THIS Will Transform Your Life! Change the Way You Think

Can changing the way you think truly transform your life? Join us on this special episode of the "Faith and Failures" podcast as we explore the profound impact of renewing our minds, inspired by Romans 12:2. What began as a scheduled live interview with a remarkable military vet turned into a dynamic teaching session due to some technical hiccups. We take this opportunity to dive deep into the power of our thoughts and how they shape our actions and our destiny. From practical advice on taking notes to staying receptive to the Holy Spirit's guidance, this episode is packed with insights designed to help you lead an extraordinary, purpose-driven life.

Ever found yourself struggling between what you want and what you can realistically achieve? We use the relatable metaphor of buying your first car to discuss the importance of balancing desires with practical realities. This episode uncovers how your thoughts can influence every aspect of your life, for better or worse. We talk candidly about how past traumas and negative influences can affect your mental and spiritual well-being, and why it's crucial to align your thoughts with God's will. Misconceptions about worship and salvation are also on the agenda, helping you understand that good works should be inspired by faith, not an attempt to earn salvation.

By renewing our minds, we can find mental and emotional freedom in Christ. Through personal anecdotes, we share stories of overcoming irrational guilt and long-standing insecurities, providing practical steps like the "challenge of 17" to help you actively participate in this transformative journey. We also touch on the importance of intentional mind renewal, much like committing to a dedicated gym routine. If you've ever battled with negative thoughts, fear, or insecurity, this episode offers divine strategies for capturing and surrendering these thoughts to Christ. Don't miss the empowering message that God desires freedom for every individual, and that true freedom comes from immersing yourself in His Word.

Chapters

• 0:07 Transforming the Way You Think
• 8:52 Guarding Your Thoughts for Transformation
• 18:48 Renewing the Mind for Freedom
• 30:09 Intentional Mind Transformation Process
• 47:13 Overcoming Insecurity Through Mind Renewal
• 1:04:33 Finding Freedom Through Mind Renewal

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

faith and failures podcast. What is up, everybody? There has been a change of plans, as you can probably see. We were going to do a live stream with a military vet and my second camera would not work. I spent hours trying to get this thing to work and it just would not work. So, that being said, we're going to do something that I actually had planned on doing anyways, and it is a uh, more of a a teaching and studying. Matter of fact, I hear my audio just fine, so let me hook this little guy. Um, let me double check. So we're going to be talking a little bit, and I actually wanted to start a series about this, and this is a series that I actually taught in my church. Boom, uh, and this series is about, uh, transforming the way that you think. Now, if you're, uh, joining me for the first time, please make sure to subscribe, like and share this with somebody. My goal is that this will be an inspiration, that this will be a tool for you to use or for you to pass along to someone who is going through mental issues. Now, I say mental issues, some of y'all might laugh because somebody probably just popped up in your mind, but, um, what I'm wanting to do is um dive into how can we, as christians, begin to think more clearly and begin to think more critically. So I put together a small slide show and, like I said, my goal tonight was to do an interview, but a camera wasn't working so I planned on doing this Bible study type of live stream anyways. So this will be a continuing series. I think I have, let me see, I have at least one, two, three, four, five, six, seven on the on the series, so at least seven episodes worth of content that I hope you can find a.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Uh, if you're watching on your phone or whatever you're watching on, take some screenshots of the verses or write them down. It's important. I tell people all the time I'm a pastor of a church. If you don't know, I tell them hey, write this down. We even got little pads for them to start writing in. Uh, because you may hear something and I may say something that I didn't actually write down and you like it or you think it's good, write it down. If the holy spirit's leading you uh, he will, I believe, later bring it um to a place of maturity in your life. So, that being said, we are going to look at Romans, chapter 12, verse two. So it says this. It says don't copy the behavior and the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Then you will learn to know god's will for you, which is good and perfect and pleasing, or pleasing and perfect, uh, so I just just just so you know.

Speaker 1: 4:25

For me I study and preach from what is called the new living translation. It's a very understandable, palatable translation of the word, without going too far in one direction or having less of this and more of that, or leaving out thoughts. It's more of a thought for thought. So it kind of gives you a well-rounded, helps you with the purpose of what's being said, as well as trying to stick close to the translation as well. So if you are a King James only version person and you think that's how you get to heaven, you don't understand the word of God at all. So, anyways, let's go on. So, as you see in the title of this video, it's very specific. It's not a um trying to get you to click in and view it, it's.

Speaker 1: 5:15

It's something that I believe as a Christian, as a believer, as a teacher, as a pastor, that God desires for us to not live lives that are mundane, the same every day. He desires for us, I believe, to live extraordinary lives. And you may be thinking like, okay, I'm just this guy or I'm just this girl, how can I have an extraordinary life? Well, first of all, the way you look at things and the way you perceive things can drastically change your definition of being successful in life, being fulfilled and finding purpose. Those are things successful, purpose fulfilling, those are things that I believe, from cover to cover in the word, god desires for his creation, us, to live in that manner. Now, when I say live in that manner, that doesn't mean we're going to be billionaires, but what that does mean is that I believe that God designed every person, every believer, for a reason. What is wrong with this? Sorry, I'm having technical difficulties with this stupid thing. Okay, it's not going to go where I want it to go. Cool, it's been a rough evening with technology, so I want you to think about this.

