Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing—a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. Child of God, you are more than forgiven. You're credited with Jesus's righteousness. Here's the scripture: And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Romans four five.
If God had only declared you forgiven, it would have been wonderful, but would have left you morally neutral. You would have been not guilty, but you would have no record of righteousness. Morally neutral people do not merit heaven.
So God, in His infinite grace, has credited you with the merits of Christ. You have become the righteousness of God. Second Corinthians five twenty one. Spurgeon said, "God considers us as though we were Christ, and rewards us as though all He did had been done by us." Wow. Be filled with joy and confidence.
You have been counted righteous in God's eyes. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Allen Wright. He has been falsely imprisoned. He's been falsely accused. He's been beaten so many times you can't count it.
Shipwrecked and snake bitten, and and and and not to mention these congregations that he has founded. Many times he had heartbreak over the divisions that they were experiencing. This is Paul who had experienced as many negative things as anybody. I don't even know anybody's experienced somebody that many negative things, and he's the one from prison saying, "Let me tell you how to think." So it is entirely possible. To be in negative experiences and circumstances, and yet think meditatively on that which is true and noble and right and pure.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series "Gateways to Grace" as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
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Here is Allen Wright. Our text today is Philippians chapter four and verse eight nine. I want to read the New International Version because it's the one we Taught our kids to memorize years ago, and it's what lives in my heart. The NIV says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure." Whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you've learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with you.
Okay, my family, are you ready for some good news? Yes. As some wit has said, pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. You can't avoid troubles in life, but you do get to choose how you think about life. We're talking about classic spiritual disciplines.
I'm calling them gateways of grace because spiritual disciplines aren't. Laws and they're not they're not the end themselves. They are gateways. They are the kinds of habits that make the space in our lives, space and time, for us to experience and appropriate God's grace. Gateways of grace.
And today I want to talk to you about meditation. It is a fundamental in the Christian life and what what it what it really means. There was a guy named Joe. He was a worrier, terrible worrier, worried all the time. Walked around with a furrowed brow, always could find something negative to think about.
And his friend John was always saying, "Joe, you need to quit worrying so much." Brother, you got to quit worrying so much. And Joe just worry. And if there wasn't something to worry about, he'd invent something to worry about. You know, one of those kind of people. Joe just worry, worry, worry, worry, worry, wart.
And John was being him all the time.
Well, still, one day John got together with Joe, and he saw him, and Joe looked completely different. He looked happy. He looked peaceful. He looked he looked like he was a different person. He was transformed.
The furrow his brow was gone. His face was pleasant, and he sounded chipper. And John said, "Joe, what has happened?" said You, you, you, you're totally different. He said, "You don't even look worried at all." And Joe said, "Yep." said I found a consultant I could pay to worry for me. And John goes, "Wow, that's something." He said, "But man, how much does that run you?" Joe said, "Five hundred dollars a day." And John said, "Joe, that's a lot of money.
How in the world are you going to be able to afford that?" Joe says, "I don't know. That's for him to worry about." I like what Rick Warren said in his famous Purpose Driven Life, where he said that.
Well, let me read what he said. When you think about a problem over and over in your mind. That's called worry. When you think about God's word over and over in your mind, that's meditation. And he got this great line: "If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate." So we're not talking about something that's complicated.
We're talking about something that's endlessly deep. And it is absolutely foundational to the Christian's life. When Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer was asked why he meditated, he replied, "Because I am a Christian." We're talking about the nature of a Christian's life, and I just want to talk about the purpose of meditation and how powerful it is, and how you could put it into practice. Rick Warren was right. Worry is a form of meditation.
It's a thought pattern that just keeps looping in the brain. You know, we got to figure speech like a broken record. And I was thinking about this, like a broken record. You know, it's like something like you get in your mind, like a broken record, just keeps going through there. And I was thinking, how many people never actually heard a broken record?
You know, there's a whole generation now. Of course, it's cool and trendy to get back into vinyls.
So maybe you know, you still could hear a broken record. But there's a whole bunch of people that never. Have that sense of a broken record.
So, if you've never heard an actual broken record, I want you to hear a broken record. Have we got a broken record sound there? Yeah. We used to go and take. You had to, you had to either go touch the stylus a little bit, you know, tap it at once.
