BELIEVE: Get Your Mind Right | Dr. David Jeremiah

[Music] today is about the rest of your life it's about tomorrow and the day after that the future god has planned for you shouldn't be a haphazard approach to life you might feel stuck but you don't have to be perhaps you're discouraged it's time to deal with that and if you feel uncertain you can find clarity you may not know what's next but god does he's there waiting for you and your tomorrow so step into it and discover god's presence and purpose in your life starting today starting now it's time to move forward it's time we rise above our circumstances conquer our fears face the future with faith prevail over the past aspire to accomplish greater things reclaim our birthright proclaim his power and claim god's promises god has more for us it's not time to stop it's time to move forward today on turning point dr jeremiah teaches that god loves us and wants us to overflow with hope and bible-based optimism there is a little space i do have some control of and it's the space of my heart and mind and the bible tells me that if i fill my heart and my mind with god's truth that gives me the greatest advantage to come through whatever stress i'm going through and stay positive with my hands up high [Music] that's coming up on today's special forward edition of turning point [Music] in just a moment dr jeremiah will direct you toward biblical hope the greatest source of optimism in the world which is relentless rewarding and the essence of personal revival find this and nine other ways you can know god's purpose feel god's power and accomplish god's plan for your life in dr jeremiah's new book forward discovering god's presence and purpose in your tomorrow you'll learn the biblical strategy about how to claim the future god has prepared uniquely for you no matter your age or your circumstance forward is yours when you give a gift of any amount in support of this program and in appreciation of your gift of 75 or more dr jeremiah will send you the forward set including his new book his entire teaching series on cd or dvd with a correlating study guide and the how to move forward interview special with sheila walsh on dvd plus with your book or set dr jeremiah will also send you his move forward motivation cards to help you keep the lessons of forward front and center each day god has more for you it's not time to stop it's time to move forward request the forward book or set when you support turning point today thank you for watching forward here on turning point in appreciation of your viewership dr jeremiah would like to send you these move forward motivation cards absolutely free contact turningpoint today and now here is dr jeremiah with his message believe get your mind right some meetings you'll never forget when i was in new york a while ago the hotel manager pulled me aside he knew that i loved sports and he offered to introduce me to a fellow guest clemson football coach dabo sweeney i love this man and i have followed him from almost the beginning so my family and i sat with dabo for an hour as he talked about his faith his love for his football team his excitement about his players his zest for life the love that he had for his team was so obvious he was animated he was speaking with his eyes and he was gesturing with his hands i don't think i've ever been around anyone more positive than dabo i remember thinking no wonder he wins championships he is a champion he's a man who believes dabo well his real name is william christopher he was born to a mother who had battled debilitating polio when he was a baby his older brother tripp tried to call him that boy and swinney was known as dabo ever since when tripp was 16 a horrible accident left him permanently injured about the same time their father had business problems fell into debt and started drinking heavily dabo's parents broke up dabo lived from pillar to post at the age of 16 dabble had a life-changing experience with jesus christ and his newfound faith bolstered his belief in the future and in himself he tried out for the university of alabama football team as a walk-on and he got a scholarship and during his last college game on new year's day 1993 the crimson tide won the national championship at the end of his college career dabble reconciled with his father and eventually helped to lead him to christ in 2003 dabble joined the coaching staff at clemson university he became head coach in 2008. at the time clemson was known for losing games they should have won it happened so often people called it clemsoning coach sweeney knew that belief was at the low ebb in his university outside the program so he posted a large sign in the training room bearing one word and the word was believe the coach's belief was sincere and contagious no matter the challenges or setbacks he believed in his players more than they believed in themselves he believed in them so much their confidence began to surge and under his leadership the tigers have won national championships in 2016 and 2018. takes a positive attitude to move forward as you read that you may be thinking oh oh dr jeremiah's fallen into the positive thinking trap no i'm not i know about that pitfall we should guard against any self-help ideology that pushes god to the sidelines magnifies human ability and doesn't tell the whole truth but there is a positive hopeful joyful optimism that is totally biblical and it comes from christ alone so i want to say this loudly and clearly you can be a christian and an optimist at the same time and you should be faith adds a positive power to your life just listen to philippians 4 13. paul wrote i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i don't know how you listen to that but that sounds pretty positive to me the man who wrote those words was an optimist with a capital o if you read his story in the book of acts and study his 13 letters they're