Thoughts for the New Year

Romans 8:5–6 NLT

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Introduction:

As we begin another year, we often evaluate where we have been, where we are now, and where we would like to be.

Where would you like to be a year from now? In your job? In your relationship with Christ? In your relationship with your spouse and kids? Do you know you can not only set goals for where you want to be a year from now, but you can also make sure you are on the right track to attaining the goal or goals you have set for yourself.

For instance, I know that all of you would say, in your context, in your job, in your family, it can be really challenging at times. Am I right? Is it challenging sometimes? It can be that way. And when times get tough and challenging, we tend to allow our thoughts run wild.

I want to say right now that your thoughts matter more than you can imagine. Your posture, even right now, it tells us so much about the direction of your life. Have you come expecting God to do the unexpected or have you come because going to church is what you are supposed to do on Sundays?

Write this big thought down on your notes and that is this,

"Our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts."

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

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

If your thoughts are full of faith, full of God's truth, you are becoming more like Christ every single day.

If your thoughts are negative, toxic, polluted, I promise you, you will not live in victory. I promise you, you will struggle in your actions because your thoughts are far from God's truth. Our thoughts, our lives, move in the direction of our strongest thoughts.

Let’s look at what Paul says about our thoughts in :

Romans 8:5–6 NLT

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

He said, "Those who are dominated by the sinful nature," what do they think about? All of our churches, let's say it loud. What do they think about. "They think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit," what do they think about? "They think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, but," this is important, "But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace."

Our lives are moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.

Your inner dialogue matters! I don't know how many of you talk to yourselves. How many of you would say that you actually talk to yourself? I talk to myself from time to time and sometimes, my inner dialogue is very pleasing to God. Other times, my inner dialogue can be very destructive.

I want to ask you the question:

Is your inner dialogue dominated by sinful, negative, and critical thinking? Or would you say that your mind is controlled by the spirit of God, consistent with God honoring Christ-directed thoughts?

In fact, let me give you just a couple of different scenarios to help you answer this question.

Regarding your thought life, is it more God-centered, or would you say it is more negative-based?

I’m going to give you two scenarios and be honest with yourself as to which scenario best describes you.

Scenario number one would be more God-centered.

When you wake up, is the common direction of your mind during the day this, "My God is with me, my life matters, I've got a great calling, I'm full of faith, my mind is full of life and peace, I've got divine energy to do everything that God has called me to do, I'm excited about this day, today I'm going to make a difference for the glory of God?"

Does that represent something along the lines of your thinking?

Scenario number two would be more self-centered:

Or do you kind of wake up and think, "Snooze! I'm tired. Where's the coffee? Why can’t the kids take care of themselves? Oh my Gosh, here we go again. It's a tough week, too much to do, wish I had an extra day in the week. Tired, go to my stupid job, work with stupid people. Life's overwhelming. Whatever I do, I just can't get ahead."

Now obviously, I'm probably exaggerating a little on both sides, but if you're really honest, what would reflect the general dialogue that you have with yourself in your mind?

I want to make a statement and I'm going to ask a question. I want you to really think about this.

Statement: your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

Question: are you excited about the direction your thoughts are taking you?

I had to ask myself those questions and I answered quite honestly, "No I'm not. I don't like my thoughts or self-conversation." Let me tell you really honestly what I found myself saying over and over and over again. What I found myself saying was, "Man, I've got too much to do. I can't get it all done. I don't know how long I can keep this up. This is just too overwhelming." This is what I said over and over and over again. I'm not proud of it, but that was my inner dialogue. What I recognized is I needed God to help change my thinking. If God could change my thinking, that could change a lot about me.

Paul tells us in :

Romans 12:2 NLT

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

He said, "Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God," do what? "But let God transform you." Let God change you. "Let God transform you into a new person," by doing what? "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think."

