Think on these things - Having the right thoughts
Category: Bible Study & Scripture
Key Passage: Philippians 4:8
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 6, 2024
Would you take your Bibles and turn over to Philippians chapter number four, Philippians chapter number four in God’s Word? I appreciate our ladies on the instruments. Ms. Gator filling in when Ms. Barb’s out of town, and people just making it happen. I appreciate that very, very much. Philippians chapter four, a very familiar passage tonight. Verse number eight.
Philippians 4 and verse number 8 of God’s Word. I want you to notice something. I want you to notice that the very first word is “finally” there. But would you look over in chapter number three in verse number one? And would you notice right there it says, “finally.” Now, here’s my point. You say, well, preacher, you close and close and close again. That’s biblical. You see that in chapter three, he said, “finally,” and then he closed again in chapter four. So I am trying to say, hey, be gracious. By the way, did you notice we got out a little early this morning? What about that? There’s a living Lord. You thought that never happened. There are miracles that do happen. What about that? And so I gained a little time so we can go a little longer tonight, right? So don’t give me a hard time when you said, “Well, you closed a couple times.” Paul closed a couple times. This is biblical stuff here. So anyway, I had to get that in there a little bit. But we’re in Philippians 4 and verse number 8 over there, Philippians 4 and verse number eight of God’s Word.
Would you please stand as we read God’s Word together? Philippians 4 and verse number 8. In verse number 7, he just gave you a five-part formula on what to do. Verse number seven: the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, Lord, Christ Jesus. And he said, let me give you a final thought here.
Okay, finally, it does start off with “finally.” We are getting to the real truth here, all right now. But he says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true.” That has to do without error. Whatsoever things are honest? Is he repeating himself? No, it has to do with honorable, if you will. Whatsoever things are true? Whatsoever things are honest or honorable? Whatsoever things are just? That just has to do with impartial. When you have an argument with someone—I know it is never, ever your spouse—but if it were to be, and you think about that, are you thinking just your side? Or do you think impartially? Whatsoever things are just? You see both sides of it; you’re honest, you’re just about it, impartial. Whatsoever things are pure? Well, that we eat out a lot in our day and time. Whatsoever things are lovely, friendly, sweet, if you will, just using that lightly. Whatsoever things are of good report? Have a good reputation, if you will. I’m not trying to get into all the details of these six things, but notice the last part. He says, “If there be any virtue.” Virtue is interesting. The word has to do with masculine. It has to do with strength. If you are going to have the strength to do what you know is right to do, if you are going to have that strength to do what you know is right to do, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise—well, it’s good for God’s people to have the garment of praise on. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. It is just critical what you are thinking, your thoughts. It is interesting. If you look up the Strong’s Concordance definitions for that last part, it says to take an inventory. You take an inventory of things that fall in these six categories, and you think on those things. Just your thoughts—how important they are. I do not think you will necessarily hear anything new tonight, but I know myself need to be reminded about my thoughts and having the right thoughts. Think on these things.
I just want to give you five helps for your thoughts. Five helps with your thoughts for all of us. Just briefly tonight, would you pray that God would help our thoughts be better because of tonight? Lord, help us all, Lord. You know this is where the battleground is. You know better than I, of course, Lord. Father, I pray you to help us be aware of it. Lord, help us to fight the good fight. Lord, help us to win, Lord, in this battle of our thoughts. Lord, guide me to say what you want said, the way you want it said. And would you use that, Lord, for your glory and the good of your people? And Lord, thank you for what you do in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
Most years I was in college, I worked second shift. Almost every year I worked second shift. Typically, you go to work about 3:00, 3:30, and you get off at midnight. Every year I was in Rice, the dormitory, second floor. I was either Rice 205 or Rice, I think, 217. I was in Rice 205, and pretty much all of our guys—it varied how many guys were in the room—I do not know. We had four or five guys in there, I am not sure at this time, but all of us worked second shift besides one guy. Now, he is a good guy; I was in his wedding. He is a good guy, but his parents paid his bill. So the rest of us guys were a little bit, probably jealous or envious of it. We would be working until midnight or somewhere along there, and we would get in, and Don would be over there in his little bunk, sound asleep, just sleeping away. We are getting in there all dirty and everything, trying to get cleaned up, get to bed because we had class the next morning.
