ZNA-239
930228AM

LP-Thy Will Peter-3 Mt.6.9-13 LORD’S PRAYER – PETER #3, P. 3 THY WILL…

MATTHEW 6:9-13

This past 2/26/93 Friday at 12:18 p.m. a massive explosion rocked the largest office complex in the world. About 150,000 visitors and business people were affected… We all have heard, seen and read about it!

What struck me the most about the whole tragic event – 90% of all New York City TV coverage is broadcast from antennae atop the World Trade Center – TV went down, communication was dead.

Let’s change gears: High gear spiritual life is vitally linked to your mind…

You have 12-14 billion cells in your brain. Each cell has thousands of tendrils tying it to other cells…

Those interconnected billions have hundreds of trillions of messages whizzing back and forth.

Whew!

In brief, your mind this morning has more computing power than every radio, TV station and telephone all put together!

Now, stay with me. We are in the Lord’s Prayer.

Third petition: “Thy will be done”

Say it with me:

You have just entered the ultimate arena:

If you are a child of God you have not only that wonder or a brain, but also:

The Spirit of God (at salvation – Jn. 1:12) The Mind of Christ (1C 2:16, Rm. 12:2 – at dedication)

POINT #1: Goal = Mind of Christ Eph. 1:13-14

Discover the Book Ministries | www.dtbm.org | 866.815.2601 | [email protected] Page 2

That equals a souped up super mind!

Do you realize what you can do? What no machine on earth can do.

You can communicate with God… The Creator! The ultimate source of life and power. And, He can communicate with you!

POINT #2: The Scandal

Now the problem – it’s the greatest scandal ever.

– Christians with the Spirit – Christians with the mind of Christ

Not using them for God!

One author calls it, anorexia religiosa = a loss of appetite for knowing and obeying Christ!

POINT #3: What the Cure? A Saturated Mind

It’s the third lesson from the scriptures/Lord’s Prayer – Thy will be done starts in heart and mind

God has a will for your mind: Saturated

Eph. 5:18/Col. 3:16 < Read

Saturated with word of God. Are you saturated with Christ? Does He flow in and through you? You can know that filling today!

So, the goal is = Saturated mind of Christ

Scandal is = it’s not happening

What’s the problem? Why the scandal. It’s not a big explosion like New York City Friday, for most of us, it’s been a slow fizzle.

We have chosen not to discipline our minds.

Listen to Chuck Colson’s sad story of where we are today?

Discover the Book Ministries | www.dtbm.org | 866.815.2601 | [email protected] Page 3

A renowned media expert, Professor Neil Postman of New York University, says that between the ages of six and eighteen, the average child spends some 15,000 to 16,000 hours in front of the TV, whereas he spends only 13,000 hours in school. Postman says that during the first twenty years of an American child’s life, he will see some one million commercials, at the rate of about 1,000 per week!

As to television’s effects, the results are infamous: ü Shortened attention span. Can’t think about God. ü Reduced linguistic powers. Can’t talk about God. ü Limited capacity for abstraction. Can’t dream about heaven. ü Blur of adulthood and childhood. Can’t grow in Christ.

To attract and hold its audience, the TV industry feels it has to parade the taboos of culture: adultery, promiscuity, homosexuality, incest, violence, and sadism. As a result the lowest of activities become commonplace, and even morally cachet.

He then explained: That night NBC showed On Golden Pond; it was #1 with 25.2 percent of all TV sets in America tuned in. Close behind was My Mother’s Secret Life, a show about a mother hiding her past as a prostitute. It was #2 with 25.1 percent.

And a distant third — a big money loser – was CBS with Chariots of Fire – 11.8 percent. In fact, of the sixty-five shows rated that week, “Dallas” was #1, Chariots of Fire, #57.

”So,” my companion concluded, “where are your fifty million born-again Christians, Mr. Colson?”

Good question. Where are we?

If even half of Gallup’s fifty million born-again Christians had watched the show with the Christian message, Chariots of Fire would have topped the ratings. But the disturbing truth, as studies by the secular networks as well as the Christian Broadcasting Network show, is that the viewing habits of Christians are no different than those of non-Christians! Since TV is a business, it gives its customers — the public — what they want. It is but a mirror image of us. The Christian community is putting the same input into its collective computer as is the rest of the world. According the A. C. Nielsen, the TV set in the average home is on seven hours and seven minutes a day, and the average viewer watches four and one half hours each day. The statistics for religious homes is just a half hour less.

Discover the Book Ministries | www.dtbm.org | 866.815.2601 | [email protected] Page 4

What does that mean? Let me affirm and repeat what one pastor said in Chicago last year:

I am aware of the wise warnings against using words like “all,” “every,” and “always” in what I say. Absolutizing one’s pronouncements is dangerous. But I’m going to do it anyway. Here it is: It is impossible for any Christian who spends the bulk of his evenings, month after month, week upon week, day in and day out watching the major TV networks or contemporary videos to have a Christian mind. This is always true of all Christians in every situation! A Biblical mental program cannot coexist with worldly programming.

* Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell * Rom. 12:1-2 Present yourself and renew your mind

What will you choose for your mind today?

Watch godlessness – It will callouse you Watch sensuality – It will defile you Watch violence – It will desensitize you Watch evil – It will distance you Watch worldliness – It will discourage you Watch Satan’s mind – You will forfeit Christ’s

Let’s be blunt: don’t say you are committed to Christ unless you are pursuing the mind of Christ! God has a will for your mind! Saturated with the word.

So the goal is the mind of Christ. So the scandal is Christian neglect. The cure is to saturate your mind with the word.

How? Col. 3

1. Stop watching TV and videos 2. Start sustematically and prayerfully reading and studying God’s word 3. You have the time — take it!

Let’s choose the mind God has willed us to have today.

#388