A Sanctified Mind

1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Come Sunday evening we're going to switch on to School of Christ mode on our Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. We'll still be preaching messages here and that will go online for those in other countries to see, but for three weeks we're going to be locked in, praying, fasting, listening the Word of God, seeking the Lord together. People from all sorts of nations, everything from preachers, leaders, mature, straight through to younger new converts, and I really believe it's going to be a very special time for three weeks. But here tonight I want to go to part four of our series, The Battle for the Mind, Volume 2. I actually believe we're going to have a Volume 3, maybe at the end of the year, maybe next year, and I just believe it's such a weighty and important thing that we're dealing with is the mind, the battle for the mind. Here tonight as we read from 1 Thessalonians 5, my message is a sanctified mind. Last week we looked at a victorious mind. Here tonight a sanctified mind. Reading from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23 and 24, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Will you pray with me as we ask God just to bless us here. Father, I do thank you for the Word of God. Father, we are confined, we're restricted in flights and travel and ministry and many other things, but your Word is not bound. We have seen that over the past several months, how your Word has taken wings. It has gained feet and it has run. We have watched it. We have seen it, that your Word has gone to the ends of the earth. It has impacted lives. It has changed lives. It has saved men and women. Lord God, it is sanctified. It has turned hearts towards you. It's brought people to repentance. And Father, we're praying for yet a greater work, not restricted or limited by our physical bodies, our minds, oh God, or anything of self. We pray tonight for the sanctifying of our minds. I pray tonight for every individual in this room, in this church, will you sanctify the mind of Christ in us. Will you wash our minds with the Word of God. Will you renew our minds and will you grant us the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do pray for a holy mind, a sanctified mind, a molded mind, a renewed mind, a rewired mind, a mind that's been molded by the written scriptures in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Again, here, verse 23, as we come to a sanctified mind, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, this is Paul speaking, and this is a prayer. He is actually praying this for every Christian, every believer. I also am praying for you that this happens in you. I want you to make this your prayer for yourself, for this church, and for all those that listen to us, that this might be a prayer that grips us in these days. May God, the God of peace, sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of Jesus Christ. Here the Apostle Paul writing to a church that wasn't even in existence more than two years, and yet he is praying that they be sanctified wholly. I'm sad to say in the church of our generation, we've lost the message of sanctification. We've lost our holiness standards. We've lost the reality and the power of God's word to mould our convictions, how we speak, how we think, how we act, how we make decisions. We call ourselves Christians. We call ourselves churches. We call ourselves preachers, yet we neglect the word of God, and it's no longer sanctifying us. Really the essence of sanctification isn't some strict legalistic way of living. It's not. Really what sanctification is, is the word of God washing your mind, renewing your mind, changing how you thought, changing how you speak, and changing how you act. Paul here prays for these young believers, and yet they were mature in Christ, young in years of salvation, maybe young as a church, young in age, but they weren't immature. Look at the letter to the Thessalonians. It is speaking to people who know Christ, who are walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. What is his prayer? That the God of peace might sanctify you wholly. Oh, that again we've come back to sanctification. We don't preach sanctification apart from Christ. We preach sanctification because it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does being sanctified mean? It means to be made holy, to be purified, to be consecrated or set aside for a divine purpose. When a vessel in the temple in Jerusalem was sanctified, it means that vessel was taken. It wasn't used for anything else, not drinking, not making your daily meals. That vessel in the temple, when it was consecrated or sanctified, it was only used for that purpose, no other purpose. It was a vessel of one purpose. It was a vessel dedicated to God, to his service in the house of God. And so the word sanctified, that's what it means. Not only to be made clean and holy and pure and to have all the filth washed out of you, it means more than that, that you're a vessel set aside to God's divine purpose. There is a plan for your life that you're not to be used for anything else. You're not to be given over to this world. The things of this life aren't to be number one. God is to be number one. That's why you're here. That's why you're born. That's why he saved you, that you might be a vessel not to go to heaven, but to be a vessel here now, consecrated, yielded to do God's will. And so this word sanctified means an absolute consecration. Look what he says, sanctify you wholly. It's a prayer and I'm praying it. I'm preaching it to you now. Oh that Christ, oh that the God of peace might sanctify you wholly, that he might set you aside. Maybe you're not quite there yet. You're saved, you love Jesus, but you know there's areas in your life, you see it says sanctify wholly, not just in one part, not just in your spirit, but in your spirit, soul, and body. That's what the word wholly means. It means in every area of your specific life. I want you to be sanctified and that this prayer will grip you. In the previous chapter in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and 3, it says, for this is the will of God. Even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. Do you want to know what God's will is for you? You're praying, what is my purpose in being here? What is your will for my life? What do you want me to do? And you're preoccupied by that. All the time God is saying, I want you wholly. I want you sanctified. If I can get you sanctified, I can do anything through you. If I can find a Christian consecrated unto me, that's walking in holiness, that departs from sin, then I can do anything. It's easy to fulfill my will. The problem is lack of sanctification. The problem is in finding God's will for your life. You could be ignorant mentally and say, I don't know what God's will is for my life. Just sanctify yourself and I promise God will use you. Do you want God to use you? Sanctify yourself. Do you want God's plan to be revealed in your life? Then sanctify yourself. It also says in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and 21, if a man therefore purge himself from all of these things, he shall be a vessel. So we're talking about the same thing. A vessel consecrated in the house of God for God's plan. Then he says four things in this vessel that he wants. If you purge yourself, if you deal with the things in your heart, the attitudes, the thoughts of your mind, the words of your mouth, the actions that you get caught up in, if you purge these things, if you get certain things out of your life, you will be a vessel. What type of vessel? He mentions four things. A vessel of honor. Do you know that word honor means valuable? Do you want to be a valuable vessel to God? Then I'll tell you how. Purge yourself. Become a sanctified vessel. Then God will say, you are very valuable to me. Also it says sanctified, which means holy. We've already said that. Third of all, it says meet for the master's use. That word meet for the master's use, and I've loved this for 25, 30 years. This is one of my favorite scriptures. Listen to what it means to be meet for the master's use. Easily used. You see, if you're a vessel that's purged itself, you're easily used. The opposite is also true. If there's lots of gumph in your life, and I don't know how else to express that word or to interpret that or translate it, but if there's a lot of rubbish there weighing down, you're not easily used. God cannot easily use you. This word meet also means profitable, useful, or usable. Do you know when you sanctify yourself, every area of your life, you're wholly sanctified. Do you know you make yourself