Speaker 1: 6:45

As we go through this, um, through this little teaching series, I want you to think about your mind as being a battleground, and when I say battleground, I want you to understand that when the enemy tries to come at you, when the enemy tries to trick you, when the enemy tries to manipulate you, he is a hundred percent first going to start in your mind, cause if he can get in your mind, if he can get in your thoughts, he's got you, because whatever you think about, whatever you are consumed with up here, will eventually bleed out into your actions. So if he can get you thinking about rebellious thoughts, if he can get you thinking about negative things, if he can get you feeling like the world is against you and no one cares that you exist, he can get you to do something that will later be damaging for you or the people you love. So write this down if you take notes, but if you hold on, let me change this. If you want to change your life, you first have to change the way you think. If you want to change your life, you first have to change your mind. So obviously, the first question is okay, you're giving me great information, but how do I transform my life? How do I transform the way that I think? Because how you think matters. The way you think matters. Your thoughts, your life will move in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Your life will move in the direction of your strongest thoughts, whether it's positive, whether it's negative, whether you feel fulfilled or whether you feel like you will never measure up. You will allow your thoughts to manipulate or encourage and push you in whatever direction your thoughts are going, if you constantly are thinking negative, if you constantly are thinking bad, if you're constantly thinking about all the issues and all the problems you have. I'll give you this example Right now, my son is about to turn 16.

Speaker 1: 8:52

And so he is very opinionated and, I guess, intentional, of the vehicles he looks at. Well, he has a certain style he likes, he has a certain type of wheels he likes, he has a certain style he likes, he has a certain type of wheels he likes, he has a certain brand. Uh, and he's understanding very quickly that, um, reality check, you take what you can get, especially for your first car, and, in our opinion, me and my wife both are the older kids our parents were less financially stable than the second and third and fourth children, our brothers and sisters that we have. And I mean sometimes you just get what you get and you love it and you enjoy it. It's getting you where you need to go and you could be on foot. So he is in the market for a vehicle. He is in the market for a vehicle. So what he likes and what he perceives himself to get, or what he wants, he sees everywhere. There's a specific car I don't know if it's challenger, I think it's a challenger, no charger, I think has a four doors. Whatever, whichever one has a four doors, he really likes that car. He sees one everywhere. Now, when me and my wife were looking for a vehicle for her, we were looking for a specific vehicle, a certain make, a certain model, and so, as we were looking online, we also, in person, begin to see I begin to see it everywhere, because I had looked so much, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Negative thoughts, you're fill in the blank that you will let control your life. So if you can't see past your pain and your hurt, you will be negative all the time. If you can't see past your trauma and your drama, you will end up seeing nothing but your drama, your issues, your negativity will overtake your mind. So how do we transform the way that we think? So if you look back to Romans, let's go back to our key text.

Speaker 1: 11:18

You look back to Romans, chapter 12, verse two. 2 it says that we're not supposed to copy the behavior of this world. Um, I tell my church this all the time that we are, we as believers, we are we as church people should be the tip of the spear in the culture for what is acceptable and what is not. There's a reason that evil, manipulation lifestyles have become so acceptable in the christian and church culture because churches have produced weak christians that do not understand. Maybe they do, but they don't want to hurt feelings and so they allow things to happen. And what has happened in the modern church is it has done exactly the opposite of what romans, chapter 12, verse 2, tells us is that we are supposed to be different in our minds. Why in our minds doesn't say in our hearts, out of our hearts, things are produced, but in our minds it doesn't say in our hearts, out of our hearts, things are produced, but in our minds. That is where the battle happens. That is where we fight first. If the enemy can get your mind, he can get your heart.

Speaker 1: 12:37

If you've ever been and sadly it's more common than it is not nowadays, it's more common than it is not nowadays, but if you ever have a toxic relationship. It's so hard to think past that person, past that toxicity, past what they have given you the definition of who you are, and it ends up getting roots down into your very soul. They call them soul ties, and it is one of the worst feelings in the world when you do not feel that you can leave this relationship. You don't think you deserve better or you think that you can change them, and so what that ends up doing is causing serious damage to you and, nine times out of 10, serious damage to those around you that you love and care about. But you can't see past, you can't think past what has been done to you, or you can't think past this relationship, and it ends up being a massive issue.

Speaker 1: 13:40

So let's look, uh, oh, so uh, this verse right here that you see on your screen. This verse calls us to a radical renewal of our thought life, setting the stage for a life that aligns with the perfect will of god. Jesus didn't die on the cross so that you can act however you want and still be forgiven. That's what happens, but it's not a free pass for you to do whatever you want and then just say it's okay, I'm good, I got my fire insurance.

Speaker 1: 14:18

It's actually the opposite way and let me be very clear, that works do not earn. I had some people comment on some videos I think my church's videos actually and they were saying that works is how you stay righteous. But, biblically, works does not get you into heaven. Now, salvation produces works, like faith without works is dead. Okay, that's not saying that you don't have to do anything. Matter of fact, we have too many people in church that feel like they don't have to do anything and it's caused a massive wave of lazy Christians that just come and consume and they don't ever contribute. But we are called to to actually be active in our faith. We are called to actually do something for the kingdom.

