I want to talk this afternoon about meditation. You saw that in the bulletin, so I hope this will be of benefit to us. I said I want to talk about it. Doesn't sound like preaching, does it? I don't know that I really am going to be. Well, we'll approach it and it'll come out as it comes out, I'm going to. Really, Philippians 4 verse 8 is a starting point and really focusing probably the bulk of my time here, but the Apostle Paul writes, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue and if there's any Think praiseworthy. Meditate on these things. The old King James says, think on these things. Well, unless you're comatose, you are likely thinking. So right now, I suppose you're thinking. And every day we have the opportunity of thinking very seldom or we just blank. I suppose that does happen, but very seldom is our mind just in a standstill. It's going somewhere, something is entering, something is being engaged with our minds. And it's no secret that our minds are of critical importance to essentially every area of our lives. And I really am hoping that there are going to be a number of things that will be said, but I really want to stress the intentionality of our thinking. and which I will propose is the meditation that we want to seek after. Ephesians 4.23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Romans 12.2, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 1 Peter 1.3, gird up the loins of your mind. We are aware the mind under God is huge. It is huge to our lives. It's huge to every aspect of our lives. I've shared some of these thoughts that you're going to be hearing this afternoon and previous at previous times in the past, but I believe we need a fresh emphasis on this. It has been helpful for me to be challenged in my own mind about this idea of meditation, knowing what it is and then what is it that we're supposed to give ourselves to meditating upon and perhaps what not. There's a principle in Ephesians 4.8 that is helpful as each of us at one time or another and some more than others deal with anxiety and fear and other troubling kind of attitudes and maybe even simple responses to circumstances, situations, relationships. And all of these things fall under the umbrella of your meditation or what you are thinking upon. The New King James says, meditate on these things. And the word that translated meditate emphasizes a continuous taking into account your reckoning, your calculating, your computing, You're deliberating. That's what you're doing, the exercise of your mind. It's not a mindless life and a mindless approach to life. The words meditate and meditation, in fact, you won't find them. There's only a couple of times where you find the word translated that way in the New Testament. Most of the use of that word is found in the Old Testament. And there are a couple of Hebrew words that are primarily translated that way. They're translated other things as well. One Hebrew word basically means to ponder, to muse, contemplation. Another Hebrew word, and this is the one that we're probably most familiar with, it's the one that's used in Joshua 1 8. But this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night. that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein. And then Psalm one, two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law, he meditates day and night. By the way, that's not saying that that's a 24 hour focus of your mind on the law of the Lord, but there's never a time in the day or night. I mean, at night you're sleeping. So unless you're dreaming, you're not. You know, your mind's not very active. But I can tell you for myself, when I wake up at 3.30 in the morning, my mind is on something. My mind begins to be active. I wish it didn't, but it begins to be active right away with things sometimes I don't want it to be active with. So I, you know, night and day, I have this responsibility with my mind. Psalm 1914, we're just saying that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. So this Hebrew word, it has the basic meaning of and this is interesting and it's translated this way to murmur and even complying. Interesting. But it's the implication is that it's it is when it's translated complaint, the idea is there's something deep that's going on inside of you and the musing and the the thinking upon whatever it is, is bringing forth this complaint. It's a it's a result of what we call what we understand to be meditation. So the meaning of the word is murmur. implying a constant muttering over in your mind, rolling a matter over in your mind. That's the idea of this Hebrew word. So meditation is more than learning the facts about something. You know, categorizing facts, defining things. It goes beyond the information, it goes deeper than just simply the information it chews and it digests. And I would say it savors. It's not just analyzing, it's tasting, it's enjoying and ultimately it's impacting. That's meditation. It can be very good. Or it can be bad, depending upon the content of your meditation, which is Significant. And there are things that there are things that you might not think as deeply about as someone else, and yet your meditating is such that you actually are benefiting more in a practical way than a person