How to Keep From Losing Your Mind - Mark Finley - Mental Wellness Sabbath

it's a real privilege to be with you here at the mental health summit of the north american division my topic this morning is how to keep from losing your mind or developing the mind of christ as we get into that topic let's bow our heads to pray father in heaven we thank you with all of our hearts for these minds of ours minds that can reflect the image of jesus we want to guard our thoughts in a world that's losing their mind to material values to secularism to discouragement despair and depression to satan's temptations we pray that you'd help us to guard our minds and keep our minds in the name of jesus christ amen the human brain is an infinite engineering intelligence the average person has about 48 thoughts a minute according to the neuro imaging lab at the university of southern california now that adds up to a total of 70 000 thoughts a day and a whopping 25 million 550 000 thoughts a year that's pretty staggering isn't it the average human brain weighs about three pounds and continues to develop until a person is approximately 18 years old human brains contain a hundred billion brain cells and these brain cells are the longest living cells in the body they can actually live as long as the human being lives now the thoughts of the brain are powered by something called neurotransmitters and they're in turn powered by copious amounts of blood so the red blood cells are the oxygen carrying cells to the human brain and to the body and the more oxygen we have to the brain the clearer our thought patterns are the interesting thing about this is that without oxygenated blood a person can live probably four to six minutes at most and a person will lose consciousness after 10 seconds can you believe it after 10 seconds without oxygenated blood now these neurotransmitters that fire in the brain develop and they are similar to waterways or channels it's a very simplistic way to put it i recognize that but when water runs down a particular channel it deepens that channel so as these neurotransmitters fire in the brain they develop brain patterns and as these brain patterns develop as the result of the electrical impulses that fire repeated messages down this pathway in our brains the more we think a certain thought the deeper the pathway becomes and so picture this neurotransmitters creating electrical impulses in the brain and the more you think negative thoughts the deeper that channel if you're using illustration waterway becomes the more you think positive thoughts the more that pathway to the brain connects with those brain cells to develop positive pathways now here is a vital truth that affects our thinking you ready for it here it is the human mind is so constructed that it will always set itself on something and it's a love life if we think about something long enough the thing we think about long enough is what we become our thoughts will literally be in a groove and once our thoughts are locked in that groove our attitudes and our actions follow it's a paramount importance that we guard our minds i would like to take you back back 2 000 years to a dark damp dingy dungeon the apostle paul is in rome he's older now his hand is shaking there are deep etched lines upon his face his hair has grayed the old warrior of the cross has experienced shipwreck beaten with rods stoning the old war of the cross is now weary his body aches with pain but yet he writes to the church at philippi those magnificent words the book of philippians is a masterpiece it's a masterpiece of joy in the midst of trial and difficulty paul's thoughts did not turn to negative pathways the neurotransmitters of his brain did not go down the pathway of depressed thinking paul in the book of philippians 28 or more times talks about rejoicing or rejoice in philippians 4 verse 4 he says rejoice in the lord always he's in prison he's separated from family and friends so easy to get discouraged and oppressed and he says rejoice in the lord always again i will say rejoice the words of rejoicing are mentioned again and again and again throughout the book of philippians paul's positive frame of mind is also interes introduced earlier in the book of acts you recall paul was the first time he was in philippi he was preaching and as he preached in the city he angered many of the citizens he was thrown in prison into that dark prison before he was thrown there he was beaten the bible says placed in stocks that is his hands and feet were mentaled or they were placed in these wooden entrapments and here paul and silas are in prison and what do we read about them in acts the 16th chapter what was their mental frame of mind what were they thinking when they were there in prison did there did they think this is just not fair this never should have happened to me did they think negative thoughts god why did you ever allow this to happen god we were serving you god this is unfair what were paul and silas thinking acts 16 verse 25 but at midnight paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake here paul and silas are in prison and they're not in any way depressed or discouraged why not because they believe that god is greater than their challenges god's bigger than their difficulties god's larger than whatever they have to face paul's positive frame of mind echoes and re-echoes throughout his epistles now the question needs to be asked how do you rejoice when you're in prison how do you rejoice when your body's wracked with pain how do you rejoice when you're separated from those that you love how can you resist negative