Renewing Your Mind | Pastor Dwain Wolfe | Nov 2nd 2025

I want to talk about I want to talk about

renewing our mind, and I want to give some context

to that talking about renewing our mind. And the reason

we need to renew our mind is that our mind

was of course connected to darkness, connected to first Adam,

connected to on the unclean realm. Our mind our thinking

before we come to the Lord. Our mind is perverse,

our mind is depressed, our mind is prideful, our mind

is fearful. We have all of these negative things going

on in our thoughts, in our lives and their contrary

to God. So that's the common thing with our mind.

When we come to the Lord, we give the Lord

our heart, we open up our life to him, we

welcome him into our life, and we recognize that what

Jesus has done for us, the sacrifice of Jesus, has

opened the door for us to have our relationship with Father,

and that our sins are forgiven. When we come to

God through Jesus, then what happens is we're born of

the spirit. The Bible says we're born again, We're born

of the spirit. We're born a second time, because when

we're born in atom and in the fallen atom, we're

born wrong. We're born messed up. Anybody know what I'm

talking about in the room. So we're born again, and

that's when we're born of the spirit, and the Holy

Spirit comes to dwell on the inside of us when

we look to Jesus, when we trust that he's our salvation.

But we still have the old way of thinking. Most

of the old way of thinking sticks around. I mean,

you might get delivered from a couple things and you

pray that prayer of salvation, but for the most part,

our thinking remains the same, only now living on the

inside of our heart. The Holy Spirit is there to

coach us, to testify of truth, to convict us. You

ever felt conviction. When you feel conviction, it's more than

an emotion.

You feel a word, and it's like a word like.

Go this way, go that way, join yourself to this,

stop doing that right. Conviction is a feeling, but it's

also a word. And that word is a word of

direction or a word of correction, or a word of

counsel or a word of coaching right, and it's a

word that moves us in a right direction, and it's

Holy Spirit helping us. It's the testimony of Jesus on

the inside. Every Christian, every born of the spirit person

has this testimony of Jesus, this conviction. And actually that's

the word of God on the inside of you. Think

about how important that is. That's the word of God

on the inside of you. So even conviction, though it

might not, it might not fluff you ever. You know,

we talk about fluffing the wool on the sheep. You know,

the shepherd fluffs the wool on the sheep. You know,

it might not stroke your wool in a way that

makes you feel just absolutely amazing. But if you respond

to that correction or that direction or that coaching, the

result will be something fruitful, something good, right, something wonderful.

And so the only Spirit is talking to us or

seeking to talk to us once we come to know

the Lord. And even that talk is renewing the mind,

even that talking, because what we do is when we

hear Holy Spirit, when we hear that voice leading us,

coaching us, directing us, then we leave off what we

were thinking, We leave off what we were believing, we

leave off what we were meditating on.

We leave off a plan.

And maybe that plan was attached to something prideful or

something depressing, or maybe it was exaggeration or a falsehood

or deception, or maybe it was rejection or worthlessness. Right,

maybe it was something, maybe it was judgment or jealousy.

But when the Holy Spirit convicts us of that, that's.

An inner word. Now.

I know we're used to you know, I don't have

my Bible up here. We're used to thinking that the

word of God is the word.

But can't.

If you don't trust or believe that God can say

more than what's written in the canon of Scripture, you've

got the wrong God. God is omniscient God. That means

he's all knowing. He's omnipotent, That means he's all powerful. Right,

he's omnipresent. That means he's everywhere. So God is talking

to us, and when he talks to you, we should

value that speech on the inside of our heart like

we do the leather bound thing that we pack around

under our arm, or the Bible app that we open

up where we discover the truth of God's word, because

that coaching, that correction, that leading, that guiding is coming

by and through the living Word of God on the

inside of you. And what he's trying to do is

he's trying to wash he's trying to wash the crud

of us.

Right.

So Ephesians five says that he washes us with the

water of the Word, the water of the Word, not

just the water of the logos, but the water of

his word.

You think about this. Before we had the New.

Testament, Holy Spirit was working before the New Testament was written.

Holy Spirit was working before the New Testament was written.

There were Christians, there were people coming to know Jesus,

and they were responding to the voice of Holy Spirit

in them, the prophetic word of the Lord with ministering

to them. He was washing them with the water of

his word. We have to let him, We have to

draw near to him, We have to spend time with him,

because he wants to wash us with the water of

his word. And when he does that, he's renewing our mind.

And we leave off the old and we embrace the new.

We leave off the dead, we embrace the resurrected. The resurrection.

