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GP SDA Church

Eric Walsh

The War for Your Mind Part 1

Our scripture reading is taken from Philippians 2.5.

It says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

So our message this Sabbath is entitled, the war for your mind.

Father God we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

We thank you for your goodness Lord and your grace.

Once again Lord I ask that you make me just a nail hammered into the wall by the Holy Spirit and upon that nail Lord I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard instead father right now we need to hear a word from the throne room of grace this is our prayer in Jesus's name amen you have your Bible go with me to the book of Revelation we're gonna start in Revelation we both sessions we will deal with prophecy and Revelation 7 and verse 1 it says this and after these things I saw 4 angels how many angels did John see 4 angels standing on the 4 corners of the earth holding the 4 winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree the Bible starts the seventh division of the book of Revelation with a powerful statement in fact God has a safety mechanism on earth don't miss this if the full weight of sin was to be and its consequences were to be released on planet earth life would not be possible so God has angels who literally day and night are holding back the winds of strife verse 2 and I saw another angel ascending from the east this is the fifth angel in the story having the seal of the Living God and he cried with a loud voice to the 4 angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea so the 4 angels are holding back the winds a fifth angel pops up and he now in verse 3 begins to speak to the 4 angels and he says to them hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their what?

Now here's where the story gets interesting.

What is required to keep earth safe or what is required before destruction is released on earth after it's been kept safe is that there has got to be a group of people who have the seal of God there's got to be a group of people that are different from everyone else this if you did establish a lesson on Exodus this should remind you of the Passover they're gonna be folk that that effect is gonna be on that individual it should remind you of Ezekiel chapter 9 where they also had a seal there are places in the Bible that there are folk who are set apart and God protects them.

Here the Bible says the earth cannot be destroyed or I should say disaster in its full weight cannot come until God's people are sealed.

So here's the question it says in their foreheads if you just read this superficially you think what we mean is the skin over your eyes.

Let me submit to you that when the Bible talks about a forehead, it is speaking of something much more deep, something far more profound.

Let me show you what I mean so if you look here this is a picture of the frontal lobe and this is a part of the part of the brain that is controlled that controls character and personality This is where all of that sits.

Who you are is literally in your frontal lobe.

Everything about you, this is where it happens.

And the human brain is about 33% frontal lobe.

So when you look at the human brain, it's 33% frontal lobe.

The next smartest animals after humans are porpoises and chimpanzees.

The porpoise in the chimpanzee's brain is only 13% frontal lobe.

Where does the Bible tell you that there was such a difference would occur?

It tells you that man was made in the image of who?

I want to submit to you that part of what makes you in the image of God is the fact that you have a functioning and an appropriate frontal lobe because the frontal lobe is where your character sits but it is also what allows you to worship now so let me let me show you some of the functions of the frontal lobe.

So you can see all the different animals you see, cats and all those there, but the frontal lobe is important for reasoning.

Reasoning, judgment, planning, motor function, even social and sexual behavior is all controlled in the frontal lobe of the brain.

This is critical and important because It is where the reasoning centers of the mind are and here's the kicker.

You cannot be saved if you are unreasonable You cannot be saved if you can't reason somebody say oh back that up.

Come let us reason together says the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be like wool it is this part of the brain that makes you realize your condition and your need for Christ if this part of the brain is damaged you will be in a state where you think you are all right when you are all wrong so if you've ever taken psychology for all the kids here they're gonna take psychology in college or in high school, there's a famous case that how we figured this out.

He had a steel beam go through the front of his head from a railroad track I think was from railroad track and it went through his head and you see how it wiped out his frontal lobe Wiped out his left eye and here's why this was important This was when science and medicine in America figured out that this part of the brain, if it's damaged, would change who you are.

He was a reserved, polite gentleman before the accident.

He was quick to tell people off used a lot of profanity he this family says he was a completely different person why because the part of his brain that held who he was had been knocked out so I'm let me spoiler alert you Satan wants to knock out your frontal lobe.

He wants to knock out the part of your brain that allows you to be Christian.

Now, so this is a 9 functions of the prefrontal cortex.

So, we talk about the frontal lobe, but even in front, at the very front of the frontal lobe is the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex.

When Ellen White talks about the lower passions and that we should function in the higher parts.

As you go away from the brainstem and you go towards the front of your head, that's where most of your intellect sits.

Remember this part of the third, this 33% of your brain is frontal lobe.

