Bayside Baptist Church

Jason King: Hey Bayside, how is everybody doing today? Isn't it great to have Kyle back with us? Yeah, man. I'm so glad Nicole and Adalia are all good. Everybody is good. New addition to their family, so awesome for you to be back, man. I love it when you lead us in worship.

If you would take your copy of God's Word and turn to Mark, Chapter 12. Mark, Chapter 12 is where we're going to be.

James Johnson: Back this fall, I took a phone call from one of my former students. Most of you know, before I took this position here at Bayside just over three years ago—I've been here three years, y'all, that's wild—I was a student pastor before that. Once kids are yours, they're always yours. I keep up with a handful of my kids over the past youth groups over the years.

Bethany called, and we were just chit-chatting about life and about all kinds of things. I just said, "Bethany, would you talk to me a little bit about what did I do right as a youth pastor? Like, what did I do right?" We reminisced a little bit, we started talking through things, and then I asked a little bit harder of a question. I said, "Bethany, okay, what did I miss? What did I miss? What are you deficient in? Maybe I could have hit that. Maybe I could have done better there."

It was silence on the phone for a little bit. Then she said, "James, you taught us really well how to love God with all of our heart." I thought, "Okay, awesome. Check." She said, "You taught us really well how to love God with all of our soul." I thought, "Okay, awesome. Check." She said, "You taught us really well how to love God with all of our strength." I said, "Okay, awesome."

She goes, "But James, I don't really know even as an adult—and now she's married and has kids—I'm not sure I know how to love God with my mind." I went, "Oh, okay. I wasn't expecting that deep. Okay, awesome. Here we go." God began to churn within my heart this past fall. How do I do that? This is important, but how do I do that? How am I supposed to do that?

Then we started this new year with Life Journal reading in our Life Journal. We've already read Luke, Chapter 10, which talks about this, and Deuteronomy 6, which talks about this. Last week, we hit Mark, Chapter 12, which we'll put on the screen here in just a minute. I thought, "Oh, okay Lord. This is what you're doing. You're trying to shape in me how do I love God with my mind." It was obvious this is where the Lord wanted me to go today.

Mark, Chapter 12, verses 28 through 31 says this: "And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?'" That's a great question, right? "Jesus answered, 'The most important is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

As we're reading that, I just thought, "Okay, this is important. If Jesus is saying this is the greatest, this is the most important thing, then I need to pay attention to this." Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy, Chapter 6 here. But if you go to Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, that word "mind" is not there. Jesus adds, "Love the Lord your God with all of your mind." He adds that. Why does he do that?

Most theologians and most people in commentaries you read would say this passage talks about how you're supposed to love God with everything. Okay, I get that. But how do I love God with my mind? How do I do this? We're going to unpack this today. Are y'all ready? Let's go. You're way more lively than the early service. All right. Gold star whoever said let's go.

Number one: Loving God with our mind requires an adjustment in how we think. It requires an adjustment in how we think. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6, but the next two verses are really the application of this passage in verses 6 and 7 of Deuteronomy 6. They say this: "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children."

Okay, so I'm supposed to teach them. This phrase "to teach" means to sharpen, prick, or leave a mark—an impression that won't let go. This is not memory foam. I've got one of those on our bed. You push it in, and then it goes back. That's not it. We are to leave an impression. It's the same word that's used for a mason who's carving stone. They would build a house or a structure, and they would take their sharp object and pound in their mark to say this is what's been created. They left an impression there.

It's the same word used. We are to teach. We are to leave an impression on our children, our grandchildren, those who we have influence over in our life. Jesus is saying you're to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. We are to impress upon our children how to think. How to think.

The problem is we haven't spent enough time with the Lord that when our kids begin to have these questions and these concerns and these thought processes, how do we answer? What do we say? What am I supposed to do here? One of my seminary professors said this. I was taking an evangelism class, and he said, "The greatest thing in sharing your faith is to tell someone what God did in your life today."

