down and to push it far away and beyond reach

2)       1 Corinthians 13:11 – Put away childish things

a)     Put away-To cease, put an end to, do away with, to be severed from, separated from

3)       Ephesians 4:22,25,31

b.    You might not feel like it’s away, but by faith you put it away

2.      You have to make a decision of quality to change your way of thinking (2 Corinthians 10:5)

a.    Every thought and imagination must be cast down

B.     To develop in character you must go to the source of what is right

1.      God and His Word are right and apart from God and His word you cannot do right

a.    Psalm 119:137-MSG-You are right and you do right, God; your decisions are right on target.

b.    Psalm 145:17-MSG, NCV – Everything God does is right

c.     Psalm 33:4-NIRV – What the Lord says is right and true

d.    To think, talk, or act in away that’s in opposition to God and His word is to think wrong, talk wrong, and act wrong.

2.      You have to make the word of God final authority in your life

a.    1 Peter 5:5-6 – Humility and Reality

C.    To develop in character u must change ur way of thinking by taking the thought & saying it-Mt 6:30