Giving Our Mind to Christ - Part 3

Don't be fooled by these enemy soldiers who wear Christ's uniform. Religious language, they are the biggest traitors in your mind and they'll destroy you. It says here in Romans 8 29, whom he foreknew.

Did you know that God knew about you before the world was created? Ephesians 1 3 and 4 says he chose us in Christ before the world was created. Before Genesis 1 verse 1, in the beginning God created heaven and earth, go back before that and he knew about you and me. And he knew that someday in our life we would give our life to Christ.

He knew that. He said, okay, I'm going to put his name in the book of life. He chose us, 1 Peter 1 says, according to his foreknowledge.

He didn't just pick names out of a hat and say, okay, this guy's going to heaven, this guy's going to hell. God is not arbitrary. He doesn't draw lots.

He's not running a lottery. He's given man a free will and he's chose, he knows beforehand how you're going to exercise that free will and he decides, okay, you exercise your free will to choose Christ, great. I'll put your name in the book of life.

When did he do that? Did that ages ago before the worlds were created. But he, those who meet foreknew, he gave them a pre-destination. That's the next word.

So you understood foreknowledge. The next word there in Romans 8 29 is pre-destination. That means when he put your name in the book of life because he knew that you would accept Christ in 1995 or whatever or 1959 or whatever it is.

He decided, okay, I'm going to put his name in the book of life and I'm going to put a destination for him and for all of us, the destination is the same. And I want to surprise you that destination is not heaven. Are you shocked? A lot of preachers have told you that destination is heaven.

It is not heaven. Heaven is a sort of by-product. You know, it's not the main meal.

It's like the pickle or something like that. A small part of it. What is the main meal? He's predestined you to become like Jesus.

Now you tell me, once you understand the value of this, would you rather go to heaven or become like Jesus? God gave you a choice. Which would you choose? Supposing God says, I'll make you like Jesus, but you got to go to hell. Or you can be like the devil himself and live in heaven comfortably.

Which would you choose? I know what I'd choose. I've even said that to the Lord. I said, Lord, I'm ready to go to hell if you're there and you make me like yourself.

Heat won't bother me. I'll tell you that the worms won't bother me if I become like Jesus. There are many Christians who have been burnt at the stake.

They tasted hell there, the fires of hell. They were faithful to Jesus. There are many Christians who have been thrown into dungeons like Paul and they were bitten by worms and didn't bother them.

They were becoming like Jesus. The physical things don't bother us. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, if you want to allow your mind to be changed, then decide that the main goal of your life, destination, is the same as God's destination.

If you've got some other destination other than God's destination, or you want to get off somewhere earlier, it's like the train's going from here to Delhi and you get off at Hindukur or somewhere like that because there are exciting things there on the platform. Maybe people are falling down on the thing, pushed down and all that here. It's exciting and you get off there.

You'll never reach your destination. Or some other place, there's giving out free property and all that near that station. You get off.

You'll never reach your God's destination. You've got to make sure. I'm not going to get off this train till I reach my destination.

My ticket is to become like Christ. Oh, there are a lot of interesting stops along the way, I know. I watch them and I move on.

I'm going to get to my destination. And if your destination is the same as God's, then there's some hope for you. Then you'll become like Christ more and more as each year goes by.

So let's get our destination right, to become like Christ. Whether I'm rich or poor makes no difference. All of Jesus' apostles were all poor.

Jesus himself was poor. A lot of Old Testament people were rich, but in the New Testament there were a few guys like Philemon who were rich. And there were some believers who were rich and they had a lot of problems.

But generally speaking, most of the believers in the New Testament were poor. So it didn't bother them. The important thing was to become like Jesus.

If God gives you money, take it. Make it your servant. Keep it under your feet.

Don't let it rule you. But don't let it change your destination. Don't get excited so much by the station called money and get off there.

Remember your destination. Become like Christ. Pass by that station.

Pick up whatever you can. Keep your destination. I want to become like Christ.

I want to get closer and closer to my destination. I haven't reached there yet, but I'm going to get closer and closer every day. Once I get my destination right, then the Lord can do something with my mind.

Now we turn to Romans 12. Paul is very logical in his presentation of the gospel. He says, first I'll tell you what the destination is, and then let me tell you how we can get there.

Romans 12, he says, verse 2. First of all, he says, give your body to God. That's important. Give your eyes, your tongue, everything to God.

Then he says, give your mind to the Lord. Don't be conformed to this world. In other words, you know, if you read the whole verse, he said, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the means, don't become like the world in your thinking, but let become like Christ in your thinking.

Or as J.B. Phillips paraphrased it, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. You know, we are pretty fluid type of people, and the mold you choose is the shape you're going to come out finally. You know, like they make plastics, they pour molten plastic into a mold, and then let it dry and comes out that shape.

And the world is always trying to, it's got a mold. If you get into that mold, you'll come out that shape. You can sit in any church you like, but your shape will be the shape of the world in your mind.

But if you make Christ the mold you want to be like, can you imagine if every preacher in the world made Jesus Christ his model and his example and said, that's the mold I want to preach like him. I want to have an attitude to money like he had. I want to have an attitude to poor people like he had.

I want to have an attitude to the world and to everything like he had. And that mold, can you imagine what would have happened to Christianity? But the devils fooled people by giving them words, religious words, spiritual words, but shaped in the mold of the world. That's the meaning here.

Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Just steer clear of that. But be transformed.

Now, how can I be transformed? By the renewing of our mind. Notice the emphasis there also on the mind. How can I become more like Christ? It has to start in my mind.

I have to change my way of thinking. Where is worldliness? Worldliness is in the mind. Remember that my brothers and sisters.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have put worldliness in the clothes you wear. There's some churches that feel that Christians should not wear certain color clothes. Because in Revelation 17, the harlot Babylon is dressed in purple and red.

Anybody who dresses with purple and red blouses or purple and red saris, Babylon, harlot. I wish it were so easy to escape from Babylon. Just change the color of your clothes.

It's not so easy. I'm sorry to say it's not so easy. You got to, there's something in the mind.

It's not in the clothes. Because for a verse like that where somebody quotes Revelation 17, I can quote another verse. Jesus said, God will clothe you because he clothes the flowers in the field.

How many colors are there in the flowers? Only black and white? Only white? So I tell people, you can wear any color that you find in a flower. Okay? Because God made the flowers and he said he'll clothe you like that. Don't get enslaved to worldly ideas.