TRANSCRIPT | Sun, Sept 27, 2020 | Train of Thoughts

​

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Amen and Amen. Is anybody glad to be in church on a Sunday morning? Amen. So, so good to have all of you with us. Come on. All of our folks that are in overflow this morning, could you just let them know how much that we are glad that they are in this building with us, giving praise and honor to God? So glad that each and every one of you is here. As we welcome church online, would you look at a couple of people and let them know you are in the right place at the right time on a Sunday morning? Hallelujah, you may be seated this morning. It's my privilege today to be able to share the word with you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I'm going to be sharing a message in just a moment from 1st Corinthians chapter number two. Right before we do that, I want to give you just a little bit of a video update of some things that God has been doing in our community through you guys. The outreach ministries of 3trees we refer to them as Captivate. Our church right now, we exist for one reason, and that is because everyone needs Jesus. Amen?

Congregation:
Amen.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Right now we're focused on three things above all else. Seek the lost, make disciples and meet needs. You guys are going to get to see some of the ways that you are meeting needs in the community. Come on, join me in taking a look at this video. Praise the Lord. Come on, guys. Grateful for you, grateful for everything that you are doing. Man, you guys have served to move towards almost 2000 meals in the last few months. One of the things that we're noticing in this situation called COVID is that there are some people that are maybe doing really, really well, but then there are other people that are really, really struggling.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The divide between those two is just becoming increasingly significant, and so we have had so many incredible responses to people that you have ministered to, whether that was clothing the naked or feeding the hungry or even reaching out to people through disaster relief. You guys saw that semi-truck being loaded. We were able to partner with the local community of businesses and entities and people, and almost an entire truck trailer load went into the Southern United States to help with hurricane relief. I just want to say, thank you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
There are greater things that are yet to come and your giving is making all of that possible. I did just want to mention today that as you think about your worship unto the Lord, and as you think about your giving, we invite you, whether you're joining us in church online, or you're joining us in the auditorium, or whether you're in overflow today, you can text to give. You can go to 3trees.com and you can find the link there to give. If you're familiar with the 3trees Church app, you can go there and you can give. I don't know that our giving has ever been more important in the majority of our lifetimes.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
This is a moment when the church gets to be the church. You guys as a church, since the beginning of this year, have put almost, if not just a little bit more than a hundred thousand dollars back into this local community through finding needs and meeting them. We're not done being the church just yet. We're not done being the church just yet. Thank you for the way that you give and thank you, again, whether you're church online, auditorium, or in the overflow today. You are a part of this church and we all get to be a part of the kingdom of heaven being made manifest on earth because everyone needs Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I want you to grab your Bible, join me in the book of 1st Corinthians. I want you to look with me at chapter number two, and we're going to take a look at verses nine through 13, and then also verse 16. I'll be reading from the ESV translation. One of the things that we're doing last Sunday and this Sunday, is making you aware that it is a small group season. If you'd like to sign up for a small group, you can go to 3trees.com/groups, whether you're church online, whether you're here in the auditorium, you can join us in small groups.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
We have different options. We have in-person options. We have some Zoom call options, and you can find all that at 3trees.com/groups. We also have people that have really expressed, "Man, I want to take my discipleship efforts in following Jesus to the next level." One of the ways that that is happening is through watch parties on Wednesday nights, watch parties on Wednesday nights. At 6:30 PM Central, 7:30 PM Eastern, you can tune in to either Facebook or YouTube, and we're offering a discipleship moment there.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
We've got worship, delivering in-depth teaching. We're going to be looking at the book of 1st Corinthians. We did that last Wednesday in chapter one. This coming Wednesday, we're going to look at chapter two, and even some of the things I want to share with you today, we'll even take a different vein and even go deeper into the entire text this coming Wednesday night. Whether you're a part of a watch party, or you'd like to host a watch party, you can communicate that to us. Or if you just choose to watch it by yourself, you can go to Ericgilbert.org and you can download discussion guides.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
You can download fill in the blank message notes. After the fact, you'll be able to go back and download message transcriptions. We want to help you. We want to put every tool that we possibly can in your hands so that you can learn more about what God has to say from His word for your life, and so those are things we're making available to you. I wish you'd give God a little praise for that too because it is essential that we get our foundation in the word of God for such a time as this. Y'all ready for a little bit of word this morning?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
All right, 1st Corinthians chapter number one. I'm going to read this and then I'll pray. 1st Corinthians 2:9, excuse me, "But as it is written, what no eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him." Can I get a witness somewhere? "These things God has revealed to us through the spirit, for the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts, except the spirit of that person, which is in him? Also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the spirit of God.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
We impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." Now, listen, I know there's a lot of theological language happening here. Don't get lost. We're going to go through it. All right? One more verse, verse number 16, "For who has understood the mind of the Lord that they could give Him instructions, but we, we are privileged and blessed to have the mind of Christ." We are looking at ... Amen. We are looking at a series called what in the world.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Paul had spent 18 months with the church in Corinth. He went away and he started to get reports about those people that they had slipped away from really honoring God in their lifestyles. They'd slipped into drunkenness. They'd slipped into sexual perversion. They had slipped into pride. You name it. They were struggling. I think Paul got some reports and he was almost just like, "What in the world? What in the world?" He writes this letter to bring some correction to them, but also some encouragement and further teaching to them about how to exemplify the life of Christ.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
By the time we get to chapter two, he's letting them know that if they're not going to have the world in them, they're going to need the mind of Christ functioning through them. I want to talk to you this morning about trains of thought. Father, I ask you to help me to preach and teach and deliver your word in such a way that every single one of us hears you speaking to us through your word. That God, you're a Holy Spirit will bring an anointing, a special grace for such a moment as this one. God, do what only you can do in us and through us.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Provoke us to take that next step in you, God, whatever it might be, whether it's salvation, rededication. God, a further level of commitment, provoke us by your Holy Spirit, that we would not leave this moment the way that we came. Let it be done father, in Jesus' name, and this church said?