What has God been doing in your life? As you walk along the way—this is off that passage in Deuteronomy—as you lie down, as you live your life, you are to impress these things on your kids. Guys, as you live your life, you're to impress these things. What God's doing with your neighbors, with your coworkers, with your family. You are to leave a mark on them. You are to teach them, show them, expose them to what God is doing in their life.

How we think is important because it directs how we live. I saw this the other day. A thought becomes an intention. An intention becomes a behavior. A behavior becomes a habit. A habit becomes a practice. A practice becomes a nature, and then that's who you are. What adjustments do we have to make?

Look at this verse. Second Corinthians 10:5 says this: "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." Christ is the authority. To obey Christ. How are we making these adjustments in our life? I began to really think and unpack this and look at scripture as a whole and think, "How can I do that? How can I love God with my mind and how do I make the adjustments that I need?"

Number one: You need to have a quick response time when that thought comes into your mind. A quick response time. Very fast after the first service, I was met by one of our just awesome guys right down here. He came in, and tears were running down his face. He's a recovering alcoholic who struggled a good portion of his life with this.

He goes, "Man, if I don't do this quick response time, if I don't do that, man, it's a train wreck the rest of the day. As soon as my feet hit the floor, I've got to give it to the Lord. I've got to lay it down." We've got to have a quick response time. We've got to know the adjustments to make. We've got to spend time with the Lord so we know the adjustments that we need to make.

If we don't know ahead of time, how are we going to combat the enemy? It might look like something like this. We need to identify maybe it's a lie that needs truth. When that lie comes in, we need to combat that with truth. The falsehood, maybe there's a thought that comes in that's falsehood that needs correction, and we need to correct it right then. Pride needs humility. Selfishness needs generosity. Disagreement needs unity.

We need quick response time. We need to know what adjustments to make, and we don't need to let that thought linger in the crockpot of your mind. When it comes in, we need to address it with truth, with the Lord, right away. Quick response time. But what often happens with us? We allow that sinful thought to come in, and it reigns in our thinking. It lingers there, and we give the enemy a foothold. Instead of us taking our thoughts captive, we are captivated now by our thoughts.

The enemy loves to play with that in our mind. He loves to do that. What happens when we don't take our thoughts captive? What happens with that? The first thing, our mind begins to wander. How many of you are there right now? Truth time. Some of y'all are thinking about, "Okay, come on James, get done. I'm ready to go eat lunch."

Our mind begins to wander, right? We drift so easily, don't we? The next thing you know, we're like sailed to sea way past, like, how did I get here in my thought life? A second thing: We replay the reel that's constantly running in our mind—a past situation, a past circumstance. The enemy loves to just bring that up. "Hey, instead of the Lord, think about this thing. Think about that."

We start replaying this reel in our mind over and over and over again. The next thing you know, we're captivated by that reel—the "what ifs" of our life instead of who God is. Then we begin to wish things were different, maybe even fantasize about the grass being greener on the other side instead of thanking God for who He is and what He's done. This is what we do.

It is so incredibly challenging. We've got to make some adjustments in how we think. When we're confronted with that thought right away, we've got to ask God, "Help me in that moment. Help me in that moment." I don't need to dwell on that throughout my day. I don't need to let that captivate my thoughtful energy. I need God in this moment. God, I need you in this moment. Amen?

Because if we don't, the enemy loves to play havoc with us all the time. I can't stand this about the enemy. It makes me angry. I want to start my day. I told the staff this this morning, and I'll say this to you. Do you know when the worst time is for me when I preach? Do you know when the worst time is for me? 1:00 PM Sunday afternoon.

Do you know why? "James, you're not good enough. Why did Jason even ask you to step into that space? Did you say that accurately? Oh, I think you misquoted that text. Oh, now someone's not going to trust the Lord because..." This is the reel that plays in my mind at 1:00 PM every Sunday afternoon.

