Meditate on These Things

[0:00] Alright, so Philippians chapter 4 has been a series of exhortations, short exhortations, about living the Christian life.! Last week we focused and looked at that exhortation to be anxious for nothing. Don't worry. Kick worry out of your life.

[0:20] And instead, replace it with what? Replace it with prayer. Go to the Lord. Talk to the Lord about your needs, about what's going on in your life. And then the promise is that when we do that, what will come? Yeah, that's from our memory verse, right?

[0:37] The peace of God which passes all understanding. And that peace will do something. It will guard our hearts and our minds. You see, worry is a poison to our minds. And so we need a guard against that poison from entering into our minds.

[0:55] And that poison that goes into our minds, does it just stay there? No, it impacts our entire life. Sometimes even our physical bodies can be impacted, right? By worry, anxiety, stress.

[1:10] And so last week we looked at what to keep out of our minds, right? What to guard against when it comes to our minds. Today we're going to be looking at the opposite. We're going to be looking at what to put into our minds.

[1:26] What to cultivate in the garden of our minds. So let's go ahead and read this passage and then we'll start walking through what Paul's talking about.

[1:38] It's just two verses. Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 and 9. He says this, So again here, he is giving some instruction on what to put into our minds.

[2:21] How to cultivate a healthy thought life. You know, the kinds of things that we put into our mind ends up impacting how we live our lives, our behavior.

[2:38] And so we're going to, you know, review kind of some of these things that Paul's talking about. But really take a step back and just take a big picture look at what does it mean to have a Christian thought life or to think about things or to meditate on things.

[2:57] You know, Paul provides this list. And I want to first start, first start by looking at this word that he uses that in my translation anyway is translated to meditate.

[3:13] He lists all these categories or this list of things to think on. And then says that these are things that we should meditate. Now, I'm reading from the New King James Version.

[3:24] The King James and many others, I think this is the most common translation, is to think on these things. So let's do a little bit of a word study on what exactly that word means.

[3:39] And by the way, there are lots of tools available to do things like investigate the original meanings of words. You know, translation from any language into another is always a challenging job.

[3:55] Because not all words in one language translate very easily to just a single word into another language.

[4:05] So it can be helpful at times to dig in as we're studying the Bible. If you want to investigate or you think you'll find value in investigating a word, you can do that. One of the tools that you can use is a Strong's Concordance.

[4:18] Anybody ever use a Strong's Concordance? Yeah. We actually have one in the library. Now, it's a really big book. But it's not the kind of book that you read from cover to cover. It's a reference book.

[4:30] And you can find any word in the King James Bible anyway. It's based on the King James translation. And every word has a number.

[4:42] And that number, you can use the reference to find that word used elsewhere in the Bible. And also find a definition from Strong himself on what that word means.

[4:55] So you can use those tools. Now, today we have even more tools available to us in digital form that can make things really easy. You can use even an app right on your phone and have a wealth of resources available to you to look into these things.

[5:14] And so those are the kinds of tools that I use as I'm preparing this message. We're going to look at this word this morning. It's the Greek word. Let me see if I can get the pronunciation right. Loged Zomahi.

[5:26] I don't think I got that right. Loged Zomahi. Loged Zomahi. And like I said, in King James, it's translated as meditate.

[5:37] And in many other translations, it is translated to think on. But I think that translation to think on is somewhat inadequate. Because there's different ways you can think about something.

[5:49] And sometimes you just might have a passing thought about something. And that is certainly not what this word is talking about. In one of the Greek dictionaries that I looked at, it described this word as meaning to take an inventory.

[6:06] Take an inventory. And that's really kind of digging deep. Taking a large evaluation of something. The beginning of that word is where we get the word logic from.

[6:25] Logos is the Greek word that kind of is the beginning part of this compound word. And we get our word logic from that.

[6:35] And so this word is used actually a lot for things having to do with accounting or calculation. Numbers.

[6:45] But in other arenas, it's used like we do in a more of a metaphorical way to not talk about numbers. But talk about evaluating anything in life.

[6:58] And it's used sometimes translated to reason about something. As I was looking at the different translations, the one that I thought was most close to what the Greek word is trying to communicate is to translate this to carefully consider.

[7:21] To carefully consider something. So with all of these categories, things that we might think about, we ought to carefully consider them. You know, God created us human beings as different from the rest of creation.

