Be Transformed | Renewing My Mind (September 27th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

All right, well, let's uh get our Bibles open right now and uh jump into God's Word.

I'm gonna get you to turn to two places.

Okay, Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

That's kind of our key spot that we're in, and then Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And so you see it all there on the screen.

And so keep your finger kind of in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

We'll get into that uh in a second, but you might remember from last uh message last week, we ended off by talking about the opportunity, okay, the opportunity that lays in front of each one of us here to truly be transformed uh in our hearts and in our minds.

Okay, if you are weary, okay, from whatever your issues might be, right?

You've got some issues in your life that you're seeing needs to get changed.

Maybe for you uh it's debilitating insecurities, right?

And these things just plague your heart and your mind constantly.

Maybe it's for you it's it's worry, right?

And this is it's cycling through all that, it's keeping you up at night, it's worry, it's anxiety, it's fear, it's for you maybe flashes of anger.

It feels like that anger is like just below the surface, and and you're kind of white knuckling it, trying to keep that down, but it continues to pop up and it's a problem.

Maybe for you it's just it's selfish pursuits.

You're all about you, you're all about your thing, you're all about your hobbies, you're all about whatever, and it's it's driving you, you know, some of your relationships uh apart.

Again, if you are convicted by by these types of things, whatever it might be for you in your life, if you are grieving the sin, you're grieving the brokenness, or or maybe it's choking on the shame of it all.

Maybe you carry that shame with you all the time.

Regardless, this series here that we've been going through, and we've got a message today, a message next week to finish it all off.

This is intended to help us turn the tables or flip the script on that narrative.

Okay, you and I have, like I said, this incredible opportunity here in front of us to see real actual transformation happen uh deep within us that will impact literally every area of our lives.

Okay?

Literally every area.

Now, one of the amazing things about all of this, and hopefully you're starting to see this now, is that this change that we're talking about, this growth that we've been talking about is totally within our reach.

Okay, it's not a million miles away, and you're never gonna you're never gonna get there.

Okay, because I think sometimes though we kind of believe that.

We we believe these things about transformation that aren't even true, they're not even accurate.

Okay?

Like maybe for you, it's like if I just pray hard enough, you know, in enough times and with enough blood, sweat, and tears, maybe then God will finally stop being so stingy and finally start paying attention to me and throw me a bone and change me already.

That's not the right attitude.

That's that's not based in what's actually true.

Maybe some of us we believe that the idea of transformation is this mysterious or or largely unknowable phenomena or or process that that God just randomly allows some people to experience, but but not others.

That's not true either.

Because as we'll see here today, the scriptures are actually very straightforward about what transformation involves.

But it's amazing to me how easily we miss it.

Right?

We we know these scriptures kind of, but we but we just kind of breeze over them and we don't really recognize, oh, yeah, that's what that's actually saying to us.

Okay, and we know as we've been looking at Romans 12 that it's about renewing our minds, renewing our minds.

It's choosing to think about and then believe what is good and right and true instead of the lies that have attached themselves to our hearts, right?

It's then practicing that that mindset, that that approach over and over again as God's Spirit binds that truth to our souls deep within, and then we learn to just live out of that.

Live from that place.

Okay, so if you're you've been kind of discouraged about transformation, and and maybe you're kind of thinking, yeah, when I'm in my like late 90s, maybe then I'll start to see a slight change in my life over this issue that's bothered me for maybe decades.

Listen, start to allow yourself to kind of accept that that all of this growth is really within our grasp.

It's not very far from us.

Okay, so as we get into this here, I just want to kind of start our time off with prayer.

And so I want to invite you to join me uh as we pray and ask the Lord to do this work of heart uh in our hearts of transformation.

All right, let's pray.

God, we thank you uh for your scriptures, we thank you for your word, we thank you that they're actually very straightforward and clear about what transformation involves, Lord.

I pray that we would grab hold of this today and every day, Lord, and and recognize that uh by grace we can change.

We we re we really can.

And so uh, Lord, um bless your church today, Lord, by drawing near to us.

Uh bless your church today by uh helping us understand the scriptures and some of what this process looks like, Lord, and and and motivate us according to the gospel uh to love truth and to cling to it and allow that to drive our actions and our behavior, our very lives.

