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Freedom Church

August 20, 2023 Little Things - Mindsets

August 20, 2023 Little Things - Mindsets

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hey
Sunday, August 20th
Message: Mindsets
Series: Little Things
Speaker: Pastor Jason John Cowart
Too often we direct all of our focus to those big things we want to see in our lives, but we can get bogged down at times because either the thing we want seems impossible, or what we think it is going to take to get that big thing is too big in and of itself. This is a part of the enemy’s strategy to keep us mot moving forward.

It is the little things that make the big impacts. Think of it in terms of housework. If your house is a mess, you probably have kids lol. Seriously though, it can be overwhelming when you look at the mess before you. We often don’t know where to start. There’s so much to do, how can I possibly make a difference here?

Zechariah 4:10
Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.

In terms of your messy house:
- Don’t focus on the big mess.
- Start with one thing small: pick up the trash.
- Then go to the next little things: pick up the clothes.

1 Corinthians 14:40
But all things should be done decently and in order.
Paul is specifically talking about how church services operate, but the word says ALL things. Decently and in order does not imply big and all at once. It implies methodical, orderly, and intentional.

So when it comes to cleaning your house, the little things add up to the big goal.

In terms of your messy life:
- Fixing everything at one is not only impossible, it is impractical.
- You didn’t mess it up in a day and you won’t clean it up in a day.

Side note: God isn’t mad you sinned. He’s glad you’re taking the step. Proof? He REJOICES over a small beginning. He loves it.

So be sure that you:
- Start with the little things that make a big impact, and
- Give yourself some grace and understanding.
Making these adjustments we’re talking about in this series is going to require you to adjust your thinking.

Colossians 3:1-3 ESV
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Seeking things above
Our culture is weird. We are always trying to move up. Better job, better house, better friends, better car, better phone, better life. We climb the corporate ladder, we advance from one grade to the next. It seems all of our focus is moving up. You might have just started singing the theme song from The Jeffersons “Moving on up…”

If you want to advance, even the culture will tell you it is in your thought life.

There are a million books on it.
The Magic of Thinking Big
Think Smarter
Stretch the Mind
The Art of Thinking Clearly
Think Again
The Organized Mind
Atomic Thinking

The world will tell you that how you are thinking isn’t going to get you what you want, so if you want to get what you want, you need to change your thinking.

This statement is true in Christianity as well, but the issue here is not in the truth that what you think helps you get what you are wanting, the issue is in what it is that you are wanting.

The world is happy to fill in that blank for you…Better job, better house, better friends, better car, better phone, better life.

But these are below things, not above things.
The Bible tells us to seek things that are above, but we are much more likely to focus our energy on seeking things that are below.

We don’t seek higher things. We seek things that get us higher.

We are often times junkies for the things we think will help our stars rise,
things that help us get a better job, better house, better friends, better car, better phone, better life.

Why do we do that? Because we think this is what life is about, and even what God wants for us. That’s why. And because we think the bigger better deal is what life is about, we think it is better to focus our energy on all the things we think will get us that stuff.

And yall, that feels good! We get an endorphin rush from getting. We get gratification from it, both internally and from our culture. Better job? Let’s go! Better car? Sweet!

I am not saying a better job or car or house is a bad thing, but I am curious what you sacrificed to have it?
- Better job, but more time away from your family.
- Better car, but now you have a $700 note for 6 years.
- Better house, but the one you already had was perfectly fine.

Again - I am not saying better is bad. But we often sacrifice our time, energy, sanity, even spirituality for better.

We might get a natural endorphin rush from a newer better thing, but we miss the supernatural endorphins rush from being “content with whatever I have” like Paul talks about in Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Whether he was in need and in abundance, he was content. Real quick note that God is not saying you have to be poor to be happy. In need AND in abundance. We have to learn when good enough is good enough. I think this is one reason why people have such a hard time feeling good enough.
They look around at other people and focus on what they have,
developing their idea of worth based on things that the culture might call above things, but what God calls below things.

When you base your enoughness on things that are below, you will never feel enough to receive the things that are above.

