Let's Get Your Mind In Order

Get out of your head. That's a horrible place to

take your orders.

Am I preaching or am I preaching? Every meditation, every

loop that starts with self ends in one of two places.

I want you to look for this in your life

this week. It's either going to end in scarcity or shame.

Every sermon that you preach to yourself, and you are

always preaching to yourself. In fact, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that

our problem is we spend too much time listening to

ourselves and not enough time preaching to ourselves. Isn't that

what David's Psalms have shown us? Where he would say

to his soul, it's time to go to school. Bless

the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless his holy name. He's preaching to himself, and so

are you. But when you preach to yourself from yourself, your.

Sermon will always lead to scarcity.

Brene Brown says that the number one meditation of many

of our hearts.

Is not enough. She says we apply it to time.

We apply it to money. We apply it to our talent.

The sermon that plays in our mind, if we would

ever stop and listen to it, it starts every morning,

not enough.

How much sleep did you get last night? How much

money do you make on that job?

Graham asked me the other day, Dad, is $ 56, 000 a

year a lot of money? I said, it is until

you make it. That might be the Devil's favorite sermon.

Not enough. He preached it to the disciples, because they.

Looked at 5,000 men and women and children, and Jesus said.

Feed them. They said, well, we don't have a whole lot.

We have five loaves and two fish, but that's not enough,

because they were starting with themselves, but they were standing

next to the source. I wonder how different the story

would be if you would ask the source instead of

asking yourself. Check the source. He's more than enough.

Somebody shout, he's more.

He's more. Y'all don't ever shout in the back of

the room when I start hollering like this. I know

y'all don't like it when I holler, but this is

not a silent sermon.

This is a loud sermon.

Somebody shout, he's more. More than enough.

Every need, every.

Deficiency, all my failures.

His blood is enough. His grace is enough. His word

is enough.

The law of the Lord is pure, reviving the soul.

But if I start with myself, I end with scarcity.

It's a loop.

Because I start down here, and.

So by the time I've looped around through my day.

I end my day feeling depleted. I wonder if you've

got a new loop. I wonder if you got a

new loop and started with the source instead of starting

with yourself. I wonder how the cycle would change if

you started with your source. I know it's basic, but

didn't David start with the heavens and then move.

Toward his heart? The skies declare the glory of God.

They show forth his power day after.

Day and night after night and day after day and

night after night. All I have to do to.

Stay in step with God is keep the beat of

heaven happening inside my heart. There's always enough in heaven.

There's always enough patience in heaven. There's always enough provision

in heaven. There's always enough bread in heaven. There's always enough.

Always enough. Always enough.

My God shall.

Supply all of your needs according.

What have you got in that loop? What have you

asked God?

To fill your empty places. When you start with yourself,

you end in scarcity. You start with yourself, you end

in shame. Because I look at myself and I feel

like David. David does something weird. I think he wrote

this psalm.

It's contested.

He might have written it, he might have not written it,

but let's give him credit. Because this is a psalm

that embodies a characteristic known as wisdom poetry. It kind

of switches beats in the middle of the song. It's

going on and on about the skies and the heavens.

For many years, they thought it was two different poems

put together.

As they were studying back and trying to find out

how it was written and when it was written, it

was such a sharp break at verse 7 that they thought, well,

maybe this is a different thing. We're talking about the

skies and the sun and the stars. Then all of

a sudden, David makes a break in verse 7, and

he starts talking about the law.

Of the Lord.

That's what he says. It's perfect, refreshing the soul. Look

at verse 12. But who can discern their own errors?

So he is an imperfect man looking into a perfect law.

He's looking at what the law is and what it

does and how it brings peace, wisdom, and joy. But

yet he knows that he has broken the very law

that produces the very things that he wants. I don't

think it's much of a break because he is contemplating

how the heavens are able to effortlessly declare the glory

of God.

But he cannot.

Because I'm stuck in a cycle called sin.

And there are secrets in my heart.

That no matter how much I dress them up with

the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart

fall short of the glory of God. Paul knew it too.

He said what the law was powerless to do in

that it was weakened by the sinful nature.

Look what God did. God started a new loop. Amen.

See, through the law, man tried to reach his way

to God. But it was a cycle of shame caused

by sin. So I reach and fall short and try

and fall short and repent and fall short and get

up and fall down and reach and fall short and

try and fall short and get up and fall down.

And God broke the cycle for in the fullness of time,

God sent forth his son in the likeness of sinful

man to be a sin offering. For what the law

was powerless to do in that it was weakened by

the sinful nature. God did by sending his own son

in the likeness of sinful man. So that we can

say there is therefore. Now no condemn. There is therefore.

Let me give you a new loop.

No condemnation. No condemnation. No condemnation.

For those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is the kind of gospel preaching that got me

to the cross. This is the kind of gospel preaching

that will break the chains of shame off of your life.

This is the kind of gospel preaching that you can

preach on Monday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday afternoon.

You can preach this stuff to yourself. There is therefore.

Now no condemnation.

Why?

Because I'm in Christ.

In other words, touch seven people.

And tell them, I got a new loop.

I got a new loop.

That's what the gospel gives me, a new meditation.

And watch this.

I no longer live by situation. Get ready to jump up.

I live by revelation. I know who he is. I

know who I am in him.

You better touch seven more people.

Tell them I got a revelation.

I got a revelation on whatever I go through. I

got a revelation of who's in the fire with me.

I know what he did. I know who he is.