And so, God, we pray that as all of these things take place and we learn about this, Lord, we pray that Christ would be glorified and honored, Lord.

We pray it all in his name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

Romans 12:2

Uh, this has, of course, been our theme verse for uh for this series, and uh, you know this first part.

I'm gonna read this.

It says here, uh, do not be conformed to this world.

Okay, so that's what we focused on.

We we dove into that last Sunday.

We've been breaking this verse into three parts.

This week is the second part, um, but but that do not be conformed to this world.

First part there.

Um, how'd you do this week?

You know, as you've been thinking about all the different ways that that you have uh conformed to this world.

Have you thought about that?

Did you spend some time assessing kind of where you're out, remember or where you're at with that?

Uh maybe you remember uh that we talked about how to begin to figure out the different ways that we conform uh to this world.

And we talked about kind of three things, and let's get this first one uh up on the screen here.

Uh it's first of all determining um our behaviors, right?

This is how we identify those areas of our lives.

We talked about this, right?

The behaviors, our actions are the parts that we can see, and certainly other people can see are kind of sideways in our lives.

Right?

Like, why do I rage and start screaming and yelling and making a fuss when I get upset?

You know, maybe for you it's like a gambling addiction and you're online, playing online poker all the time.

That's an outward behavior.

Okay, there are all kinds of issues and behaviors.

We have to first of all identify those things.

That's like the fruit of what's happening in your lives.

And then there's this second thing here, you see it there, it is it's determining the desires now.

Right?

Starting to think through what are what are the desires of my heart that are that are manifesting themselves in these outward behaviors.

Every behavior that we have can be traced back to a desire that has gone askew.

Right?

And an idol, something that we now love and want more than we want God.

And you remember we talked about this, that source idol chart.

You want to throw that up on the screen?

You remember this from last week.

We're not gonna go through all of it.

Um, but on the left side of that column there, you see the four main source idols that are surging and brewing in the deepest recesses of all of our hearts.

You've you got this desire for comfort or approval or control or power.

Every behavior can somehow be sourced back into one of those uh four idols.

And so we've gotta we've gotta do some digging a little bit and try and figure out what are my what are my idols?

What am I wrestling with there?

And then the next thing we talked about, beneath the idols are really the beliefs that we have.

That's the third thing.

Or the lies that are beneath the idols that drive the desire and then drive the behavior, and that's how we live our lives.

So did you spend some time thinking about that?

Right?

What are some of the beliefs that I have deep down about, let's say, comfort if that's your idol?

Like, do you you believe deep down that you deserve pleasure?

You deserve that comfort, or you need it more than you actually do.

Those are the those are some of the lies that are surging around in our hearts that we believe deep down.

Now, listen, all of that, those three things right there, that's all last week, right?

But all of that is is a really like crucial part and step in the process of transformation.

It's figuring some of that stuff out, it's determining that.

Because when we see those three things and we can articulate what those things are in our lives, okay, then we can get to what the next part of Romans chapter 12, verse 2 uh says, okay, and here's what it is.

Romans 12:2

Look at it with me.

It says, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

By the renewal of your mind.

Okay, for years our minds get stuck in these ruts, right?

In these in these well-worn patterns, this this thinking, these beliefs that are that are off base, that, that, that are wrong, that are that are false, okay?

But but what happens is we live according to those things.

Okay, and so if we want to be transformed and we want to get to that place where some of these issues are now changing, it requires that our our belief system deep down needs to experience a serious shift.

Our belief system needs to change.

It needs to go from a kind of a surfacey kind of understanding of truth, right?

A kind of a head knowledge relationship with what's true, to deeper than that.

So to heart knowledge, to experiential knowledge.

When the Bible uses the word knowledge, that's what it means.

It's not talking about like learn a bunch of facts in your head, it's experience them, live according to them.

That's what knowledge really is.

And so we've got to get that truth from being surfacey down deeper into our soul.

And so if you're wondering, all right, that's making enough sense to me, Pastor, but how do we actually do this?

Well, that all brings us to this first thing.

Okay, first thing today, two points.

Okay, I can truly be transformed as I renew my mind, deciding to focus my thoughts and beliefs on the right things.

Okay, and this of course brings us to Philippians chapter four.

And so hopefully you're there in your Bibles, uh, verse eight.