When you get to the front of it you reach the prefrontal cortex here's the kicker so when the Bible says that you are to be sealed in their forehead literally what the Bible is saying is your prefrontal cortex in your frontal lobe must be stamped by God let's get into it so a little bit more science of a medical doctor I'd like to give you a little bit of science with this and some of you kids here are gonna go on to be great missionary doctors and go all over the world so This is just prep work for you.

Neurobiologist Daniel Siegel identifies 9 unique fact functions of the prefrontal cortex.

He says, when we perceive danger, we flip our lid.

The rational prefrontal cortex goes offline, and the primitive, more fast-acting limbic system temporally takes over.

It's what Ellen White refers to when she talks about the lower passions Imagine the impact on our ability to navigate relationships without the 9 function so fear Will cause you to as he as this author says this writer says the scientist says flip your lid and then you no longer function in the part of your frontal lobe where you can reason.

This is why fear is not a characteristic of the Christian.

This is why 2nd Timothy 1 7 says, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a what?

This is why Paul says perfect love does what?

Cast out all fear because it is fear that will immobilize the part of your brain needed to choose Christ.

Because often, if not always, choosing Christ is the more difficult choice.

It is the seemingly the more risky choice.

If you can't get over fear, Satan will paralyze you on a basic level and cause you to make the wrong decision.

All right, so what are some of these 9 functions?

I won't go into all of this, but I'll just show you the prefrontal cortex, body regulation, so your heart, your breathing, your digestion.

But if you drop down, you'll see intuition, empathy, emotional balance.

And so we as Christians, and now let me tell you something, I am an 1888 righteousness by faith type of guy.

Well let me just show this verse so we can see it all together.

You need this part of the brain because it says, Come now let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow that's what it's important for so who does this sealing well Ephesians 1 13 this is important in whom he also trusted after that you heard the word of truth that's the Bible you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and who also after that you believe.

Once you believed in the word you believed, the Bible says you were sealed.

Watch this, without the Holy Spirit you will not be sealed.

It is the Holy Spirit that takes control of the frontal lobe and the prefrontal cortex so you can behave like a Christian.

It isn't your power that does it, it's his power.

But if your frontal lobe is damaged you can't and won't allow the Holy Spirit to fully take over.

Here's what Ellen White says on this subject.

She says, and from letter 126 1898, she says, what is the seal of the living God which is placed in the foreheads of his people?

It is a mark which angels but not human eyes can read for the destroying angel must see this mark of redemption ah righteousness by faith is right in the seal of God the seal of God is a sign that you have been redeemed that powerful Doesn't it make more sense now Revelation 7 1 2 3 that's why the angels that are holding back the winds of strife are told you can't do nothing you can't let go until they're sealed in their foreheads why because they have been redeemed They're not supposed to be destroyed in the destruction that's coming.

She says, just as soon as the people of God are sealed in their foreheads, it is not any seal or mark that can be seen, but a settling into the truth, both intellectually and spiritually, so that they what?

Not only is it a seal that you don't have fear, not only is it a seal that you don't have fear not only is it a seal done by the Holy Spirit not only is it a seal As we just said before of your redemption it is a seal that you can't be moved.

I Hope you're starting to get this The seal of the Living God is a statement that you are so anchored in God that no matter what the devil throws at you you will not move this is why after the close of probation when Satan has full fury and the 4 winds have been let go and Satan can do all he can the people of God will not cannot fail so watch this she says he goes on Ellen White says just as soon as God's people are sealed and prepared for the shaking it will come indeed it has begun already the judgments of God are now upon the land to give us warning that we may know what is coming so we're gonna tie this into prophecy this afternoon the seal of God and the judgments that are coming go together look at Ephesians 4 and verse 30 Ephesians 4 and verse 30 says and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption when we talk about the seal of God the Bible says be careful that you do not grieve the Holy Spirit You know there are folk grieving the Holy Spirit right now?

1 of the ways we're grieving the Holy Spirit is not just that we're rejecting the Holy Spirit's call for us to be Christians and for us to live a better life, we're grieving the Holy Spirit because many times we are being taught now that the Holy Spirit is not the third part of the Godhead.

People have become anti-Trinitarian and they're teaching that in fact the Holy Spirit is more like the force from Star Wars than like the third part of the Godhead that the Bible teaches it is.

And that, let me make it clear, that he is because he has a personhood without the Holy Spirit you cannot be sealed this is 1 of the reasons why the Holy Spirit is under attack the very doctrine of the Holy Spirit is under attack Because there's another thing that the Holy Spirit does.

If you worried about, you know, my family comes from a little island in the Caribbean called Jamaica.

And in Jamaica they have a thing called Obia.

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The War for Your Mind Part 1

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