Think About Thinking

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

And so I know that many of you have know me now and you've heard stories about my family.

I'm married to my wife, Bridget.

She's incredible.

We have three children, Parker, Mitchell, and Bray.

I wanted to share a short story about Mitchell.

So this is about three weeks ago, and I'm putting him to bed, and he's starting to fade, but Mitchell's the type that he'll just be like talking as fast as he can until he's just out.

And so I'm talking with him, and all of a sudden he said, Dad, you know, I keep having this dream that I go to school without my pants on.

And I'm just wearing my underwear.

Nothing else.

Now, many of us have had a similar dream that we've been to work or we've been to school or something in only our underwear, right?

Not just me and my son, right?

Help us out.

So he tells me that this is his dream.

And so uh I said, and he goes, Dad, I just keep having it.

I said, buddy, I'm so sorry.

You know, that is not fun.

You know, I've had a dream like that many times too, and it's not fun to go have that dream, and I it's also really embarrassing, which then he responded with, no, it's not that embarrassing.

He said, you know, it's just weird.

You know, like one of those fun weirds.

Now, as a father, I thought, wait, what is this fun weird?

Because I need to make sure we never get a call that there's ever been a fun weird that has happened, right?

So then I responded with, buddy, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean by fun weird?

Which then he responded with, he was completely out, snoring, sleeping.

So all of a sudden, I'm like thinking about this, like, oh man, what what is he he thinking about this fun weird?

So the next day I asked him and said, Hey, Mitchell, yesterday you said you had this dream about going to school and then it's this fun weird.

And so tell me about that.

He goes, I never said that.

I said, Yes, you did.

And so I told him the whole story.

He goes, Ha! You never know what I'm gonna say when I'm falling asleep.

But as a dad, I really, really cared about what he was saying and what he was thinking, because the way we think changes the way we make decisions, which changes the way that we live and the way that we make whatever we do in life.

And so the way that he's thinking was important to me as a father.

The way that we all think should be important to us because the way that we think would change the way that we live.

And so I wanted to know well, son, let me see if I needed to guide your thinking here, because this is not gonna be this fun weird that we need to have an incident one day.

So the title of today's message is think about thinking.

Think about thinking.

That we must all be thinking about thinking, and why is this so important?

Well, we're gonna get into that.

And point number one is don't care about what people think.

Who cares what people think?

And so often we live in a world with all of social media, we live in the world of all these different things that we care so much about what people are thinking.

And so most of today's message will come out of 1 Thessalonians 2, so we'll pick up there.

It is 1 Thessalonians 2, starting in verse 4.

It says, But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.

All of us have been entrusted by God as believers to go and make a difference in this world.

But we are not to be men pleasers in that.

We're not here to just please people.

We are here with the intent and desire to be pleasing to God, that no matter what our actions are doing, that we are pleasing to the Lord.

I know that there are many times that I would be doing something, and you know, most of us, we like affirmation.

And so I would be doing something, and then I would, you know, hey, hey, babe, what do you think?

Talking to my wife, like, hey, babe, what how'd I do?

And I wanted to know because I wanted to know, I wanted her, as she's always encouraging in my life, to say, oh, buddy, honey, that was the sweetest thing.

That you are the best in the whole world, because we want affirmation.

And I remember after doing something at one point, and I wanted to just my wife to tell me how great I was as a husband.

And I remember God coming to me and just stopping me and saying, wait, why don't you wonder how I what the way I think about you?

Why don't you wonder about what I'm thinking about you?

And ever since then I keep reminding myself, it doesn't matter what people think, it matters what God thinks.

It matters the way we live, it matters what decisions we make, it matters what God thinks about it.

And so it we must all be concerned.

What God, what do you think?

Colossians 3 23 says, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.

Matthew 10, 28 says this, and do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

We should be concerned.

Lord, what is it that you think about this?

Whatever it is, every single thing that we do, we do it as unto the Lord and not to men.

So, God, what did you think about the way that I responded?

God, what did you think about that decision that I made for work or whatever it is?

Lord, what is it that you think?

What is, well, what could I have done better?

Now I know that today's world, you may actually, whatever you do, you may be a surgeon, you may be a business person, whatever it is, and you may actually do the best job you've ever done in your entire life.

And hardly anyone sees it.

Maybe nobody knows.

But now in this world of social media, you may make your biggest blooper, and then you go viral for that.

That is the world we live in, that we go for viral for potentially messing up something, but when we actually do our best, nobody may know about it.

But we go and slip and bust.

Well, that's gonna make a great YouTube video.