And now this these two verses that we're gonna look at, verses eight and nine today, uh, this comes after at the end of a section where Paul is teaching the people, he's kind of giving his final instructions, he's he's encouraging them, and then this is what he says in verse eight.

He says, Finally, brothers, brothers and sisters, 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.

See how straightforward that is?

Think about these things.

Now, to think about something literally refers to what you tell yourself in your mind.

Okay, that's what it means to think about something.

It's what you tell yourself, what you what you say to yourself.

Now, I'm one of those weird guys, my family always catches me.

Um, I I talk to myself, which is like super embarrassing.

I don't know if any of you are like that, and yeah, we got a couple of hands, and uh, my family will come in, it'll be Ange or Karis all the time, right?

And you're like, so what you talking about?

You know, and and they make fun of me because I'm kind of weird that way.

But do you realize that that we all do that in our minds?

We all do that in our heads, maybe not as strange as me in actually saying it out loud, okay?

But that's what we do.

We tell ourselves things um constantly.

Okay, you and I have have multiple thoughts constantly running through our our conscious and our subconscious minds uh all the time.

At every moment of every single day.

It never shuts off.

Okay, meaning that we we are perpetually telling ourselves what we believe about the world.

We're always telling ourselves what we believe about ourselves, about about other people, uh, uh, about God Himself.

Right?

All of this happens so naturally and so automatically that we hardly even notice that it's happening.

Okay, so for example, many of us woke up this morning and and have have thought about or have told ourselves uh what we believe about uh our appearance.

Right?

You get up in the morning and you stumble into the bathroom and you're wiping the sleep out of your eyes and you're like, ugh, like you look in the mirror, right?

And and and for some of us, we are we're we're telling ourselves that and we're tying it to our identity.

And we're like, that that's who I actually am.

I believe that I look amazing this morning, or I believe that that who I am is tied to my body shape and and it affects our relationships, because then we walk into church and and and sometimes we we size other people up, and we're playing the comparison game.

If only I look like that, or I'm glad I don't look like that.

Right?

And you see how how what we believe about, what we think about how we look can actually impact many areas of life.

Right?

And on top of all of this, uh, we've all kind of told ourselves this morning uh what we think about church.

Whether you realize it or not, you've woken up and you've thought, man, what a what an opportunity.

This is so great.

We get to to gather with God's people or tune in online or come sit outside, the weather's nice and hear from God's word and worship and connect with other believers.

And so there are beliefs that you have about that.

Others of us have said, oh man, what a drag.

It's church today, right?

And I don't really want to get up, and I don't really want to do this.

Why do I, why do I keep doing this every week?

Maybe let's just sleep in or skip or or whatever.

Right?

We all have this soundtrack of thoughts and beliefs and opinions and attitudes and emotions and feelings and and and lies and and some truths for sure, playing through our minds and our and our hearts all the time.

Right?

It's just it's just going around the clock on a loop.

Okay, that's why that's why Paul Tripp says, you've heard me say this quote before, and we're gonna get this on the screen, but this is why Paul Tripp says that no one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one speaks to you more than you do.

I love that line, and that's exactly what he's talking about.

It's that it's that narrative that's constantly flowing uh through us, again, all the time.

Now, most of this, most of this speaking to ourselves, most of our thinking, most of our belief system that plays on repeat, this is happening uh in our subconscious, okay, or or or deep down kind of in our hearts.

Now, uh a couple of things to kind of help us even just understand some of the biology and and the science of that.

Uh we've got uh some really good friends of ours, and I've been chatting with her, and she's very, very knowledgeable and well-versed on this and studying this extensively, and so uh she's been explaining some of these things to you, and I found this again quite fascinating.

But um, but I've been learning that that our conscious mind, okay, so our conscious mind can process uh 40 bits of information per second.

Okay, 40 bits of information per second, whereas our subconscious mind can process 20 million bits of information uh per second, which is a lot.

Okay, and it goes to show us just how much more powerful our subconscious mind is than this than the conscious mind, and why our subconscious controls so much of our life.

Okay, so our our subconscious mind, what we what we think about and believe deep down, listen to this.

Our subconscious mind controls 95 to 97%, okay, of what you and I do in a day.

Did you know that?

Were you aware of that?

Now listen to this.

Okay?