who may think more factually deep about things. In other words, it may there are things that may benefit you, you may respond in a favorable way. I was even thinking about that in regards to some of the messages we've heard already today, we can we can throw a lot of facts out there, but are you really meditating? You can know the information, but but is there a meditation, is there a is there a is there an is there an attempt to actually. Can we say it this way, suck the sweet, suck the honey out of it. I could have. Last night, was it last night? We had some leftover leftover. I don't know what it's called, but it's kind of like a pumpkin apple pie thing. And and I could have we could have sat there and I could have said, Laurie, tell me about this. And she described it to me and all of the ingredients, and I'm sitting there thinking, wow, yeah, tell me more, tell me more. And she could go through the whole list of how she baked it and how long it baked. And it was just right. And I pulled it out of the oven. And I said, well, that's great. Now let's go. We can leave now. I would have never tasted. I don't even know what all was in it. But I'm telling you, it was good. It was good. And I enjoyed it. And it affected me. You know, I think that's a maybe it's not a great illustration, but that's a kind of the point of meditation. A good way is that there is something sweet. There's something that affects you. There's something that impacts you in a good way, moves you in a good way. So meditation is not and this is important. It's not some mystical or religious There's a lot of mystical and religious leaders who will say that meditation is. Emptying your mind. Have you heard that before, you know, just empty your mind and just find your inner self and and I'm not mocking this because this is a this is a real thing, you know, and just find your inner self and whatever it is that comes to you, just take it, mull it over. And that's truth, or that's the real you. That is not godly meditation. Godly meditation is not emptying your mind into a neutral state in order to learn something about yourself. Allowing thoughts just to populate with no control. That's not godly meditation. Meditation that is godly and healthy is not thinking about whatever may come to your mind. There are things that come to your mind that you shouldn't meditate on, you shouldn't entertain it. Godly meditation is intentional. This is really what I want you to leave today thinking. Kind of like last week, some of you have told me, you know, you were affected most by the idea that I am an ambassador. It's not what I do, it's who I am. Because who I am, I do what I do. I want you to go away today thinking this. Godly meditation is intentional. It doesn't just happen. It requires effort. It requires focus. That's one of the reasons why it is so little engaged in. Because it does require energy. Mental energy. It is a kind of burrowing into a thought until there is something that happens with that thought that affects you. That lifts you up. that actually maybe even transforms. And it may be a minute, or it may be 30 minutes, but if it's a proper thing upon which you are meditating, the benefit is worth the time and the effort. In other words, don't think just because I don't have a long period of time that I can't stop and really meditate. You can, and this can happen throughout Well, what should our meditation be upon? What should we intentionally seek to set our minds on? And I believe this is where, at least we'll begin here, Philippians 4.8 is helpful. It provides some guidance, whatever the general area of meditation is. So you can apply this to any area of meditation. But Paul says. He gives a list here, things, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. And he's not just throwing a list together here. It's the Holy Spirit's guiding him. In the writing of these things, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, Meditate on these things. So these are the things that in a help for the help for our spiritual health and not only for our spiritual health, I would even say for our health, health, our physical health. Meditating on these things. Is helpful, so the categories that he gives true things that are not imagined Things that are not fabricated. Things that are not a lie. That's what's true. Noble. These are things that are venerable. Things that are honorable. Things that are respectable. Things that are just. These would be things that are right. That are righteous. Things that are pure. Well, that's clean, chaste, purity. Think on these things. Think on things that are lovely. That's things that are acceptable. Things that are pleasing. Things that are pleasant. Good. Report. Those are things that are commendable. Things that are attractive. And then he summarizes, it seems, With these two last. Overarching categories where he says those things which he says anything or excuse me, if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, any virtue, anything praiseworthy, that which is morally good and that which can be praised. These are the things, generally speaking, we should think upon, we should meditate upon. So if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, that's what you should give