Victorious Mindset

Please turn to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six, verses 13 to 18 is where we're at today. And I'd like to talk about a message called "A Victorious Mindset." I'd like to preach to you a message on a victorious mindset, not a downtrodden mindset, a victimhood mindset, or a poor-me mindset, but a victorious mindset from Ephesians chapter six, verses 13 to 18. And I'll read these here in just a moment, but as a lead-in verse, I would remind us all that 2 Thessalonians 2:2 says that we're not to be quickly shaken in our mind. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 makes a case here that even if you were to get a report about something that was unfavorable, that you would not be quickly shaken in your mind because we are steadfast in the Lord. And then the armor here in Ephesians chapter six, it is starting with you comprehending what the armor is, and we'll talk about that. And so a biblical mindset is a victorious mindset.

Ephesians 6:13 and following says this, "Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end being on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints."

Pause for prayer if you would with me. Thank You, Father, for this text and I pray that You would help us to see that our mindset should be steadfast upon You and to comprehend this armor. And this is going to result in having a victorious mindset. Help us, Lord, in this area we pray, in Christ's name, amen.

There's a particular spiritual war against your mindset. It's not just the evil one coming from the outside in, but also according to Romans chapter seven and verse 23, I want you to see this — you have a war that is waged on the inside of you. If you would like to turn to Romans 7:23, you'll see that this is definitely in the mind. The Bible says so. Romans 7:23 says, "But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind." So there is a war inside of us that is going back and forth, back and forth. The law of the Spirit that sets you free from the Holy Spirit, or the law of the world, or the law of the flesh — or in this case, the law, the Old Testament law, trying to earn their salvation rather than pinning upon Christ. And so we're familiar with having this inner battle. We're familiar with this war. And I hope to be able to encourage us today on having a victorious mindset and not allowing the schemes of the devil to shake us unnecessarily.

Ephesians 6:13 says the word "therefore." Look at that with me. It says, "Therefore take up the full armor of God that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand, stand therefore." And so this word "therefore" has a meaning. The meaning of "therefore" is this: it says, "For this reason." And so you can substitute the word "therefore" with this definition — "for this reason." And so reasons are why you take up the full armor of God. You have some reasonings that Paul has set forth. And this is my case for a victorious mindset. You need reasonings in your mind as to why you take up the full armor of God. A victorious mindset says this: "For this reason, mentally, we must be strong in the Lord in the power of His might." And so in verse 10 it says, "Finally be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God." We know it's not literal armor. It's metaphorical. And so now we think on these types of things. This victorious mindset is for us to have. So we are to mentally be strong. Mentally we must put on the full armor of God. So point number one, if you're taking notes, is that the armor is mostly mental.

The armor is mostly mental, so that you'll be able to stand firm — verse 11. And know that your struggle is against the evil one — verse 12. And so now that you've been told to stand against the satanic schemes, you must therefore implement a victorious mindset. We're on the winning team. We win in the end. Satan is a defeated foe. He is going to attack. We know this. And so have a strong mindset. This is thinking as if you are in wartime. It's not being caught off guard. This is resisting. Look at verse 13. "Therefore take up the full armor of God so that you'll be able to resist in the evil day." Resisting starts with thinking. Thinking is where the battle is going to begin. It starts in the mind.

Think with me through the armor of God here in regards to the fact that the armor is mostly mental. So the first thing we see is that truth holds your mind together. And so we need therefore to resist laziness of the mind. We must think about truth. And so this is the belt of truth that you see in the scriptures in verse 14. As well, righteousness guards the heart. Therefore we must think on doing the right things and not think on sin. Resist evil in the mind. This is the breastplate of righteousness. It starts in your mind.

As well, the next piece of armor is the feet shod with the gospel. And you see that the gospel saves souls. And so we need to think about the gospel and be able to share the gospel, because the gospel is first of all thought of. Think of the logic here. You share the truth of sin and that there is a need for a Savior with people, and so they think on these things. And so the battleground first starts in the mind. The gospel is mental. You need to help other people think truthfully on these things and bring them to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus. And so the gospel saves souls. Think about that. Speak those things. And therefore resist shrinking back from thinking about the gospel and speaking the gospel.

