Take Your Mind Back

Connection/Tension

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Open with prayer guide:

For world situations…

For our nation…

For our church…

For the lost…

For forgiveness…

We started a new series last week called Winning the War in Your Mind, and I want to start this morning by sharing one of the most important truths from Scripture about this subject:

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…”

I want to ask you a question: Do you ever make an irrational decision? Let me tell you about one of mine… Losing my mind over missing a turn when taking my car to the shop… cussing, screaming, totally lost it… it cost all of 30 seconds to turn around. Why did I do that?

Anyone else ever behave irrationally? Do things that make no sense, or just seem out of character?

Want to be nice, but you end up yelling.

You want to save money, but then you start browsing on Amazon.

You want to trust God, but you can’t seem to stop worrying.

You want to get healthy, and you spend a lot of time thinking about it while sitting on the couch with a bowl of Moollinium Crunch ice cream!

Why do we behave irrationally?

Tell story of Craig Groeschel getting wires crossed in Buick Turbo Coupe (show picture)… trying to build street cred, self-installed radio, only worked at night, accidentally wired it to headlights...

Why do we behave irrationally? Let me suggest that it’s because we get our wires crossed. Last week I talked about how our minds form Neural Pathways. These are like ruts that get formed that our thoughts travel along. When we experience something new, our mind creates a neural path. It effectively wires and programs our brain.

Baby smiles, and mom or dad smiles back and makes weird noises -> smiling good.

Baby touches hot stove and it hurts -> hot stove bad

Baby wants candy, Mom/Dad says “No”, baby cries - > Mom/Dad give sucker, and then we are suckers for the rest of our parenting careers!

All these thoughts are creating neural pathways. Like I said last week, The more you think a thought, the easier it is to think it again.

This is how God made our minds to work. And this is incredibly good news IF our minds are thinking on truth. But it’s really bad news when our minds are consumed/infested with lies.

Let’s review quickly what we said last week:

Our mind is a battlefield - THE battlefield. Most of life’s battles are won or lost in our mind. We looked at 2 Corinthians 10 and saw that God has given us weapons that have Divine power to destroy strongholds and take our thoughts captive for Christ. Why does this matter?

Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. What comes into your mind comes out in your life, and you cannot have a positive life with a negative mind.

Our big idea, then, this morning is that If you don’t control what you think, you will never control what you do. We must fix our wiring! Are you ready!

Text and Context

How do we fix our wiring? How do we rewire our neural pathways that are entrenched, rutted, in old thoughts that lead to old patterns of living? We must train our minds.

How do we do that? Compare it to training your body. When I was preparing to walk the Camino last summer, I spent a lot of time - doing what? - walking! I looked back, and in February alone I walked 72 miles while training. That’s good. But I learned something. Walking alone wasn’t going to prepare me to walk the Camino. I had to also change what - and how much - I ate. Training your body isn’t just what you do - it’s what you put in.

Listen to what Paul writes to the Philippians. And remember, he is writing from a Roman prison, facing possible execution.

Ignore the portion in brackets - just put in the verse WITH the underlines

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, beloved, [**Paul rants about life not being fair, rotting in a stinking prison, God has let me down, I want to quit**] whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

The Greek word here for “think” is logizomai. It means to take account of, to consider. Or look how it’s translated in the NKJV:

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV): if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

If we are going to take our minds back, we must learn the discipling of meditation. I know when some hear that they think of some kind of New Age/Eastern technique of emptying our mind to become one with the universe. That’s NOT the kind of meditation Paul is referring to. Let me give you a simple definition of meditation:

Meditation - To engage in mental exercise; to focus one’s thoughts. Many times in the Bible we are told to meditate:

Same slide if they will fit, coming in one line at a time

Psalm 119:15 “I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways.”

Psalm 143:5 “I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands.”

Eastern/New Age meditation is about emptying our mind. Christian/Biblical meditation is about filling our minds with truth. It’s about fixing, or focusing, our minds on what is true and good and honorable and praiseworthy.

Learning to focus our minds is a skill. It’s a process of training. As the great theologian Jackie Chan said in the remake of The Karate Kid - “Your focus needs more focus.”

I don’t know about you, but my mind loses focus pretty easily. While writing my sermon I saw some trash in the living room, and the next thing I know I’m up picking up trash, and then hiding our TV power cord in a new track thingy I bought, and then I’m putting up some tools I had out, and so on…

Our minds tend drift, and they tend to drift toward lies. Toward the negative. I can’t, I won’t ever, I’m not enough. What meditation does is that is fixes the wiring of our neural pathways. It trains them toward what is true.

Last week your homework was to identify your greatest stronghold. A wrong mindset that is holding you hostage. Where your wires are crossed.

