"Changing your Mind" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

thank you brother Michael for your prayer I want to thank the orchestra who's been playing it's so nice to have the additional instruments up here how is everybody well pastor and this is Ross in their greetings pastor Ross was in India last week he made it safely back their children had a special program at Grass Valley today I said it'd be good for them to be able from time to time to be at those programs and so they send their ingredients as well today we're talking about a very important subject that is always very relevant and it has to do with our minds and how we think the gospel revolves around the principle of having a new mind having our minds transformed we read about this in our scripture there from Romans chapter 1 talking about changing our mind not that we can do it but God can change our minds unless our minds are not changed we are doomed because the gospel is about God putting a new mind in us and so we need to know what it means to experience that and a lot of people struggle with their thinking well I think all of us struggle with our thinking as I think about it yeah now there's something miraculous about your mind that is it doesn't it evades scientific definition I don't know if some of you heard last week that I may have been in the news before last week but I heard it last week about Sophia the robot this a robot that was actually developed in 2015-2016 they went on tour and Sophia is called a social humanoid robot that can carry on basic conversation has 62 different facial expressions kind of weird when you look at the youtubes of this and you know they've got software that has voice recognition and they've got Disney years ago developed some robotic software where robots can you know do some basic stuff well it's gotten more sophisticated now she's got little servos in her head little hydraulics go up and down as her eyes and eyebrows are moving underneath the silicone skin that she's got and her mouth is moving and whoa it's got a creepy but what made the news is that Sophia was declared a citizen of Saudi Arabia making her the first robot to be declared the citizen of a country and as she went on her media blitz about this human-like robot the made an appearance at the United Nations and they gave her the title the UN Innovation champion it saw Sophia became the first non-human to get to be given a United Nations title and folks are wondering now how far is it going to go let's face it you know computers are making great advances in your pocket in your hand many of you have smart phones they're a lot smarter than they were a few years ago and it's embarrassing now because I get a text I don't type an answer I press a button I talk and answer you got a double check before you send have you noticed that I've sent some very embarrassing messages I tried to explain to somebody one time about prophetic interpretation in the computer wrote prosthetic interpretation but so there's you know it'll recognize your voice and it types what you say and it actually has an eye and it'll recognize you it'll have facial recognition it'll do iris scanning it'll check your fingerprint it's kind of weird how far it's going and they're getting smart and smarter they say that you know every every six months it changes but you know the smartest computer in the world now as in China I believe it's a room full of computers really but they still have just managed to be as smart as a mouse going through a maze but the amount of processes that it takes to do what one biological brain does is staggering but you look at the exponential growth of technology in the last few years and they say how long will it be before they have artificial intelligence AI well they are too late people have accused me of having artificial intelligence for years and so I win no but they want to know how long will it be before they get a computer or a room full of computers it actually you know get some software and a speaker a couple of camera lenses to pretend their eyes and but it'll communicate and it's gonna be able to carry on some kind of a creative conversation a few years ago we laughed at that we're not laughing now I've even heard some believe that the beast in the last days is really gonna be computers taking over the world well you know God says that except those days be shortened no flesh would be saved and I'm not worried about computers taking over the world there and they already have it some ways when it comes to privacy but what is that last frontier is it computer technology man's gone gone right now you realize we've gone about as far as we can go in the solar system with the recent Voyager 1 and 2 missions they've gone beyond our solar system and now they're out in deep stellar space and we have no vessel we will not for many years have a vessel that is going to be able to travel to the nearest star we don't even care we can can't even imagine the technology that would help us to do that and God has it but we're not there yet and we've gone to the deepest ocean which is the Marianas Trench we've drilled as deep as we can go without melting our drilling bits eventually you get down so deep and then the heat it just starts to vaporize we have no metals that will go much deeper and what would you do once you got to the molten core it's like we've gone as far as we can go with exploration now except not Innerspace or outer space but rather inner space is the last frontier understanding the human mind humans are unlike any other animal in that we have for some reason much more brain than we use in a lifetime the evolutionists can't figure out what scenario would make you develop 90% more brain than you ever use there are some people that have an operation and hemispherectomy where they actually have to have half their brain removed and when it's done with children the other half of the brain takes over everything and they can live a perfectly normal intelligent life half a brain you've heard that argument before the Bible tells us that you essentially are what you think proverbs 23 verse 7 for as he thinks in his heart so is he now when you say heart in the Bible we're not talking about the pump the Bible uses the word heart speaking of the mind so when we talk about a changed heart talking about really a changed mind proverbs 4:23 says keep your heart your mind with all diligence be careful what you allow to go in for out of it are the issues of life you and I are