Marcus Mecum - Get Your Mind Right
I’ve struggled since early 20s with drugs and just everything that came with it and that landed me in prison. Definitely a low point in my life. Did well for several years after I got out, and then, man, I’ve really went off the rails, living reckless, like crazy. And I had honestly been invited to 7 hills years ago by my friend at the time. Since I started going to 7 hills my life has changed drastically. It doesn’t even seem real sometimes. When I look back on it all and think about what God has done in my life, it’s like don’t ever underestimate, like anything is possible.
If he could take me from where I was at and bring me back, and restore me, and forgive me, and just, if he can do it for me, he can do it for anybody. He’s just blessed me in so many ways. I feel like God will bring you out of places, but not necessarily so you can just walk away, I think a lot of times just so you can go back and get somebody else. It’s insane. Never in my life would I think that I would be leading the celebrate freedom group. But he took me from like literally death’s doorstep, I get to go to blackburn prison with the church to witness to guys that are just like I used to be. And he could change anything.
Revelation 1:9, «I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, he was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s day I was in the spirit,» everybody, say that, say, «I was in the spirit». It’s an important part of this message. «I was in the spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw the seven golden lampstands, among the lampstands was someone like the son of man».
Let’s get the picture of what Jesus looks like right now. This is so beautiful. «He was dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. His right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. And his face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance».
I wanna talk to you about having the right mind in the last days. You might be saying, «Well, are we living in that last days»? And I think that I would say yes we are. I would know that every generation that’s ever lived would sense that, believe that, think that. But whether we are or not you are living in your last days. It’s always an important thing to remember that understanding end times may have to do with the ultimate era of humanity and the world as we know it, that chapter closing and a new chapter beginning. But whether that chapter on the world as we know it today closes, all of us will have the book on our life at some point close. You don’t escape that. You know that, right?
My point is understanding the attitude and the mindset for the last days or your last days, either way it’s helpful and important for you to realize. Of course, we don’t know for sure, no man knows the day or the hour. And God, of course, works in millennias. He’ll work in a minute, he’ll work in an hour, he’ll work in a day, or a week. But ultimately, the plan of God is going to span or has spanned millennias. So, having the right mindset in these last days, John is writing the book of Revelation. You might remember that James and John are the sons of thunder. Their mom would be the one that would come to Jesus and ask if her two sons could sit on the right hand of Jesus' throne and the left hand.
So, this is an ambitious family. They are a goal-oriented family. They’re a success-oriented family. These are not people that are just trying to barely do as little as possible. They have the aspirations for greatness in their life. Of course, Jesus told them that they didn’t know what they were asking and they had to be willing to drink the cup. Nonetheless, they wanted to know how it is that they can be important in the kingdom of God. You might remember that John and his brother were the ones, after being rejected by a village, went to Jesus and said, «Let’s call down fire on that village and burn it up. Lord, let’s burn that town to the ground».
So, John is also a bit vengeful. He has a temper. You don’t wanna get on his wrong side. And Jesus said, «You didn’t,» to them that they didn’t know what spirit they were of and he was letting them know they didn’t have the right spirit. But yet, he saw something in them, and I think it was their desire for action. Didn’t have the spirit, but yet they wanted to be in the action. «Coach, put me in the game. Let me play. Let me get out there and hit somebody. Let me get out there and do something. Give me the ball». They didn’t wanna just sit back and watch, and I think Jesus saw that. Though it was an unredeemed motive I believe he did see something in them. They’re known again as the sons of thunder.
John was one of the 12 apostles. And inside of the 12, Jesus had three favored apostles that John was a part of. So, you would see John on the mountain of transfiguration with the other three apostles. You would see John in the room with Jairus' daughter when she was raised from the dead. You would see John being one of the three that would be called a little bit further in the garden of Gethsemane. And you would even see John at the end begin to have an edge on Simon Peter, the one who would walk on water. And we really see the separation happened at the last supper when all of the other apostles are there eating and there is a dispute that rises among them similar to what John’s mother had previously requested. And the dispute is who’s going to be the greatest? Who is the greatest? Who’s the best?
«I want to know who’s number one, who’s the top dog, who’s the king of the mountain». And as all of this dispute is going on, John is not found in the midst of all of that, though it was in his nature. He gets a seat as close to Jesus as he could find, «He reclines next to Jesus». I love that word. «He reclines next to him,» completely relaxed, and he puts his head on Jesus' chest. He’s not involved in the debate. He’s not involved in the fight. He’s not competing. He’s not striving. He’s not calling down fire. He has his head in a very specific place, a place where he could hear something others could not hear.