Speaker 1: 15:14

But doing those things? I cannot read enough scripture to earn my way to heaven, like what that's the. That's God's word. It is God's word, but it is not jesus, it is not god. It is inspired by god, by the spirit, is infallible, but it is not god. We can't worship the bible, we must worship the almighty lord. And some people get this thing twisted and they start making saints and all these other things and they bow down and worship them or pray to them. They say they're praying to them, but necromancy is against scripture. It is witchcraft. I don't care what you try to paint it up, as that's just my personal belief and that's what I believe the Bible shows.

Speaker 1: 16:00

Anyways, we're not going on that topic. So the power of our thoughts? Now, our thoughts shape our beliefs, they influence our emotions and they dictate our actions. So look in Proverbs, chapter 4, or look on the screen with me. Proverbs 4.23 says four. Or look on the screen with me. Proverbs 4.23 says guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. It's not just about emotional vigilance, but it's about carefully monitoring our thoughts. We must be people as believers. We must be people as believers, not lazy in our faith and not lazy in how we live our lives for God. We must be intentional.

Speaker 1: 16:58

My dad was a preacher all of I mean throughout high school, graduate, high school, young adult life and more times than not, I think that I remember he would talk about how God was about to come back. He was about to send jesus and we were about to get raptured out. We're about to, we're about to go meet the lord. I have not since 2020. To me it was like an eye-opener and I know it's. I'm not trying to play on words with 2020. Oh, I got vision, but I mean it just now. Is it possible that it happened that way and got orchestrated that way to be that year? Yeah, it's possible.

Speaker 1: 17:32

He can do anything he wants, but the shutdowns, the fear that was put into people's thoughts showed me how easily I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful you know, sickness is sickness and if it can spread, it can spread, but, like now that we have more details and more information, it's like it was. It's very obvious that something, something was going on. That being said, this Bible verse says guard your heart above all else. You can put in place of heart, your mind above all else, because it determines the course of your life. When the enemy or life, or your spouse or your kids I know kids and spouses or if you're just dating, people get upset, they can say some very hurtful things and you may be watching this and you're young, or you may be watching this and you're old. Ask someone who is older if you're younger. Ask them how someone's opinion or the way they speak can affect them the rest of their lives.

Speaker 1: 18:48

I've used illustrations or examples in my sermons of people that I was six, seven, eight years old and they hurt me, and I still remember to this day what it felt like, and so it obviously took root in my thoughts to where it changed the way I perceived certain things about myself, and it took me a long time to get past my insecurity of never feeling like I was good enough, because somebody planted that in my mind not my parents, not those that really loved me, but, uh, it was somebody who, who just they had a mouth on them. They had an opinion about everything, and really all it did was set me up for some serious and deep damage and scars that I had to eventually seriously give up and give to the lord and heal from. But it got in my head like you might be watching this right now and you have a definition of yourself that isn't actually accurate, but you think it is because someone once said it to you. Now it's very rare that someone says something good to you and you take that as being accurate. It's usually the bad stuff that we remember. Take that as being accurate. It's usually the bad stuff that we remember. It's the scars that we can still feel on our hearts and our minds that we end up wearing and actually thinking that everybody can see the scar, when really it's just something internally that we have to deal with. Now, if you want to renew your mind which is the whole transforming the way you think is the whole title of the whole heartbeat of this entire video you have to remember if you want to renew your mind in God, in Christ, you have to retrain. This is the hard part. Retrain the way that you think and the way you see things.

Speaker 1: 20:48

For me, some of you know my story, some of you don't, but I used to be a very, very different person. I, for the longest time after I came back to God, I would be and this is this is weird, it's funny. Whatever people that know me know that I'm blunt and I just put my business out there. I don't care, okay. So when I first got married, I would be, and actually even when I was living with my cousin that took me in after I got out of jail, I would be pooping. Yeah, I said pooping. Okay, just stay with me for a second and obviously you go to the bathroom. You're not in there for 30 seconds, it takes a minute and then if you're playing games on your phone. Like every good pooper does you end up staying there even longer, and you know when it's time to get up, because your legs are almost numb and you don't feel them anymore. That's your body telling you it's time to get up for you before you fall with your pants down. Oh my gosh, this is getting too deep. All right, what was I saying?

Speaker 1: 21:56

Oh yeah, and so when I would go to the bathroom at my cousin's house because I was staying with him and his family, and even after I was married, a year or so after that, I would go to the bathroom and be in there for a while and in my head I don't know if I ever have told my wife this, she'll know after this live stream in my head I literally was thinking that anybody and everybody outside of the bathroom was going to think I was in there smoking meth, because I used to do that. I would go to the bathroom and stay in there forever. I would shower or I would be pooping and I would be in there smoking meth. So I in my head, I'm a. I'm a saved person, I have been transformed, I have been redeemed, I've been sanctified. I fell with the Holy ghost Come on somebody and I could not get past. In my head I would walk out of the bathroom feeling guilty for something I didn't do, because I thought and I would like watch how they looked at me and and and how they acted towards me. I felt guilty for something I wasn't even doing because it was still that old mentality, that old Steven that used to run and hide and do things in secret and do drugs in the bathroom. I never, I never realized that. Nobody until later, when I finally got through that. I never realized that it was like nobody was ever thinking about what I was doing in the bathroom. It was all in my head.