[7:40] He created us to think. He created us with minds. The Bible says that we were made in the image of God. And so there are certain ways in which we are like God.

[7:53] Now, not in every way. God is, you know, spirit. We are flesh. Of course, God became flesh.

[8:06] But there are many ways in which we are like God. And we think and we reason like God does. And so we ought to, as human beings, to evaluate ideas.

[8:24] Evaluate our lives. Think about what is true. And what is good. And what is beautiful. Now, if you look at a tree, and a tree can be a beautiful thing.

[8:37] I was actually just noticing our tree out front here in the church. The fall leaves. It's just tremendously beautiful. But does that tree ever contemplate anything in its life?

[8:49] No, it doesn't. It doesn't think at all about its life or good or evil or any of those kinds of things. What about animals? Do you think animals think? Well, it seems that they definitely have more capacity, right, to evaluate the world around them than a plant would.

[9:10] But animals, as far as I can tell, operate primarily on instinct. There is a programming on the inside of them. They have brains like we do. But primarily based on instinct.

[9:24] You know, we have a cat at our house. And I'm very doubtful that our cat ever thinks about the meaning of life. What is my purpose here in this world? Right?

[9:35] Whereas people do. We ponder our existence. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is my purpose in life? What happens when I die?

[9:47] What is right? What is wrong? What is good? What is evil? What is evil? In the book of Isaiah.

[9:58] Isaiah the prophet. God is speaking to, or through the prophet Isaiah. And he's speaking to his people, Israel, who have rebelled against him. And he says this.

[10:09] He says, come now and let us reason together. Come now and let us reason together. He says, I've got some things for you to think about.

[10:20] So I want you to think. I want you to reason through these things. Back about four or five hundred years, I think about four hundred years or so, before the life of Christ.

[10:34] So this is the fifth century BC. In the city of Athens, there was, Athens had just been conquered by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian Wars.

[10:50] Anybody remember that from high school? Yeah, I don't either. I see some of my kids raising their hands. That's great. Good job homeschooling, Mom. And the city was, you know, somewhat unstable position, as you might imagine, after a war and a takeover from a different people group.

[11:13] And anybody who was any kind of a nonconformist would be held in suspicion. Well, there was this guy. And he would walk around the city and he would just talk to people about his ideas.

[11:25] And ask questions. And get them to ponder things. His name was Socrates. Anybody ever heard that name before? Socrates. Socrates never actually wrote anything.

[11:37] So we don't have anything, any writings of his. But there was a guy who came later, one of his students, whose name was Plato. Who wrote down a lot of the things that he heard from Socrates.

[11:49] And he actually gives an account of something that happened to Socrates and some of the things that he said. He would go around and talk to people about life. About things like what is truth and what is justice and what is virtue.

[12:05] Eventually he was arrested. He was put on trial. Why would somebody be arrested and put on trial for speaking about truth and justice and virtue? Why would somebody not like someone like that?

[12:17] Well, I think we have a very stark example just in the last couple of months of somebody who spoke out about truth and justice and virtue.

[12:27] Who was not liked and ended up being killed. Charlie Kirk. And so he was put on trial. He was accused of impiety. Because he was questioning many of the pagan gods of the Greeks at that time.

[12:45] And also accused of corrupting the youth. Because he was teaching young people to question the authority of the Greeks.

[12:57] Some of the traditions. And some of their accepted moral values. He was eventually sentenced to death. But during his trial. There's a famous quote of his.

[13:11] That he said during his trial. And he said this. He said, The unexamined life is not worth living. The unexamined life is not worth living.

[13:22] If you live your life. And you don't examine. If you are not thoughtful. If you don't consider and evaluate carefully. The life that you're living. It's not really worthwhile.

[13:35] And even though Socrates was not a Christian. I think he had a point. I think he was promoting Christian ideals.

[13:48] Interestingly enough. About 400 years later. There's a man named Paul. Who was traveling around Rome. Telling people about. Jesus Christ.

[14:00] Preaching this gospel message. This good news. That people could turn to God. And be saved. And have eternal life. And through his journeys. He ended up in this city.

[14:13] Of Athens. The same city. Where Socrates was. If you'd like. You can turn with. Turn with me to Acts chapter 17. We're going to look at that. That account. Acts chapter 17.

[14:24] And verse 16. So he makes a stop. In Athens. And he. Takes the opportunity. Like he usually does. To. To teach.

[14:35] And to preach. In one of the local synagogues. This is what it says. In verse 16.