Sometimes we'd go tape a dime on top of it, make it a little heavier, you know, because a little scratch in the record just yeah and just yeah, it's keep going like that. That is a broken record. That's what we mean, like like a broken record. And thoughts in our minds can be like a broken record, and whatever keeps going through our mind. That is our meditation.
But meditation for the Christian is not just switching from negative thinking to positive thinking. But Paul here links the thoughts of our mind to the experience of the God of peace being with us.
So God's everywhere at all times.
So He is with us. He is Emmanuel. You don't make God get near you because you think right, but when you think about that which is true and noble and right and pure, lovely and admirable, when your thinking and your meditative life is like that, I think what Paul's saying is that this is one of the conduits or the connecting points where. What's going on in your psyche is now connecting up to your communion with God Himself. Talking about mystical things, but it's so it's so foundational to the Christian life that it's just the whole idea of people meditating or being invited into meditation is just replete throughout God's.
Word Genesis twenty four, you see people like this. Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and and the psalmist many times you'll see it's like in the nighttime or when I wake or when I remember Psalm sixty three six when I remember you upon my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night. Psalm one, which is a powerful introduction, a gateway to all of the whole psalter. And this is this is about the blessed person, and probably prefiguring Jesus Himself. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers, of scoffers.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He's like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither. And all that he does, he prospers. There is a promise of the prospering of life, fruitfulness of life, for those whose meditation is upon God and His Word. Jesus Himself.
Was a person who communed with his father. You'd see instances like in Matthew fourteen. He tried to get away to have time. Jesus heard this. He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.
You see this regularly.
So Jesus himself lived this. Even though he's God in the flesh, he's having a meditation of his heart and his mind and the things that he thinks about in perfect communion within the Triune God and this mystery. Contemplate could be another word for meditate or ruminate. In fact, the word ruminate comes from the word that talks about a cow chewing its cud. I don't really know how a cow cow chews its cud, but it's got some other stomach or something, you know.
And it just it's the turning over and chewing it and digesting it and turning it over and over. That's what meditation is. It's it's the turning over and over of a thought. Let's be clear. We're not talking about this notion of Eastern meditation.
You say meditation, some might think they're going to be sitting there like some Buddha figure, you know, with your fingers like this. And you know, Eastern meditation is totally different because it's about simply emptying oneself. But Christian meditation is about filling your heart. In Eastern meditation, you might think of. Buddhism or something where where you're you're trying to just empty yourself of all thoughts so that it's like you become nothing and maybe you can reach a state of nirvana or a oneness with nature or something like that.
But this is Christian idea is completely different. This is why we come to Philippians chapter four. It is about the thinking about. The nature of God, His Word, and all that is lovely and admirable, and in so doing, there's a connecting up and the filling of oneself with the very presence of God Himself. Richard Foster, in his classic book *The Celebration of Discipline*, says perhaps the most common misconception of all is to view meditation as a religious form of psychological manipulation.
He said, "It may have value in dropping our blood pressure or in relieving tension. It may even provide us with meaningful insights by helping us get in touch with our subconscious mind." But the idea of actual contact and communion with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—that sounds unscientific and faintly unreasonable. But if you feel that we live in a purely physical universe, then you'll view meditation as a good way to obtain a consistent alpha brainwave pattern. But if you believe That we live in a universe created by the infinite personal God who delights in our communion with Him. You'll see meditation as communication between the lover and the one beloved.
All these words are important. Whatever this little Greek word that is like saying all the things that could be included in this and true. Meaning, of course, that which is without deceit, but also this word has the nuance of being dependable, reliable. Noble is a beautiful word in Greek. Simna, it can mean even majestic or awe-inspiring.
Think about things that are awe-inspiring. Think a lot more about that. And right means just. It means that which is just in God's standards, pure as a holy kind of goodness. Lovely means more literally that which calls forth love.
An admirable is a word that you would recognize its root in Greek euphema, because it's like the word euphemism, which means to speak well of. It can mean winsome. It can mean, it can mean of good report or gracious, honorable, kindly, auspicious. This word "if" that she used here, "if anything is excellent, praiseworthy," is really used in the sense of since there are things that are excellent and praiseworthy. Paul did this sometimes with his Greek audiences, where he would speak to something that was within Greek philosophy, like you remember a scene where he.
