745. Developing a Winning Mindset as We Run the Race

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Senior's intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services today. That tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University travel platform today on The Daily Platform will hear from Rev. J. Knowles, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Wilmington North Carolina morning to all of you want to thank Dr. Pettit for the opportunity of sharing God's word with you this morning and I as we begin I want to just share with you three common storylines that I have seen in my years of ministry and as I share these with you today. There I don't have a particular person necessarily in mind when I share these with you because unfortunately these are storylines that I have seen multiple times in our ministry in our counseling ministry and Justin ministering to people in general these three storylines go something like this first one would be a spouse meet someone at work meet someone in the community. They build a friendship through maybe taxiing our conversation at work and before long a matter of weeks or months, there is a full extramarital affair that is begun and sometimes unfortunately this is included, pastor of missionaries and others vocational ministry. In fact, I met a man known this man for a while. I saw him recently in our town Wilmington and he walked by me and he said hey I just want to share something very briefly with you is to pray for family. He said a couple weeks ago, my wife, who met a man at work, took my kids all out of our home and she left a second common storyline is a man or woman begins to take prescription drugs to deal with physical or emotional pain, and before long, that person is doing the unthinkable and addicted to street drugs. I will go into the story doesn't have time this morning, but a man that I worked with for several months who came to me after being in a rehab for over a year and trying to fight through his battle of addiction and unfortunately he fell back into his destructive lifestyle with illicit drugs. The third very brief storyline I would mention today is one that I want to focus primarily on somewhat because I've seen it again recently, but it is where you're living right now young man or young woman grows up in a Christian home. They attend a Christian school with her homeschooled they attend than a Christian college, and within a few short years they have adopted a very distorted view of the gospel or are they have forsaken the gospel altogether.

When I read you. These three storylines.

The reason I do, that is, I want to talk to you today about your theme of running the race because we are in a race.

Salvation is a once once-in-a-lifetime event come to Christ. We believe in Christ, and we begin this process of sanctification, and while we are in this process of sanctification.

We actually are trying to obey the commands of Scripture and a culture that is increasingly pushing against biblical ideals and the pressure is one of the greats great pressure that comes at us each and every day want to talk to you about the topic of developing a winning mindset. As we run this race in our culture, and I would like for you to find.

If you would first Corinthians 16 on a look at two verses the second verse. I will touch on very briefly at the end. Let's first Corinthians chapter 16 were to be looking at verses 13 and 14 and is returning there if you're familiar with the book of first Corinthians, this was a church that had some very significant struggles in this church.

In fact, I was thinking this morning at the pulpit committee from first Church of Corinth called me and started to describe the problems in that church asked me if I wanted to pass for that church. I would probably say no because this church was filled with sexual immorality. It was filled with racial and social divisions. It was filled with arrogance. There was condescension among the believers. There was a lack of love among them.

They were taking each other to they were distorting the view.

There is no proper view of the Lord's supper and not only that they were taking their giftedness and comparing themselves to one another and had become a church filled with division and the problem of the church at Corinth. By the way, wasn't the fact that this church lived and ministered in a carnal city of Corinth that wasn't the problem. The problem was the ideas and philosophy of the city of Corinth was creeping into the church so we might think about it this way. The problem with the court church at Corinth wasn't that it was geographically located in Corinth.

The problem was born at chorus ideas were creeping into the believers and it was greatly impacting their ministry and as Paul ends this letter to these Corinthian believers. He said some very strong words for them. He has corrected the error theology has challenged some of their ideas is is closing this book, as he often does in the closing chapter. He begins to talk about some personal relationships and he mentions Timothy and some of the other folks in and been instrumental in his ministry.

Bony comes the verse 13. He's got a present to us. These five closing commandments that he offers that I would argue that if we can apply these to our lives and develop this winning mindset that helps us be spiritually successful if you will, in our culture. These mindsets would help us greatly become faithful and more faithful and standing against our culture. So let's begin with the first one in verse 13 first two words there Paul says watch ye this Worldwatch customer Grigori Gregorio it means to pay strict attention to it means to be cautious. Actually, this word has the idea of take heed lest through remission and lethargy. Some destructive calamity may overtake you with this word carries the idea is that we often become lethargic. We often become apathetic and we are not always watching with great care and caution in our lives and often.