I”ll never get out of debt. I can’t overcome this habit.

I’ll always struggle with weight. I’ll never feel close to God.

I’ll never have a meaningful job. I’ll never have a healthy marriage.

And then you were to identify the truth that demolishes that stronghold. What does the Scripture say about that stronghold that will demolish the lie?

But we have to do more than just look up a verse that contradicts the lie. We have to get that verse down inside us in such a way that it rewires our thinking. We do this by what Paul said - whatever is true, good, honorable, excellent - we mediate, focus our mind, on these things. How?

Centered on the same slide, comes in at one time

Scripture Truth

Write it - Think it - Confess it - Until you believe it

This is how we create new neural pathways. It’s how we can “be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” as Paul talked about.

Julie is so good at this. She used to leave notes on the bathroom mirror with some kind of scriptural affirmation that our kids would see every time they went to the bathroom. This is what we have to do. When we find the truth that demolishes our stronghold, we have to write it down, meditate on it, confess it out loud - that means agree with it, and keep doing it until we believe it - until new neural pathways are formed. Let me give you some examples:

One per slide

Struggling to know God’s will: (John 10:27) I am one of Jesus’ sheep. He is my good shepherd. Daily I will seek him and he will teach me to know his voice and lead me in his perfect will.

Lack confidence: (Phil 4:13) My confidence is in Christ alone. Because his Spirit lives in me, I can do everything he calls me to do.\

Fighting lustful thoughts: (1 Cor. 10:13) I’m not a slave to lust. Because God has purified me in Christ, I can honor him with my mind and thoughts. God is faithful, and even when tempted he will always give me a way out.

Battle worry: (Phil 4:6-7) Because I’m in Christ, I will not be anxious about anything. I cast my cares on God because he cares for me. I have the peace of God dwelling in my heart and ruling my mind.

Take the truth of Scripture and make it personal. Write it - Think it - Confess it - Until you believe it. This is how we renew our minds with the truth!

I shared last week what one of my biggest strongholds is. Feeling inadequate:

I’m not a good enough preacher

I’m not wise enough to make good decisions

I’m not decisive or confident enough for people to follow me

I’m not gifted enough to lead a church

I’ve had these feeling pretty much from day 1. Early in ministry, as I struggled with these thoughts, the Lord gave me a passage from Isaiah: Isaiah 42:1–4 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.”

Isaiah is ultimately writing about the Messiah - I DO NOT have a Messiah complex! But in this moment, as I read this passage, it was like the Spirit was speaking it to me directly. It made such an impact that when I ordered a new study Bible, I have this verse reference imprinted on the front instead of my name. Here is my scriptural truth that can set me free. What’s yours? Write it, Think it, Confess it, until you believe it! Why?

Same slide, centered, all at once

Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

If you don’t control what you think, you will never control what you do.

How do you take back your mind? By fixing your wiring, by focusing/meditating on truth.

Say it with me: Write it - Think it - Confess it - Until you believe it! AS YOU DO THIS, you will no longer be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”

Gospel/Response

I want to do something a little different today. You may be here having a hard time believing that God loves you, that you matter, that you won’t ever get victory over a habit. Whatever it is, I want to declare some scriptural truth over you. Let’s stand together. If you are in Christ…

Rom 8:11 - You have the same power that raise Jesus from the dead living inside you. You are mighty, a weapon of righteousness in God’s hand in a world of darkness.

1 Cor. 15:10 - You are not your past. You are not what you did. God has forgiven you, redeemed you, and freed you. You are who God says you are.

2 Cor. 10:4-5 - You are not a captive to unhealthy thoughts. You are not a victim. You have weapons of divine power that demolishes the lies of the enemy.

Phil 4:6-7 - Worry is not your master. You put all your trust in God, and his peace guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Ps 23 - You will not be overcome by fear. The Lord is with you. He is your helper.

Col 1:13 - You are not a slave to your habits. You are not a prisoner to an addiction. You have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God.

Rom 8:38-39 - You are loved. Nothing can separate you from God’s love. Not death. Not demons. Not the past or the present. No power on earth will EVER separate you from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord!

And maybe there are some here today or listening online who are wondering, “Is this really for me too? Does God really love me in that way/” So let me give you one more declaration.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world [you] that he gave his only Son, so that everyone [you] who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

God loves YOU, and he wants relationship with YOU, and he is done everything imaginable so that YOU can be reconciled with him. And you just need to receive as a free gift this gift of forgiveness and eternal life God is offering you. I invite you today to take the next step and commit your life to Jesus. I’d love to talk with you about this and about what it mean’s to follow Jesus (next steps slide)

Most of life’s battles are won or lost in your mind. Take heart: The battle may rage, but in Christ, you have already won the war!