melancholy depressing thoughts and facing a crisis now there's a short powerful message from paul that comes like an arrow from the lord's quiver and pierces our hearts philippians chapter 2 how can you rejoice in times of difficulty how can you keep from losing your mind in times of trial now notice philippians 2 verse 5 let this mind be in you which was also in christ jesus paul's in prison and he says let this mind be in you the word let means allow or permit in other words if we surrender our minds to christ and allow him to shape our thoughts jesus will transform our thinking now remember if you think something long enough it's going to impact your action your attitudes now in this presentation i'm going to share with you a few basic biblical principles of how to keep your mind when the world's losing their mind how to refrain from negative unhealthy attitudes and depressive depressing feelings now these eternal principles are going to make a major difference in your life here's the principle number one our focus shapes our thoughts can you say that with me you got it our our what our focus shapes our thoughts our thoughts are not developed in a vacuum they're developed based on internal factors some of which are genetic and external stimuli but those internal factors and those external stimuli that is to say what's going on inside our heads and what's going on around us those factors are not as great as what's going on above us it's not what's within us or not what around us but it's what a focus on what's above us what's beyond us that keeps us sane in an insane world now these thoughts that we think are firmly fixed in the grooves of our brain as we focus on they become indelibly written in our mental or moral constitution we become like what we think about most this is why the apostle apostle paul says in colossians 3 that paul urges us encourages us how to have positive thought patterns this is what he says colossians 3 verse 1 2 if then you are raised with christ seek those things that are above seek the things where above where christ is sitting at the right hand of god set your mind on things above not on things on earth set your mind the bible says on things above notice the two words seek and set if you want to change your thought patterns make a conscious choice to seek the things of eternity make a conscious choice to set your mind on things above now paul emphasizes this point again in first corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 where he says by beholding you know it don't you by beholding we become what changed so that's the principle we become like that which we most admire we become like that where we set our thought patterns on if our thought patterns are on the majesty of god the greatness of god the goodness of god the mercy of god we may be going through challenges we may be going through some difficulties but our minds are lifted above the problem to the god who is greater than the problem and who can provide solutions to the problem so our minds are not fixed upon the problem our minds are not stayed upon the problem our minds are stayed upon god ellen white adds this remarkable statement in the book patriarchs and prophets page 597 which she says it is a law of the mind it is a what law of the mind there are certain laws though of gravity the law of inertia certain scientific laws it's a law of the mind that it gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it's trained to dwell if occupied with commonplace matters only it'll become dwarfed and enfeebled if never required to grapple with difficult problems it will after a time almost lose the power of growth in the word of god the mind finds subject for the deepest thought in the loftiest aspiration so it's a law of the mind that it's going to adapt itself on the subjects that's allowed to dwell if you dwell on your problems your mind's going to be filled with problems if you dwell on your difficulties your mind's gonna be filled with difficulties if you dwell on what's negative about other people you're gonna see negative in other people but if you focus your mind let this mind be in you that was in christ jesus if you focus your mind on jesus if you fill your mind with the faith-building stories of the word of god if you fill your mind with the miracles of christ if you fill your mind with the grace and forgiveness of christ you then will see the majesty of the spirit of god through jesus working in your heart and in your life if you want to change your thoughts change your focus repeated actions become ingrained thoughts now here's the second vital principle the first vital principle of having healthy mental mind healthy thoughts the first principle is focus your mind on the things of eternity now here's the second one don't accept every thought that passes through your mind is true merely because you think something doesn't make what you think reality don't accept every thought that passes through your mind as true now the bible is clear simply because we think about negative thoughts about ourselves others or circumstances what we are facing what we're thinking doesn't make those thoughts a reality again we discover something wonderful some amazing counsel in this book of rejoicing what's the book of rejoicing philippians chapter 4 verse 6. here it is we discover something amazing here philippians chapter 4 verse 6 the lord reveals to us a divine plan of mental health be anxious for nothing be anxious for what nothing what does ang being anxious mean be worried tense fearful be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made to god