It's the Thought that Counts

[Music] hallelujah how many thank God for its blessing how many have been blessed by this series that we're in on ancestry God finding out who we are in God our spiritual inheritance our spiritual DNA how many thankful for the word of the Lord on last Sunday come on let's thank God for that mighty mighty word and I'm grateful that my wife submitted she don't always dude I'm just kidding but I told her I said you have the word of the Lord for this house today I have a sermon I could have preached last Sunday and been fine preaching but it wasn't the word of the Lord the word of the Lord was what we heard last Sunday and how many thankful for the inheritance hey do we have any laughing airs laughing airs that thing got all over me last Sunday I mean I've been laughing all week long and today I want to go just a little bit deeper in this thing in ancestry god I want I want to preach about our thought life I want to preach about our thought life because we can preach to the people of God and into the people of God but how many know you can be born again and if you don't think you are and if you don't think like somebody born again how many know that it can ruin the blessing God intended to give you in your life I don't want to find out one day what could have been I said I don't want to find out one day what could have been I want to live my life knowing with the knowledge and the thought life that allows me and positions me to walk in all somebody say oh all that God has for me I want you to go to two places I want you to go first - Jenna Deuteronomy pardon me Deuteronomy chapter 30 hallelujah I feel the Lord in this room how many love it it might be raining outside but I feel his presence in this room I want to go to Deuteronomy 30 first and then I want to go to proverbs 4 and I'll read from the New King James in this deuteronomy passage I want to preach today from proverbs chapter 4 and Deuteronomy chapter 30 and my subject today is it's the thought that counts look at your neighbor say neighbor it's the thought that counts how many know you're thinking counts it matters what you think up here in this brain and this mind of yours and today I want to talk about that proverbs 4:23 when you got itself Deuteronomy thirty first nineteen when you got to see men I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and everyone say and so and represents something else meaning that there is a choice involved in what the Lord is presenting them how many know there's a choice involved life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life now this is crazy but your choice is going to directly affect your descendants somebody said well they don't matter what I think your children have a different opinion of that because how many know that God wants you to think in a way that not only brings blessing into your life but God wants you to have the kind of thought life that invites the blessing of God into your descendants wish I had some help in here today therefore choose life look at your neighbor tell them choose life that both you and your descendants may live look over proverbs 4:23 I'm gonna read this out of the contemporary English version some of y'all feel like oh god he's going with one inversion just pray for me it's alright carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of life carefully guard your thoughts because your thoughts are the source of your life it's the thought that counts go but you never say never it's the thought [Music] it's the thought that counts help us today God to teach and preach and hear and receive the word of the Lord I thank your father for touching hearts in this place today for touching minds in this place today for renewing people in this place today on the inside some of them feel so far away from you lord draw them close today Surprise them with love overwhelm them with your grace and your mercy I thank you today God that in this house you didn't come to get anybody you came to bless everybody and I pray today before they leave they'll find out how good you are if they don't know it yet you're really good god you're a good good father and with all of our hearts your people who you've redeemed we worship you and we love you we thank your all that and so much more and today god we pray that while we teach and preach this word of yours that your spirit will come and make the preaching and the teaching life-changing you are the preacher Holy Spirit have your way in Jesus name and everybody said amen you can be seated in the presence of the Lord how many would agree with me that what you think in your mind matters the Bible tells us it matters and some of us today we haven't put together yet that how we think determines how we live aw Tozer one of the greatest theologians of an earlier era rode in his masterpiece knowledge of the holy the most important thing a person can do in life is to think properly and rightly about God I totally agree with dr. Tozer how we think about God determines so much about the life and the quality of life we live far be it for me to offer a supplement to dr. ptosis masterpiece but I want to add to the this morning as an addendum to that truth that the second most important thing we can think about not just how we think about God but how we think of ourselves in God how we understand our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ how many saved people are in this room today if you're saved then you are in Christ he's not just out there somewhere he's not just in heaven waiting on you to get there if you are saved he's already living down on the inside of you and your spirit man the Bible has much to say about our thought life as a pastor I am acutely aware that most of the times the messes we make as God's children and his sheep comes from unfruitful unhealthy ungodly thinking patterns that we have in our mind because most of our behavior be it bad or good always follows thoughts we act according to how we think and you may say pastor I thought we were in a series on ancestry and spiritual DNA and being born again and living the born-again life and how does that have anything to do with our thought life well because proverbs says as a man or woman thinks in their heart so they are the way you and I sink down on the inside actually is a picture it's a commercial the thoughts you have are a commercial of the kind of life you want to live if you want to have a productive healthy beneficial blessed life how many know you have to have the right kind of thought life as much as we teach and preach