Fix Your Thoughts

Philippians 4:6–8 NLT

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

When dreams seem real

Do we have any dreamers? (I LOVE DREAMING)

I mean you have dreams when you sleep

A couple of years ago I had one of the most real dreams I’ve ever had

I had a dream that my grandma let me in on my inheritance early and had written me a $60,000 check.

I had some big plans for that $60,000.

I was going to pay off my car and my trailer

I was going to buy some new toys for me!

I was going to put some money back for savings.

In my dream I was on the way to the bank when I woke up.

It was like the worst realization ever to discover that everything I had planned was entirely in my head.{HARD CORE DISAPPOINTMENT}

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The mind is a powerful thing.

you can determine if you are going to have a good day or a bad day with your mind.

Less than ideal experiences can become positive or negative based solely on how we think about them

Scripture speaks often of the necessity of having our minds right in relation to our spirituality.

We are to be "transformed by the renewing of our mind"

We are to "bring every thought into captivity to Christ Jesus"

That’s because God knew

the enemy sees the mind as one of the most vulnerable avenues of attack in the life of the believer.

Paul addresses this fact by making an assertion in his letter to the Phillipians regarding their thought patterns.

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Don’t lose in translation: Be anxious for nothing.

In some translations the wording is different so much so that the context can be lost,

for instance in The King James Version translates this compulsion by Paul is stated as being “careful” for nothing.

The NKJV is actually more accurate in regards to the idea of the passage.

Merimnao: care for, be anxious about, meditate on.

Anxious: uneasiness of mind or brooding of mind about some contingency

A more common word to describe what this verse is speaking of is the concept of worry.

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Quotes about worry

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

Corrie Ten Boom

“Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.”

Benjamin Franklin

“How can a person deal with anxiety? You might try what one fellow did. He worried so much that he decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was, "Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?" To which the man responded, "That's your worry.”

Max Lucado

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Do you deal with worry?

I wonder if anyone here knows anything about worry?

It’s amazing how powerful worry can be.

Worry can cripple you from doing what you love

Worry can keep you from progress (Risk is necessary for growth)

Worry can keep you from trying what you would love

Worry paints the normal as the negative.

As I was preparing this message I had an interesting thought, how many people in scripture have their epic cut short because of the power of worry.

The rich young ruler

Peter walking on the water

The city in which Jesus casts the demons out into the pigs.

Creative minds can be constructive or destructive depending on where we lend the creativity.

You can see in these instances

We have the power to allow what might happen to hinder us as much as what is happening.

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Turn it to the text

That is the mindset Paul is addressing in this letter to the Philippians.

This text is Paul’s landing of the plane as he is about to close out the letter.

A letter that was written to thank them for their gift to him while he was in prison

And a letter to address some of their issues as a church

Judaizers

Personal Ambition.

However, Paul’s letter seems to change tone a little bit as he is closing it out.

Epaphroditus, the pastor at Philippi had come to visit Paul while he was in prison in Rome

While there Epaphroditus had become very ill (They are worried about their pastor.)

Paul includes this letter to the church at Philippi as if to say that no matter what, God is in control.

The first encouragement he gives them in light of his imprisonment and their pastors sickness is don’t waste your time worrying.

TR PHRASE: I believe this would be God’s message to His people even now.

When we allow worry to reside in our thoughts we are playing right into the devil’s hand.

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Worry is the easiest card the devil has to play.

Consider Job - He doesn’t even have to get permission from God to do anything in order for worry to take effect.

Worry isn’t based in fact, it is solely based in theory.

92% of things we worry about never take place.

Example

You’re worried about what they will think about you

They won’t think about you

You’re worried they will talk about you

They won’t talk about you

The enemy loves to use worry because he is the father of lies and so getting us to focus on a yet to be proven truth is right up his alley.

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How do we combat worry?

Paul gives the Philippians a very easy and practical way to fight against worry.

Talk to God about it.

He mentions supplications, thanksgiving, and requests but all of this is indicative of prayer.

Prayer is simply the addressing of God.

You combat worry by conversing with God about your situation.

__________ What do I say?

Sometimes I fail to pray because I don’t know exactly how to ask for what I need

God doesn’t need us to get our requests just right, he just wants us to talk to him.

Have you ever talked your way through a problem? (Verbal Processing)

Sometimes when things are hard and you are feeling emotionally tied in knots, talking to someone is exactly what you need

As you talk to them you start to discover what your real problem is. (CONVO WITH BRANDON)

It often isn’t what it seems to be

As we simply have a conversation with God we begin to get clarity as to the requests we need to make.

So we deal with worry by

Realizing it is often based on a foundation of falsehood

Having a conversation with God

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3. What about when worry is real?

But sometimes our issues go beyond potential worry.

Sometimes it’s not what might happen that troubles us but what is happening.

Hard things happen in life.

Epaphroditus is doing God’s will, taking a large offering to Paul and he gets deathly ill.

Paul is doing God’s will preaching the gospel to anyone and everyone who will listen and he still gets tossed in jail.

We will not always understand why we have to go through what we are going through.

There are moments that don’t make any sense at all while you walk through them.

No amount of prayer, bible study, or hearing of sermons will make them make sense

But this letter to the Philippians addresses those situations as well.

In every moment of life, good and bad, we are promised the peace of God.

___________ The peace of God

This is not simply peace as we might typically define it.

Peace is a good thing

We all want world peace

We all want to be at peace

We are often guilty of taking this verse out of context and praying for a peace that passes all understanding.

This is not simply a peace in the sense I just described.

This is the peace of God.

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What is the peace of God?

(A) The peace of God is the presence of God.

No matter how hard my trial, I won’t walk through it alone.

“He will never leave us nor forsake us”

“I will fear no evil for thou art with me”

“He is a very present help in times of trouble”

We can manage any trouble we will ever face because as a child of God we are given the peace that accompanies his presence.

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(B) The peace of God is the promise of God

The peace of God is knowing that in the uncertainties of my present God has a plan for my life and he is taking me somewhere.

The peace of God is knowing that all things are working together for the good of those who love God

It’s interesting that Paul’s approach to overcoming worry and trouble is not really that much about doing anything.

It’s not necessarily about adjusting activity.

We tend to think the way we are going to overcome our trouble in life is by praying, reading, fasting, churching more.

As though we are going to be able to strike up some bargain with God in which he is going to reward us for being good little boys and girls.

Dealing with worry isn’t about adjusting our activity, It’s about adjusting our thinking.

Remember, our minds are powerful things.

How do we rise above worry and trouble?

Philippians 4:8 NKJV

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

The key to dealing with worry is recalibrating our thought life.

Don’t mistake what is evident for what is true.

It is what it is, but it’s not what it seems.

Evidence sometimes points to God’s abandonment but truth reminds us of God’s presence.