This is not me changing me. This is God changing me by renewing my mind, by stopping the negative lies and replacing them with Godly truth. This is me working to align my thoughts with God's thoughts and when I think God thoughts, God changes me not into a better version of me, but a new person. Let God change you into a new person by changing the way you think because like it or not, so much of life isn't about what happens to you, but so much life is how you think about what happens to you.

Let me say it this way.

When something bad happens to one person, they fall apart.

When that same bad thing happens to someone else, they're like, "Well I just got closer to God because of this."

It's not so much what happens to you. It's how you think about what happens to you. It's the same with your stress. This is something I learned recently as well! Stress is not about how much you have to do. Stress is how you think about what you have to do.

When you recognize that God is with you, His power is real, His grace sustains you. When you're weak, He carries you. In your weakness, His strength is made perfect. Suddenly, what used to seem like stress becomes an opportunity to tap into His power. It's not about all that you have to do, it's how you think about all that you have to do.

Paul unpacks this powerful thought in second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3. He says this and this will be encouraging to you.

2 Corinthians 10:3–4 NLT

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

2 Corinthians 10:3 NLT

3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.

"Though we live in the world, we don't wage war as the world does." He's going to get into some cool language. He says, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world." In other words, I don't need a gun or a knife. I've got spiritual weapons that have spiritual power. He says, "Our weapons aren't normal weapons. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

In other words, I don't need a gun or a knife. I've got spiritual weapons that have spiritual power.

2"Though we live in the world, we don't wage war as the world does." He's going to get into some cool language. He says, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world." In other words, I don't need a gun or a knife. I've got spiritual weapons that have spiritual power. He says, "Our weapons aren't normal weapons. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

The weapons that we fight with are not the weapons of this world. We fight with prayer. (War Room)

We fight with fasting.

We fight with the word of God.

We've got the sword of the spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, and the shoes prepared with the gospel of peace.

We don't have normal weapons and our weapons are powerful. They demolish what Paul calls strongholds.

Did anybody say, "What's a stronghold?" The Greek word that's translated as stronghold is the word Ochormora (Aka mora). This word, it's like if you can imagine a castle with a dungeon. It's a prison and a very literal translation of this is a prisoner locked by deception.

So what is a stronghold? It's someone who is in a prison and deceived believing there is no way out. It's a wrong mindset. It's a spiritual trap.

Illustration:

Thinking you are locked in a closet when all you have to do is try the door to walk out.

Basically, it got so dangerous, some of the players had to go to the hospital and we broke an old lady's arm and funny stuff like that. We had to come up with some rules to make the game more safe. One of the rules was no tackling. One was you couldn't start on an attack before 8 AM. We had to have hours on it. I would get to the office earlier than most. I get in early. I leave early. It's kind of my rhythm and so I came in 7 AM, 7:15 or something. I'm walking to my office and I guess I don't know, but I just thought, "Something is amiss," and I could just tell. This is a true story. I went to this closet, maybe 7:15 in the morning, no one else is there. I just thought, "I need to check this closet because there could be something in the closet."

I opened up the closet and guess who was there? Kevin was in the closet. He had come at 4 or 5 in the morning and was just waiting in the closet for the 8 AM clock to ding and at 8 AM, he was going to run in, surprise everybody, grab the flag, and take it for his team's victory. Immediately, I opened the door, I slammed it, I put my foot right on the door just like this to kind of lock him in. I reached over, got a chair, jammed it under the door and I said, "Kevin, guess where you're spending the day? In the closet! You're not coming out of the closet even if you want to. You're spending the day locked in the closet," so I just started laughing and left him there in the closet and went to work.

8 o'clock came, 8:30 came. Jerry came in, Sam came in. I was like, "Kevin's locked in the closet." "What?" I said, "Yeah, he's locked in the closet," and so we're out there just giggling our brains out and Kevin's like, "Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!" Finally, it was 9, 9:30, 10 o'clock, we just decided to take the chair out of the door and it was completely unlocked and we're like, "Kevin, you're spending the day in the closet," and Kevin's like, "Let me out! Let me out!" We were laughing so hard because now the door is unlocked and Kevin never tried it. He just cried and cried, "Let me out! Let me out!"