[14:48] Now while Paul waited for them. At Athens. His spirit was provoked. Within him. When he saw. That the city. Was given over. To idols. Therefore. He reasoned.

[14:58] In the synagogue. With the Jews. And with the Gentile. Worshippers. And in the marketplace. Daily. With those. Who happened. To be there. Just like Socrates. 400 years before him.

[15:10] He was in Athens. And he was. Reasoning. With people. Both in the synagogue. And in the marketplace. He was. Reasoning. With them.

[15:21] Asking questions. And providing. Thoughtful. Answers. To questions. People might have. We'll skip down a little bit.

[15:31] But to kind of summarize. One of the. The pagan Greeks. There. Heard him. And he asked. Paul. To share. In a more public manner. And so. He did.

[15:43] And so. If we. Skip down. To verse 22. We can read. The account. Of what he said. To the people. It says there. Then Paul stood. In the midst. Of the Areopagus.

[15:54] And he said. Men of Athens. I perceive. That in all things. You are very religious. For as I was passing through. And considering. The objects. Of your worship. I even found an altar. With this inscription.

[16:05] To the unknown. God. These were pagans. They worshipped many gods. Therefore. The one. Whom you worship. Without knowing him. I proclaim to you.

[16:15] It says. You guys. Obviously. Have. Some God. You know. That there are gods. Out there. Or a God. Out there. That you. You don't know. Well. I want to introduce you. To him.

[16:30] The God. Who. Yeah. Verse 24. God. Who made the world. And everything. In it. Since he is Lord. Of heaven.

[16:40] And earth. Does not dwell. In temples. Made with hands. Those are the gods. That they worshipped. There in Athens. Nor is he worshipped. With men's hands.

[16:50] As though he needed. Anything. Since he gives. To all. Life. Breath. And all things. Notice how he's making. These logical arguments. Do you think it's.

[17:02] Reasonable. That the God. Who created. Everything. Would be in the form. Of something that man. Made with his own hands. Is that reasonable. To believe. He's making these arguments.

[17:14] Verse 26. And he made from one blood. Every nation of men. To dwell. On all the face of the earth. And has determined. Their pre-appointed times. And the boundaries. Of their dwellings. So that they should.

[17:25] Seek the Lord. In the hope. That they might grope for him. And find him. Though he is not far. From each. One of us. For in him.

[17:36] We live. And we move. And we have our being. As also. Some of your own poets. Have said. For we. Also. For we are also. His offspring. Notice how he.

[17:47] Appeals to. Something that one of their own. Poets. Said. You know. Some have said. You know. That all truth. Is God's truth. Just because somebody. Who's a pagan.

[17:58] Not a Christian. Says something. Doesn't mean that it's false. Right. We just referenced. Socrates. Right. And I'm sure. Socrates. Said. A bunch of. Silly things.

[18:10] That just were not true. But. There were certain things. That I think were on point. They were legitimate. And we can recognize them. As truthful. And we can use those kinds of things. By the way. To bring people along.

[18:22] To show them. To show them truth. Therefore. Since we. Therefore. Since we are the offspring of God. We are God's children.

[18:33] We ought not to think. That the divine nature. Is like gold. Or silver. Or stone. Something. Shaped by art. And man's. Devising. He's talking about idols.

[18:44] These idols. That are made of gold. And silver. And stone. Are they. Are they really gods? Truly. These times of ignorance. Verse 30. Truly. These times of ignorance. God overlooked.

[18:55] But now. He commands. All men. Everywhere. To repent. Because he has appointed a day. In which he will judge the world. In righteousness. By the man. Whom he has ordained.

[19:06] He has given assurance. Of this. To all. By raising him. From the dead. That was his speech. I'm sure. There was more to it than that. I'm sure this is.

[19:17] Somewhat. Of a summary. But I just wanted to point out. That Paul here. Is giving reasons. Why these Athenians. These Greeks. Ought to believe. In the Lord.

[19:28] Jesus Christ. In the God of the Jews. In the one. True God. Who created. All things. Now what was the response? It says in verse 32. And when they heard. Of the resurrection of the dead.

[19:38] Some mocked. While others said. We will hear you again. On this matter. You know. Some people rejected him outright. And others thought. You know what. I think he might be. On.

[19:49] To something. And eventually. Some. We find out. Ended up believing. In the gospel. And becoming followers. Of Jesus Christ.

