• How do I keep my mind right. Matthew 16:21-23
  
• Matthew 16:21-23 READ and Explain
  
• First time Jesus talks about the resurrection- peter pulls Jesus aside to rebuke him, Jesus calls him Satan, and tells him that he has his mind wrong
  
• Cool hand luke- Dirt in, dirt out, “whats your dirt doing in boss’s hole” “you got your mind right”
  
• Jesus wont do that- but you want to keep your mind right- you don’t want to be called Satan by Jesus- that was peter’s problem- his mind wasn’t right-  Jesus said that he was and “offense”
  
• The term offense was bc Peter ‘was not mindful of the things of God’
  
• Offense- a breach of a law or rule; an illegal act.
  
• Offense- annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one’s standards or principles.
  
• Bible Definitions of offense
  
• Proskope- leading into error
  
• 2 Corinthians 6:3We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.
  
• Skandalon- leading them into sin creating something that ‘trips them up”
  
• Skandalizo– enticing them to sin
  
• 1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
  
• And then Jesus says to peter- “you are an offense to me” a “stumbling block”
  
• People say “we don’t want to offend anyone” but they mean it in a “annoyance or resentment brought about by a perceived insult to or disregard for oneself or one’s standards or principles.”
  
• People build resentment because they perceive that they have been insulted on their principles
  
• But this Bible offense is to “lead people into error” or “lead them into sin instead of God”
  
• Matt 16:23 “You are an offense to Me,” skandalon- you’re trying to trip me up- you’re trying to keep me from going forward- you’re a ‘stumbling block’
  
• What was happening in this instance- was that Peter was trying to hold Jesus back from what he needed to do– go to the Cross- he wasn’t challenging his principles.
  
• Ellicott: Peter’s sin lay in the fact that his mind was set on the things of earth, its outward pomp and pageantry, measuring the future by a human not a divine standard.
  
• Peter says “ 22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
  
• Peter has a plan to keep Jesus from going to the cross- He is this type of Guy- its why he was the one who had the sword when Jesus was going to the crucifixion- He wants to defend Jesus
  
• It’s admirable- but not what Jesus wants him to do- he challenges him, calls him Satan, says he’s a stumbling block and says “you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.””
  
• What had sent Peter astray- was not his heart- It’s a good heart he wants to defend Jesus- who wouldn’t? it was that he was thinking with his emotions and not his intellect- he couldn’t see past his own ideas of what anyone would do to defend a friend- but that wasn’t God’s plan
  
• God’s plan is to send Jesus to the cross to die for all of humanities sins- Peter would have stopped that if he had kept Jesus from Going to the cross- he was an “offense”
  
• What’s crazy is that Jesus had apparently JUST spoke to these guys about what the plan was-
  
• V21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
  
• But shortly after (we don’t know how much time has elapsed) Peter forgets!
  
• Remember- This is the gent that Jesus encouraged his profession of Faith “on this rock I will build my church” and now he’s not going with the plan-
  

So how do we get our minds right?

1. First off get it in your mind that It is possible to offend God- under stand “offense”
   
2. And when we “offend him” its an abomination not a “stumbling block” definition- – properly something disgusting (morally), that is, (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol: – abominable (custom, thing), abomination.
   
3. Deuteronomy 17:1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
   
4. When we are an “offense” to God not a “Stumbling block” as Peter was to Jesus- its idolatry-
   
5. ab·hor·rence noun a feeling of repulsion; disgusted loathing. THAT’S the offense to God
   
6. It’s a sin– its disgusting- not a stumbling block- not a leading into sin- an offense- offensive-
   
7. Years ago- one aug summer- Gabe’s room stunk- cleaned it out- found lunchbox from last day of school- that little bit of rot stunk up the whole end of the house-
   
8. as in “that odor is offensive” and that’s what our offenses in the ‘sin’ sense are to go
   
9. How are we offensive to God? Probably important to not become an offense. Right?
   
10. The bible lists many things that are an abomination to God- occult practices, unbiblical sexual relations (sex outside of marriage of a man and a woman) cross dressing, unholy sacrifices, bad business dealings, wickedness, injustice, not listening to God, offerings from the unrepentant,
    
11. Proverbs 6:17-19 has These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
    
12. Lets go over those real quick- a few to not become an offense
    
13. Proud look- this is when someone wants their will above God’s will- this would be what Peter is doing in this instance indirectly- he wants his will, not the will of the father-
    
14. You do this when you don’t consider the Plans of the father- and go with your will (moving)
    
15. Lying tongue- Seems pretty easy- when you lie or mislead others- God hates it
    
16. Hands that shed innocent blood- now we don’t really kill people in this day- but people kill people with their words all the time- paint innocent people in a bad light-
    
17. Heart that devises wicked plans- its when you spend time thinking about how to take someone down- I don’t have time to deal with people- I let God do it-
    
18. Feet that are swift to evil- that’s someone that continually sins- looks for evil “invents ways”
    
19. False witness who speaks lies- you didn’t see it, but you have an opinion on it
    
20. One who sows discord among the brethren- basically doing the first 6 things plus gossip and slander- talking about people and leading others to think things about other people.
    