packed with optimism dr john henry jowett said of paul his eyes are narrowly illumined his cheery tone is never absent from his speech the buoyant and springy movement of his life has never changed the light never dies out of his sky the apostle paul is an optimist so for the next few minutes let's sit at the feet of the great apostle and learn his powerful secrets for resilience and optimism and positive belief so number one you have to be positive in your convictions paul's optimism started with what he believed with his positive convictions now i don't know if you know what a conviction is but it's a fixed belief a deeply held set of certainties that lodges at the center of your mind and heart paul's core convictions were the foundation of his incredible life and ministry and here's the best part you can embrace them for yourself here are two examples of how to do just that as you move forward toward everything god has in store for you in the next phase of your life number one be positive about god's love for you the most basic conviction in life is rooted in understanding the nature of god you see without a good powerful loving creative eternal god there's no reason to be optimistic consider paul's words in romans chapter 8 verses 38 and 39 for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord consider the reasons for optimism packed into this passage not only is god real he's real but he loves us and not only does he love us but nothing we might ever experience can ever separate us from that love the 10 things that paul lists in these verses i just read could each one of them be a potential barrier between god and you but paul says with absolute assurance that none of them can ever separate you from god's love the powerful words in romans 8 about god's love are reinforced by a blessing paul offered toward the end of the same book became a favorite verse for many people i know especially for those who are going through difficult times in their lives here's that promise now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit i'd like to suggest that you pray those words aloud every day every noon every morning every evening until you know them by heart that prayer can adjust your mindset in any given season of life deepen your core convictions strengthen your belief do you know what it means to overflow with hope and optimism paul did and you can too hope and optimism can become your everyday attitude so be positive about god's love for you and then secondly be positive about god's plan for you the apostle paul constantly referred to the future he put the past behind him he strained forward toward what was ahead and even when he was near death paul was excited about the future think of it while waiting on death row for his martyrdom he was eager for tomorrow the last known letter paul wrote was to his friend timothy and it was written from a prison in rome where he awaited certain death listen to what he said in the final chapter of his final book for i am already being poured out as a drink offering in the time of my departure is at hand i have fought the good fight i have finished the race i have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing paul you see had an incredible perspective on living and dying some years before he kind of expressed that to the philippians in these words he said for to me living means living for christ and dying is even better but if i live i can do more fruitful work for christ so i really don't know which is better i'm torn between the two desires i long to go and be with christ which would be far better for me but for your sakes it is better that i continue to live there is an agelessness to optimus that keeps tomorrow fresh as a follower of christ i'm ready to die and willing to live but either case i can't wait to see what god's going to do next i am positive about my convictions if you want to have the mental attitude to be able to dream and to believe you need to get your mind right and when you get your mind right you will have positive convictions now let me say something else along with positive convictions you need to develop positive conversations let's talk about talking if you're positive in your core convictions then you'll literally become more positive in the way you talk what does it mean to be positive in your conversations number one speak positively to yourself sometimes we have no one to encourage us at the break of day so we have to speak to ourselves we have to say something like psalm 118 verse 24 this is the day the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it try saying that over and over throughout the day this is the day the lord has made and i will rejoice and be glad in it outside of praying your most important words are the words that you say to yourself these words are silent but they're significant pop psychologists call this positive self-talk but i'm going to skip the trends and go straight to the scripture my thesis remember involves paul's example to us so did paul ever talk to himself he said he strove to take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ he said for in my inner being i delight in god's law he said i am not ashamed for i know whom i have believed and i am persuaded that he's able to keep what i've committed to him against that day and as we've observed and learned he also said i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i recall preaching a sermon years ago on how to handle negative thoughts i still remember my outline here's what you do with negative thoughts don't curse them don't nurse them don't rehearse them but disperse them that's still a pretty good formula push out your negative thoughts worry and anxiety fear and pessimism by filling up your mind with god's scripture and then preach those promises to yourself we're constantly processing thoughts wrote dr norman wright depending how active your mind is you may