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My God and My Neighbor is a “Bible talk show” that looks at religious issues, Christian living and world events in light of the Word of God to give hope. This podcast is a ministry of Tennessee Bible College. TBC offers a bachelor's in Bible studies, a master of theology, and a doctorate of theology in apologetics and Christian evidences. TBC also provides Christian books, audio recordings on the Bible, and free Bible courses in English and Spanish. Tune in to My God and My Neighbor to experience the educational content that TBC has been delivering for nearly five decades!
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Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you've learned with others.
Have you ever noticed how many times the New Testament talks about the need to be sober? Obviously, this includes being sober physically. We are to be sober in a literal sense. We're not to be drunk on alcohol or high on drugs. When a man is intoxicated, he does not think clearly, so we need to be sober.
But in a spiritual sense, we need to be sober-minded. We need to be clear-headed spiritually. In Titus chapter one, verse seven, the Bible says that a bishop is not to be given to wine, so that means that he's to be sober physically. Then in verse seven it says, "But he is to be a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober."
Now, the word in verse eight simply means that he is to be sober-minded. A bishop or an elder in the church needs to be clear-headed. He needs to be clear in his mind about what his role and responsibilities are. In Titus chapter two, you find this word several times. Titus chapter two, verse two says that the aged men are to be sober.
Titus chapter two, verse six says that the young men are to be sober-minded. Titus chapter two, verse twelve says that the grace of God teaches us that “denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” We need to be clear in our minds, not just pure, but clear.
We need to be clear about the truth. We need to be clear in our minds about right and wrong. We need to be clear in our thinking about what matters most. We need to be clear in our minds about why we're here and where we're going. All that is part of being sober-minded. When we're not clear in our minds, we make bad decisions.
When we're not clear in our thinking, we get our priorities mixed up. When we're not clear-headed, we have the wrong attitude toward other people. We say the wrong things. We make a mess of our life. This has always been a challenge to Christian people, and it's especially a hard challenge today. One thing that makes it hard to be clear and settled is that plastic thing you carry around with you all the time and the screens that you constantly look at.
Forty or fifty years ago, it was said that the average person watched about seven hours of television a day. Today, we're told that the average person spends about six hours on the internet, and some spend far more than that. Times have not changed, have they? Ecclesiastes 1:9 says that there's no new thing under the sun.
But even if you're not looking at bad things on the internet, still we have a problem with TMI, too much information. Technology is the blessing and the curse of this generation. We're making use of it at this very moment to teach the Word of God. The internet gives us more information than we can process.
In some ways, we know more. We can find answers to almost anything, but we look at so much material that we can't sort through it to determine if it's true or not. Social media keeps us informed and ignorant at the same time. And while we may feel more educated, we end up feeling unsure and even confused.
In a busy, hectic world with all this instant information, how can we be sober-minded? How can we keep our minds clear and clearly focused on God and His Word? Here are some ways to help us. Number one, go on a diet and keep it. If you eat too much, your body can't break down all that food and process it and absorb it.
If you put too much information into your head, your mind can't organize all that material and absorb it. The only way is to change. Change your habits. Change your lifestyle. Change your thinking. If a room in your house is cluttered, you have to get rid of some of it. You don't keep hoarding, you don't keep piling things into it. And your mind is the same way.
You can't put anything and everything into your mind. You can't give in to your curiosity all the time. You can't keep going down all those rabbit holes and expect to be clear-headed. You have to prioritize. You have to choose. You have to get rid of some things. You have to quit being a slave to social media or YouTube or something else.
Again, we're not just talking about things that are wrong. We're talking about things that don't matter, and we put too much of them in our heads. Solomon said there's no end to many interesting questions of life. He said you'll never find out everything you want to, even if you study about it day and night.
In Ecclesiastes eight, verse 16 and 17, he said, "When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: for there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes. Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yes, farther, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." So you have to prioritize. You have to select some things and eliminate others. You have to say no to your curiosity. You have to purge your mind of trivial things instead of putting more unimportant items in there.