As well, our faith defends us — as we must know our faith. This is the shield of faith. And if you have a little bit of a wimpy shield, a piece of paper is not going to do. In defending against arrows from the evil one, you need a thick shield, one that is able to stand against the assaults of the evil one. The Colossian church had Gnosticism coming from every angle, completely nullifying the cross. The Galatian church had adding the law to the gospel — those fiery arrows coming at the church. And if they did not have a strong shield of faith, if they did not know the tenets, if they had a thick faith, a strong faith, they could withstand those arrows. But obviously they didn't, because Gnosticism penetrated the Colossian church and adding the law to the gospel penetrated the Galatian church. And Paul had to write these letters and straighten it out. He said, "Listen, this is the truth. Raise your shield of faith and block out all of these errors."

Absolutely love that we have a family discipleship church, by the way, because we are teaching our children as we are in worship together what it is to have a strong faith in Christ. And just as much as it is caught as it is taught in regards to little ones growing up in the word of God. So I love our children here.

But think with me through this armor from the mental standpoint. Not only do we need to know our faith, know solid doctrine, know what the doctrines of our faith are, sound doctrine, these things — we need to know them and use them. But also the salvation that gives us security, we need to have confidence in that. And this is also the helmet of salvation mentioned in the armor. The helmet of salvation — think, the helmet goes where? Over the head. So it's definitely a mental game. And if you have an insecurity in your faith, then it is a lack of understanding of what true faith really is. So therefore resist depending upon your own intellect, resist depending upon your own good works, resist these things, and have a victorious mindset in Christ.

And then now as we're starting to branch into the next large piece here, which is prayer, as we're getting through the armor and now getting to prayer — our prayers embolden and keep us in His will. And therefore prayerlessness is essentially thoughtlessness. If you are not praying, you're not thinking. You're not thinking about others. You're not thinking of yourselves. You're not thinking of your church. You're not thinking of the welfare of others. It's a carelessness and it's a prayerlessness. Prayerlessness is sinfulness. We need to be a people of prayer. We're going to talk about prayer in depth in the weeks to come, but resist the temptation to be prayerless because that is essentially mental slothfulness. And so we need to have a victorious mindset in these areas.

In verse 14, back up at the top here of the armor, it says, "Stand therefore." And so standing starts with thinking. In verse 16, you have other indications and it says to take up the shield of faith, which you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. And so in verse 16, this taking up the shield of faith — how do you do that? How do you take up the shield of faith? How do you take up these tenets? How do you take up these truths? Well, you know them. You rightly divide the word of God. See what it says. Study yourself full of truth. Reiterate those things. Remind yourselves to read on those things. Study those things. Own those things. Know them so that when your faith is assaulted, it'll stand. But how can it stand unless you truly know? How can it stand unless you have a victorious mindset?

And so the shield of faith is going to truly help you against the flaming arrows of the evil one. This word "flaming" means burning. It's metaphoric for evil ideas. Evil ideas are going to continuously penetrate your life. Doubts of whether or not your spouse loves you. Doubts of whether or not your children are truly loving you and loving Christ. Doubts of whether or not people are sincere. There's all kinds of doubts and doubts and doubts. All kinds of attacks. Financial security. Just flaming arrows. Name those arrows that are coming at you. They're coming at you. They're accusatory. And as well, you have your own selves as your own worst enemy in regards to stuff like lust and anger and all of these evil ideas. These arrows that are continuously coming at us. We need a victorious mindset, which means to know your faith and to defend yourself with your shield and your sword.

Hey, even use your boots as an offensive weapon when it comes to the gospel and kick. I don't care how you fight and how you scream, how you swing your swords. Quote the gospel. Use your boots as another offensive weapon. Use your shield as an offensive weapon. Use your sword as an offensive weapon. Use your righteousness to lead your life as an offensive weapon. And let me share some inside truth coming up — prayer is your most powerful weapon and we'll get there. Prayer is like a bomb. Boom! Prayer causes evil to disperse. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. It's coming up.

And so the shield of faith raised against the flaming arrows of the evil one will block these mental evil ideas. But if you don't have your helmet on, if you do not know the gospel, if you do not have your shield, if you don't have your faith, then how can you have a victorious mindset? Let me ask you — are you crippled by perhaps something like fear? Are you crippled by doubt? Are you crippled by worry? Is there an arrow stuck in you like right now? Hear this with the most gentle, sincere, pastoral heart that I can have. To the best that I can understand exegetically, it is a lack of faith.

