(# 363) Romans 11 - THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION Christ is the Antidote for the Poisoned Mind

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  Welcome to… 

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Christ is the Antidote for the Poisoned Mind

 

Today, just as we do every month…we celebrate the Lord’s Supper…a meal of remembrance.  It’s a way to demonstrate our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.  We eat, by breaking bread…we drink, by tasting the fruit of the vine…and we look back to the Cross…one of the most significant occurrences of LOVE in divine history.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26 says…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the significance of the Lord’s death until He comes.

 

At the Lord’s Supper Celebration, as a gathering of His believers, we remember the Lord’s death on the Cross which paid the price for Adam’s sin…the sin that is credited to the account of all mankind at physical birth…the sin resulting in spiritual death for all.  First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 22 (the first part)…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:22 

For all those in union with Adam are set to die the second death…

 

At the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we remember the shedding of the Lord’s blood to cleanse us from the unrighteousness caused by Adam’s sin…this turning away of a creature from his Creator.  We remember, with gladness, that the Lord Jesus Christ made a way for His creatures to be reconciled to Him…to be in fellowship with Him…by dying on a Cross…and by being resurrected from the dead three days later.  His resurrection from the dead proved that He is Deity…death could not contain Him…and it gave all mankind hope…a cure for our unrighteousness at birth.  First Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 24 says…

 

FIRST PETER 2:24

…and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself bore our sins in His own body on the Cross, so that we might die to the sovereignty of sin and so that we might live to righteousness…for by Christ’s wounds you were healed.

 

And now we believers in Christ KNOW, through His infallible Word, the Bible, that the Lord Jesus Christ is seated victorious at the right hand of His Father’s throne, waiting for the moment when God the Father will make the Lord’s enemies a footstool for His feet.  As believers in Christ, we are seated there with Him, in union with Him, on victorious ground, waiting for that glorious time when we come again with Him to witness His glory.  And we KNOW that “the Christ,” the Messiah, made it possible for “whosoever,” for all creatures, to be saved by what He did at the Cross.  Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31 says…

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is defenseless against the insidious suggestions…the mental poison of God’s enemy.

 

There are times when we, as human beings, spend an excessive amount of time engrossed in what the late motivational speaker Zig Zigler calls “stinkin’ thinkin.”  The bible describes this thinking as “morbid interest.”  What does it mean to be morbid?  In one sense, being morbid is to have…

 

MORBID

A mental attitude that is unhealthy, unwholesome, gloomy, and hypersensitive toward self and others…a way of thinking characterized by an excessive interest in unpleasantness.

 

I can say with certainty that I have been engaging in such thinking with much regularity lately.  The result of “stinkin’ thinkin” is a poisoned mind… a spiritual paralysis…a spiritual metastasis that spreads the poison throughout the system producing arrested fellowship with God.

 

As Christians, we know that God is not the sponsor of “stinkin’ thinkin.”  The study of the Word of God renovates our thinking, because thinking drives everything for the Christian.  As we think, so are we.  Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is defenseless against the insidious suggestions…the mental poison of God’s enemy.

 

It is no surprise that Satan, the enemy of God, is the sponsor of “stinkin’ thinkin.”  Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verse 12 says…

 

EPHESIANS 6:12

For our struggle (as believers in Christ) is not against flesh and blood (it is not against other human beings)…but our struggle is against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this dead world…our struggle is against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the (lower) heavenly places (planet earth).

 

God’s enemy and our adversary, Satan…the ruler of this world…the lower heavenlies…wants to poison the thinking and disturb the mental equilibrium of believers in Christ.  He seeks to rob us of our peace and our serenity.  Many times we allow him to be successful by entertaining his “insidious suggestions” that poison our thinking.  Satan uses schemes.  The World System is one of his schemes…our enemy from the outside…that’s where Satan got the title highlighted in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2…

 

EPHESIANS 2:1

And all mankind began spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (at physical birth)…

 

EPHESIANS 2:2

…in which trespasses and sins all of us formerly walked (as a lifestyle when we were unbelievers) according to the curriculum of this world system, according to the curriculum of (Satan), the prince of the power of the airwaves...the prince of the spirit of rebellion that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 

Satan, “the prince of the power of the airwaves,” controls planet earth and is the sponsor of everything morbid.  He uses the airwaves, as our enemy from without, to poison our thinking.  He uses “the flesh” as our enemy from within…that part of us resident in the body…that part of us that hates God, hates others, and hates us…that part of us that God left inside of us at salvation to keep us from exalting ourselves…that part of us that is on a seek and destroy mission to disrupt our happiness.  Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 18 says…

 

ROMANS 7:18

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…for the

willingness to do the good is present in me…but the doing of the good is

not present in me.

 

Satan’s “insidious suggestions” poison our thinking…his deceitful thoughts appear harmless…but in reality, his suggestions do what poison does…his thoughts are…

 

POISON

Harmful substances that destroy life, impair health, rob us of happiness and disrupt our well-being.

 

Satan encourages us with his morbid suggestions…to doubt God…to criticize others…and to be hyper-introspective with self.

