Lost In Thought

Lost in Thought

If you have your Bibles, I’d like to invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And while you’re turning there, just a little update. As you probably know, if you were here last week, last week was our legacy offering. It’s something we do once a year. And so we always come back and we tell you what we’ve done. And so if you’re new here, we want to say that this is a once a year thing. And so you all can check Instagram for 30 seconds if you’d like. So it’s a give off. And so I’ve got the totals for you on who won the give off. So here’s Shirley. Okay, we got Team Shirley over here. We got the youth. Here’s the totals for Legacy Offering this past Sunday. BC Kids brought in an incredible 1,198.50. And that’s just up to that’s just up to fifth grade. So no parent involvement in that at all. It’s incredible. And they just all had that money, huh? That’s amazing. And BC Youth brought in $1,200 and 82 cents. If you’re doing the math, that’s like $22. Dad’s thinking, dang. So what do they what do they win? Oh, they win a pizza, yeah, pizza party. So give it up for the youth. Incredible. Way to go. Congratulations. The BC adults who were not in the competition brought in last week $22,182 and 20 cents. Let’s go. That’s a big jump from last year. So we want to say thank you. But one thing that was really amazing to us is it wasn’t about one giver, it wasn’t about five big givers, but the participation this year was absolutely incredible. So I wanted to say thank you all for uh being a part. And uh let you know that our commitment to you and our commitment to God is that everything that we do uh we pray about. Uh I am in submission to uh governing board of the church, and every budget that we do, every big purchase that we make is run by them. Uh we take a financial accountability really seriously, and so thank you all for trusting us uh with that. And everything that you give to this church, be it last week, be it this week, is all about advancing the kingdom of God in the city. So, man, we love you so much. Uh we’re so grateful for you. And um here we go. Here we go. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 3 says this.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

And so we are launching a series this morning that I’m very excited about. It’s called Lost in Thought, and we think it’s a fitting thing to do in the month of October. I’ve got a couple things that you may not know about the month of October. I it’s not be that’s not why we did the series, but we think it’s kind of just interesting. If you didn’t know this, the first week in October, which is what we’re, I guess, in or coming out of, maybe, is what uh the United States has called the National Mental Illness Awareness Week. That’s what we’re currently in. And then October 10th is World Mental Health Awareness Day that’s recognized all across the world. And so we just think it’s interesting. Um, and what we’re gonna do for the next four weeks is we’re gonna talk about your thought life, your mental life, and how to win the battle in your mind.

The Battle in Your Mind is the Most Important Battle of Your Life

And so uh I’m gonna do I’m gonna do this, it’s kind of like a mental exercise as we get started. And it’s this I’m gonna say some words, and when I say the words, what I want you to do is I don’t need you to respond, but I want you to notice when I say these words, what happens on the inside of you? Does it create tension? Does it create peace? Does it create anger? Does it create indifference? But just notice your internal reaction. Okay, notice what happens here when I say here and here when I say these words. Are you ready? Okay, here we go. Ready? Word number one Trump. Biden, Israel. Mask, immigration, abortion. Transgender, Fox News, CNN. Now, I want you to notice something, and it’s this is that I did not make an argument in any way. I didn’t take a position. I didn’t tell you what to think. I just said words, like single words, but I guarantee that some of you, when I said certain words, your heart rate went up. Some of you got angry, some of you got defensive, your blood pressure went up. Some of you have already decided you don’t like me. Why? The reason is this is because your brain has pathways. And your brain has been trained by what you watch, what you listen to, who you follow on social media. And your brain is trained to have an automatic response when you hear words. And that’s a single word. Now I want you to imagine to multiply that by 50,000. In fact, that’s what uh that’s what psychologists think, that we have between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day. And listen to this. 70% research shows 70% of those 70,000 thoughts are negative. And so, and so if you’ve ever felt like you just can’t shut your brain off, if you’ve ever felt like your mind is just going and going and going and going, I don’t know if that is that just me. Right? 