That's that that's gonna go viral.

And so as we look at this, we must think, okay, who is one of the coolest people that have ever walked the planet?

And it's not like whatever generation you're in, it's not Ponzi from Happy Days, it's not Patrick Mahomes, nobody like that.

Who is the coolest person?

It's Jesus.

Jesus is the coolest person.

So look at Philippians 2 and verse 5.

It says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Now, we all know certain people that may get just a little bit of authority on this earth, and it goes straight to their head, right?

That you've seen somebody and something they've gotten a promotion or whatever, and all of a sudden they're like the big person on campus, right?

Well, Jesus had all authority.

And how did he live?

It said that he made himself of no reputation.

If Jesus makes himself of no reputation, how much more should we be making ourselves of no reputation?

How much more should we be living in that way?

Now, the other thing is somebody could have wronged Jesus and he could have been like, I made you.

I brought you into this world and I will take you out of this world.

That's not what he did.

That's sometimes how we respond.

That's how our flesh responds, is like, oh, I'll show you.

Well, guess what Jesus did to show them?

He died for them.

He loved them so much that he actually gave up his own life for them, that he went and died for them.

Those that were mocking him, those that were treating him wrong, he just died for them.

So he wasn't worried from that perspective of what do these people think about me.

He thought, I love them.

And we can realize that we have God in us that will live through us, and that we don't have to worry about what people think, but we can worry about what God thinks.

And when we do that, it allows us to live differently, it allows us to live with such love like Jesus did.

Um Dr.

Timothy Keller, he wrote this in this book, and he's talking about how we do so much to please people, we do so much to try to win the affection of people.

And he said, we will get their approval only if we perform.

And so our self-worth will vacillate wildly depending on how we are doing.

We will be slaves.

We are not meant to be slaves to people.

We are meant to be servants of the gospel.

And so here we are, we get to be servants of the gospel.

But otherwise, if you put all your self-worth, if you put your identity in what other people think, you end up being slaves to them.

They end up living your life for you.

And so we must be looking to God, say, God, what is it that you think about this?

How how do you picture this?

He goes on to say this.

So if we try to authenticate and validate ourselves, we place ourselves in an infinite loop of delusion that will lead to either narcissism or self-loathing.

Now, I'm gonna ask a question.

It's important that you all maintain really good eye contact with me whenever I ask this.

Have any of you met somebody that's a narcissist?

Yes, but don't look over at your neighbor because suddenly I saw people look at your neighbor.

Now they're gonna think you think that they are a narcissist, see?

So, but what happens?

We all kind of fall into some level of delusion where we fall into this self-loathing or whatever it is because we're so concerned about what they think about us more than, Lord, what do you think about me?

And when we go to God to get our identity from God, we allow him to speak into us of who we are created to be.

And so that is our calling.

If it is our job to see if he is the one that created us, wouldn't it be nice to know what he thinks about what we're doing?

Isaiah 43, verse 7 says, Everyone who is called by my name, whom I have created for my glory, I have formed him, yes, I have made him.

Isaiah 43:7

God made you and I.

So why don't we go to the one that made us to say, Lord, what is it that you think about this?

Now, years ago, I was doing running our vehicle donation ministry here at Gateway Church.

And that is where people will donate vehicles.

We will then either fix them up and then donate them to a family in need, or somebody will donate a car and we'll sell it and then use the money to fix up another vehicle.

And so there would be at this time around a hundred cars donated through Gateway every year.

And so it's amazing.

It's amazing about the impact that gets that happens because of this.

And so there's this one time I went to pick up this car, and so I went and picked it up.

It was a 1985 Burick with Sabre.

Now it was not in good condition.

The original paint color was blue, but no one would have known that.

I knew that from the title.

It was as rusted, the the top roof was like sagging down, so I had to slouch when I drove it like this.

The exhaust was not vented out.

For some reason, it was vented into the car.

I smelled so bad when I would get out of it.

So here I am, I'm driving this, it's demolished all up and down every side.

And so I'm driving this vehicle, and I am right here coming back to the offices, so I stop at Chick-fil-A, right?

Because that's what we do.

And so I go to Chick-fil-A and I'm going through the drive-through.

So I pull up to the drive-through to order, and I go to roll down the window.

The window didn't work.

So then I thought, oh, I better open the door and place my order.

The door didn't work.

I didn't remember this until after, until this moment.

But the person said the driver's door only opens from the outside.

Well, if the window doesn't roll down, you can't open it.

So this car had a bench seat across the front.

So here I am.

