Giving Our Mind to Christ - Part 5

Then there are people who say we must fast. I believe, you know, I believe in modest clothing. I believe in good singing.

I believe in good preaching and I believe in fasting too, but it won't make you spiritual. I'll tell you that. You can spend all night in prayer.

It won't make you spiritual. It's good. I remember when I was in the Navy, I read that Jesus spent all night in prayer and I said I'm gonna spend all night in prayer.

I was on a ship. I said I'm not gonna sleep tonight. And 10 o'clock.

Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. It's only 10.30. I was like running a marathon, you know. I wasn't praying.

I wanted to accomplish a feat. And pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Okay, 11 o'clock.

When is morning coming? Finally I reached morning. I was on my knees the whole time. I never tried it again.

It is a feat, you know. You can afterwards talk about it. I prayed all night.

I didn't pray. I stayed home all night looking at my watch every now and then. It wasn't prayer.

It wasn't love for Jesus. I mean, when a boy and a girl say they love each other, sitting in a corner talking to each other, and one is always looking at the watch, you know, they don't love each other. They love each other.

They don't look at the watch. Is it time to go? No, it's not time to go. Six hours gone by.

I thought it was five minutes. And they're in love with each other. That's how it is.

You know, that's how it is when we really pray. That's why you never heard me talk about pray for long hours and all that. It's like telling two people in love you must spend a lot of time talking to each other.

You need to tell them. You don't need to tell them. And if you're really in love with Jesus, you don't need to tell someone, No, there's so much of religiosity, which has fooled Christians.

What is true spirituality? You know why Jesus, I mean, I've said this before. If you were planning, as the father planned, the earthly life of Jesus right from Bethlehem to Calvary and the resurrection. If you were planning the earthly life of Jesus, okay, after the 30 years, which would be the first miracle you would make him do? Have you ever thought of that? I know if I were doing it, I would have said the first miracle should be which one? Raising of Lazarus from the dead after three days.

Start with a really fantastic. Let's get a good start, like a booster rocket. Jesus starts with producing extra wine.

Popellos are already half drunk with wine. It's not that they didn't have enough food. They had enough.

They wanted a second round. Is that the kind of miracle? You're a spiritual man. Son of God has come from heaven.

Is that the kind of miracle you begin with? And to make how many, it says there were six water pots and each of them contained many hundreds of liters of wine. Many hundreds of liters of wine and how many people do you think there were at that wedding? It was in a house. You couldn't have more than 50 to 100 people.

Imagine giving six liters of wine to somebody. Is that a type of spiritual miracle? Why did Jesus start with that miracle? God says my ways are not your ways. You know why? He wanted to get rid of this religion that consisted of don't touch, don't taste, don't this, don't do this.

That's Christianity is not there. Now I personally try to avoid drinking alcohol altogether because it's not good for me and not only that. If I set a bad example for somebody else it can make him a drunkard and if he goes to hell I'll be to blame because I was the first person he saw me drinking a glass of beer or whiskey and I knew how to control myself and he didn't.

And he went to hell. So I said, okay, I avoided that. But I don't preach that if you drink a glass of wine you've sinned.

Somebody gives it to me in a house, I take it. He says don't get drunk. Jesus came to eliminate this religion that comes in appearing holy.

You know how spiritual people are not supposed to eat too much. Somebody offers you a second helping you say no, thank you. You're craving it like anything, but you want to appear spiritual.

Because spiritual people don't take a second helping. But Jesus wasn't bothered. They called him what? A gluttonous man.

Lord, you had a second helping. Would you like a third one? Sure, I like that. Give me that extra if nobody else wants it.

I like Jesus. I'm not a follower of John the Baptist eating locusts and I don't have a fancy for that type of food really. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.

I'll tell you that. A wine bibber and a gluttonous man. But he wasn't fat because he fasted also for 40 days.

Follow the real Jesus, not just one side of it. The man who was called a gluttonous man knew how to fast for 40 days. Also, I believe he was very trim in his figure.

Of course, he was young. I don't expect older people to have that, but when he was young, I feel sorry for young people who are indisciplined in their eating. But that's not religion.

That's not religion. That's not Christianity. So all these, Jesus came to demolish that.

Christianity is not all these externals. You know, in the Old Testament there were certain laws about these things, but this is not. The important thing is your mind.

Now you're becoming like Christ. You know, we can appreciate a person who's cultured, civilized, but who's utterly selfish. I think the cities are full of cultured, civilized people who know how to say, thank you, sorry, good morning, good evening, and all the right words, and selfish, utterly selfish, utterly proud.

It's not Christianity. Christianity is in the mind. Selfishness and pride.

Now let me turn to Philippians in chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Notice what he says here. Two things. First of all, I want you to see verse 5, and then we'll go back.

Philippians 2, 5. Have this attitude, or the King James Version says, have this mind in you, which is in Christ Jesus. Here's a word which says we must have exactly the same mind that Christ had, exactly the same attitude. You know, you can take that one verse and live all your life with that, with it.

You don't even need a Bible after that. If you want, if there's one verse you want to live by, I say here it is, if you're born again already. Have this attitude in you, which is in Christ Jesus.

You don't need anything else. You look at a woman, and you're tempted to lust, and you have the worst. Have this attitude in you, which is in Christ Jesus.

Look at her, the way Jesus would look at her. You look at the opportunity to keep on making money, and you have a worse. Have this attitude in you towards money, which Jesus had.

You have somebody who hates the sight of you, and is speaking evil about you. How should you look at him? Have this attitude in you towards him, which was in Christ Jesus. You see somebody making money in the name of religion in the church? Have this attitude towards him, which Jesus had towards him, and chase them out of the temple, saying, get out of here, fellas.

Making my house a house of making money, business. So, have this attitude in you, which is in Christ Jesus, is the worst by which you can live your whole life. And it's got to do with the mind.

Attitude is in the mind. Have this attitude in you, which is in Christ Jesus. Towards everything.

That means, I've got to change my way of thinking. And that is what the Holy Spirit has come to do. The Holy Spirit has come to change my whole way of thinking, so that I become really spiritual.

And we saw in Romans 12, that's how we become transformed into the likeness of Christ. See, I've heard now, we've been working in India and many churches for 30 years, and it's given me the opportunity to observe the results of 30 years of listening to this preaching. Why are the results not the same in all people? Why are all the patients not recovering as quickly as some recover quickly, and some are still sick? Some are more sick than they were 30 years ago.

How is that? I say, there must be a reason. Why is it some listening to the same message become spiritual, and the others don't become spiritual, but just religious? And I've come to see, because these people who are religious value certain things which are not most important. I mean, it's good to learn to say, thank you, and sorry, and be cultured, and etc.

But to have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ is here, the opposite of the mind of Christ is mentioned in verse 3. Selfishness and pride.