And so the two cannot be in the same — faith or fear. Faith or worry. So I ask you, what then is faith? Have you ever had that cheap answer flung at you? You guys got to have faith. You lay out some serious, hard, life-threatening problem that you are dealing with and someone shrugs their shoulders at you and flippantly says, "You just got to have faith." Well, let's talk about that. Let's deal with that for just a moment, because that is very common for someone to say to you, "Well, I'm facing financial failure, I just have faith," or, "I'm dealing with anxiety for my entire life. You just got to have faith." It's not really a cheap answer. It is actually an accurate answer. We just don't understand it correctly.

So what does it mean to have faith? Well, in the text, it means to take up. It means to raise up. It means to build up strong faith. Strong belief. It means that you apprehend the tenets of the gospel, the points of sound doctrine, and you review those and you know those and you grab on the Scripture and you deflect the arrows with the word of God — just like in Matthew 4, how Jesus gave us an example in defending against the temptations of Satan with Scripture, with Scripture, with Scripture. That's the only method that we are given, and that is where we must sharpen our swords and be able to do very, very, very well in. All of the armor is metaphorical and also starting in the mental area. And so it starts in the mind. Have a victorious mindset in this. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7 says, "As a man thinks, so he is."

How are you? Well, you are how you are thinking. What you are allowing to stew right above your shoulders is the condition in which you are walking around. And if you were to simply observe this passage of Scripture, you would say, "Paul is portraying a victorious mindset to the Ephesian church — that they should be victorious in these areas, victorious spiritual war fighters." Philippians chapter four, verse eight says, "Think on these things." 2 Thessalonians 2 says, "Do not be quickly shaken." And so to have faith means to know and use truth.

You can know it but not use it, and you walk around defeated. You could use the wrong truth, and you could also be defeated. The two go hand in hand. And so if you would then think from this perspective of having a victorious mindset in regards to the armor of God, you know that as fathers you are to instruct your children. Ephesians chapter six and verse four says you are giving them truth and you are helping them to build up inside of their hearts and minds, strengthened in the Lord. And then if you think through as well, truth from Jesus, through Paul, through the apostles, and the prophets is to be used for preaching and teaching and salvation and discipleship. All of this is helping to extinguish the errors from the evil one. And so it is the faith that extinguishes things like fear and anxiety and disunity. And Ephesians turns to truth.

I want you to see in chapter three, verses 1 through 6, a serious problem in regards to disunity. And it starts in the mind. Paul is dealing with feelings of insufficiency and disunity here. And this was an issue in the Ephesian church. And Satan — he had an onslaught of fiery arrows just firing at the Gentiles. And Paul solves this in the mind. He helps them to reason their way through to being unified in Christ. And so there's a serious issue and Paul utilizes this to unify the two different people groups inside of the local church. It's beautiful.

In chapter three and verse one it says, "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, if indeed you heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery of the gospel before in brief." All of these references to first knowing Christ — revelation in the mind, mystery, information of the gospel in Christ. Verse four, "About which when you read" — see, understanding, mental, in the mind — "you can understand in the mind my insight to the mystery of Christ, information about Christ, the truth of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and the prophets in the Spirit, that" — here's the solution — "the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel." Isn't that beautiful?

And so now through the gospel you have people who were once separated, now being unified in Christ. And so this is a victorious mindset for them — to be put at ease for the fact that you think that maybe you are being disenfranchised or set aside or spoken against as a Gentile. No, that's not the case. Don't think of skin color, don't think of where you're from, think of who you are in Christ. That's what we're unified in, and this is beautiful. And so Paul addresses the disunity and the insufficiency, those feelings, those thoughts, with truth, and he helps them to have a victorious mindset in Christ.

And so that was such an issue there that even from prison, chapter three verse one, Paul had to do something about this disunity. What did he do? Well, he wrote a letter and he states, "If you have heard of God's grace," chapter three verse two, "then you can understand," chapter three verse four, "that Gentiles and Jews are fellow heirs in Christ," chapter three verse six. And so this is an appeal to understand. It's an appeal to have a victorious mindset in Christ. Don't allow the flaming arrows of the evil one to cause disunity in the church. Don't allow the flaming arrows of the evil one to make you feel insufficient in any way. You need to know who you are in Christ, and then you're strong. This command to raise your faith, you Gentile Christians — raise your faith. The arrow of insufficiency, it's not true. The arrow of disunity — Paul is saying to the Gentiles, it is not true.