When is that time for you? But it wasn't 1:00 PM today. It was 5:30 this morning. My feet hit the floor when the alarm went off. I told the staff this morning I've rewritten this sermon about five times. The enemy approached in that moment like, "This sermon's not good. It's not going to captivate anybody's thought. Nobody's going to make a decision for the Lord."

All these things begin to play in my mind. I thought, "What? Wait a minute. How fitting. I'm going to battle for our minds and teaching our church how to live this way, and this is what you're doing, enemy?" I can't wait until Jesus comes back. How about y'all? Kicks that guy in the teeth, man. I can't wait for Jesus to come back.

This is what happens with us. We need a special touch with God to correct our thinking, to put us in the right place at just the right time. I know there's somebody in here this morning that you are reliving a reel over. You're stuck. You're stuck in a pattern of maybe what was, what is, or what you thought would be. Maybe you struggle with that wandering mind. I'm going to ask you to reshape your thinking. Come to the Lord and ask Him for help.

Secondly is this: Loving God with our mind requires a greater spiritual awareness. A greater spiritual awareness. The other day after a staff meeting, Michael and I were just hanging out talking about different things that we had talked about with staff. He mentioned, "Man, I've just become more aware of the spiritual warfare and the attacks of the enemy lately. How about you?" I was like, "Yes. Yes."

We need a deeper spiritual awareness of what's happening, of what's going on around us. I often think what happens is we just dismiss stuff. We just pass it off as a bad thought. Do you know what that is? That's an attack of the enemy. That's an attack of the enemy. When your mind and when your thought process is not on the Lord, and it's reliving things or it's sinful in nature, that is the enemy that is attacking.

I want to give you a filter this morning. That's the enemy. Right there, you need a quick response to say, "Lord, I need your help. I need your help." We need a greater spiritual awareness. Look what this verse says in Romans, Chapter 8: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace."

This term "to set" right here—and there's another verse in Colossians that has this same phrase, to set their mind on things above—this "to set" in this text has to do with attitude and understanding, the full faculty of thought and planning. Haven't you heard the phrase before, "If so-and-so sets their mind to this, it's going to happen"?

Some of that might be you. You set your mind to it, and you're going to do it. That's where this comes from. You set your mind, and you're going to do it. We need help in our life. We need a greater awareness of what God's doing in our life. We spend our life so much spiritually unaware. Craig Groeschel is a pastor and author, and he wrote in the opening part of his book *Winning the War in Your Mind* a story about his church staff.

Our church staff has fun. We do a lot of good things. But theirs is like over the top with the fun. One example: this morning I pulled into the parking lot, and I saw Michael standing by his truck. I saw it clear as day. I got out of the truck and turned around to grab my stuff and turned back, and he's like there. He was like, "Hey man!" I was like, "Ahh!" What a way to start my day.

Craig Groeschel tells this story about walking into church one morning real early. He thought he was the only one there, but his spidey senses went up. He realized quickly there's somebody else in the building. He didn't know where they were, so he went to go look for them. He swung open a closet, and there was a guy on staff there ready to scare him. But he scared him instead.

As a pastor, he was like, "Okay, I'm going to put an end to this." He reached over, he slammed the closet door shut. He grabbed a chair and went to stick the chair under that knob where the guy can't get out. But it was too short. The pastor said, "I put this chair under. You're going to wait until somebody else comes in here to let you out."

The guy didn't even try the door. He was in there for a couple of hours. We need a greater spiritual awareness. We need to be aware of what is happening in our life. Like I said earlier, this is what happens. A thought becomes an intention, an intention becomes a behavior, a behavior becomes a habit, a habit becomes a practice, and our practice becomes our nature. It simply is who we are.

Let me explain how this works itself out, how it has worked itself out in my life. I've had to repent of this. I love sugar. It's a problem. Cookies—all kinds. Cake—I'm not hitting a nerve yet. Pie? Okay, there we are. I'm from South Florida, y'all. You put a key lime pie in front of me, I'm killing it right now. It's a problem in my life.