Congregation:
Amen.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Amen and Amen. What I want to do ... I noticed when I was reading through those sections or verses, even though it was just a few verses, there are parts of that, that you have to spend a little bit of time and meditate on it, to really understand what Paul is attempting to communicate to us on behalf of heaven. I'd like to read it again, but this time I'd like to just pull out the high points and show you the gist, if you will, of what God wants you to get out of this particular passage. 1st Corinthians 2:9, "But as it is written, what no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor the heart of man has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Watch this, "These things God has revealed to us through the Holy Spirit." Up to this point, nobody really got it but as the New Testament church was being birthed, God was beginning to reveal these things that He'd had for His people all along through the Holy Spirit. Verse 10 ... or verse 12, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world." That's important. "We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things that are freely given to us by God." It's important that you understand the world has a spirit and that spirit is sent from hell to steal, kill, and to destroy.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The number one thing the spirit of the world wants to do is to separate you from the spirit of God. Paul is trying to draw a very clear line in the sand here so that people don't miss it. There are things that God has for you that are beyond your wildest expectations and even your wildest imaginations, but at some point, you're going to have to realize that you can't get it while functioning under the bondage of the spirit of the world. What goes on? Verse number 13, Paul says, "So we impart this in words that are not taught through human wisdom, but they are taught by the spirit of God."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
He goes on and basically summarizes to say, "Because we have the mind of Christ." Because we have the mind of Christ. Now, one of the things you need to understand people in the days that this letter was written, especially a scholar such as Paul. Paul was well-versed in Judaism. He understood the Jewish culture and the Jewish theology in a way that few people on the planet at his time would have. In fact, he was dramatically converted into his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Paul would have been, as a result of his scholarly pursuit of the word of God in the earth, have been able to quote the entire Old Testament at the time of his writing to the Corinthian church. He could have quoted, by memory, the entire Old Testament. When you're reading the letters of Paul, which make up two-thirds of the books of the New Testament, it's important to know that so many times he's revealing something to you out of the Old Testament.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
To us, it's just like another statement, but if you look closely if you really dive into it, you realize he's quoting an Old Testament prophet, or a section of Old Testament law, and trying to show us something about Jesus that was hidden in the Old Testament that is being revealed in the New Testament. See the whole Bible is about Jesus. It is either pointing to Him or pointing back to Him. The Old Testament is pointing to the cross and the New Testament is pointing back to the cross. It's about Jesus. It's all about Jesus and it will always be about Jesus. That's the Bible.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
In fact, when the Bible talks about the fact that you should rightly divide scripture, I believe that that means something more than just putting a line between the Old Testament and the New Testament. I believe to rightly divide scripture, you got to get a revelation of the cross because it sits right in the center of it and it divides everything. What you'll learn is when you read the Old Testament, Jesus is concealed but when you read the New Testament, Jesus is revealed. There were people who were walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus after He resurrected and they were mind-blown at the things He was saying to them.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Here's the statement that they used. They said, "Isn't it amazing how our hearts burn within us when he opened the scriptures to us?" In other words, they knew the old stuff, but they hadn't got the revelation of Jesus Christ just yet. Jesus opened it up for them. That's part of what Paul is doing here. He's opening something up for his listeners. Here's the thing he mentions. He says, "Eye hasn't seen it, ear hasn't heard it. Neither has it entered into the heart of man." Now that's one of those good verses. That's one of those you'd post on your vanity mirror.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