Sometimes the arrows cause so much pain you can't even comprehend what is true. I'm telling you the solution to taking the arrow and the pain out of your life is to focus on what is true. This is a mental battle — this command: raise your faith, Gentiles. Be unified. Raise your faith, you Jews who have come to Christ, and stop adding laws to the gospel and unify yourselves together.

This is so important. In chapter two and verse eight and following it says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith." This is not of yourselves. This is a correction to the Jews. You didn't earn it. You didn't have enough sacrifices made in the Old Testament. Your forefathers didn't do it. "It was a gift of God, not of works, that any of you should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them. Therefore, remember that you, formally Gentiles" — now he's helping to guide the Gentiles, he was just guiding the Jews — "Gentiles in the flesh who were called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision," what a dig, "which is performed in the flesh by human hands" — ha, as if that amounts to anything. "Remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope." Do you hear all the arrows? No hope. What an arrow. Disunified. What an arrow. But now as a stranger, you've been brought into the covenants of promise. Now as a Gentile, you've been brought into all of the Old Testament promises pointing to Christ. You're in. This is fantastic. "Having no hope without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one." Have peace, folks, in Christ. He is our peace.

Don't allow disunity to creep in in any way. The same as any type of worry arrow, any type of division arrow, any type of fear arrow — do not allow those things to settle in. Listen, the fear that you have or the worry that you have is what you have allowed to go from here to here. But if you have a victorious mindset and you fight the battle up here every day and you raise your shield at the level of the mind and you guard your heart above all things, it never becomes a disruptive feeling.

Nobody's perfect in spiritual warfare fighting. We all have arrows to the heart. We all get caught off guard. We all didn't see it coming. And like W.A. Criswell said — when one preacher was filling in for him at First Baptist Dallas and was preaching on the armor — he said from the front row, right in the middle of the sermon, "The problem is that arrows can get behind the breastplate." Satan's got good aim. And as well, the problem is our own selves. Like in Romans chapter seven, we are our own worst enemy sometimes.

And so we need to know these things so that we can raise our shields of faith and realize, "But now we are in Christ Jesus" — chapter two, verse 13, "but now we are in Christ Jesus."

And so point number one is the armor is mostly mental. Point number two, develop your mental mindset. This is your responsibility to develop that. Obviously being fully committed to the local church and the Bible studies is going to develop your mindset. Obviously being fully committed to Bible study and worship and theology — Wednesdays, we just want to develop your mindset. Obviously, parents teaching their children is going to help develop their mindsets. We are all responsible to do this with perseverance. In chapter six, verse 18, we see that not only is it through prayer, but it's through perseverance that all of these things are going to happen. "So praying at all times with all prayer and petition in the Spirit and to this end, being on alert with all perseverance." So this is very clear that this requires a lot of effort on our part.

And so we need to know that Jesus is our peace, but we have a part in it — to embrace and to think and to know about this peace. Apprehend what it means to be a true Christian, to go against the flow of culture, to be a Christian, to fight like crazy, to be a spiritual war fighter. This is a call to arms. This is not a request. This is spiritual warfare. And in order for you to be able to continue in Christ, it requires a victorious mindset, a victorious mindset.

Paul is confidently, boastfully proclaiming what God allowed to happen in his life. And all of these tragedies, if you want to call them that, work for God's glory. Every single one of them. You know, this woke world will want you to claim some type of victimhood mentality — the exact opposite of a victorious mentality. They want to equip you with a whole "poor me." I had somebody oppose me yesterday. Listen to me: do not enable that. Don't listen to that. In fact, rebuke that and correct that and train them in righteousness. This whole world is conditioning and grooming our next generation to add up these victimhood points. So "I was disenfranchised. Well, I was born in a poor neighborhood." All this type of stuff.

If I told you my story, you'd probably cry. But I don't want you to cry, because when I look back at the things that God has allowed in my life, I'm like, wow, this is what God accomplished through the hardships. He has trained me. The same for you. In your life, everything that God has allowed has worked for you and not against you. You know how I know that? It is true because Christians are overcomers. They're not defeated. They're not downtrodden. We don't sit around and have these little complaint fests about, "Oh, what happened to me? Oh, what happened to me?" As if you've got a bigger sob story. We don't do that. Paul says he's actually embarrassed by even reviewing these types of things, as if he's in the flesh. "If I must" — this is his attitude towards saying this list. He doesn't even want to recount this list.