about the newness we experience in Christ and the abundant joy we have a citizen in the kingdom of God even as pastor Devon was talking about last week having a spiritual inheritance and being an heir with God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ all of these sermons regarding our spiritual identity are unhelpful if we hear them and shot amen in this building but walk out the door and think differently than the sermon we just heard sometimes the truth that we get down in us is sabotage by us by a assault an assaulting barrage of lies deceiving thoughts negative thoughts that drive our lives into chaos confusion and bondage and Deuteronomy 30:19 reminds us today that God in His love and in His goodness gave us all freedom we are not robots made to do anything we are not robots that follow the dictate of of a mechanical God we serve a God who loved us enough to give us freedom he even give us the freedom to choose something that would hurt us some of us can't believe that about God but the reality of it is if he didn't give us the freedom to choose something that could hurt us then were nothing more than robots who are wound up in March as God tells us to March when in reality we are free people who have a choice and that is why the worship we give Him is not mechanical it is from a heart of love anybody who worship Jesus today did not worship Him because somebody came up and threatened you to worship Him you worshiped him because you wanted to worship Him you worshiped him because you love him you worship Him not because somebody might give you something but because he already gave you everything that pertains to life and godliness nobody had to make me worship God today I wanted to worship the Lord today and this is what it is when we choose God and we choose life and some people in this room today our thoughts are always negative and I want you to know you chose that and if you want to choose lives then you can is a pastor there's things hindering me no God said I'm gonna let you choose and I'm not gonna put you in a position to blame everybody who raised you and blame everybody you went to church with and blame everybody who hurts you no no I don't give you the kind of choice that no matter what they said about you no matter how they hated on you no matter what kind of traps they set against you I'm gonna let you withstand all that and at the end of the day you are gonna have the power to choose life look at your neighbor tell him you can choose life and you choose life by choosing and deciding to have the right kind of thought life I submit to you that the greatest potential threat in your life is not a sin you committed 10 years ago it is not a failure your greatest potential threat is not a hater god I feel some things get ready to break off in somebody's life it is not a bad marriage somebody's sitting up that day oh god I chose the wrong one hush I'm telling you right now God didn't turn it all around if you can cooperate with God stop cursing your future by saying stuff like that God want you to understand you've got this little microscopic view of God that he is somehow held hostage by your mess and by your problem he's just waiting on you to start believing and trusting and thinking that he really is the God that can do exceedingly and abundantly above all you can ask a thing what they get back till I knows the greatest potential threat is not a failure it's not a hater it's not a bad marriage it's not a divorce it's not a bankruptcy the greatest potential threat to your future is not even a demon or a devil the greatest potential threat in your life and mine is between your ears it is your brain it is your thought life and if you keep blaming everything else in life and everybody else instead of how you think you will continue to empower yourself to think beneath the identity you truly have in Christ some of you are kings and priests and you're living like poppers and nobodies look at your neighbor tell them do you know who you're sitting beside conversely the greatest potential blessing so I talked about the threat but the greatest potential blessing that awaits you is not more stuff it is not more cars it is not a bigger house it is not another woman let me metal it is not another man it is not a better job the greatest potential blessing that is awaiting you is between your ears it is a healthy productive godly thought life if you can change how you think I feel the Lord on me right now if you can change how you think you can change how you live now when I preach this you know I'm gonna be really honest with you I struggle with these kind of sermons a little bit and the reason I struggle with them is because if you're not careful you'll get caught up in self-help and you'll turn this into humanism but I'm gonna tell you right now what I'm preaching today is not about you helping yourself at all what I'm talking about today is you deciding you're not gonna hurt yourself no more how many know is the Holy Ghost that's the one that makes the difference in our thought life but some of you just gonna have to make up your mind I need God can't anybody in here help me right there I need God I need him to help me in my fault life now I feel like God said to me Kevin it's time for you to start thinking like you're born again it's time to start thinking like you were born again I did some study this week and it freaked me out Devin got me in this uh this woman is fascinating her teaching his fascination she's a spirit-filled believer Carolyn leaf not to care the leaf some of y'all right like y'all know her well look at y'all she wrote a book called who switched off my brain and in this study that I was reading and listening to this teaching last night and she's solid she loves the Lord she is a neuroscientist and she said that God actually made the brain listen to this in such a way and it's located on the front of your in the frontal lobe of your brain God actually gave you an ID the ability to step outside of our thinking to take inventory of how we think and our thought processes themselves you can actually this is crazy and some of y'all looking at me like what dr. feel anointing is on him this morning listen you can actually stop your thinking process step outside of your thinking process and take an inventory of how you think it's called self awareness let me ask a question have y'all ever met somebody who didn't have any self awareness it's something it is something when you find somebody who don't see how crazy they act sometimes you're not gonna help nobody you know