You put that one somewhere in your vehicle so you can see it every day. Did you know that Paul was actually quoting an Old Testament verse there? He is actually quoting the prophet Isaiah and that scripture was originally recorded in Isaiah chapter 64. You probably should spend some time reading Isaiah chapter 64, if you are inspired by that particular verse. Because what it shows us is that the prophet Isaiah is talking to a group of people who have backslidden in their hearts. He's talking to a group of people who have become increasingly worldly in regards to their relationship with the Lord.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
He looks out and he says to them, "God's got stuff for you that you haven't even thought about yet and you're missing it because of the worldliness that's in your life." That's basically what he says to them if I might paraphrase. He goes on and he says, "And one of the reasons that you're really missing it is because you don't understand that you should repent over the sinfulness that's come into your life." He's telling them you're missing out, not just because you've let worldliness in, but even more so because you're not repented.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
He basically says we could have all of this and we're missing it because God can't show up where repentance doesn't exist. That's what Isaiah is saying in Isaiah chapter 64. Now Paul comes on the scene. He quotes that verse in the same breath that he's talking about an issue with the spirit of worldliness coming into the church. Isn't it something to think that God's people, Old Testament, New Testament, and here today have always struggled with a spirit of worldliness? Even sometimes as much as we want to live right and as much as we desire to put God first, it is just so easy to be led away from the things that God has for us.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Because the last thing the enemy wants you to do is to get all God's got for you and more too. The enemy is going to fight that with everything that he possibly can. What Paul is trying to say is, "Listen, you need to get a revelation from the Holy Spirit of what God's really got for you." What he goes on to say is the only way that that can ever really happen is you're going to have to let the Holy Spirit go to work on the inside of your life and give you the mind of Christ. In other words, you're going to have to start thinking as Jesus would think.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Now, let me show you why it's important to think as Jesus thinks. There's a passage of text in the book of Luke chapter four, Jesus is on earth. In fact, He's getting ready to really take His earthly ministry into the level. Jesus, the Bible says, is led by the Holy Spirit, out into a wilderness environment. Jesus is in this wilderness environment and He's just trying to spend time with His father and He's engaging heaven and earth. Then the devil shows up, well, ain't that the way it works? Like some of you, the more you try to serve God is like, man, the more I fight the devil, that's how it's always going to be.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The enemy does not want you to have more of God in your life. The enemy starts trying to mess with Jesus' head. As he's trying to pull Jesus away from the will of the heavenly father for his life the way that he chooses to do it is with temptation. You realize that's what the spirit of the world is always going to mess with you about, is temptation. James 1:14 says, "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." Each person is tempted. Every single one of us is going to wrestle with temptation.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The enemy is going to constantly be trying to pull us away from heaven and towards the world. He's going to constantly try to pull us away from the Holy Spirit and towards the spirit of the world. The way he's going to do it is with temptation. What we learn from Jesus is how Jesus thinks when He's approaching temptation. I'm going to say that again. What we learn from Jesus, we're talking about the mind of Christ. Anybody want what eye hadn't seen, ear hasn't heard, the heart hadn't comprehended? Does anybody want that? You want more of God than is even what you could ... If you want that, then you need the mind of Christ.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The only way you can really yield to the mind of Christ, you've got to realize how Jesus approached temptation, how He approached an attack from the spirit of the world. He's in this moment alone with the father, He's being prayerful, He's fasting, He's trying to just do everything right, and here comes the devil. There's this passage that you cannot miss. It's Luke 4:5, "And the devil took Jesus up and he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." Everybody says, "In a moment of time."

