Message: The Person of Jesus – The Mind of Christ

Ministering: Pastor Dr. Raf Otono

Date: 14th May 2023

Text: Matthew 16:13-16, Acts 11:26, Phil 2:5

Last week, we started a series titled the PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST!

And we established that, we live in a generation where the anointing of Jesus is preached, the miracles & power of Jesus is advertised but the person of Jesus has been swept under the rug. But until we know his character or personality, we don’t truly know him.

We saw last week that the disciples were first called Christians in Acts 11:26 because of their characteristics. That means it is our lifestyle and character that defines us as true Christians.

We also saw last week how Jesus asked His disciples in Matt 16:13 – Who do men say that I, THE SON OF MAN AM? And we established that – The son of man speaks of His humanity, His person – Not His divinity!

Then He turned to His disciples – But you, that have spent time with me and know me – WHO DO YOU SAY I AM? – Not the SON OF MAN but I AM ( HIS DIVINITY!)

Notice Peter’s answer – You are the Christ, Not Jesus – son of the living God!

JESUS IS HIS PERSON – CHRIST IS HIS DIVINITY!

Then we proceeded to see 4 characteristics of His early life – which were:

1. He was a learner -Luke 2:46
2. He understood times/season & authority – Luke 2:42 – 1Chronicles 12:32
3. He knew His assignment/Purpose (vs 48-49) – My Father’s business!
4. He understood the principle of submission – (v51-52 AMP) – Gal 4:1-2

Our objective today, even as we dive deep into the Person of Jesus is to capture and know the MIND OF CHRIST. You all will agree with me that until you know the mind of any man – you don’t truly know them deeply. The reason why we get blindsided and betrayed by people we trust is because we never knew their mind.

Phil 2:5 – Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

Listen: To Have the mind of Christ is to think and act exactly like Him!

All Godly action begins with the renewing of the mind. – Right thinking produces right actions and our actions are the fruit of our deepest thoughts. Until we have the mind of Christ, we cannot think and act like the person of Jesus!

The mind of Christ – The mind is the intellect and consciousness of a man – if you can know the mind of any man you can be like him (That’s why you hear something like – The study of great minds)

Personally, I believe the mind is more spiritual than physical – because it cannot be physically located. If a doctor opens up a body now, they can physically locate the heart, the lungs, the kidneys and the brain but not the mind! The mind works with the brain but it is not tangible like the brain, it more like the soul of a man that is also intangible!

The Mind defines who we are and the quality of our lives! It is our power source!

I began to do a study on the mind and discovered that there are 3 parts of the human mind.

1. The conscious
2. The Subconscious mind
3. The unconscious mind

The Conscious mind – this is our active thinking mind, it has no memory and can only hold a thought per time. This part of the mind is easily accessible or manipulated when presented with a compelling or convincing argument. When someone says – my mind is telling me to go home, this is what they are talking about – it directs our focus because of its awareness. That is why it is called the conscious mind because it is aware of its present environment.

The conscious mind works on the principle of reality. This mind has four essential functions:

1. It identifies the incoming information it receives from the six senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and feeling. The conscious mind is continually observing and categorizing what is happening around us. (A child cries, someone walks in, my movements as I preach, what I am wearing, the sound is too loud etc)
2. Comparison. (Is Pst more handsome than bro Mathias?) Physically present by absent minded
3. Analysis. (Present but analyzing my message – but Pst this is psychology you are teaching us now)
4. Decision- making. – When I leave here today, I will begin to consciously work on my character to be like Jesus. That is the conscious mind making an active decision!

The Subconscious mind – this is our store house and mental bank that stores all informations, memories and past experiences that has been forgotten by the conscious mind. It is like a mental waiting room where memories, thoughts and feelings remain until something triggers it and they move into conscious awareness. (For example: Like hearing a particular song and it automatically brings a picture of a past event like the day you met your wife)

The danger about the subconscious mind is that, it stores everything we hear or see, good or bad, real or fake and doesn’t know the difference. This is why we tell people to be very careful of what they see, hear and allow into their space because the moment you see it, you might say I am fine but it is stored and locked somewhere called the SUBCONSCIOUS!

The Unconscious mind – This one is subtle but dangerous if not well managed – when a baby is born from age 0 to about 1-2 he/she is not completely aware and conscious of his environment but has a mind since he is human – that’s where the unconscious mind starts from.

The unconscious mind establishes contact with the conscious mind through the subconscious mind. This is where most early sad events and traumatic memories are hidden that are too frightening to acknowledge. But the sad thing is even though they are hidden they can still impact your life or behavior because these events weren’t erased but suppressed, so when you find yourself in similar situations even though you don’t remember, the unconscious mind automatically feeds the feelings to the conscious mind through the subconscious mind.

For example: Someone that was abused by their parents or close relative at a very tender age, has no real memory of it but as an adult can’t keep any intimate relationship because he/she is struggling with trust issues and she doesn’t know why! (Someone that she trusted violated and abused her trust at a very young age)

Even though the event was suppressed or repressed by the victim, the symptoms she is experiencing now as an adult is the expression of what is in the unconscious mind. Most of what happened to us as a child is in our unconscious mind.

This is the reason why, when you see a therapist, they always want to dig into your childhood memories and experiences to trace or track where the problem is coming from. In doing so, they tap into and trigger the unconscious mind to actively feed these hidden events or trauma to the conscious mind BUT there is no real solution there because the mind is still not RENEWED!

The mind of Christ is the only sure solution, that is why the bible in 2 Cor 5:17 – If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new! Including THE MIND! That means the old mind died!

Listen: The reason why we need the mind of Christ is because the greatest deliverance is deliverance of the mind – Rom 12:2 (Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind)

Kai! The mental slavery of religion in our generation today is alarming – it is stronger than ancient black slavery! We have lawful captives in the church all in the name of religion.

Listen: Christianity is not a religion – it is simply having the mind of Christ, knowing the person of Jesus and replicating His ministry here on earth. What is His ministry? Reconciliation and transformation!

Write this: Religion enslaves the mind while Christianity renews the mind

When we have the mind of Christ, we begin to think like Him, talk like Him and act like Him. IT IS A MINDSET! It is called PHRONESIS – A fixed mental attitude that predetermines your response to situations of life. You don’t think or talk fear anymore because you have the mind of Christ.

Finally, to have the mind of Christ is to have the mind of God, ie you begin to think and function at the frequency of God. Remember Christ is His divinity not humanity!

RISE ON YOUR FEET AND SHOUT I HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST JESUS!

Prayer:

Father, renew my mind and give me the mind of Christ in the name of Jesus

Anyone battling with any kind of trauma, come to the altar and cast your cares on Him –1 Pet 5:7

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