Speaker 1: 23:40

You, whatever you perceive, ask, I teach this at my church. Ask first am I just perceiving it in this way? And maybe nobody else really is? And if you start thinking that way, I believe for me it worked and it started freeing my mind up to where I wasn't so bombarded with unhealthy thought patterns, and that's what we want to try to get away from. Like you, you can be saved and live your entire life, the rest of your life. And live your entire life, the rest of your life being trapped in your own mind and never actually finding freedom. Jesus desires for you to be free up here, and I believe that when the Bible says, who the Son sets free is free. Indeed, I believe with all of my heart, from my own understanding and my own experience, that when that scripture is said and when that scripture was written, it was much deeper than we try to claim it to be like. It doesn't just mean, oh, now I'm getting into heaven. It means that here on earth, you have the opportunity to be free as well in your mind and in your heart, to not be tethered to things that you shouldn't be tethered to or to people you shouldn't be tethered to. You can be actually truly free, and I can't even describe to you the weight that lifted off of me.

Speaker 1: 25:30

When I actually began to experience that freedom in my own life, it was when I finally would take the things that was up here and I took that off. It was like I had a crown, and not a pretty one. It was the kingdom that I built and I was the king. I was the owner, I was the boss, but all these jewels and fake things that I kept trying to put in them, all it did was weigh my mind down, and it wasn't until I took that off and placed it at the feet of Jesus that he took his glory and his crown and his honor and his thoughts about me and his definition of me, and it was like he took his crown and gave me that honor and made me an heir to the throne. I don't know about you, but that gave me a little a couple of goosebumps right there.

Speaker 1: 26:36

Like that's what God desires for all of us, like he's not trying to, he's not trying to trick you into being something that you don't want to be. When we all stop and we all slow down a little bit and we all actually think there's probably so many things in our life that we would love to be free of and that's what God has available to every person, right, he's not up there trying to, trying to snipe you, trying to, you know, like some people used to do with the ants I never did it with the ants, to me I was just weird but like a magnifying glass trying to light you up, trying to send you to hell. We make a choice, whether we follow him or whether we don't, and he honors that choice. He loves us and respects us that much that he honors that choice that we choose. So let's go on. We went to. We did proverbs right? Yeah, we did so.

Speaker 1: 27:36

Your life moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts. God desires for our minds to be renewed. He desires for our minds to be transformed. Some of us have a lot longer process and journey to get to this place, and usually that is when the roots from pain and suffering and issues and drama and bad definitions of who we are and and the way that we think. Some of us have been in a a bad state of mind for so long we don't know how we can't remember what it was like to think different. I've been there, I understand, but if you want to be free, you have to allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and to and this is one of the hardest things for me.

Speaker 1: 28:36

I tell my congregation this all the time one of the hardest things for me to say no to was people, and some of the people wasn't necessarily bad for me. They just weren't good for me anymore. Like, just because something is good doesn't mean it's good for you, and so I was having to cut people out of my life. That wasn't necessarily toxic for me, but they weren't moving in the same direction as I was. So I had to say I'm sorry or just kind of fade out, like one of the hardest things for me. Like I can have some tough conversations with people and say what I need to say, but when it's like breaking up a friendship and things like that, or like breaking up with a girl back in the day, dude, that was one of the where I was one of the ones that I didn't do the breakup, I just drug it out until they broke up with me, I just I I hate those types of conversations. If you're acting like an idiot and you're doing stupid stuff or you're like, well, I don't know why this is happening to me, why and I tell you because I'm going to tell you in love, but like the other things were like you're separating yourself from people or or you need to walk away from a person or people, that's extremely difficult for me. So back to what we're talking about. It's not so.

Speaker 1: 30:09

Renewing your mind is not just about avoiding worldly patterns, but it's a trade-off. So have you ever seen the movie george george the jungle? All right, he's swinging through the vines, or planet of the apes, whatever your cup of tea is. He's swinging through. All right, if you are swinging, there must be a intentional exchange. If there's not, you're going to miss and you could kill yourself.

Speaker 1: 30:42

Okay, so, renewing your mind, transforming the mind, renewing the way you think, transforming the way you think, you need to exchange, not just go stupid and not think ever again. It's not even logical. Trade off your toxic way of thinking, the toxic way you perceive things, the toxic people in your life, and trade them for good things. Trade them for the way God sees you, trade them for the good relationships at a local church, trade them for healthy, good thoughts about positive things. There has to be a healthy and intentional exchange. If not, what you'll end up doing is either missing and doing a lot of damage, or you'll end up holding on and going back the way you came from, and you don't want to go backwards, you want to go forwards.

Speaker 1: 31:34

So you got to understand that the transformation, it's a process. I wish it was like this easy. Everybody can kind of do this one thing, and it's all good, and everybody knows the pattern and it's. If you do this, this works for you. It's not a one size fits all. What it is, though, is a one, a one Holy spirit that leads and guides all. Okay, if you don't understand what that means, please feel free to comment, ask questions. I encourage questions. I'll make videos specifically for your questions diving into the Bible, because I want to do more of the teaching, like we're doing tonight, and then, when I get my camera fixed, interviews, like I had planned to do tonight. So, transformation Okay, now think about this transformation.