There's not enough room in your mind or your heart for everything. Be selective. In Proverbs four, verse 23, Solomon said, "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." In Proverbs 23, verse seven, he said, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he." So if you want to be clear-headed, then be careful and wise about what you put into your mind.
Number two, make sure to have alone time. Make sure to be by yourself. Have you ever noticed how many times the Bible talks about Jesus going apart to be by himself? In Mark chapter one verse thirty-five, the Bible says, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed."
In Mark six verse forty-six, the Bible says, "And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone on the land." In Luke chapter five verse sixteen, the Bible says, "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed."
In Luke chapter six verse twelve, the Bible says, "And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God." And even when he took Peter and James and John with him to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says that he told them to stay here and pray so that they would not enter into temptation.
That's Luke twenty-two verse forty. And then he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast in verse forty-one. That is, he separated himself from them. He walked away about as far as you could throw a rock. And he kneeled down and prayed. So the lesson is clear, and we need to remember this. If Jesus Christ needed to be alone, then so do you. If Jesus Christ needed time for himself by himself, then so do you.
There are times when you need to get away from people. You need to be by yourself, and that includes being away from texting on your phone. I realize there are times when you can't do this, even when you want to. I understand that there are days when you cannot get a break and be by yourself just to pray and to meditate on God's word, and that's especially true if you're a young mother.
But when the opportunity comes, then take that opportunity. Take that time to meditate on God's word. Take that time to be alone with your God. And if Jesus Christ needed that alone time with his Father, then how much more do we need it? We just saw several verses, not just one or two, but several verses in the Bible that talked about Him being alone so that He could have that kind of quality time with His Father.
But let's go a little deeper in the Bible with this. It's not just Jesus who spent time with the Father alone. We find many examples in the Bible of people who pulled away from all the busy responsibilities of life so that they could have time with their Heavenly Father. In Genesis chapter twenty-four, we read about Isaac meeting the woman who was to be his bride. That was Rebekah.
And here's what the Bible says Isaac was doing when they first met. In Genesis chapter twenty-four, verse sixty-three, the Bible says, "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide." Notice what the Bible says is happening here. The Bible says that Isaac went out. That is, he went away from—away from what?
Well, he had to go away from the house because the Bible says that he went out in the field. So he separated himself from the house, the tent. He separated himself from the workers, the servants. He separated himself from the flocks and the herds and everything else, and he went out into a field so that he could pray.
Now, we don't know what he said in that prayer. The Bible doesn't say. We don't know what he was praying for. What we do know is that as he was praying, he was on the verge of meeting the greatest blessing in his life. And the Bible says he went out into the field to pray in the evening. Sometimes that's a better opportunity for some people.
Sometimes it's in the morning. Sometimes it's in the middle of the day. It can be in the afternoon. It can be at night. It can be in the middle of the night or the middle of the morning. But take advantage of whatever time you have to be alone with God and to pray to God. And if you cannot be alone with God in the sense of being away from other people, and again, if you have a family, if you have children, that's very difficult to do anyway.
Still, in your mind, while others are asleep, even while others are occupied doing something else, you can pray to God. You can pray silently to God at any time during the day. That is alone time with God, and God hears those prayers just the same as he hears us praying out loud. So there are different times during the day, there are different places where you can go, and there are different ways that you can pray to God and be alone with him in prayer.
In Job's case, in Job chapter 1, early in the morning was a special time for Job. Now, it doesn't talk specifically about him praying here, but it does show that he wanted to make things right with God on behalf of his children.
In Job chapter 1 verse 5, the Bible says, "And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them." Now, that passage talks about his children, his seven sons and his three daughters. They were grown, and the Bible says that, "He rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' Thus did Job continually."
The Bible doesn't say that Job did this just every once in a great while. It doesn't say that he did this maybe twice a year. He didn't do this just when there was a crisis at hand. You know, a lot of times, people will really pray to God. They'll get up early in the morning, or they will stay awake at night to pray to God when they are in real trouble in life, when they're really afraid. The Bible says Job did this continually. So whether it was a good day or a bad day, Job was rising up early in the morning so that he can make sure that he had done everything that he could for himself and for his family spiritually.