The whole time, I don't know how long, he's in the closet, never once reached out and tried this.

That, my friends, is an Ochormora (Aka mora). That is a prisoner locked by deception. That is someone who is believing a lie and is not living their life in a way that they could.

That may be a silly illustration, but I'm going to tell you right now, many of you, that's exactly what you are. Satan has got you convinced that you can't, you won't, you never will. He's got you so convinced, you don't have the faith to reach out and grab what could be yours. Why? Because you are believing a lie. It is a stronghold of the evil one and the good news is that you have divine power to demolish strongholds. How do we do this? The text goes on.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NLT

5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

2 Corinthians 10It says, "We demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God." How do we do this? "We take captive." Everybody say, "We take captive." "We take captive every thought and we make it obedient to Christ."

I like that. If you've got a rebellious thought, what do you do? Capture it! Shut up, rebellious thought. You're going to obey Christ. If you've got a critical thought, what do you do? You capture it! Sit down, critical thought. I'm going to teach you to obey Christ. You've got a negative thought, something says, "You can't, you never will," you capture it. You capture that rebellious thought. Say, "Shut up and sit down. I'm going to teach you the word of God," and you take captive every thought and you make it obedient to Christ.

I love the way the New Living translation illustrates this verse. The writers say this, that "We capture the rebellious thoughts and we teach them to obey Christ." I like that. If you've got a rebellious thought, what do you do? Capture it! Shut up, rebellious thought. You're going to obey Christ. If you've got a critical thought, what do you do? You capture it! Sit down, critical thought. I'm going to teach you to obey Christ. You've got a negative thought, something says, "You can't, you never will," you capture it. You capture that rebellious thought. Say, "Shut up and sit down. I'm going to teach you the word of God," and you take captive every thought and you make it obedient to Christ.

I'm going to give you two questions to ask yourself.

The first one is this,

1. What negative thoughts are dominating your thinking?

I'm going to give you some ideas and I want you to write down two or three that are very real for you. You can do it now or you can do it later.

Here's some ideas. You might think, "I can't get it all done. I'm not a good enough Mom. She brought homemade cookies and brought store-bought cookies, hashtag I suck, whatever it is.

I'm always going to battle with such and such.

Strike there.

I'm very inconsistent. I'm on-again, off-again with God.

I'm undisciplined.

I'm never going to get ahead.

I'm always going to struggle with my weight.

I'm just not good enough with people.

I'm just an average student. I'm never going to get into graduate school.

I'm not enough."

Whatever it is, think about quite honestly when your dialogue tips to the negative side, what is it that you're consistently telling yourself again and again because your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

Then I want you to ask yourself,

2. What spiritual truth will demolish your strongholds?

What spiritual truth will demolish those unhelpful, ungodly thoughts, and this if you're maybe new to church, if you're a new follower of Jesus, you may need some help with this and this is one of the reasons why accountability and mentoring is so important because it gives us an opportunity to get together with other believers and talk around God's word and you may say, "Here's what I struggle with." Someone else may say, "Well here's actually what's true about your situation and here's some thoughts you might say will help me."

Here's one. "I have everything I need to do everything God calls me to do."

Here's one. "Christ in me is more than enough."

This might be yours. "Worry is not my master. My faith is in God and God alone. I'm not easily offended. I am full of the unconditional, unstoppable, unquenchable love of God. My God is with me. He will never leave me. He will never forsake me."

What I want to encourage you to do is seek God first every day. What do we do? We seek God first of the day. We worship God first of the week. We fast first of the year and we return first of our increase back to God through the local church. We put God first. If you put God first every single day and you spend time with him and you pray for just a few minutes, if you feed on His word and then you speak aloud what He says is true, that discipline, Thoughts for the New Year, can completely change your thinking.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you some suggested statements and then I am going to give some possible demolishing statements.