Congregation:
In a moment of time.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Come on, say it again.

Congregation:
In a moment of time.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
In a moment of time. It's important. Jesus is taken up and the devil shows Him everything, all the kingdoms of the world. He says to Him, "Bow and worships me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world." You realize that the devil owned them because he took them from Adam. What was happening is he's taken the keys of dominion. He's saying, "Jesus, if you'll bow, I'll let you have it." Do you know what he was trying to do? He was trying to stop the cross from happening because the enemy knew if the cross came he is going to lose more than the kingdoms of this world, he's going to wind up in a lake of fire for 10,000 upon 10,000 years.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
He's trying to divert the whole process. He's like, "Just bow. You won't have to do the cross. I'll go ahead and give you the world, man, just don't. Let's stop this thing now." The enemy will always show you an easier path and he'll do it in a moment of time. He'll show you everything that the world has to offer and it'll be like everything just comes in a split second. It happens to you every single time you log onto social media. You step into a high place above your phone or your laptop and you see the kingdoms of the world. You see what this one has got and you don't. You see how many followers this one has and you don't.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
You see how this one just seems to be living their lives promiscuously and so eloquently and it just seems to look so good in the feed. In a moment of time, you see everything that you can have if you will just yield to the spirit of the world. Jesus looked over at the devil and He said, "Man, should only worship the Lord thy God." Shall only worship The Lord thy God. In a moment of time, the whole thing flipped. The enemy wasn't done tempting Jesus. I pointed this out to you last week. I'll point it out again this week.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
While He was there in that wilderness environment, the enemy not only tried to give Him the kingdoms of the world, he tried to get Him to throw Himself down from a mountain and see if God would save Him. Jesus let the enemy know that's not how this thing works. Nobody shall tempt the Lord thy God. Then the enemy tries to get Him ... He's fasting so the enemy tries to get Him to turn a rock into bread just to see how much power He's got. He's like, "Listen, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Do you realize what happened every single time that the enemy tried to tempt Jesus? Jesus responded with the word of God. The mind of Christ responds to temptation with the word of God. You have to realize there are going to be moments where that the enemy in a moment of time will try to persuade you to make a decision that bows your knee in compromise, that bows to worldliness, that bows to something other than God's best for you. There is a destination that you've got and it is a thing that eye hasn't seen and ear hasn't heard and neither has it entered into the heart of man.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Maybe nobody in your family tree has ever seen it. Maybe nobody in the generations before you and your family lineage has ever seen it. Maybe nobody in your community has ever seen it before, nobody in your cul-de-sac, nobody in your dorm room, nobody in your locker room has ever seen it before, but you are scheduled for a destination that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. Don't let the enemy derail you. Don't let the enemy derail you. That is exactly what happened to the Hebrew people.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Isaiah told them, he's like, "Y'all are derailed. This is a train wreck." Paul's writing to the church at Corinth. He's like, "You guys are getting derailed, man. This is a train wreck. God's got a destination for you and you're missing it because you won't let Him give you the mind of Christ." Why is it so important that you read the word every single day? Because you're going to need it to keep from getting derailed. Why is it so hard for you to read the word every day? Because the enemy knows it will keep you from getting derailed so he derails you even ... Okay.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I feel the need to encourage somebody this morning. You need to understand what the enemy is up to in your life. The reason he's tempting you with that relationship is because he wants to derail you. The reason he's tempting you with the cheating and the opportunity to embezzle is because he wants to derail you. The reason that he's tempting you with somebody that isn't your spouse, that keeps showing up in your DMs is because he wants to derail you. Okay. Got really quiet. I didn't mean it. I'm trying to encourage you.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I'm trying to remind you, man, there's something else going on here. You cannot let the enemy settle for making you another example of a train wreck. You realize that's how thoughts work, right? You have trains of thought. You have trains of thought and every thought that you have is taking you somewhere. If you aren't cautious about how you think about those moments of temptation, you are going to board the wrong train. Look at somebody and tell them, "Board the right train."