Life is a life that's abounding in the leading of

Holy Spirit. Yes, now, the reason that I handed out

this sheet to you two weeks in a row now

is because I want you thinking that you're a new creation.

I want you meditating that you're not a dirty, old sinner,

that you are not failing all the time, that you're

not just a big mess that needs constant forgiveness. I

want you thinking in terms of what Holy Spirit says

over you in the Word of God. That is, he

calls you a new creation. He calls you the righteousness

of God in Christ. Tewo Corinthians five twenty one says

that he calls you the righteousness of God in Christ.

Now that means that's your new identity. Even when you stumble,

that's your identity, your true north. When you stumble, the

true north of that compass is going to bring you

back to that true identity of who you are. You

are ordained for righteousness. You're ordained for peace or adained

for righteousness. You're ordained as one who is justified. This

is the Bible. The Bible says you're justified. That means

God sees you in Christ as long as you continue

to believe. Not as long as you continue to be perfect,

but as long as you continue to believe. Because it's

believing that brings perfection. It's not perfection that brings believing,

it's believing that brings perfection. If you let your perfection

get in the way. If you're believing that's religion. Now

you're backwards. It's not going to work. You have to

keep your believing ahead of your perfection because you're believing

is leading you into perfection. And God's ordained for you

to come into perfection. He's ordained for you to come

into restoration and the restoration that He's ordained for you

the image of Jesus. You are a Christian. That means

you bear the image of Jesus. Christopher Columbus Christopher. That

means image bearer, light bearer. You're a Christian. You're a

light bearer. You're a one who bears the image of illumination,

the light from above. That's your identity. That's who you are.

Even when you fall short, that's your identity, even when

you fail, that's your identity. That's your true north. And

so that's what we meditate on. And so I'm thinking,

how do we renew our mind right? How do we grow?

How do we continue to grow in who He's called

us to be so that we're actually renewing our mind

Because Romans twelve one and two, I think we might

have it.

I don't know if we have it.

But Romans twelve one and two says that transformation, true transformation,

comes in the manifestation of our life. Now the moment

you give your life to the Lord, if you died,

that moment like the thief on the cross being hung

beside the Lord who believed on the Lord. If you gave,

if you lost your life, that moment that you believe

upon him, you're going to heaven. But God wants you

to continue living. You're not on that cross right beside Jesus.

He's ordained for you to walk out your days and

have fullness of life. And so for you and I,

it's not just about going to heaven. It's about experiencing

Heaven on earth. It's about manifesting His glory. It's about

living like him, it's about it's about restoration. And so

for those things, then we're called to renew our mind.

That's the transformation he's talking about in Romans chapter twelve,

verse one and two. He's not talking about a metamorphos

or a transformation that takes you to heaven. It's not

a heaven transformation. He's talking about when we present ourselves

under God as a living sacrifice wholly unacceptable, which are

reasonable active worship. Then we also are no longer conformed

to this world and the world's way of thinking, but

we are transformed into the likeness of His image by

renewing our mind to his way of thinking. This is

not exhaustive by any means, but this is a little

taste of his way of thinking. And the reason I

put it together is the way I did is I

want you thinking about His way of thinking, over the

things that pertain to you, your desires and your needs.

Your desires and your needs because woven in your life

into your heart before the Fall, God wove within you

desires and needs. Now the Fall came along and perverted

your desires and needs and iniquity. Through the fall deposited

seeds of iniquity within you, so that the method, the

method for us to go after the fulfillment of the

trees of our heart garden, the trees of life would

become perverted. But here I've outlined the tin trees of

our heart garden. And again this isn't exhaustive. It's just

a great overview for us, and it helps us move

from how do I renew my mind? To understanding. Oh,

here's some topics I can focus on. Here are the

things that pertain to me. And God has scriptures over

these areas of life. So if I give myself to

these scriptures, if I give myself to His word, if

I listen to His word, then there'll be a quickening

that comes in my life so that I can exercise faith.

I can partner with Him because faith comes by hearing

the word of God Romans ten seventeen. Faith faith God word, faith,

faith to believe God for something comes as we receive

the Word, as we welcome the word, and as the

Word is illuminated to us. So here's areas of our lives.

Number one, and this is not in order, but my

health and nutrition and my well being number two, my

finances in my household prosperity number three, My vocation and

purpose number four, my family relationships number five, my sexual

fulfillment number six, my wisdom and personal maturity number seven,

my religion and spiritual fulfillment number eight, my ministry and

serving of others number nine, my rest and recreation, and

number ten my influence in culture and my legacy. Now,

if you think about it, every one of those things

concern you. They've concerned you all of your life. And

if you think about it, this is what the temptations

were focused around. The temptations of Jesus. We're showing three

temptations in Luke four and in Matthew four we're shown

three temptations. But the Bible says he was tempted in

every way as we are. He was tempted in every

way as we are. We're only given three of those

that are in that particular passage, but it says at

the end of the temptations that say Sathan departed until

a more opportune time, temptations continued, and these temptations were

the enemy coming after those trees of the soul, of

the second atom, the last atom, Jesus to draw him away,

to seduce him, to pull him into sin or iniquity.