Speaker 1: 32:28

If you go to a gym whether you go to a gym, you've been to a gym or you know about gyms, just stick with me, it all applies. If there's going to be a transformation, there is a process to get that transformation. For instance, if I go to the best gym in town, okay, it is the best. Everybody that goes there is jacked. They have supplements, they have protein bars, they have the best of the best of the best. Okay, bcaas, right after you work out that branch chain, amino acids, I remembered, and I go there every single day and then I get so like I'm like, okay, I can do this twice a day. I go in there twice a day, but I never touch a weight, I never get on a treadmill. There will be no transformation, even though my body, my head and my heart was in the right place. It won't matter. There has to be the correct process for the transformation. This process is usually first figuring out what it is you need to exclude.

Speaker 1: 33:49

I'm one of those people Move this, table so many wires in here. So I'm one of those people that I love adding to my schedule. What I mean by that is I will like I just just signed up for our. We have a. Now we have a church softball team. So I I signed up for that and my wife says steven, how are you gonna have time? And I baby, this young girl in church called me old and I'm going to show her that I'm not old, that I can still do things. So we had practice last Thursday and it's Monday right now as the time of going live, and I'm still like I don't know if you've ever played softball before. I haven't touched a softball since. My son was like young, like a little boy. He's almost 16. And I'm sore in places that I forgot I had muscles. But for me and I told everybody out there, I told my wife, actually, and a couple other people I said I'm going to kill myself every single practice, every single game, and they will never know how much I hurt between games, but it's a process. Now I I like to add things.

Speaker 1: 35:21

I I have to fight against being the pastor of a church, because I'm one of those is like, yeah, let's all get in the car, let's go have fun, let's yeah, everybody come on. But if you want to grow a church, you have to have a lean organization, which means you don't just have 50 programs or everybody will always have their time filled up and people will burn out. It's very easy to do so. Be intentional and only stick with things that are actually working and not just have things to keep people busy. Then it'll be more quality than quantity, and that's actually what the point is.

Speaker 1: 35:50

The same with transforming your thoughts Instead of consuming your mind with irrelevant thoughts that don't matter. Be intentional with the way that you think, the way you do this is. You have to make the daily commitment that you are going to change the way you think and be honest and check yourself. So if you are a person that you really don't know, excuse me, you really don't know that you make bad decisions, whether it be relational, whether it be with your job, whether it be with your money, whatever, but you aren't willing to let someone hold you accountable in that area, you will never get past the grueling grind every single day and get to the status you want to in, whether it's your bank account, whether it's your relationships, whether it's your relationship with God, whether it's reading your word every day.

Speaker 1: 36:57

I have a small challenge I give to my church almost every single Sunday. It's called the challenge of 15 plus two. So I upgraded it to the challenge of 17,. Five minutes of prayer, five minutes of reading your word, five minutes of praising the Lord every single day. One small act of faith and invite one person to church. The small act of faith doesn't seem like much, but when you exercise that muscle it grows, and so five minutes doesn't seem like much. But when you begin to do this in a way that at first and listen, don't feel guilty by not wanting to do it at first it is a habit that has to be formed and ingrained in your mind.

Speaker 1: 37:37

The same way with transforming the way that you think. If you are not trying to change and it's not feeling like it's a struggle, then you're probably being a little wuss and taking the easy road, because changing the way that we think is difficult. It is hard but it's worth it. So it's a process. It's not a one-time event. Transforming your mind is a process. It is not a one-time event. It is a daily routine. It is intentional with your daily thoughts. It takes commitment and then you have to feed your mind. You have to feed your mind to replace it's that exchange. You know you're going from bad thoughts to good thoughts. Bad negativity, all these other things, bitterness, whatever it is. Take that and trade it for the yoke of the Lord. Trade it for the thoughts of the Lord, because if you feed your mind with truth, you will replace the lies, the negativity and the bitterness and all the bad things that you want to get out of here.

Speaker 1: 38:56

I don't know if you know this or not, some of you. Your capacity is a little lower, but the brain has its capacity, it can fill up. So if that is true, if you can only remember so much, you can only learn so much. You should always be learning. But the facts are eventually, the more you learn, you end up losing something else and not remembering it or whatever. Fill it up with things of the Lord. Fill it up with the word of God. God's word is the truth. Okay, it's not my truth, it's not your truth. My truth it is God. My truth it's not your truth. My truth it is God's truth. As a believer, you must cling to this and know that this is true. You can't know what God's truth is if you're not reading his word. That is for us to digest. So feed your mind with the truth of god's word and reject the lies. Consciously reject the lies.

Speaker 1: 39:59

Don't just be haphazard shooting from the hip in your mind. Be intentional. If you, if a thought passes your mind, fellas, let me talk to you for a second. If a thought passes your mind, fellas, let me talk to you for a second. If a thought passes your mind, because we're just now coming out of the side of summer, we're in September, and you are seeing those little booty shorts walk across there as a man.

