Good Christian Bad Habits Part 1: Renewing of the Mind.

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. and I want to welcome you to the Student of Flight podcast. Listen, we're going to get into so many transferable truths throughout the content of these episodes that I believe God is going to use to help you apply, because he's going to reveal what's already been there the entire time. Enjoy. What's up everybody? So listen, this is episode 1 of season 4. We're kicking off season 4. I have a series I want to jump out of it with, then we're going to get into some interviews for this season. Uh, I apologize, I'm a day behind. No excuses, I'm just a day behind. Uh, but this one I posted like a few weeks ago. I want to kick this, uh, this, this podcast, this season 4 off with a series called, uh, Good Christian Bad Habits. And of course, you know, saying just like with anything, get some context there. Like, oh, you don't want to give people a license to— and I'm not, you know, it's just Context is everything. That's why relationship and understanding people's character is so important, you know. When we want to be so quick to correct, um, we have to have some discerning there too. But nevertheless, you know, I'm not here to debate that or go back and forth and defend. Just wanted to provide a little context there. But season 4, episode 1, uh, probably a 4-part series. I believe it's going to be 4 parts, and I kind of shifted a little bit. This one will probably be the quickest one, uh, as we move to interview format, you know, I kind of want to keep these still around 30-45 minutes, uh, but like solo podcast, I still want to go maybe like 15-20 because like I said, we just— it's just, it's just the nature of it. We live in a generation, in a day and time where people just want things quick, uh, they want to move on to the next, and we, we have to learn how to just, you know, deal with those things, uh, and just start where we can. So that being said, season 4, episode 1, we're gonna jump right into it of the Good Christian Bad Habits series. Listen, this first one we're going to deal with the renewal of the mind. That's, that's it, that's simple. Nothing like super deep there, just the renewal of the mind, because I believe before we can go anywhere else in this series, it has to start with the mind. And Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, you know, 2:14, um, matter of fact, let's just pull it up and read it. One of the things that I like about this is that he is literally saying the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he, he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. In other words, like I say, he's just saying, listen, you are not going to be successful in this Christian life without having the mind of Christ. You're not, because if you don't have the mind of Christ, you can't do what Christ desires for you to do. And so we have to be able to truly understand God by digging in his word. And, you know, being in ministry and now recently, you know, kind of, I guess you could say, doing it officially, uh, one of the things that I was guilty of and I had to repent for is that, you know, when we extend invitation to discipleship to people, we often say, hey, you know, believe in thy mouth, confess that Jesus died and rose with all power in his hands, you know, for the admission of your sins, the reconciliation. You know, everybody kind of have a way that they present it, but it's literally going to Romans what Paul was writing. And you say, confess that with your mouth and believe with your heart by faith. And we do. We accept that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, instantly. And we believe that our mind should be changed and renewed right there on the spot. So we send that person out, and now they're out there like— start with myself, it's all inclusive— it's like, well, I'm still practicing things. Like, I, I can't, I can't shake these habits. Or like, I mean, I, I thought that these things with these desires, stuff, are going to go away. And that's the furthest from the truth. Because it's called discipleship. And see, discipleship is going to cost us because we are called to die to self. We are called to take up our cross, put our flesh to death. So we have to participate in it, but we have the Spirit, which is the engineer. He's the— just that source of power that God left. So he say, I know that you can't do it in your own strength by yourself, so I'm going to leave you an advocate. And he left us the Holy Spirit to help propel us, man, to help us do these things that he has called us to do. Because it wouldn't have been fair if If we didn't have the Holy Spirit, all of us would be jacked up. None of us would be able to truly walk this life because we can't do it in our own merit. And so in the body of faith, yes, the Spirit of God is very important, but we also have to understand that the mind— and that's why I want to start here— the mind is the key to a successful Christian life. It really is. I mean, I've heard many people say, you know, the, the— it's the battleground. The arena of faith is fought in the mind because it's just— we are logical human beings and we're just thoughts and all these type of things. It just, it starts there, and then once it starts there, it penetrates the heart. And so therefore, the mind is very essential and we have to renew it. And that's why I say this first episode of this series is the renewal of the mind, and our foundational text is Romans 12:2, the ESV. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. And that's the ESV. Let's read that one more time. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Just kind of what we said with Corinthians. It all points— it just, it all goes with each other. I cannot know the will of God if I don't know his word. I cannot say I love God if I don't know his word and his scriptures. I can't. Like, if I'm not praying and communing with him and trying to study his scripture, study his word that he has left for us, that he loved us so much to say, here also, to also leave a helper with us in addition to his word If we don't plug into that through daily communion with him, we're not being transformed. So those bad habits are going to overtake you. And a lot of times people ask me, you know, they say, hey man, like, okay, what separates you from me? Like, I'm pretty sure you still struggle with some things, and we're all going to do that. War is always going to be there. So those bad habits are never going to go away because it's very much known that we live in this flesh. But spiritually, the spirit man is what's being renewed. And so therefore, we should be able to bring this flesh under subjection as we live a crucified life and being empowered by the Holy Spirit, renewing our mind of the things of God. And so in other words, what I'm saying is that yes, some of us, we mess up and we do things, whatever it may be. I don't know what it looks like. Some people might have messed up and, you know, just done real— it simply was a mistake. Just some flat-out bad choices. Uh, you know, it could be from just profanity-laced stuff, you know, uh, adultery, fornication. It could be, you know, lying, stealing. But it's like, are you habitually practicing? And I know a lot of people don't like this, but prime example, if someone cheats on their spouse, it wasn't necessarily a mistake. It was something in that moment that you wanted to do. You don't mistakenly go have sex with someone. But let's say if it's that person, they come and they repent and they truly have a change of heart. And you know, even if it's found out, so they're crucified by the media, you know, uh, whether it was emotional affair or whatever, it went physical or whatever, and they're crucified by the media. So the world is like, okay, you're just like us. Okay, in that moment, yes. But that person repent and they turn to God. So yes, it's still consequences behind that, whatever that comes from it, but they turn from it and say, Lord, I'm here, I repent, I need you, and they move away from that. They aren't habitually practicing it versus the person that's cheating. They get caught up in it, they ask for forgiveness, but then they know they're going to go right back out and keep doing the same thing over and over and over. Well, that's someone that's habitually practicing sin. And you can replace that with adultery, fornication, cursing, whatever it may be, whatever your bad habits— habit or habits are If you are habitually practicing it, you are living a sinful life. That's just the truth. There's no ifs, ands, buts about it. But if you are habitually trying to serve God and your heart, your intent is to practice what God is telling you to do within the scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit, I believe according to scripture that you are living a life that's pleasing to God. So if you out here and you drive— another example— you driving, somebody cuts you off and you say, oh blank, you know. It's like, okay, Lord, I repent. Forgive me. You keep on moving. You don't have to start all the way over or nothing like that. You just have a heart of repentance. And because your life is truly in a reflection of pleasing God, you aren't just every day doing this and cursing people out and using profanity and all this type of stuff. So that— we have to make that distinction, you know, when it comes to just, like I say, the, the bad habits and the renewal of the mind. The other part of this is saying that by testing you, testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So we always have to ask ourselves a question, living in this world and in this flesh. You have acceptable and perfect to the world, and you have what's acceptable and perfect to God. If you are not renewing your mind in him, you can't do things that's acceptable and pleasing to him through Jesus Christ. If you are living in him, you're probably going to be offensive to the world because I believe that in this world, if we truly stand for Christ, this world, it hates God, it rejects God. It's just the truth. And in its essence it does because it's just a flesh, so it rejects, it opposes But us that are in Christ and our minds that are being renewed, we are out here and we are disciples and we're trying to win souls over in order to carry out the Great Commission that God called us to do. It's that simple. And the only way, like I said, to do that— because I want you to get this— is the renewal of the mind. And so we have to be in God's word, man, to be able to truly test things, to discern things, and know that we are living a life that's pleasing to him. Because if we're not we don't know if we truly living a life that's pleasing to him. It's— that's, that's what the essence of this verse is saying. And you can go back