And this moment is clearly the turning point for John. This is the moment he separates from the other apostles. When the others soon after this would abandon Jesus in his critical hour, John would remain because he learned how to get his mind right. He learned where to lay his head where no one else would. It might have looked funny, a grown man with his head on the chest of another grown man, but he didn’t care how it looked. He didn’t care if he would be subject to ridicule. He didn’t care what other people thought about him. John made the decision, «I wanna be as close to Jesus as I can possibly get, and I want my head to be as close to the heart of God as it possibly can be».
You hear stories about people donating organs especially life-saving organs like a heart, and you read of the families the stories after story that you can find about a family who has received the transplant and the rule is that a family is not supposed, that has been the donor or part of the donor’s family is not supposed to contact the recipient. They’re to wait one year. And the recipient, if he desires to, can contact the donor’s family. And so, families will wait with great anticipation for that year to expire that maybe they’ll get a letter, maybe they’ll get a phone call, maybe they’ll be contacted in some ways.
So, a father or a mother can find their way to this recipient and possibly put their ear next to the chest of the recipient that has their son or daughter’s beating heart in it. They don’t care what people think. They don’t care what people would view that like. They’re not even thinking about any of that kind of stuff. All they wanna do is be close to the heartbeat of somebody they love. I can relate to wanting to be desperate, to be close, to the heart of someone that I love. One of the stories that I read was of a woman who broke protocol, found out who the recipient of her son’s heart was, found her way through the security at the hospital, navigated her way into the room where the person was recovering, there went to the person that is recovering, and she places her head and her ear on the chest of that man. When they found her in there, they removed her.
«Lady, you cannot be here. Who are you? What do you think that you’re doing»? And she said, «I’m the mother. I’m the one who my son gave him his heart, and I don’t care what anybody thinks, I just wanted to hear the heartbeat of my son one more time». I wonder if God sees us that way today. I wonder if God sees a church that wants to hear the heartbeat of his son. That’s what you find in John. You find John saying, «I don’t wanna just walk with him, I don’t wanna just talk with him, I appreciate his teaching, and his discipleship, and all the times that I’ve been there, all the miracles, but yet it’s not enough. I want my head next to his heart».
That’s why we open the scriptures together. That’s why we serve. That’s why we come to church. Because I’m not at the table of the Lord to be in a dispute over who’s great, or who’s this, or who’s more important. I want to get my head right in an evil time. I need to get my mind right in a day that is unlike any other day that we would know in modern history. And the only way to get my head right is I’ve gotta find my way, put my head as close as I possibly can to the beating, pounding, blood pumping heart of Jesus Christ. That’s why we’re here.
«I don’t wanna be at the wrong end of the table. I don’t wanna be a part of the fights, and the disputes, and the mudslinging, and the competitiveness, and the striving. I don’t wanna be a part of any of that. I could go into any sphere with anybody, and my guess is I could argue with the best of them. My guess, I could plead my case with the best of them. Whatever their complaint might be, whatever their issue might be, whatever their accusation might be, I could sit down and fight with the best of them, argue with the best of them, go into all these endless disputes with any… I can call down fire like anybody else. But I don’t wanna be at the wrong end of the table».
I don’t want you to be at the wrong end of the table. I want to be right where he is, right where his heartbeat is. And that is why it is good for you and I to be here. I don’t care who you are, you can’t think right if you don’t hear his heartbeat. You cannot have peace if you do not hear his heartbeat. You cannot have strength if you do not hear his heartbeat. And John teaches us we’ve got to get our heads where his heart is, and that’s the only way to get your head right. I cannot get my mind right if I don’t hear his heartbeat. But what I have learned is the devil cannot touch the type of person who pushes away all the noise, all the clutter, all the other things that people are being distracted by and focused on.
And the person that just says, «I don’t care about any of that. I don’t know about any of that. I don’t wanna be the expert. I don’t want to be the know-it-all. I don’t want to be the critic. I don’t wanna be the one who knows every problem and judges every issue and every, I wanna be the one who just gets my head as close to his heart as I possibly can. And as long as I’ll do that, the devil cannot win, hell cannot win. My job is to get my head next to his heart». Peter seemed to recognize that John had this edge. Think about it with all Simon Peter’s great accomplishments and exploits, he recognized that John had access that he did not. And Jesus, at the last supper, announces that one amongst them will betray him. At this moment, the apostles start to go back and forth, «Is it I? Is it I? It’s not me. It must be him. It’s not me. It must be him».
While this was all going on, everybody trying to find out who it was, Peter wanted to know but he didn’t ask Jesus who it would be. He said, «John, I can see you’ve got your head in the right place. Ask him who is it». So, John asked, «Who is it, Lord»? And Jesus told him. You know what God does with someone who puts their head on his heart? He tells them things he doesn’t tell everybody else. That’s what Jesus does. «You wanna know something, John? Ask me. I’ll tell you anything. There’s nothing I will not tell you». Because the Bible says, «The secret of the Lord is revealed to those who fear him».
