Welcome to the Believer's Bible Assembly This is a new day a new season a new year and we're

going to continue to be glad and rejoice in it Today we're going to talk about

spiritual renewal As we enter into this new year we enter in with our minds anchored and stayed in

the Word of God in the scriptures Not to become more intellectual but to become more

spiritually grounded and mature in the word in order to grow in our walk with

Jesus Christ And the key to having a victorious life in this new year in this new season It's

the renewing of our minds This is why we must seek God's word to lead and to

guide us in everything that we do The purpose of this teaching series is to

help believers understand how God uses His word to transform us God uses His word to

transform our thinking to establish our identity in Christ to guard our hearts against deception

and to empower us for victorious Christian living So that's what I want to do

today I want to talk about the importance of knowing the scriptures to help us renew our minds

First of all we need to know and understand that transformation begins in the mind That's where it

starts in the mind Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says do not be conformed to this

world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind Then you will be able to

test and to approve what is the good pleasing and perfect will of God So

the first thing that we need to know to understand is that spiritual transformation spiritual

renewal starts with a renewed mind taking out and removing all of the negative worldly thoughts and replacing them

with godly thoughts There's an action that you and I have to do on a daily basis

And the godly thoughts that we put in our minds and our thinking comes from the word

of God That's why it's important to know the word of God That's why it's important to

know the scriptures Because it's from the scriptures that we are going to renew our thinking

which is going to change our behavior and direction in life So the first thing

we need to understand is that transformation begins in the mind because there is a battle for the mind That's

the second point I want to share with you today There's a battle for the mind 2 Corinthians chapter

not wage war in a worldly way The weapons we fight with are not worldly

but have divine spiritual power Divine spiritual power to demolish strongholds We tear down demolish arguments and every

presumption human reasoning set up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought every rebellious thought

to make it obedient captive to Christ The battle is for the mind and either the

world has your mind Or God has your mind This passage of scripture gives us

a strategy to fight We don't fight using weapons that are made of flesh and

blood but our fight is a spiritual fight And in order to fight spiritually you've got to know the

spiritual weapons that we have at our disposal and the spiritual weapons that we have

at our disposal is the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit which is

the word of God And these spiritual divine weapons are designed to demolish strongholds Now

what is a stronghold A stronghold is that thing that keeps you bound The stronghold is that thing that

you can't shake loose A stronghold is that thing that keeps you defeated A stronghold is that thing that

keeps you separated from God But we have the weapons to fight now but they're in the spiritual realm and

not the physical realm and we tear down demolish human reasoning and arguments that come

from the world that's set up against the knowledge of God We take those thoughts captive and

make them obedient to Christ So the fight that we must fight is a daily fight

not against flesh and blood but our fight is in the realm of the spiritual

and we have the power and the ability to win if we implement the strategies for victory that comes from

the word And that strategy for victory is the knowledge of God that comes from the

scriptures that enables us to be victorious in the battle for the mind Now one of the things that's key

to this passage of scripture it says that we have to take every thought and make it obedient

to Christ every thought That's why it's important that we know the word of God because the

word of God changes our thinking and we bring every thought into obedience of Christ by renewing

our minds to the word Proverbs 23:7 says this as he thinks in his heart inwardly in

his mind so is he in behavior and thought So our thinking our inner mind controls and dictates

our behaviors What kind of behaviors do we want to have We want to have behaviors that line themselves

up with God's will and God's plan for our life so that we can have a victorious life or

we can think thoughts that are negative to counter to contrary to the word of

God and have a defeated life The choice is yours I don't know about you but I want to live

a victorious abundant life that the Lord has promised me in His word Therefore I have to adjust my

thinking to line up with God's thinking I have to line my thoughts now with God's thoughts And

how do I do that By the renewing of my mind to the word of God Now

Paul also said in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 that we're not to be conformed to the ways

of this world In this season there's a lot of conforming to the ways of the world but the