I climb over the bench seat, gotta roll down the back window now to place my order, and it doesn't roll down.

So I open up the back door and I step outside and I'm sitting here ordering like this.

By now, the line's getting longer and longer.

Everybody's staring at me.

So here I am, I'm like, yeah, I need my number one.

Oh, wait, gotta get my Polynesian sauce.

Okay.

So I place my whole order, and then I have to get back in the car.

I forgot something.

I get back out.

Oh, wait, one more thing, place my order, hop back in.

Then I'm pulling around, smelling the fumes as I sit there, and I'm now up to the window.

Guess what?

I have to do the whole routine over again.

So then I climb over the seat again, I step outside, and all of a sudden I get my drink, and then I have to go and I set it up there, and then I come back for the bag, and I keep looking, and I can see that every eye in the whole drive-thru line is looking at me.

And they're staring at me like, what is this guy doing?

Like, come on.

You should have definitely not gone through the drive-thru.

You should have gone inside to order.

Now, this was my flesh speaking because I could tell I felt like I was being judged in this moment.

And I wanted to just all of a sudden be like, stand up and say, excuse me, everyone, this is not my car.

You know, I am serving in ministry and helping people.

And I thought, and all of a sudden, this was my like flesh saying, you better do this so that everybody knows.

And once again, the Holy Spirit just came, spoke to my heart, and said, Who cares?

You're doing this for me.

What you're doing is for me.

It's not for them.

Who cares what people think?

So today, whatever's going on, who cares what people think?

What is it that God thinks?

So, point number one was who cares what people think?

So, point number two, we care what people think.

And you're like, man, this guy, he needed a little bit more time to prepare.

I don't know if he noticed.

He just said, Who cares what people think?

Then he said, We care what people think.

I'm getting somewhere.

Just follow along.

So 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 7 says, But we were gentle among you.

1 Thessalonians 2:7

Why would we be gentle if we don't care?

This is following right after what he said, we are not men pleasers.

Why would we be gentle?

Because we care about what they think.

Just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children, so affectionately, longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

You know what?

We do care what people think.

Not for our identity, but we care what people think because God cares about what people think.

Here at Gateway we say we're all about people, and we've had people say, well, shouldn't you say we're all about God?

Well, we're all about people because God is all about people.

And so we are all about people.

And it's not that everything changes, it's what happens is whenever we grasp these, our motivation changes.

Our motivation changes because now we care about people.

We love people, but we're not worried about what they think from a selfish identity perspective.

We care about what God thinks about us, but we love people.

We love them, and so we want to be able to win people.

Jesus says in Matthew 4, he says that we will be fishers of men.

We will be fishers of men.

And so, how are we going to catch men and women for the kingdom of God if we don't love them?

We should all love people.

This is not just my job as a pastor, to go win the people, to go win the world.

This is our job as believers.

My job is just to equip you to do the work of the ministry.

It's your job to go do the work of the ministry, to go out and evangelize, to go and be an ambassador of Christ.

That's your job.

And so here we are.

We are fishers of men.

Now, I know some of you know this about me.

I've preached a whole message about this.

I love to go fishing.

I feel like I'm pretty good at it.

In fact, I brought a couple of pictures.

So if we could show the first picture, this is a fish I caught.

Um, that's a double digit.

Then you go to the next picture, another one.

This is all, I think, on the same day.

Um, and then there's this newbie that I was teaching how to fish, and so it, I mean, I think he's finally getting it.

It's taking a while.

I'm doing my best coaching him.

But if you could show this other picture, oh yeah, so that guy.

Uh, give us a more and so here I am.

I'm trying to, excuse me.

So here I am.

I'm trying to fish.

And whenever I love fishing, I do everything I can to get better at fish, at fishing.

But by doing that, I have to know what fish like.

I have to know what they think, I have to know what they do.

And so I was from a young age constantly learning about fish.

I knew what kind of grass they like to be in, I knew what kind of log they like to be in, I knew what they ate.

I would like, oh, look at this worm.

It says it's scented and flavored.

No, that's not good.

They're not gonna lie.

But because I cared about fishing, now I care about people.

And so I want to know about people, I want to know everything about them, I wanted to hear their story, I want to hear what happened in their life, I want to know what their kids are like, I want to know what their parents are like, I want to know everything about people.

But it's because I love people.

This is something for all of us that God put something in us to be fishers of men and women.

And we're not gonna reach people if we do not care about people.

And so we have to learn about people, we have to care enough to be diligent to seek out people so that we can know all that we have, all that God has for them.

Now, um, and Paul.

Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament.