Research shows that 70% of the average person's subconscious, okay, so their thoughts and and their beliefs, 70% of the average person's subconscious is negative and redundant.

Okay, negative and redundant.

Meaning that that think about it.

Most of us here in this room, okay, uh think about and believe what we think about and believe and are driven by, again, 70% of our thoughts and beliefs are our lies and negativity.

Okay, lies and negativity.

Okay, and that junk, again, it just plays on repeat all day.

Now, now when I as I've heard this and starting to kind of uh absorb this, that has been equal parts fascinating and appalling to me.

Right as I think about this is how we this is how we live.

Now, if if that's what the research shows us, okay, then then you can see why the Bible, why, why God Himself, who's the creator of our minds, right?

The conscious and the subconscious, okay, you can see why he tells us here in Philippians 4 verse 8, uh, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

Okay, think about these things.

To focus your your thoughts and and and your beliefs on the the right things.

You can see why he says that, because he he knows that that the direction uh our lives go in are massively influenced by the quality of our thoughts and our beliefs deep down.

Okay, and because we've we've all been affected by sin, okay, it means that that a big part of our natural kind of default setting, our mindset, our focus, is largely negative and wrong.

Now you might be thinking, that's kind of disturbing.

Like, like how do I how do I change this?

Like, like how do I kind of shift that whole 70% thing and and that negative loop that just plays over and over in my mind, the lies that I believe, how do I shift?

Well, let's just kind of take an example here of one of those source idols that we've talked a little bit about.

Let's just say that that you're an approval junkie.

Okay, let's say that that's a deep desire that you have.

You you know, you care too much about what people's opinions are of you.

And it would be a nightmare for you if someone rejected you as a person and cast you aside, or or even if someone just disagreed with you about something that you believed, and and and that approval need that you have deep down creates these deep feelings of insecurity and cowardice in certain situations.

And so, because of that, you end up just caving to whatever a person says or or thinks or or wants.

Okay, so again, if that's you, if that's you know one of your struggles, what do we do about this?

Well, again, after identifying those specific lies that we believe deep down that we looked at last week, okay, then it's it's about deciding to now focus my thoughts and my beliefs on the right things.

Okay, and God tells us here in verse eight exactly what to start thinking about, how to start shifting uh that focus.

And so we're gonna just like go through these eight words that that the Lord tells us to focus on here and think about.

Okay, first of all, look and just follow along in your Bible with me and underline these, right?

Highlight these.

He says, first of all, think about what is true.

Right?

Think about what is true.

Think about that that God, when it comes to approval, he's already given you his approval through the gospel.

Right?

He's already said, I approve of you completely.

You are my child, you are my son, you are my daughter.

You have to think about that.

You have to think about how his approval is, at the end of the day, the only approval that matters.

Right?

His approval is the only approval that that actually satisfies us.

His approval is the only approval that's that's worth clinging to.

Have you realized how how bad it is?

And it's just not worth it claiming to the approval of somebody else.

Because their approval of us can change on a dime.

They can decide all of a sudden that they they don't approve of us and they don't love us and they don't care about us or whatever.

Right?

Do you really want to like travel on that roller coaster constantly, or do you want to lock into the fact that that Christ's approval is on you now, regardless of your behavior, regardless of the up and down.

Weekend that you've already have in terms of your conduct and your thinking, God's approval on you is perfect because he sees you as he sees Christ.

Right?

And so we need to think about what is actually true when it comes to the issue of approval.

And top of that, keep going here, it says to think about or or decide to believe whatever is honorable.

Whatever is honorable, whatever is morally correct.

Okay, what's what's actually honorable here as a people pleaser is God's opinion of you.

That's the honorable thing, right?

And for you to learn to value God's opinion over other people's opinion.

Your high view of man that you that you have, that needs to come down a couple of notches, and your low view of God, it needs to come up a bunch of notches.

That is what is honorable.

Think about that.

Okay, next God tells us here to think about or to focus on whatever is just, whatever is fair, whatever is equitable.

You ever think about the grave injustice that it is that you've allowed your life, your behavior, your actions, your emotions to be dictated by the opinions and the approval of other morally corrupt sinners.

You ever thought about that?

That's an injustice.

It would be just to get your approval tied into the incorruptible God and his opinions and the fact that, again, he's already approved of you.

