DEEP - Week 2
Day 4
“Peter answered: ‘May our money perish with us, because we thought we could buy the gift of God with money! We have no part or share in this ministry, because our heart is not right before God.’” - Acts 8:20–21
What do we do when God’s Word exposes a thought in us that does not belong there? We do not defend it, excuse it, or pretend it is harmless. We deal with it before that thought begins pulling us backward.
Peter confronts Simon at the level of his thinking.
Simon had seen the Holy Spirit given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, and Simon wanted that ability.
So he offered money.
Peter’s response is severe because the issue is serious.
“You thought.”
That is the problem Peter identifies.
Simon’s thoughts about God were wrong.
His thoughts were still being dominated by his fallen nature.
His brain was still thinking according to patterns from his old life.
Simon had believed.
Simon had been baptized.
But his thinking still needed to change.
This is why God’s Word is what gets our thinking right.
If we want the Word to go deep, we cannot merely hear it.
We have to allow it to challenge our thoughts.
That means we need to take our thoughts captive.
Some of us need daily concentrated effort to renew our minds because our thinking has been warped for a long time.
We cannot continue doing everything the way we used to.
Some places may need to change.
Some people we run with may need to change.
Some things we focus on may need to change.
Our old lives have trained us in certain directions, and now the Word has to train us in another direction.
This is where we take a practical step.
When an old thought surfaces, we recognize it.
When the old appetite starts talking, we recognize it.
When our old way of thinking begins trying to call the shots again, we stop pretending it is harmless.
We bring it under God’s Word.
Simon needed to recognize, “This is how the old Simon thinks.”
We need that same awareness.
“This is the old way.”
“This is the thinking God is trying to change.”
“This is the thing we cannot keep feeding.”
Then we do the work.
If we want freedom from porn, we get prayer, get in the Word, and get in Katharos.
If we want freedom from addiction, we get prayer, get in the Word, and get to Celebrate Recovery.
If we want a better marriage, we get prayer, get into the Word, get into a small group, and get counseling.
Prayer matters.
But we do not use prayer as an excuse to avoid the work.
We take practical steps.
We stop taking shortcuts.
We get serious about letting the Word go deep enough to change how we think and live.
Today, we can identify one place where old thinking continues to surface.
Then we ask:
What practical work have we been avoiding?
Do we need to get deeper into the Word?
Do we need to get into Katharos?
Celebrate Recovery?
A small group?
Counseling?
Do we need to change what we are focusing on?
We do not simply recognize the problem.
We take a step today.
We are planting the Word deep enough that our thinking begins to change.
Because whatever we commit to is what builds us.
WATCH THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE HERE: https://youtu.be/o2mLEz0ZpTo?si=dT6ZvLDylPv9Z7Sg