really basically the sum total of our thoughts you are not saved based on your toes or your nose or your elbows what God is trying to save is what you've got between your ears it's your thinking and what needs converting is your thinking and what do you think about and your comprehension of God and that's seem you worship God with your mind Plato said thinking is the talking of the soul with itself Horace said rule your mind or it will rule you and then Lord Byron said thinking is the magic of the mind now there's it's not that hard to think you're thinking right now I don't know if you're thinking about the sermon but you're thinking right now it'd be curious sometimes I wonder what you know if you all had little captions like the old cartoons above your head while preaching aside to see these captions pop up find out what is they what are they thinking about right now someone is thinking oh my stomach growling some of us thinking can you believe what she's wearing today and someone else is thinking how come that other computer projectors out I can't see though the other one some of you thought that already all right by the way if we thought it was a bulb we ordered a bulb it wasn't the bulb it's it's a computer see they've taken over the world and so it's not hard to think but it's hard to think correctly it's hard to think well and that's what conversion is all about is a changing of our mind and thinking about those things that God can bless so I don't know how much time you've spent thinking about what you think about but I'd like to invite you to think about that sin happens in our thoughts God wants to save us from our sin he's wanting to save us between our minds between our ears you can commit perjury murder adultery in the mind without getting up out of your chair some of you indeed will probably commit some of those things before you leave today it happens here it's not just an action it's an attitude Matthew 5:28 jesus said I say to you whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart and what does he mean by in his heart in the mind by the way ladies that works both ways ladies can do it too by looking you can lust in the mind covetousness you realize that the 10th commandment has nothing to do with an action the 10th commandment is all about an attitude of sin to be desiring here something that you should not desire and so being converted means having sanctified thinking and that is really the most that is the the pinnacle of success in life is if you can get to where your mind is like the mind of Christ and that's what we're all talking about today Matthew chapter 15 verse 7 Jesus he said hypocrites well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouths and they honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me so what does it got once not the pump if their minds aren't with me he wants her minds at first Samuel 16:7 Lord does not see as man sees for man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart what is it heart the Lord is looking on the mind God is looking in your head that's why when you pray you may not pray out loud but does God hear your prayer now can the devil hear what you think I don't think so is there a scripture for that seems to mean 2nd Kings chapter 8 when Solomon is dedicating the temple and he says Lord for you and you only know the thoughts of the sons of men now I think that the devil can plant things in your mind but reading what you're thinking you know you can plant something in a person's mind with a picture with the sound but to read what they think that he can look at your body language he can look at your eyes and how your respiration may increase in your heartbeat and the devil can say all of it I'm getting through I'm getting through he can read the indicators but he can't read your mind only God can read your mind now that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with praying out loud some people say I don't pray out loud because I don't want the devil to hear my prayers you go ahead and pray out loud jesus prayed out loud it scares the devil it's also a good witness and angels are listening as well but only God reads the heart it is if you are the temple this would be the Holy of Holies it's the inner sanctum it's where he wants to put his law by law I've hidden in my heart Matthew 15 18 but those things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart that's what defiles a man for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies these are the things that defile man jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart meaning the mind the mouth speaks and whatever's in your mind is what's going to come out of your mouth and it's in the mind Christ said that you know sin is born you could never tell the police I didn't steal that Twinkie my hand did it I knew nothing about it I was not involved I was drugged along as an accomplice it was just my hand and then it gave my hand gave it to my mouth but I were I didn't think about it of course it started all up here right Romans 8:6 for to be carnally minded talking about the mind that means to be thinking like the fleshly side is a death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind carnal thoughts is enmity against God it's not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be so you need a new mind it's a new way of thinking but you might be saying well pastor down that's the hardest thing the world how do you control your thinking it is the hardest thing in the world matter of fact it's impossible without supernatural help for you to change your mind unless you're a woman no I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way they can change the mind frequently now I'm talking about changing the mind as an converted new thinking what part of you goes to your heaven well what part gets when you get a new body and God says alright I'm gonna take the character the essence of who is you and I'm gonna put it in this new glorified body I'm giving you he doesn't say I'm giving you any part doesn't give you your old heart you don't want it do you he's not giving you your old ears it's not giving you your tongue or your eyeballs the part of you that goes into the new body God's gonna make is you're thinking it's your character that really is what's gonna be saved now does God know our thoughts let me give you a few verses on that mark 2 verse 8 right away Jesus knew what they were thinking and he said why are you thinking such things he knew psychologists say and