Speaker 1: 40:26

Now, ladies, you may not know this, my wife does. She is my accountability partner in this area as far as we tell each other everything and issues that we have, because we want to have that kind of marriage. Ladies, if you don't know this, men are visual and if we see it and it passes through and we end up thinking about it, it will bleed its way down into our hearts and it will eventually come out into our actions, whether that's having a lust problem, a porn problem or fooling around an adultery problem. There are ways to stop that. Number one for me is accountability. If nobody knows I'm struggling and I keep that private because I let shame keep me from letting anybody in and holding me accountable. It will ruin me, it will rob me of everything and that's what you have to run from. So you have to reject the lies. Reject that. You have to. Oh, it's just a guy thing. No, my guy thing stops at the door of my bedroom for my wife. That's where my guy thing, or my man thing stops, right there. The rest of it can go jump in the lake. Because I belong to God and because I belong to God, my body and everything that I am belongs to my wife. That's the way God designed it, that's the way he ordained it.

Speaker 1: 41:59

So if I say like this is I can't stand AA meetings, and let me explain, I'm not just speaking out of my. I actually went to him. And this is after I was already working in the church, married to my new wife, which was embarrassing to tell people. Yeah, I got to go to AA this weekend or this Thursday, whatever it was, and every person they made, every person they went around in the circle and they would say I am an alcoholic or I am this and I am that, and I was like I'm not. Oh no, you are, you are. You may not do it right now, but you are Well. That right there puts in people's minds that I am never going to be free of my addiction. And the same way with us men that we say oh, we're just guys, that's just the way we are, we're wired this way. We're wired this way so that we will constantly be looking in our wife's direction and enjoy her, not other women. So don't sit there and let the lies lie to you and write the definition of who you are. That's why we wear the helmet of salvation.

Speaker 1: 43:08

Sometimes, when things are, when you look at things, when you are in the middle of something, you see something you got to remind yourself hey, dummy, smack yourself in the head. I have anointed myself. I think I bit my glasses. I've anointed myself with I got anointing oil on my key chain. I've anointed myself on my forehead because my mind was trying to be pulled in the direction of pornography and I anointed my head. Nobody else was around.

Speaker 1: 43:33

Sometimes you have to take things in your own hands and stop whining about what you are or whining about well, it's just this way, and start speaking to the issue at hand and start saying, no, I'm not going to submit to this. The only authority I submit to is the authority in Christ, is the authority of the Lord, and the Lord says that I'm not supposed to do this. Christ says that I am a new creation, I've been born again, so I don't have to act this way anymore. I don't have to be this way anymore. There is no reason why I have to submit to this, because the only authority I submit to is Christ. And then leave it there. Don't wrestle, just like Joseph did when he was at Potiphar's wife and she kept trying to seduce him. He didn't stand there and wrestle with her. Things would have happened. He ran. He ran from what was trying to manipulate and control him.

Speaker 1: 44:26

Some of us, we sit there and we argue and we try to fight and we're like, oh, come on, you got this, you got this. And then we welcome the lions from the lion's den back into the living room, back into our phones, whatsapp, social media, back into where it doesn't need to be, and then we get mad at ourselves. We're like God. Just that's the last time. That's the last time. I'm speaking from experience and what happens is people of God that should be stronger and warriors in Christ end up being weak and subjective to sinful nature because we allow it to consume our thoughts. We're not taking our thoughts actually captive. We're becoming captive to our thoughts, and that's not the way God desires for us to live. That's just the truth. We don't have to live that way.

Speaker 1: 45:22

So reject the lie, whatever you're dealing with in here. Rebuke it in the name of Jesus. Rebuke it in the name, even if you're by yourself, even if you're driving on the road, you may look stupid, but if you look stupid, then go to hell. Reject it in the name of Jesus. Reject the lies, reject deception and all that the world has to offer. There is nothing this world can offer you that is more and worth more than what Jesus has to offer you. The world, the culture, can only offer lies masquerading as truth. There is nothing this world has to offer, nothing this world has to offer that even comes close to what God has for us, because it bears no weight and what the world has to offer? It has no nourishment. This is why we have Christians walking around malnourished, claiming Christ, and they have no clue who God really is. They don't study the word, they have no sense of theology and they just want to quote scripture when it fits their agenda and lifestyle. Celebrities do this all the time, politicians do this all the time and it annoys me to no end. They have no clue, no clue who God is. I want to know who he is. I fear the Lord and I understand that when God says something, he means it. He's not just throwing words around haphazardly so that we can kind of well I don't know if that's what the original translation meant I have a feeling that if God did the ant thing where he had a mattifying glass, he would probably do it over those people. So the battle begins in the mind Now.

Speaker 1: 47:13

Many of us struggle. I don't know if you do, but I do. Many of us struggle with negative thoughts, we struggle with fear, we struggle with doubt and one of my biggest ones is struggling with insecurity. I've told my church this before because and I'm getting better at it I say I'm getting better. I think the Lord is helping me in this area uh, that I have a a great struggle with insecurity. I sound confident, I talk confident. Uh, I just I usually know my stuff when I'm talking or I'm really good at talking out of my butt. Either way, it's the same. You won't know the difference. But this confidence thing, or this lack of confidence, has been one of my biggest hurdles for me since I've came back to the Lord in 2015, or 2014,. The end of 2014.