You're highly valued, you are you are deeply loved, again, as proven through the gospel.

Right?

Christ has saved you from sin.

Everything that Christ did in living the perfect life, that is now given to you the moment that you get saved.

All of your sin, all of your junk, all of your bad track record, that has all been transferred to Christ.

That's been punished, that's been taken care of in the cross, that's been tossed aside.

Now God looks at you as though you have accomplished what Christ has accomplished.

Right?

That is what you receive.

That's one of the amazing things that you receive when you get saved.

And of course, I would challenge and encourage anybody who has not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ to do that.

Realize what you get.

You get forgiveness of your sins, you get this brand new identity, you get all the love and all the approval that your heart craves.

Do you think about that?

Okay, what else does it say that we should think about and believe?

How about whatever is pure?

That's the fourth word.

Christ's approving love for you is like the most pure thing you could ever hope to receive.

Oh, yeah, and we have received it.

Right?

It's already yours.

Think about that.

Think about the, you know, and make the conscious decision to believe whatever is lovely.

That's the fifth word.

The Lord God Himself, of course, is lovely.

Think about that.

Spend some time meditating on that.

Focus your attention and your affections on his loveliness instead of that very unlovely kind of warped desire that you have for people's approval.

Right?

It'll cast light and give you much-needed perspective on what's going on and what's been the drive of your heart.

Next year we're called to think about whatever is commendable, whatever is truly admirable.

Again, how about the gospel itself?

Again, it's going back to and thinking about it and just appreciating what God has done for you through Jesus and what he is continuing to do in you through Jesus in rescuing you from these lies, from these desires for this human approval that you so crave, and of course, we know at the end of the day is so shaky.

It could be gone the next moment.

Seventh word it says, think about what is excellent.

What is excellent is what is good.

I mean, it is such a good and excellent thing that Christ is releasing you from the bondage to that approval idol that you have and that you're learning to live out from now God's approval for you, which of course you don't need to and can't earn.

He gives that to you as a gift of grace the moment that you get saved.

Lastly, I love how it says if there's anything worthy of praise.

Okay, all of the things in this list, everything that we're talking about here, are worthy of praise.

So do you do that?

Do you do you thank the Lord?

Do you worship him?

Do you do you praise him for this reality?

Okay, to be transformed by the renewal of your mind involves making a decision and shifting your focus here.

Where you might be kind of thinking, like, I really feel the need for that person's approval right now.

I feel that urge, that that that craving inside, but but but the truth is that I do not actually need it according to what's true.

I do not actually need it according to the word of God, according to what God says.

And I will not, I'm deciding now, I will not allow that crave for approval to dictate my life any longer.

I'm not going to allow it to govern me and lead my thoughts and my emotions and and my beliefs.

I'm I'm I'm done with with that way of life.

I will think about what is good, what is right, what is correct, what is true.

Now you might be thinking, like, okay, that again, that makes I think some sense to me, but how do I do that?

Like, I need more more practical help here in this.

How do I actually focus my thoughts on this?

Well, that gets us to this last thing.

Yeah, I can truly be transformed as I renew my mind, consistently practicing this mindset, knowing that God is with me.

Okay, consistently practicing this mindset is so key.

Philippians 4, verse 9 shows us this.

Philippians 4:9

Look what it says.

Paul continues, he says, What you have learned, okay, what you have received and heard and seen in me.

Okay, so so think about that.

They've they've learned from Paul's teaching.

Remember, he traveled there and he taught the people.

He they they've learned some things from him, they've they've received his teaching, his encouragement, his exhortation.

They've they've heard truth from his lips.

Okay, they've heard those things.

They they've seen him model all of that in his own life.

He's lived it out in front of them.

Okay, and so now he says, look what he says.

He says, practice these things.

Actually practice them.

And look, the God of peace will be with you.

The God of peace will be with you.

See, one of the things that I think we're all somewhat guilty of is receiving instruction or hearing truth, okay, and or counsel, and really all we do is that.

It's we take it out for a bit of a test drive.

Right?

Like, I okay, I believe that, and I'm gonna think about that for a little bit, but then we kind of we kind of put it away, and we end up just kind of going back to what we used to do.

Okay, but here in verse 9, Paul showing us that's such a critical part of thinking about all the right things that he said in the previous verse is now practicing them.