That's a lot.

That's more than anyone here.

Right?

But here's what's unique about that.

So, Paul, in all of his books and all the different things he wrote, he constantly is changing in his vocabulary, his vocal style, how he expresses emotion, application of reason, illustrations, figures of speech, how he argues.

In Acts 17, 22 in Athens, Paul describes God in a way that pagans can accept.

He quotes authorities that his listeners respected.

He quotes the Torah to the Jews, and in Acts 17.28, he quoted Artus to the pagans.

In Athens, he chose five different ideas about God from the Bible that the present philosophers at that time could agree.

Something else about Paul is that it was he changed his name, and there is nowhere in the Bible that said that God changed his name.

There are many theologians that his name was Saul, changed to Paul.

Saul was a very Hebrew name, Paul is a very Gentile name.

There are many theologians that believe that he, Paul, changed his name to Paul in order to reach more people, in order to reach the Gentiles.

Saul was Hebrew, and if we think about who was the king before David, it was Saul.

But then Paul allowed him to go preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

And so there's a chance that Paul even changed his name for the sake of winning more souls.

That's not just those that are in ministry.

Now, we can be more crafty in how we communicate the gospel to those around us, our friends, our family, our co workers.

And so Paul.

In First Corinthians 9, verse 21, says to those who are without the law, this is how he became it says, I became to the Jews as to the Jew and to the Gentile, to the Gentiles, and then to those who are without law as without law, not being without law towards God, but under the law towards Christ, that I might win those who are without the law.

1 Corinthians 9:21

He was constantly changing his methods, his strategies.

He was never changing the word of God.

He was transforming the way he communicated to people.

He never tried to transform the word because the word transformed us, we don't transform it.

And so we can't alter what the Bible says.

What we do is we become more diligent in how we will communicate it to those around us.

That is our job.

Is to see how is it that I could say this to a coworker in today's climate that this would make sense, right?

So that is what Paul did.

Now, uh, I was in a class and I remember somebody asking me, well, they I knew like they believed in aliens, and so they're asking me about aliens.

And so I thought, you know, if Paul can communicate to the philosophers in a way that the philosophers would understand, maybe I should be able to communicate in the way that alien lovers would understand.

So then they ask me my belief on aliens, and so I respond with shh, they're listening.

They can hear everything.

We're talking on the wrong frequency.

Listen, there are spiritual beings out there.

Let me show you in the word of God.

If you want to talk about life outside of what we what you can see, there is life, but it's in the Bible.

They're called spiritual beings.

Because I thought, listen, I have to learn how to get people into the word of God wherever they are.

And so there may be a coworker, there may be somebody that you need to reach.

It's your job.

God placed you there for a reason.

So get creative in how you will bring them into the word of God in the same way that Paul did.

So point number one was who cares what people think?

Point number two is we care what people think.

So point number three, we care what people think.

So point number two is the emphasis is on caring.

We truly care.

Because of what God's done in us and through us, we care.

We are empowered to care because of what God's done in us.

But now the emphasis is on thinking.

We live in a world that truth is relative.

We live in a world that the belief is that the truth is relative.

Truth is not relative.

Truth is a person, his name is Jesus Christ.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And so we know truth.

And so we can share the truth to everyone.

But this is the world we live in, and it matters what people think because it matters in the way they live their life, in the decisions that they make, and it changes their beliefs.

And so people think wrong, they will believe wrong.

And so it truly matters.

So this is why I was so diligent with my son Mitchell saying, So why why why did you say that?

Because I want to know what it is that his thinking process is, because that would change his beliefs.

And so in 1 Thessalonians 2 11, it says, As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

And so we are like fathers that are caring about the way they think, because the way they think changes their lives.

And Psalms uh no Proverbs 237, it says, as one thinks in his heart, so is he.

As one thinks in his heart, so is he.

It matters what they think, it matters the way they process.

And I know that we live in a world that seems so divided right now, but we have truth.

And so it matters what people think, and it matters in how we communicate it to them, and it matters that we do it with love, that we have to be loving to people.

It seems like the two methods of love that can come out of most people is one, we love them so much that we don't say anything, or we love them so much that we hit them in the head with the Bible.

There's a great middle ground, guys, and it is loving them into truth, loving them into righteousness, loving them into the fear of the Lord.

We can love them into what God has called for them.

Romans 12, verse 2 says, Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Romans 12:2

We get to allow God to help transform us by changing the way we think.

When we repent, it means that we have changed our thinking.

What we need right now is the world to repent.

We need to change the way we think so that it aligns with the word of God.