One night, very early—but one night—we all just happened to come in about the same time, all of us working guys. Don was over there getting his beauty sleep. We thought, “Man, this ain’t right. Dirty big back or slatter up guy over there sleeping in like that.” I do not know who came up with it, but we all agreed, and we changed every clock in the room. I do not know what we said to him, but we knew he had an 8 o’clock class—I am not sure, 7 o’clock or whatever it was—but we were right there at it. We all, of course, got in our beds like we were sleeping, and the alarm went off. I got up, and Don, he hit a snooze, if I remember. I remember he did not get up. I am not sure all the reasons. Finally, we said, “Hey, Don, man, time to get up. You got an 8 o’clock class.” If I remember right, he was going to sing in a choir in chapel that day, so he was going to dress up very nice, have a suit on and all that. He woke up and kind of shook himself, “Oh, man.” You know how it is when you are late. He was like that, rushing around. All the guys were mostly in bed, it seemed like. I cannot remember the details, but they were kind of burying their heads on their pillows because they were laughing so he would not see. I was trying to keep a straight face. Down the hallway, at the end of the hall, there was a restroom for everybody—a large restroom, showers and all that in there. So I went down there to take a shower. A couple guys were in there, a lot of guys from work. We had told them what we were doing, so those guys were ready. I took a shower; he got ready. He came back in the room and he was hurried. You know how it is in the morning when you are in a hurry. He was just running around quick. I will never forget he had a suit on. It was the day and time when people used briefcases. He had a briefcase. I will never forget this—it was around 2 a.m. at this point.
I will never forget this, 2 a.m. He said this. I remember this part because I have used it several times. I remember this part very clearly. He said, “Man, Paul,” he said, “I slept in, but my body must have needed it because I feel so good now.” 2 a.m. He literally felt good. He was like, “I needed that. I feel good now.” 2 a.m.
Now, the power of your thoughts. He thought he had slept in. He thought he had had more sleep. And he literally felt better, more rested because of his thoughts.
Friend, your thoughts, your mind is so powerful, so crucial. They say the human mind processes anywhere between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts in a given day. Your thoughts—what are you thinking? Someone said negative thinking will lead us nowhere fast. Your thoughts.
Can I give you just a couple of observations before we get these five helps? Just a couple quick thoughts. If you will notice in verse number eight right there, he does not tell us what not to think on. Because as soon as you say, “I am not going to think on that,” you are thinking on that.
How many in your past know some songs you ought not to know? You go to the grocery store or wherever it is, and they are playing that song. Later on the day or maybe that moment, you are like, “Oh, man, where did that song come from?” Well, they are playing it wherever you are. Your mind brings that back up. You find yourself singing that song in your mind or it replaying in your mind, “Man, I wish I could get rid of that.” Can I tell you how to get rid of it? Start singing a good song. Do it on purpose. Because as long as you are thinking, “I am not going to think about that song,” you are thinking about it. So start singing: “Years that spent in vanity and pride, carry not a little over crucified.” Start singing a good song. Number one: Notice God does not tell us what not to think on here in this verse.
Number two, would you look over in 2 Corinthians chapter number 10? Second Corinthians chapter 10 here real quickly. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and would you look in verse number 4? 2nd Corinthians 10 and verse number 4, if you would please, of God’s Word: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”
Now, I want you to notice he is talking about battle here, a war. I want you to notice that. That is the context. Ultimately, the battle is between God and the devil. The devil chose the battle; he is the one that went against God. And by the way, he is the one that brought you into the middle of this fight because he knows how much God loves you. But you are in the middle of this fight, this war. Our adversary is not our neighbor or whoever; our adversary is the devil. And he and his little demons, his little imps, are shooting at you.