produce more than forty five thousand thoughts a day it might be compared to a flock of birds flying in out of your mind to complicate our minds more dr wright wrote not all these are conscious thoughts sometimes they go past us so fast we barely notice them but listen to what he says next every time you have a thought it triggers an electrochemical reaction in your body each thought sets off a biological process about 400 billion of them at once because of that thought chemicals surged through your body producing electromagnetic waves and these set off emotions which affect how we behave science simply confirms what scripture has been saying all along we are shaped in much of our lives by our thoughts so speak positively to yourself that's a strange thing to say to many modern christians because it sounds like it's heresy or something that shouldn't even be included in a biblical sermon but i only give it to you because it's in the scripture not only speak positively to yourself speak positively to others learn to talk to yourself instead of listening to yourself learn to preach to yourself learn to encourage yourself in the lord it will change the way you speak to others that's one of the keys if once you start to talk to yourself right then you can start to talk to others right your mood and message will be different even when things are going badly this was another of paul's secrets once he was caught in a vicious storm with a terrified crew on a sinking ship the typhoon threatened to rip the ship into matchsticks and even the captain gave up hope of survival but paul rallied their spirits in the midst of that tragedy he stood up and he said keep up your courage men for i have faith in god the storm grew worse it was the deadliest storm these sailors had ever seen and there were 276 people on board two weeks of unbearable strain had drained this crew to their last drops of hope and none of them could eat or rest because the knights would just captivate them they couldn't sleep in acts chapter 27 we read about paul here's what we read just before dawn paul urged them all to eat for the last 14 days he said you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food you haven't eaten anything now i urge you to take up some food you need it to survive not one of you will lose a single hair from your head after this he said he took some bread and he gave thanks to god in front of them all and he broke it and they began to eat and they were all encouraged do you know anybody in your life who in the midst of what you're going through can't impart positive things like that to you the power of an attitude that is absolutely biblical and biblically positive you see the more we talk about our troubles the more we rehearse and reinforce them the more we spread the pessimism that's endemic to our culture so instead focus on others spread optimism help those around you take courage help them believe ephesians 4 29 says let everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them and i want to say to you men and women our world is wrecked and as we work together to accomplish what god wants us to do the last thing we need are endless critics instead we need the camaraderie of christ-centered people who say what is good and helpful so our words will be an encouragement to so many we need people who believe and who inspire belief so be positive in your convictions be positive in your conversations be positive in your crises only after you've learned to be positive in your conviction and your conversation can you learn to be positive even during things that are hard during times of conflict and crisis optimism shines like the sun piercing the clouds that was true for our hero the apostle paul listen again what he said who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation shall distress persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us let me take just a moment and unpack that passage the apostle paul lists seven persecutions he had constantly experienced it felt like being killed all day long he said but in all of this he said i am more than a conqueror the phrase more than a conqueror is the translation of a greek word that reads like this hyper nickelman the word nik is in the middle of the word that's the word nike believe it or not nike is the greek word for victory which is why that shoe company uses it it means overcomer and look at the first part of the word hyper you know the term hyper when you talk about your kid being hyper he's over the top if you see somebody that you work with they're hyper they're out of control so paul said in the midst of all these problems these seven things that come to me i am hyper victorious i am not just a conqueror i am more than a conqueror and so i want you to know on the authority of the scripture and because of the love of jesus christ that you can be an overcomer you can believe in him you can trust him and you can be positive in your convictions you can be positive in your conversations you can be positive in your crisis and finally here's the best one of all you can be positive in your countenance in your face your mood is always reflected in your countenance did you know that when optimism is in your heart a joyful countenance is on your face someone said what's down in the well comes up in the pale unfortunately i don't have a photograph of the apostle paul so i can't prove his face was radiant but who can doubt it his smile and positive attitude infiltrated his writings for example he told the corinthians one time this he said and we all who with unveiled faces contemplate the lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the lord who is the spirit so i just want to tell you men and women that you can be positive it's right to be positive good christians are positive we need positive christian optimists we need people who walk around looking like jesus really is everything that they