3 a.m., you’re like wide awake, you’re replaying a conversation, you’re thinking about all the things you wished you had said, or that you’re mentally preparing to say, you’re worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, or maybe you’re like you’re thinking about all the things you gotta do tomorrow. Or maybe you’re you maybe you’re doing this, and then I do this, I’ll be honest. You’re at a meeting at work, and then someone’s talking to you, and then you realize that you hadn’t listened to like a single word they said. It’s like, are you where did you go? And it’s like, I’m not, I’m not sure. I just went, I just went off somewhat because my mind was somewhere else. Or maybe like you’re trying to do something with the family, but the mental chatter just won’t stop. And it’s like this constant noise of thought in your head interrupting what you’re trying to do. Raise your hand if that seems at least a little bit familiar to any of you. Some of the men are thinking, like, no, not me. I never think. I’m allergic. I don’t believe in thinking. Listen to me, man. You’re emotional too. Just in a different way. You still make poor choices that come from bad thinking. Even if you’re a manly man. Do you know why people smoke? You know why people drink too much? You know why people uh cuss people out in traffic? Right? You don’t you know why you slam the door and punch the wall? Not because you’re so tough. It’s because there’s something going on here. Right? You you know why you’re grumpy all the time? It’s an it’s an emotion, right? It’s emotion that comes from thinking. My point is this if you if you think you’re so manly that your thought life doesn’t matter, you’re blind. Right? And people who are paying the price for that blindness in just you, it’s the people around you. Also, let me just say this: that saying your thought life doesn’t matter is saying that a huge amount of scripture doesn’t matter because scripture has an incredible amount to say about our thoughts and our minds. The good news is this God has given you the ability to improve. Did you know that? Not in your own strength, in his strength, but I just want you to know this. You can become a better person. Right? You’re like, well, you can’t teach a new dog and old dog. You’re not a dog. You can grow. You can change. And some of some of you, you’re like your emotion, is like it’s all just built up, you know, over it’s like it’s like just a clogged tube for like the last 45 years. You can grow. You can you can learn. And and and like, so my point is this. If your thought life is working against you, I just want you to know you don’t have to live that way. And God has given us tools, very practical, real tools on how we can address the thought life that we all experience. But it’s a battle. And it’s a battle you’re gonna fight, it’s gonna you’re gonna fight it your entire life. Think about Paul’s language in the scriptures that we wrote. He talks about he’s talking about your mental life. He says these these phrases. Wage war. Wage war. Have weapons, demolish strongholds, take captive every thought. This is this is warfare language. He sounds like William Wallace from Braveheart, right? It’s like he’s just saying, he’s just saying, you don’t just say like, he’s not saying like, just think happy and everything will be fine. No, he’s saying there’s a battle happening, and you need the weapons. But the good news is you have them. It’s not a battle with your neighbor, it’s not a battle of politics, it’s not even a battle with your spouse. Right? Sorry, honey. It’s a it’s a battle in your mind. And it’s a part of the Christian faith and part of discipleship to Jesus that a lot of people are oblivious to. They think Christianity is like all nice and lovey dovey. And don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of love and there’s lots of grace in Christianity. But sometimes Christianity is about demolishing strongholds. Sometimes Christianity is about taking thoughts captive. Sometimes Christianity is about warfare. And so if you’re taking notes this morning, specifically for this morning, we’re going to be talking about this for four weeks, but this morning, my title, if you’re taking notes, is this You don’t have to live this way. You don’t have to live this way. So, Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful for you. We’re grateful for your word. We’re grateful for your church. We ask that in these moments together that you would help us to open our hearts and open our minds, and that you would speak and that you would help us to listen and to implement the things that you teach us. And it’s in your sons, let me pray. Everybody said Amen.