Now, you might look at that and say, "Job didn't have all the responsibilities that we have. He didn't have all the gadgets. He didn't have all the modern equipment. He wasn't pressed for time like we are." Oh, really? Job, the Bible says, was a very rich man. Listen to what the Bible says in Job chapter 1 verse 3.
His substance, that is, his property, his possessions, included seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. Now, that's a lot of livestock to take care of. They could go missing. One could get sick. He has to manage those, and he can't do it all himself.
That's why he had many servants. I don't know how many, but the Bible says that he had a very great household. Now, that's not just his family. That includes all these servants that are under his authority. So he has all this land. He has all this livestock. He has all these workers that are under his authority that answer to him and that he has to manage.
You talk about somebody that had a lot on his mind. You talk about stress. You talk about responsibility. This man had it. And yet, what is the first thing that we see him doing when he gets up early in the morning? Does he say to himself, "I've got two workers that can't get along with each other, and I don't know how to handle this situation, and it's worrying me to death"?
Does he say to himself, "I believe that some of my workers are stealing from me, and I've got some other workers that have left, they've just quit and walked off, and I've got to replace them"? Is that what we find him doing? Is that what we see him talking about? Is that what we see him fretting about? No.
And what about his livestock? Does he get up in the morning and say, "I'm just afraid that this disease that's going around is going to kill off a lot of my livestock"? Or do we find him saying, "I believe that somebody's stealing some of my camels. I believe that somebody is trying to steal some of my sheep"?
Or do you read about him getting up early in the morning because he's worried about a business deal? Maybe he says, "There are some people that came by the other day and they said that they were going to buy thirty yoke of oxen from me, and I haven't heard from them since." I'm saying to you that this man had a lot on his mind. He had a lot more on his mind, and he had a lot more on his plate than you do. And yet he rose up early in the morning, the Bible says, in order to worship God.
Let's look at Psalm fifty-five. This time we're looking at a king, a king of Israel. His name was David, and it appears from reading Psalm fifty-five that this is after David became king.
Some of the Psalms were written before he became king. Some of the Psalms were written after he became king. I believe that this is after he became king because he talks about a counselor that he had, and he says that this counselor betrayed him. They were close, and he talks about how badly that hurt when this man turned on him and betrayed him.
You can read about that counselor in Second Samuel. His name was Ahithophel. But just after he talked about that in Psalm fifty-five, listen to what he says in verses sixteen and seventeen. Psalm fifty-five, verse sixteen and seventeen. "As for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice."
David said, "I pray in the evening. I pray in the morning. I pray at noon." And the same thing is true with Christians today. Morning, noon, and night, it doesn't make any difference where you are or what you're doing or who you're with, you can pray to God. You can separate yourself from the crowd. And even if you can't, you can offer that prayer.
But ideally, if you can be apart by yourself so that you can focus on God and not be interrupted, then that is a blessing. That is an opportunity you need to take advantage of. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter four, verse sixteen, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, whereby we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
The Bible says the throne of God is open to us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You don't have to make an appointment with God and wait two or three weeks before you can talk to him. And when you do, it's especially helpful if you just drop everything else you're doing and get away from everybody else if you can, and dedicate your life and focus your attention on God and God alone in prayer.
Let's look at another example. This one is in the New Testament. It's in the book of Acts, chapter ten. This time we're looking at the Apostle Peter, and the Apostle Peter needed some time by himself to pray. So what did he do? The Bible says he went on the housetop. Now, a housetop in those days was not steep like the housetop that we find in many cultures, including ours.
It was flat, and people usually went up there like we would use a porch or a patio. So the Bible says in Acts chapter ten, verse nine, "On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew near to the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour." That's noon. So in the middle of the day Peter pulls himself away from everything else that was going on, whatever it was, so that he could be by himself to focus, to meditate, and especially to pray to God Almighty.