 

Christ…the one we celebrate today in our Lord’s Supper Celebration…is the ONLY antidote for Satan, The World and The Flesh…for their evil way of thinking.  Christ is the antidote for “stinkin’ thinkin” … He is…

 

ANTIDOTE

A remedy that counteracts the effects of poison, preventing its injurious and unwanted effects.

 

First John, Chapter 4, Verse 4…

 

FIRST JOHN 4:4

You are from God the Father, little children, and you have overcome evil spirits…because greater is He who is indwelling you (The Trinity) you than he who is in the world (Satan).

Welcome to a place where you can learn about the antidote to a poisoned mind through renewing your mind with the study of the Word of God. 

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

YOU RAN AFTER ME

June Murphy

 

Now, I encourage you to place your concerns in the hands of the One who cares for you, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we hear June Murphy sing about our Lord’s attitude toward us when we are lost…the song is…YOU RAN AFTER ME.

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful Heavenly Father for the privilege of studying the absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for allowing your adopted children…us believers in Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ…to be afflicted…we know you are using affliction to build perseverance, and proven character, and hope inside of us … using tribulation to show us just how deep our human weakness goes…

 

Today, as we think back to the Cross in this Lord’s Supper Celebration…and as we think back to the power of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, help us to enjoy the remembrance of these two most significant events in divine history.  Help us to realize that you use affliction to show us how not to be. Help us glory in the fact that you always deliver us from our little deaths as we pick up our crosses and follow in the example of Your Son…keep our minds free of the poison Satan seeks to implant with his insidious suggestions…thoughts designed to poison our minds and to distract us from our victorious position with you as saints and priests and ambassadors…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name... Amen.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Christ is the Antidote for the Poisoned Mind

 

Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is defenseless against the insidious suggestions…the mental poison of God’s enemy.  Is one hour of biblical study per week enough to renew your mind?  Hardly.  A Christian does well to open the bible every single day.  I find just reading the Lord Jesus Christ’s thoughts is comforting to me.  Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2 says…

 

ROMANS 12:2a

And do not be conformed to this world, but keep on being transformed by God through the renewing of your mind…

 

The mind that stands before an enemy unguarded by the fortification of the Word of God is vulnerable to attack from the kingdom of death.  How do “the world forces of this darkness” operate?  With unbelievers, Satan and his enemy forces blind the natural mind…Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 4…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:4

…the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the (natural) minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…

 

With believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan and his kingdom of death promote carnality with insidious suggestions that invite us off of the victorious ground to which we were delivered at the moment of salvation…back into a pattern of sinning that leads to a series of deaths.  First Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 3…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:1

And I (Paul), brethren (believers in Christ), could not speak to you as I would speak to spiritual men, but I must speak to you as if I were speaking to men of flesh…as if I were speaking to infants in union with Christ.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:2

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food…for you were not yet able to receive solid food. Indeed, even now you are not yet able to receive solid food…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:3

…for you are still fleshly (still carnal in your thinking). For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly (carnal), and are you not walking like mere men (as if you are unbelievers)?

 

Satan and the kingdom of death poison our thinking with carnality.  Carnal thoughts neutralize spirituality…spiritual thoughts.  With their insidious thoughts, the kingdom of death encourages us to DOUBT GOD…to be PREJUDICED TOWARD OTHERS…and to LOATHE OURSELVES.

 

Let’s enjoy the elements and some music…and we’ll investigate the different forms of insidious suggestions Satan uses to poison our minds…and we’ll see what Christ does about it.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION:

Enjoying the Elements

 

Following God’s request, we keep on celebrating CHRIST and His Cross on a regular basis…we eat to remember who He is as a PERSON…we drink to remember His WORK, the voluntary sacrifice He made at the Cross on our behalf as our sin substitute…and we are grateful for what God has done for us.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 23 and 24 say…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:23

For I, Paul received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which He was betrayed took bread…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:24

…and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is, and keeps

 on being My body, which is broken for you…keep on doing this celebration

 for the purpose of remembering Me.”

 

When we eat the bread during the Lord’s Supper Celebration, we remember the Lord Jesus Christ AS A PERSON. 

 

When we drink the cup, we remember THE WORK of the Lord Jesus Christ.  First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verses 25 and 26 say…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:25

In the same way the Lord Jesus Christ took the cup after supper, representing His death on the Cross, saying, “This cup is a new testament forged with My blood…keep on doing this celebration…and as often as you drink it…do so for the purpose of remembering Me.”

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup (as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration), you proclaim (as a reality and you announce the significance of) the Lord Jesus Christ’s death (on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead) until He comes (again in the second coming).

 

As you enjoy the bread and the cup, enjoy the memory of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as well. Now and always, let us keep on giving thanks that we are loved unconditionally and accepted fully by THE LORD WHO IS ALWAYS THERE…the One we can depend on…let’s keep on being transformed by His life and His death and His Word…and let’s enjoy His unconditional love Day by Day…and that’s the name of our Lord’s Supper song.