You are the Thinker of Your Thoughts

Okay, well, today what I want to do is I want to give you three truths on how that I that I think are going to change how you think about your thought life. Three truths that are gonna help you start winning the battle in your mind. So these are three things I want you to write down if you’re taking notes. Number one is this write this down. The battle in your mind is the most important battle of your life. The battle in your mind is the most important battle of your life. And you might be thinking, like, I don’t know, PD, I got I got lots of battles. I got bills to pay, I got a marriage to work on, I got kids to raise, I got a boss that’s driving me crazy. And I get it, but but let me tell you this that none of those battles matter as much as the battle in your mind. Because your mind is where every other battle is won and lost. And and I’ve noticed this. I wonder if you’ve noticed this. You don’t have to go out of your way to try to find negative thinking. Right? Like you don’t have to find negative thoughts. They find you. It’s like, it’s like uh it’s like mosquitoes. You know, like you you just you’re just trying to have a nice evening outside. You didn’t invite the mosquitoes, you don’t want the mosquitoes, right? But like there they are. Here’s what’s annoying. My wife, I don’t think she has gotten a mosquito bite in like 16 years. She doesn’t spray, she hangs out, just living her best life. Me, I’m a mosquito magnet. I wonder if anybody’s like this. Like I go pick up a package from the porch, three mosquito bites. Get something from the car, like two mosquito bites. And it’s like, I was fully clothed. I don’t even know how they do it. They’re flying into my clothes. It was like, yeah, it’s like the mosquitoes are like, guys, he’s here. Let’s go. But mosquitoes, right? Think about mosquitoes. You know what mosquitoes do? They suck your blood. And they drain you and they leave you itchy and they leave you irritated. And that’s how negative thoughts are the same type of thing. They drain you, they leave you irritated, and you didn’t even invite them. And so you wake up in the morning and like before your feet hit the floor, negative thinking starts coming. Hit all the things you wished you had done better. All the ways that you were wronged. All the things that you have to do. It’s like you’re driving to work, you’re just minding your own business. Negativity starts hitting your head. Three negative thoughts that you didn’t invite. And remember, 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day. With 70% being negative. And if you’re not intentional, just like mosquitoes, they’ll take over. Right? And so if you were to go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, I want to read it one more time. It says this for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they, it’s talking about the weapons that we have, have divine power to demolish strongholds. We’re going to talk about that. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Listen to this. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Just look at his intentionity. We wage war, we demolish strongholds, we demolish arguments, we take captive everything. This is not passive Christianity. And for me, this is just my pastoral opinion. You don’t have to think you don’t have to agree with me. This is what I think. I think most people are way too casual about their mind. You just accept it. That’s just how I am. I I hear that in my office. I counsel with people. That’s just how that’s just how I am. Paul says, Paul says, you’ve got to fight. You’ve got to fight. You’ve got to fight the chatter that’s taking you out of your purpose and out of God’s plan. Growing up, I played Little League. Any little league players in here? Wow. Barely. Okay, okay, yeah. It’s because it’s men and men don’t raise their hand. It’s cool. It too does. But you know, when you go up to bat, when you’re in Little League, you know what the other team does? Hey, beta bad. Swing, bad, bad, hey, bad, baby, they call it chatter, right? So it’s like, what why are they doing that? They’re trying to mess you up. They’re trying to get in your head. Right? And that they’re trying to distract you from what you’re trying to do. That’s exactly what’s happening in your thought life. It’s chatter. It’s noise. It’s the voices that are trying to get into your head, and you can’t let them. And here’s why I believe that this battle is the most important battle is that your mind determines your life. Now listen to me. Even for the Christian. You think about the Israelites, Numbers chapter 13. God had been good to them. He had parted the Red Sea, bread falling from the sky. There was water from a rock that followed them around. A rock followed them and provided drinking water. And it says this that no one was sick or feebled, not a single person among them. No one was sick, no one was feeble. But then when it was time for them to enter the promised land, they were too scared. My ten spies said, man, the people are too big. We can’t do it. We’re like grasshoppers. It’s like it’s like we can’t, and and and listen to this. Because of that, because of that thinking, an entire generation died in the wilderness because of fear. Right? That’s not