Notice what this is all about. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Now notice this next verse: “Casting down imaginations…” What happens in your mind? Friend, you know where the major battle goes on: in your mind, your thought life. Satan will shoot at us in our thought life. The casting down of imaginations and every high thing—that high thing reminds you of Ephesians 6 where it talks about the armor of a Christian, very close wording about warfare, talking about the devil and his entourage of his higher-ups, if you will. Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God—where does knowledge happen? In your mind. And bringing into captivity every thought—where do your thoughts happen? Of course, in your mind—to the obedience of Christ.
Here is what I am getting at: This major battle is so much in the thought life, and by the way, in your heart also. But the thoughts—here is the thing: It says bringing into captivity. They are exalting themselves against the knowledge of God. That is the devil. I want to really emphasize how Satan will bombard your mind with thoughts.
Some of you have had the most holy times when you are alone with God, and the devil will put just a wicked thought in your mind. Maybe try to get your mind to go critical toward someone or something. Or he will bring in all the issues you have going on. Satan can attack your mind.
The reference often used, and I have used it many times, is Acts 5:3, concerning Ananias and Sapphira. Peter said, “Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” So I am not necessarily responsible for every thought that comes into my mind because Satan has power there, but I must bring it into captivity. I am responsible for it as soon as it gets there. You can win the battle, but the battle goes on there, and you must be aware of that. That is why the Bible, in Peter, says, “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, is walking about seeking whom he may devour.”
Vigilant means… we want to all just be relaxed all the time. But if you are in a battle, you have got to be where the battle is going on. You have got to be ready. There is a fight going on, and the major fight is in your mind. You must be aware that if you put your mind in neutral and let it go wherever your flesh wants it to go, and the devil wants it to go, Satan is going to have a field day with you. He is just going to wreak havoc in your life, and he is going to use you to wreak havoc in the lives of all the people you are around.
It is about your thoughts because your thoughts are so very, very important.
Now, look over in Proverbs 23:7. You have heard this one. As far as this verse, it is familiar. Number one observation we got: Notice God does not tell us what not to think on, Philippians 4:8. But then number two, Satan will attack your thought life, and you must battle there. You must battle. Then number three, your thoughts can go all the way to your heart. The heart has to do with the center of you, the core of you. If I just let Satan have a field day, he will go through my mind all the way to my heart, the center of me. That is what he is after. God wants to bless you. He looks at the heart. “Man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh at the heart.”
Look at this passage here. It seems, if I understand this right, that this man is eating with a wealthy man. He said, “Be careful. Do not desire all his luxuries.” Be careful of that. And besides this guy saying all this stuff to you, hang on—you do not know what is going on inside. Look at verse number seven, Proverbs 23, verse number seven: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Your thoughts can go all the way where your heart starts. Your heart thinks, you know that. It is very important what your heart thinks about.
By the way, you notice over there in Acts 5:3, “Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” “Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee.” That rich man, if he says, “Eat and drink,” he had to somewhat think that with his mind in order to say it. But with the very core of him, however he is thinking there, that is what he is. See, “thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
So how are you thinking? What thoughts have you led all the way into your heart? Are you bringing into captivity every thought? Or is it just going straight on down to your heart? And that is what you are. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Your thoughts are so vital, so very important what you say in your heart.
Remember David? He was running from Saul. God had already reassured David: “Look, David, I am going to take care of you. I have already anointed you to be king.” Was David king yet? No, so we know he is going to live long enough to be king. In 1 Samuel 27:1, David said in his heart, “I shall not perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.” I think that was about a year or so of David’s life where he was very sad. It started when he said in his heart—and it was not true. David knew that. He was already anointed king.