I don't know how in the world they measure this but this is what they say I read that we have an average of 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day I don't know how you would define what a complete thought is this means between 35 and 48 thoughts per minute per person I think an odometer going like this a little needle like rpm on a car when you're thinking a lot and when you're kind of relaxed it starts going like that and then and then all sudden something's happening and your adrenaline hits and you start thinking really fast the needle goes up that happened with you I feel that in my head sometimes Karen says Doug what do you think it's nothing so dad thinking something I'm thinking am I thinking anything nothing particular needles pretty low but then you know sometimes there'll be a crisis also knew the RPM goes up and you start thinking more things at the end of the day when you're tired how about you needle starts going down not a lot of thinking going on what are you thinking about going to sleep I'm tired so but you're almost always thinking something right now if that's true that you've got 50 to 70 thousand thoughts per day that would be between 35 and 48 thoughts per what I was saying per minute per person I know I think more than that that's 22 million thoughts a year and then the Bible says we're going to give an account to God for every idle word that we say but is it just the words or is it the thoughts I mean the Bible is going to even judge us based on our thoughts Amos 4:13 for behold he who forms the mountains and created the wind and declares to man what are his thoughts God will declared a man what his thoughts are some 94 11 the Lord knows the thoughts of man tent they are vanity and first Corinthians 4:5 therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels are the motives of the heart not only tell you what you thought he'll tell you what the motive was for that Christian thinking is a rare and difficult thing and so many are unaware that the first commandment the great commandment is to love the Lord thy God with what your mind how much your mind so fifty percent of the time you think for the devil fifty percent for God or does he wants you to have his spirit controlling your thinking that's a big order isn't it how do you get there we're going to talk about that in a minute for one thing your attitude determines your altitude you've heard that expression before actually comes from a flying principle that as a plane goes through the air you got an attitude indicator and that attitude indicator tells you if you're straight and level it tells you if you're going down it tells you if you're turning and it tells me that percent a 45-degree turn of 15 percent turn and if you're going if your attitude of the plane to the air is down you're going to go down attitudes if you're gonna go up and so you've all got an attitude in your thinking and that attitude in your thinking is determining your eternal destiny if your attitude is negative and faithless you're going down if your attitude is pointed towards God and heavenly things in Christ and you're looking at him and being transformed into his image you're going up and so we need to think about what our attitude is because that's going to determine your destiny your attitude will determine your altitude so in essence what you think is what you are because what you set your mind on that you will become this has often been quoted but margaret thatcher's at least one person to whom it's attributed who said watch your thoughts they become your words watch your words they become actions walked your actions they become habits watch your habits they become your character and watch your character because it becomes your destiny what we think we become what you think you become thoughts do have consequences you might think I'm just thinking it nobody knows oh yeah maybe God knows but what difference does it make it's just me thinking in my head I can think whatever I want you ever let your mind wander all kinds of crazy places and you don't ever make any effort to curb it that's not good you should be praying as a Christian to be more disciplined in your thinking to think thoughts that will glorify God you can't just let your mind run rampage everywhere it doesn't mean you don't ever take time for creative thought but you need to know how when a thought is going into a bad place and bring it back and that's one of the big struggles 8-passenger how do I control my thinking how do I change my mind I'm gonna get to that in just a moment your thoughts will affect your health it's amazing the incredible connection between the brain and the body and you know if you start let me ask it this way how many of you have anything you regret in your life anything you ever done anything your regret okay it's an obvious question okay can you think what that is right now you don't want to think about it you try not to think about it you might think about it but when you think about something you regret have you ever noticed there might even be a physiological reaction you feel your heart slow down you feel your stomach tighten you might even groan I think about things I've done and said I go oh I mean it says physical it's all happened in my head no one else in the world is thinking about it just me a matter of fact I've had to tell myself I've done some embarrassing things and whenever I recall those terribly embarrassing things I've done I go oh and then I remind myself as a dog you're embarrassed right but no one else is thinking of that they all forgot you're the only one in the world thinking about that right now so just let it go and so I'll talk to myself I feel better because I'm thinking about what I'm thinking about you can think about someone who hurt you and you're angry with and it can make you bitter and you do it for a long period of time and it can make you and some think that they're sick because of what they're eating they're sick because of what's eating them it's you're thinking that does that so we need to think about what we think about they affect our health a merry heart does good like a medicine for a broken spirit dries the bones I got a Facebook post last night when someone saw the sermon title this helps illustrate what I want to get through today and they wrote I won't put the person's name in it was a lady being raised a Christian I left the church and I'm now paying the price of my own iniquities even though God has forgiven me I'm always