If you get your head in the right place God will tell you anything and everything you need to know. If there’s something you need to know, if you’ll get your head in the right place next to his heart, God will reveal to you everything you need to know to accomplish his best in your life. At the writing of our text John is 93 years old. He writes this book in 95 AD. Here’s a man that walked with Jesus in the flesh for three years, walked with him in the spirit as a faithful bishop for another 60 years. He’s 93 years old. His bones are aching. His hair is gray. He’s been used of God in a miraculous way. He is a special, special apostle. He’s the only one that’s not died a martyr’s death. He’s the only one that will die of old age.
And here he is 93 years of age, his best years behind him, and the emperor Domitian in 95 AD, has him arrested and taken to Rome, and there his execution sentence was pronounced. And history teaches us that John would be thrown into a pot of boiling oil. Somehow or another the hand of God was on him and that boiling oil did not kill him. So, the emperor had a decree written that he would be exiled to the island of Patmos. Patmos is not a Caribbean island. It’s not a paradise. It is a small island off the coast of turkey that’s 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. It’s made of solid rock. It’s treeless. This is a hard and very hot place. It’s the place that they would send the most vile criminals.
The worst of the worst was sent to Patmos. Patmos, when you went there, was a life sentence. So, here John is, 93 years old, he’s hurting, body filled with third degree burns. He’s aged. He’s banished to this island, this Godforsaken place, surrounded by thieves, murderers, rapists. He’s in this horrific place. He should have been in comfortable retirement. He should’ve had a nice office with someone else doing all the dirty work. He had paid the price. That’s what John deserved. Maybe be pastor emeritus, walk around and shake people’s hands, tell people they’re doing a good job. But for the most part, though that’s what John deserved, that’s not what he got. Ninety-three years old hurting. He’s getting something he does not deserve.
And it would have been very easy for him to say, «Lord, I don’t deserve this. I was the one that took care of your mom after Calvary. I was the one that had my head next to your heart. I was the one. Don’t you remember? Everyone else split, everyone else turned their back. Not me, I was right there. And this is what I get? I’m gonna die here in this place? I’m gonna die here like this? Not around saints that love me, but I’m gonna die here in this hard, horrible, horrific place surrounded by people that would rather beat me, kill me, destroy me. I’ve served you so long».
I could imagine he should’ve had a little chip on his shoulder. He didn’t know why he was there. He didn’t know what was going to happen. He had no concept that God was about to help him write the closing book of God’s holy word. He had no idea that God was gonna open up the windows of heaven and prophetically show him future generations to come, that God was gonna show him ages to come, that God was gonna show him who the Antichrist would be, that God was gonna show him how Jesus was going to return. He didn’t know any of that. All he knew is, «I’m suffering. I’m struggling. I’m alone. I’m on this forsaken island». But John had learned something 60 years earlier. He had learned how to get his head right. And he had learned, «It doesn’t matter where I am. It doesn’t matter what life looks like. If I can get my head next to his heart, if I can draw close to him, if I can find his heartbeat, then I can get through anything life throws at me».
So, we get to our text that John was in the spirit on the Lord’s day. He’s on Patmos, but he’s in the spirit. So, it means it doesn’t matter where he is physically or in the natural, that cannot stop him from getting in the spirit. And if John can get in the spirit on Patmos, you can get in the spirit in your situation whatever yours might be. And no matter who you are, where you are, what you’re facing, if John could do it, you can do it. If John could have revival on Patmos, you can have the revival that you need right where you are. You have to get in the spirit, why? «'cause it’s not by might, it’s not by power, but it is by his spirit».
You say, «Well, how am I going to make it in the last days? How am I going to survive my Patmos»? You get in the spirit. You get your mind right by getting close to his heart in these last days. The Bible doesn’t say though I walk in the valley. It says, «Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death». Whatever you’re going through, you just draw close to him. You get his, your head next to his heart, and you just say, «We’re gonna get through this somehow together. I don’t know what it’s gonna look like. I don’t know what mountain I just came off of, how good it was. I don’t know what mountain is in the future. But I know you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death with me and I will fear no evil for thou art with me». He’s with you.
I remember when I was a spiritual orphan. I remember when he adopted me, when he chose me, when he called me. I remember when he was the father to the fatherless. I remember when he drew near to my broken heart. I remember all the times he was there when no one else could possibly be there. And I can never, and you can never, outgrow your need to lay your head on his heart so you can hear that beautiful, wonderful, merciful, gracious, loving, compassionate, never give up on you heartbeat. And whatever you’re going through, if you’ll get next to that heartbeat, it’ll get your head right, it’ll get your mind right, it’ll give you peace, it’ll give you focus, it’ll give you discipline, it’ll give you soundness, it’ll give you what you need to get through your Patmos, or your last day, or the last days.