The fool hath said in his heart, “There is no God.” He knows from creation there is a God. You let that same fool who has been saying in his heart, “There is no God,” get run over by a car, and the first thing he says is, “Oh, God help me!” Mr. Jackson used to say there is no atheist in a foxhole. But they will say that in their heart and they will think that, and they will let that thought get in their heart. And as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Our thoughts are so vital.
By the way, none of us have total victory over our thoughts. None of us do. Christ did. We all have to work at this thing. I will just try to give you some very practical, simple helps, just trying to challenge us all, myself included. Let us just work at our thoughts.
Five helps for your thoughts. Number one: Get the Bible in your mind. Work at it. Work at it. Remember the “finally” and “finally”—he closed more than once, all right? Read the Bible. Jesus said seven times, “Have you not read?” Seven times Jesus, God in flesh, said, “Have you not read?” Talking to those Jewish people in the Old Testament. Read the Bible. Read it through every year or whatever plan you have got. Just read the Bible. Get the Bible.
Number two, just trying to get the Bible in your mind: Memorize the Bible. “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” I am shocked how many verses I memorize, and I think I know a little bit about that verse. But after I memorize it and it gets in there, I think, “Wow, I never saw that.” There are so many truths I never saw until I memorized it, and it got to my heart. It is part of meditating on it, chewing the cud. Just trying to get the Bible in our thoughts and our mind, get our mind full of the Bible.
Talk about the Bible. Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.” Talk about the Bible. A couple of Saturday mornings ago, we were eating breakfast in here for soul winning. Usually we talk about sports, March Madness, whatever. I like that too. My older brother Bill is reading through his Bible this year, and he started talking about some parts of the Bible. Before long, everybody at that table in our corner were all talking about the Bible. I thought, “Wow, this is awesome.” It does not happen as much as it should. Just a bunch of men sitting around talking about the Bible. Talking about the Bible. Talking about the Bible. Husbands and wives sitting around talking about the Bible. That is a great thing to do. Friends, talking about the Bible is a great thing. Try to get the Bible in your thoughts.
Listen to preaching. “In due time he manifested his word through preaching.” The Bible opens up through preaching. Listen to preaching. With all the modern-day apps and everything else we have got, you can listen to good preaching 24/7 pretty much. Great opportunities.
Another thought about getting your mind on the Bible: Write down what you got out of the Bible that day. You know the verse, Romans 10:17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” It does not say faith cometh by the Word of God; eventually it does, but it says faith comes by hearing. What does that mean? It is when you are reading the Bible and God speaks to you out of the Bible, and you hear something from the Word, wow. Faith comes about hearing. Now what does hearing come from? The Bible, the Word of God. When God gives you a passion while you are reading through it, and you think, “Wow, that spoke to me this morning,” journal it. Write it down. Put it in your phone so I can tell somebody about it. Maybe you read your Bible first, and then later on you pray, and in your prayer time you say, “Lord, what was I supposed to get out of the Old Testament today? What was I supposed to get out of the New Testament today? What am I supposed to get out of Proverbs and Psalms?” Try to take those truths that God has given you. The Greek word for “word” is often Logos. But that one there is not Logos; it is Rema—a word from the Word that gives you faith. When God speaks to you from His Word, man, get that in your mind. Think about it all day long. Write it on a 3x5 card: “I am going to carry this with me all day long because that is the word God gave me this morning.”
Trying to get your mind full of the Bible. It is not going to happen by chance. You are going to have to work at it. Great things do not demand your attention. TV will demand your attention. I said last night I was going to catch the last two minutes of this ball game. If I just pull it up, I will not watch it. I need to go to bed because Sunday is tomorrow. But it grabbed my attention. It was a good game; I had to watch the end of the game. Not really that important. You do not want the Bible to just grab you. It may happen once in a great while. For the most part, you have to say, “I am going to read that book on purpose. I am going to get in the Bible on purpose. I am going to get it into my mind on purpose.” Satan is going to bombard it. You are going to battle and get it full of the Bible.