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

DAY BY DAY

Godspell

 

MUSIC BREAK

THERE’S JUST ONE HOPE

June Murphy

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Christ is the Antidote for the Poisoned Mind

 

Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  Such a mind is left unguarded against the insidious thoughts proposed by Satan, the World System, and The Flesh.

 

First and foremost, the kingdom of death wants believers in Christ to doubt God.  We don’t know what Jesus Christ was saying when He said this at the Cross…Matthew, Chapter 27, Verse 46…

 

MATTHEW 27:46

 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

We do know that during times of tribulation, we hear friends say, “I’m mad at God.”  Perhaps even we have said similar things…asking God, “Why?”  Often it is an insidious suggestion from the kingdom of death that prompts the WHY question.  A seed of negative thought…“God doesn’t love you!”  “God is punishing you.”  “God doesn’t have your best interests in mind.”  “You’re going to spend all your life worshipping God and he’s going to send you to the Lake of Fire anyway.”  Unfortunately, the unguarded mind will be persuaded by these insidious suggestions.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 10, Verses 3 to 5 remind us…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 10:3

For though we believers in Christ walk in the flesh (in a physical body with “the flesh” inside), we do not face war according to the flesh….

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 10:4

…for the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh, but our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 10:5

We are destroying speculations (insidious suggestions) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

 

The Word of God is the only weapon that can tear down the fortress of insidious suggestions that the kingdom of darkness uses to deceive us and to steal our mental serenity.  Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is defenseless against the insidious suggestions…the mental poison of God’s enemy. 

 

Second, the kingdom of death wants believers in Christ to hate others.  The kingdom of death’s insidious thoughts tell us to look negatively at others, criticizing them and being prejudiced toward them.  When we are prejudiced, we ignore any evidence about others that doesn’t support our negative view of others.  Often, when we are hurt by others, we spend our time verbally trashing them and we take on a negative view of the world because of it.

 

Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verses 14 to 17 say…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:14

For the unconditional love of Christ controls us…having concluded this, that One (the Lord Jesus Christ) died for all, therefore all died…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:15

…and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but that they might live for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

 

The Cross calls us to selflessness, just as Christ was selfless in dying for us…selflessness especially as it relates to our interactions with others…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:16

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh…even though we have known Christ according to the flesh (from a worldly rather than a spiritual point of view)…yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

 

We are to ignore the faults of others, and focus instead on loving them unconditionally just as Christ loves us unconditionally.

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in union with Christ, and all believers in Christ are, he is a new creature…the old man things passed away (died)…behold, new man things have come.

 

We are to live the thoughts of our new man…and we are to let die the thoughts of our old man, promoting selfishness just as Satan is selfish.

 

Finally, the kingdom of death wants believers in Christ to loathe self.  Introspection has its place, but think about it…when you go inside for introspection, what do you expect to find there?  If you’re normal, as you look back at your life it will be littered with mistakes.  Satan and the kingdom of death love to use those mistakes to insinuate that you are a horrible person whom God could never love.  The insidious suggestion will be that you are so bad that there is no way God could ever accept…it makes you doubt your salvation.

 

The Word of God says otherwise…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verse 16…

GALATIANS 5:16

But I (Paul) say (to you believers in Christ), walk by means of the Spirit, and you will not…in fact CANNOT…carry out the desire of the flesh.

 

We are to ignore our flaws, just as the Lord did at the Cross.  Isaiah, Chapter 43, Verse 25…

 

ISAIAH 43:25

“I (the Lord Jesus Christ), even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

 

If God doesn’t remember your sins, your flaws, your mistakes, why would you?  Is that a license to sin?  May it never be!

 

Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is in a state of spiritual paralysis, poisoned by Satan and the kingdom of death.  If the Lord Jesus Christ had allowed Himself to listen to Satan, all of us would be doomed to the Lake of Fire.  But our Lord set Satan straight when the tempter came with insidious suggestions…Matthew, Chapter 4, Verses 3 and 4…

 

MATTHEW 4:3

And the tempter (Satan) came and said to the Lord Jesus Christ (after forty days of fasting), “If You are the Son of God, and of course you are, command that these stones become bread.”

 

MATTHEW 4:4

But Jesus answered Satan and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on physical food alone, but instead on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

 

There was no way the Lord was going to listen to or value anything that came out of the mouth of a liar.

 

If ever you feel down on yourself, just look to the Cross…and remember why the Lord Jesus Christ went there.  He went there for you.

 

Woe to the believer in Christ whose thinking is not renewed by the Word of God.  The unrenewed mind is defenseless against the insidious suggestions…the mental poison of God’s enemy.

Your God has faith, hope and love as gifts to deal with the real problems of Satan’s kingdom.  And God the Holy Spirit is producing fruit in you at all times…Galatians, Chapter 5, Verses 22 and 23…

 

GALATIANS 5:22

But the fruit of God the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace (toward self)…patience, kindness, goodness (toward others)…faithfulness…

 

GALATIANS 5:23

…gentleness, self-control (toward God)…against such virtues there is no law.

 

Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 2 says…

 

ROMANS 12:2a

And do not be conformed to this world, but keep on being transformed by God through the renewing of your mind…

 

Let’s close in prayer…

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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