thinking of the past I can never get those worries out of my head to the point I experienced major depression please pray for me a lot of people that connect with that because of memories for some experience or maybe they were abused or who knows what it was that that memory is just haunting them for years their guilt and their shame and it's crushing them if it wasn't for the power of the gospel I don't know how I'd make it if you just think that Paul you've got to live on as the bad memories and the disappointments so what we're dealing with here when we talk about thinking and a change of mind is really a concentration there's also something there's some supernatural components you know water is a very powerful thing typically rain when it falls will automatically run to the lowest point and it will take the path of least resistance unless you channel your thinking unless you focus unless you do some concentration unless you're sensitive to what you think about your thoughts will run like water it'll be like one flash flood after another I think some people go crazy because they never make an effort to think about what they think about never talk to a person that's just crazy is not a very politically correct term no but you know what I mean people who are mentally in balance sometimes and they they can't control what they're thinking and they're just totally out of touch with how to interact because their minds of just they they've just gone on a rampage and they can't control what they're saying and what they're thinking and what they're doing you can't just let every thought rush through your brain and go to the path of least resistance and reach the lowest point like water when water is controlled when they build hoover dam all of a sudden they took all that power of all that water and they stopped it and they said we're gonna send this part to irrigate we're gonna send this part to power and that same water that was falling because it was managed accomplishes a lot of good there's a lot of power there there's a lot of life there whereas you doesn't let it go with his rampages on through the canyon it scours everything and it goes off into the Oblivion of the ocean that's why most people let their thinking run wild as a believer we should pray that God will teach us how to channel our thinking in productive ways so we're gonna talk about that James 1:14 but each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed and then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death so temptation begins here and conversion begins here too now I'm gonna make this pretty simple I'll elaborate on the categories but there's three things and I tried to make it rhyme a little bit to help you understand it we're gonna talk about three things you can do to change your mind packing processing and praying packing meaning storage talk about that processing what you do with the thoughts that you stored and then praying there's a very important supernatural component that we must have if we're gonna have a change of money so let's dive right in pecky you ever heard in computer lingo garbage in garbage out you got to be very careful what you take in because that's gonna be the sum total of your thoughts those of you who understand what I'm saying right now ostensibly you speak English and the reason you speak English is because over the course of your life you heard English you took English your family spoke in English and it filled your mind and you comprehend English because that's what you took in if I start to whistle how many of you know that song because you heard it before you've got billions and billions of memories in your mind that you sort through in a miraculous way we can't understand that has helped you through analyzing and processing all the data you've got just warehouses and warehouses of information in your brain and your mind and have you ever seen any of these Amazon warehouses they have these robots that go up and down the aisles and they know just what package to get to take and ship off and it's just incredible it's a massive operation just built one up by the airport you see this so they've got a few people typing things in the robots are going and grabbing the packages and they know exactly where they're all located your brain I don't know how it does it but it's knowing where to go and to grab these different memories you've got to be very careful what you put in your warehouse because in the processing it's gonna pull the material that you've got if you put bad material in your brain it's gonna produce bad thinking and so you've got to be careful about that you know the Bible says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge now I am NOT suggesting that lest you get something bad in your brain don't put anything in your brain because that's not a good idea that's not what we're talking about you're gonna take stuff in your brain every day and some of you can't control just because some of its environmental and you can't control everything in your environment you want to deliberately be choosing to put good things in your brain a Christian should never stop learning you should be studying to show yourself approved unto God isn't that right we should be doing our best to find the best information and feeding our brains with good ideas with healthy thoughts with the wonderful stories with good history with those things that are gonna build an uplift and in noble and as you do that that's the one of the most important things is just be making sure you don't later regret that you stored things you know when you ever heard the expression one bad apple spoils a whole bunch if you're storing apples and they used to you know store apples they'd wrap them up in newspaper and apples would keep for quite a while in the old days and they put them in the cellar and but if you put one bad apple in and the apples were touching each other if you didn't individually wrap them the rotten part of that one Apple the mold would quickly spread you seen it happen with strawberries to quickly spread to the others the spores spread Nelson the whole batch is ruined well you want to avoid taking in those bad thoughts because they corrupt even good things that you've taken in Salem pastor Jack it's too late I've just filled my mind with all kinds of things I wish I'd never filled my mind with stay with me we'll get to that but start we're where we are right now from this moment on say by your grace Lord I'm gonna think about what I