what this is one them pride I know why you are tight and it's all quiet in here because you're hoping your neighbor is catching what I'm preaching today and you're just thankful you know if you shot too much your life is gonna get nervous and mad that you're actually praising God while I'm talking about how he's fixing her thinking but in reality he's fixing your thinking too sir so you don't have to say Amen just wink at me if I'm helping you this morning praise God today what I felt like God wanted us to do was take advantage of this opportunity to step outside of our normal thinking process and take an inventory of what we're really thinking on the inside look at someone and tell them neighbor it matters what you think what are you thinking how many have some kids in here you pray them have your kids ever did something like my kids and when they come in and they tell you what they did you say what were youth think most time they weren't thinking but how many know God wants us to take an inventory of what we are thinking because it is the thought that counts the journey to healthy thinking let me back up the journey to a healthy joy enjoyable life is tied to a healthy thought life and the journey to a healthy thought life begins with number one the ability to take notes write it the ability to identify toxic thoughts how many thoughts do you think a day that are toxic that you don't reject as if they are toxic come on in here Monday is garbage day at the Wallace house every Sunday night so my Sunday afternoon includes a nap I go homeless after Sunday I have lunch with my family and when I go home they will tell you every one of my kids and my wife will tell you when I go home on Sunday after lunch I'm going to the bed ya'll say oh man you need it no no no I woke up early this morning I was snoring I was a prayer and praise God I'm going to take a nap when I get up from taking the nap on Sunday night every single week I take the garbage out when you go to our garbage can it stinks I know you think because when you're pastor's angels float around in our house and our garbage smells like roses but I'm going to tell you right now our garbage can stinks you know why you open that garbage can there's all kind of food in that garbage can I'm come by clapeyron milk cereal messed up nasty motive and y'all not gonna help nobody in here it's bad I don't eat that mess because that mess is toxic but the problem is in the kingdom we think we can have toxic thoughts and not get sick some of us need to identify toxic thoughts as garbage and say that miss states and cannot stay in my life come on elbow your neighbor tell your neighbor neighbor it's trash day and today I came to tell you it's time to identify the garbage and to take that mess out stinks let me talk about some toxic thoughts y'all got time well I'm gonna take it then what are toxic thoughts if you're gonna identify them you got to know what they are number one I'm just going to put these into two categories here number one is toxic thoughts regarding yourself number one taking notes write it down self-exalting thoughts this is toxic this isn't confidence this is arrogant self exalting you survival you got some babble for this of course I knew I wouldn't tell you but I'd have a Bible for it first Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12 therefore let him or her who thinks they stand take he unless they fall did you hear what Paul said let him or her who see we missed these words in the text they think they're standing they think they got it all together they think they're invincible they think they're intelligent without God's wisdom they think they don't need God to make decisions anymore self-exalting they even think they deserve something that God has for somebody else you didn't say Amen on that one but there are some people in the kingdom of Jesus who think more highly of themselves than they ought humility is not thinking less of yourself than you should it's thinking of yourself less and we've got this thing marching around in the church it's called pride and I don't stack proud people to help me preach right here but pride is destroying people silently not even outwardly but inwardly people are operating and in ways that are distant and disconnected from the will of God for their life and they're making decisions that they act like God will bless but God sent me to tell you he will not bless your mess if you haven't humble yourself and salt his face he is not required to sustain by his Spirit what you gave birth to in your flesh come on in here Abraham talk to the people this morning he didn't want to wait on the promise he wanted to make the promise happen in his own time and when Sarah didn't get pregnant in his time she said why don't you come on in here sleep with my my maidservant Hagar and because she slept with Hagar he had a son that was not the son of inheritance and we are still dealing today with the aftermath of a man who produced something in the flesh that was not ordained or sanctioned by the Spirit and I'm gonna tell you right now some of y'all in here you better be careful what mess you follow because it might look cute and sound like Isaac and it might look cute and it might sound like the promise but if it was birthed in the flesh it'll kill you because the flesh will destroy your life self-exalting you're more important than everybody else in the room your ambition is more important you don't discipline I'm mad and nobody I'm trying to help everybody tell you right now one of the things in church that we are dealing with in this generation is a generation of people who think that it's all about them it's narcissism you are the center of your own world I'm telling you right now until you humble yourself serve God past the place of convenience you are not qualified for inheritance I don't even know where this is coming from this ain't even in my notes but somebody better catch what I'm telling you today it's self exaltation you are a legend in your own mind take nobody teach you okay nobody rebuke you can't nobody love you King nobody father you can't nobody mother you I don't even know who I'm talking to but somebody better hear me today you better make sure you have not alienating yourself from God in his kingdom and if you want to know what goes before a fall you better find somebody in pride because pride goes before a fall be careful family when these thoughts come to you about it all being always being about you I done made everybody mad now but let me keep on going couple days ago I was in when their