Speaker 1: 48:15

Because I used to be a meth head and the life that I lived was so disgusting like I don't deserve to be any kind of anything in any kind of church. Like I don't know why God did what he did. Maybe because I feel this way. That's why he did it. I don't know, but that's just what he's done in my life Undeserving. I have no good reason why, except for to show others how good and gracious and loving he actually is. That's the only reason that I can think of.

Speaker 1: 48:55

And so those hidden battles, those secret battles in my mind was always about feeling like I didn't measure up or do good enough, like someone can call me an imposter. If you've heard of the term imposter syndrome, it's when you you're in a place, you, uh, you feel like you shouldn't be and you never feel like you would measure up, and so I don't ever seek positions anywhere. I never sought to be a pastor, never sought to be a youth pastor or worship leader. I've always been asked to do those things and and then I asked God. When it's presented before me, I asked God, and then he gives me an answer yes or no.

Speaker 1: 49:36

And so for me to be in front of people week after week after week and delivering a message from God to people is out of my comfort zone. It is out of it is out of the space that I think I should be in. I shouldn't even be singing, I should be in. I shouldn't even be singing, I should be like on the back row or really I should just be in the altar every Sunday. But like I don't know why God does what he does, but he's not asking my opinion, he's just asking me to be a willing vessel. And so when I think of it in those terms, I think it helps me to not feel the pressure of if the message was good, if people liked it, if they're going to come back next Sunday, like right now we're having this, this amazing, like every Sunday. It seems like this past Sunday was a little less, but almost every Sunday, during worship, at the end I mean the altars, like just people are in the altars and and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is not me because of I know Steve.

Speaker 1: 51:01

I know Steven better than anybody, and when I pray on Tuesday, we have prayer meeting on Tuesdays. When I pray on Tuesdays, I pray Lord, let no one ever come here because of me, because of a man, because of a message, because of a worship team, good music, whatever kids program. Let them come here because your spirit draws them here. I've even told him it was, I think, two Sundays ago. Sometimes I'm probably more blunt than I should be, but I don't care. I said with the microphone in my hand if you're here because of a man, we don't want you. If you're here because of a worship team, we don't want you. If you're here because of the name on the side of the building and on the sign, we don't want you. We want you here because God brought you here, and I mean that with all my heart. I don my mind and my conscious to be clear. I know my place, and my place is not at the head of the church. My place is to serve in the church God and Christ. The chief cornerstone is what we build the church on.

Speaker 1: 52:17

So let's look over in second corinthians, chapter 10, 4 through 5, and it says we use god's mighty weapons not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle. Get a little drink. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. Here Paul is telling us the spiritual warfare begins in our thoughts. Warfare begins in our thoughts. Our victory starts when we capture and surrender our thoughts to Christ.

Speaker 1: 53:15

So let's talk about understanding, mind renewal. So we're trying to get our mind going in the right direction. We're trying to get our brain to stop being negative. We're trying to get our brain to stop doing what it naturally does. Like you don't have to go to some sort of seminary or get a college degree in negative thinking. Like your brain just goes there, it doesn't even have to try. It can overthink and overhaul without a second thought. Yeah, pun intended, it's easy. It is so easy to go negative. It is so easy to be bitter, it is so easy to not forgive, it is so easy to gravitate towards these bad thinking processes, patterns, whatever you want to label it, as it's easy to do that. It is hard to get rid of all that junk and start going in the other direction. But the way you do it is mind renewal or renewing of your mind. Now, renewing your mind.

Speaker 1: 54:18

We read a couple of scriptures. You have to have a divine strategy to overcome those thoughts that shouldn't be there. If you think and I tell my people this all the time like, don't come to a spiritual battle with your fleshly weapons, because you will get overran, you will lose the battle. You can't bring what has worked for fleshly things and find spiritual freedom. It has to be spiritual and spiritual, okay. So god tells us to renew our minds for our spiritual growth and spiritual maturity. I tell my people this all the time. You must. If you want to be successful in the things of god, you must be spiritually mature. It's my vision and mission for the church. I make him repeat it almost every Sunday, if I remember. The mission and the vision is to bring spiritual maturity back to the church. We need to get our mind right. We can't tell the world what they're doing wrong and spout off all kinds of scriptures to slap them with. If we don't have our house in order, we shouldn't be trying to slap them with. If we don't have our house in order, we shouldn't be trying to slap them with scripture anyways. But we need a level of maturity so that we can stop and look and examine ourselves.

Speaker 1: 55:51

David said in the in. In the word, he said search me, god. That should be the posture of all of us as believers all of our hearts to search me. Oh God, make within me a clean heart, because it is so important that we not just get caught up in our pain and our suffering and our issues and our drama, but asking ourself constantly, asking God constantly. Lord, is it me? Do I need to change something? Do I need to do something? Do I need to think about something a different way? It's it's very hard to do, especially if you've been hurt or you've been used. It's hard to to get past that and it ends up being a place of unforgiveness. And I don't know if you know this, but the Bible tells us that if we don't forgive, god will not forgive us, and I don't think he was trying to be polite when he said this. I think he was being very intentional. So, spiritual growth, maturity this involves an active choice to think differently, according to the truth that we find in the scripture.