choose to think about I'm gonna think about what I'm feeding my mind because that's gonna affect who you are my people are destroyed for lack of the good knowledge now we're not saved by knowledge of football scores or soap operas or video games and yet a lot of Christians could very quickly answer they could tell you everything about sports scores they could tell you all about who the stars are on the different shows and who they're married to and who they're divorced with and what's going on in their lives and people know way too much stuff they shouldn't know about junk so it's not that God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge about how to win this computer game Christian's know way too much junk about stuff that doesn't matter in eternity and we have filled our minds you know I see young people playing these games hour after hour they're repeating these processes and every time you're doing that you're just good sick almost like some kind of hypnosis you're filling your mind with empty meaningless spots that are data that don't accomplish anything real and I think the devil's destroy an old generation with that nothingness so you want to fill it with the good things what are those good things psalm 119:11 it's easy to remember some one one nine one one you know what nine eleven is this is one one nine one one thy word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you what is the heart its mind why don't we fill our minds with the words of Christ the words of God the principles because words are just the natural words as principles there's truth there's teaching it's transformative store the Word of God in your mind Jesus used it whenever temptation came he had something to draw on as ammunition to fight that and avoid that which is bad there's a passage I want you to remember this and Isaiah 33 14 this is a very very important passage Isaiah 33 verse 14 I'll read verse 15 who among us will dwell with the devouring fires talking about the glory of God who among us will dwell with the everlasting burnings stockman who can dwell in the presence of God listen to the answer he who walks righteously and speaks up rightly he who despises the gain of oppressions he who gestures with his hands refusing bribes noticed this who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from seeing evil God wants us to plug our ears and stop our eyes when it comes to hearing of violence and seen of evil if we spend our time being entertained with the stuff of the world and filling our minds with that you know where it's saying Lord I want to feed my mind on that which is dirty but I want to walk clean doesn't work that way psalm 119 verse 37 turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way now I'm glad David mentioned that it means he probably struggled just like everybody else turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things that some of us need to pray God will forgive us and cleanse us from worthless things that we spent time looking at that and we need revival he says and then revive me in your way you know one of the times Jesus cleansed the sanctuary in Luke 19 he did it twice in his ministry but you can read about it Luke nineteen forty five and he went into the temple and he began to drive out those who bought and sold saying it is written my house is a house of prayer but you've made it a den of thieves so Jesus went into the temple and this was to be a holy place of God's presence since it was to be a place where God was to be praised to be filled with a teaching of God and it was filled with animals that were you know barking and buying and bleeding and and Jesus went and the doves and all the doves bring and he chased it all out he cleansed the sanctuary and the children came in and he blessed them and they were singing and he began to teach and it's kind of like your body's a temple of the Holy Spirit he would like to cleanse your sanctuary from all of the the carnal animalistic things that are happening in the world and he wants it filled with his glory says my house is to be a house of prayer it's not about your mind chase out the money changes say Lord please come and do it Romans 1:32 who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death not only do the same but approve of those who practice them you know I think if the truth were told that there are people here who we shake our heads we say isn't it awful just look at what happened in the news so-and-so committed adultery with so-and-so they cheated on their spouse or or this person sexually abused this person and that is awful and the violence this person murdered that person isn't it terrible but then we we bring a window into our home and we press a button and the window unveils all these people committing adultery and murder and lying and things and we do it for entertainment so morally we think it's okay if we say it's I would never do those things these things are terrible would I be entertained by those things well ya know yeah it's kind of fun to watch but I would never do it what do you think you're doing I'm talking myself - you're bringing holy things into your mind are unholy things in your mind that are displacing the holy things and you think about that stuff isn't that right you watch it you think about it it could just be the news let's face it we've seen stuff on the evening news that is pretty disturbing matter of fact they want you to watch they'll tell you before they show you something that is terribly disturbing they'll say if you got any kids in the room and the people are going well this is gonna be good right then they really tune in because there's something carnal in all of us that's attracted to that's what which is unsavory and which is forbidden you know why there's Commandments that say don't steal because there's something about us and wants to steal the commandments never tell us to you know stop doing something nobody wants to do isn't that right and the reason God says remember the Sabbath is because we want to forget it he says don't commit adultery because we're prone to that don't covet because we're prone to that and so we've got to consciously sit work I don't want to do what I carnally normally would want to do I want to think that which is pure but you got to change what you're packing you can't keep packing away that which is evil psalm 119 verse 9700 I love your law it's my meditation all the day through your Commandments they make me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me