usable, useful, profitable, easily used? He also says, I'm prepared unto every good work. The word prepared there means to be adjusted. So you see that when you're a vessel consecrated that's purged itself, sanctified itself, these four things mark your life. How do you get there to be valuable, holy, easily used, and adjusted to the plan of God to do all the will of God? I'll tell you, purge yourself from all of these things. Sanctify yourself wholly, and then you become a vessel in the house of God that God can easily use. Look at what he says here in this prayer, that the God of peace sanctify you wholly. The word wholly, which is hollow, tell us. Listen to what it means, this is very important. It means in every part, completely. The root word of this means all, everything, throughout. In other words, there's no part of your life that is left out of this. No part of your mind, your heart, your attitude, your life, your characteristics, your personality. Oh brother Keith, that's just my personality. Really? You need to bring it in here. Oh brother, we all have a bit of a laugh. You know what my tongue's like. I'm Northern Irish, and I say that because it's a sin of the Northern Irish. Their tongue is more deadly than any other part of them in the church. I'm going to tell you, the great sin of the Americans is their feasting and their fellowship. The great sin of the Northern Irish church and the Northern Irish Christian, and there must be someone watching on there from there, the fact that I'm saying it. But I assure you, their problem is their tongue, their humor, what they hide behind a joke. It is deadly to the church of Jesus Christ. Do you know what Paul is saying? I'm praying that you're sanctified wholly. Bring that tongue in, bring that attitude in, bring that fellowship in, bring your mealtimes in. Maybe God will say you don't need that. Maybe God will say you need to change your eating habits. I'm talking about being sanctified wholly. It doesn't mean sinless perfection. It doesn't mean that you don't sin in word, deed, or thought ever again. It doesn't mean reaching a place where you never have to fight with the flesh or that you don't fall or make a mistake along the way. It doesn't mean that. It means to be sanctified wholly means in every single area of your life. When this is used in the Greek language, it could mean the entire body. If it's the body it's speaking about, it means every member of the body. Or if it's talking about the city of Limerick, it means every person, every building, every road in Limerick. Or if it's talking about Ireland, it means everything that's within Ireland. Do you get the picture here? To be sanctified wholly means everything within it. Now the word wholly, sanctified, that's only half the word I've explained here. The other half, telos, it not only means everything, but telos means your goal, your destination, your aim, your limit, your conclusion, or the final result. In other words, to be wholly sanctified means this is your end game. This is the final destination. This is your entire desire. This is where you're saying, I'm going to get to in the Lord Jesus Christ, where every area of my life, it may not happen in a day or a week or a month or a year. I'm talking about something you've got to pray into church. That we as a church have to pray, oh, sanctify us wholly. I need it. You need it. We all need it. It is a progressive work of sanctification. But here's Paul praying for their entire sanctification, every area of their life. But what does he mean by every area, the entirety of everything? What does he mean by that? Well, he actually says it here in verse 23, that your whole spirit, he defines it wholly sanctified, sanctify you wholly. Then he uses the word again, your whole spirit, soul, and body. In other words, he breaks man down into three parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit. And he says, when I say wholly sanctified, this is what I mean. I mean sanctified in your body, sanctified in your soul, and sanctified in your spirit. That's what wholly sanctified means. Some people think that if outwardly they're obeying the word of God in their body, they don't need to worry about the soul. I want to tell you, that isn't wholly sanctified. You're concentrating on the body and going, I'm brilliant. Or some say, well, I'm born again. I'm sanctified in spirit. Well, my attitude stinks. I've got pride in there. I'm stingy with my money and generosity. My body, I let it all hang out. I don't worry about my physical body. Doesn't matter how I dress. It doesn't matter where my body goes. That is not wholly sanctified. I'm talking about an experience where your spirit, soul, and body come under this work of being wholly sanctified. Since I'm going somewhere here tonight to show you a sanctified mind, we are in one of the most dangerous hours in church history. An hour of terrible deception. There is a flood of filth being pumped out in this generation. There is an outpouring of deception like we cannot even imagine. It's going to get worse. Filth is flooding out against this young generation. And it's targeting the church. All the filth is aimed at the church. The deception is aimed at the church. All the confusion of this hour, it is aimed at the church. You see, God wants your entire life to be sanctified. Your spirit, soul, and body. Pull your body in. Pull your soul in. Let your spirit dominate this work of sanctification. And then he goes on having being sanctified in these three areas. Then he goes on and asks or prays that they be preserved, blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since between now and you looking on the Lord Jesus Christ, this must be your goal, your destiny, your aim, your burden. What is it? This sanctification of my body, my soul, and my spirit. I want to be wholly sanctified. I want to be consecrated. That I can become valuable in the plan and the purpose of God. To be preserved means that God watches over you. He'll set a guard over you. He'll preserve you. He'll keep you. In this verse, he's not telling you to do that. He says, you do this work of sanctification and I will guard you. I will preserve you. I will set a military camp around you. Just put yourself and I'll keep you straight through until the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Now, I don't want to deal with the body tonight. And I don't want to deal with the spirit tonight. I want to deal with this third area and not all of it. The soul. What the Bible calls the soul. In the Greek, it is psyche is the Greek word. It is the psyche. What we call in English and Latin language, the psyche or the breath of life. It is what a man actually is. This is where we get the word psychology. Which means the study of the soul or the personality of a man. What is the soul? It's usually what we call our personality. It's usually what we say, this is who I am. It's all the traits that go up to make who you are. Or let me explain the soul a little better. The mind, the emotions and the will. This is what the soul is. This is what makes you who you are. Let me go a bit deeper. See, I want to deal with being totally sanctified, wholly sanctified. But I'm leaving out the body and I'm leaving out the spirit. And I want to concentrate on the soul. Now, let's go a little bit deeper. Okay, you're ready for this? We're peeling things back. We're going a little bit deeper here. I'm not going to deal with the entire soul. I'm only going to deal with the mind here tonight. The sanctification, the complete sanctification of the mind. You're now thinking that's only one area. Oh no, I'm going deeper. I'm actually going to go in this message and pinpoint seven areas of your mind that need sanctified. Seven functions of your mind. You see, we don't think this deeply normally about sanctification or the mind. We think our minds are mind. Here tonight, I want to show you a practical way to work out sanctification in your mind. A year ago, I was going to preach this before lockdown. And I was going to call it the diagnosis of the mind. But it wasn't for then, it was for now. The diagnosis of the mind. And I was going to diagnose the mind and break it down and show you it. This message tonight is highly practical, highly functional. And it's to show you how to be sanctified. If I preach as I have done, you need to renew your mind. It's a vague thing. If I say you need to be conformed or take every thought captive or begin to think biblically, it's a very big thing out there. See, when I went to school, high school, no one ever taught me how to study. The teacher sent me. I moved from a B class up to an A class. What an achievement. I was the top of the B class. I