[20:02] You know. In the Bible. We are told. As Christians. To share our faith. To let other people know. About. The gospel. And how do we do that?

[20:16] You know. I've been in. In a. A Mormon. A Mormon. What do you call it? A ward. I think. And. We had.

[20:27] This was years ago. But we had Mormons. Come to the door. And. After chatting with them. I can't remember. If I asked. Or if they invited me. To come visit their. It's like their church building.

[20:38] They call it a ward. And. They took me on a tour. And at the end. They kind of explained. The Mormon faith.

[20:48] And what they believe. And. At the end of. That kind of delivery. The delivery of that message. They said. You know. You might at this point.

[21:00] Be feeling a burning. In your bosom. I don't think they use that. That terminology. Necessarily. But that's one of the. Things that. Kind of Mormons. Teach. That. One of the reasons.

[21:12] That you. People come to the Mormon faith. Is because they. They feel something. You know. On the inside of them. And. You know. Those kinds of things. Can be legitimate. By the way. But is that the basis.

[21:24] On which. We ought. To believe. In something. And how we feel. In 1st Peter 3 15. Peter teaches this.

[21:35] He says. But sanctify the Lord God. In your hearts. And be prepared. He says. Be ready. Always be ready. To give a defense. Or reasons.

[21:47] To everyone. Who asks you. A reason. For the hope. That is. Within you. And then he ends. With meekness. And with fear. Or sobriety. When we share our faith.

[21:59] We are giving people. Reasons. Why they ought to believe. Just like. Paul. Did. There. In Athens. I want to go back. To that verse. In Isaiah.

[22:10] Where. God invites. The rebellious. In Israel. To come to him. I'm going to.

[22:20] Quote that passage again. Isaiah 118. He says this. Come now. And let us reason together. Says the Lord. And that passage. Finishes off this way. Though your sins.

[22:31] Are like scarlet. They shall be. They shall be. As white as snow. Though they are red. Like crimson. They shall be. As wool. God is saying.

[22:43] To these people. In Israel. Through the prophet Isaiah. That. Hey listen. You are sinners. You're evil. You're corrupt. And I need you.

[22:54] To carefully. Consider. Your life. And look into. How might. Let my sins. Be washed.

[23:05] Away. You know. If there's anybody. In here. Today. Who's not. A believer. This is. A message. To you. Reason.

[23:19] Think logically. About. Your life. Are you. A good person. Is there. Really. A standard. Of right. And wrong. In the world.

[23:29] Why is it. That so many people. Fight about. Right and wrong. And think. So deeply. About justice. Even though. People disagree. On what justice. Looks like. What right and wrong. Looks like. It seems that. Everybody. Agrees.

[23:40] That there is. Something. Called. Right and wrong. A fundamental. Morality. And why would that be. If we're all just. Random. Molecules.

[23:51] Floating in space. Consider. Is there really. A God out there. Who's a God. Of justice. And if there is. Will we stand.

[24:02] Before him. One day. And have to give. An account. For our life. And if that is. The case. Will we be found. Innocent. Or guilty. And.

[24:14] Considering that. Is there. A way. To escape. That guilty. Verdict. And we can. Logically. Think through that. And find. You know. That there is an answer.

[24:25] That the Bible provides. That Jesus himself. Provided. To us. A way. Of escape. Through his death. On the cross. For our sins. But it's not just.

[24:36] In becoming Christians. That we think so deeply. As we live. The Christian life. We are taught. That we actually need. To change. Our thinking.

[24:46] From what it was. Before. We became Christians. And that's what Paul. Is talking about. In this verse here. In this passage.

[24:57] In Philippians. That we're reading. Today. You know. God loves us. Did you know that? Not everybody. Knows that. But the Bible teaches. That God. Loves us.

[25:08] What's that famous passage. John 3.16. For God so loved. The world. That he gave his only son. You know. When we come to him. God wants us. To love him back.

[25:19] And we ought to. There was a. There was somebody. Who. During the ministry of Jesus. Asked Jesus. A question. They said.

[25:30] Which of the commandments. Of Moses. Is the greatest commandment. And. Jesus answered. And he quoted. From the. Old Testament text. And from the law of Moses.

[25:42] And he said. This is what it is. Jesus said to him. This is Matthew 22. 37. You shall love the Lord. Your God. With all of your heart. With all of your soul. And with all of your.