Number two: Sing. Just practical helps. Sing godly songs. Listen to them, yes, but more than that, sing them. Speaking of which, Ephesians 5:19: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You are just sitting there. Brother Howes, my old preacher, used to pick a song every day, and that was the song he would sing all day, and he did it on purpose.
We had a man in our church years ago who could not sing. In fact, there were jokes around about how he could not sing. He used to work in a ministry, and they would do a skit where he was supposed to sing, and everybody would think, “Oh no,” when he was going to sing. But he was in our church for years and years. Toward the end, before they moved away, he called or texted—maybe told me face to face—and said, “You know, I tried that thing you are always on us about singing.” I think he was in the car alone, nobody around. He said, “It really works. I was really surprised. I never really did that all these years.” He had been saved forever, but he said, “It is amazing.” The guy could not sing, but there is something about you singing to the Lord; it will do something to you.
By the way, sing Bible verses. It is a great thing. We used to have a cassette tape somewhere around—maybe Ms. Tammy has it on the computer—of 101 Bible verses set to music. I think Brother Anthony has some of that. It is a great thing to do. Put the Bible in the songs. Sing them. Singing godly songs is a great, great thing to do. Number one: Get the Bible in your mind. Number two: Sing godly songs. Sing them. Even if you are not singing out loud, in your heart, you are singing a song. Pick a song every day, whatever works for you, but sing good, godly songs.
Number three: Get a partner to help you with your thoughts. Typically, it is going to be your spouse. If you do not have a spouse, it might be your friend. “Hey, would you help me? I am trying to work at my thoughts. Would you help me?” And maybe if our conversation is going downhill or just negative, do not point your finger at me and yell at me every time. I say, “Hey, we got it. We have to turn our conversation back right.” I say, “Hey, let us work at it together.” It may look like, “Oh, man, it is my fault. I started this going down this track.” Let us get our thoughts so our conversation goes right. Get someone who is kind of your partner. “Hey, let us get our thoughts better.” Work at it together. It will help you be aware of maybe critical or negative or just wrong thoughts. Sometimes we are just not conscious of what is going on in our mind. We put it in neutral; we have already mentioned Satan loves that. Sometimes, “All right, I have got a partner, all right, I better straighten up a little bit because we are working at this together.” That helps us be aware of what we are thinking about. Sometimes we have bad patterns, patterns from the past, whatever. It is going to take some extra work to get out of that rut of wrong thinking. It is going to be a battle, and Satan is going to fight that because he knows that is the battle. If he can take that right there, man, he gets into your heart, and that is the center. The issues of life come out of that right there. So you have to battle that thing, especially if you have bad patterns. Work at it.
Number one was: Get the Bible in your thoughts, work in it, get your mind full of the Bible. Number two: Sing good, godly songs. Number three: Get a partner. Number four: Keep your mind filled with good things. That is Philippians 4:8 in a nutshell: true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report—all those things. Think on these things. Work at it. This may be the whole message. If you get anything, get this: Have your mind full of gratitude. Gratitude changes everything. Everywhere you go, everything goes on—be thankful. It will change the spirit of your life. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. It is crucial. Work at it. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” That is so critical. Work at that. Everywhere you go, everything is going on: “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Work at that, not just with people, but with the Lord. I want to have my mind full of good things.
The paramount thing is to have it full of gratitude. Someone said being thankful comes from being thoughtful. I have to work at that. Just keep your mind full of good things. Listen to good things. Good books. Praise the Lord for audiobooks. I know I should read more, but praise the Lord for audiobooks. A good biography or autobiography does me so good. When I do listen, it helps me so much. Good sermons—I have already mentioned that. You can pull them up anytime. I go to this app and pull up Scott Pauley a lot of times. You can listen to good preaching anytime.