went to the bottom of the A class. And the teachers encouraged me. But no one ever taught me how to study. Not one teacher in all my education ever said, let me show you how to study. Not one single teacher in my entire education up to 16. I went home with the homework. I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to study. I came in the next morning very sincere. I had tried. And I went straight up to the teacher and I said, Miss, I don't know how to study. Will you show me? Her cheeks went red. She exploded and demanded that I march myself to the headmaster. And when I couldn't reason with her, couldn't speak to her, I was blown away. I'm sincere as anything. But no one explained to me the practicality of how to study. You know what they said? Bring in the homework. You've got to go home and study. I didn't like to ask anyone. What do you mean study? We are the same in the church. And I don't want to be guilty of this. We say you've got to be holy. You've got to be sanctified. You've got to have a renewed mind. Saints, I want to come down and make this very, very practical tonight. That when I say about the renewing of your mind, what do I mean? When I mean your mind has to be changed, what do I mean about the mind? How does that work out in your life? What does it look like in a practical fashion? I've got seven functions of the brain. And this doesn't cover everything. But I want to show you, begin to open up the mind of man. And show you that actually it's more practical than you ever thought. It's all through our Bible. The first area is memory. Memory is only one function of the mind of man. That mind, when it is not operating the way God wants it to, is in desperate need of sanctification. Here tonight you're going to have to ask yourself, is my memory sanctified? This one, just for a moment, just concentrate on the area of memory. When I say your mind needs renewed and sanctified, I mean your memory needs sanctified. How do you get your mind sanctified? Listen to what it says in 2 Peter 3 and 1. Beloved, now I write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds. So he's dealing with the mind. When he writes these letters, 1 Peter, or 2 Peter, he is writing it. Why is he writing it? To stir up their minds. Do you realize what's written by Peter is to make you holy, so that you will seek after holiness? But to do that, he's got to stir up your mind. Do you know what I'm doing tonight? I'm preaching what I'm preaching. I'm stirring up your mind. Isn't that right? I'm actually penetrating in your mind. I'm attacking your mind in a very generous and brotherly, loving way. I'm actually seeking to stir up your pure minds, listen to this, by way of remembrance. So a preacher can actually, with people listening to him, either in writing or preaching, he can stir up their minds, their pure minds. Because an impure mind wouldn't desire this. But a pure mind actually says, I want this, I really want this. I'm not what I want to be. I'm not there yet. But I long for this. I desire this. I want to pray this. And that's the mind I'm seeking to stir up. I want to stir up your minds by way of remembrance. I want to remind you. So we see one of the seven functions of the mind is to remember. To remember. But the question is, is your memory sanctified or not? You go, oh brother Keith, you're killing me. You don't know how bad my memory is. I'm not really talking about that. Do you know I forget more things now than I did 10 years ago? Than I did 25 years ago? You young ones better use your memory. You better memorize scripture now. You don't want to wait till you're 50 to memorize scripture. Why not do it when you're 20, 30 or thereabouts? It's a wonderful thing to have a memory. All through the Bible, you have the memory. Is it sanctified or is the devil using it? Or is the flesh using it? In Genesis chapter 40 verse 14, it says, and this is Joseph in the prison with the butler and baker. Listen to what he says. But think on me when it shall be well with thee. He answered their dreams. He could interpret their dreams. He helped them. He showed them what God's plan was. What was going to happen? What does he say? Think on me. You know what he's saying? See when you get out of here, butler, when you get back in your job and you're in that throne room, I want you to think on me. I want you to remember me. This is a guy in a desperate place. He's been in prison. He's had a rough journey for about 11 years so far. And you know what? He's been falsely accused, thrown in a pit, sold into slavery. And here is his ticket out of this trial. And he says, I want you, a man, an unregenerate person, an unsaved person. Look at Joseph. He is beginning to look to a sinner, someone, a man. He's not looking to God and saying, oh God, remember me. He's looking at a man. He says, will you think on me? Will you remember me? See there's an area of the mind is to remember. Joseph state everything that this man who he helped is going to remember him. Isn't it terrible when people forget you in your hour of trial? You've helped them and yet they forget you. That takes some working through within your heart. It says in Genesis 40, 23, yet did not the cheap butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. He's only just died and he totally forgot him. I believe God was in that. I actually believe that God allowed him for two years to forget Joseph. He was in the plan of God. Joseph must've went, what's he doing? Why did he forget me? He must've been initially crushed by this. And yet you know what God's plan was in it that a man would forget Joseph and that he'd have to look up. You know what God was saying? Oh boy, I've got a bit of work to do on you. You're looking to the memory of man. It's gonna let you down. In chapter 41, verse nine says, then speak the chief butler unto Pharaoh saying, I do remember my faults this day. You've got to get Joseph out of that prison. He will tell you the interpretation of your dreams. A little bit after this in chapter 41, verse 51, it says, and talking about Joseph's firstborn child and Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. For God said, he has made me forget all my toil. And all my father's house. Do you realize God was trying to teach Joseph about a sanctified mind, the whole area of remembering, of forgetting. God certainly didn't forget him. But look at Joseph after all these years, he marries one of the local girls. He gets his position, his new job. God vindicates him. He has two children. And in all of the years, decades of dealing, you know what he names his firstborn? God's made me forget. Do you know what you can forget? It doesn't mean you blank it out and you can't remember it. It doesn't mean you've gone senile or that you've grown out of all the thoughts. Time doesn't always heal. It doesn't always heal. They say time heals. Not always, not always. God made Joseph forget. God actually set him free. It's sore to think how your brothers betrayed you. It is sore to think of false accusation from Potiphar's wife. It is sore to think of sitting in that prison. But you know what? God made him to forget. You see, do you understand what I mean about the sanctifying of the mind of the memory? The memory can plague you in a terrible way. What is memory? You were designed with a memory by God. It is the ability to think back and to recall things from the past. What does an unsanctified memory look like? We remember things that we said with our lips, we forgive someone. I forgive you, brother. But did you remember it? I don't mind you just think about it or know it, but you remember it. You carry it in a way you've never forgiven. I don't mean you get it blanked out of your mind. I mean, it affects you. It wakes you in the middle of the night. You've told that person you forgive them, but have you forgiven them? What about your memory? Every time you think about them, have you really forgiven them? Have you let them off the hook? Have you really dealt with it before God? What about people, what people have done to you? How does it affect you? You think back over the years, they've done that, he done that. I wouldn't be here now. How do you know it's not God working in it? Maybe God wants to renew your memory. Maybe tonight, I don't know it, but God knows that you're fighting with your memory. Thoughts that come back from the past, things you recall, maybe things no one else knows, maybe of some sin or some person or some situation and it comes flooding back. Do you know what? You need to sanctify that area of your mind. You know many times over this few years, Candice, we're walking up the road together and they've got an old fire on and the smoke's coming out and Candice will