Congregation:
Board the right train.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Board the right train. Board the right train. The enemy showed up to Jesus. He's like, "Hey man, I got a train ride for you, baby. You can have all the kingdoms of the world. It'll be the scenic route. Get on this train with me. All you got to do is worship the spirit of the world." Jesus is like, "That's not my destination. I don't want anything to do with those tracks." Isn't it amazing how the enemy can just put something in your head? If you don't deal with that thought appropriately, you're on a train ride that'll interrupt your sleep, interrupt your peace, interrupt your purity. Trains of thought.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Here's the thing. One of the great theologians of the past century made this statement. He said, "If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction." Do you get that? You on the train. The train is carrying you somewhere. You can run the other direction as much as you want. Some of us don't realize that we're going to have to make a decision to literally stop the train of thought called temptation.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
How do I do that? You have to have a relationship with the word of God and you have to yield yourself to the Holy Spirit so that He gives you the rebuttal for whatever it is the enemy is trying to show you is better than what you have in God. All of humanity got derailed because of a train of thought. Adam and Eve are in the garden. They have perfection. They have everything that you could possibly want as a human being. They only have one instruction. Don't eat that tree.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Guess what the enemy did? Hangs out in that tree and Eve goes over and she starts having a conversation with the snake. A train of thought got started in her head. We don't know for sure, but rabbinical commentary, Hebrew culture teaches that she didn't just go down one day and eat the fruit, but that it was a process. A train got loose in her head and she starts to think that there's something better in the world than what God has for her. The next thing you know, man, she partakes. She goes back. She starts talking to Adam, the train gets started in his head.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Now he thinks the world's got something. The next thing you know, Adam and Eve come into unity against God and we've been trying to fix that ever since. Temptation. Where are the trains of your thought taking you? I want to show you if you want to wind up at the right destination, we're going to have to wind up at a station called transformation. I want you to see this verse, Romans 12:1, it says, "I appeal to you brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Giving our bodies to God, mirroring His holiness, living a lifestyle of concentration and sanctification before God. That's a form of worship. It tells us that worship is more than a song. Worship, it's obedience. It's a lifestyle of obedience. Now, look at what happens next. It says, "Do not be conformed to this world." Can we just read this verse out loud together? Can you guys pull that one up for us? Verse number two, Romans chapter 12. I'm sorry. Romans 12:2. I'm slow, but I'm worth waiting on. Do we have it? Throw it up there. Do not be conformed.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
It's so good it's shorted the computer out. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do you not give in to the spirit of this world? Somebody help me. You got to get renewed in your mind. How do you not give in to the spirit of this world? You got to have the mind of Christ. When God is talking to you about having your mind renewed, He's saying, "I want to let you think like Jesus. I want to let you walk like Jesus. I want to let you talk like Jesus."

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
You're like, "I'll never be able to measure up to that." You're right, but the Holy Spirit can come in you and begin to work through you. The next thing you know, there's the stuff that you worry about on your knees too, that now your back is like a T-rail and you say, "I'm done riding that train. I'm done with the train wrecks. I'm not headed to that destination anymore. There is a scenic route that God has for me and I plan to get there." The pictures are going to be amazing. They're going to be greater than any selfie that you can ever filter.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
It's going to be that moment where you realize, "Wait for a second, man, serving God is the best decision I ever made and it's not just something I do on Sunday. It's not just something I do when my small group is looking. It's not just something that I do when I walk in and out of a building on Sunday morning, or I tune into church online on Sunday or Wednesday. It's something that I choose as a lifestyle to be all in with." That when you get your head right, you'll get your heart right. The reason that a lot of us don't have our heart right is because we don't have our head right.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I can't get any help on this. I thank you for the Amens in church online and in overflow because I can't get no help up in here. No. Anybody want to board the right train? Well, let's realize that there are trains of thought and let's realize if that's the case, we have to board the right train. Once we get on the right train, let's do everything that we can as we submit to the Lord to make sure that we do not get derailed, that we do not get derailed. Y'all ever watched the westerns? I am so old. I open up Amazon video and the only thing you see is John Wayne. Yeah. I'm old.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
I could say a few reasons why I choose John Wayne, but we'll just leave it at that. There's a lot of worldliness and sometimes it's so hard to just even try to find something to engage your mind for a few moments, you know? I find myself though, with those westerns, there's always a bank robber coming and he's always going to rob the train. The stagecoach or the train, they're going to get it. If you see somebody get on the train, it's like, "Come on, dude. Don't ride the train." Am I making sense to anybody? No one has a single western reference in this-

