WYC 2009: This Mind In You

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GYC West

WYC 2009 Plenary Sessions

Don Mackintosh

Let This Mind Be In You

Father in Heaven, today we're thankful that You are our Father and that You're speaking with us through the agency of the Spirit from Heaven, because we desperately need a voice from above.

There are so many voices all around, and there are so many differing opinions, but what we need is a clear word from you.

And I don't presume to be able to bring that, But I ask that in spite of me, and perhaps through me, you can speak individually to individuals here.

And you know even the questions we should be asking this week, this weekend, and you know the answers.

You've given us freedom of choice and you long for us to be in the center of your will.

I pray that this weekend that's talking about your mind would, being in us, would be a weekend where we truly can have your mind in us.

And I thank you and ask that you would just attend the preaching of your Word in Christ's name.

Really appreciate the theme that has been chosen by the Western Youth Conference this year, Let This Mind Be In you.

As a matter of fact, last night as I was frequenting the night seasons, because I do that, I have a new born at home that is now almost 1 month old.

His name is Sabatismo, well actually James Madison Sabatismo but he's not living up to that last part of his name, rest, Sabatismo.

So he has no rest day or night at this point.

But as I was there and I was looking, I was listening to different songs and figuring out what it was that I thought would be a good hymn for the weekend, I actually found this song on the internet and I listened to it and then I copied and pasted the lyrics and I was going to mention it to some of the coordinators.

And then, how many of you have ever had your computer shut down and you lost a document?

Maybe that only happens with Macintosh computers.

All my computers, regardless of what brand they are, are Macintosh computers.

But anyway, it shut down and I lost it and I said, now I can't find it.

And then tonight when you sang the song, I was so overjoyed that you had chosen that song.

Well you know, let this mind be in you from the book of Philippians.

Turn with me now in the book of Philippians and I want to I want to just ask the Lord to overwhelm me because there are a lot of thoughts that I've had.

I have some things written down but I'm just asking him Lord speak to us because what I've written down you know I look at and I go that's that's not quite it But I don't know what the Lord has in store.

So I wanted to start out by saying, the book of Philippians basically has a controversy between 2 types of mind.

The first kind of mind that we find is in chapter 3 and it is in verse 18.

Many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping That they are enemies of the cross of Christ so there is this mindset that's an enemy of the cross of Christ And what was the cross of Christ?

What did Christ say what he was going there when he was drinking the cup not my will But thy will be done.

That's the mind of Christ Not my will but thy will father be done Is that a good definition of the mind of Christ?

Not what I want, humanly speaking, but what you want, heavenly speaking, right?

And he says, with weeping, there are enemies of this mindset.

Verse 19 whose end is destruction this is why he's weeping he says he's not willing that any should perish oh no they have the wrong mind set whose end is destruction whose God is their what Belly.

And whose glory is their shame, who set their mind on, what does it say?

So it's a mindset that's looking at earthly things, not heavenly things.

And it's played out in indulgence, indulgence of the stomach.

Their God is their belly, which means when you see them, probably their belly arrives first at the scene.

And I don't say that, I'm not trying to be funny, but they have been unable to control that appetite.

And this is not some hormonal issue or whatnot that he's talking about here, is someone that says, I'm making a conscious decision to overindulge in that area of life.

And then every area of life, and they may even make glory in it.

They say, look, I'm glad I do this, right?

And so that's the 1 mindset, that things are on earth.

But then there's the other mindset, verse 20.

Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So in other words, we're not looking at earth, we're looking at heaven.

The book of Colossians, or Colossians, some people pronounce it, Which is talking about how people get at each other it has this that it says in Colossians 3 set your mind on things above Not on things on earth for you die and your life is hidden with Christ in God So and the reason I call it collisions of kind of just to get your attention, is because then it goes through husbands fighting with wives and children being estranged from parents and in other words where there's not a meeting of mind in relationship.

How many of you here know someone who is going through a divorce.

How many of you here are from a home that you suffered a divorce and there wasn't a meeting of the minds?

How many of you wish that there had been a meeting of minds?

That there had been a unity of minds, right?

How many of you know someone, maybe not yourself, but maybe it's always good to think third person, that's not getting along with their parents?

So, there's this meeting of the minds, you know.

And so there's this controversy in the book of Philippians of the mind of earthliness and indulgence in sensuality and the mind of Christ.

Look, I don't stand up here because I'm not familiar with the struggle.

I just had, I didn't have, but as close as I can get, I just had a child.

And you know, When you have a child, you get really tired, and your frontal lobe, because it's deprived of melatonin and everything else, it's just deprived, you can experience feelings and emotions that are not to be acted upon.

And so I'm on the front lines of this mental struggle we go through.

Of, wait, I feel tired, but I better get up, because little micro Mac needs an upgrade.

So I feel like I have given enough, So I'm going to act as though I'm not awake.

Oh I hope my wife doesn't see this so Because am I gonna resist that or not I come in I see the dishes they're not done am I going to do them What am I gonna have The mind of Christ or the mind of the earth.