and the peace of god the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard or keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus now there are four things about that text are important number one we can keep our minds when the world is losing their mind secondly we can have peace when we don't understand now that's a key point there are times that people say to me why did this happen to me i just don't understand it and they're all tense and upset when you know god you don't have to understand everything when i don't understand with my head i can still believe with my heart when i cannot figure it out in my mind i can still have peace in my soul because there is a peace that passes what understanding thirdly we'll keep our minds not by being consumed by worry fear and anxiety but by focusing on something different than either our own frailties weaknesses or circumstances through prayer we'll discover the power of god to change our thought patterns from worry about ourselves to the wonder about the goodness of god and here's the fourth thing about our text prayer becomes the channel for the blessings of god to flow into our lives and eradicate us from being eradicate the stranglehold of worry fear and anxiety so as we pray and seek god peace replaces worry hope replaces fear joy replaces sorrow so merely because i think something merely because i'm worried about circumstances merely because i'm fearful about what may happen in the future merely because i'm tensed up about something in my own life does not mean that that is reality i can be living in a false world the world of eternity is a big world god is a big god i remember j.b phillips book your god is too small we serve a big god who can deliver us from those in stranglehold of those emotions now the devil sometimes tempts us to focus on how bad we are and how horrible our circumstances are now he can do that by focusing us on thoughts about ourselves that we're not good enough that we can never be saved he can inflict upon us that negative thinking first john chapter 3 verse 20. first john chapter 3 verse 20. when the devil attempts to say to you that you are not good enough when the devil attempts to say to you that you can never be saved first john chapter 3 verse 20. if our heart condemns us god is greater than our heart and knows all things what's what's john saying here he's saying simply this don't believe the devil's deceptions don't believe every thought that floods into your mind when the devil tells you you are guilty sinner tell him jesus is a mighty savior and you're a child of god when the devil tells you you're too weak to overcome some cherished sin tell him he's right but jesus is a mighty conqueror and in his name you'll be victorious when the devil tells you that your family is falling apart and there's little hope tell him that jesus is a mighty healer and that in christ there is hope don't listen to the devil's lies about yourself because the devil is a liar and the father of all lies merely because you think something doesn't make the something you think about necessarily true now this is true regarding our own thoughts about ourselves and regarding our own thoughts about others merely because you think something about somebody else doesn't mean what you think about them is true our perceptions of another are not always reality you remember in first john chapter four verse six to eight it says hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error so there's a spirit of truth and there's spirit of error the devil can try to introduce thoughts into our minds to divide us from other people by the perceptions of what we have about that other people that other person as thoughts pass into our mind it's vital for us to ask ourselves god reveal to me the truth about this given situation my view is cloudy my view is foggy i i'm i i'm not sure about this sometimes we criticize other people as unfairly we don't know all their circumstances we don't know their motives only god who knows the entire circumstance is able to judge rightly sometimes i go i read a story from stephen covey's book seven habits of highly effective people and stephen covey was talking about an experience on a train it was early one morning and it was in new york city and this gentleman got on the subway and many other people were on it was quite quiet and people were reading books and people may have been chatting back and forth some of them looking at their iphones and some reading the newspaper and they stopped at a particular subway stop and a man got on by himself with three children and the man just sat there he leaned back in the chair took a deep breath kind of closed his eyes bowed his head and the kids ran wild the kids were running up and down the aisle of the subway train they were yelling bumping into people that were reading their papers and throwing stuff their toys at one another sometimes they got in a little fight together and the man just sat there totally oblivious like nothing was going on well the gentleman sitting next to him was feeling quite irritated about that he was thinking to himself this guy doesn't even take care of his kids this guy doesn't even discipline those kids doesn't he hear them being so noisy and loud and so he elbowed the guy and he said hey look sir don't you recognize that your kids are going crazy they're running up and down the aisles they're bumping into people they're knocking the newspapers out of people's hands sir don't you think you'd be better have a better account of your kids don't you think you should do something and say something the man