Maybe you're worried all the time. Your statement might be this. "Because of Christ, I'm not anxious about anything. I cast my cares on God because He cares through me. I have the peace of God dwelling in my heart and ruling my mind, day-in and day-out." You declare that statement by faith.

Maybe you don't know God's will for your life. "What does He want me to do?" Every day, you say this. "My life belongs to God. Daily I seek Him and daily He directs my step. I know His voice and He leads me to His perfect will.

Maybe you lack confidence and so every single day, you're going to say this. "My confidence is in Christ and Christ alone. Because His Spirit lives within me, I can do everything He calls me to do."

Maybe you're inconsistent in your time with God and you're going to say this. It may not feel true at first, but you keep saying it. You keep saying it until it does become true to you and you say this. "I love the living and dwelling presence of my good God. Praying is as important to me as breathing. God's word nourishes my soul. I depend on His presence every moment of every day." This may seem silly at first, but you say it over and over again and what happens? You are consistently speaking what is true and God is renewing your mind. He's changing the way you think.

If you talk to someone who is bilingual, they will probably tell you at first it was hard to speak in a different language because you would have to think and translate and then try to speak in the other language. After a while, a switch is flipped and there is no longer a time for translating but they think and speak in the same language.

Here's what will happen with you. You may think, "I'm not good enough. I don't have what it takes. I can't get through the day. Christ has given me everything I need. With Him, I can do all things." The more you say it, the more you'll renew your mind. One day, there will be a switch that takes place.

How are your thoughts going to lead you this year? Where are your thoughts going to lead you this year?

Let’s take some time this morning to talk with our Heavenly Father. As we come to the altar this morning, ask the Lord to show you where your thoughts are leading you. Listen to the Holy Spirit speak to you as He reveals where we need to be more purposeful in our thinking.

I believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever and that is what this song we are going to play as we come to the altar. The same God who was faithful to you last year is the same God who is faithful to you today and for this coming year!

Let this time be a time of sincere surrender and introspection. Don’t be satisfied with just coming to the altar but come to the altar with the resolution of not leaving the altar until God speaks!

Conclusion:

Play “Do It Again” by Elevation Worship

Charity on pad for prayer time and dismissal

Father, today I ask that you would inspire some people who are serious about living for you to seek you honestly, openly, transparently, and open up your word and say, "Here's where I'm weak. Here's where I'm vulnerable. Here's where I've been talking myself down," and God hears the truth, your truth, that will help set us free. God, empower us to hear from you, to declare your truth in a way that would change our minds, conform it to the image of Christ, that we would please you, God, in all that we do.

Philippians 4:8 NLT

8 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.

If you say, "Game on, man. I'm ready for this year to be more God-honoring than ever before. I have been negative in my inner dialogue and I want that to change. That's unacceptable to me. It's not please to God. I want my thoughts to honor God. I want my mind controlled by the spirit. I am bringing my best. God, give me words to live by. I will declare them. I will faithfully pursue you, God, until you change the way I think and I'll continue to seek you as you renew my mind."

Now God, I know that it's easy to start and many don't finish. We know that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith so Father, I pray that you would take our good intentions and convert them into obedient actions. God, may we confess before our family members, our spiritual communities our need for you. God, we ask that you would help others to craft and strengthen some statements, God, that would renew our minds that we could glorify you in all that we do. Father, this may feel a little bit silly at times. We may even feel like we're lying to ourselves, but we'll keep confessing the truth until the truth change the way we think and ultimately, the way we live. God, renew our minds. May our minds be controlled by your spirit that leads to life and peace.

As you keep praying today, there are some of you, as you're going to confess every single day, there's one confession you can make before you make any other confession and that is, "I need Jesus." The amazing thing is if you're really honest, you think about your life, many of you would say, "I've done things I know are wrong. I've done things that I know I feel very guilty for. How in the world do I reconcile this with God?"