The Width of God’s Love for You

by Rick Warren

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Eph 3:18-19 NLT).

The width of God’s love extends across the   entire world and includes all people, everyone he has created: “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made” (Psalm 145:17 NIV, emphasis mine). God loves the whole world (John 3:16).

God never made a person that he didn’t love. He made you; he loves you; and God doesn’t make junk! He loves you unconditionally. He loves you very, very, very, very, very much.

Everybody matters to God; in fact, we see in the life of Jesus that he even loves the unlovely, and those who may feel unlovable. Do you want to know the  secret of self esteem? Here it is: If you want confidence, then understand how much you matter to God. If God loves you, who cares what anybody else thinks.

Because God loves you, there’s no need to prove your self worth. We don’t need props anymore to make us feel good about  ourselves. We don’t have to wear certain kinds of clothes to make us feel like we’re okay, or drive a certain kind of car to prop up our faltering egos. We don’t need status symbols anymore.

REWIRE YOUR MIND

19 September 2010 (am)

Pastor Melody vd Merwe

Rom 12:1+2 (Mess)

…so here’s what I want you to do, God helping you; take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you…

(v2 LIV Bib) …don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you…

(v2 NLT)…Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect…

• Be transformed (NKJ) – Metamorphoo – as metamorphosis – change – catapillar – butterfly – tadpole – frog…

Both been born again. Make-over!!

INTRO: Fall of Adam we have become wired to sin – to the worlds (Santan’s) way of thinking. We must change that to serve God in a way that is pleasing to Him – bullfrogs and butterflies – that is our reasonable service.

You have been experiencing the effects or your thoughts your entire life.

Prov 23:7 …for as he thinks in his heart, so is he…

Doorway to your thoughts – your 5 senses – see, hear, taste, touch, smell….

NB! You cannot control what happens to you BUT you can control what happens in you.

Worry influences your mind and body.

No thought should ever be allowed to control you – you should control your thoughts. Not think on theses things (?) Phil 4:8

2 Tim 1:2 …God has not given us a spirit of fear, but love power and a sound mind (self-control).

Man in refrigeration truck – death.

Grasshoppers in their sight and ours. Num 13:33

Hosea 4:6… without knowledge my people perish…

I see – I see – keep gaze fixed on Jesus Heb 12:2

Be careful what you hear Mark 4:24

No thought is harmless, nor does it stay the same – it constantly change.

You must decide what you’ll do with the information entering your mind.

Research has shown that mental practice – imagination, visualization, deep thought and reflection – produces the same physical changes in the brain as it would physically carrying out the same imagined processes.

As a man thinks so is he…

Matt 5:28…Jesus says: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Pornography)

Job 31:1 …I have made a covenant with my eyes,,,

David Ps 101:3… I will set nothing wicked before my eyes (worthless)

David and Bethsheba 2 Sam 11:2-5

Prov 6:25 … do not lust for her beauty in your heart.

Lust: to set one’s heart upon, eagerly long for, covet, greatly desire, lust after…

WW Matt 13:24 + Ex 20:17

James 1:14+15

When inner desires respond to outward enticement, sin is spawned.

Desire – enticement – sin – death

2 Cor 10:5 Mess + NKJ. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

Brain scans show that the same parts of the brain activated by action, are the same parts of the brain activated by simply thinking about an action.

Think on these things!! See yourself as God sees you. More than conqueror – head…weak say I am strong…

Your heart is not just a pump; it helps with choices, acting like a checking station for all the emotions from thoughts.

James 1:21 implanted word.

Born again in spirit – heart, not mind-brain. (Soul in processes of salvation. James 1:21)

Body saved at resurrection 1John 3:2. Rom 8:23.

No such thing as a harmless thought – we must be good stewards of our thoughts and emotions.

SET YOUR MINDS

12 September 2010 (am)

Pastor Melody vd Merwe

Col 3:1+2

NKJ – …if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God…(v2)…Set your minds on things above, not things on the earth…

Joyce Meyer: Where the mind goes, the man follows.

Truth-In-Action: Set your thinking and affections on Jesus Christ, and build your relationship with Him. Do not allow worldly pursuits to waste your mental or emotional energy.

Amp – Col 3:1+2…if then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (v2) And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.

If you want to live the resurrection life that Jesus provides, then seek that new, powerful life by setting your mind and keeping it set on things above, not on things on the earth.

• If we want the good life, we must keep our minds on good things.

You can’t sit around passively, wishing for something good to happen.

You must be active, not passive, right action begins with right thinking.

Don’t be passive in your mind.

Start today choosing right thoughts. Set your mind on the things that are above and keep it there.

Prov 23:7…for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. (AMP + NKJ)

• It is crucial for us to think properly. Thoughts are powerful, they have creative ability.
• If our thoughts are going to affect what we become (AND THEY WILL), then right thinking and thinking right thoughts should be a high priority in our lives.

We become what we think!! I.e. where the mind goes, the man follows.

To live and walk in real victory we must renew our minds Rom 12:1+2. By being transformed thru the word of God. We must learn to think like God (WWJD band).

As we learn to think as God thinks, we exchange depression and hopelessness for joyful expectation.

If we have negative thoughts we end up with negative results.

Positive or godly thoughts open the door for God to work in our lives.

If we think we can’t, we can’t and if we think we can – God can help us.

I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me…Phil 4:13

Our thoughts are that powerful. I.e. dessert

We must change our way of thinking before our lives will change.

God’s plans for us are GOOD, but we will not experience them if we cling to old ways of thinking.

The mind is the battlefield. Where our war with Satan is won or lost. Satan is a liar and deceiver. His lies become our reality only when we believe them.

2 Cor 10:5 NKJ…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

• Our thoughts get us into trouble more than anything else. = Be our thoughts are the roots of every word and deed.

We must examine our thoughts in the light of the Word of God, always being willing to submit our thoughts to His thoughts, knowing that His thoughts are best.

A stronghold is an area in which we are held in bondage due to a wrong way of thinking. We must examine what is in our mind.

If it does not agree with God’s thoughts we must cast them down and think God’s thoughts instead. We must know God’s thoughts – God’s Word.

WHAT MUST WE SET OUR MINDS ON?

Phil 4:8 LB… fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about…

Mess…Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly things to praise, not things to curse…

NKJ…Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report.

If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.

AMP. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT!

If you don’t your thought life can lead you into problems.