[25:54] Mind. God wants us to love him. Not just with an emotional. Love. But with a thoughtful love. To love him thoughtfully. To carefully consider.

[26:06] How we might love. And serve. The Lord. And so we have a job to do. To be thoughtful in our Christian life. To examine our life.

[26:17] To examine the world around us. To examine right and wrong. Truth and justice. And especially in light. Of what God did for us. You know.

[26:28] Some. Some of us grew up in. Without God. In godless homes. Without being taught. Right from wrong. Virtue. Morality. Praiseworthy things. Grew up with things that were ugly.

[26:41] And not lovely. And so there is. Such a tremendous opportunity. To change. Our thoughts. To change. Our meditations. To evaluate.

[26:52] A different. Way of life. Paul talks about this. In. In the. When he's writing to the Ephesians. About the former way of life.

[27:04] The former way of thinking. And then how that ought to change. This is in Ephesians 4.17. He says this. This I say therefore.

[27:14] And testify in the Lord. That you should no longer walk. As the rest of the Gentiles. Walk. In the futility of their mind. Their mind is. Fruitless. Futility means fruitless.

[27:26] Having their understanding darkened. Being alienated. From the life of God. Because of the ignorance. That is in them. Because of the blindness. Of their heart. Who being past feeling.

[27:38] Have given themselves over. To lewdness. To work all uncleanness. With greediness. That's a description of. Someone without. A life without God.

[27:49] Where your life is not thoughtful. Thinking about what is true and virtuous. At least not as it should be. A lot of times people just pursue. Whatever feels good.

[28:03] That's how a lot of. Unbelievers. Walk. Whatever other people are doing. Whatever the crowd is doing.

[28:14] I mean. That's the easiest way. To go through life. Isn't it? Just to do what everybody else is doing. But here he says. I don't want you to walk. As the other Gentiles walk.

[28:25] I want you to walk. A different way. A more thoughtful way. He continues on in verse 20. Ephesians 4 20. But you have not so learned Christ.

[28:36] If indeed you have heard him. And have been taught by him. As the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning your form of conduct. The old man. Which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.

[28:48] And instead he says this. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Have a renewal of your mind. Of your thinking. Of your thoughts. Of the meditations of your heart.

[28:59] And that you put on the new man. Which was created according to God. In true righteousness. And holiness. In the new life that we have in Christ.

[29:10] God saved us out of the world. The Bible says he translated us. From the kingdom of darkness. Into the kingdom of his dear son. So we have a new position. In Christ. That he gave us for free.

[29:22] Even before we changed our thoughts. Or our behavior. He made us his. But now. That we are in that position. Now that we are part of his family. His kingdom.

[29:33] We need to change. We need to renew our minds. That goes along with renewing. Our behavior. To think differently. Another passage that speaks to this.

[29:44] Is Romans 12 verse 2. Paul says this. 12 verse. Romans 12 2. And do not be conformed. To this world. Don't follow the things of the world. That's the easy button.

[29:55] That's the easy thing to do. But instead. Be transformed. By the renewing of your mind. That you may prove. What is that good. And acceptable. And perfect.

[30:06] Will of God. God has a will for us. And here he's not talking about. Like God's. You know. Plan for. You know. What you're going to be when you grow up. And where you're going to go to school. And college. And what your work situation is going to be.

[30:18] The will of God. Is how. Everybody ought to live their life. God's will. Is that we live uprightly. That we. Do justice. That we love our neighbor as ourself.

[30:29] All the things. The instructions. That we read in the Bible. That we have a relationship with God. That is God's will. For us. As Christians. And even for those who aren't Christians. God's will.

[30:39] For them. Is to change. To trust in him. And so we need. Our minds. Transformed. To know. What that will is.

[30:50] In every area. Of our life. And so. And we do. We need to. Apply. God's word.

[31:01] God's truth. God's. Goodness. Principles of. Goodness. And virtue. To every. Area. Of our life.

[31:12] And we call that today. We call that a Christian worldview. Which we take. God's word. God's truth. God's goodness.

[31:23] And we apply it. To everything. You know. There are consequences. To believing lies. Right. And so. In. Here in Philippians.

[31:34] He says. To think on things. First. That are true. Right. That's the first thing. That he lists. Think on things. Meditate on things. That are true. You know.

[31:45] There are. Horrific consequences. To believing lies. Now. Some are. Some lies. Or. Or some truths. Are more important. Than others. But.