The world's reasoning is character-weakening. The world's reasoning is compromising. Little by little by little, it's going to break down and you'll find yourself catering to all these psychologists and therapists and different things. You need the word of God. You need biblical counsel, not secular. And be careful — there's all kinds of pseudo names out there with "Christian counseling" that is not biblical.

There is wisdom in this world to be utilized. 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 19 says, "For the wisdom of the world is foolishness toward God." I like that word "foolishness" in the Greek — "mōria," meaning a reckless disregard for wisdom. If you have a reckless disregard for what is wise, what is true, what is right, then you're a fool. Greek word "mōria" is where we get the word "moron." Don't be a moron. Don't be foolish. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.

In fact, if we misrepresent God with this Eeyore disposition rather than having a victorious mindset, and we're going around moping around aimlessly through life, then we simply have not apprehended the truth and put it into practice.

Let me give you an example of how the Jews apprehended some truth and put it into practice. This is rather funny. In 2 Kings chapter one and verse two, the prince of demons is identified as Beelzebul, and that is the god of Ekron. It means "Lord," it means "Prince." Now the Jews, they tweaked that a little bit. This is where the victorious mindset comes in. This is how they got on top of things and poked a little bit of fun at evil. The Jews tweaked "zebul" to "zebub" and that means "flies." And so the Jews called Satan "Baal Zebub" instead of Beelzebul, which essentially is calling Satan "Lord of the Flies."

I like that victorious mindset. I like finding a way to be able to state emphatically that God is my God, and Satan — he is nothing more than a Lord of the Flies. He can hang out in the cow pastures. So that's finding a victorious mindset. That's finding a way to get through this life on top of things rather than below things.

In fact, Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:1 builds up the Christians in Corinth to have a victorious mindset in that they not only can handle civil matters themselves, but that they will even judge the world and angels alongside God. Chew on that for a little while. Christians, listen to me — if you have a dispute, you are commanded to handle it within yourselves. Elect one of the elders of the church to be the judge, and then you do not subject yourself to a secular court. That's a victorious mindset. We can handle our own, and not only that, remember that you're going to judge angels alongside of the Lord.

If we don't see how the Bible is building us up, then you're missing the victorious mindset. What is Paul's mindset? Well, it was on truth, on righteousness, on the gospel, on faith, on salvation, on the word of God. This is the armor of God. It starts in the mind. And so how do I remain in the truth? How do I remain in righteousness? Am I not shrinking back from the gospel and strengthened by faith and remaining secure by salvation? And how do I know what the word says? Essentially, Ephesians is climaxing into the armor of God, and it is telling us how to think and live.

The armor of God metaphorically signifies and illuminates how we are to pray at all times. And then he also tells the other churches to do this — in Philippi, in Philippians 4:6, he says everything is by prayer. In the Thessalonian church, in 1 Thessalonians chapter five and verse 17, "Pray without ceasing." And then in Colossians chapter four, verse two, "Be devoted to prayer." And then even in the Gospels, you see things like in Luke chapter 18 and verse one, "That men ought always to pray and not faint." "Men, listen to me — you ought," I love that good word, "oughtness." You know within yourself the impulsion to do. You know the pressure that you ought to be doing. "Men ought" — that's King James, by the way — "ought to pray and not faint." And not faint. When the day of battle comes, you rise up. You don't shrink back. You have a victorious mindset. Ladies, build up your men. Build up your children. Build up your sons. Build up your husbands.

Paul's mindset is strong. And he is, in fact, an expert communicator in how to be able to be firm in your faith. In 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse one he said, "I did not come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom," and not in cleverness of speech. In 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 17, and verse 21, this is not something that we entertain people with. This is not something that we show people how much we know. This is an inward, preset disposition in Christ. And so Paul refused to cave to the cultural cravings of consumerism in the day. He faced all kinds of pseudo-church services that will utilize the wisdom of the world to wow you and entertain you and keep you coming back for a show. But you know what that does? At the end of the day, it creates a weak mindset, not a victorious, strong mindset, because you have been taught nothing of Christ.