Bible teaches us not to conform to the ways of the world It teaches us not

to love the world First John chapter 2 verse 15 to 17 says Do not love the world

or anything in the world If anyone loves the world the love of the Father

is not in him For all that is in the world the desires of the flesh the desires of the

eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father but from the world The world is passing

away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God remains forever Now the Bible instructs

us it's clear not to love the world and we're talking about the world we're talking

about the world's values and the world's systems that are opposed to God because the Bible says that you cannot

love the world or the things of the world And unfortunately many believers are still

desiring the things of the world And the Bible warns us that we should not love the world

or anything in the world because the only thing that's in the world are things that are opposed to God

the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes the pride of life the

world's mindsets their obsession with material things their obsession with being successful their philosophies the way they think What they

promote all of these things the world's values the world's systems are opposed to God

The scripture says clearly these things are not from the Father but from the world and if anyone loves

the world the love of the Father is not in him So the bottom line

is this you can either love God or you can love the world but you

can't love both And that's where the majority of the church is in 2026 They got 1

ft in the world 1 ft in the church They're trying to love the things of the world and

love God too The scripture is clear You got to pick a side Choose you this day who you're going

to serve You can't serve God and man You can't serve God and the world Now what

helps us to discern what's of the world and what's of God The word the scriptures That's what's gonna

help us discern what's of the world and what's of God Without the scripture the lines are gonna

be blurred Without the scriptures you're gonna have 1 ft in the church 1 ft

in the world thinking you're serving God but everything that you're doing is opposed to the real plans and purposes

of God That's why we need to renew our minds so we can do those things

that are pleasing and acceptable to God Not to man but to God So you

can either love God or you can love the world but you can't love both Paul

wrote in Galatians chapter 1 verse 10 he says Am I now seeking the approval of men or of God

Am I striving to please men If I were still trying to please and gain

the approval of men I would not be a servant of Christ Listen if you're

trying to gain the approval of the world instead of the approval of God there's no way that

you can be a servant of God Now this is what I'm saying now this is what I'm

not saying The things of the world is what the world values what the world deems as

important They're systems that are set up specifically to counteract the righteousness that comes from God These are the

things that we're supposed to oppose The way the world thinks should be different than how

a believer thinks The way the world acts is different from how a believer acts There should be no

confusion in how a believer thinks and how a believer acts versus how the world thinks

and how the world acts But today it's hard to discern because they're calling good evil and

they're calling it evil good both inside and outside the church The church and the world are too closely

aligned together It's hard to distinguish between the two The church is acting like the world dressing

like the world talking like the world singing like the world moving like the world when

it should be the opposite In our quest to please men we are forsaking God and that's not

how it should be Paul says If I was still trying to please and gain the approval of men

I would not be a servant of God You are a servant of God Jesus Christ is your Lord

You serve Him and you serve Him only So if that upsets the world so

be it If you lose some friends so be it If you lose some family members

so be it We serve the Lord God and the Lord God only We cannot have the approval

of God and the approval of the world We've got to choose which side we're on We have

to choose who we are going to serve The world pressures us to think its ways There's pressure especially on

our children on our kids our young adults that's trying to live right talk right do right be right but

the world's pressures are on them to conform to the ways of the world But the world teaches us to

think and align our thoughts and actions with God's ways So we've got a choice that

we've got to make and it's a daily choice that we have to make And

we can make this data choice because we're letting the word guide and direct our thinking We're letting the

word guide our decision making We're letting the word reveal to us through the scriptures what's

of God what's of the world what's good what's bad but you have to take the action to renew

your mind to the things of God and not the world The teachings of the world are not

of Christ regardless of how similar they seem because a lot of Christians are confused

because the things that come from the world seems good seems right but is it good

Is it right Only the word of God can make that determination So when we hear something comes

from the world we have to line it up with the word It's real simple It's not

complicated But we have to condition ourselves to be able to do these things Instead

of accepting the teachings of the world as being true Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 helps us

It says see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception The amplified

says pseudo-intellectual babble which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than the

truth the teachings of Christ The philosophies of man the teachings of man the traditions of

man are designed to lead you away from the truth of the word That's what they're designed to do

The more intellectual you are the further you are away from the truth of God The philosophies

of man are designed to lead you away from the truth of the word and

here's the reason why because the philosophies of man originates from the mind of man They are inspired by worldly

and demonic principles that are opposed to God Where did this thought this idea philosophy originate from Did it

originate from the mind of man or from the word of God Again keep in mind what I just

said they're very similar so you have to be very discerning You just can't accept the fact that it

sounds good so therefore it must be of God No no no See to it

that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit The teachings of the world are empty deception