looked up and he said i am so so sorry i guess i was lost in another world for a few moments you see we just left the hospital my kids are in the waiting room and i went in to see my wife for the last time because my wife just died in the hospital and i've got to tell my kids and i don't when we get home and i quite don't know what to say and i'm i'm so sorry because i just lost my wife because of cancer the man who felt irritated looked at this gentleman said i am so sorry his perceptions were changed when he knew the facts often the devil will put into our heads negative thoughts about other people because he wants to create barriers but once we understand what's going on in the lives of other people it makes all the difference so the devil can give us thoughts about ourselves that we're not good enough the devil can give us thoughts about other people and the devil can give us thoughts about circumstances the devil often tempts us with thoughts like these the situation is impossible life is so unfair why did this happen to me i don't deserve this the apostle paul could have thought that when he was in prison couldn't he he could have thought that when he was being beaten with rods he could have that thought that when he was being stoned he could have thought that when he was shipwrecked in the sea when the thought dominates our minds that life has treated us unfairly it's easy to begin to doubt god's loving intentions for us and this leads us to become anxious worried and fearful first john chapter 4 verse 18 and 19. first john chapter 4. there's something bigger than our circumstances something greater than our trials something larger than our difficulties first john chapter 4 verse 18 and 19 and what is it there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment and he who fears has not been made perfect in love we love him because he first loved us if we know that god loves us if we know that god will never do us any harm if we know that he's holding us in his hand and whatever we have to go through he will strengthen us in christ life's circumstances do not overwhelm us because we have one who has cast out all fear of failure we know that the one who loves us holds us in his hands and in him we are secure remember our thoughts about ourselves our thoughts about others our thoughts about circumstance of life don't always reflect reality now here is the third principle in keeping your mind replace old thoughts with new ones now eastern mysticism says this find some quiet place to meditate empty your mind and come to a quiet place when that mind is empty that's basically eastern mysticism now eastern mysticism is not a biblical concept the truth is the mind can never be emptied it must be renewed did you get that i don't want you to miss it the mind can never be empty there's always going to be something there but it can be renewed romans chapter 12 verse 2 romans chapter 12 biblical principles to keep your mind when the world is losing its mind romans 12 verse 2 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable in the perfect will of god don't be conformed to this world but be renewed philips jb phillips translation translates romans 12 2 this way don't let the world squeeze you into its mold but renewed remember the story that jesus told of casting out demons from a met from a man and then he said the house was left empty and seven more demons came back the devil can fill an empty mind he can't he can't fill a filled mind the devil can fill an empty mind but he can't fill a full mind what jesus is saying is this if by the grace of god an evil thought is cast out and you don't replace it with a good thought seven more evil thoughts are going to come flooding into your mind fill your mind with positive thinking and you'll drive out the evil thoughts if good things don't fill the empty spaces in our mind evil things will all empty spaces are going to be filled with something our mind is renewed when we fill it with the word of god day by day as you open the word let the word transform your mind and renew your mind remember paul talks about in 2 corinthians 10 15 bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ and ellen white in her book my life today page 25 says when we submit ourselves to christ the heart is united with his heart the will is merged in his will the mind becomes one with his minds the thoughts are brought into captivity with to him we live his life when we submit ourselves to christ our hearts are united with his heart our mind is united with his mind and the holy spirit enters our life now here's the fourth principle fourth principle is this maybe we should review the first three what's the first one your thoughts follow your focus focus your mind i think's eternity what's the second great principle that we studied today second grade principle is this something's always going to fill your mind choose to fill your mind with things of eternity and then we study the principle about transformation of our minds you can't empty your mind but the mind must be brought into captivity to christ and then fourth principle place a screen on your mind now no my wife and i live in virginia there are a few mosquitoes there and in the summertime we don't open the windows before we go to bed without screens on them why not have you ever been in a hotel room where it's been filled with mosquitoes and you've been swatting those things you know not long ago i was in a particular country that will remain unnamed it was a hot tropical country they had little air conditioning in the hotel and when i walked up the hall to my room literally