Practicing it.

Okay, not not giving up on the process, not not quitting because it's hard, but but learning to be consistent in our in our thinking, consistent in what we tell ourselves, right?

Consistent in latching on to what is true.

Okay, transformation involves consistently practicing the right mindset.

Okay, that's why we're told in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, to renew our minds.

Romans 12:2

Right?

Because our thinking tends to get negative and detach from what's actually true.

Right?

Hence the need for it to be constantly renewed, right?

And that's a that's a continual or ongoing action that requires a practice.

You know, another, again, I think fascinating thing that I've kind of been learning a little bit recently.

I don't know if you've heard of uh Dr.

Carolyn Leaf.

Okay, Dr.

Carolyn Leaf is uh is a neuroscientist, okay, she's uh she's a believer, and uh she wrote a book called Switching on Your Brain.

Okay, and in it, and I've I've lost this, she she explains that it takes 63 days, okay?

63 days to change the neural pathways inside your brain.

Now, if you were not uh a science guy like me growing up, you might be kind of wondering, what does that even mean?

Well, in in layman's terms, uh, neuropathways are are kind of the the grooves or the channels or again paths inside your brain that your thoughts and your beliefs travel down.

All right, so from the time that you and I are around six or seven years old, okay, which is when our subconscious is largely formed, okay, kind of amazing to think that it's formed that early in life, okay.

But from the time that we're around six or seven, we all have these already very well-worn kind of patterns or pathways that our thoughts and beliefs travel down constantly throughout every single day.

Now, if those thoughts, again, back to what we were just talking about, if those thoughts and those beliefs are negative, okay, if they if they are actually lies, then they of course will lead us to behaviors and actions on the outside that get us into this jam, into this place where we need transformation.

Okay, but but Dr.

Leaf's research shows that that our neural pathways can actually change.

Okay, just about like 10 years ago, neuroscientists didn't even think that our brains changed that much, but they're now just realizing that they actually change quite a lot.

Neuroplasticity is kind of the fancy word there.

Okay, but we can actually change and form brand new neuropathways uh in about 63 days.

Okay, as as we change our our thinking and our beliefs and our mindset.

Okay, but the key to that, the key to that is consistency.

We gotta be consistent in what we think about.

We've got to be constant in that.

Now, don't you find it kind of amazing?

It's awesome, right?

When when science ends up just confirming what the Bible has said all along.

Don't you love that?

I love it.

That you and I can actually, you know, or truly be transformed by the renewal of our minds, okay, that's Romans 12, 2, as we think about and choose to believe the right things, okay, Philippians 4, verse 8, by consistently practicing that mindset so that it becomes habit.

Philippians 4:8

Okay, Philippians 4, verse 9.

Philippians 4:9

Isn't it wild to realize and and understand that you and I can experience some significant transformation in a pretty short amount of time.

Like 63 days, that's like two months.

And again, I tend to, I'll just admit to you, I tend to have only a long-term view of transformation.

I tend to be a little bit slow in my tackling of believing the right things, thinking that, well, God is just gonna kind of magically do it over the course of multiple decades.

And then there's certainly a reality where transformation and sanctification is a lifelong thing, and we have to have a long-term view in mind here, but but it's not just long-term growth.

Growth can actually happen quite quickly.

And I love that.

It's so encouraging to me.

And then the key to this here is really thinking about the right things, right?

It's it's it's it's meditating on and it's applying God's word, right?

God's truth, and doing that regularly without giving up.

It's why the psalmist said, and you've heard this verse before, this is Psalm 119, 11, I have hidden your word in my heart.

I have hidden it deep down, meditated on it, I've had it come down, it's it's it impacts me.

He says, I've hidden your word in my heart, that I may not sin against you, that I may not live my life in my actions, in my behaviors, in my thoughts, in my desires, in ways that go against how you have created me and how you desire me to live my life.

Right?

Or it's why Jesus told his disciples that if you abide in my word, okay, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

And you will know the truth.

Okay, and that truth will, do you know what?

Set you free.

Set you free.

We've been we've been we've been saved to experience freedom in these types of ways.

Yet so many of us are caught up in the bondage of just going back to those lies.