That puts us in a place of great vulnerability. This idea of watchfulness is important because a lack of watchfulness is perilous to our soul. This Greek word Oreo is use some 22 times in the New Testament to call us to attention. In fact, one of my most common verses that you probably know, in a familiar verses I should say that you probably already know his first Peter 58, where Peter said, be sober, be vigilant. Word translated vigilant, there is the same Greek word Gregorio be vigilant.

Why because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. If you follow the story.

But on October 2.

Just earlier this month.

There was a lady at the Bronx zoo who decided that it would be a wonderful idea to climb over the fence into one of the enclosures at the zoo and living in that enclosure was an adult male lion and this woman got within a few feet of this lien and she's taunting and she's waving her hands out and she's trying to get the lion's attention, and in between her and the lion theirs is very small, tiny ravine.

I don't know if she thought the ravine would keep the lion on the other side or not, and you could hear people in the background.

The commotion behind them, fully expecting they're about to see a woman devoured by this lien. I love this statement by the Bronx zoo. By the way I thought it would to share this with you. You talk about an understatement.

The man said the action was a serious violation and of unlawful trespass that could have resulted in serious injury or death that's very true. But here's my question for you if you knew in your life that when you walked out of her dormitory this morning are out of your apartment or out of your home where you live that there is a roaring lion walking around seeking to kill you, devour you, destroy you.

Would you approach your day a little bit differently.

I think we would.

And yet we often underestimated. We often forget that these commandments for us to watch, be vigilant, be diligently watching out lest something overtake us is given to us because our enemy the devil himself is roaring like a lion seeking to destroy you and I have seen the three opening storylines I shared with you. I have talked to too many people who have left their guard down and not been vigilant and not taking care of their soul and they have suffered greatly as a result, do you understand the enemy that you face when we engage culture in which we live. I love this quote by Lisa Turk Hershey said the world entices your flesh, but it never embraces your soul and so Paul encourages us to be watchful they may ask all watchful.

And what specific areas we just briefly mentioned four of them. First be watchful because of temptation, Jesus said, watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

I don't know about you but I have been saying this for a long time that if we are honest with ourselves we could probably identify the area of life. The particular temptation that we are vulnerable to. There is something in you and yours in your flesh that still desires to disobey God and there is something in your life, particularly that you find tempting to you. Now we we know that the devil certainly is not omniscient he doesn't know your minds, but he does see your pattern of living and he does know with great familiarity that there were things in your life and mine that we find particularly troublesome to us. Are you vigilant in that area. I will tell you my wife is here with me today and and she could tell you as well as I can tell you my area of weakness because I want her in my life helping me keep keep me accountable and away from the temptations that IRA particular struggle for me. Do you guard you watch yourself in those areas of temptation. Number two I believe we have to be alert because of false teachers, and I won't spend time reading all these verses, but in acts 20 there. Talk to their loop talks about fierce goals.

We have false teachers in second Peter to do we have in Philippians. Watch out for the dogs and evildoers that mutilate your flesh, and so we have to be alert on guard for false teachers and then the fourth when I would share with you is to be alert for the lore of apathy that very often we settle into this pattern of being apathetic toward our faith. So Paul says if you develop this winning mindset even run the race in a culture that is carnal carnality and culture is nothing new that you have to begin by guarding your heart big been vigilant and by guarding and watching your soul.

Notice the second one he gives us here.

He says in verse 13 watch ye then the second one is stand fast in the faith. The idea here here that Paul is communicating to us is to be resolute in the faith be committed to its Paul is calling the Corinthian believers to make to remain firmly committed to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. You just quoted from the screens a creed that have the core doctrines of the faith included in that Paul is saying that that has to be a mindset of resoluteness standing fast in what you believe drawing a line in the sand and defending what you believe to be true.