what God had for them, but that’s what they chose. Anybody think I didn’t choose that? Yeah, they did. They chose that right here. And the psalmist, looking back at this moment, he says this, Psalm chapter 78, verse 41. Yes, again and again they tempted God and they limited the holy one of Israel. They limit do you know you understand that? They limited God. Not because God wasn’t powerful enough, but because their thinking was broken. And so you can have you can have all the promises of God on your life and still be full of fear. And your negative thinking can limit what God can do in your life. And so if you’re thinking like thoughts don’t matter, they matter. They matter. Because your thoughts produce your future. And so you’ll never outgrow your need to think right. That’s the point number one. The battle in your mind is the most important battle of your life. Here’s good, some good news. Point number two. You are the thinker of your thoughts. You are the thinker of your thoughts. And that might sound obvious, but I promise you, most people don’t believe this. Most people think their thoughts happen to them. They just around like they’re victims of their own mind. Listen, mate, you’re not a victim. You are the one doing the thinking. Right? You are the thinker of your thoughts. I remember years ago, I think my daughter was probably, I don’t know, three years old, something like that. I was sitting on the sofa and she was walking to the bathroom, and she said, Oh, look, a buddy. And if you don’t know, at our house, when Grace was younger, um, she used to call bugs buddies. Because whenever I would have to kill a bug or I would relocate a bug, I would say, sorry, buddy. I still I still do. I’m sorry, buddy. You gotta go to the park. So she thought, so she said, like, oh, look, a buddy. And like some my spidey sense went off. Like I knew something had invaded my house. And so I went over there and I picked her up. I’m like, where is it? Where is it? And uh she like and she points down, and what she points down to is a giant black widow. And I’m like, oh honey, just close your eyes and pray. Because I sent that black widow to its maker. I usually move bugs, but like a black widow in the house, they have crossed the line. That kind of bug cannot live in my house. And so so uh, you know, I did, and then so that I immediately I I call the I call the exterminator. I’m like, we need you here now. Right? And so I pay so they come and they spray the garage, they sprayed the outside of the house, they sprayed the inside of the house, and it costs money. It was an expense. But I choose what comes into my house. I choose what comes into my house. Uh a little while ago there was a guy who was selling solar, right? Door to door. He rang the doorbell. I was dumb enough to answer. I don’t know why. I was in a I was in a benevolent mood as soon as I opened it, I was like, but he’s talking to me about solar, you know, and how much I’d save, and you know, electricity’s gonna be going up and all this stuff, and I’m like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then and he said, he said, could I come in just for a couple minutes and I’ll just show you? And I was like, No, I’m fine. We’re fine here. There’s a storm door like between us, it’s still locked. I’m like, I’m cool. I like the distance. I get to choose what comes into my house. I get to choose. Right? Some of y’all ain’t never been to my house. That’s not an accident. I choose what comes into my house. And and and in the same way, you choose the thoughts that take residence in your mind. You get to choose. Right? You you that no one can take this from you. And so I want you to say this with me. I am the thinker of my thoughts. Say that. I am the thinker of my thoughts. Say it again. I am the thinker of my thoughts. Not my circumstances, not other people. Oh, we can stop. Not other people, not my spouse, not my boss, not my past, not even the devil. I am the thinker of my thoughts. Look at this. Proverbs chapter 23, verse 7 says this. For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. As he thinks, so is he. As he thinks, so is he. He thinks. The man thinks. The woman thinks. You are the thinker of your thoughts. And what you’re thinking determines who you are. And what you’re thinking determines where your life goes. And most people tolerate intruders in their mind that rob them of their peace, destroy their faith, steal their hope. And they think they don’t have any control. But you do. Right? And so what you have to do is you have to learn to think about. Listen to me. Think about what you’re thinking about. That’s right. I believe it’s Stephen Covey. He says, he says that mankind is the only creature capable of thinking about what we think about. But you can think about what you think about. But it takes some time. It takes awareness. Right? So a lot of people are like, oh, I don’t know, I’m just having a bad day. It’s like, how come? It’s like, I don’t know. It’s like you don’t even understand your own mind. And so you have to think about what you’re thinking about. Listen to this. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Paul would say this: do not conform to the pattern of this world. I love Pastor Shirley. I just use the reference, and she says, Amen, because she knows what verse I’m about to read. She’s like, oh yeah, so good. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Quote it, Shirley, just kidding. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Notice the difference. Not conform, but be transformed. Not conform, but be transformed. And so that this here, this is possibility. This is choice. God is saying you have a choice in this. He’s telling you to not be conformed, but be transformed. He’s telling you that. He’s not saying what he’s he’s talking to you. This is what you need to do. A couple definitions for you is this conform. It says, do not do not conform. Conform means this to be shaped from the outside. To be shaped from the outside. It means it means you’re at the mercy of everything around you. Right? So you have a good day, good mood. Bad day, bad mood. Boss is cool, you’re cool. Right? Boss is mean, you’re a mess. Someone cuts you off in traffic, your whole day is ruined. But you’re shaped from the outside. That’s what to conform is. You’re shaped from outside forces. And so you’re living at the mercy of your circumstances. Conform, to be shaped from the outside. Transform, on the other hand, means this to be shaped from the inside out. To be shaped from the inside out. It’s a Greek word metamorphosis. It’s where we get the miracle that happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. To be transformed. It’s being renewed on the inside, regardless of what’s happening on the outside. Right? I play video games occasionally. Not a lot, you know, I don’t know, an hour a day. Let’s try. Okay. Yeah, an hour a day. Not a lot. I’m not like a gamer, but I like to play video games on my little laptop. And I’ve noticed this now, though, with games, like when you open a game, it does this, it does this at the bottom of the loading screen. Trigger warning. This game contains this and this and this and that. Trigger warning, trigger warning. Like we live in a triggered culture. That’s not a political term, that’s a psychological term. What is a trigger? A trigger is a response caused by a particular action, process, or situation. In other words, to be triggered is living at the mercy of others. Someone does something and you react. Someone says something, you’re offended. Something happens in the news, you’re outraged. You’re living triggered. Where your internal life is dictated by your external life. Right? And what you’re doing is you’re giving your authority to someone else. Right? That you have authority. You are the thinker of your thoughts, but you give that away by being triggered by outside forces by conforming to the world. But listen to me, you don’t have to be a victim. Right? You don’t have to be a victim of other people’s moods and other people’s actions. You don’t have to be a victim of whatever triggers you net. Why? Because you’re the thinker of your thoughts. And listen, if the murder of Charlie Kirk and the whole war that’s going on right now between like free speech and censorship and all of that, one of the things that those things can teach us is this that the systems of the world don’t want you to be able to think for yourself. That’s the one thing they don’t want. Right? They want to tell you what to think. And they will kill somebody who is teaching you to think something that you that they don’t want you to think. Right? But no matter what the world does, they do not have the power to control what you think. They can imprison you, they can beat you, they can torture you. They cannot control what you think. You can think for yourself. Young people, you hear me? You can think for yourself. You can. You don’t need someone to tell you what like you can choose what you think about things. Right? You can choose if you’re gonna if you’re gonna spend your mind meditating on the stuff they want you to meditate on, or you can choose to use your mind in a better way. You are the thinker of your thoughts, and your thoughts are either helping you or hurting you. And you might think, yeah, that’s just like practical advice. It’s also spiritual advice. Look at this. Mark chapter 4, uh, Mark, excuse me, six, verse 5 and 6. Surely, you know what that says, probably? I’m sure she does. Okay, it says this. He, Jesus, could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. He context is this. Jesus here is in his hometown. And it says this. Jesus could do no miracles there. Not would not, not chose not to, not was mad. So he he could not. Jesus could not do miracles there. Why? Because of their lack of faith, because of the way that they’ve chosen, because of negative thinking, right? Think about that. That Jesus, the Son of God, who walked on water, who raised the dead, could not do miracles because of people’s thinking. Negative thinking can limit God. Isn’t that incredible? Right? I thought God does whatever he wants, but you zoom out far enough. Look, in a practical sense, in your life, you can limit God by the way that you choose to think. And we’re gonna talk about uh this more next week, just so you know. Uh we’re just kind of like laying some groundwork this week, but next week we’re gonna talk about this. But whatever you think about repeatedly, it becomes easier for you to think about. Whatever it’s just like it’s like exercise. You know what I mean? The first time you do a squat or a deadlift or a bench, it’s super hard. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Your mind is the same way. Right? The the the more you think about it think in a certain way, it becomes easier. Scientists call it neural pathways. Where it’s like, it’s it’s amazing that now they can like scan your brain. And so I’m not talking just like something that happens in like your thought life. Actual biology, that your brain, there’s there’s physical grooves in your brain that they can see on these machines. Physical grooves that are created based on what you think about the most often. And so and so if you think negative thoughts all the time, well, your brain gets really good at being negative. That’s some of y’all’s problem. Right? Is that it’s just so easy for you to be negative because you have so much practice. Right? If you think fearful thoughts all the time, it gets really easy for you to get into fear. Right? That you have you have you have actually wired your brain to think like that. The good news is this is that you can think positive thoughts, faith-filled thoughts, the thoughts of God, and your brain gets really good at that too. You can retrain your brain, but you have to be intentional. That’s why you you cannot just be someone that is like, I just think the way that I think, it’s just that Irish blood in me, oh, that’s how I was raised. It’s like that’s how I was raised, is not an excuse for anything. Right? Look, I’m a parent, I am an imperfect parent, I have parents, they’re great parents, they’re not perfect, there’s no perfect parents, right? But once you grow up, like you have to decide that you that you have the ability to change. God can help you and retrain how you see things and how you process things. What does that mean, practical? It means that you have the authority over your thought life. You don’t have to be a victim, you get to decide. Why? I’m saying it over and over and over on purpose. You are the thinker of your thoughts, not your circumstances, not other people, not your past, you. And if you don’t like where your thoughts are taking you, you can change direction. But it requires that you’re intentional. Number one, the battle in your mind is the most important battle of your life. Number two, you are the thinker of your thoughts. Number three, and I’m done, you can’t have a positive life with a negative mind.

You Can’t Have a Positive Life with a Negative Mind

You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind. Some of you are thinking, well, well, David, I’m I’m just I’m just a realist. I’m just a realist. I just I’m just being honest about life. No, you’re not. You’re being negative. There’s a difference. Right? A realist sees the good and the bad. A negative person only sees the bad and calls it being real. You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind, even if you’re a Christian. And let me be honest, counseling gives us. I know there’s some pastors that don’t do counseling, and that’s okay. For me, it’s so valuable. I think it’s I’m hoping it’s helpful to people. You know, I give them advice, they ignore it, they meet again, you know. I hope it helps them in some way. I heard a pastor talking to me, he’s like, go ignore someone else’s advice. But but I meet with people because I I hope it’s helpful for them, but also it’s helpful for me because I understand what’s going on in people’s worlds, right? And there’s a lot of Christians that I counsel with that are saved, born again on their way to heaven, who are like living like hell. Not because of sin, but because their mind is a mess. They’re saved, but they’re anxious all the time. But they’re saved, but they have no peace. They’re saved, but they have no joy. You can’t have a positive life with a negative mind, even if you’re a Christian. Your salvation does not automatically fix your thought life. Right? Your salvation gives you the tools to fix your thought life, but you got to use them. And I hope I hope that you can see how how different it is based on who you are, right? So, like think about this. There’s maybe two people and they go through the exact same thing, right? Maybe their boss comes and they get some feedback from their boss and they respond two completely different ways. Right? One thinks, oh my boss doesn’t like me. My boss is out to get me. The other one thinks my boss loves me. My boss wants me to get better. It’s the same conversation, same words, same boss, two completely different responses. How? They’re operating through two different mental filters. Same facts, different filter. You have a negative filter, you have a negative life, no matter how good your circumstances. I’m sure y’all probably know Henry Ford. Uh he has this very famous quote. This is probably what the only thing that a lot of people know about Henry Ford is this quote right here. But he says, whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right. Whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right. Think about that. If if you believe you can, you’re right, you’ll find a way. If you believe you can’t, you’re right, you’ll find an excuse. And so it’s not just about like thinking better thoughts so that we can be happier