I'm gonna travel those neural pathways in my mind over and over and over again, and we don't we don't jam the truth into those crevices and think about it and focus on it and meditate and pray it into our into our hearts.

Okay, so as you think about practicing a proper mindset here, uh again, thinking and believing what's true, I would really encourage you to do a bit of digging this week into the scriptures, okay, and look into some of those verses that specifically counteract the lies that you believe.

Those verses that that go against the idolatry of your heart, those verses that that counteract the behavior and the actions that that you want to see transform and that you engage in.

And then seize the opportunity here, right?

To to do whatever it takes to get that truth press down deep into your mind, into your, not just your conscious, but your subconscious, yet down deep into your heart.

And so a couple of things, I would encourage you to write, write out verses.

Write them, grab a journal like we talked about a bit last week, and and and whatever those verses are, after a Google search, you can figure out verses that correspond to my need for control, or my desire for power, or my desire for comfort that I have.

Look up some verses in there and then begin, like every morning, start your day writing those out.

Well, why don't I why do I have to write those out?

So that seems a little bit archaic and old school.

You don't have to do it.

I'm just saying there's something amazing about writing something and seeing it on a page.

Right?

And when we write something out, we have to slow, we slow down.

Right?

It's it's a slower process than typing.

And you write it out and it and you meditate on, you think a little bit more carefully about this truth and about what God's word is saying.

So I would encourage you to write it out.

Memorize it.

Have reminders pop up on your phone what the verse is and think about that during the day.

Grab somebody else who's in the church who you know kind of struggles with some of the similar things you do, and and hey, let's let's memorize a passage together.

And let's encourage each other and challenge each other on this so we can get God's word into our hearts.

I would also challenge you to just talk about what you're learning with people.

Talk with your spouse, talk with your kids.

When we're learning something, I find it a good thing to try and figure out like how do I how do I teach this?

Right?

So as you're learning something, try and teach somebody what you're learning.

That'll show you how much how much you really understand and what you're grasping, if there are any gaps in your understanding.

Talk about what you're learning.

Pray the scriptures.

Right?

Those verses that that you're memorizing, pray that the Lord would change you according to them.

Lord, help me to hide your word, your truth in my heart, that I may not sin against you, that I might be transformed.

That's a powerful way to kickstart your prayer life.

Right?

And as you do these things, I love the last part of verse 9 here in Philippians 4.

Know that the God of peace will be with you.

He is with you.

You're not on your own.

It's not this solo project where God's like, you better figure out how to how to get this truth in him.

No, the God of peace will be with you.

He will help you, he will bring peace where there's been a very big time lack of that in your soul as truth is bound to it.

Right?

And as this happens, he he again does that spiritual work of connecting the truth to us deep down in our hearts and minds, where it becomes sweet to us, where it becomes something that we that we love, where it starts to govern us and it starts to transform how we function and how we live.

Listen, there's more that we're gonna talk about uh next week.

As we're gonna talk about what it means to live according to God's will.

And as we start to to grab onto truth, it starts to transform us, how we will actually live according to the gospel, according to the identity that God has given us, according to his will.

It won't be this cumbersome thing that we're kind of forcing, but it but our hearts aren't really in it.

No, as we're transformed, we will live passionately for Christ.

All right, so much more coming next week, but I want to pray for us uh right now and have the worship team uh come on back up as we close in a time of worship.

But let's pray.

God, we thank you for again your word, Lord, and how it directs us and it it lines up, Lord.

And even as we start to kind of think through some of the some of what goes on in our brains and in our subconscious, Lord, how what people have just been learning in the last decade or so is what your word has been saying for thousands of years.

God, how marvelous are you.

Lord, how amazing is it that you knit us together, that you know us, that you created our minds, Lord.

And so the direction and the counsel that we receive in your word from you is because you know what is best for us.

And so, God, I pray that you would encourage your church in this transformation, Lord.

Lord, I pray that as we think about truth and as we think about being consistent and applying it to our hearts and meditating on it and living out from it, Lord, I pray that you would give us grace in that process.

I pray that you would help us, Lord.

I pray that we would do all of these things out of a desire to live for you because of what you have done for us in the gospel.

So, God, we thank you for this time together, Lord, and I pray that you would be honored and glorified through everything that we have talked about, through through everything that we were going to apply this week.

Be honored, Lord.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.