I have more understanding than my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation what do we think about what do you meditate on the Word of God God's commandments the principles of truth those things that are good and Noble and lovely and I'll get to that in just a moment why did God destroy the world back in the days of Noah because the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil and it says there was violence so it tells us that they married and they gave in marriage there was unfaithfulness there was violence there was evil not a lot different than today it was evil thinking the thoughts of their hearts for all the evil continually all right so packing packing processing praying packing what are you putting in your mind now right now if heaven forbid I've often wondered if I got arrested for my face-i in my quiet moments I thought this before if I got arrested for my face and they put me in a solitary confinement and they gave me nothing to read and they gave me nothing to watch no window to look out he just got a bleak cinder block gray room with the necessary facilities and year by year went by where you got nothing but the same boring food and yet nothing to think about I've wondered have I stored enough good things in my mind and I could keep myself preoccupied for eternity in prison or what I regret the time I had not spent storing away the Word of God memorizing the Word of God so that I could be comforted in my thinking it would be pretty hard wouldn't it to just be locked up with no input so you get new input every day choose good input because it begins to change how you process which is our next point processing now you can't change right now everything that's coming to your mind some of what came into your mind through your experiences was your choice some was not but once you got it there you process it you've probably all seen a Cal that they'll spend hours during the day gathering up grass in their mouths I just go along with their heads down like a mower they're just licking up the grass and then they sit down and they burp up what they've swallowed from one stomach into the mouth and they chew the cud they process it because they you know didn't get it chewed up enough they just packed away as much as they could to start with well we all do that most of what we're doing every day is you are chewing the cud you are processing the other thoughts that you've taken in but you get to make a decision not just what you take in that's your packing you got to make a decision on how you're gonna process what you've taken in first Corinthians 13:11 when I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when they became a man I put away childish things when you are a Christian man and a Christian woman you've got to know what maturity is and don't waste your time thinking about those things that are childish that there is no profit in and if you see your mind going down that road bring it back now this is where the big struggle is pastor Doug I can't control what I think and have you ever noticed the more you try not to think about something the more you think about it all right I mean demonstrate this right now no matter what you do I don't want anybody here to think about a purple monkey some of the kids just tuned in don't think about a purple monkey okay whatever you do promise me you won't think about a purple monkey all right now how many of you followed my advice and you did not think about a purple monkey someone back this is I and think about a purple mite how do you know you had to think about if you are thinking about a purple monkey not to decide if you thought about a purple monkey that means you thought about it isn't that right and so do you ever have that problem it's like you say all right lord I don't want to see it don't want to send it all starts here don't sin and my sin you know I thought about whether I sitting that means I thought about it and you can find yourself just going crazy trying to control your thinking like that so what do you do don't worry about rejecting replace you need to defuse it with other things Paul says you overcome evil with good and so the other day it's a simple way to illustrate it I got a dumb song stuck in my head what was especially annoying is that I wrote it and it was catchy and I got it in my head Karen knows what I'm talking about Stephen jury knows what I'm talking about I got that dumb song in my head and oh you ever get a song in your mind it's nice to have a song in your mind sometimes you know your work and you got a thumb it's nice that it's like but sometimes you know a little bit you say oh well Hoffman humming that one for two days now that's enough I get ready for something else even a good thing right I thought man I got to get that out of my head and so I would go and I'd see something else and it works for a little while isn't the other one would come back and I just had to keep at finally I got some other songs and I got them in my head and then I got those songs in my head and so I found if I just thought don't think don't sing that don't sing that don't sing that I'm gonna sing it because I keep thinking about it so a way to get rid of it is think of something else to displace it and so when you've got the wrong guy if you're having problems with resentment somebody bothered you or through you know some offense some disappointment or failed expectation whatever it is that just a negative thought that's bothering you count your blessings think of something good every time you catch yourself getting tense or upset because that negative thing you're thinking about say all right I'm gonna make a list start thinking about these good things start telling someone else do you know when you verbally say something in actually form slow and you're affected by your own words that's why you want to be careful not to say negative things to people because you'll even feel more negative after you repeat it so don't give vent to every negative thought that you have it it actually affects you processing good thoughts bear good fruit bad thoughts bear bad fruit and every man is his own gardener as we read there in our memory verse be not conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so we all need our minds renewed Colossians 1 3 and these are wonderful promises notices if you were raised with Christ seek those things that are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God set your mind on things above not on things of this