your mind to. That's what you should meditate upon. Of course, anything contrary to these things should be held in our minds very briefly, if at all. Now he doesn't say there should be no thought given to anything else, but these are the things that you should think upon, you should meditate upon. So we use our minds for all of life. But Paul is saying that what you choose to think about, what you choose to meditate upon will greatly affect the level of your experience of peace and contentment and joy and really even the direction of your life. the things that you choose to meditate upon. By the way, let me ask you this. Is it a choice? Is meditation something you have no control over? I don't see how you can say you have no control over it. Do not use the sovereignty of God improperly. Do not blame God in this area of Well, you know, if he wants me meditating on it, he's going to have to make me do it or whatever. That's he's given you the capacity to do this. Meditate on these things. And he's not saying don't use your minds for anything else. Use your minds for necessary things, but meditate or think on these things. Let these things be what really occupies the greatest attention in your mind. Sometimes fiery darts come, don't they? But we need to be intentional even about those. Have you had any come to your mind today? Have you had any thought come to your mind today that you know that really is not a good thought? What are you going to do with it? Again, be intentional about dealing with those. But here we're talking about what we should be meditating upon. And the spirit is saying, take responsibility for what you give your mind to and what you set your thoughts upon. So some thoughts are true. Does that mean, then, that anything is true? I can meditate on that. I would say no, I would say There may be things that are true, but they don't fit the rest of the categories here. And so it may be a true thing, but it's not it's not honorable, noble, it's not it's not just not right. It's not pure. It's not lovely. It's it's it doesn't fit. It's not virtuous. It's not praiseworthy. Maybe true. And so. These are. There are true thoughts that, if meditated upon, will produce anxiety or fear. Can I use you, Shelly, as an illustration? OK. So we're talking about, is it true? Is it truly a possibility that Shelly's knee surgery tomorrow will turn out bad? Is that a possibility? And so that's true. But it doesn't fit the rest of the categories here. And so when you begin to think about possibility things. Things out of your influence, things out of your control, you are entering into the meditating, you're setting your mind on things that are just going to stir up, they may even suffocate you, they may debilitate you, they may they're unhealthy for you to go there with your thoughts. So Paul says, Don't think on such things. Don't let those things come to your mind. Do they come to our minds? Sure they do. What are you going to do with them? I'm going to meditate on things that aren't just true or in the realm of the possibility of being true. I want to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, praiseworthy. I want to think on those things. That's what I want to set my mind upon. And so the point here, though, is not to deny reality. So the point isn't to deny, let's say, the possibility of something, because the fact of the matter is, as you think through things in life, you're thinking about possibilities. Well, that causes you to do things that are necessary to prepare for possibilities, right? For example, a savings account. You know, do you want to live paycheck to paycheck? Can you live paycheck to paycheck? Sure, lots of people do. But biblically, there's an indicator that you should save, you should lay up, you should store up for that which may come. But we don't fixate on that. We we think upon the things that are, again, the categories. We acknowledge the possibilities, but we don't dwell on those possibilities. We choose to meditate on these things. So we acknowledge what is truly evil. We acknowledge what is unacceptable. We acknowledge what is disappointing. We acknowledge what is aggravating. We acknowledge what is intolerable. We acknowledge all those things. But we choose to think or meditate on these things. There probably are a number of ways we could or examples we might give, but let's just think for a moment. Maybe this is exaggerated, but I'll give it in an exaggerated way and see if this might be helpful for some of us. Let's say if 90 percent of a given circumstance or relationship is truly negative, What should you do about that? How should you deal with that? How should you occupy your mind with that? And of course, I realize this is a launch off into all kinds of tributary thoughts, but here we're just thinking about things that you're going to meditate upon. And I would suggest that you acknowledge the 90 percent. Again, I say I'm exaggerating here to make a point. You acknowledge. The negative. the truly negative, you acknowledge it and then you think or you meditate on the 10% that is virtuous and praiseworthy. Does that make sense? In other words, you take a difficult relationship. I would encourage you to ask this question, is everything about that person