say, oh, smell that. She seems to be caught up in euphoria and I'm there going, what's wrong with you? She's just been transported back maybe 25 years to the old farm in South Africa where her granny and her great-grandparents were and the smell of that farm, she just smelt a smell that transferred her back and all of the memories and all of the feelings and all of the thoughts came back. Do you know a smell can transport you or a sight of something or hearing something or a touch of someone's hand, it could transport you, that's memory. That's memory. It can either be good or it can be bad in a very real way. I was caught in a barn on fire many years ago. I still don't like little candles burning in people's houses. Candice used to walk out of the room, I'd put out all the candles. I didn't like it. I was in an inferno with flames all around me. You know what? It still marks me. As soon as I see that little flickering, I've got to be careful of that. You know what? Fears, thoughts, betrayals, jealousy, anger, discouragement, your memory can trap you. You need to sanctify your memory. What does a sanctified memory look like? You remember what God has done. You know, most Christians forget what God has done. God saved you miraculously. I mean, he reached in and pulled you out. Unlike Israel in the wilderness, we go, oh, it wasn't that bad back in Egypt. Was it not? Was it not? What a dangerous thing. It'll affect you. If you keep thinking back, oh, look what I had in that life. Be very careful. Be very careful. Or you think back to a point in time or a situation. I went, oh, if I could only go back there again. Be very, very careful. Or what about a sanctified mind? You forget things, forgetting that which is behind. I press on towards the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to remember the Lord. Listen to all the commands of the Bible. You're commanded to remember. Remember the Lord. Remember his deeds and his miracles. Remember his dealings with you. Remember how he's led you all through the years as you walked with him. Remember how you provoked him at times. That's what the Bible tells us. Remember the word of God. Remember the covenant of God. Remember godly elders. Remember the day you came out of Egypt. Remember what Amalekite did unto you. You're to remember all these things. So the entire Bible is filled up with commands. Remember, remember, remember. Also, forget, forget, forget. Here tonight, you want to be sanctified in your memory. Maybe there's something that you've allowed to linger on comes up every time that person comes up in your memory. Isn't the memory a powerful thing? A memory comes and you get angry. Your teeth are gnashing. You know what? You need to sanctify that memory. You need to let go of something. You need to move on with the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 63 verse 6. When I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. That's what you're going to do. At night, you're going to remember. What do we do each Lord's Day, each Sunday? When we break bread and take the cup. This do in remembrance of me. And when you do this, you do show forth the death of Christ. You know what? As a church, we want to remember that Jesus died on the cross. You don't move on from that. Saints, I remember what he done. Why do we have a Lord's table to stir your mind up? Remember Calvary. Remember the blood. Remember that you're a sinner saved by grace. It is a remarkable thing. The second thing, knowledge. Not only memory, but knowledge. You say knowledge is a thing. No, knowledge is what you store up in your head. The mind actually has a function of knowledge. What is knowledge? It's knowing information. Gathering information or it's facts and details about many different subjects. It can either be sanctified or unsanctified. Where do you get your information from? Who do you get your information from? I mean the facts that you store in your mind. And the things that you then repeat to others. Have you ever picked something up from someone? A fact, a fact. And then you pass it on to go, hold on a second. That's not right. You have to eat your words. It wasn't a fact. Where did you get your knowledge from? But this takes on a very serious aspect in our generation. You see, I believe the church of our generation is in need of being sanctified in the realm of knowledge. We have made a disaster of the church because of how we handled knowledge. This is in Hosea chapter 4 verse 6. My people, call them his people, are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee. Look at these people, they're called his people. They're being destroyed. And an entire generation in Jerusalem, in Nazareth, in Bethel, in Carmel, all of the areas in Hosea's day, he was called to be a preacher and he had to deliver the message. My people are being destroyed. Do you know what I've got to preach again in this hour? God's people are being destroyed. I've seen it with my eyes. I've experienced it down over the years because of lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge. You know what? The preachers didn't teach them right. Now they're often deception. No one warned them about sin. Nobody taught them the true gospel of repentance and of really meeting Christ. For lack of knowledge. Because of ignorance. Because truth wasn't given to the church. Do you realize the church of this hour, there's a problem with the knowledge in the church. You think knowledge is a small thing. It's facts and figures and details. God doesn't think so. He says for lack of correct biblical knowledge, you're being destroyed. Do you know marriages, Christian marriages are breaking up for lack of knowledge. They're being destroyed. People are making shipwreck for lack of knowledge. And he goes further, not only lack of knowledge, but you've rejected knowledge. It's bad to have a lack of knowledge. But imagine rejecting knowledge. It comes to you. You go, no, I don't believe that. I don't need that. Brother, I'm trying to share a biblical fact with you. No, I don't believe that. It's a fact from scripture, from the Bible, from the apostles, from Jesus. Do you know I've had a pastor in this city said, I don't want to speak to you if you're going to quote scripture. Do you know I've had that happen several times in other nations. I'm not going to talk to Malcolmson because all he'll do is quote scripture. Do you know how shocking that is? What do you think I'm going to do? Argue with my own thoughts or present the Bible. My people are perishing. What is knowledge? It is the gathering, the gaining or the accumulation of facts. What facts are you gathering up? I mean, what knowledge are you storing up? What is this? It's a gathering of knowledge. You've got to spend time on that. That's why you read the Bible. You're gathering knowledge. You're gathering knowledge. You're storing up knowledge. You won't perish if you have the right knowledge. If you reject that knowledge, neglect it, set it aside. Do you know you could be passive to knowledge and yet you're rejecting it. The Bible is there. The preaching is there. People the other side of the world are being transformed over the past three months by the knowledge in those sermons online. What of you? Have you grown used to knowledge where you hear facts and details and it goes no further than your ear? What a dangerous thing. Facts, if they're to sanctify us, have to be concrete truth from the Bible. They've got to be facts, not opinions, not pet doctrines, not theories, not myths, not ideas. It's got to be the truth of God's word. Gaining it, gathering it. And we're not to remain static with a little bit of knowledge. It says in Colossians 1 and 10, increasing in the knowledge of God. Oh, I know God. I know God. I got born again. Yeah, you're saved and stuck. You're saved and stuck. And people who get saved and stuck, they begin to smell. I want to show you what it says in Colossians, increasing in the knowledge of God. Real biblical knowledge is not head knowledge. It affects your life. It comes through being taught or instructed either by reading or being taught. And it has to be a personal experience. See, if you think knowledge is mere head knowledge, you don't know what knowledge is. You really don't. You think it's information. It's not that. It's far more. It's far more. It's not academic knowledge. Every denomination that's had a revival from the Methodist movement through to the Pentecostal movement is being destroyed because they don't know what knowledge is. I mean, their greatest leaders, their academics, their scholars do not know what knowledge are. You know what they begin to do after revival goes? They begin to emphasize academic knowledge, higher education for their ministers. What do you mean? The revival started with ignorant men who never managed to get to 16 in a school. And now you want all the preachers to have a PhD and a degree and to go through three years of college before they get in a pulpit and preach. You never ask them, do they pray? You never ask them what their convictions are. You don't do that. You're more concerned about qualifications, degrees, scholarly attainment, theologic understanding. You know what true theology is? It's the knowledge that makes you walk with God. I stole that from an old Dutch Puritan. He said, this is theology. It is the teaching that makes you walk with God. If it doesn't make you more holy, it's a dead teaching and it needs to be buried. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3 and 7 about silly women in the church ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. I've met a lot of silly men, I want to assure you. It says in 1 Corinthians 8 and 1, now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Notice the context. He's dealing with a problem in the church. Certain people are going out and eating in the local kebab shop where the Muslims dedicate the meat to Allah. I'm just putting it in our context. This is the context. So Paul says, now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. We know facts. Allah, do you know who Allah is? Do you know they dedicate that meat to Allah? I've researched it. I've Googled it. I've watched YouTube videos on it. I'm an expert on it. Do you know it's blasphemy? Do you know you're sinning? Do you know if you... I could go on a roll here, I can assure you. Listen to what Paul says. We all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up. Does your little bit of knowledge make you proud? But charity edifieth. There is a knowledge that makes you edify others. There is a knowledge that comes out of love that helps your brother, edifies, covers, ignores things that don't matter and only deals what is important. What do you do with knowledge? Knowledge is power. I've met a lot of people, as soon as they get a bit of information, they use that knowledge to manipulate. They use it as collateral. What's collateral? It's when you get an asset that belongs to you and you go, I'm going to trade this or use this with everyone around me to make money. I'm going to use this to my benefit. It's mine. And you know what? There's people in church. I'm talking about from experience. I'm not talking about you bunch. I'm talking about experience. Every other church, everywhere else, not here. Okay. But you can use knowledge. I've seen preachers do this. They use knowledge. Knowledge is power. Information is power. I hate it. Do you know what? If the knowledge you have about a brother or sister or about things going on doesn't help you to edify them, what use is it? What use is it? It is a dead thing. It is utterly dead. Saints, I'm telling you, I'm talking about knowledge in your mind. Where is knowledge stored in your mind? Is your knowledge, all that knowledge you have, is it sanctified or is it growing worms? Is it dusty? Does it have cobwebs on it? Does it help you walk with Christ or is it mere information? Do you see how you can have two realms of truth? Oh, I know a lot. So what good is it doing you? Does it make you more sanctified, more joyful in Christ, more victorious? Or is it dead knowledge? I've seen too many people. They have knowledge so they judge others. You're slipping into the kebab shop. You shouldn't do that, brother. What are you doing with your knowledge? Is that the sum total? Are you sanctified? What's your knowledge doing? You can have truth and fire or you can have frozen truth. Okay. Number three, understanding. The memory, knowledge, and third of all, understanding. It says in 1 Kings 3 and 9, and this is Solomon praying to the Lord. He says, give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. Understanding is a part of the mind. Is this showing you what the mind is? The memory, knowledge, now understanding. Give your servant an understanding heart. So you have facts. Okay, you've got all the facts, the figures, the details. You know your Bible. But the thing is, do you have understanding? Understanding comes after knowledge. It's something that comes out of knowledge. It's the evaluating of all that you've gathered, all the sermons you've heard, all the books that you've read, all the Bible reading that you've done. So you've gained a lot of information and facts and details. You've been informed. You can spiel it off very easily. You can correct other people. Okay, do you have understanding? What is understanding? It is the correct ordering of knowledge, putting it in its right place. Why point out someone else with your bit of knowledge when you don't deal with yourself? If you do not take that bit of knowledge and apply it to your own life, why would you judge someone else? Why would you? Why would you even consider that? Don't you realize you've got no understanding? Understanding puts knowledge in its right place. Understand, the Greek word is like this. It's like a jigsaw. What is understanding? I've got all of the bits of the jigsaw, all a thousand bits of them. I don't have patience for that. I don't have time. I like a five-bit jigsaw, okay? It all comes together. But look at this. Understanding is like all the bits of the jigsaw. Understanding means you put it all in the right place. You've got all the bits. Imagine throwing it down. You leave one of your kids, Thomas or James or one of them, and say, do the jigsaw. And they come and knock on the door after 10 months say, it's finished. And you walk through and it's just a mass of bits. And you go, no, no, no, no. It's got to be put together correctly. And they're all forced in. You know what kids do. They're all forced in. And they go, but I made it fit. Yeah, but it's not in the right place, son. That is not understanding. Understanding actually puts all the bits, the facts together. If all you have is facts, you can make a mess of this. You need understanding. Understanding is a part of your mind. How do you put all the word of God together? Your life together, your marriage together, this church together? How do we do that? With understanding. The Greek word understand means a flowing together of two rivers. They're two different rivers. They come together and they flow together as one. They become one. That's what the word understand means. You gather all the facts. You place the information together in the right place. And then you draw forth conclusions. You might have facts, but do you have a sanctified understanding? Are you slow to judge? See, people get a fact and they judge. They speak before they think. They don't have a sanctified understanding. Oh, I've got all the facts, but do you have a sanctified understanding? You've spent no time over it. You haven't put everything in the right place. You haven't got your B's before your C's. You're trying to stick Z in A's place and you go there. Look at it. No, no, no. You don't have any understanding. You've got to gather the facts and put it in the right place. It says in Jube 28, 28, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. What's understanding? Is this your definition of understanding? Oh, I've got a lot of understanding. I really understand what's happening in our world. I really understand Bible prophecy. I really understand about how we as Christians are to function. I really understand how my brother ought to be living. Listen, the biblical definition of understand, depart from evil, that is understanding. In other words, when you begin to put everything together, you go, you know what? I'm going to depart from evil. You could know facts in the Bible. It's wrong to commit fornication. Only when you depart from it, do you understand what you've just read. You could say, I should stop lying. I shouldn't do that. I should be doing that. That's all fact. But do you have an understanding heart? A heart that says, you know what? I've got to put this together in my life. I've got to act upon it. I've got to depart from sin. It says in Proverbs 17, 27, a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit, valuable. Just like we read in the New Testament. Do you want a valuable spirit? Then you're going to have an understanding mind. I apply this in my life. I put it to the right place. I'm not going to judge someone else when I'm not doing the thing myself. That is an understanding. But I act upon it in the fear of God. Fourth of all, wisdom. It says in Proverbs 3 and 7, be not wise in thine own eyes. There's a great problem in the church of this day. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Do not be wise. There's a type of wisdom that makes you wise in your own eyes. God knows you're not wise. I might know you're not wise. Your wife knows you're not wise. But in your own eyes, you think that you're wise. You actually think, I'm pretty wise. I'm shrewd. I'm really cunning. You know what? You can have a wisdom that's not sanctified. Do you understand that? As a Christian, I can actually stand and think, I'm very wise. I'm really very wise. And yet that wisdom is not sanctified. You see, I believe we all have wisdom. But what kind of wisdom do you have? You could actually think you have wisdom. And it is wisdom. But it's not the kind you think. Is it a sanctified wisdom? Has it been washed and molded by the word of God? Do you look at and say, this is wisdom when it doesn't line up with the Bible? We've got to take great care here. In Proverbs 4, 7, it says, wisdom is the principal thing. The first thing or the most important thing to get. Therefore, get wisdom. Do you know wisdom is in the mind? It's not in emotions. It's not in the spirit. It's a part of your mind. The wisdom that you have is in your mind. And it's either of the flesh or it's either of the spirit. What sort of wisdom do you have in your mind? Do you know the word wisdom? In the Hebrew, it means the palate, the taste. So if you want to understand wisdom, have you ever seen someone, you eat something. Even our dog Shiloh does that. She's got wisdom. She's a very wise dog. She sniffs it. And she goes, before I swallow this. Do you know what? My hamburger one day, Candice wasn't. She turned her back for one second. And in one foul jump, she grabs my hamburger. She swallows it in one go. I'm in a big hamburger. That dog, you know what? I'm smelling that. I've got wisdom. I know exactly I'm going to. And I've seen her with other things. Sniffs and turns her back on it. Do you know wisdom actually is the palate tasting before it swallows. A wise Christian doesn't swallow everything. You need wisdom. What does the word wisdom mean? It's the ability to know what to do. I'm really going to get in close here on you, OK? Are you listening? Have you followed me thus far? Wisdom is different than understanding or knowledge or memory. These are all different parts. Wisdom is the ability to know what to do. Oh, but Brother Keith, I've got all the facts. I've put it all together. Now I'm going to march into their living room and speak to them. Is this the wisdom of God? Is it the wisdom of the word of God? Or is it your wisdom? You see, it's the ability to know what to do. A wise man is someone who knows what to do. In hard situations, in every situation, where do you think I get that knowledge from? To know what to do. I know what to do. There's certain situations. I've turned to Candice and I said, I don't know what to do. And she speaks authoritatively and I go, it's that. You're absolutely right. There's other times where she goes, I don't know what to do. And as clear as a bell, I come out with it and she says, that's it. Wisdom dispels the fog. It goes, that is the right thing to do. It is also the knowledge of when to do what we are going to do. So it's what to do. It's also when to do it. Do you know, speaking to the person who needs spoken to at the wrong time, you can be in trouble. This is wisdom. You know what? I'll wait till the morning. Do you know what? I won't send that email yet. Do you know what? I won't bring up that issue just at this time. That is wisdom. There's a great lack of this in the body of Christ. It takes an awful lot of wisdom. It's also to know who to do it with. So not only what, not only when, but who. Who to speak to or who to work with or who to marry. That's wisdom. It's wisdom. And then how to do it. So you could have everything else. I'm talking about wisdom. You know what wisdom is? It's that knowledge. Solomon prayed for wisdom. Give me wisdom, not the riches. Not the riches. It says in Proverbs 16, 16, how much better is it to get wisdom than gold? Do you realize how good wisdom is? Do you realize how much it would save you from trouble and conflict and heartbreak and the wrong consequences of decision? Wisdom bides your time. In James chapter 3, it talks about two different kinds of wisdom. A wisdom that descends from heaven and a wisdom that comes up out of the earth. A wisdom, oh, it's called wisdom. It looks like wisdom. It sounds like wisdom. But listen, it says, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but it is earthly. It is sensual. It's of the flesh, of the soul, and it is devilish. You know, there's certain types of wisdom. The devil is in it. Paul had a preacher, sorry, James had a preacher to the church. And he says, there's a wisdom, it's not of God. I've seen this in the church. I've seen wisdom. We need to do this. We need to do it now. We need to do it with this person. And I feel like going, it's sensual. It's of the earth. It's devilish. It's really devilish. It's from the pit of hell. It's the devil inspiring it. And you can identify for where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Show me someone operating in the cunning wisdom of the devil. It's nothing but trouble. They cause trouble. They make the wrong decisions. They do the wrong thing at the wrong time with the wrong people for the wrong reason. And you know what? It causes strife and division. It always follows that person. It's not the situation. It's the kind of wisdom that person operates by. But there is another kind of wisdom. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure. That's how I identify the wisdom of God. It's a heavenly wisdom. It's not natural. My mind is receiving the wisdom of God. There is a purity in it. What's your agenda in passing on that bit of wisdom? I've got a wise word for you. I'm going to do that. I've got cunning wisdom and I won't share it. No one else knows. Is it pure? Is it really pure? You can identify its source. Is it pure or is it going to stir up trouble? Then it's peaceable. It is gentle. It is easy to be entreated. It is full of mercy and good fruits. Do you want me to go on? Do you have wisdom? Maybe you said, I thought I was wise until you read all of that. Do you realize wisdom is marked by all of these things? It's very costly and it's without hypocrisy. I'm telling you what a real sanctified wisdom is. Some of you are going, I need to rethink my theology of wisdom here. Fifth of all, reason. Reason. In Hebrews chapter 13, 17, and for this reason, I'm going to make it very broad. There's many other aspects of the mind, but I'm really showing you, since when I talk about renewing your mind, a sanctified mind, a victorious mind, we're looking at all of these areas. You're going, well, I'll just read my Bible and that's it. You need to apply the word of God to your memory and to wisdom and to your knowledge and how you're doing it. Fifth of all, reason. It says in Hebrews 13, 17, obey them. Most preachers won't even preach on this text. Obey them that have the rule over you. No one's going to rule over me. Then you've got a serious problem. When you find someone in the body of Christ, either they've been terribly hurt and I'm broken hearted about that. I really feel for them. I was terribly hurt by abusive leadership. I hate abusive leadership. I hate abusive husbands. That's a strong term. I hate a man misusing a woman. I hate that. That's despicable for a man to lift a hand to a woman. That's low as you get. But I also hate the same in the church with the body of Christ, a leader. They don't do what's right, but they want to impose it on others. Oh God, help us. But listen, I'm not getting off on that. Obey them that have the rule over you. There are those that rule in the church. Everyone doesn't rule. I am called to rule. And I'm almost embarrassed to say that. I don't like to say that. But the Bible talks about those in the local church who rule over you. It means to stand in front of you, to lead you in the right direction, to speak to you the word of God, to be an example. To rule isn't an abusive thing. It is a caring thing. I'm watching out for your soul. I'm caring for you. I'm trying to direct you. That's what rule is. But you're commanded, obey them. You are to obey those that rule over the church and submit yourself. Now, listen, I'm talking about the reason. It's a part of your mind. This is the fifth part, is the reasoning faculty of your mind. And we haven't dealt with it yet. What is the reasoning? This word obey, listen very carefully. Very important you understand what obey means. Obey doesn't just mean obey. In the Greek, and you go study this, the word obey means to come to a place where you trust, to have confidence, or listen to