earth so when it comes to what you can think about think out think about heavenly things think about the reward of the righteous think about the blessings of God and the good things Ephesians 4:22 for you ought to put off the old man according to your way of the way of living before who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and you should put on the new man according to God who was created in righteousness and true holiness so there's actually an action of putting on so you're putting off one notice put off the old man put on the new man when someone like to show me how you do that what you do do it but it's not something physical like putting on a bathrobe or taking off a bathrobe you put on in your thinking by faith when you accept that Jesus is I'm giving you my righteousness I'm giving you a new life you can be a new creature embrace that and say thank you Lord believe it see we're saved by faith which is happening where where does face it faith happens in your thinking right worship happens in your thinking and so all of it goes back to this is such an important process remember jesus said blessed are the pure we're in heart they will see God that's pretty serious that means God's got a purifier thinking Isaiah 1:18 come now let us reason together says the Lord in our processing process with him think about him talk to him in your prayers I'm getting ahead of myself though your sins are scarlet they will be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be as wool you know one of the beautiful things about snow you can have all kinds of terrible things out there on the ground in your backyard and someone might have thrown trash there you look out your window and you see all the trash but if during the night there's a nice thick snow you wake up in the morning you don't see the trash anymore you see the snow and God will do in your mind and in your memories through his grace he snows inside your head and you need to continue to pray for a blizzard because there's a lot of covering that needs to happen right now unfortunately if I should choose to think about it I remember all the curse words from before I was a Christian I remember what it means to live immorally I don't want to go there now I'm just saying if I wanted to those things are there but since being a Christian there's so much other good information that has come into my mind that it rains down on that and it pushes it down and the other rises to the surface so it's buried and I'm seeing the fresh information at the top and so those things are there if you give them opportunity they can try and worm their way back up to the surface but you better just keep snowing on it and you can displace the things and don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen right away you may not be able to change all of your thinking in one day no God can you can experience a new birth in one day but even Isaiah the Lord says learn to do good we got to learn a new way of thinking and so it's processing finally brethren Philippians 4:8 you know this one whatever things are true whatever things are honest whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there's any virtue if there's any praise think on these things we don't have to wonder he's telling us what to think about and that means don't think about the others that's the dark it keeps coming into my mind and I know people they struggle with demonic harassment and you might have to pray you might have to fast and pray and so what do I do when I'm trying to think good thoughts but I'm struggling that's where we get to the third point prayer 1st Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing now you think probably without ceasing even when you're sleeping and you're dreaming something's happening is your brain D fragments the computer from the things of the day I don't know what your brain does but it does something when you sleep where it sort of sorts the information you got long-term memory you got short-term memory and it's it's a miracle how a person who's a hundred years old can tell you in great detail how many votes Woodrow Wilson got and you say so what do you have for breakfast breakfast I don't remember eating they don't remember what happened that day but it seems like they got somewhere stored in their mind it's incredible data with great detail of things from the past and I don't know how all that works but there's a supernatural component that we have that will help us in our thinking it's prayer and it's the Holy Spirit John 14:26 but the helper what's one of the names for the Holy Spirit he's called the comforter he's called the Dove that fire that wind that water but he's called the helper he will help you the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance where is this all happening where he's teaching and helping us remember he'll bring to your remembrance of things I said to you oswald chambers said the majority of us recognize the necessity of receiving the holy spirit for living but we do not sufficiently recognize the need of drawing on the resources of the holy spirit for thinking and that is one of the most important things because if you're praying that the Holy Spirit will help you to think it'll affect how the Holy Spirit helps you live isn't that right so what does it mean to be thinking in the spirit what do you think the Bible means when it says Enoch walked with God does it mean that he had a leash on God and he went wherever God went or God had a leash on him like you're walking your dog or that he had he pictured an imaginary Jesus is walking with Him through the day this is where he walked with God by the way it says Noah walk with God - did you know that it means talked with him he's in communion with him you're to pray without ceasing that means being communing with God practice the presence of God and when temptation comes start talking to God I don't know about you but I I'm one of those people that has trouble doing two things at one time now some of you are very talented and you can sing two songs at one time and do the parts I get flustered if I'm hearing one song and I try and play another it's it's like a short circuit and I can't do that and maybe it's a man thing I'm not sure I thought I know I've seen Ben dick and multi-task and I can't but I find it helps me if I am talking to God and I'm praying that it does bring relief it does do something about the other thoughts if you open your art heart you communion with him you know that he's real