[31:57] Just one. Example. And this is. A little bit forced. It doesn't have to do with. Morality or ethics. Necessarily. But think about gravity. We all.

[32:08] Even if you don't know that word. Even a thousand years ago. Right. Before. Newton. People understood. That there is this force. That pulls us down. Towards the earth.

[32:19] Right. And we need to recognize. That truth. And if we don't. It can be very harmful. To us physically. I've heard stories of people.

[32:31] Who are on drugs. And you know what. The drugs make them think. That they can fly. And sometimes. They do things. Thinking that they can fly.

[32:41] And what happens. They die. Because. They didn't believe. Reality. They didn't believe. The truth.

[32:52] And we can take that. And we can expand it. To all of life. To the extent. That we believe. Lies. Will bring harm. To our life. To the extent.

[33:03] That we believe. The truth. Will bring blessing. And prosperity. And goodness. Into our life. Another example. That I think.

[33:13] Is cogent. For the time. In which we live. Especially. Is this whole concept. Of marriage. You know. As you read. In the Bible. You read. In the very beginning. That God created them.

[33:24] Male. And female. And it says. In Genesis. 2. 24. After he. United. The first man. And the first woman. Adam and Eve. Together. Genesis. 2. 24.

[33:34] It says this. Therefore. A man. Shall leave his father. And mother. And be joined. To his wife. And they shall become. One. Flesh. And so.

[33:45] There's this idea. From the very beginning. That God designed. Men and women. That a man. And a woman. Would come together. And form a family. And have children. And they would be fruitful. And they would multiply. And what a wonderful.

[33:56] Glorious. Beautiful. Thing. But if you reject. That idea. If you don't realize. That it's true. If you don't think.

[34:07] Marriage is a thing. Or that it's important. Then there's. All kinds of. Brokenness. That will happen. In your life. And so many people.

[34:18] Actually. I've. I've heard. Over. Especially recently. Of so many people. Who have actually come. And investigated. Christianity. Because their life. Was so broken. Because of.

[34:29] The lies. That they grew up in. Having. Two moms. Or two dads. And realizing. That leads. To misery. Not a healthy family.

[34:43] Or growing up. In a family. Where there was. Adultery. And brokenness. In a marriage. Because of it. And so.

[34:55] Just understanding. That one truth. About marriage. Between a man. And a woman. For life. To raise a family. Just that one thing. Can make such. A difference.

[35:06] Not only in individual lives. But then. Ultimately. In the. In the world. what we put into our minds, right?

[35:45] We want to put in good things and cultivate those good things and keep out things that are negative, that are evil. And so just a few thoughts here on some inputs that we might have or some things to think about when it comes to our Christian worldview.

[36:03] The books that we read or the movies that we watch or the television that we watch are these things that are promoting ideas or thoughts that promote or glorify virtue or noble character?

[36:21] Or is it something that promotes or glorifies sensuality or gratuitous violence? You know, I think about just how much things have changed in the last couple of generations on what's on television.

[36:40] Now, I actually am not too familiar with what's on television today, but I've seen things like there's something called The Modern Family.

[36:52] Back in my day, there was a television show called Married with Children. And it was supposed to be a sitcom about family life. But it did not promote anything virtuous or noble or good or lovely.

[37:09] It was all just ugliness about how ugly family life is. But in a generation before that, you had shows like Leave It to Beaver. And some people today will mock and ridicule.

[37:21] That's not what family is really like. And you know what? That, for the most part, is true. It's not what family is like. But you know what they were doing? They were promoting what family life should be.

[37:33] That's the kind of thing that we want to ingest, that we want to consume, that we want to put into our hearts and minds. We have different sources, right, of virtue and goodness, things that we can consume.

[37:57] One of the things that we do on the back of our bulletin is we'll put a book and a video or a movie that we recommend to people in the church. And not all of them are like purely Christian resources.

[38:11] Some of them are secular in nature. But still, they promote things that are virtuous, that are good, that are noble, that are true. Even if there are ugly things in them that is part of the story, those things are not promoted as good.

[38:28] Right? Because it's okay. You read the Bible. Is everything that you read in the Bible all good things that happened? No, there's lots and lots of evil things. But the Bible is clear in how it, the kind of light that it puts on those things.

[38:42] Making it clear what's good and what is evil. So we have lots of different resources that we can use. I have a book at home. In fact, I think we might have a copy here.

