Elevated Thinking (TSCNYC)

Intro

I want to open up this morning by reading you several quotes:

“Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.” Ezra Taft Benson (religious leader/government official in the 50’s)

“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us, that’s where it’s at.” - Jesse Owens (American track and field athlete and four-time gold medalist)

“A spiritual practice is a constant battle within, replacing previous negative conditioning or habituation with new positive conditioning.” Dalai Lama

“All of the truly important battles are waged within the self.” Sheldon B. Kopp (author and psychotherapist)“

It is Zen practice that you gain power, balance, and wisdom. The battles that you fight are within your own mind. That is where the real victories and defeats are.” Frederick Lenz (a spiritual teacher who taught American Buddhism)

Different religious thoughts, people from government, the educated, the athletic, etc....but they all recognize the same thing?

They all recognize that the mind is a battlefield

And it’s so true!

So how many of you would say that you can attest that the mind is a battlefield that affects so much of our life?

Even science is backing this up

Neuroscience (which is the study of the nervous system and brain) shows that the way we think, can literally rewire our brain. Its something called neuroplasticity

Neuroplaticity - The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections

Our neurons develop connections which strengthen over time as we repeat our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

That means that when you create a habit of thinking negatively, it makes it easier and easier for your brain to go that direction now, and the same is true for positive thinking.

What goes on in here can affect our mood or emotions, functionality, how we process thoughts, memory, health, how we percieve things, how we relate to things, how we act, or even how we perform physically.

OUR PHYSICAL MECHANICS CAN BE AFFECTED

To give you an example:

There were a couple years in high school that I took up golfing

Golfing is an incredibly mental game

Jack Nickalaus – “Golf is 80% mental, 10% ability, 10% luck.”

Worried I’m goin to hit the houses story

All I needed to do was trust the process

follow through on the swing

line up right with the hole

trust the process

But I couldn’t win the battle of the mind, so I let the fear of hitting a house affect the mechanics of my golf swing, and everything went downhill from there.

And in case you are wondering, YES, I hit the houses plenty of times, and NO I never killed anyone!

But I lost this battle, and so I lost this battle.

Heres where I want to go with this this morning:

If the mind is a battlefield, then the thoughts we fill our mind with, are either equipping the enemy for victory, or equipping you for victory!

At this point some of you may be thinking, “Is this a self help talk…you just have to think positive and the world will be great, or what’s going on right now?”

No its not, because the Bible has something to say about our thought life?

There are many directions I could go with this sermon, but I want to talk about how the things we fill our mind with affect our joy and contentment

The Title of my Sermon is Elevated Thinking

If you could, turn with me in your Bibles to , and we are going to start reading in vs. 8

Think On These Things

I love Philippians because it is such a positive and encouraging letter

One of the key themes in Philippians is “Joy” which is mentioned in one way or another 19 times. Another key emphasis in Philippians is the mind, Paul is constantly mentioning “remembering and thinking.”

Pastor Warren Wiersbe summarizes the theme of Philippians as “the Christlike mind that brings Christian joy.”

So with that in mind, we find ourselves in the last chapter and Paul is kind of summing all this up starting in vs 8.

Paul is telling us how to think!What things are true, noble, just , pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy?The truth of Gods scripture…what He has said:He loves youIn Christ you are forgivenYou are victorious in ChristYou have worth and purposePromises of Scripture:All things will work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposeHis grace is sufficientHis mercies are new every morningGod’s testimonies in your lifeHow he saved youHow he healed youhow he provided for youHow he answered a prayerBeing thankful for the good and lovely things in life:Friends and familyA roof over your headfood to eatbeautiful nature around us lakes and trees and hills, and animals Then Paul just easily sums it up for us and says, “if it is virutous, or worthy of praise, think on these things!”We are not just encouraged to think about these things but to put them into practice as well and the result is:“the God of peace will be with you!”When we are filling our mind with these good things, and practicing them, there is such a joy and peace and contentment that comes with it!Doesn’t that just sound incredible?Now contrast this ideal thought life that Paul lays out for us with how we naturally tend to thinkIt is so much easier to think of the negative, the annoying, the gossip, the vulgar, what should be or could be, etc…The things we let consume our mind will eventually manifest itself in our speech and actions.It makes it not just easier to think negative but to also be negative!!How many of you know someone that always has a reason to complain? Every circumstance and situation, there’s always something wrong?If that person is sitting next to you right now, go ahead and lean over and whisper to them, “Pay attention!”But we all know someone like that right?Their workplace is boring…their boss is an idiotwinter is too cold, summer is too hot, spring is filled with allergies, the fall is too shortTheir first church had terrible worship, their second church the preaching wasn’t dynamic enough, their 3rd church the people were weird. We can always find reasons to complain....its like the man...Story of man stuck on islandI’m not saying that church hurt isn’t a real thing because it isBut so many times our hearts and minds pursue the negative, and theres always something wrong with someone or something else.But if everyone and everything else is the problem in your world, then most likely the problem is you!Man driving on wrong side of highway!There is always a problem with something elseTheir whole life consists of “whoa is me!”Grandpa playing worlds smallest violin storyThat kind of thinking just drains the life out of you and others, and there’s just no joy in your life!And you probably do it more than you think you do!Personal challengeGoing back to the science, we get used to it and we start doing it without thinkingChallenge to pick a day and keep track of your negativityOne of the things we are told to think on is a “good report”