And the blessing for him is he didn't have in

dwelling iniquity in his heart because he wasn't born of man,

he wasn't born of the lineage of Atom. He was

a fresh start. So Satan was on the outside bringing force.

Satan was on the outside with words of seduction and temptation,

but he wasn't on the inside. We have a little

bit of a disadvantage because over a year. This is

why we need Jesus, by the way, why we need

to be baptized in water, why we need to put

the old person to death, because over here we have

the witness of uncleanness within us, and the witness of uncleanness,

these seeds of iniquity, they talk to us. It's how

the enemy accesses our heart, and these seeds of iniquity.

They'll say, Oh, the way for you to increase in

your financial well being is just act very prideful, act

like you've got it all together, and that'll be fine.

Even if you don't. Just act like you do, or

what you need to do is you need to just

falsify some of the information on that test. Maybe just

be a little bit deceptive, not a lot, but just

a little bit deceptive. Like when you sell that car

and it doesn't really go into fourth gear, don't tell them,

just let them figure that out. Don't really be honest

about that. That could cost you eight hundred dollars or

a thousand dollars. Why don't you just withhold that information

and that way you can prosper and increase that tree

of financial well being in your life. That's a partnership

with deception. That's a partnership with a deceiving spirit, and

we're attracted to that. So we have these desires within us.

This is actually a desire. This is actually a desire.

There's a desire within us before the cross, before baptism,

before deliverance, there's a desire within us to deceive to prosper,

or deceive to get what we need in marriage, or

in sexuality, or in any of these trees. But when

we've been baptized in water, we've put that old person

to death. We have put that old person who was

born in the lineage of Adam, in the likeness of Adam,

with all those seeds of iniquity that are trying to

talk to us on the inside and they're trying to

partner with the demonic realm. We've put that person to death,

and we've agreed we don't have to listen anymore. Anybody

in the room doesn't have to listen anymore. We don't

have to listen anymore. So, and this is part of

why we experience deliverance right. Part of why we experience

deliverance is I want these seeds of iniquity, which are

really the testimony of the demonic realm within me. I

really want them gone. I'd like to get rid of those.

I really don't want to be tempted every day to lie.

I don't want to be tempted every day to cheat.

I don't want to be pulled into worthlesseners. I don't

want to be pulled into judgment over others. I don't

want to feel rejection or be rejecting. I don't want

a bunch of fear operating in my life and be

tempted all the time to be afraid of everything. I

want dread and fear out of my mind. I want

it out of my heart. I want a renewed heart.

I want to renewed mine. So I want this stuff gone.

But when it's gone, here's what Jesus said in Matthew

twelve that when these influences are gone, I need to

renew my mind. He said in Matthew twelve that when

these influences are gone, I need to fill my house

with something better. I need to fill my house with

superior words. I need to fill my house with the

testimony of Holy Spirit, who loves me and who's testifying

of God's goodness on the inside of me.

And that's part of why we have this right.

Here, is because we know these areas of life are

important to every one of us. And here's what happens

if we don't fill our heart with the testimony of

something better. What color should we call the word of God.

Let's call the Word of God green. Forego if we

don't start filling our heart, oh, because green is lush,

and green bears good fruit, and green sprouts up and

springs up. And this is the Holy Spirit partnering with

the Word of God. And so we are now filling

our heart garden with the Word of God. The logos

and the rama. You got to dive into a bunch

of logos they written so that you can have Holy

Spirit bringing you more and more rama. And he quickens

the logos and makes it rama and makes it alive.

And so you're getting all this word within you. And

here's what David said in Psul one nineteen. He said,

your word I have hidden in my heart so that

I will not sin against you. Your word I have

hidden in my heart so I will not remember what

sin is. Sin is to pull back the bow, to

shoot the arrow, and to miss the bull's eye. That's

what sin is sin. The understanding of sin in a

word picture is to fire the arrow and to miss

the bull's eye. I put the word in my heart

so that I will not miss the bull's eye. I

put the word in my heart so that I will

be fruitful. I put the word in my heart because

if I don't have the word in my heart, what's

going to happen is automatically, I'm going to default into

the unclean realm.

Automatically.