people. Like your entire life is at stake. And let me say this. I believe you can change your thought life and you can impact not just your destiny, but your legacy. Right? Because you can you can pass down things to your children and your children’s children. And so you taking responsibility for honoring God in this amazing mind that He’s given you doesn’t just impact you. It impacts your children. It impacts your marriage. It impacts your spouse. All of it flows from your thought life. And so if you want better relationships, start with better thoughts. Like if you want more peace, start with better thoughts. If you want to fulfill God’s purpose in your life, start with better thoughts. You can’t have a positive life with a negative mind. And listen, I’m not, I’m not saying to ignore problems. I’m not saying to pretend everything is fine when it’s not. But I’m saying you can go at problems with a spirit of faith instead of a spirit of fear. Like you can face challenges with confidence in God instead of worry. So no one’s saying ignore problems, but but the posture in which you approach problems has everything to do with how you choose to think. And the next three weeks, I just to let you know, I’m gonna be super practical. I’m gonna show you how to do this. But right now, I just want you to get one thing, and it’s this you can’t have a positive life with a negative mind, even if you’re a Christian, even if you go to church every week, even if you read the Bible and pray. If your mind is negative, your life will be negative. And the good news is this you don’t have to live like that. Like you don’t have to live with racing thoughts and constant anxiety at the mercy of your circumstances, like with mental chaos. There’s a better way. There’s a better way, and we’re gonna walk through it together. And so this week I’ve got an assignment for you. It’s a simple one. And it’s this, it’s simple but it’s powerful. I want you to practice what I’m gonna call thought awareness. And some of the men are like, oh, here we go. Self-help. Right? Like, just simmer down. Listen to me. Right? Just know it, just notice. Just pay attention, right? What shaped my mood today? Maybe, oh well, oh yeah, I did have that. Oh, yeah, I was kind of thinking about that. And man, I had a great day. What wow, I was just really in the moment. I was really, I was thinking, I was thinking about how good and great and faithful God is, and I had an amazing day. Right? Just notice what shaped your mood in the day. What had power over me today? Right? Am I living conformed or am I living transformed? Am I shaped from the outside? Oh, you’re having a tough day. Why? Because of something that happened on the other side of the world? Come on. Right? Are you shaped from the outside, or are you renewed from the inside? Are you living that these forces shape you, or are you being transformed here, and that transformation affects your life? Because you can’t change what you won’t acknowledge. Right? So just notice. Just notice. And I want you to, I want you to say this to yourself, it’s a big number. 32 times a day. You’re awake for probably 16 hours a day, so it’s like every 30 minutes. I want you to say it out loud. I cannot have a positive life with a negative mind. Wake up, say it. I cannot have a positive life with a negative mind. You get in your car. I cannot have a positive life with a negative mind at lunch before bed. Like just say and just let it sink in. You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind. And I because we all want a positive life. But we can’t have it with a negative mind. And next week we’re going to talk about really practically how to tear down strongholds. What’s a stronghold? A stronghold is a well-defended lie. In your heart, in your life, that you have built up brick by brick by brick. And I’m going to show you four R’s are going to be step-by-step process for how you can demolish strongholds in your mind. And so I’d love for you to commit to be here for the entire series. I think it’s really really help you. But I want to just make a little proclamation over you today, and then we’re going to pray. This is what I’m declaring over you. You don’t have to live with a negative mind. You don’t have to live at the mercy of racing thoughts. You don’t have to live bound by fear and anxiety. You don’t have to live triggered by every little thing. You are the thinker of your thoughts, and with God’s help, you can win this battle. The battle is real but winnable. Right? And you have the authority, but you have to use it. Now I want to declare this over you in Jesus’ name. This is going to be a season where God teaches you how to win the battle in your mind. Here’s my closing statement. The battle of life is won and lost in your mind. The battle in your mind is the most important battle of your life. This isn’t just one battle among many, it’s the battle that determines all the others. Two, you are the thinker of your thoughts. You’re not a victim of your circumstances. You have authority over what takes residence in your mind. Three, you can’t have a positive life with a negative mind. Even as a Christian, negative thinking will produce a negative life. The good news God has given you the tools to win the battle of your mind.