Now, these apostles were very, very busy men. As a matter of fact, they had always been busy serving the Lord and doing his will and teaching the gospel. In Mark chapter six, here's what the Bible says that Jesus had to tell them because they were so busy they didn't even have time to eat. In Mark six verse thirty-one, "He said to them, 'Come you yourselves apart into a deserted place, and rest for a while,' for they were many coming and going, and they had no leisure," that is, they had no time, "so much as to eat."
These apostles were surrounded by all kinds of people who wanted to see Jesus. Sometimes there were thousands of people who were following Jesus. And the Bible says, at this time, there were so many that were coming and going that the apostles didn't even have time to eat. And what did Jesus tell them?
Keep going? Don't worry about it? No. He said, "It's time for you to take a break. You need to separate yourself from the crowd. You need to go into a deserted place, not into the city, but you need to go into a deserted place, a place where you can have some quiet, a place where you can meditate and think, a place where you can," as he says, "rest for a while."
I remember years ago one of my teachers used to say that every Gospel preacher needs to memorize Mark chapter six, verse 31, because Gospel preachers can get so involved in the work of the Lord that they forget to rest. But I've also learned over the years that it's not just Gospel preachers who need this verse.
The principle applies to all Christians, and that is sometimes even in the work of the Lord which these apostles were doing, human beings need a break. We need rest for a while. It doesn't mean we just quit, but it does mean that we need a pause in our lives. Now, that's in Mark chapter six while Jesus was here.
You say, well, after he left, after he ascended up to heaven, maybe they weren't as busy. Well, that's not true at all because in the book of Acts, we find that the church has been established. These apostles have much teaching to do, and they have great responsibilities, and yet Peter took time for himself.
He went up on the housetop so that he could be alone at noon to pray. And if the Apostle Peter, who had been trained by Jesus for over three years and could work miracles, needed to be by himself with God, then we need to be with God even more today. And if the Apostle Peter could find that time and make that time to be alone with God in spite of all his responsibilities and in spite of all the people who were pulling at his attention, then we can certainly find time, and we can make the time to be alone with God today.
Here's a third way to clear your mind. Spend time with nature. Spend time with God's creation. Let's look at the Book of Psalms. In Psalm eight, verse three, David said, "When I consider your heavens." Let's stop right there. What does he say? He doesn't say, "When I see your heavens." He doesn't say, "When I look at the sun and the moon and the stars."
He doesn't say when he glances at the sun or he glances at the moon or he just notices the stars just for a split second. He says, "When I consider." That means he thinks about it. That means he ponders it. That means he meditates on it, and that takes time. You can't just go out and glance at the sun, the moon, and the stars and get all the benefits that you want.
Oh, you will get some blessings. It will do you good just to glance at the moon at night when you're driving, and you can't really ponder it that much. You can't really stare at it. But there are other times when you can, and that's what David is doing here. The Bible says that he said, "When I consider your heavens."
So he's looking up and he's using the creation as a reflection to look at himself and to look at God and to think about his relationship to God. He says, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers." He realized, he recognized that everything that we see is the work of God, the work of God's fingers.
Do we think about that? There's great power, there's great strength, and there is great comfort and peace of mind when we meditate on these things. It's so simple that it escapes us, and we're just too busy to think about it sometimes. We have to admit that the reason that we don't do this is because we are so caught up in what we're doing, whatever it is, that we don't even think about the creation of God that would give us strength and peace beyond our imagination if we would just take time to do it.
Now, here's what happened when David really pondered, he really meditated on the creation of God. He said, "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?" What's David saying here?
He says, "When I look at the magnificence of your creation, who am I that you would even notice me? Who are we as human beings that you would even pay any attention to us? Who are we compared to this vast, enormous creation of yours?" It humbled David to think about his place in this universe, that God would honor us the way that He did.
How? Because the Bible says in verse five, "For you have made him," that is mankind, "a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" So looking at the creation thrilled David's heart. It stirred his soul, and it will do the same for us if we'll take the time to do it today, and it will clear our minds.
Look at Psalm 19. The Bible says in Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." If you want to see the work of God's hands, look up. If you want to see evidence and proof of the glory of God, then look up. When you look at the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, and everything above us, you see the work of God. David goes on to say in verse two, "Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge."