and read Romans 12, all of it in context, but verse 2 in, in chapter 12 is very critical. You will not be conformed to this world if you are truly dedicated to renewing your mind in the things of God— prayer, studying the scriptures, accountability, plugged into a local church, doing and living a Spirit-filled life. It's that simple. It's that simple. I'm not saying it's just a simple process of living out, but it's follow us what he has called us to do. It's that simple. And so when we come in as unbelievers— and I'm kind of trying to watch the clock here, uh, my wife has me a nice new setup, uh, so she really pushes me, man. She just always tries to keep things, you know, in order to just help keep me motivated. So, uh, I love her and I appreciate her. I know that's kind of random and tangent, but, uh, just noticed it when I was looking up at the clock. But, uh, as unbelievers, you know, as we repent and we recognize that we are sinful, you know, before God we are sinful, we are offensive, we were at war with him, and we say, hey, I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior I want to embrace Christ, what he has done for me, by faith. Confess with my own mouth and believe it in my heart by faith. That is instant. That is an instant process, as I stated earlier. However, what's not instant is the cost of discipleship. That's a lifelong process, the sanctification process. Salvation is instant, but that sanctification process is ongoing. It's the purging, it's the molding. It's dying to self. And as we renew our mind, I'm telling you, the key to a successful Christian life on this side, in this earth, is that we have to plug in and dig deep and renew our mind. And we have to take up our cross. And the only way we can do that is through the transformation of our mind, because it helps transform us. So it's a spiritual thing. So you want to plug in, dig deeply into the things of God. I'm not saying you have to be overly spiritual all the time and things like that. Just live the gospel much as you proclaim it. If you are a person that's like— they can proclaim it and preach it from Genesis to Revelation in the most simple way, take the complex things or whatever, but you have no intent to live it, you have not been renewed by the transform— the transformation of your mind. I mean, you haven't been transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's just the truth. So I want to encourage you, man. Like I said, we're going to be uploading these to YouTube now, uh, so I'm kind of look— trying to look back, you know, at the camera. I know you can't see me if you listen to audio, but we're going to be uploading these to YouTube now. And I mean, like I say, you know, you'll hear this in the outro. If these are blessing you, if previous episodes have blessed you, if this one, you know, and the ones to come, and you just feel like, you know, in your spirit, hey man, these are really going to challenge me, they're going to bless me, share them. I'm not— I just want to do God's will, man. I, I want everything, truly, my heart is to just please God. I want to point to Christ, and I just believe in some way, some shape, form, or fashion, he will take care of me and my family and on and on and on. But, you know, yes, uh, it's very important that we have to understand that we have to— God, what I'm trying to say, God works through other people. So my vertical relationship with God is like, it has grown tremendously, and it's times I even have to repent in that because I, I give him sloppy seconds, or I don't give him what he deserves or requires of me. But I repent, you know, and I just thank God for his grace and mercy. However, I have vertical relationships as well, and I try to seek out people that are truly Spirit-filled that can help challenge me to do better, help hold me accountable, sometimes even rebuke me— the correcting and so on and so on, accountability. So you need those people in your life. So it's nothing wrong with hearing voices that are going to stay with sound scripture, sound doctrine, but most importantly, they have a life that supports it. That's what you want to be connected with, man, because you want to live a life that's pleasing to God. And your habits— I'm telling you, as I said, your mind doesn't change when you accept Christ. It doesn't change on the spot. It only changes through the renewal of it. That's how you transform. That's when you come into saying— I know I'm kind of redundant there, but I just really want you to get this— that's what leads you to this path of saying, okay, I'm living a Spirit-filled life. I'm living a life that's led by the Spirit of God, pleasing to God, not pleasing the world. Oh yes, this looks good in the world and it's acceptable, but it's not acceptable to God. Oh, this is acceptable to God and offends the world, but I gotta keep living a life that's pleasing, acceptable to God. Romans 12:2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So be blessed, man. See, uh, episode 2, 3, and 4 gonna go just as deep. I hope you all love this. I love you all, man. Be blessed and just continue to dig in in the things of God. Take care. In the Light podcast today. If this content has impacted you in any kind of way, please take some time to share it on your social media feeds. And also, if you want to connect with me or just learn more about me, go over to www.timothypratt.org. Once again, thanks.