Remember, we are seeking things that are above, not things that are below. Just like you have a higher calling, you have a higher level of thinking God wants you to embrace as well.

We often do things that strive for that higher thing, but we don’t consult God before we take the leap.

We had a series called “Precipice” March of 2022. We talked about how to trust God to take the leap of faith. You can’t live on a precipice. You have to either go backwards, or jump. One of the points I made in that series was:
“The scary part isn’t the jumping. It’s the landing. Will God catch us? If we jump when and where he says, yes, he will. But the worst part of the precipice isn’t the jump and it isn’t the landing. It is making sure it was God who said go in the first place.”

When we focus our attention, our mindsets, on what the culture calls “above,” that’s when we find ourselves in trouble.
Let’s look again at this passage. v. 3-10

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

if you’ve said yes to Jesus, you are in Christ now, and God wants you to have his mindset. Remember, as a Christian, you are dead! Dead to your sin, your old life, that is. You are alive in Jesus, and that means it is not you who live, but Christ who lives within you!

But you have to put off the old self. What is the old self? That is how you thought and acted before Jesus. It was your motives and intents before you were crucified with Christ.

And do you see that list? It is what the culture thinks will get you to those things above: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, idolatry, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth, lying…

These things God says “throw off,” not just because they are counter to the life you have now with Jesus, but because it is these very things you will cling to so you can have what the world calls “above.”.

When offenses come, it awakens evil desires in you.
When relationships go bad, you slander.
When you’re at odds with your spouse, you are immoral.
When you think your possessions aren’t good enough, you covet.
When you don’t get your way, you get angry.
When you can’t have what you want, you lie and cheat and steal.

What the world calls above, Jesus calls death.

We have to change our mindset. That is this week’s little thing.

This passage starts off with v.1:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above.”

So what does it mean to seek the things above?
What does Jesus consider above?
And how can we change our mindsets to seek those things above?

I am going to give you three things that our minds should be set to so we can seek the things above, and these three things are what Jesus considers above, but first you need to understand godly thinking is not natural to our flesh.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

A common phrase in Christianity is, “We don’t fight from a place of defeat. We fight from a place of victory.”
We see this in our salvation. We didn’t save ourselves. Jesus did it for us.
In faith. We didn’t start our faith. Jesus did it for us.
In love. We didn’t start our love. Jesus did it for us.
Even in forgiveness. When we can find it in us to forgive, Jesus asks us to forgive out of the abundance of forgiveness in his own heart.

And in this situation of adjusting our minds to those above things, even when we couldn’t do it naturally, Jesus gives us his own mind through the Holy Spirit. He gave us his love, his father, his life, his body, his words, his protection, his peace, his armor, his spirit, and his mind too. If you ever doubted Jesus’ commitment to you, just think about that.

So here are three mindsets you need to have to see those things above.
Remember, these may seem like big deals, but they are just little tweaks in our thinking that help make a massive impact in our lives.
1. We need to be Eternal Minded.
This means we need to seek things that are eternal.
John 3:6-7
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.’

From this Scripture we see that when you are born again, the part that is born again is your spirit, not your mind, and not your body. So, the real you is your spirit, which is born again, right with God, and filled with His life.

When I say we need to be eternal minded, I mean we need to seek those things that are eternal. What are those things that are going to transcend from the natural and temporal into the heavenly and eternal?

I have some good and potentially bad news for you. Potentially, everything is eternal.

Think about some areas here, like relationships. Whether it is with family or friends or a stranger, what you say and do has the potential for eternal ramifications. Would it change how you interact with people if you knew it might impact their eternity?

Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus

Another way to say it: In everything you do, see it as if eternity depended on it.

Choose 3 interactions you had this week. How many of them positively impacted eternity?

Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness (gentleness) be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Reasonableness/gentleness - epieikes (epi i kace) “‘gentle’ in the sense of truly fair by relaxing overly strict standards in order to keep the "spirit of the law.” What is the spirit of the law? REPENTENCE! The Eternal!

What about with your kids? Are you thinking eternally with your kids? I’ve said before they better know how to find a Bible verse and connect with God more than they know how to throw a curveball, but are you building the eternal in your kids by how you interact with and invest in them?

Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Every moment with your kids either builds the eternal or tears it down.

What if I told you that being eternal minded means not only seeking that which is above, but being willing to let go of that which is below? What do I mean? Are you really willing to do anything to have what is above? The world is more than happy to do anything to get what they think is above, all the betters, but how far are you willing to go to have the above God wants for you, the eternal?

Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

To be eternal minded is to put more emphasis on what is eternal than what is temporal. Your house will rot. Your car will rust. Your money will be spent. Your body will turn to dust. But your love for people will endure. Your willingness to serve will be remembered. Your pursuit of those things above will make lasting impacts.

Earthly minded people may leave a memory, but eternal minded people leave a legacy.

It is true that Jesus sought that which was above so intently that it led him to the cross. But you need to see the results of his willingness to be eternally minded

Hebrews 12:1-2
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 2:9-10
9 What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position “a little lower than the angels”; and because he suffered death for us, he is now “crowned with glory and honor.” Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone. 10 God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

Because Jesus was eternal minded, you can have eternal life. If you are eternal minded, who can you lead to eternal life? In every word, in every deed, in every decision, be eternal minded. “How can this impact eternity?” That’s how you seek things above.
2. We need to be Kingdom minded
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The world says Seek the betters and you’ll get what you want. God says seek the Kingdom and these things will be added. But what things?

Matthew 6:25-26
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And Romans 14:17 really clarifies it:
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

So seek the world and get better things. Seek the Kingdom and get righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Those sound like eternal things…

We need to be Kingdom minded because the Kingdom isn’t full yet.

Matthew 28:18-19
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Only Kingdom minded people can build the Kingdom.

You can choose whether you want to build the Kingdom or your castle.

1 Corinthians 3:1-15
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

What’s he saying here? You are thinking in your flesh, thinking carnally, not eternally, you are more concerned with your castle than God’s Kingdom.

4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

Now here is where Paul corrects them:
9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

It isn’t about you and your castle. You belong to God! You are HIS temple!

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Translation: castles become ruins, but my Kingdom remains.

12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Don’t think your castle won’t be tested by fire. And this is where many people turn away. They spend their lives building their castles, and some even believe their castle is God’s Kingdom, but the fire tests what you build.

Castles become ruins. His Kingdom remains.

You have the opportunity to seek that which is above. “Your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” His Kingdom is above and we have a chance to build it. And now is the time to build it. NOW. Stop building your castle and start building the Kingdom.

Now is your only chance to build the kingdom. Once Jesus returns, the build stage is over. This may not be sobering for you if you are a child of God, but which of your family or friends will be consumed by fire tomorrow
unless you start building the Kingdom today?
3. We need to be Spiritual minded
2 Corinthians 11:2
I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Paul is explaining to the church at Corinth how the enemy switches us from spiritually minded people to fleshly minded people.
Your thoughts are led astray.

In Romans 7, Paul is explaining how this works. God’s law shows us our sin. We realize it isn’t the law that is bad, but our carnal desires and the sin that lurks within us. Paul acknowledges that struggle and the battle between what he wants to do and what he does.

Romans 7:21-25
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

But if we are spiritual minded, our thought processes are renewed and our actions drastically change.

Romans 8:5-11
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Until you are willing to submit everything to the Lordship of Jesus and the the Holy Spirit, you are going to struggle with your thought life, which will create sinfulness in your physical life, which destroys your spiritual life.

What does that mean?
Yes to Jesus as Lord - your confession
Yes to the Holy Spirit as guide - your submission
Yes to God as Father - your role.

The mind Jesus has is in complete harmony with the mind of the Father. They think eternally. They think Kingdom. They think spiritually.

The little thing today is adjusting your thinking.

Psalm 19:12-14
12 How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
and innocent of great sin.
14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.


All of this today boils down to one thing:

Do you want Jesus and his Kingdom more than you want anything else?

Your mindset plays a huge part in this.
Now is the time to get your mindset right.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?

Connect with Pastor Jason

Click the link below to connect!
https://linqapp.com/jasonjohncowart