I want to move on to the third one and I want to spend a couple minutes on this one because this one I think is a very important one for us today. He says watch ye stand fast in the faith, and then look at the third mindset here is quit you like men. I love that today I'm here to tell you to quit like a man is quit Saudi saying the word quit communicates to us the idea of being great.

Be courageous. In fact, in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament this word is translated here quit like a man of the courage to have courage or be brave was using Deuteronomy 31. Be strong and courageous, was also using Joshua one, be strong and courageous: challenge the Corinthian believers because they were not living a life of courage.

In fact there were times in the churches in the church's history that they were acting much like children.

He said to them in first Corinthians 1420 brother be not children in understanding be mature, be courageous and Paul is clearly here communicating to us this serious burden for all of us to be watchful to be resolute and to be courageous in the culture that we are that we are living in. I been preaching through in our church.

The book of Esther and if you're familiar with the story of Esther. You know that Esther was an orphan. She had grown up in the Persian Empire and her cousin.

Actually, Mordecai had adopted her and through some very bizarre circumstances that she becomes Queen.

When King Xerxes has his first wife – I put away for her disobedience.

He has this process he goes through and Esther becomes the Queen of Persian and while she is serving as the Queen came Mordecai Heyman actually develops a plan a plot to destroy all of the Jewish people and Esther living in the palace is actually familiar with what's going on in Mordecai her adopted father, if you will sense or message of a message saying that all of the Jews are about to be killed. One of the things that Mordecai had asked her to do was to never reveal her nationality.

Xerxes, the king of the time didn't know that she was Jewish and he says to her that that that God had raised Esther for such a time as this and he says to her that you need to go to the king and plead for him to change this plot to have the Jews destroyed well. Esther understands and Xerxes was not a man of reason and she also understood that for some 30 days. He had never requested her to come into his presence.

She also understood that if she were to enter into his presence and announced he would have possibly have her head chopped off.

He would kill her. And so Esther asked for three days of prayer and fasting and after these three days Esther tells us that she put on her world garments and she goes in before the king. She put her life on the line. A woman of bravery, a woman of courage. I I was thinking through and in preparation for this morning.

I don't know what the next 23 decades of our culture of ministry in our culture are going to bring II don't know what I do know is this is that apart from God miraculously changing the hearts of people in our culture. The fights for us as pastors, missionaries and church leaders. It is not going to get easier and my question for you as you are maybe preparing for ministry or you are preparing for any other vocation and you're going to use your vocation to serve Christ in the auto quote secular workforce and that is where God is calling you. Are you going to be a man and woman of courage because I I believe. I hope that I am wrong but I believe the battles that we are going to fight in the next 10, 20, 30 years are going to increasingly be difficult as the culture continues to push back against biblical truth. I read an article that describes the 10 most common fears of Americans want to read the free very quickly. Number 10 darkness number nine. I don't understand the fear of zombies. If you fear zombies you probably put your video games away or something. I don't know fear zombies number eight strangers number seven flying number six, enclosed in a small space number five blood and needles number four drowning number three bugs and insects number two types and number one public speaking. My daughter we were talking the other day. She likes the saying and she likes participating in dramas and she doesn't local theater in our city. I asked her the other day I said honey, do you ever get afraid talking in front of people and she looked at me and she said why I said how is the most common fear among mankind, but she doesn't have it. The only one that I really get his number two, I have a little bit of a fear of heights. They may say I don't have that kind of fear know but listen to this list.

I don't understand these and I certainly don't understand the fear zombies, but I understand this one.

I understand the fear of rejection. II understand the fear of failure and the fear of imperfection in the fear of embarrassment or humiliation or bodily harm or the fear of being hated, I get those fears and you know what, it's not your fear of public speaking are your fear of of of heights or your fear of blogs or your fear of zombies that's going to keep you from being bold in our culture. It's going to be our fear of rejection are fear of failure are fear of of being harmed our fear of being thought to be an idiot or a fool or something like that.