And that is that we all would be more unselfish.

Because the mind of Christ is selflessness and the mind of humanity is selfishness.

And I want to have more of the mind of Christ.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 4 is the key verse.

Verse 5 is a summary of what is taught in verse 4.

I'm glad that these people that picked the theme were close to the right verse.

But verse 4, in verse 4 there's much more.

I mean, that doesn't sound right, but you understand what I mean.

Alistair Huong

Avenues of the Soul

It may be appropriate to call you the remnant when the rest hasn't even come yet.

That's a very specific time, so hopefully they don't mind if I end a few minutes early even.

I represent Ouachita Hills College and Academy.

I'm very happy to be here at Weimar, which I consider a sister school on the West Coast.

And also I am representing also AudioVerse, and perhaps later I'll share more with you on that.

Our message this morning is entitled, Avenues of the Soul.

So let's bow our heads and we'll get right into it.

Father, this morning as we contemplate this topic of avenues to the soul, may it open our hearts and our minds to a better understanding of what it means to have the mind of Christ.

And as we are here gathered early this morning for the manna, I pray that you would bless us and grant us that spiritual refreshment, we pray.

Speak through me, in spite of me, and to each 1 of us, we pray in Jesus' name.

Using our sanctified imaginations, our mind's eye, think about this phrase, avenues of the soul.

Usually we say avenues of a city, or avenues of a town, or avenues of a village, right?

But in this case, we're talking about avenues, ins and outs, inputs, outputs, roads into the soul.

And if I could use the word mind as a synonym for soul, then I think we see a close application to the theme for this weekend, don't we?

You know, interestingly enough, there was a name.

Most popular, perhaps, for his book Pilgrim's Progress, but he's written plenty other than that.

1 of his other books is called The Holy War, and that book talks is also an allegory, much like Pilgrim's Progress, talking about a town whose name is Mansoul.

It's a city that was built by a king named Shaddai, And Mansoul was built in Shaddai's image.

And this city, Mansoul, has certain avenues that can go in and out.

5 gates that goes into and out of the city.

Now what do you suppose those 5 gates are called?

Some of you are smiling, I know that you know what they are.

Gate 3, the feel gate, the nose gate and the mouth gate.

5 gates corresponding to the 5 senses of the human being.

Now the story goes that there was a diabolical enemy, his name happened to be Diabolus, representing, of course, the enemy of souls.

He comes and he tries to, or he infiltrates through his nefarious means, Mansoul, and he overtakes the city.

But what's interesting is what happens when that city is overtaken there are 3 What we call the 3 Wise men or the 3 leading Dignitaries if you will of the town man, so who are they?

Well, there is the mayor, mayor understanding.

And it says that when Diablos overtook the city, the allegiance of these 3 leading authorities turned, the eyes of understanding the mayor was hidden from the light.

Conscience was the recorder of the city, maybe the historian or something of that sort.

He became a madman, at times sinning and at other times condemning the sin of the city.

But worst of all was Lord Will Be Will, whose desire was completely changed from serving his true Lord to serving Diabolus.

Now the rest of the book, Holy War, is talking about the son of Shaddai, whose name was Emmanuel, who comes to reclaim man's soul.

Interesting parallels in this allegory between man's soul, that city, and each 1 of our souls.

Now what does Ellen White have to say about this?

In the book Adventist Home, page 401, paragraph 2 and paragraph 3, Mrs.

White writes, All should guard the senses, lest Satan gain victory over them, for these are the avenues of the soul.

White defines, what are the avenues of the soul?

You will have to become a faithful sentinel over your eyes, your ears, and all of your senses if you would control your what?

And prevent vain and corrupt thoughts from staining your soul.

The power of grace alone can accomplish this desirable work.

White corroborates what John Bunyan communicated through his allegory, and that is Satan, He can infiltrate the mind through the 5 gates, the senses.

And notice she specifically mentions 2 of the senses by name.

The eye gate and the ear gate, the 2 most significant gates even in the Holy War.

Adventist home also, I read in page 403, she writes, those who would not fall a prey to Satan's devices must guard well the avenues of the soul.

They must avoid reading, seeing, and hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts.

The mind must not be left to dwell at random upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest.

The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within and the soul will wander in darkness notice specifically mrs.

White she is saying guard the avenues of the soul but she mentions what we see what we read what we hear, specifically.

In Matthew chapter 5, excuse me, verse 27 through 29, Jesus gives us an admonition.

Matthew 5 verse 27, You have heard that it was said by them of old time that thou shalt not commit adultery.

Verse 28, Jesus says he gives a spiritual enlargement, the spirit of the law.

But I say unto you that whosoever doeth what on a woman?

Looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Verse 29, and if thy right eye offend thee, what should we do?

Pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that 1 of thy members should perish and not the whole body should be cast into hell.

And in the larger sense, guard all of your senses, because that is the way in which Satan can corrupt your mind.

If you are tempted to be lustful, don't look at those women, pluck out your eye.