dishonorable and unvirtuous? Is everything about that person dishonorable and unvirtuous. Is there no positive value whatsoever that you can find in that person? Very seldom can that be said of anyone. I would say in the relationship situation, you don't fixate on that. You meditate on the virtuous, the praiseworthy portion of that person's life in order to help the relationship. Let's take news. Is there no good news in the midst of the bad? So the things that you meditate on, those of you who are prone to listen to the daily news, there's all kinds of negative stuff being published, all kinds of horrible news. And there is the tendency For that to be the thing you meditate upon, you muse upon, you roll over in your mind and and it negatively affects you. The question is, is there is there? Yes, there is evil every day. I'm not saying God is not saying don't acknowledge that, that we pray in regards to those things. But how much good is there? Isn't there a boatload of good that is going on every day in our world as well? There is. And so think on those things. The flesh will always gravitate to think or meditate on the negative, the undesirable. The unrighteous, the impure, the unlovely, the morally rotten, and will magnify the unpraised worthy portions of life. In other words, your flesh and mind will naturally gravitate to just the opposite. of what the Holy Spirit is telling us we should meditate upon. Have you found that to be true in your own experience? So the principle here is this. Acknowledge the evil. But meditate on these things. Let these things occupy your mind. OK, that's a general, a general thought. Let me just move toward conclusion here by pressing a few other things. Where can you find. All that is in this list here. Who maybe I should say, who can you find? That exemplifies everything in this list are true. Noble, honorable, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, praiseworthy, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so could it be that Paul, including the things that we just mentioned, is also telling us and maybe pressing us more than we realize to this conclusion that we should We will always find in Him these things. So meditate upon Him. Meditate upon Him. You see what he says in the previous verses, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And what's interesting is that these verses come on the heels of what he has just said at the beginning of this chapter and chapter four, and that is there was problems in the church. There were relational problems in the church. I implore, verse two, Yodia and I implore Sintiki to be of the same mind in the Lord, there were problems. I urge you also, true companion, help these women. Who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life, there were there was some sort of friction, some sort of division, some something going on in the church. And then all that follows here. I suggest to you that if we are meditating on these things, we're going to find a solution to some of those relational problems that exist in our family and church, other contacts. And we're going to find ourselves experiencing a level of peace that we wouldn't experience otherwise, not just in relational matters, but circumstantial matters. or the circumstances of our lives. You will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed, is fixed on You because He trusts in You. There's that relationship again with Jehovah God, with Christ Jesus. And beloved, you will agree with me, I know, I'm not saying this because you'll agree with me, I'm saying it just to remind you and me that there is no greater meditation than upon our our God. There is no greater meditation. There's no way we can occupy our mind, no greater way we can occupy our minds than in observing what he has revealed of himself through his works and through his word. Psalm 143 and verse five. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your works. I muse on the work of your hands. How about making that a daily practice? Some of you, I don't know, maybe the country, we have more of it more opportunity in the city. I don't know that that's totally true. In fact, I see some really beautiful things in the city. I'm talking about God's handiwork. I'm not even talking about the architectural things of man. But even there, you're seeing a demonstration of that which is reflected in of God in man, the creativity and to be able to see in the works all around us. the expression of God, the expression of the glory of God. So I would say to you, look up and look out and see God's goodness all around you and muse upon that. We were seeing one flower, crape myrtle. We had this small crape myrtle in front of our house. And it's been small forever. For 26 years it's been small. Not like the ones behind the house. There was this one red flower. It was red, right? Red flower. I thought it was a cardinal at first. And I'm looking at it from the porch. And Lori went out and actually got close and looked at it and it was a flower. One red flower. That's not just a freak of nature, an accidental thing of nature. That's the work of our God. And to be able to see that and to be affected, to meditate upon Him in response to the works that you see of Him. And that's just the