That's the fear that keeps us from boldly serving our Savior without apology and so Paul tells this church in Corinth look if you are going to stand in the culture that you are living in. You have to be courageous by the way, you may know this already in your life, but fear is paralyzing when we are fearful we do not serve boldly we don't speak with boldness we allow our fear to dominate us and we are not effective. Possible witnesses notice number four Paul gives us in verse 13 he said watch the vigilance be awake. Stand fast, resolute in the faith don't waiver be courageous and then he says be strong now. This is an interesting word here because the word to be strengthened means simply to be made strong to increase in your strength, but interestingly enough this word in Greek is a passive word think Paul is recognizing that our ultimate source of strength actually comes outside of us. It comes through the power of the Holy Spirit comes at us through the power of Christ to strengthens us think Paul is saying here just be strong in and of your own ability in and of your own strength because were not in a last very long.

If we do that think the idea has be strengthened in the power of the Holy Spirit be strengthened in the power of Christ and allow that same power that resurrected Christ from the death from from the grave to empower you.

Be strong and also argue that he's talking primarily about being mentally strong, mentally prepared be mentally resilient and I've heard the joke for a long time that pastors take Mondays off because they sit home and write their resignation letters and I've my new Job now is I take Friday afternoons off because I have a really large Christian school so my Friday afternoon there's a lot of reasons to quit in your life. There's always a reason to quit if we look long enough hard enough and we just look at our lives were and find imperfections in our and our own souls in our own hearts and those can be reason to quit.

And that's why these these first four commandments are so important for a winning mindset.

Don't get into the temptation of quitting.

Be watchful, be ready be standing firm vis-à-vis courageous and be strong in the notice enclosing what Paul says, he says, number five let all things be done with charity. One of the saddest parts about studying the church at Corinth to me is that they were a very gifted church, but in their giftedness.

They became arrogant in their giftedness. They became divisive. In fact, arguably one of the most commonly known chapters in all of the Bible is in fact first Corinthians 13.

That is what was often called the love chapter in its read often at weddings. It's not a marriage. Taxco it's attacks about life within the body of Christ. It was actually rebuke against them that they were using their spiritual gifts to be divisive and so Paul comes back to this church and he tells him is he's closing this letter is look at everything that you do you have to do it with a spirit of love and a church. The Corinthian church that was riddled with strife they needed to remember that if they did any of that they serve Christ. They did whatever God called them to do without an attitude of love that they were just a clanging so how was your race going this morning. How are you running this race.

This culture it's sinful. It's carnal, there's nothing new under the sun.

Paul is writing to the church report.

They live in a pagan culture that went to temples and did unthinkable things in the name of their religion. And yet Paul calls them to be faithful in that culture in the American church. We could say this way why you got a problem. American churches today is that America that were in America know the problem is America's ideas and priorities and philosophies and goals are creeping into our churches and their creeping into our lives.

We rather be entertained than serve. We would much rather be accepted than to risk rejection by courageously sharing Christ folks I hope and I pray that your mindset is you run this race will become one of watchfulness mindset of resoluteness mindset of great courage, mindset of toughness and undergirding all of that, a mindset of love, my dear friend if you adopt that mindset, you will run the race and you will run it well and in the process to bring glory to your Savior.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you this morning just for these brief moments of sharing these couple of short verses with these folks lorded it is hard to keep our minds where they need to be and it's easy to blame or culture is easy to blame things outside of us, but the reality is it's our sinful hearts that allow us to be drawn away from the truth of your word. In such a way that we are apathetic at times and we do want to be comfortable more than we want to serve and serve God I pray I certainly don't know individual parts here today but maybe there some that are struggling in one of these particular areas in God that you would use this tax in their hearts and in their lives to shore to assure them of your love for them to assure them of the fact that they are a child of yours and that they may then go into our world and into our culture and serve you with boldness for your glory. Pray Lord for strength for the rest of this day discussed with your blessing on each and every one of us as we depart, pray this in Jesus. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Rev. J. Knowles, Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. Thanks for listening and join us again next week as we study God's word together here on The Daily Platform