Congregation:
Yes.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Okay. I got three people that are with me. You all will get the revelation. You will go home and you will have the mind of Christ. The bottom line, giveaway, every Western. If they get on the train, look out, robbers coming. Here's the deal, if they have anything of value on that train, the enemy is coming to derail it. He is coming to try and steal it and make it his own. If he has to blow out the bridge, if he has to blow out the rails if he has to drop in through the top and start shooting everybody. The enemy is going to do whatever he can to derail that train.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
It is absolutely no difference in your life because he knows if your mind stays on tracks called renewal, you are headed for a destination called transformation. Then you will not be conformed to this world and he will have lost and he doesn't like losing. He's coming with Jesse James and anybody else he can find to saddle up with him to try to ... Hallelujah. I thought it was too, man. I worked hard on that one all of like three minutes. Here's the deal. I'm going to ask him to come to the music and play.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Hopefully, something that goes along with a western soundtrack. Corey, I'm kidding. I want you to really think with me for a minute, what kind of train have you boarded? When you're sitting in your dorm room at night, where are your thoughts taking you? When you're having that moment, maybe just driving to work, where is it that your mind just takes off to? Some of you right now, you're really hoping that this train of thought called a message has a caboose and that it's an ending, right? Even when you're trying to engage with the word, where does all that wind up at?

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
There's this verse 2nd Corinthians 10:5, it says, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ." We take every thought captive to obey Christ. Isaiah in the Old Testament, Paul in the New Testament, they're pleading with their audience, pleading. Guys, y'all are missing it, man. You're missing it because the spirit of worldliness is winning in your life. Even if you think what you've got is good, God's got something that is exceeding great.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
It's like all you got to do is let the Holy Spirit go to work on the inside of you and impart the mind of Christ. Even in 1st Corinthians, he talked about that impartation comes through the Holy Spirit putting the word of God in you. The word of God in you. There's a train of thought that's going to lead you to a destination called transformation. You ride that train with the Lord. Some of you the whole time I've been preaching, you've been hearing that old song you grew up with, this strain is bound for glory. This train.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Everybody riding this train better be righteous and holy. This train. I say, sign me up because quite frankly I'm tired of settling for what the enemy can offer in a moment of time. I'm ready for what eternity has to offer and that will settle anything that a moment of time can throw our direction. Father, I ask you this morning, whether somebody is in church online or in the auditorium, in overflow, God, wherever they are at right now, Holy Spirit visits us. God, some of us, we are set up for an ambush.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
The enemy has even just learned how to effectively pull us away from the things that you have for our life. God, the spirit of the world has just become so prevalent. God, some of us, we've got darkness all around us and we don't even realize what that is blocking in regards to what you want to reveal and that God, none of us are going to be perfect. None of us are ever going to be without fail.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Thank you for telling us that that would never happen, but that God, we could continue to surrender to you and that as long God as our hearts stay surrendered and when we make those mistakes that our hearts function with repentance, that our mind comes before you. Thank you, God, for even so many times, not just preventing the train wreck but God after we've made a mess of things, you just clean up the train wreck.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
God, we pray that we would learn something from the train wrecks of our past and that maybe even God today, you would show us a glimpse of some things the enemy's planned to derail in the future and that that would just further, further, God fuel our pursuit of you in prayer and worship and putting your word in our lives. God, I thank you. Thank you. God, maybe somebody needs to give their life to you for the very first time today. They need to recognize the mind of Christ is available as we bow at the cross.

Pastor Eric Gilbert:
Just thank you, Lord, for everything you've done for us and everything that you're willing to do for eternity in regards to dealing with our sin. Somebody else, father, God needs to rededicate today and you're dealing with their heart in that regard. Somebody else, God, they realize it's been a halfway deal with you and right now they're going all in. God, wherever we're at, just give us the courage to surrender.