And so to have a bit of discernment about you to say, "What is that preacher saying? Is he saying what the Bible is saying? What is the Bible study getting out of the text? Is it true?" Take some wherewithal with you. And so Paul refused to cave to the cultural cravings of consumerism and cave to "entertain me, tickle my ears, make me feel good." He refused to use and abuse the Scriptures for more numbers, for more profit, for bigger offerings, for bigger churches. The goal was not bigness for Paul. God was a big God for Paul. God was God for Paul. And he had a victorious mindset because he had a mindset set on God and not the things of this world. How many churches have we been a part of in our lifetime that had the wrong goals?

In Ephesians chapter six and verse 20, he's asking for prayer to speak how he ought to speak. He's got to get his mindset right before he can preach. Look in Ephesians chapter six and verse 20, "For which I am an ambassador in chains so that in proclaiming it" — that being the gospel — "that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." He has asked for prayer from the Ephesian church. "Help me get my mind straight. Help me get my head on right. Pray for me." Do you see Paul and his transparency here, saying, "Man, this battle starts in the mind and I need to have my mind right. If I'm going to live right, if I'm going to preach right, pray for me."

And I say the same thing to you guys all the time. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your cards. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know without a shadow of a doubt there are many days, many Wednesdays, many Sundays that go by that I would not have been able to stand and continue without the prayers of the saints.

And the Apostle Paul has a victorious mindset in writing to the Ephesians. Paul testifies to not being well fed, but being abased in prison and yet his strength — in that he can do all things — was in Christ. How many of you have been around a church that uses that verse wrong? "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." Isolating that verse is terrible exegesis, terrible Bible study, terrible preaching. And so we don't have these coffee cup verses isolated to try and characterize our life. We have sound doctrine. We read the word of God. We know the truth. Once we apprehend it, then we keep it in our mind. We review these things over and over and over.

So I hope you perceive what to do in order to be able to have a victorious mindset. Implement this victorious mindset by speaking confidently even while you are crushed. It's not easy, but while Paul was in prison, while John Bunyan was in prison, they are actually ministering. And if you could get to the point in your mind that "I'm going to resolve to even minister to others, pray for others, I'm going to be a prayer warrior even while I'm crushed. I'm still going to love my spouse. I'm still going to love my children. I'm still going to go to church. I'm still going to remain faithful even when it's painful" — now you're getting towards true Christianity. Now you're comprehending what it is to have a strong mindset.

And if you do that, then you're going to have these things there for you when you need them. In Ephesians chapter six, this is rich imagery, rich imagery when it comes to the armor of God, and Paul is speaking confidently. He's speaking literally, metaphorically, sarcastically, and humbly, and confidently. And we too ought to speak in all kinds of different ways. I just gave you an example of how the Jews were making fun of Beelzebul as the Lord of the Flies. We too should find ways to really continue to stay on top of things mentally and spiritually.

And so we should be speaking to one another in various ways. You see Paul is writing in a various way here through imagery of the armor of God. And so you too can pray in various ways. And you can be joking and you can be serious. You can be mysterious. You see in the Bible mystery. You see proverbs. You see poetry. You see intensity. You see Paul speaking collectively and gently and aggressively. You see in the Bible history. You see speaking in a way that is factual. You see the Bible speaking humorously, excitedly, heartfully, truthfully, problematically, spiritually, inquisitively, illustratively, and contrastingly. We see all of these different various ways of speaking and it is wonderful and vibrant and it creates within you a victorious mindset. And so as you develop your mind, develop it biblically and see the different genres, see the different ways to talk and have this mind of Christ in you.

In 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse 16 it says to have the mind of Christ. And these are the very words of God. And so if you are stuck in a rut and you're always saying the same things in the same way, vary it up a little bit and change things up. Don't be boring and monotone and dull, because that equals sometimes a killjoy or a dirge or being a killjoy of Christ. Instead, find out different ways to say what's true. This is wonderful and this is a victorious mindset.

I want to close in John chapter six, verse 41 with you — turn there — and I want to prove my point with the very words of Jesus and how we can speak victoriously even in the midst of a difficult situation when opposition is around us. And you can vary up the way that you speak and you can have a victorious mindset. In John chapter six and verse 41 we'll start there and we'll read a victorious mindset that Jesus had even in the midst of the Jews who were persecuting Him.

John chapter six, verse 41: "Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him because He said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven.' And they were saying, 'Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? How does He now say I have come down from heaven?'" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop grumbling among yourselves." And so this is speaking correctively.