So this happened a few years ago.

I was going around and on the weekends, I like to hop around to different campuses of Gateway Church.

And so I was going around to some different campuses, and I was at one particular campus, and this woman came up at the end when we do altar ministry, and I was there to pray for people.

And so she came down, and so the first thing she said is, I need you to pray for my divorce.

And so I said, Okay, so are you still married?

She said, Yes, but that's not for long.

So I need you to pray for my divorce.

And I said, Okay, well, for as long as you're married, I'd like to pray for your marriage.

And because what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to change the way that we think so that it aligns with the word of God.

So I said, for as long as you are married, I will pray for your marriage.

And so she was not happy with me.

That was not her desire.

And so I said, Hey, is your husband here?

And she said, Yes.

And so I said, Great.

Well, would he be open for counseling?

He said, No, he's not open for counseling.

I said, Great.

So would you be available for count and open to counseling?

She said, Well, I mean, you know, I'm typically the one that's willing to do things right, so yes.

But I know he won't be, so I said, Great.

So I, which one is your husband?

Pointed him out.

I said, great.

So I waved him down and just come on down.

So then I said, Hey, your wife is so ready for counseling and ready to make this so much better.

Would you be willing to do as much as your wife is?

So then he agreed to it.

Now, neither one of them were that excited about me wanting to pray for their marriage and everything.

And so then all of a sudden they uh were like, okay.

And so I said, well, uh, I understand there are biblical, there are reasons that people could get divorced, but for now, what I want to pray for is your uh marriage.

And so they were like, okay, we should have chosen somebody else.

So all of a sudden, I just went to war, and I was like, Lord, I pray right now that you, you, whatever you join together, let no man separate in God.

I pray right now for a complete healing.

And they're just like this.

And so I was like, hold hands, hold hands.

Make you, I'm gonna praise the Lord that you're gonna get used to holding hands.

Lord, I pray right now for a complete healing, Lord, I pray for a generational blessing, Lord, I pray and I'm just praying, and they're just like they're like, we came to the wrong.

And so then I said, Listen, I want to meet with you, I want to do counseling with you.

So they agreed to it.

So I started meeting with this couple, I started praying for them, I started doing counseling with them.

I also got in with another marriage counselor, and so we started believing for the marriage.

So then it had been about three months, and I happened to be back at that same campus, and uh it was baptismal weekend, which next week is baptismal weekend, and it is a time for new life, and so if that's you, you may want to get baptized.

We have all the clothing and everything you need to get baptized, so whichever campus you're at, get baptized.

So this was baptismal weekend, and I was in the hallway and I was greeting talking to people, and then I was like, Oh, I have to go see baptisms.

And so I walk out.

This was at one of the campuses, it was right outside you go in the door, like one of those pools out there, and people are getting baptized.

I walk out, and the first thing I see is that same couple coming up out of the baptismal, holding hands.

They were holding hands and just getting baptized together at the same time, and they came up, and then all of a sudden they started kissing all over each other, and now it's like, oh guys, that's this is a baptismal PG.

And so all of a sudden they're just all over each other, and then they look over and see me and say, Pastor James, hey! So they come running out of the baptismal, run over, give me a huge hug, got my clothes all wet, huge hug, and I was so excited for them.

But you know why?

Because I cared about what they were thinking.

I cared, saying, Listen, I want to do everything I can to get all of our thoughts as lined up with the word of God, because if you want the victories in your life that is we're all called to, then we must take whatever our thinking is and do our best to line it up with the word of God.

And so that is what our job is.

It matters what people think, it matters.

And so if it is a son or a daughter, or we may have to, and they're grown, you may have to be more careful in how you structure it, but it matters what they think.

If it is a coworker, if it's a friend, if it's whoever God puts you in front of, it matters what they think.

It matters what we all think.

So don't care what people think, but then care.

Because of what God did, we can care.

Because of how much God's forgiven you and I, we can forgive others.

Because there was no hope for us except God, we can care.

But let's care about what they think.

Let's care about what they are processing and how they are processing it.

With that, I just want to take a moment and pray with us, and we ask this question every single week.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to me?

And so, Lord, I'd pray right now that you would speak.

Lord, what is it that you would highlight within this message for us?

Lord, thank you so much for your goodness.

Thank you for the way that you care about us, and because you care for us, we can care for others.

Lord, thank you that we get our identity from you and not from me.

We are created in your image, and we can look to you for what it is that you think about us.

Lord, help us to have the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to know how to shape people's thinking.

Lord, you're such a good God.

We love you so much.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.