i could see mosquitoes everywhere and i said oh no this could be a tough night open the door to my room and i am not kidding you there must have been 20 25 mosquitoes there so before i went to bed you know i took some magazine and i'm swatting whack whack swatting all these mosquitoes i think i got about 20 of them but i didn't get five went to bed you know and you're getting up you're sweating these things what do you put a screen on your window for you put it to keep the bugs out it's not pleasant to be trying to sleep and having five mosquitoes buzzing around your head and biting you now god has given us a divine screen for our minds here it is divine screen for the minds philippians chapter four we looked at that before and you remember we looked at philippians chapter four verse seven it talks about the peace of god that surpasses all understanding it's going to keep guard or keep your minds now here's the screen finally brethren sisters gives us seven things to evaluate everything that enters our mind whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is just verse eight whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are good report if there's any virtue if there's any praise think upon these things so let's look at these seven filters in our passage finally brethren whatever is true that is true opposed to that which is false the world promises what it never can deliver it parades over the screen of our minds through hollywood falsehood and gets us to think that that falsehood is reality and if we only lived like that we'd have some joy the promises of god are true if we fill our mind with that which is false hollywood productions stuff on the internet if we substitute the false and the artificial for the real and the genuine we'll only end up having our minds captured by that which we think about most eternal truths often have little appeal to the mind filled with falsehood fill your mind with that which is true it says that which is true that which is honest a better translation for honest there would be honorable or reverent or worthy one writer expresses this thought as the dignity of holiness fill your mind with with that which is honest that is which is honorable that has the dignity of holiness is what you're reading does it have the dignity of holiness is what you're watching on television does it have the dignity of holiness is what you're looking at in the internet does have the dignity of holiness see these are screens for the mind that will help us keep our mind when the world is losing theirs whatever is true in us whatever is just just would be better translated justice justice has to do with righteousness or doing what's right fair equitable ask yourself this question is what i'm watching reading looking at helping me put me to treat other people more righteously more fairly and more equitably then whatever is pure so clean that it's fit to be brought into the presence of god i want you to think about that is what you're viewing is what you're listening to is what you're filling your mind with so pure that it can be brought into the presence of god can i bring this activity safely into his presence whatever is pure whatever's lovely that which brings forth love as in kindness sympathy and forbearing are you watching something that is so gruesome are you reading something that is so gruesome it may be true but is it lovely our minds are like a sponge and we are shaped by those things that we put into our minds whatever's good report that's something fit for god to hear it's not ugly not false not cheap not impure and the last is virtue something is virtue it's excellence in other words things that are virtue raise you to be everything that you can be in christ jesus is the divine all-powerful thought changer through the power of the holy spirit christ changes our carnal hearts and our carnal thoughts to spiritual ones our selfish thoughts to to loving outgoing ones through the power of the holy spirit jesus changes our greedy thoughts into giving thoughts our impure thoughts into pure thoughts our critical thoughts into caring thoughts will you let jesus change your thoughts within the apostle paul says let this mind be in you that is in christ jesus our lord will you say jesus i want to focus upon you i want to focus upon your goodness focus upon your grace focus upon your mercy focus upon your forgiveness focus upon your power jesus i don't want to be filled with negative thoughts i don't want to be filled with my problems my heart because my difficulties my sorrows i don't want to be chained in this negative world i don't want to lose my world to hollywood and it's false artificial joy i want the deep abiding lasting peace that only christ can give the deep abiding lasting joy that only christ can give the deep abiding lasting eternal happiness that only christ can give if that is your desire bow your head with me now as we pray father in heaven you are an almighty god these brains of ours are amazing with thousands of thoughts rushing into them every minute with millions of thoughts coming to us each week and lord teach us to focus on the things of eternity help us to have the mind of christ help us not to lose our mind to the things of this world when the things of eternity are beckoning we pray thee as we surrender our lives to you and our thought patterns to you in jesus name amen [Music] you

Channel: NAD Health

Views: 37,441

Keywords: Sabbath, mental wellness, Adventist, Seventh-day Adventist, Mark Finley

Id: _RhOPQb49hk

Length: 35min 49sec (2149 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 28 2022