What happens? It starts with a thought, usually about 9:30 or 10:00 at night. This is how it goes down. That little thought becomes an intention. The next thing, where am I? I'm in the kitchen. That's where you'll find me. I walk over to the pantry, and I open that. Okay, Karen's been good; she didn't buy any cookies. All right, so I shut the pantry.

Then I walk over to the fridge, and I open the fridge. There's nothing in there. But oh, the freezer—the most glorious thing that God has created on this planet outside of coffee. There's the ice cream. You take that tub of ice cream out, or I take that tub of ice cream out. Now that intention becomes a behavior. Now instead of scooping myself a couple of spoonfuls, I'm just eating out of the tub.

Then my behavior becomes a habit. Instead of just Friday or Saturday, my weekend reward, it's Monday, it's Tuesday. Then about 9:30 or 10:00, I start heading to the kitchen. My daughter looks and says, "Oh, there goes Dad's evening ritual." Now it's a practice, and then it becomes who you are.

Even more, just with our eating habits, pleasing our flesh, setting our minds on the flesh leads us down a terrible path. We've decided to please our flesh instead of God. This passage in Romans is so incredibly powerful. We've got to set our minds on the spirit. It brings our focus, our attitude, our plans towards pleasing the Lord.

Often this is exactly what happens with sin. It's not just with our sugar addiction or caffeine addiction. This is what happens with sin in our life. That thought comes in, and the next thing you know, that's who we are. We're behaving that way. We're living that way. I don't want to be that way.

Church, I want to be the best that I am for my family, for my wife, for my kids, for my church. But even more than that, to please my Savior, to please my God. It's so easy. It starts with that thought that comes in. If we don't act on it quickly, we're headed down a very challenging path. That end part of Romans 8 says this: "But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace." We gain life and peace when we put ourselves in obedience to the Lord.

When we become obedient to Him and what He wants for our life. How else do we love God with our mind? Thirdly is this: Loving God with our mind requires an occasional reset. The reason why I said occasional is because it's not just a daily thing. Sometimes it's a moment-by-moment thing. Because the enemy has gripped our heart with something, he's tempting us with something.

It's a moment-by-moment thing where we've got to reset in that moment. "Nope, I can't. No, I'm not doing that. No, absolutely not. I'm going to chase after you, Lord." Look what this verse says in Romans 12:2: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of our mind." How are we transformed into that person that God wants us to be? We renew our mind.

My youth pastor used to call it "stinkin' thinkin'". We've got to get rid of it. We have to renew our mind and begin to walk with the Lord even in our mind. That's how we worship Him. That's how we love Him with our mind. We're fighting against so much, and rarely we have time for any margin for peaceful reflection or quality attention to detail about the things in our life.

This is why I love the Life Journal so much, because it requires me to sit down and focus and write my thoughts out. Lord, this is what you're doing. This is what I see. It's such a valuable tool in my life.

I've used this illustration several times, so some of you might have heard this before. But I had a Bible college professor. I was taking a class on spiritual disciplines. He said, "Hey, we're going to be doing class in the chapel." Okay, all right, cool. There were about 12 or 15 of us in the class on spiritual disciplines—being disciplined to walk with the Lord.

We go into this chapel; it's a little bit smaller than this room. We go in there and he says, "Okay, I want you to put all of your stuff, just lay it down front. You can have a Bible, notebook, and a pen, and just spread out all throughout the room." So we did. He goes, "Here's the rules: I've reserved the chapel for two days. You can't leave that seat that you're in until you hear from God."

I went, "Oh, okay. This has never happened to me before. Haven't done this discipline before. Okay." Do you know how long it took me to clear everything out of my mind so I quit replaying the reel in my mind, so I quit doing the checklist? Anybody checklist in here? I've got these checklists of stuff. Do you know how long it took me? An hour.