And according to what we've looked at already in Avida's home, she makes special emphasis in the areas of what we see and what we hear.

What we read, what we see, what we listen to, and what we hear.

In the Form of God

Father, this evening I ask that we may recognize who you are, and we may understand better our relationship to you.

And Lord, as a broken vessel, unable to communicate anything good, I ask that Jesus Christ may speak through me and that the Holy Spirit may fill me And may he miraculously give each listener the gift of ears that they may hear a custom tailored message straight from the throne of heaven to their soul.

We invite you to be our welcome guest here in this tent, on this campus, and most importantly, in our hearts and minds right now.

We pray in Jesus name Turn your Bibles with me to Deuteronomy chapter 4 Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 39 Tonight I want to spend a few thoughtful moments contemplating God.

And this verse will serve as our launch pad.

Deuteronomy 4, verse 39, it says, know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart.

The Bible admonishes us to consider something in our hearts.

That the Lord, He is in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.

The Bible here in Deuteronomy 4 admonishes us, consider God!

This 1 of a kind God that dwells in the heavens above and the earth beneath, there is none like him.

And I don't claim to be an expert in God.

I don't claim to know everything about him never will But perhaps tonight we can spend a few thoughtful moments Trying to wrap our puny minds around this gigantic God.

It is near the end of the book of Psalms.

He, meaning God, telleth the number of the stars.

He calleth them all by their names Great is our God and of great power, his understanding is infinite.

I want to pause on this verse for a moment and look at verse 5 first.

The Bible describes God as having great power, but more than just great power, it uses a very interesting word, a word that I particularly like.

Verse 4, or verse 5 tells us, he is great, he is of great power, His understanding is infinite.

Verse 4 tells us, because he telleth the number of the stars.

I'm not an astronomer or a cosmologist, but allow me to share a little bit of science that I have learned.

Many, many years ago in the distant past, in the ancient world, astronomers looked in the night sky.

And with their naked eye, they would try to count the number of stars in the sky.

You know how many they estimated there were?

And for many hundreds, maybe thousands of years, that understanding prevailed.

And honestly, if we went out there with our naked eye, well, I come from, I grew up in Southern California.

And if you ask me, there might be 1 or 2 stars.

But maybe out here in smog-free Weimar, we might see maybe a couple thousand.

But of course, We realize now that many of the stars, the specks in the sky we see, they're not actually stars.

And once upon a time, I guess it wasn't that long ago, scientists, they were interested in studying the sky.

Recently, they had a supposedly final upgrade.

They upgraded pretty much every part of it.

But sometime before that, I guess, they wanted to study the night sky.

And so they turned that Hubble telescope and they aimed it at the darkest part of the sky, and they opened that gigantic lens, or mirror, whatever it is, and the shutter, and gave it a long time exposure.

I don't know how many hours they opened it for, to let the light expose the sensor, whatever it had in there.

And in the darkest part of the sky, where with the naked eye we could see nothing but blackness, You know what they found?

I love that name, even though I don't drink milk.

It looks like A little flat disk that spins around and around.

The diameter of the Milky Way galaxy is about 100, 000 light years.

Well, light travels at approximately 186, 000 miles per second.

Now, the number trillion, unfortunately, because of our economic crisis, we sort of think of it as, oh, that's just how much money the government spends.

And our galaxy, across the diameter, is 100, 000 light years.

And do you know how thick the Milky Way is?

About 1, 000 light years from top to bottom.

I don't even claim to fully grasp it with my little mind, but I know it's big.

Now, how many stars are there in the Milky Way?

Estimations put us somewhere between 200 to 400 billion stars.

It's not the biggest, it's not the smallest, it's average.

And so we have 1 galaxy, a hundred thousand light-years across, a thousand light-years from top to bottom, 2 to 400000000000 stars, and that's 1 galaxy.

And in the darkest part of the night sky, there are hundreds of galaxies.

Eric Walsh

No Reputation... Form of a Servant

If you turn with your Bibles with me to the book of Matthew.

The Scripture says, and Jesus passed forth from thence.

He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom.

And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that would behold need not a physician, but they that are sick.

I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Our message is he humbled himself.

Father God, we thank you for bringing us together on this, your Holy Sabbath day.

Lord, make me just a nail upon the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Father.

And upon that nail, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ so that Eric Walsh is not seen or heard.

Instead, Father God, we seek to hear a word from the throne room of grace.

Jesus had just healed a man with palsy and also had healed a leper.

Before that, Jesus spent time calling fishermen to be disciples.

Jesus was beginning to put together his team of disciples And as he began to do this, Jesus was looking for certain characteristics in individuals.

1 of the most unlikely people for Jesus to choose to call to be a disciple is not only at the center of this story in many ways, but is also the author of this gospel.

When Jesus walks by, and Jesus does not give to Matthew some long dissertation trying to convince him as to why Matthew should be a disciple.

He does not spend a long amount of time trying to convince him that Jesus is the Messiah and that he should be followed.

Instead, Jesus just utters 2 words, follow me.

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