Promises of the Bible. I have been finding myself sometimes—you can go to YouTube, actually, and put in “KJV Bible promises”—and it will pull up just eight hours of just straight Bible promises. The devil stops bombarding your thought life with negativity, or maybe you are in a great battle over something and need some faith. I do not do it often, but sometimes I will just plug into my truck, plug into my phone, and listen to Bible verse after Bible verse, the promises of God, or KJV faith verses. There are several of them out there. Most of them are like 8 or 10 hours long; I think they repeat once they get through these 100 verses. You are just filling your mind with good Bible promises.
In our day and time, there are so many tools we can use to fill our mind with good stuff. You have to. If you do not, there is no room for all this bad stuff. Satan is going to be dumping the bad stuff in, so have it overflow with good stuff, so part of the overflow is the junk getting out of there. It is a battle. Number one: For your mind, use the Bible. Number two: Sing good, godly songs. Number three: Get a partner to help you in this thing. Number four: Keep your mind filled with good things. Just keep good things traveling in there all the time. Work at it, work at it, work at it. It may be just lovely things. What sort of things are lovely? Maybe you need to go back and watch Andy Griffith. You never heard a pastor say, “Go back and listen to something,” but maybe Andy Griffith or The Rifleman or Lucille Ball—some of these old, decent ones—instead of all the junk all the time. Work at it. You are getting good thoughts coming into your mind, and be full of those things.
Number five: Talk about the right things. Would you look over in First Peter? First Peter chapter number three. Years ago, I learned this verse that was so convicting to me. It is so good, and I need to re-memorize it, but it is such a vital verse. I say this often: I do not want to grow old and be a mean, grouchy preacher. Have you ever seen a mean, old, grouchy preacher, just mad at the world because he has been battling all those years? I do not want to be like that. I want to have the joy of the Lord. This verse was so convicting. First Peter chapter number three, would you look at verse number 10? “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.”
Wow. Talk about the right things. If I am going to love life and just enjoy life, my tongue—I am going to have to pull back the rein. No, we are not going there. Refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile.
It seemed like every big dog in the world loves to ride in the back of the pickup truck. Any of you men have taken your dog for a ride in the back of the pickup truck? Something about that. I remember taking one of our dogs for a ride. I like to look in the side mirrors and see them. Our little Yorkie, Bell, she rides in the cab, and she pokes her head out the back window, and I can see her in the mirror. Her fur is blowing. She loves it. I remember one of our dogs would stick its head out where the full air could hit it, and it was just loving life. I would watch that side mirror, and that dog would stick its head out the side where the wind was fully hitting it, and the air would get inside its mouth, and the jaws would just go: whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp. Sometimes it just kind of opened the jaw up, and it looked like that dog was yelling. That dog just loved life.
I like to be like that. I am not saying my jaw is flopping, okay, but I like to love life. And God said, “All right, you are going to have to refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile.” See, here is what happens: If I talk about that, my ears hear that, and it goes into my mind. Keep talking about it, pretty soon it gets down to my heart. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The Bible, Hebrews 4:12, says the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, to the thoughts and intents of the heart. If I am going to just love life, I have to work at these things because my mind and my tongue are part of that.
Let us just kind of reset. “Hey, I am going to work at my thoughts. Keep my thoughts right.”
Let us just as a church, let us just say, “Hey, you know what? None of us are perfect. We are going to work at this thing. We are going to try to keep our thoughts right, and we are willing to battle. We are going to try to bring into captivity every thought.” By God’s grace, I am going to work at this thing—my thoughts.
If God spoke to your heart tonight about that, slip your hand up. God spoke to my heart tonight about that. Me too. Me too. I am with you, friend. Me too, for sure. Me too. Let us just work at this thing.
If we are going to be people of faith, we are going to have to work at our thoughts. Satan will destroy our faith with our thoughts. If we are going to be men and women of faith, we have to work at our thoughts. It is amazing. I decide I am going to have thoughts of faith. I am going to believe God. It is a huge difference, and you have to work with your thoughts on that. You have to, you have to.
Original File: ＂Think on these things-Having the right thoughts＂ Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday PM 04⧸03⧸2022 [lIuJD3qIBNM]