Mind Control

Greeting

Good morning Lighthouse!

Before we begin I wanted to just welcome all of you back, and give a very special thank you to everyone who served last week at the Strawberry Festival! Let’s thank them this morning.

Today we are concluding our series Brainstorm, with one final message that I hope will encourage you and speak to you.

But before we get into that today, I want to announce something really important to me happening this summer. Next month our Young Adults and Young Professionals are coming together for a summer worship experience we are calling Summer Society. Now, this isn’t just for those currently connected to our YA and YP groups - this is for everyone here in their 20’s & 30’s, and you can be single or married. I think if you’re in your 20’s/30’s with kids this is probably not going to feel like the right space for you, but this is definitely a place for our Young Adults and Professionals to come and to worship together. We have some incredible local members who will be sharing the word. We’re going to hear from Pastors, Business Owners, Podcasters, and even a Christian News Broadcaster.

We’re almost done planning, but this kicks off Tuesday, June 16, and will happen every Tuesday evening in the Summer. So make plans to be here, and ALSO, makes plans to invite someone! I want to fill out this sanctuary with Young Adults and Professionals united in the pursuit of God and their calling over their life.

Now, let’s get into our message.

Before we begin, can we go ahead and pray as we prepare our hearts for what God wants to speak to us today.

Introduction/ Story

The most decorated Olympian in History is a swimmer by the name of Michael Phelps. At the age of just 15 years old he was the youngest male swimmer to ever make the US Olympic team.

During his Olympic career he would win 28 Olympic Medals, 23 of them were Gold.

During the 2008 Olympics he won 8 gold medals, breaking the previous record held for the most gold medals in a single Olympics.

Phelps was globally celebrated and viewed as the definition of discipline and achievement.

But, as many of you know, behind the scenes he battled:

anxiety

depression

isolation

suicidal thoughts

You see, behind the achievement and the accolades there was someone who was struggling with his identity.

He asked the question, “Who am I when I am not swimming and winning?”

[Pause]

The truth is achievement is a terrible savior.

Need

And yet, there are many of us that genuinely believe that on the other side of achievement is the thing that will finally make us feel fulfilled.

And because so many of us think that way, the real issue is that what controls our mind will ultimately shape our life.

Said differently, you can not have a healthy life with an unhealthy mind.

So within that context I want to preach a message that I’m calling:

Mind Control

What I see in the scriptures, is that the Bible goes to great lengths to tell you who you are, so that you don’t attach your worth to achievement, accolades, or a worldly definition of success.

Elijah

We’re going to look at a man named Elijah this morning, and he was not only a Prophet, but in a time where Prophets came by the hundreds, he may have been one of the greatest Prophets to have ever lived.

And yet, there’s a verse about Elijah that we need to read before we read the story of Elijah, and it’s written by James.

James 5:17 NIV

Elijah was a human being, even as we are.

The reason I say that is because when we read about someone like Elijah, it’s important that we remember that he was just as we are.

Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, but he is just a human being as we are.

So let’s read our verses this morning…

Reading

1 Kings 19:9–10 NIV

There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

Text

When we meet Elijah in the cave, he is coming off the high of having successfully out dueled the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.

For the sake of time, I’ll give you the highlights.

1 Kings 18, Elijah tells the King, get your 450 false prophets to Baal to meet me on Mt. Carmel in order to determine who the one true God is.

The challenge was simple - build an altar and pray to your god to respond by fire. The god who answers by fire is the one true God.

It’s a beautiful story with lots of detail that we won’t get in to, but Elijah won, and all of the prophets of Baal were killed.

This should have been a time of victory and celebration for Elijah and a time of repentance and turning to the Lord for the people of Israel.

[Pause]

But it was short lived, because of one person.

Every one say “one person”.

An entire nation was rejoicing, and the fires of spiritual reform are about to sweep Israel, but there is one person who had Elijah unhinged.

And that one person was the Queen, Jezebel. She was an idolator who worshipped Baal and brought the worship of Baal to Israel. When she found out that Elijah had the prophets of Baal killed, she said “by this time tomorrow, you will be dead Elijah.”

The Prophet who had just called down fire from heaven is now hiding, afraid, and he is running for his life.

And that is when we get to our verse and the Lord asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Fix Your Focus

Look at what our text says here.

1 Kings 19:10 NIV

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

I want us to notice what Elijah said in his response to God, becuase that is his focus.

Israel rejected the covenant.

Israel tore down the altars to Yahweh

And the prophets are all running for their lives, including me!

What’s absent from what he shared to God is:

Yesterday, on Mt. Carmel, you showed those prophets of Baal who the one true God is!

You responded with fire!

People started repenting.

And then to top it off, I started praying for rain because it hasn’t rained in 3 years and you responded.

Highs and Lows are Inevitable. Your focus is your choice.

Can you say this with me:

“My focus... is my choice.”

Notice that when the Lord asked him what he was doing there he did not share his victories with the Lord. He could have began by thanking the Lord for what just happened on Carmel.

But instead, Elijah doesn’t focus on the miracle on the mountain, he focuses his attention on the negative. He is focusing his attention on what went wrong.

Where is Your Focus?

And we do this too, don’t we?

Think about this for a second. Think about the last time that you were in a funk. What were you focusing on? Was it on all the things that are going right in your life, or are you focused on what you don’t have; what isn’t going right.

I can answer that question for you - you focused on what you don’t have.

Now does that make you a bad person? No, it makes you human.

It is human nature to think about what we don’t have. It is human nature to want more than what we have now.

When used for good, that should drive us. It should be a force for good in our life.

But, when used bad, it is like poison.

Why?