He is at the Areopagus, and he has this famous scene where he talks about their unknown god, and then he says, "Let me tell you who this really is." And he's taking these virtues in Greek philosophy, and he's sort of saying, "If you believe that there is a virtuous thing, like a lot of Greek philosophy says, what he's saying is, since you know there is something that's excellent and praiseworthy, he's connecting up to that. If there is such a thing, and you believe there is." Then this is the way you think is what he's saying, and the word excellent, morally excellent, and praiseworthy, worthy of praise, and that which brings praise to God. He says, think on this. This this is this word "greet" doesn't just mean let it pass through your mind. This is focused and disciplined thought.
It's a favorite word of Paul's. It appears thirty four times in the New Testament. It can mean to reckon, to calculate, to evaluate, to ponder. It means to let one's mind dwell upon it. Let your mind just dwell on these things.
And every word in the list is important. True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy—every word on its own is important. But what's really important about this, if you want a litmus test for your thinking, is what these words mean when they're all together. Because there can be something that's true, but not lovely. Just because something's true doesn't mean we're supposed to sit around and think about it all day.
We think about that which is true, but also noble, and there could be something that's lovely, but it's not necessarily full of righteousness. Think about all of this together. Way I was like to think with our kids like that, you know, to be like, can we watch this movie?
Well, let's just see, is it true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable? Do we want to put our thoughts on that? This conversation that I'm—is it true, noble, right? It's a good. It's a good sort of test of what we should be thinking about that we're invited into, and it's just incredibly powerful.
So. Meditation is not the emptying; it's the filling of oneself, and that's its purpose. But it's so powerful that we almost we almost just cannot speak. Clearly enough, loudly enough, or forcefully enough about the power of our meditations. You know, I was looking at this text afresh this week.
You know what struck me was like, wow, this is Paul penning this under the unction of the Holy Spirit. This is the Apostle Paul who suffered more than anybody I've ever known. He's writing it from prison. He has been falsely imprisoned. He's been falsely accused.
He's been beaten so many times you can't count it. Shipwrecked and snake bitten, and and and and not to mention these congregations that he has founded. Many a times he had heartbreak over the divisions that they were experiencing. This is Paul who had experienced as many negative things as anybody. I don't even know anybody's experienced somebody that that many negative things, and he's the one from prison saying, "Let me tell you how to think." So it is entirely possible.
To be in negative experiences and circumstances, and yet think meditatively on that which is true and noble and right and pure—it's so powerful. Do you understand? God has created us. Our brains send every thought that you have sends an electrical signal that triggers releases of neurotransmitters. Your thoughts are affecting your brain chemistry.
Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message meditation from the series Gateways of Grace. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back, joining me in the studio, sharing a parting good news thought for you and me in just a moment. What if growing closer to God isn't about trying harder?
So often, we approach spiritual growth with a list of things we need to do. Pray more, read more, be better, but what if the secret to spiritual transformation isn't found in greater effort, but in experiencing more of God's grace? In his book *The Gateways of Grace*, Pastor Alan Wright invites you to discover a fresh perspective on spiritual growth through timeless practices like Scripture, prayer, meditation, wonder, and rest. You'll discover how to create space for the Holy Spirit to work in your life. These spiritual disciplines aren't obligations that earn God's favor; they're gateways that open our hearts to experience more of God's goodness, peace, and transforming grace.
When you give to Allen Wright Ministries, you help share the gospel with listeners around the world. And when you give today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's book, The Gateways of Grace, as our thanks. To discover these aren't just disciplines; they're gateways. Step through them and discover the grace that's been waiting for you. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries.
This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
Or come to our website, PastorAllen dot org. Back here in the studio with Pastor Alan, and our parting good news thought for the day is we've kicked off this teaching on meditation. I love that from Rick Warren. When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that's called worry. And when you think about God's word over and over in your mind, that's meditation.
If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. I like that. Isn't that a great line? Great, because it really is true. We all know how to worry.
Yeah, yeah. And worry is a form of meditation going in the wrong direction. Exactly. As we'll be learning. For our listeners, do not be confused.
Christian meditation is not anything like the Eastern forms of meditation. In fact, it's not really about emptying your mind. It's about filling your mind. Whatever's true and noble and right and pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, think on these things. It is, beloved, much easier to cultivate a practice of putting thoughts in your mind that are positive.
Than it is to try to expel negative thoughts. Christian meditation does that. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty.
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