moves to confess you know I'm the head and not the tail I'm blessed coming in I'm at the mall I'm at the mall I said Lord I'm thankful down the head you gonna give me a parking place yes Lord I ain't parking a mile away and I need to welcome out favor for me is probably God put me at the end of the parking lot so I can walk myself up to get some exercise but no not me I'm going I'm gonna declare and confess the goodness of God I am there I am the chosen although I'm gonna have me a parking place and sure enough don't you know the goodness of God right by Dillard's men's section that front door right there the woman came out I said oh look at your Lord you are so good to me hallelujah and all of a sudden this joker a thief and a robber y'all I want to help nobody a thief and a robber came and tried to take my parking place and he hit me in a moment just like this the Lord said to me can you give it to him what if what if God didn't open that parking place up for you while this what if he opened it up with somebody else see this is and I let him have it and I complained about it the whole time I was in the mall I mean I'm telling you me and God I said father now you know this ain't right I had to park down on the end of the row and this man God let him have that's what I did I said come on get in there and he was like oh look he's kind I'm not kind I wish I could tell you something right now I got a word for you right now I'm getting rid of us [Applause] true story sometimes sometimes we are so self exalting we think every door is about us every opportunity is about us and I will tell you something something power Shaima something powerful is released in your life when you can see an open seat and prefer somebody else in front of yourself ain't nothin more embarrassin than going into a room and sitting where you think you ought to be and being told that ain't yours I'll never forget going I was in Washington a couple of week months ago this is a couple months ago and I went into a a a meeting and it was a presentation for the Latino Hispanic ministry that my friend dr. Sam Rodriguez is leading and I walked in me at me and my buddy that would travel with me you know Jim Riley Jim Riley and I went in and we got there late our our uber got lost Oh God don't let me go there the uber got lost and so we got there late when we got there they were starting they were starting the whole ceremony and it was already begun they had already pray there by seeing breakfast so this is the big it was a big room it was proud as big as the section section here and the only two seats left were in the back corner away from the stage and then there was a table with five seats right up by the stage that was the main table okay so now some people say oh you need to go up there so oh no no no no no no I'm going to the back corner right so I'll go in the back corner I get y'all ever seen boxed water it's the nastiest mess ever had in my life they brought us boxed water and Cheerios I said I don't want none of this this is the hole I'm just gonna sit here in the back corner all of a sudden this person comes up to me and says you're being requested at the head table so I say well who requested us and they told me the person who grew question I said okay so then you walk past everybody and you know you walk like you know what you're doing because when God opens the door for you you don't have to walk in either no no no no he called from me excuse me let me get past real quick I'm just gonna go sit where I was asked to sit how foolish would it have been for me to walk in and say that's my seat I got a hurry through this but self-exaltation is killing some of us it's a toxic thought stop being so self-centered prefer other people well if I don't prefer myself now ain't nobody gonna prefer me you don't trust God God is the greatest marketing director you'll ever have in your life he'll never hide you too long and promote you too soon I said whoa rewind that we'll say it one more time he'll never had you too long or promote you too soon self-exalting it's toxic number two not only as there are there self-exalting thoughts that we need to identify self-destructive thoughts so one hand the enemy will use an extreme on both ways one itself exalting the other self-destructive you're not able you're not qualified you're not worthy you blew it you disqualified yourself you're not beautiful you're not good-looking enough they don't like the way you look they don't like the way you sing you can sing shut up sit down you can't teach you can't preach you can't talk you don't even like people you ain't smart enough you ain't wise enough you ain't educated enough have you ever started processing you're not worthy enough all the sins you've committed you can't be used by God that is self-destructive thoughts that is not normal it is not from God it is not your course of thinking if you are trapped in a pattern of self-destructive thoughts the Spirit of the Living God sent me today to intercept what has been choking the life of God out of you I came to tell you that this thought process that you're stuck in has got to change there are people sitting in this room today you get afraid of the same things you get fearful of the same things you get paralyzed in life by the same things your momma struggle with it your daddy struggle with it you struggle with it I am come to tell you that that thought process has got to come to an end it is not normal it is not scriptural it is not godly it is not the plan of God for your life you cannot sit there and let thoughts go through your mind telling you how you ain't smart enough you ain't capable enough you're not good enough you're not qualified enough and before you know it your day is just a horrible day it is just like falling apart and it all started with this unseen world that started shaping your sane world who am i helping in here right now you can't wouldn't win those thoughts begin to come to you you know what the Bible said agree with your adversary I'm getting good it says somebody free right here agree with your adversary the next time the devil comes up and puts a thought like a seed in your mind and says you're not worthy you ought to say you know what enemy I know I'm not worthy but when I got born again 14 years ago on a Sunday night he made me worthy you're not smart enough you know what devil I know I'm not smart enough but greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world you know what you're not educated enough oh no I'm not educated enough but he gives me wisdom when I asked