Automatically, the reflex of my life is over here. And

if I don't have the word of God stored up

in me right. I remember, I got my real estate

license when I was eighteen years old. I was in

love with real estate and maybe one of the youngest

real tours in Oregon at that time, and I was

in college going to college. Got my real estate license

past the exam. Took me a couple times to pass

the exam. We went to the Memorial Colisseum in Portland,

Oregon for the test, and I was passionate about real estate.

But here's the crazy thing. Back in those days, interest

rates were like fifteen to eighteen percent, and so even

though I had a passion about this, I had a

hope about my financial well being.

I had a desire. I had a hope. I had

a need, and.

That need, that need, that need is a desire. These

are desires. This is how the enemy works. He comes

to us based on desire. That's James Chapter one. James

Chapter one says that we are drawn away by our

own desire.

We're drawn away by our.

Own Satan uses our desire as a tool to draw

us away. And so here's a desire over here from

seeds of iniquity. But then we got this desire over here,

these desires. I want my trees to flourish. I want

to be fulfilled in marriage. I want to be fulfilled sexually.

I want to be fulfilled in finances. I want to

be fulfilled in my purpose, my vocation. I want to

be fulfilled in legacy and influence. I've got these desires right.

Interest rates are fifteen percent. So in my generation, in

that day, there was a lot of despair. There was

a lot of despair. And the thing that brought me

hope and brought me faith was the word of.

The Lord over my life, the word of the Lord

of your life.

And understanding what God says about his heart toward us

who are in Christ Jesus will trump economic peril. You

are a participant in the riches of Christ Jesus. When

you understand that you have inherited the promises of God,

it doesn't matter what the economy is doing. You partner

out of a higher economy. So it's that word in

me that moved me and motivated me to continue and hope,

continue in faith and see God work in my life

regardless of interest rates. You see how a renewed mind

will also shift the way you talk. Like right now,

interest rates have been a whopping six and a half

or seven percent. It's paralyzed most people. Most people think

they can't prosper because they're used to three percent and

three point two five and so they're thinking, I really

can't prosper because we had these low interest rates for

so long, And so I really can't prosper because now

the interest rates are over here. Now when I talk

that way, I'm failing to walk with a renewed mind,

and I'm actually making the interest rate bigger than God,

bigger than scripture, bigger than the rama, bigger than the logos.

I'm not renewing my mind and if I don't renew

my mind, I come back over and I start partnering

with this because the economy is so bad. Maybe I'm depressed. Wow,

God just can't move in these terrible times. This is

a This is a terrible, terrible time. This is like

the Great Depression. God can't move. Do you know what

people prospered during the Great Depression? Somebody prospered during the

Great Depression, but not the depressed. The depressed didn't prosper

during the Great Depression. The depressed were hiding somewhere like

Gideon treading out a few pieces of grain. So I

remember this one too, this one here, Uh that that

thing that was on the platform just a few minutes ago.

I was the quee, not the bald one, the quin.

I remember growing up, I was.

Pretty aggressive with with dating, so I had I had

no shot whatsoever. So I had lots of girlfriends. And

then that's not a brag on me. It's probably dumb.

But yeah, I had lots of girlfriends. But I had

no fear even though I was I wasn't cool. I

just had no fear. So but somewhere along the line,

you know, I had one that I really cared about,

a bunch. I thought this was going to be my wife,

and and that fell apart in a very terrible way,

like a huge, heart breaking way.

It fell apart.

And so, you know, back in those days, you're gonna

laugh over this one. You know, I was writing songs

and some of those were country western songs, and so

some of them were, you know, the gloom and despair songs. Right,

how long would I have remained in gloom and despair?

You know, I don't know, I just you know, those

were just rendezvous of you know, unrenewed thinking.

God, you know, where's the one for me? Any ever

had those thoughts?

I don't know, Come on, somebody, I bet somebody in

this building did. So fast forward, fast forward to Northwest

University and I'm driving a school bus and there was

this there was this other school bus driver who he

would bring this girl with him about, I don't know,

once a month or every so often, and she would

ride with them, and we all kind of knew that

was his girlfriend. And they dated a long time, and

you know, I just you know, I never paid any

attention to her. And he was a fellow student at

Northwest University and we drove school bus together in Bellevue,

and and so there was a day when he, you know,

he came several times to drive school bus and there

was no girl. And so, I mean, I didn't think

that much of it, but I did ask some of

you know, my buddies and various ones, like where's the chick?

Are they dating anymore? And they said, no, they're not dating.

I'm like, oh, that's weird, that's crazy, huh. I thought

they were going to get married. And so I didn't

even know her name. I asked some guys, you know,

what's her name?