Finally, at the end of that hour, I was like, "Okay, I'm at peace. I've given you my day, Lord. I've given you my time. I know you have something." I started reading through scripture, started journaling page after page after page, starting writing what the Lord was speaking to me. I quieted my heart, I quieted my mind. I put them in front of the Lord and I started journaling, started writing.

At hour two, I looked up. There were 12 to 15 guys in there—pastors, youth pastors, worship leaders all spread out across that room. There was not one dry eye in that room. There was no worship music playing, there was nobody preaching, there was nothing. Every single guy was meeting with the Lord in that room. It was one of the most humbling, passionate experiences that I've ever had in my life.

I long for that on a daily basis to meet with God. Some of you need that reset. How long has it been since you sat and listened to the Lord? "Lord, I want to hear you speak. I want to meet with you right now. God, I know you've got something for me. I know you have something to say." How long has it been for you?

We live such busy lives. We fill our minds and our hearts with actions and we go through so much stuff. We pile it on and pile it on and pile it on, and then we feel FOMO, fear of missing out, and we add more things, and we add more things instead of being quiet reflection before the Lord for the most important part of our day.

We do this repetitiously over and over. We need a reset. That might be you today. "Yeah, that's me. I need a reset. I've got so much going on up here that I haven't reset my heart. I haven't reset my mind to renew it so I can hear the Lord speak." God has something to say to each and every one of you every single day.

A fresh word of encouragement. Anybody need encouragement today? Hope. A fresh word of hope. Anybody need hope today? Anybody discouraged today? You need the Lord. How about a diagnosis that you've received? Anybody need help with that? You're replaying that reel in your mind. "How am I going to get through this? How am I going to pay for this? What am I... how am I... what?"

Broken relationship? We just went through an incredible marriage series. Maybe some of y'all are wading through that, trying to get through that, and you need a special touch from the Lord. We need to renew our mind. Loving God with our mind requires an occasional reset. If we're going to have a reset, we must invest the time to do that. Give the energy that's necessary and plan to meet with God. We've got to make that a priority in our life if we're going to worship Him with our mind so that we can be focused on Him and walk with Him.

Lastly is this: How do we love God with our mind? Loving God with our mind requires prayer and a lot of it. A lot of it. Look at this passage in Philippians, Chapter 4: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

The guardrails for our mind are given to us right here. There's some guardrails given. It might look like this in your prayer life. You might want to articulate it as this. This is a discipline that I have, praying through scripture. What does that look like? If I'm going to refresh my mind on the Lord—because prayer is our foundation, our connection with God—it's so important. It might look like this:

Pray that you would love the truth and speak the truth. Pray that you would honor God with your deeds and with your thoughts. Pray that you would be upright and keep the commands of God. Pray that you would be pure and clean in every aspect of your thought life. Pray that you would use your words to uplift and to encourage.

Pray that you would have a good course of thought. Pray that your thoughts would be filled with praise and with worship. There's some practical steps for us because I think what happens is we look and think, "I'm supposed to love God with my mind. How do I do that?"

It's a beautiful passage of scripture to say, "Oh, here's some guardrails for my heart. Here's some guardrails for my mind to lay up against." To say, "Lord, I need your help because my thought process just wanders. My thought process replays the reel. My thought process says the grass is greener on the other side all the time."

I need to come to you, Lord, and worship you with my mind, worship you with my thought. I need to love you with my mind, with my thought. God will help you. God will help you. He'll bring peace in your life. He'll bring help in your life. He'll give you what you need. In a room with this many people in it, I guarantee there's some massive amounts of needs here represented.

Some of you might not know how you're going to make it financially tomorrow. Some of you might not know, "My health is terrible and I don't know what to do." All kinds of issues, all kinds of things. The only way we can combat that is to pray, is to seek God, is to ask Him for help. To attack those negative thoughts right away as quickly as we can. Replace them with truth. Replace them with love. Replace them with worship. Replace them with who God is. He will help you. He will help you.

Let's pray.