for it and gives me knowledge beyond myself you gotta learn how to agree with the devil and put him in his place ha self-destructive I used to be so insecure I'm telling you I used to be so insecure and and there are people sitting in here today in insecurity and you know you you remember for the longest time I was preaching and didn't even graduate from college and I believe everybody ought to be educated don't misunderstand what I'm get ready to say I had a professor tell me one time I didn't pull teeth no my son didn't pull teeth until he got his doctorate in dentistry you are not preaching until you get your doctorate in ministry I left that room and cried I said no sir I can't I can't even get a bachelor much less a doctorate in ministry how am I gonna wait that long it'd take me 33 years to get a doctorate in ministry but I'm gonna tell you right now I know some people and I'm thankful for the education that I went on to complete let me know we ought to complete our process of education some people do it in four years I was on the eighteen year plan glory to God Devon got Devon graduated summa laude I graduated thank you Laurie let me know what I'm talking about now I believe in education but I'm gonna tell you right now the problem with some people is that they get himself caught in a trap of thinking that what they did is the thing that provides the power for who they are to become I want to tell you right now education should be pursued by everybody in the kingdom of God but it is not the power that gives you and I the ability to come who we ought to become if you want to be who you're supposed to be you got to think like you're supposed to think because as you're thinking your life so are you self-destructive stop killing yourself you're killing yourself with your own thoughts and they're not godly well you know it's just how I think we'll change it okay I'm gonna keep going number three oh this we're gonna get here we go toxic thought category number three critical thoughts I'm getting ready to make some folk real man and I'm gonna have joy when I do it can I tell you what makes me sick judgmental people always critical always finding problems never brought one solution to the party people give no squeamish and tight right now gathering their purses how Jesus said can you judge a man who has a toothpick in his eye and you had to step over the telephone pole in your own eye Jesus help me teach today it's critical well you know if it was my church if it was my ministry if it was my Sunday School class if it was my Bible study if I was the pastor of that department if it was me running the sound and the lights always critical I wouldn't a pen in these walls dark grey who did this we need some oven country blue in here critical and I would be offended if it was the only place you got critical but you treat your family the same way when you get when you leave this house and you criticize your life and you criticize your husband and you criticize your children and you criticize your mom in them and you criticize your boss and you criticize the people at the food store and you criticize you criticize everybody because you got a critical thought pattern that nobody's ever told you you ought to stop thinking that way it's producing a lot of negativity in your life your marriage is a mess because you're critical well he'll never be nothing daddy what nothing he'll never be nothing stop speaking to the fool in him and start speaking to the King in him you get around your your own girlfriends if you take the first 30 minutes the dog your husband app you got a critical spirit the next time you have coffee sit there as if your coffee say I married a knight in shining armor I'm here with my hero he's the jam in my jelly rope you keep speaking to the fool in him he'll keep acting like one he don't know how to fix nothing he die he breaks everything he puts his hands on walking there the next time say you know what you can do anything but be so critical we've been critical to your wife you know I'd like you better if you dress like this you know what she's not sure she's not sure a little image you got a problem sir you're still trying to make her that mess you used to look at before you got born again I am NOT getting no friends right now I see men getting red face to me right now you're critical got a judgmental spirit and I found out people like that in the church they go start their own mess I'm getting ready to say it I don't give a flying rib I don't like that church what you're gonna do right now start another one I don't like that ministry I will start my own you got a critical spirit and God don't bless stuff that was burned out of criticism say that church [Applause] and then you found somebody else critical and you go get critical with them and invite you to they invite you to the Bing they started in criticism and now y'all critical Oh God it's crazy sign all these demons and find knowledge Matt no fighting you had a wrestle flesh and blood I wrestle principalities that you didn't know was a principality we just started talking to you and instead of rebuking it you entertained it brought it into your house listen to it for something credit Oh judgmental toxic thinking better get your mess straight it'll kill you do you know what people who I don't want to take a poll but if I took a poll do you know how many people are sitting in this church they've been members of more than 20 churches pastor why do you say stuff like this cuz it wears me out because there's a spirit loose in this region it's a religious spirit that makes you think you know stuff you don't know and you run around talking about everybody you said that's um who you talk to I don't know but somebody's catching it you better catch it right now I do not spend time with people who the first five minutes I get to know them walk up to me and talk about where they came from in a bad way I ain't doing it cuz you know what's gonna happen you're gonna leave me too and the next place you go you're gonna go talk about me so what I'm gonna do is love you why are you here and bless you when you leave I stopped you better hear what I'm telling you I stopped laying up late at night trying to keep people who came for their dog and pony show but did not come because they believed in the vision or the assignment on this house if you love this house it no matter what you get to do in this house you do it Garden for God and defendant about your dog and pony show now but I also stay up at night trying to help people find their purpose and their