this, to be willing to be persuaded. As an elder, as a leader, as a preacher, I am to persuade you. I can't demand of you. I can't tell you, just do it. You don't need the reason, just do it. I want you to do this. You know what, I'm to persuade you. And that's what I do in my preaching. I'm trying to persuade you to have a sanctified mind. I can't abuse you. I can't threaten you. I'm trying to persuade you that this is a good way. I want to convince you. I want to win you over. How do I do that? With the written scriptures. I'm persuading tonight. Come on, have a sanctified mind. Be careful how you use wisdom. Start moving on in your memory. I'm persuading you. But the word obey, remember it's you to do it. I'm putting emphasis on me there. You are to obey me. Do you know what it means? Be willing to be persuaded and won over. If it's biblical, be won over. It means to have a mind that's easily bending and being persuaded by the rule of persuasion. That's how church leadership do it. They don't just abuse you or mock you or force you or drive you. Shepherds in the Middle East walk in the front and the sheep follow that voice. I'm going to care for your soul. I'll get you to heaven. I want you to walk with God. I want to help you. I'm going to point out things that are going to destroy your life. I'm not doing it because I hate you. Do you know, I love Candace more than anyone in this room. Sorry, guys. But do you know what? I'm going to watch over her more than anyone else because I love her. I love her. I care about her. In Acts chapter 17, it talks about the Bereans, that they were more noble than those that like you. Listen, they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. This means before passion. To have the readiness of mind to search a scripture. What does it mean? The Greek means before passion. Really? Listen again. These Bereans before passion. It wasn't emotional. They weren't all hyped up. They used their mind. Some people don't use their mind. The ability to reason. They get caught up with passion, anger. Man, when I get my hands on them, is that reason or is that passion? See, when they heard Paul come and preach and they go, I don't know what to make of this. I've never heard this before. No one's told us about Jesus. But you know what we're going to do? We're going to search the scripture. We're not getting passionate, emotional, set on fire. You know what? I'm going to use my mind to reason out. Is what he's saying biblical? You see, in your personal relationship with others, if someone comes to you, maybe stop for a moment and rather than being defensive, rather than shutting the door, maybe say, hold on, let's reason this out. Did I say that? Did I do that? Do I need to change? Do I need to consider that? Since I'm talking about a people in the church who their reason is sanctified. I'm going to search the Bible. Something hits you Sunday morning that convicts you. Don't throw a stone at the preacher. Maybe it's the Holy Spirit. Haven't we seen it over the years? God dealing with people. I don't know you. I don't know what's going on in your life. You deliberately preached at me. No, I didn't. It's a despicable thing for me. I would never do that. If I've got something to say, I'll say it to you. Since before passion, this readiness of mind is the inclination, the predisposed readiness of mind. It's an openness of mind, a willingness of mind, an eagerness of mind, a promptness of mind. Do you have that when you come into the word of God? Do you have a mind that's saying, if it's the word of God, if Brother Keith can convince me, I am all on. I am in agreement. Amen. Lord, do it to me, even if it hurts. Even if it hurts. Either say amen or ouch, as a preacher once said. But oh God, work within me. Sixth of all, discerning and judging. We taught at the beginning of this church, I think 13 or 15 messages on how to judge biblically. This sixth point is a part of your mind. How to discern, how to judge, it's an important part. Not every Christian has this area of their mind sanctified. Do you know how I know? All over the church, don't judge, don't judge, don't judge. You're not allowed to judge. Who said that? Oh, it says it in the Bible. Where does it say it? They can't find it. If they do manage to Google it and find it, Matthew chapter 7 verse 1, you thought you got me and caught me out there. The Bible does say, don't judge. Jesus said, do not judge. Do you know the context of Matthew 7? Oh, but it says it. Do you know the context? He's not telling everyone, don't judge. He's saying it to the man with a plank in his eye that's taken everyone's head off, trying to take a splinter out of his brother's eye. Jesus is saying to him, do not judge. Do you know what we get in the church? Don't judge. That person doesn't have a sanctified mind. They're proud of not judging and say, I love people too much to judge. You have an unsanctified mind. Your mind is not sanctified. You're ignorant of the word of God. The word of God has not molded your mind. And here you're telling me not to judge. I'm such a mature, spiritual, spirit-filled, loving Christian. I don't judge anyone. Matthew 7, Jesus says, judge the wolves, judge the pigs. Elsewhere, he says, judge dogs. How are you going to do that? Matthew 24, about the last days that we're living in, beware of men. Oh no, you're just to trust everyone and accept them all in. Isn't it strange in this hour in the church, preachers like me, people sitting in churches will not obey and not be persuaded. They don't have a mind to be persuaded. They go, I'm not sure about that. And then all the wolves, they say, don't judge. Don't judge the poor wolf. Why are you calling him a wolf? Since it's so serious, what is going on? It does say in Matthew 7, 1, judge not that you be not judged, but it's talking to a hypocrite, no one else, only to the hypocrite. If you're a hypocrite, judge another, it's not dealing with yourself, don't judge. It's you that's not to judge. But listen to what it says in 1 Corinthians 2, 15. But he that is spiritual judges all things, things that are revealed. He takes the cover off, he investigates, he looks closely, he searches out all things. This is a spiritual man. Oh, that takes too much work. I just love people. I'm one of those loving Christians. You're unsanctified in your mind. Judging does not mean to be judgmental or critical. Do you know when you judge biblically, you're not allowed to make false accusations. You're not allowed to point the finger when you don't have evidence. You've got to take time. You're going to be slow, slow to speak. That's how I know you're sanctified. This command to judge, the spiritual judge all things, is not an open door to lambast people. It's not. It's not only judging what is wrong and telling someone where they're wrong. It's actually judging yourself that you shouldn't speak and that you should mind your own business. Or maybe you need to deal with your own life. It's all of this. The spiritual man judges all things truly, accurately, biblically. He has the ability, the maturity, the spirituality to judge all things. He'll judge preaching. I don't mind you judging my preaching. I invite it. We're to judge things in this church, in marriages, in our fellowship together. What does the word judge mean? It means to scrutinize, to investigate, interrogate, determine by asking questions. Do you ever make a judgment if you never ask a question? Are you good as someone else but you never go to a person? It's discerning and examining. If you don't examine something, you're not discerning. Your brain isn't sanctified. It's really not. Seventh and lastly, let me finish tonight on this. Since I'm showing you a very practical way how to sanctify your mind. This is the sanctification, making holy your mind that God can use you. If you allow this to work, seventh and lastly, dreams and visions. It says in Acts chapter 2 and the book of Joel that God prophesied saying, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Acts chapter 2, 17. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. I don't believe that prophecy is for this generation. It stopped 2000 years ago. You need your mind sanctified because you know what my Bible says, it'll continue until Jesus comes back. Dreams, visions, prophecies. So if you believe these things are only for the early church, you need to renew your mind. Oh, I don't believe a lady can prophesy in the church. Read the text. You need to sanctify your mind. Some young guy, whippersnapper come in here. He said, I don't think the ladies should pray. I said, that's because you don't know your Bible. He didn't want to talk to me, ask me, just go out, watch a YouTube video, listen to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about and come in here and want to put that here. Let's sit down with a Bible. Oh no, he didn't do that. Since it takes a sanctified mind, there's a lot of pride and arrogance that portrays itself as knowledgeable when it doesn't know what it's speaking about. I'm talking about dreams and visions. How do you sanctify your dreams? I'm finishing on this, okay? How do you sanctify? Do you know the crazy dreams that I get? Have you ever had, I know none of you have these, but have you ever woke up and went, what in all the world could ever make sense of that? If that has an interpretation, I don't want to hear it. I don't want anyone to give me an interpretation for that dream. I won't even try to share it. It's hard enough to convey it to Candice. Have you ever had one of those? How can you sanctify your dream life? It's out of your control. It's subconscious, you're fast asleep. A vision is when you're awake, dreams are when you're asleep. Brother Keith, this dream was from the devil. There are dreams from the devil, there really are. There's some dreams from God. There's an awful lot of dreams because of pizza eaten too late at night. How do you sanctify your dream life? Can you stop dreams? I'm never gonna have a dream from the devil. I'm gonna so renew my mind, I'll never have a dream from the flesh or from pizza ever again. Just stop eating pizza last thing at night. That will at least cure that one. How do you sanctify your mind in this realm of dreams? I can't stop every thought that comes to me, can I? I can't, you can't. Can you be so sanctified that no wrong thought will come into your mind? Remember, there's the gatekeeper. This is where the thoughts come. You can stop it getting into your heart. You can't stop it breezing through your mind. I've had thoughts go through my mind that are wicked. But I never sinned. I never sinned. Once when I was preaching in Scotland, it's only happened once in my entire life. As I got up and preached from the beginning of the opening text, the worst blasphemies I've ever heard in my life filled my mind. If none of you are there and I kick my toe and really hurt it or break my toe, you won't hear. If you were there, my mobile phone, the world government's not gonna hear Keith Malcolmson curse in secret privately. I don't do that. But here I am in a sermon with the most vile blasphemies filling my mind for an hour of preaching. And it was so bad, I was scared it was gonna come out. I mean, it's flooding my mind. And I've got this conversation going, what am I gonna do with this? And where's this? And will I put my hands over my mouth to stop this coming out? These are vile blasphemies. Only ever happened once in my entire life. It was extraordinary. Saints, I couldn't stop that. But it's not in this life. It's not a part of this life. Do you know what you do? You test the dreams. You can't stop having a dream last night. But when you wake up, what you do with that dream depends on whether you've got a sanctified mind or not. You know what that dream needs put in the bin? That dream was from the devil, and I can discern it. That dream, and it happens infrequently. All dreams aren't of God. Most dreams aren't of God. But there's a few dreams that are life and death. They're straight from God. Do you know I've been guided in dreams? I've been directed in dreams. Some years ago, we were going out preaching as normal on a Thursday in Jedburgh in Scotland. And we drove in the car. It was freezing cold with my friend David. And he laughed. He said, you're not going to believe what I dreamed last night. I said, what did you dream? He said, we got to Jedburgh. And as we're walking up the street to the square, there were three guys, and he described them to me and told me what color jumpers. And he said, they're standing there. And you began to preach, and they beat you up. That's what I dreamed last night. So we laughed. We laughed all the way to Jedburgh in the car. And we made some jokes about this. Then we prayed. We got out of the car, and we're walking up. And 100 meters from the square, I stopped dead. I looked at him. And three guys dressed exactly as he's seen in the dream. And as I stood there, he turned to me and says, what are you going to do? Are you going to preach? I go, don't be stupid. I said, can you imagine us getting to heaven and said, Lord, why didn't you protect me? I said, a dream. I had never seen three guys stand there, dressed like that in that spot at that time, never in a six to seven year period. You know what? I don't know, but I'm not taking the chance. I actually believe that was a dream of the Lord. A vision is different. It's during the day when your eyes are open and you have a vision from the Lord. I once phoned my mom, said, I've lost my wallet, all my fuel cootings. I've got everything in there, all my bank cards. I've searched everywhere. Three times. My car, I've searched it three times inside out, ripped everything out. It's not there. I'm in trouble. I'm meant to drive a long journey tomorrow morning. And my mom says, I'm going to pray. On the phone, as she begins to pray, instantly in my mind, I see where it is. It's in the car. I said, mom, I know where it is. How did I know? How did I know? Put the phone down. Before the days of mobiles, I ran out. I didn't look. I put my hand in there and it was sitting where my hand went. I had a vision. I've had very few visions. But you know what? God does give visions. He does give dreams. But do you know how to test them? Do you know how to sanctify them? Saints, I've just given you seven functions of the brain, the mind, and how you're to apply the Word of God to these seven areas. Either your mind is unsanctified. Maybe before, I don't want you being like me. Saying, how do you study? What do you mean, a renewed mind? I want you to understand what it means for God to sanctify your mind. And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the goal, saints. You may not conquer this in a week or a month. But I'm saying, between now and the coming of Jesus Christ, my goal is to have all of these areas, my entire mind. You may lose a few battles in some of these. Maybe you say, I've got six of them, but that's seventh one. Go after it. Make it your goal. I'm going to sanctify that area in my thinking, that Jesus Christ may receive of all the glory and the praise and the honour. Will you pray with me? I want to pray for you in this meeting. Just like Paul did, I want to pray for you right now. Let's stand together as we just close. Just lift your hands just where you are. Saints, you know your mind, you know your heart, you know your life, you know the things that you're facing. Can we agree together? Can we pray with one heart? Not only for ourselves in this room, but for all those that are watching online, all those that are going to watch this video even later. Can we agree together that God is going to sanctify minds? We need it. It's an evil hour. And there are many arising with depraved minds, with wicked minds that are given over to the devil, yet they look intellectual. But I want to tell you, we need sanctified minds in the body of Christ here tonight. Father, I do pray for my friends, O God, that you'd sanctify us wholly. I need to be sanctified wholly. We need to be sanctified wholly in our bodies and our soul and our spirit. Father, I pray for these seven areas tonight, O God. We can pray into this. It's not something you just tell us to do. But O God, you want us to pray about this and to bring it to you and to ask help of you and to look for your grace and your power and that you will preserve us blameless under the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that thoughts are going to get taken captive tonight, that we would cage imaginations. Lord God, that high things are going to fall in this room tonight. My God, I pray for a breakthrough, that you're going to wash us with the word of God. You're going to renew these minds, that these minds are going to be rewired to think biblically, to have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. O God, I pray set us free, O God. And Lord God, we pray for all of our friends in different nations, O God, who are standing with us, who are praying, who are seeking for a move of God in this evil hour. O God, will you help them if they're isolated, if they're alone, if they don't have a church, will you help them by your power? Will you wash them, all those that are coming into the school for the next three weeks? My God, I pray change their minds, renew their minds, sanctify their minds. My God, let the mind of Christ be granted by your grace and your mercy. In Jesus' mighty name.