Colossians 3:1-2 NKJV (1) If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Mindset: a mental attitude or inclination, a fixed state of mind
Luke 24:1-4 NKJV (1) Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. (2) But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. (3) Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (4) And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
The Scripture says that they were very much perplexed or troubled or worried. (perplexed – surprised and confused so much that they are unsure how to react.) They are worried because they are believing the wrong thing.
- Worry is a result of believing the wrong thinking.
They believed incorrectly that Jesus was dead.
They were the last ones to see the dead body of Jesus. They saw his bloodied, beaten and mutilated body and were there when it was placed in the tomb then they had to sit on that for 24 hours because of the Sabbath.
In their minds they are expecting to come back and see what they had seen before.
The angels began the process of bringing them out of their worried and anxious state.
Luke 24:5-8 NKJV (5) Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? (6) He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, (7) saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” (8) And they remembered His words.
Jesus talked about this so much that even His enemies were aware of it because they stationed guards at His tomb so that the disciples could not steal the body to prove Jesus’ statements.
But His own disciples forgot it. It never really registered to them what He was saying. Not one disciple was waiting at the tomb on that morning but it did not keep Him from rising from the dead.
- When you forget the Word that you have heard and don’t do it, you fall into a misbelief and believe the wrong things.
As a result of believing the wrong thing, you will be filled with worry and anxiety.
Luke 24:9-12 NKJV (9) Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. (10) It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. (11) And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. (12) But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
They are in doubt because they do not remember what Jesus said nor do they believe what the women told them.
Luke 24:13-26 NKJV (13) Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. (14) And they talked together of all these things which had happened. (15) So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. (16) But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. (17) And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (18) Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” (19) And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, (20) and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. (21) But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. (22) Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. (23) When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. (24) And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” (25) Then He said to them, “O foolish ones (KJV – fools), and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! (26) Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
Jesus does not speak any Word that is not divinely chosen by God. He called them “fools” but He was not insulting. He was simply saying to them, “You have been fooled.”
- The disciples were fooled by their own physical senses which told them something different than what Jesus had said.
They believed He was dead because that is what their senses told them.
Luke 24:27-32 NKJV (27) And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (28) Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. (29) But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. (30) Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. (31) Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. (32) And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
Jesus manifested Himself to them, but the manifestation came after the teaching of the Scriptures. Instead of just showing the scars, He takes them through the Word of God and shows it to them from the Word. Only after that is He manifested.
- Before you ever receive a manifestation from God, you must first receive and believe His Word.
He convinced them with the Word, not the manifestation.
- We must incorporate God’s information into our thinking to change our believing and eliminate worry.
James 1:21 NKJV (21) Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
James is telling us that we do not need new roots. We got new roots when we accepted Christ. Our branches are part of the tree and are a picture of your mind.
It is up to us to take off the bad branches one by one and begin to replace them with God’s branches so that we can begin to produce the right believing. God’s branches are not native to us but can be grafted into us.
We learn to take God’s Word and replace our old way of thinking and believing into God’s way of thinking.
James 1:22-25 NKJV (22) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; (24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
James says that God’s Word is a mirror that sets me free.
- God’s Word does not show you the way you were or are but it shows you what you can be with Christ. It shows you that you are free.
What we have to do is go to the Word of God and begin to change our thinking and engraft His promises into our thinking and thus change our believing and wipe out worry for good.
- Worry is a result of wrong belief.
- We believe the wrong things because of wrong thinking.
- We have wrong thinking because we have been receiving the wrong information.
- We have to incorporate God’s information into our thinking to change our believing and eliminate worry.