LeRoy November 20/2022
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Think about such things
Think about such things
Lately, I came across a couple of quotes that really spoke to me. Here’s the first one.
This is what Corrie Ten Boom said,
“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength. Carrying two days at once. It’s moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of it’s sorrow. It empties today of it’s strength.”
Anita Pearce said this,
“Worrying is using your imagination to create what you don’t want.”
Tonight, I want to start with a testimony of what God has done. My uncle Jerry, who is soon turning 84, grew up in Watson, and often attended the Pentecostal church here in LeRoy back in the 1960’s.
He had been really feeling off and had, had a couple gallbladder attacks. I have never had one, but I have heard that they can be really intense. He lives in Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan.
He needed to go to a city hospital so he was sent to PA. While there, the Doctor decided to send him to Melfort so that he could have surgery. Their plan was to remove his gallbladder.
So they had to sedate him, and when they went in , they saw that there were two bile ducts instead of one. As my uncle Jerry was starting to come to, he heard the doctors talking and saying, “What should we do?”
This can be alarming, but when they went in to deal with the stones, there were two and they just slipped through his bile duct and out of his system. There was no need for gallbladder surgery.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Let’s look at our Scripture tonight from Philippians.
I’m going to read Philippians 4:6-8 but today we’ll take a quick look at verse 8.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
We have a choice to make. Each and every one of us has thoughts that we can think. Sometimes thoughts come from many different directions, and we don’t necessarily even know why, but for whatever reason, we think them.
On November 16th, I was thinking about my dad, who would have been 85 if he was still alive.
I’ve been working with someone who has lived a hard life. He doesn’t always make the best choices, so when I would go to his hotel room and knock, no answer.
Thoughts would begin to flood my mind if he was there or if he was even alive. Right in the thick of the process of finding help, I came to the conclusion that the battle was not mine, it was the Lord’s.
Satan wanted me to think that if this didn’t work, that I would be a failure, when God’s word says,
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
We can fall into the trap that we think that we need to carry our troubles and hold on to them, when
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
We get to choose the thoughts that we think.
When thoughts come into our minds, we need to pay attention. We need to be aware.
We can be having a good day, and suddenly out of the blue, we can start to get thoughts that make us want to worry. thoughts that make us want to doubt. Thoughts that get us down.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Tonight, I want to encourage you to pay attention to the thoughts that your think. As Christians, God has given us authority through prayer to take authority over every thought.
In other words, we choose to think about our thoughts or we can send them packing.
Stephen Smarowosky said this,
Have you heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well good thing that’s not true because I’d probably be an eggplant or something, but what is true is “you are what you think”. You are what you think, you are what you read, and you are who you hang out with. If you put garbage in, you’ll get garbage out. On my last road trip my wife and I stopped along the Mississippi River. It was beautiful, but it stunk. It is a pretty dirty river. Does anyone in here know how to clean out a river? You stop polluting it. You stop putting junk into it. If you do that the river will eventually just clean itself out. We are what we think, read and do. If we constantly dwell on these 7 ways to question our thought process, we will have clean thought. If we stop reading junk, listening to junk, watching junk, and associating ourselves with junk, than we will be able to begin the cleaning process of our mind. We are to be constantly renewing our minds. That’s why Paul tells in Romans 12:2, “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
You might ask, “What are these seven ways to question our thought process?”
(Choose a changed mind)
We need to ask ourselves when thoughts come to mind:
Is it true?
It can be so easy to hear something and jump to conclusions that aren’t true.
2. Is it noble or honourable?
These are thoughts that are rooted in integrity. We are mixing good with bad.
3. Is it right or just?
Are we judgmental? Do we jump to conclusions? If we see someone who is a certain colour do we make prejudice assumptions about them?
4. Is it pure?
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
5. Is it lovely?
Sometimes, all we can see is our problems. It’s healthy to get out for a walk and look at what God has made.
This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
6. Is it admirable? Is it of good report?
What we think about is what we talk about. Most of us don’t like being around people that are crude and demeaning.
Last week I stopped by a house and knocked on the door. The words that came out of the man’s mouth before he answered made me wonder whether or not I should have knocked.
7. Is it excellent and worthy of praise?
When we think about things that bring praise, honour, and glory to God, It lifts our spirits, and causes us to be thankful.
If it doesn’t pass the smell test, in other words, it it isn’t true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, bringing good report, or worthy of praise, we need to stop letting it in. This can be the TV or movies we watch, it can be the news we hear, the gossip that we listen to. If It’s not uplifting, it will bring us down.
I want to close with a Scripture from
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Amen!