Kiononia

Here it is: Straight to the point.

Is the church relevant? 3 minute mp3
Neil

Fear, doubt or blessing?  Renewing your mind with the Word of God.
http://www.neilshouse.com/files/fear_doubt_lynn_07202008.mp3

There is only one Body of Christ:

One Sheepfold, One Shepherd.

Renewed Mind: The Put Off - Put On Dynamic

Ephesians Chapter 4     July 6, 2008
renewedmind6_put_on_07062008.mp3

Link to Renewed Mind: Romans 7 and 8 MP3 file.

With God there is no respect of persons. You receive exactly the same attention, response and power that every born again believer has. Your prayer and my prayer gets the same attention that Jesus’ prayer gets. We get that attention because God “sees” Christ in us which is our only hope of glory. (Col 1:27)

We tend to think of God as a Man, with all the unreliable attributes that comes with being human. God is not a man. When we don’t get what we thought we wanted we blame God and produce excuses for Him not listening or answering. It is a common belief that God is distant and must be lured into our presence. If you have Christ in you, you can not escape the presence of God. In the nano-second it takes for you to have a thought, God knows and responds before you are even aware of the thought.

Jesus stated very simply that if we believe with out doubt we will receive what we ask for. Our problem comes from the intents and motivation of our believing. As much as we would like to we can not hide the true motivation for what comes out of our mouth from God. He knew before we did. This is why performance based religion only leads you further away from the renewed mind and places your faith in someone besides God.

So is the human condition a hopeless condition? No! God has placed Christ within us and provided us with His Word. Our job is to rightly divide the word of truth and use it to renew our mind. To the extent that you have rightly divided the word of truth, is the extent that you can renew your mind. The renewed mind is the key to power.

Neil

Free Simple Fellowship, Biddeford Maine

neilrn@maine.rr.com

 mp3 file: Renewed Mind Words
Some say that the bible has little to say about the working of the human mind. But the Word of God provides a treasure trove of minute detail about the nature of our thoughts, the thought process, and our resulting believing. Our levels of thought, cognition, and mind-set is clearly seen in the Koine Greek language used in the New Testament. There are over 50 distinct Greek words used to describe the working of the mind. In the King James Version we see these words translated as mind, minded, mindful, minding, minds, heart, hearts, think, thought, thoughts, knew, knewest, know, known, knowledge, discerned, discerner and many other English words that blur the precise meanings of the Greek.

For instance there are at least 14 distinctly different Greek words with individual meanings translated as the single English word “mind.” God does not use words randomly. Each word in the bible was chosen with great specificity for the exact connotation that it carries. Fourteen distinctly different aspects of the mind are being described yet in English we only get one word: “mind.” This results in great confusion and ignorance of what God has to say about the working of our mind. What God made abundantly clear, mankind has muddled in deceitful translation.

Those of us who have been thoroughly “churched” can recall months-long mind-numbing series on the building of the temple or some organization’s “values” and “doctrines” but we have never heard a detailed study of the working of the mind from a biblical basis. Do you wonder why? The understanding of God’s desire for us to renew our mind with the rightly divided Word of God negates all of the religious fear, guilt and control of the denominations. Far from being set free, our “churching” has led us further into bondage and fear. We can renew our mind only to the extent that we understand the rightly divided Word of God.

To ignore God’s directive to us as His children to renew our mind is to reject the blessings promised to us. A life lived with a mind unrenewed is a life of misery. There is none more miserable than a Christian who lives in fear and guilt. If they find enjoyment in something they immediately feel guilty. Then they feel guilty for feeling guilty because they are after all supposed to be blessed. Then they go about to make others around them feel guilty so they are not alone in their guilt. We as a people have been taught that the bible holds no real answers beyond religious fear. Preach on brothers! It is no wonder that people turn to the tabloids and Oprah for answers instead of renewing their mind as we are directed.

Everything worth knowing about the workings of our mind and how to be transformed by renewing of our mind is freely provided in the Bible. We simply have to choose to do as God asked us: Rightly divide the Word of Truth.

Renewed Mind: Building on the only firm foundation:  Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Renewed Mind Continued:  Proverbs 4:23  “Keep (guard) thy heart (mind) with all diligence; (guarding) for out of it are the issues of Life.”      Mp3 file at:
http://www.neilshouse.com/files/renewedmind1_06082008.mp3

In your innermost private thoughts, do you see yourself as free? No, really free. Free indeed is the way the KJV puts it. Jesus came to set us free. If in your inner reality you are not free, perhaps you should consult the one who died, arose and became the life giving Spirit. He is the one that paid for your freedom.