work of creation. Then there's the work in our lives and the provisions, the providential care that He brings to us. And we'll talk about some of those things Wednesday night, and hopefully you'll come and talk about some of those things, the blessings of God. And I think if you will take time to actually meditate between now and Wednesday, you'll come Wednesday overflowing with something to say about. That is an expression of thanks. To God. And of course, there's the word of God. Psalm 197, oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. I will meditate on your statutes. We sang that. I mean, taking time with the Word of God, you know, taking time with it. But the Word of God, when you're reading the Word of God and you're and you're seeing, you're receiving, and you're entering in, and you're not just racing through trying to read your four chapters a day or whatever it is, but God is actually communicating and you're actually responding to Him. That's meditation where it's deeply embedded. It's affecting you. Affecting your life. In multiple ways. And God is saying something. God is communicating with you. Meditation. The Word of God. It is my meditation all the day. And I want to close with Psalm 104. Psalm 104. I think one thing that we want to be careful about is that our meditations are not about us. You know, it's not about us. It is about Him. And you cannot meditate about Him without thinking about His thoughts towards you. Would that be true? I mean, you can't. And his good thoughts towards you, not just those condemning, judging thoughts that we oftentimes are prone to fixate upon. But in Christ, there is nothing like that. In Christ, there is good thoughts of God toward us. which I'm assuming is what John was intending by what he was suggesting. But in Psalm 104 and verse 34, this can be translated more than one way. May my meditation be sweet to him. I will be glad in the Lord. May my meditation be sweet to Him. You know what the Old King James says? It says, My meditation of Him shall be sweet. That's not the same thing, is it? My meditation of Him shall be sweet. So is it, may my meditation be sweet to Him? Or is it, My meditation of him shall be sweet. Is it to him or me? And I would suggest that it's both. Because both are a valid translation of the Hebrew that's given here. And I would say it's both. I will be glad in the Lord. I will be glad in the Lord because that's on the heels of the meditation. My meditation sweet to him or my meditation of him. is so sweet that it produces gladness. It affects me. It affects my spirit when my meditation is of Him. Dr. Watson, you may remember him. He spoke here a few years back and he put out an article on meditation that was really good. And I'm just reading one portion here. He said how sweet it is to meditate on God as our Father. Jesus as our elder brother. The Holy Spirit as our comforter. And God's Word as our guide. How sweet. How sweet. And this goes back to what I said earlier. Meditation should draw out some honey. It should bring some sweetness to us. Isn't that what Psalm 19 was talking about in reference to the Word of God? It's sweeter than honey. and the honeycomb. And so when we meditate on God, you're not, as you've heard many times, you're not meditating on something that's abstract. You're meditating on God as our Father. Jesus is our elder brother. The Holy Spirit is our comforter. And God's Word is our guide. Mr. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon said, meditation is the soul of religion. Meditation is the soul of religion. So I want to encourage you, be intentional about what you allow your mind to muse upon. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. For the benefit of your soul, take time daily to meditate. Not on you, but on Him. And all that that means. You are not the center. You are not the focus. If you become the focus of your meditation, you are headed into a bad, bad place. There is nothing good. I mean, you're going to fall. You're going to stumble. You're going to end up in a ditch. And there is going to be anxiety and anger or bitterness or all kinds of stuff that's going to go on. Make Him, make Him the focus. Make Christ the focus of your meditation. One of my prayers regularly is, it's the Scriptures, cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning. For I lift my soul to you. cause me to hear, cause me to know the way in which I should go. That's the way the rest of it goes. There's two parts to that. For I trust in you. And so make that, make your meditation a daily thing, a daily matter. Don't read scripture quickly. Meditate on what the Spirit shows you. Shut the noise out. Turn the device off. I'm not saying always, but find time where when you have downtime, don't just immediately go to YouTube or some other, whatever else it is that is your favorite source. Even good things. Daily, godly meditation will greatly impact your life for good to the glory of God. And that will make you glad. help you deal with maybe some of the things that you're struggling with in your life right now. Is there any comments anybody wants to make? That's all that I wanted to share with you this afternoon. Anything that you think would be helpful? Or questions? Charles?