I know who I am in him. I got a

new loop.

I'm losing my voice.

Y'all shout for me. You get that in your heart?

You'll be finishing the devil's sermons in no time. He

might start them, but you'll let grace finish them. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, the devil will be scared to talk to you.

He will.

Because every failure he brings up is going to trigger

within your mind a new loop to realize that grace

is greater than my failure.

Grace is greater. I don't know. Maybe you're going to

live in a new loop.

It is not the sermon that I preach to you

that determines the course of your life.

It's the sermon you preach to yourself.

It's what you say to yourself let the words of

my mouth and the meditation of my.

Heart be acceptable Acceptable. Accept. Accept. Accept what God says

about you.

Reject everything else and live your life.

Under an open heaven.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies

declare his wonder. Day after day they pour forth speech

and they don't need any words to do it. It's

a silent sermon. It's the silent sermon that determines whether

or not you step out on faith or stay in

your comfort zone. It's the silent sermon you preach to

yourself that determines whether you continue to live in a

place of regret and resentment or you step forward into

your tomorrow, believing that God will use all things for

the good of those who love him and are called

according to his purpose.

It's not this. It's the second sermon. I always thought

it was so weird that the that the preacher would pray,

let the.

Words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart

be acceptable in your sight. But I get it now.

He was saying, there's two sermons happening. There's what I

say to you, and there's what you say to yourself.

And you've got to learn how to be the coach

of your own soul. I wish Davos Sweeney was here.

He could help us.

I was considering hiring a coach recently for leadership. And

I wanted somebody who could help me to analyze my

own leadership. And that's probably a good thing to do,

but I was praying about it. And God said, be

your own head coach. Head coach.

You hear me?

I thought about titling this message, Help, My Mind is

a Mess, and I Don't Know Where to Start, to

put it in order.

That would be more accurate to our real lives, but.

I decided to call it the silent sermon instead because

I found out that I have a second self. I

have the self that tells me everything that's wrong with me,

and then I have this second self.

It's not really even me.

It's a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance.

It's the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in me.

When I say he's in my heart, I'm not talking

about an organ any more than David is talking about

the sun as being a celestial body. He's talking about

the faithfulness of God in poetic language.

It is theology wrapped in poetry.

So when he said the meditations of my heart, I

thought I need to be my own head coach. I

think that I need to let the God in me

talk to the me in me. I think I need

to start letting my second self talk to my.

Screwed-up self.

I even started doing it practically … For me, I

have to get out of my head, so I have

to write things down, because up here is ….

I can't keep it straight. It comes real fast. But

when I write it down, it helps me to slow

down a little bit and focus. Slow down.

It gets that constant so that the real me can speak.

And I write letters to me from the other me.

I know a schizophrenic pastor is not what you always

pray for.

I'm going to help somebody, though.

I write on the top of my page, I write

down every time I do this, three times a.

Week, Holy Ghost coaches notes.

I write it down and then I talk to myself

like I like myself, believe in myself, see myself, and

know myself. Because I figure all of those are characteristics of.

The God in me.

So if I can sit down long enough to listen

to what Elijah heard as a still, small voice. See,

the wind came through the rocks, and Elijah heard nothing.

I could preach a good sermon. We could sing a

good song. You might not get it. The fire blazed high.

Elijah heard nothing, nothing reassuring.

Wind blew. The fire, the earth started shaking. Earth, wind,

and fire did an opening act.

Elijah wasn't impressed, but the Hebrew word is interesting.

It says God was in the whisper.

It was in that silent sermon that Elijah realized that

what he was.

Running from was already taken care of.

It was in that silent sermon that he realized God

had already appointed someone to put to death those.

Who threatened his own life. It was in that silent sermon.

That Elijah realized that there was already a successor appointed, that.

His ministry had not been in vain.

It was in that silent sermon that he realized that

there was still work to be done, and I can't

stay in this place of self-pity anymore.

It's the silent sermon. The silent sermon.

I wonder if that's why Joshua told the people not

to say anything for the first six days they walked

around the wall. because he knew they would start saying

stuff to talk each other out of going into the

land God had given them.

Sometimes the best strategy is shut up. I know you've

always wanted to do this, and you.

Hated touching your neighbor in church until this point, but

look at them and say.

Shut up. That's the strategy. Shut up.

Well, y'all like that a little too much. I'm worried

about Rock Hill. There might be a fight in the

parking lot. And on the seventh day, you can shout,

but it's the shout after the silence. So I write

little coach's notes to myself. No, you can't see them.

They're not for you. I don't talk to myself like

I used to as much anymore.

I still do. I'll never forget asking.

Amy Corbett, do you always walk around telling yourself what

an idiot you are?

She said, I've never done that in my life. Oh, yeah,

me neither. I was asking for a friend. I said,

she's on to something.

I realized one time I would beat myself up if

anybody else was talking to me the way I was

talking to me. I'd beat myself up. I would beat

them up if I was bigger than them. I would

beat them up if they didn't know any moves. I

would beat them up. And I'm living in loops of

shame and scarcity. And God has freely given me his grace.

And it'd be life-changing for you to start some new loops.

It'd be life-changing for you to pray what Pastor Mickey prayed.

It'd be life-changing for you to change your silent sermons.

Listen to them. Do they start with me? They're going

to end in shame. Do they start with me? They're

going to end in scarcity. But if you start with

the source... I bet you'll find springs of living water

that have been waiting to well up within you.

They're waiting to burst forth.