destiny I literally stay up that night Devin will tell you I get worried about people I know something you don't think I know who you are I just seen your face come to me in prayer and I say god I don't know what they're going through but help them Lord you help them find their purpose I get worried about people I check on people i text and call people are you ok I have seen you a little by just making sure you're alright why do you do that because I'm a shepherd and I love sheep and when you love sheep you smell like sheep and you deal with sheep and you live with sheep and you leave sheep and when sheep start going astray you don't just forget about it you go out then you say you know what I got a staff in Arad you gotta come back in because God ain't through with your life yet some of us are living a product of critical lives we are critical of everybody I will tell you right now you are not the sum total of wisdom and knowledge and if you ever think that you know it all and everybody else is in need of finding out what you already know you set yourself up to be isolated and the enemy will feast on that in your life I'm encouraging you in love and admonishing you in the Spirit of God today stop being so critical in judgment of the people it will not lead to a prosperous life and it will not lead to the kind of future you think you're following to what happens pastor when we identify toxic thoughts the Bible tells us what to do in second Corinthians it says that we are to take every thought captive that literally means I should have got the handcuffs from wiggley today oh my goodness you know we have a cup we have a couple of cops every Sundays I might know why we have cops for safety because you ever cross that road out there it takes a miracle of the parting of the Red Sea to get across that road right there you come across that road people like oh I better run that car you slow in there and in here now so we put cops on the road to slow me now if I brought Wiggly in here he would bring me his handcuffs you handcuff something to arrest it and bring it up under subjection when you find toxic thoughts in your life in your marriage in your children raising in your job situation in this church when you find toxic thoughts if you let that thought go unchecked and unarrested it will bring other thoughts into your mind and it will begin to seize your thinking process until your thinking becomes cloudy and you can't process correctly and confusion and chaos set in on your mind you've got to learn the power of crucifying thoughts and bringing thoughts that are unhealthy into subjection and arresting them so that you can replenish your thought life with kingdom of God scripturally healthy thoughts so what does that look like pastor practically how do I take thoughts captive come here Matteo come here Matteo you're gonna be Jesus you're a good Jesus Matteo you're a bad thought you're a bad thought okay so this is a bad thought he comes to your mind and he comes into your thinking and let's just say it's a self-destructive thought you're not smart enough broad enough wise enough good enough intelligent enough good-looking enough you're not any of that and you start getting in my thinking process and listen to me carefully your brain is different than your mind I didn't have time to go into this your brain is that three pounds of tofu like substance that is between your ears right that's your brain that is not your mind your mind is your soul it's your it's the place the seat of your emotions your wheel this is where we feel things and get in but it's all in the soul in the man then you have the spirit so we could talk I don't have time but we could talk about spirit soul and body you're a child being just like the God who made you so when when thoughts come to your mind your brain being directed by your spirit decides whether you will entertain and process that thought or whether you will reject and replace it when you decide to entertain it the way your brain is created it literally starts creating trees that build on one another Jesus help me teach this today and this these little trees that break out are are products of thoughts that go unchecked and you literally start following this process of thinking about this thought and until your brain being led by your spirit decides to stop the thought in your mind your mind that has not been held in check by your brain which is being led by your spirit we'll continue to process the thought in a way that continues to produce confusion and chaos and bondage when you look at this tree it's like a tree when you put it under a real real real real powerful microscope it's like a tree that keeps splintering off it's actually the tree of death which is why when you start filling your mind with godly scriptural healthy thoughts under a powerful powerful microscope that same brain produces a different kind of tree that leads to a different kind of decision that produces a different kind of revolution resolution that produces a different cat put your hand on my head a different kind of behavior really it's about your spirit telling yourself to handle the mess going only in your mind and if your mind is able to process unhealthy toxic thoughts in a way that is not intercepted by your spirit you will live a life that is a product of negative thought after negative thought after negative thought and it keeps producing these negative trees of death when in reality when the thought comes in for the first time and the spirit says tell that mess in a welcome in fact you have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of heaven and I'm taking this evil nasty negative hateful messed-up destructive thought what does the Bible say in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 5 take every thought in captivity and bring it to the obedience of Jesus Christ in other words when that thought comes in it doesn't get to produce another thought that leads me to another thought that leads me to another thought that produces tree after tree of death in my life no I'm not gonna listen to that in my mind I'm gonna let my spirit tell my body that my brain is gonna work for the glory of God and stop that mess and now my mind is going to have to be filled with truth so it comes you take this stuff I know this sounds crazy but you have you in some way you do this if you don't go through this process you get real it gets crazy you take your mat you take that thought you say this thought it salts itself against the knowledge of God well pastor how do I know what the knowledge of