They're designed to deceive you They're designed to lead you away from the truth of

the word but it sounds good pastor It's designed to lead you away from the truth

of the word They originate from the mind of man inspired by the world and

demonic principles that are opposed to God Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 we're not fighting against human physical beings

we are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers evil

spirits in the spiritual world We're not fighting against flesh and blood That's just the vehicle that Satan

uses to work through We're not fighting against human physical beings We're fighting against the forces the authorities against

the rulers of darkness and powers that are being influenced by evil spirits I told you in 2

Corinthians chapter 10 it's a spiritual battle that's fought with spiritual weapons So the devil is going to use his

influence to deceive to mislead to lie because that's what he does He comes to

steal kill and destroy And how does he do that Through thoughts ideas and suggestions that lead to fear

worry and doubt And these thoughts ideas and suggestions are targeted and aimed at your mind

your thoughts That's why you have to renew your mind on a daily basis But understand this Our battle

is not against human beings That person that hurt you that person that did something wrong to

you our fight is not against them but against the spiritual forces behind their actions that caused

them to do what they did that's contrary to the word of God You pray for your enemies That's

what Jesus said But understand why they're your enemies because of the evil spirits that

are influencing them to do what they do So we have to beware of philosophies human

or religious that's not rooted in Christ Did he say religious Yes I did The devil knows how to

infiltrate the thoughts of a believer He already knows OK if it's coming from the world They might reject

that but if I bring it into the church if I throw a scripture or two on top of it

ah that's how I can get them What I'm saying to you today I don't care

what source it comes from humor or religious we have to make sure that thought that idea

comes from the word of God that is rooted in Christ Then and only then will

that truth be able to stand We have to beware of philosophies human or religious that's not

rooted in Christ And this is why it's imperative that we must know the word and

renew our minds to the spiritual warfare that tries to lead us away from the truth

of God's word Some believers don't even understand spiritual warfare and it happens to them every day Like

you heard me say so many times when you were born again when you gave your life to Jesus Christ

you changed teams You're on the Lord's team now and now the devil is mad he's upset he's

furious so he's going to try to do everything in his power to lead you away from the truth and

he does it through these methods these schemes that works through human beings That works through religious activities That's why

we must know the word of God and renew our minds so that we can be victorious in spiritual

warfare because listen it's not like you have an option You in spiritual warfare regardless

if you want to be in it or not So since we're in it we might as well

be in it to win it and we are victorious because we have the one who

overcame the world living in us That's why the Bible says the greatest he is in you than he

is in the world Jesus Christ said be of good cheer I have overcome the world So if you want

to overcome the world you have to be in Christ and that Christ's word be in you Then and only

then can we be victorious in this life The 4th thing I will leave you with this morning is that

this renewal of the mind is ongoing and it's a process In our devotional this morning we talked about the

gleam of light and as you move closer and closer to that light it becomes

brighter and likewise renewing of the mind putting off the old putting on the new is an ongoing process

afraid Though our outer self is progressively wasting away our inner self is progressively being renewed day by

day This renewal process is the work of the Holy Spirit Remember our teachings from last year He's the one

that's in us renewing us day by day as we seek God as we seek His word for the truth

as we endeavor to be a doer of the word and not a healer only the Holy Spirit

renews us and he renews us day by day He renews our inner self the spiritual

aspect of man which grows stronger through our faith and our walk with God This daily renewal process

is called sanctification and it's a process of believers being transformed in the image of Christ by the renewing of

their minds on a daily basis Our hope and our strength is found in our relationship with

Christ who is the source of all spiritual life and renewal So as we are being renewed day by day

our hope and our strength grows day by day Our walk and relationship with Christ grows day

by day because of the process of spiritual renewal Inward renewal happens daily when we seek

the truth that is only found in the word Renewing of our minds is renewing our minds to

the truth of God's word and it's critical for living a victorious life and it's critical

for having the more than abundant life that's promise in the word As believers we are commanded to

walk blameless and to be pure We ought to be children of God without fault in a

crooked and perverse generation We are called to be lights in this world and we cannot allow the world's thinking

to shape our thoughts to shape our attitudes and to shape our behaviors That's why we must renew our minds

to the word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us to the truth of

God's word Then true spiritual renewal and transformation can begin Amen