What was her name?

And then I kind of remembered vaguely that she was

kind of cute, moderately moderately cute. So I went back

to my apartment and I opened up my Northwest University annual, right,

and I didn't know if she was even going to

be in the annual, but somebody had said she might

be in the annual. And I couldn't even remember what

she looked like, and I didn't know her name. I

had this people what her name was. But when I

got to the RS Joel Robertson, when I got to

the OURS, I'm going through the RS, right, and I'm

going through the RS and I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm

believing God for a wife. Like I'm twenty three years old.

This other thing died when I was twenty and you know,

nothing has worked right. And I would do the whole

list thing too. I'd do the list. You know, guys

told me you just need to make a list. You

get about ten things, put those ten things on a list,

and then you have a few dates and then you

just you know, measure up. You know, see if they

measure up. Like you know, if you need a pastor's wife,

you know, you make sure they play the piano. So

during the date, you know, during the date, you know, yeah,

I get a couple of dates and then you kind

of work around to that. So what kind of talents

and skills do you what do you enjoy? And you know,

do you play the piano? Now, okay, it's not that one, right,

So you you you guys know all of you have

done this kind of thing. You got your list, you

get your spousal list, right, So and I would, you know,

I would date these people. And actually some of the

people I was dating, they actually checked every box on

the list.

But it didn't feel right right.

So I'm taking my finger in the Annual to the

ours Joel Robertson. That's her name in the world. So

I get to the ours and I get to and

when I get to her picture in the Annual, I

hear the voice of the Lord and he says, that's

your wife. Well, the word of the Lord can be scary,

and the word the Lord gives faith. There's always faith

attached to the word of the Lord. Even though it's scary,

there's faith attached to the word of the Lord. So

immediately I'm like, well, that's my wife. I'm going on

a date, and you know, I got no shyness about dates.

So but that word, well, here's what I want to

tell you. That word not only drew me to her,

but that word sustained at birth our relationship. It sustained

our relationship. It has kept our relationship a lot. It's

kept my love for her alive forty two years. The

word of God doesn't wear out. The word of God

doesn't fall apart. The word of God doesn't lack power.

The Word of God, the Word of God is active

and alive. It's sharp, it's quick, it's good. The word

of God works.

And when we.

Don't have a word, like what would I have done

without a word? What stupid stuff would I have done?

How many more dates would I have gone on? Would've

gone into some kind of depression? What I've gone into?

Some kind of self loathing or worthlessness? I mean, what

would have happened with me if if I didn't have

a word. But that word was the power to not

only direct me, but it was the power to sustain

me forty two years of undying love. It's kept me

from immorality, It's kept me from another woman, it's kept

me from any other attention. It's kept my eyes focused

on one little lady all these years. One word, one word.

And this is what we're trying to say. Is it

concerning the trees of our lives? God wants to feed

you with his word. He wants you defined and discover

that there are words for every single tree. There are

words over your marriage, There are words over your ministry,

There are words over your purpose, There are words over

your influence. There are words over your legacy. And the

word of God is fuel for you. The word of

God is fire for you. The word of God is

life for you. And when you find when you find

him in the word, and he finds you with his word.

You don't go back. You don't go back. It's his

word that sustains you from going back. You you don't

need to go back because you have a better and

a higher and a superior word. Let's stand this morning.

I'm going to ask the Destiny team to come. Would

you come and just prepare to minister to us one

more time this morning. I'm thinking, if you've got a

tree that is despairing, the Bible says Proverbs certain teen twelve,

hope deferred makes the heart sick, but hope fulfilled. It's

a tree of life. When your hopes are fulfilled, it's

a tree of life. And maybe you've got despairing. Maybe

you've got discouragement, Maybe you've got fear. Maybe you've been

partnering with the wrong thing. Holy Spirit wants to encourage

you this morning. Holy Spirit wants to encourage you this morning.

There's fresh life for you. Let's pray. Can we do it?

We're gonna pray. I'm gonna invite you to come and

be ministered to, and then we're gonna worship. As we

close this morning, let's say this together, Father, I welcome

a renewed mind. I welcome your superior words. I welcome

words from above. I welcome you taking the logos, the

written word, and making it alive. I welcome your voice

over my life, over every tree, every tree of significance,

every tree of desire, every tree of need. I thank

you Father, that these needs and desires, that you have

them in your heart concerning me. That you are redeeming

my trees. You are restoring my trees, You are rebuilding

my trees, and you were giving me the leads that

bring life to every single area of my life. Father,

I give you the praise for it today in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, Amen,

thank you Church. Let's worship today