[38:54] William Bennett, anybody remember him? He was the secretary of, what was it? Education or something, I think, at some point under one of the administrations. He wrote a book, Book of Virtues.

[39:05] Okay, I'm getting help from my family here. The Book of Virtues. And it's just a bunch of stories from Aesop's fables to all kinds of different things throughout history. Many of them Christian. Many of them are secular.

[39:15] But still, the idea was, hey, let's have a book where we can promote virtue. Stories for children, things like that. But what is the best source to learn virtue from?

[39:27] The Bible. The Bible. That is what God gave us to teach us how to live. Joshua 1.8 says this, This book of the law, this is what God spoke to Joshua, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night.

[39:47] There's that word meditate again. Not just read it once a month. Meditate on this book day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

[40:00] For then, you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Psalm 1, Psalm chapter 1 says something similar. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he what?

[40:19] He meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit and its season, whose leaf shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.

[40:33] When we fill our minds with good things, when we fill our minds with truth, with things that are noble, with things that are virtuous, with things that are good, with things that are lovely, with things that are praiseworthy, it impacts our life, it grounds us.

[40:51] And so, every one of us as Christians should have some kind of habits, routines, rituals in our life in which we consume, in which we meditate on the word day and night.

[41:06] It might be a practice where the first thing we do when we get up in the morning, and these are just tips, right? None of this is rules. None of these are things that you have to do specifically. But in general, we ought to, right, meditate on God's word on a regular basis.

[41:21] And so, what is that going to be, what is that going to look like in your life? When you wake up first thing in the morning, are you going to open up God's word? What a great way to start your day. That's one of the things that our family does. Or, at night, as you're going to bed, open up God's word and let it be what you're meditating on as you drift off to sleep.

[41:39] Or, throughout the day, songs that you can sing, whether it's a family or by yourself, that help you to meditate on God's word or God's truths. Or maybe, Bible verses.

[41:51] Maybe one that you learned at church on Sunday morning that you memorized that you can recite throughout the day. Meditating on his day, excuse me, meditating on his word day and night will help to transform our minds, which ultimately will help to transform our lives.

[42:12] I'm going to finish off here with verse 9, Philippians 4.9. Paul says, these things are the things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me. These do, and the God of peace will be with you.

[42:23] He's continuing on with growing in the Christian life. You know, we have examples from the Bible. We can read the Bible. We can see examples from Moses and from Joshua.

[42:36] We can look in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11 has this hall of faith, all these faithful people that we can look to and their examples to us. But he's telling them, hey, listen, I've given you a bunch of instruction.

[42:50] He said, you've learned things from me. You've received things from me. You've heard things from me when I've been there with you. You heard me speak things out loud.

[43:03] And then you saw things in me. You saw me give you an example of how to live the Christian life. And we can be observant Christians and look at others, and we've talked about this a few weeks ago, taking an example from other people, other faithful Christians, learning from them how to live the Christian life as we ought to.

[43:24] And then he says this. He says, learn these things, and then he says what to do with them. Do them. not just watch and listen and read and feel good about it, but then to emulate him, to do as he does, to do the instructions that he gave, to do what the Bible tells us we ought to do, to put those things in action.

[43:53] We do not want to be hearers of the word only, right, as James says, but to be doers of the word. And then he ends with this.

[44:05] And the God of peace will be with you. And that's the promise that we have from God. You know, in verse 7, what we looked at last week, what did it say when we pray and we talk to God?

[44:16] It says, the peace of God will guard our hearts. So we have this gift from God. It's peace that is a gift from him. But here, it's not the peace of God.

[44:28] It is the God of peace. He is a gift to us as well. And which one is better? Peace is amazing. The peace of God, isn't that incredible?

[44:40] What an incredible promise and gift. But we have so much more than that. We have a promise that the God of peace himself will be with us. Whatever's going on, whatever's going on in our life, he will be with us.

[45:00] Let's finish up in a word of prayer. Let's everybody stand if you would. Father, we love you. We ask you, we need help, Father, living the Christian life as you want us. We want to understand what your perfect will is for us.

[45:12] Help us each and every day. Whether we are new to the faith or whether we've been at this for 50 years, we need to continue to grow and we need you, Father. work in us to have our minds renewed, to think on things that are true and noble and just and virtuous and praiseworthy, that our lives might resemble Jesus Christ more and more each and every day.

[45:42] We thank you for these things. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.