Philippians 4:8–9 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul is telling us how to think!

Paul is telling us how to think!What things are true, noble, just , pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy?The truth of Gods scripture…what He has said:He loves youIn Christ you are forgivenYou are victorious in ChristYou have worth and purposePromises of Scripture:All things will work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposeHis grace is sufficientHis mercies are new every morningGod’s testimonies in your lifeHow he saved youHow he healed youhow he provided for youHow he answered a prayerBeing thankful for the good and lovely things in life:Friends and familyA roof over your headfood to eatbeautiful nature around us lakes and trees and hills, and animals Then Paul just easily sums it up for us and says, “if it is virutous, or worthy of praise, think on these things!”We are not just encouraged to think about these things but to put them into practice as well and the result is:“the God of peace will be with you!”When we are filling our mind with these good things, and practicing them, there is such a joy and peace and contentment that comes with it!Doesn’t that just sound incredible?Now contrast this ideal thought life that Paul lays out for us with how we naturally tend to thinkIt is so much easier to think of the negative, the annoying, the gossip, the vulgar, what should be or could be, etc…The things we let consume our mind will eventually manifest itself in our speech and actions.It makes it not just easier to think negative but to also be negative!!How many of you know someone that always has a reason to complain? Every circumstance and situation, there’s always something wrong?If that person is sitting next to you right now, go ahead and lean over and whisper to them, “Pay attention!”But we all know someone like that right?Their workplace is boring…their boss is an idiotwinter is too cold, summer is too hot, spring is filled with allergies, the fall is too shortTheir first church had terrible worship, their second church the preaching wasn’t dynamic enough, their 3rd church the people were weird. We can always find reasons to complain....its like the man...Story of man stuck on islandI’m not saying that church hurt isn’t a real thing because it isBut so many times our hearts and minds pursue the negative, and theres always something wrong with someone or something else.But if everyone and everything else is the problem in your world, then most likely the problem is you!Man driving on wrong side of highway!There is always a problem with something elseTheir whole life consists of “whoa is me!”Grandpa playing worlds smallest violin storyThat kind of thinking just drains the life out of you and others, and there’s just no joy in your life!And you probably do it more than you think you do!Personal challengeGoing back to the science, we get used to it and we start doing it without thinkingChallenge to pick a day and keep track of your negativityOne of the things we are told to think on is a “good report”

What things are true, noble, just , pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy?

The truth of Gods scripture…what He has said:

