The Invasion of the Heart & Mind

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On Wednesday night in our Matthew Bible Study we looked at Peter’s denial of Jesus and on his third denial listen to what is said…
 
Matthew 26:73-74
73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you." 74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!" Immediately a rooster crowed.
 
We focused more on Wednesday night about what we are looking at this morning…
 
Not that Peter failed and denied but what the world had to say about Peter…
 
In Verse 73 the world says to Peter… "Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”…
 
The way that Peter actually spoke showed the world that He was a follower of Christ…
 
You can talk like a Christian but be limited because your heart and mind haven’t truly been invaded by the living God or you can talk like a Christian because the Lord has come in and done some miraculous work within you…
 
Jeremiah 31:33
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
 
Luke 6:45
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
 
Romans 12:2
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
 
So lets look first at the mind…
 
In 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul says…
I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him
 
So we believe in Jesus and what we commit to Him is our lives both earthly and eternally but listen to what Paul actually says…
 
I KNOW whom I have believed… and I AM PERSUADED that He is able…
 
Paul declares that his mind has been invaded… to “know” and to be “persuaded” are actions of the mind…
 
Now lets look at the heart…
 
In Acts 13:22 God says…
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.

Ezekiel 36:26
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
 
2 Corinthians 3:3-4
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. 4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
 
Written not with ink on tablets of stone but by the Spirit of the living God on the tablet of flesh that is the heart…
 
The key here also though is what it produces in Verse 4 is “Trust”… Verse 4 says… we have such trust through Christ toward God…
 
We see the heart as the emotional center of our lives which it is but those emotions are determined by one thing and one thing alone… Our trust in God…
 
Hebrews 2:13-15
13 And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
 
Death is the result of not putting our “trust” in Jesus to give us eternal life…
 
If we won’t put our trust in Jesus we remain bound by fear…
 
Fear is the root of all detrimental emotions which lead to detrimental actions which lead to dark hardened hearts…
 
I want look at a man who we can see that God had “Invaded” his Heart & Mind…
 
We can see how what he came to “KNOW” in his mind about Jesus affected his life…
 
We can also see how his “HEART” had been transformed and he now had the heart of God…
 
Acts 6:1-8
1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
 
We are going to look at the end of this man Stephen’s life…
 
Acts 6:9-14
9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. 10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, "This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”
 
This is exactly what we saw in our bible study Wednesday night in Matthew 26…
 
False witnesses and the accusation of blasphemy…
 
Acts 7:1-3
1 Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?" 2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.
 
Stephen proceeds to tell the whole testimony of the work of God from memory starting here with Abraham and finishing with the death of Jesus in Acts 7:52 as he says to them… you now have become the betrayers and murderers…
 
And this is where we see the culmination of the impact of “The Invasion of the Heart & Mind” in the life of a believer…
 
Acts 7:54-60
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
 
Verse 59 says… 59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”…
 
The knowledge of God and who He is transcends the experiences Stephen was going through as a man…
 
In 2 Timothy 1:12
I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him
 
And we also see the trust of a heart that has been invaded by God as he says “receive my spirit”……
 
Verse 60 says… 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep…
 
We can see that this is not the heart of a mere man but the heart of God within a man…
 
Luke 6:45
out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
 
Stephen speaks the exact words that Jesus spoke because Jesus had invaded his heart…
 
Luke 23:34
34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." 
 
Oh Lord invade our hearts and minds and give us Yours…