God is I'm glad you asked touch three people tell them read your Bible if you don't know the Bible then a thought can come to your mind and your brain doesn't know whether it's your brain is is trying to figure out what am I going to empower your mind is trying to determine what is truth if you don't know the truth you can't believe Allah which is where most people get messed up it's not that they don't know something bad it's that they don't know something good and if you don't know something good then something that looks good but is really bad can become a trap of death for you so you take this thought you say so this thought comes to you right this thought comes to your mind and it comes into your thinking and it says Kevin you're not handsome enough you are not good enough you are not smart enough you are not tall enough you are not short enough you can't sing well enough you can't teach or preach well enough and you sit there and you listen to it and you start to end you're too old uh-huh Thank You Holy Ghost somebody just heard them thoughts this morning you're too old to be good in the kingdom anymore you're too young to be used in the kingdom you hadn't waited long enough or you waited too long when those thoughts come the knowledge that you have how did you get the knowledge you read the Bible the knowledge that you had you get the word there in you when you have knowledge on the inside and something from the outside tries to invade the that you have the knowledge of the word rises up and says oh no top to the hand because the babble told me I'm everything I'm supposed to be I got everything I need to have I have been fully furnished to finish the call of God on my life I may have waited too long or I may have started too early but whatever it is God is able to the redeem the time in my life and he is able to open every door that I need so I know this is not a healthy thought is this too simple for some people I know there's not a healthy thought this is a toxic thought some will take this thought into captivity drag it back to the feet of Jesus and tell tell that thought you will not have authority in my life and when untrue thoughts come into the presence of truth it bounced down every time bow down every time stay back down stay bow down if some of us don't get a revelation the truth in our spirit we have no power to enforce victory over toxic thinking now Thank You Isaiah Thank You Mateo tell them you love them let me finish with this when you arrest I'm almost finished come help me when when you arrest toxic thoughts and you take them to Jesus and you make them submit to the truth of God's Word then you are tasked with the pleasure of filling yourself with things that lead to good thoughts now I want you to open your Bible to Philippians chapter 4th Philippians chapter 4 the Bible says listen carefully what the Bible says the Bible said whatsoever things are good noble lovely just of a good report ready for this think on these things have you ever felt like I cannot control what I'm thinking no no come on for real somebody in here I cannot control what I'm thinking yes you can Paul would not have told you what to think about if you couldn't control what you think about here's the thing the momma said in the book of Philippians to think on these things the book of Colossians says it this way set your affection on things above you can't control what you think isn't it amazing don't miss this isn't it amazing that Paul does not say whatsoever things are evil whatsoever things are horrible whatsoever things are tragic whatsoever things are depressing don't think all these things because not thinking on bad things does not produce a healthy thought life [Music] if you want to have a healthy thought life it's not about just abstaining from bad things it's about filling your heart and mind with good things so I'm not gonna wait for bad thoughts to come till I get motivated to have a healthier thought life I'm actually going to choose life and because I choose life that means I'm gonna feast on good things and when I feast on good thing though I'm telling you I really believe us on my heart most of the time our problem is not just that bad thoughts come it's that we never filled our heart with good things in the first place we would have to replace a whole lot less bad thoughts if we were filled up with good thoughts well how do I get good thoughts have a great word life have a great prayer life enjoy life zip past I don't want to enjoy life the world's full of evil well don't let that cause you to live a life of misery this morning when I woke up I got up early this morning when I got up early this morning I was reading about El Paso and dating my American needs healing and and I don't know if anybody else felt this way or not but this when you start listening to all this your heart gets broken and you start getting overcome with sorrow and it's like this feeling of what kind of crazy world am i living in y'all know what I'm talking about you know what I had to do to get it off of me I had to turn on worship music and I had to walk around and pray in the Holy Ghost for about 45 minutes and when I got through praying in the Holy Ghost I was convinced of a couple things it's bad but God is better [Music] it's dark but the light is brighter here there's some crazy people in this world but there's also some godly people in this world see you've got a process we got to process this according to the word of god we got to not just avoid bad thoughts but we got to fill our heart with good things when you get filled up with good things you don't have to worry so much about all the bad stuff coming in I thought today I thought today who most expresses this whole thing of a positive adult life and Chad I want you to help me can you put up who I think yes yes that's him there are no mistakes it's just happy little accidents maybe there's a happy tree and a little bird maybe this little Creek is never mind you know what I'm just happy sometimes sometimes you have to get away from the toxic negativity and decide I will rejoice in the Lord well that ain't deep enough you're too deep God came to establish a kingdom based on three foundations righteousness peace and joy one-third of the kingdom of God is joy all the depressed people and all of the mean religious people just got mad at me I came to tell you a third of the kingdom is joy if that's not your testimony then we're going to keep preaching it and believing it with you and for you until your experience lands up with God's promise what look I'm