He loves youIn Christ you are forgivenYou are victorious in ChristYou have worth and purposePromises of Scripture:All things will work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposeHis grace is sufficientHis mercies are new every morningGod’s testimonies in your lifeHow he saved youHow he healed youhow he provided for youHow he answered a prayerBeing thankful for the good and lovely things in life:Friends and familyA roof over your headfood to eatbeautiful nature around us lakes and trees and hills, and animals Then Paul just easily sums it up for us and says, “if it is virutous, or worthy of praise, think on these things!”We are not just encouraged to think about these things but to put them into practice as well and the result is:“the God of peace will be with you!”When we are filling our mind with these good things, and practicing them, there is such a joy and peace and contentment that comes with it!Doesn’t that just sound incredible?Now contrast this ideal thought life that Paul lays out for us with how we naturally tend to thinkIt is so much easier to think of the negative, the annoying, the gossip, the vulgar, what should be or could be, etc…The things we let consume our mind will eventually manifest itself in our speech and actions.It makes it not just easier to think negative but to also be negative!!How many of you know someone that always has a reason to complain? Every circumstance and situation, there’s always something wrong?If that person is sitting next to you right now, go ahead and lean over and whisper to them, “Pay attention!”But we all know someone like that right?Their workplace is boring…their boss is an idiotwinter is too cold, summer is too hot, spring is filled with allergies, the fall is too shortTheir first church had terrible worship, their second church the preaching wasn’t dynamic enough, their 3rd church the people were weird. We can always find reasons to complain....its like the man...Story of man stuck on islandI’m not saying that church hurt isn’t a real thing because it isBut so many times our hearts and minds pursue the negative, and theres always something wrong with someone or something else.But if everyone and everything else is the problem in your world, then most likely the problem is you!Man driving on wrong side of highway!There is always a problem with something elseTheir whole life consists of “whoa is me!”Grandpa playing worlds smallest violin storyThat kind of thinking just drains the life out of you and others, and there’s just no joy in your life!And you probably do it more than you think you do!Personal challengeGoing back to the science, we get used to it and we start doing it without thinkingChallenge to pick a day and keep track of your negativityOne of the things we are told to think on is a “good report”

Bad Report

Turn with me to quick, I want to show you what this way of thinking/speaking does!Up to this point, Moses has led the Israelites out of bondage to Egypt, and they are moving towards inheriting the promised land that God promised to them.I want to highlight certain parts of the storyNumbers 13:1-2

​ ESV1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”

So Moses, sends men to spy out the land, and at the end of 40 days they come back, and listen to what they say:Numbers 13:25-29

​ ESV25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

Skip to verse 31Numbers 13:31-32

​ ESV31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

So after the bad report, the people cry out and start complaining, saying it would have been better for us to die in Egypt…why did you bring us out of Egypt! And they start threatening to go back to Egypt!THEY HAD SEEN GODS MIRACLESSo then Joshua, who was also one of the spys speaks up and says this:Numbers 14:7-10

​ ESV7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

So what happened?Because of the bad report of a few men, an entire generation died in the wilderness!What is your report? Is your thinking and your attitude keeping you in the wilderness?Is your attitude keeping your friends, family, coworkers, in the wilderness?I’m not saying we need to pretend as if everything is alright, or to fake it!Be honest and open, but always in the spirit of loveSome things need to be confronted so confront it, but don’t criticize!Some people say I’m not pessimistic, I’m just realistic....so be realistic, but don’t be a discourager Address things that need improvement, but also praise things that have improved Speak out against wrongdoing, but don’t end on a hate note, end on a hope noteGive your opinion, but don’t put someone else down in the processWhat if we were to elevate our thinking…can you imagine how attractive we would be to people? Amen!!!I want to be a Joshua in my generation…speaking a good report!

A Step Further

But I love that the Apostle Paul still took it a step furtherBecause many times the battles of the mind we have is not the battle against general negativity, but its a battle derived from circumstance…especially those that are out of our controlTurn back with me to verse 11Philippians 4:11-13

​ ESV11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

This is the capstone of elevated thinking!Heres what he is saying in this:Content - literally means “self-sufficient” and it is actually a stoic wordThe stoics believed that we could be self sufficient through a mechanical self-discipline, or a fixed resolution!It was to say that you were independent of others…you are all you need, the power is within your own will to resist the shocks of life’s circumstances.So Paul is using this word, but then wrapping it with the quote, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me!”In other words, you don’t find the joy and peace and contentment in a “self sufficiency,” but in a “Christ sufficiency!”This is my challenge for us all this morning! Let’s all elevate our thinking! Have you been losing the battle of the mind? What do you need to start filling your mind with? Where has the enemy come in and robbed you of your joy, peace, and contentment in life because he has convinced you sufficiency is found in something or someone else? What are the truths he has replaced with lies.What are the good reports he has turned into bad reports?What are the pure thoughts that he has turned into vanity?Where are the shouts of praise that have given way to complaints?So if you will stand with meLets turn our hearts and our minds to God this morning, and ask him to renew our thinking....to elevate it by thinking on things above and not just things of this earth! Lets yield our thoughts and mind battles to Him!PrayAs we go into this closing song, I want you to start filling your mind with thoughts of truth, nobility, just pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy.Lets turn our minds to Christ and his sufficiency now