21. If people aren’t getting along- and its because of you- God don’t like that
    
22. Those seven things are a dirty nasty smelling thing to God- he hates them- HATES
    
23. So it would stand to reason- we don’t want to do those things. Right?
    

• How do we keep ourselves from offending God? How do we NOT offend God
  
• We keep our minds on what HE wants- the things that HE loves and HE wants-
  
• The Word of God is the discerner of your thoughts and intents of your heart!
  
• This was the issue that Peter had with Jesus- Peter was thinking with his own mind- not with the mind of Christ- what Christ would have wanted- and not what he wanted
  
• in the Army we knew “the commanders intent” we all knew what the mission was, and how it was to be executed, so if there was ever a slight variation of it- the commanders intent would influence how we accomplished the mission- we knew what he wanted
  
• And most of us know Commander Jesus’ intent. We lie to ourselves and pretend we don’t but we do. We know what Jesus is about.
  
• Just like Peter, we quickly forget what he tells us, and move forward with what we think is best for Jesus and us- our own way.
  
• “for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
  
• And its natural to think with a carnal mind. Its what we do- we war with the flesh every day
  
• What the flesh wants v what the spirit wants. What we think would be best v him
  
• And if you’re not in the battle- then you will lose on the regular. You will find yourself in situations where you did not plan doing things you should not do bc you didn’t control your mind.
  
• Philippians 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
  
• And this is normal for the flesh- to set your mind on earthly things-
  
• What is going on with our job– people at work, etc
  
• What is going on with other people– why are you so consumed with other people?
  
• What is going on with our kids– their friends, development,sports
  
• What is going on with our health- what we’re doing- what is hurting, exercise, diet
  
• What is going on with our money, retirement, investments, spending, debt
  
• What is going on with houses, cars, vacations, social media, television, national news, wars, politicians, taxes, gas prices, inflation, Biden, Trump, Pelosi, Etc etc
  
• And much of this is driven by a media powerhouse that attempts to keep your attention 100% of the time- they create things to consume your mind with- Why do I care about Smith/Rock?
  
• But The bible says-
  
• Romans 8:5-8 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, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
  
• If we are in the flesh, we cannot please God- and that isn’t to say we can ignore all those things- we just have to constantly be reminding ourselves what we are choosing to focus on
  
• Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
  
• What things should we be setting our mind on?
  
• Not the cares of this world- Mark 4:19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
  
• And really that’s it, isn’t it? The cares of this world? All those things we talked about
  
• This is why people love camping- get away from the cares of the world- I hate camping- I like the creature comforts, but its clear that you can make it without anything. Homeless people do
  
• Its rarely a deep spiritual attack, its when we get so wrapped up in the cares of this world
  
• It’s like this Russia thing- its sad. Its scary. It’s worrisome. Invasion, nukes etc
  
• I can learn to speak Russian and still serve God. I can die in a nuke strike and go to heaven
  
• But what really scares me is, what if I can’t get my coconut keto clusters and watch NFL football because those bring me great joy. I’m a sucker for a fresh pizza and safeway fried chicken.
  
• Bible people didn’t have 99% of the creature comforts of our day like hot showers- but they still were plagued with worldly thinking. It wasn’t electronic diversionary materialism to them
  
• 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
  
• And this needs to be a constant reminder to us as we walk through this world
  
• Interest rates are rising, inflation is rising, costs are up
  
• Sometimes you have to remind yourself that we are going to die one day- 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
  
• This world is so temporary- so is our life. What earthly fleshly things you care about today you will not care about when you are dying. – enjoy today- love what God has given you!
  
• And its not just thinking about being dead, its having a heavenly perspective. Eternity.
  
• Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
  
• Heavenly mansions, union with Christ, eternity with no tears or pain, continual worship.
  
• You have to set your heart on things above- and what Christ has given you NOW
  
• Maybe you’ve never set your heart before. To get a job, or lose weight, or get out of debt
  
• If you really want something, you’ll figure out a way to get it.
  
• But typically, if you don’t want it, its because you want something else- college- working out- cost me relationships, hanging out, eating fun food- I wanted a great physique. I got it.
  
• But now I want ice cream and keeping my shirt on.
  
• But how much more the things of God? 1 Chronicles 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.- If you made a decision to attend, serve, give, get rid of sin- you’d do it
  
• But you don’t want that- you want something else. SET YOUR HEART- Get RADICAL to do IT
  
• Psalm 91:14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name
  
• We don’t want to offend God- We don’t want Jesus to rebuke us- SET YOUR HEART
  
• So we set our mind on what God wants- not on what we want- that doesn’t offend him
  
• Be renewed by the spirit of your mind, be born again, be set free, be made new in Christ
  
• Then you will be a spiritual person that can discern what the will of God is in your life-
  
• 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
  

For more sermons please visit our SERMON PAGE

Please subscribe to our YOUTUBE PAGE