done one thought can change your life you believing in one right holy positive thought can change your life you say pastor do you have scripture absolutely and I'm done with this Luke 15 and I didn't know it was gonna close this way till I was in prayer this morning but somebody needs this humiliated the son finally realized what he was doing this is Luke 15:17 through 18 in the passion translation this is the story of the prodigal he takes his inheritance goes to a far-off place wastes all his money loses everything he has almost dies and a famine he's standing in a pig field slop is coming between his toes huskar all over his feet he feels dead on the inside he has wasted his whole life and look at verse number 7 17 he milli ated the son finally realized what he was doing and he salt he one thought what did he think he thought if I can just get home I thought I could spend everything I thought I could find a party and it'd make me happy I thought I could find a woman and she'd make me happy I thought I could get a better job and it would make me happy and I wasted my whole life but then he came to himself and he thought [Music] there are servants in my father's house who eat and are taken care of if I can just get home dad will take care of me somebody this morning has been thinking a whole lot of thoughts about wasting and spending it and doing it your way but somebody's having one thought right now I got to get back home one thought negative dollar after negative thought stand with me just hang out for a minute with me right here negative thought after negative thought after negative thought after negative thought and he comes to himself and has a thought if I can just get home [Music] it's the thought that counts what do you think what's going on on the inside [Music] some precious people in this room today who would say pastor Kevin I'm away from God I really felt like I was going to end this message talking just to a handful of people maybe one or two or three people who came to this church today and feel a million miles away from God but you just had a thought you had a thought and the thought crossed your mind if I can just get back home to dad if I can just get back to the father's house he won't reject me Holy Ghost do your work you'll take me back I'll pray for everybody who needs prayer for their thought life in just a moment but why heads are bowed and eyes are closed if you're in this room and you would say pastor you're talking to me and I feel like I've wandered away but today I need to come back home and I just had this thought crossed my mind today I want to come home if that's you and I'm talking to you just lift your hand where you're standing right now yeah I see that hand I see that hand I see that hand god bless you - put your hands down [Music] everybody I've wandered far away from God but now I'm coming home the path of seem so long I've tried but now I'm coming [Music] somebody's thinking about coming home I just want you to come stand with me and I want to pray home is the kingdom of God home is his peace and presence and this morning if you spin all your head and you feel empty on the inside and you're wondering if you'll take you back I don't like I don't like making it any way feel like it's manipulation but I'm telling you somebody needs to come back to the Lord today I want you to just come stand with me right here there pray with you but I want you to come stand with me because I feel like God is calling somebody home this morning you can't come home you can come home I'm Oh sing I'm coming oh come on right now I'm coming [Music] evermore - wrong come here sweetheart Oh pan why come on pal died on somebody somebody else whoa I'm coming home ah home I'm singing for somebody come on I'm coming somebody's thinking about it I'm telling you if you come he'll take you just like you are come on come on sweetheart well then why then huh don't run from it [Music] hold on come on up second for you I'm topping hoho coming home Oh [Music] oh come on sweetheart come on the safar ability to count the thoughts crossing the back [Music] our eldest and eldest wives come help me please I want you to stretch your hands toward this altar right now oh they're still coming this wonderful come on baby we'll wait we'll wait that's right I'm coming oh thank you for what you're doing thank you for what you don't stretch your hands toward the altar people are coming back home this morning and I want them to know that heaven's gates are open wide the love of God is still flowing God is not through with their life yet hallelujah always blessing your life Sonny's blessing your life son thank you Jesus for what you do oh my god I thank you for watching us I feel God in this room right now I wish somebody would praise [Music] Oh Oh [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] Oh what about Sun that all of ah [Music] if you need God to touch your thinking and the day you commit eye redness they continue to pray take 63 days to establish a new pattern of behavior how many want God to rewire your mind and your thinking and establish new patterns in you come on lift your hands if you do I believe God's gonna release Grace on this church today to change our thinking would you pray with me right now father in Jesus name heal us change our thought life God I pray you'll help us shift our thinking take us out of self exaltation and self destruction and critical thinking and thought processes that are not healthy for our life Lord teach us how to live with the purpose and choose life in our thinking today Holy Spirit I pray for our church that as you take us from glory to glory you'll take us from one thinking pattern to another thinking pattern and we'll begin to think healthy thoughts and live with healthy thought processes god I pray will renew our minds according to your word and you'll help us to walk in the spirit are not in the flesh bless the people today we pray in Jesus name and everybody who loved God said amen amen I'll see you Wednesday night Church we love you Joe in the peace of God may the lord bless you this morning you

Channel: Redemption to the Nations Church

Views: 2,087

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: chattanooga, tn, tennessee, kevin, wallace, kevin wallace, deven, deven wallace, highland, park, highland park, rsm, redemption, redemption to the nations, rttn, rttn church, church, God, Jesus, spirit-filled, spirit, Holy Ghost, pentecostal, love

Id: MUn44S8J1Kk

Length: 70min 15sec (4215 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 05 2019