And then He changes in verse 44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day." This is speaking emphatically. In verse 45, "It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." This is speaking factually, scripturally, theologically. In verse 46, "Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who was from God, He has seen the Father." This is speaking apologetically. In verse 47, "Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life." This is literally. And then in verse 48, "I am the bread of life." This is metaphorically. And then in verse 49, "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died." Well, that's speaking historically. And then in verse 50, "This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die." And this is simply speaking spiritually.

Now look in verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven and if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And also the bread which I will give for the eternal life of the world is My flesh." This is speaking eternally with intensity. He's saying this is intense. In verse 52, "Then the Jews began to argue with one another saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'" And so this is inquisitively. In verse 53, "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.'" This is speaking metaphorically. In verse 54, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day." Well, that's problematic there. You're going to have to eat His flesh, drink His blood. "For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink, and he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him." This is illustratively.

In verse 57, "As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers" — being the Jews — "ate" — and he who eats this bread will live forever. So this is speaking contrastingly.

If you observe what is being used by way of speaking to people, how the speaking is being done, it's vibrant. It is wonderful. It is so interesting to see how Jesus, as the master teacher — even atheists throughout all time have said that He was the best teacher that ever has come across humanity. And most interestingly, Jesus employs yet another form of speaking and He assigns a surname that indicates that Judas is like a devil. And in verse 70, look down with me in chapter six, verse 70 and 71, "And Jesus answered them, 'Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?'" Now He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Now this is interesting because the original word here is a name that is amusingly appropriate as He calls Judas a devil. And this is actually a bit humorous, almost as if a doctor who was a surgeon was named Dr. Cut. Amusing, huh?

Jesus would have these inside points that if you were listening, they're very interesting. They're very theological. They're very truthful. Do a word study on what Jesus called Peter in regards to him being a rock or a pebble. These things reveal theology. It's so interesting. It's so wonderful.

And so now I want to give you three take-home truths in regards to having a victorious mindset. Our life and lips must be of a victorious mindset. So number one, a victorious mindset produces that. 1 Corinthians chapter two, verse 16 says, "Have the mind of Christ."

Number two, not only a victorious mindset, but also a variety in thinking. So take-home truth number one is I want you to have a victorious mindset by having the mind of Christ. So have a victorious mindset. Number two, and then also a variety of thinking and speaking. Challenge yourself to think deeper and to think differently. Jesus did. And then number three, a vibrance in your thinking and speaking. A vibrance in that. And so for example, the vibrance of the armor of God, a vibrance in that Jesus uses water as an illustration, the vibrance of trees and vines and the sun. All of these vibrant illustrations and points of imagery reveal theology. And so imagery helps us to gain deeper understanding and to grasp and unlock the mysterious truths of God. And so develop your mindset.

I hope that today has been something to help encourage you to develop a victorious mindset. And now you know that this is impossible on your own. You need the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to teach you. And good news — John chapter 14 and verse 26 says that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to help teach you truth. And if you do not have Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you do not have the Holy Spirit inside of you. You must repent of your sin and be saved.

How do you do that? Well, first of all, it starts in the mind — to comprehend that Christ is King, to comprehend that He died on the cross for your sin as a substitute. He died for you. You know that you have violated God's holy law. The inner parts of our being testify to the fact that we are sinners. We know that we have transgressed against God. We know we're not perfect. We know we're not holy. We know that we cannot earn our way to heaven. And the possibility — thank the Lord — that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Thank the Lord for that. And the Bible says in Romans chapter 10 and verse nine that if you comprehend that, then you can confess that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead. Do you know that? Do you believe that? If so, be saved. Come to Christ. Be saved. Become a Christian. Follow the Lord. Turn from your wicked ways. Turn away from self-righteousness and turn to Christ as your righteousness. He will put in you all that you need. Just come to Jesus.

Let's pray together. Lord, thank You so much for this time. I pray that You would bless us in a way that we could continue in Your word and so prove that we are disciples of Yours. Lord, it's a wonderful thing to be here in church and to be able to have fellowship and to pray together and to study Your word together and to also be around the word of God in such a way that it's taught and preached and helpful for our lives and to worship You. It's good to be able to give of ourselves to others. Lord, I pray Your continual blessings upon this church, that You would develop us spiritually, and most importantly today, give us, I pray, the ability to apprehend a victorious mindset. In Christ's name, amen.