it gives you a victory it's wonderful there's a power there amen this is exciting to me anyone else enjoying this Philippians 4 he says and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ not only will he help you he will guard you the Spirit of God will come into your mind and guard you now if your mind wanders when you train what do you do bring it back I mean it happens all the time where you've got it you drift off and you got to come back you study most of you made it through school and did you daydream when you were reading did bring it back you ever read a page and then ulsan you find your eyes have gone down a paragraph your eye somehow kept reading but your mind was still thinking about what you read up higher I have that problem with that I get a guy so I missed that whole paragraph I got to go back I read it again and it's like that in your thinking sometimes you gotta say all right well I'm human I just go back keep disciplining your mind and you know what you'll make progress because your brain learns through repetition through hearing something over and over I hear a name once some people are great I hear it once you just be patient with me it's like not saying that at all I'm gonna hear to be in and again I gotta make lots and then finally I get it but it's through repetition well to repeatedly training your brain you can find complete victory in these areas prayer so it's not just rejecting bad things but you want to replace it with good things and you can't just say don't think about that but overcome evil with good aw Tozier said to do his gracious word God must have the intelligent cooperation of his people if we would think God's thoughts we must learn to think continually of God that's what it means being pure in heart and I you know I get so exasperated when I'm around thriftless conversation I like talking about big things I like talking to worthy things I like talking about majestic things and what is bigger more worthy or more majestic than to talk about God who made everything and how big he is and the mind of God and the knowledge of God it's just it's so much fun it it's the fab last frontier really is to think what God thinks another good quote the majority of us recognize the necessity of receiving the Holy Spirit oh I can already read that sorry first Corinthians 2:16 for who has known the mind of the Lord that he might instruct him but we have the mind of Christ and then again in Philippians 2:5 let this mind be in you which was also in Jesus Christ you know what that means you put it on God is offering it to you but he will never force his mind in your mind you are free every individual is given an incredible fortress in art thinking to be a unique person that's why God gives freedom for people to be lost because you can't force love he's given you your own mind and he said I am at the door on knocking but you must open the door you must let this mind be in you what mine which was in Christ and he will come in and you will be thinking with God mark 12:29 the greatest of all commandments here O Lord here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of your heart with all of your soul with all of your mind and with all of your strength before the strength comes it must be the heart the soul the mind you know there's a few things that would be good for us to maybe even repeat together in Psalm 139 in verse 23 and 24 we might even put one of these up on the screen I think I included it in my notes search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting isn't that our prayer try my thoughts Lord is there any wicked way in me to lead me okay David admitted we can't do it without his help lead us in the way everlasting some nineteen verse 4 let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight isn't that what you want that the words of our mouths and our meditation of our hearts are acceptable to God Isaiah 55 God says for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor my ways nor your ways my ways says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts but then he says I'm offering you a new birth I'm offering you the New Covenant I will put my law in your mind I'll put my truth my thoughts in your mind it's really a couple of choices you know really either got the mind of the Lord the spiritual or the mind of the world the carnal one is life one is death one is up one is down and this is happening every day this is where Christianity the rubber meets the road is what's going on in your mind does the Lord have your heart because all the things we worry about with the external actions if you're just doing that for show you're wasting your time but if God has you here he's going to have everything else isn't he you want to say Lord take my heart take my mind is that your prayer we're gonna sing about that in our closing song 490 - I would be like Jesus and let's stand together as we sing this and I'll pray for 92 [Music] you [Music] please [Music] dear loving Lord we've talked about the the essence of what it means to be converted to be born again to have a new mind to have all things made new a new heart lord help us to have that experience I pray that we will cooperate with you realizing that our brains are not just spiritual organs there's something very tangible and help us to be very careful in what we pack in what we store in our minds lord I pray that you give us Grace and wisdom to know when we're processing to process those things that are good and Noble and true and lovely and pure and then also Lord we realize that without that supernatural component of the Holy Spirit within us we cannot have your mind help us to daily moment by moment walk with you to pray without ceasing to put on Christ I pray that you just give us the power of the Spirit to hold fast to that which is good to reject that which is evil and to really be pure in heart the Lord this is the the most important most sacred work that any of us experienced as believers I pray that we can give you our hearts in our minds bless each person we all have different ways that we know we need to struggle to apply this help us to know it's not the work of a moment but it's a daily work and that we can grow in sanctification and bless each person we thank you we pray this in Jesus name Amen please be seated as we elders and pastors go to the door to greet

Channel: Aaron

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Length: 64min 7sec (3847 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 04 2018