Now, David is not talking about the talk or the speech of mankind. He's not saying that people talk to each other during the day and during the night. The speech here is the talking of the creation. The creation is crying out to us. The creation is saying to us, "Here is the glory and the power of God." In verse three, the Bible says, "There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."
This is not the voice of man. It's not the voice of angels. This is the voice of the creation. And he says you can hear that voice, not in words, but in the works of God, any time of the day or night, no matter where you are on earth, and no matter what language a person speaks. So that is the continual, universal revelation of God in the creation, and all we have to do to benefit from that is just to take time to look at it and to examine it, and then to examine ourselves.
Now let's turn to the New Testament. I want to look at the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus talked about the fact that we need to learn from nature. The Bible says in Matthew chapter six, beginning in verse twenty-five, that Jesus said not to worry. Now, how did He teach us not to worry? The Bible says the first thing that He did, in verse twenty-six, is to say you need to look at the birds.
Now, what can we learn by looking at the birds and watching the birds? Just to be bird watchers? No. Just to find out what kind of birds there are in the world? No. That's interesting, and that's okay, but there are moral and spiritual lessons you can learn from this simple part of God's creation. Jesus said these words in Matthew six, verse twenty-six.
"Behold the fowls of the air." In other words, look, observe the birds of the air. Why? Because they're interesting? Because it's fascinating just to see how that they can fly? There's something more involved. He says they don't sow. That is, they don't sow seed in the ground so that they can have a crop.
“Neither do they reap.” That is, they don't harvest their crop, nor do they “gather into barns.” They don't store their food up. They don't have to do that. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And here's His question. Are you not much better than they? If God takes care of the birds of the air, then He's certainly going to take care of you.
So learn from that. Behold them. Look at them. Watch them. And remember that the same God who made the birds made mankind. Now, notice what He says in verse twenty-eight. "And why do you take thought?" That is, why do you worry for clothes? Here's the word again: “Consider.” Jesus said, think about this. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: They toil not, neither do they spin.” When he talks about the toil, when he talks about the spinning, he's talking about how people made clothes then. It has always taken work to make clothes. That's what you pay for. You don't just pay for the material; you pay for the labor that people put into those clothes.
Now, Jesus said you need to consider the lilies of the field. You need to look at them because even though they don't work for their clothes [and he's not saying here that you're not supposed to work for your food and clothing because we know that we are], He's saying don't worry about these things. He says, beginning in verse twenty-nine, "And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” So people in Bible times struggled with worry just like we do today. These people oftentimes had fears about whether they were going to have enough.
They worried about life, and Jesus said don't do that because if God takes care of these simple parts of creation, that is, flowers and birds, then He's certainly going to take care of you.
And suggestion number four to clear your mind is to study and meditate upon God's word. Let's go to the Book of Psalms again. In Psalm 119, the Bible says in verse 105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." What a fitting and what a powerful illustration that is. The Bible says that the word of God is light. People are in darkness today. They need light. They need understanding, and the Bible says that the word of God will give that.
In Psalm 119 verse 130, the Bible says, "The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple." Listen to what David said as he sometimes struggled in the middle of the night. In Psalm 119 verse 145, "I cry out with my whole heart. Hear me, O Lord. I will keep your statutes. I cry out to you. Save me, and I will keep your testimonies. I rise before the dawning of the morning and cry for help. I hope in your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches that I may meditate on your word." And here's a great story about this in the New Testament. It's in Luke chapter 10. The Bible says in verse 38, "Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.' And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her.'" Mary saw things clearly. Why? Because she was listening to Jesus' word. Martha was distracted. Martha was not thinking as clearly as Mary was. She wasn't doing anything wrong, but she was distracted. Why? Because she lost her focus.
Keep your mind on the word of God. It will show you the way that you should live. Keep your focus on what Jesus tells you to do in the Bible, and that is the only way to live as a child of God. These are just a few of the ways to keep a clear mind in a world that is pulling for your attention and your time.
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level. Aim higher and get in touch with us today.