say he is and that he's making a difference in their lives it was back in november in 2007 when a tough old alaskan fisherman named alan ridden took a month-long trip at sea in his 42-foot boat the trip became a nightmare when the boat capsized in a terrible storm ryden managed to get into a raft wearing his survival suit and a fleece jacket and he got off a mayday signal to the coast guard but the weather was wicked and this little raft tossed around like a cork shivering in this buffeted raft allen felt himself losing hope his mind panicked and quickly sunk into discouragement and hopelessness he began wondering if his life insurance would provide for his family suddenly alan realized his own thoughts were pulling him under more than the seas and he made one of the toughest decisions of his life he determined to cast out negative thoughts and toss them out of the wrath like they were weights he began quoting scripture to himself speaking god's word out loud he started thanking god for any good thing that came to his mind he said to himself well at least i'm in a survival suit my suit does have a top of the line strobe light attached at least i'm in some kind of a craft at least i got that fleece jacket on i am strong i am a good swimmer i have no fear of the water ryden's mental struggle deepened as the darkness set in but he remained committed to hanging on with all of his strength to the anchor his hope he later said there was definitely a grace from god i had to fight for every inch of my thoughts ten hours later ryden was rescued tracy miles who wrote about this story in her book unsinkable faith said the real rescue was not outwardly but inwardly it had been achieved during the storm when by grace ryden had anchored himself in god and embraced positive thoughts which helped him stay afloat she's right believing and getting your mind right requires you to stay positive in your convictions even amid your crisis the same is true if you want to move forward so anchor yourself in the hope of jesus christ cling to the promises of the bible determined by god's grace that you're going to keep your mind buoyant and your soul unsinkable even in the storms i can't control what's happening out there but there is a little space i do have some control of and it's the space of my heart and mind and the bible tells me that if i fill my heart and my mind with god's truth that gives me the greatest advantage to come through whatever stress i'm going through and stay positive with my hands up high that's my prayer for all of us that we won't let the storm we're in right now bury us under its debris but we will stand up in the power of jesus christ and say with paul i can do all things through christ who strengthens me [Music] dr jeremiah will return in a moment with one more inspirational word to close today's program right after this [Music] thank you for watching today did you know that this program is just one part of the ministry of turning point which is committed to delivering the unchanging word of god to an ever-changing world this program is only possible because of the generous and faithful support of viewers like you when you support the ministry of turning point you partner with us to reach across the world with the gospel and with the strong bible teaching of dr jeremiah through television radio print and digital ministry in several languages and to multiple generations please consider supporting this program and the worldwide ministry of turning point when you do dr jeremiah will thank you by sending his new book forward discovering god's presence and purpose in your tomorrow and if you give 75 or more he will send you in appreciation his comprehensive forward set your gift helps move the ministry forward contact turning point today and now with one last word for today's program here is dr jeremiah no matter what season of life in which you find yourself your brightest day can be just around the corner take hold of it let go of the past and get out of your rut choose to run forward toward everything god has planned for the next phase of your life but remember this forward journey is not one we do alone we need jesus christ to take even one step so i hope you know jesus christ well but if you don't i'd like to introduce him to you today i would like to send you two resources to start your journey with christ the first is a booklet called your greatest turning point and the second is our monthly devotional magazine turning points these resources are yours completely free when you contact turningpoint today also available from dr jeremiah the jeremiah study bible the culmination of more than four decades of dr jeremiah's study and teaching available in nkjv niv and esb plus dr jeremiah's airship genesis kids study bible for the young ones in your life order a bible for yourself or as a gift for someone you know contact turningpoint today next time on turning point the reward for what we've done here will be so palpable no one will miss it when you give you give to the eternal word of god you give to the eternal souls of men and women you're investing in a way that can never ever be taken from you and your reward and your investment is waiting for you when you arrive in heaven thank you for being with us today join us next time as dr jeremiah challenges you to outlive your life and leave a legacy that lasts for eternity here on turning point

Channel: David Jeremiah

Views: 172,362

Rating: 4.8767619 out of 5

Keywords: Dr. David Jeremiah, David Jeremiah, Turning Point with David Jeremiah, Turning Point, God, Jesus, Christ, Bible, Forward, Dream, Pray, Choose, Focus, Risk, Pursue, Believe, Invest, Finish, Celebrate, Creator, Distractions, Safe, Chase, Mind, Outlive, Forever, Purpose, Tomorrow, Anxious, Disappointed, Unfulfilled, Conquer, Fear, Encouragement, Discover, Regrets

Id: BOrxFfEBSYA

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 01 2020