Our lives are moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. - Pastor Craig Groeschel

So when you allow negative thoughts to dominate your thinking, your life will follow.

So what we must do is take back control of our mind and start thinking intentionally.

We need to move from passive thinking, to active thinking.

We need to get off of the sidelines of our thinking, and get engaged with our thinking.

So how do we do that?

You need to ask yourself, “what is causing me to feel this way?”

Identify the negative thought inputs.

What are the things that cause me to start thinking negatively?

Is it too much time on social media?

Is it too much time comparing what I have with what other people have?

Is it the music that I consume?

Is it the shows that I watch?

Your inputs are either moving you into healthy or negative thinking.

Be intentional about positive thought inputs.

When we have identified the negative inputs, we are going to start replacing them with positive inputs.

Set boundaries on social media.

Start celebrating people, and stop comparing ourselves with other people.

We are going to listen to music that glorifies God, or that feeds out soul.

We are going to stop watching shows that are not good for our souls.

And listen, this is not legalism. This isn’t doing or not doing things as a set of religious rules, this is us doing our part to take care of our mental health and our physical health.

Why? Because our lives are moving in the direction of mental health.

Don’t Follow the Pattern

Now I want you to know that the word of God speaks directly into this. I want to read what the Bible says about your mind in Romans 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

Do not conform to the pattern of this world...

There is a pattern that is affecting our mental health that I need for you to see.

Right now, millions of people are silently carrying battles nobody else can see.

Over 40 million adults in America wrestle with anxiety every single year. Millions more battle depression — not just adults, but teenagers and children too.

Think about that for a moment:

middle schoolers…

high school students…

kids trying to figure out life while carrying overwhelming darkness.

And one of the leading causes of death for children between 10 and 14 years old is suicide.

We are living in a moment where people can look connected online but feel completely alone inside.

People are smiling in public while quietly falling apart in private.

And the scary thing is — many people don’t feel safe enough to talk about it. So, like Elijah hiding in a literal cave, they hide it. They carry it. They drown in silence.

[Pause]

And Paul cautioned us about this. He said, “do not conform to this pattern....”

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

… but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

God wants to renew our minds and he wants you active in that process.

I am confident that God will do what he does, but we need to step into the fight, we need to get engaged, we need to be active, and we need to be committed to this.

Your mind matters to God.

Your mental health matters to God.

Your mental health matters to people you love.

Your mental health matters to people who depend on you.

The Spiritual Fight

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

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.

There are some thoughts that will hit you that are a direct attack from the enemy.

This is why you have to remain engaged in what you are thinking. You have to be aware of your emotions and the condition of your world. This is when we turn to prayer. This is when we surround ourselves in a Connect Group. This is when we use everything in our spiritual tool belt to overcome this mental attack.

And let me give you your best defense.

As the saying goes, sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

This is when you need to use your weapon; the Bible.

Did you know that one of the descriptions of the Bible is that it is a sword?

Hebrews 4:12 NIV

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Paul calls the word of God a sword.

So when the attacks come, you don’t just have a defense, but you have an offense, and that is the word of God. You take up your sword and you use this sword to fight off the attacks of the enemy.

This is exactly what Jesus did, and the same power will work for you.

Let me try and illustrate this another way....

Cancel the Noise - AirPods with and without Noise Cancellation

Noice canceling technology is an impressive piece of technology that we now have. You see, it wasn’t enough for us to have headphones. We also needed to create headphones that actively cancel out the noise around us so that we can hear the sound of what we want to listen to. This heightens our listening experience.

How does this work?

[show the picture

Our headphones have tiny microphones that actively listen to the noice that is around it, and then it neutralizes the sound by actively inverting the sound waves. When the sound waves are inverted, the noise is cancelled.

In the same way, there is noise in your life that is blocking what God wants to say to you. God is always actively speaking to you, but you can’t hear him because of the noise in your life.

There is noise telling you that you are:

a bad mother

you’re never going to get out of debt

you’ll never leave a legacy

you are not good enough

the world would be better off without you

All of that is noise and it is drowning out the voice of God.

But we have been given a tool that cancels the noise in our life. We have been given the documented word of God. And since the word of God is unchanging, if it was true then, it is true now. If it worked then, it will work now.

You need to start your day in the word.

You need to end your day in the word.

You need to fill your day with the word.

And the word will begin to cancel the noise of the enemy.

Here is what I believe:

The word of God gives us truth when depression lies to us.

The word of God anchors us when suicidal thoughts try to convince us we have no future.

The word of God helps us fight back against the darkness.

For so many of us, we need to take back control of our mind.

Conclusion

What I see about the story of Elijah that I want to bring us back to is that God never abandoned Elijah in the cave.

Elijah thought he was done. He thought that he was alone. He thought that it was better off for him to go ahead and go to heaven. Life wasn’t worth living any more.

And yet, God was right there with him.

And maybe that’s a word that someone needs to hear right now.

God still meets people in their caves.

He meets people in depression.

He meets people in anxiety.

He meets people in burn out.

He meets people in panic attacks.

He meets people in exhaustion.

He meets people when their thoughts are loud and their faith feels weak.

And notice that God didn’t meet Elijah in the cave and start yelling at him.

He simply asked him, “What are you doing here?”

God was speaking to him gently. He was speaking to him slowly. He was reminding him that you are not alone.

And some of you need to hear that today.

You are not alone.

Your thoughts are not your identity.

Your anxiety is not your identity.

Your depression is not your identity.

Your struggle is not your identity.

Your identity is found in Christ.

And the same God who met Elijah in the cave is still meeting people today.

[Prayer]

Call

Salvation Call - I believe that everything begins with surrendering your life to God.