Speaker 1: 57:10

So I'm going to challenge you. How can you know what truth is unless you are reading, studying and diving into scripture on a daily basis? I'm telling you the 5-5-5, the challenge of 15 works Five minutes of prayer, five minutes of reading the word and five minutes of praising this right here. It will change your life. It's small little bites, like if you can't do five minutes or 15 minutes altogether, some of two of them, three of them you can do at the same time. You may read a little bit, praise and and sing and pray, and you know you can do a lot of it overlapping. It won't take you much time to do it.

Speaker 1: 57:51

What are you willing to sacrifice? Or? Or what are you? What are you willing to do for the lord to, to show him that you mean business, that you're really trying to be who he wants you to be. That means you have to have action and do something. You have to make a choice every day according to the truth of the scripture. If you are looking in the world, you will only find answers of the world. Okay, there's a lot of good material out there, there's a lot of good wisdom out there. I believe inventions. And just because someone's not a Christian doesn't mean it's not God-inspired. God, I mean, helped civilization move along its way throughout time. I mean that's kind of obvious. He is a creator, so why wouldn't he help us create? But you can only find spiritual maturity, spiritual answers, spiritual clarity and mind of the mind when you read scripture.

Speaker 1: 58:57

If you, if you've never studied the scripture or you never cared to kind of dive in that way, I know for a fact from experience that when you begin to do it, don't start in Leviticus, start like in the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John. Just read like you would a storybook, and what you'll do is you'll end up before seeing jesus and you read an ax and the holy spirit. You've heard of these things. You've you've heard of the people say and they regurgitate what they hear, even though it's some of it may not be biblical, but people just they vomit what they hear, even though some of it may not be biblical, but people just they vomit what they digest. That's just the way it is.

Speaker 1: 59:43

But when you read it for yourself, it's amazing how it comes alive. Like it, literally, like you can be a person who has read the Bible your entire life and you will read the same story and you'll see something different. Or maybe because you have more wisdom, a little more, uh, knowledge, underneath your belt. Now you may read it and all of a sudden something different stands out to you or you receive it in a different way. The word of God is alive and active and it's really cool that way.

Speaker 1: 1:00:12

So I want to challenge you If you've never really done it before, try it. What do you, what do you got to lose Five minutes? Think about it. If you haven't actually studied the Word, are you afraid that it's going to show you who you really are? Here's something I know as a mature Christian, and I say this with a lot of confidence the closer I get to God, the more I understand how much I need him.

Speaker 1: 1:00:43

Now some of you, if you're not saved, you'll be like. I don't want to. I don't want to see myself in that light. I don't want the darkness to be brightened up where my junk is shown. Then you don't want to be free of anything and you'll live a life full of bondage, constantly bound and dead weight in your life. So you can only find this freedom in the word.

Speaker 1: 1:01:13

So let's look at Hebrews, chapter four, verse 12. Hebrews, chapter four, verse 12. Hebrews, chapter four, verse 12. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword. The scriptures provide the truth that can dissect our thoughts, our intentions, our motives and align them with God's desires. So how can we do this? Well, I'm glad you asked. This is not all of it. I'm missing a slide. Yep, I'm missing a slide, that's okay. Here's three of them. I'll read the other ones. I'm missing a slide, that's okay. Here's three of them. I'll read the other ones. There's actually wait. Huh, these don't. Oh, wait, here we go, okay, okay.

Speaker 1: 1:02:11

So practical steps for renewing your mind. Number one we're going to get this off until I get a little, cause that'll just confuse people. Number one we're going to get this off until I get a little, cause. That'll just confuse people. Number one identify the negative thoughts. Identify the negative and ungodly thoughts. That contradicts God's word. Some people have asked me before, like how do I know if someone's prophesying, or they're doing this or they're doing that, does it measure up? Does it align with God's word? If it does not, it is not of God, okay.

Speaker 1: 1:02:40

Number two interrogate. So dive deep into and be willing to tear it apart to interrogate the thoughts. Why do I think this way? Is it based on truth, god's truth, or is it based on a culture's lies? Number three is replace, replace these thoughts with God's truth, meditating on scripture and affirming God's promises over your life. Keep doing this every single day. So here's the ones I was showing. So recognize, acknowledge the negative thought patterns that blind you. Okay, reject, reject, deny any thought that contradicts God's words and truth about your identity. Replace, fill the void with God's truth, meditating on scriptures that affirms his love, purpose and promises for you.

Speaker 1: 1:03:49

Do this over and over. Take a screenshot of this. Do it over and over and, over and over again. It's going to take repetition to produce replication. Okay, you're going to have to do it over and over, and over and over again. It's going to take repetition to produce replication. Okay, you're going to have to do it over and over again to get your mind purified. To get your mind purified. What do they do with water to get it pure. They put it through multiple filters over and over and over again to leave in the the the smallest amount of any contaminants cannot make it into the water supply. That's the whole thing behind this is what we want to reproduce, because repetition produces replication. The more we examine, the more you will be able to extract the lies.

Speaker 1: 1:04:33

Now, as we wrap it up and we've talked about renewing your mind this is something that I believe and I said this in the beginning that God wants every single believer to experience. He does not want you to be trapped in your own thoughts. He does not want you to be trapped in your own mind. He doesn't want you to be playing loose games, shooting from the hip, never feeling like you're actually free. But, like I said earlier, who the son sets free is free indeed, and he desires for his people. If you don't know God, he desires for you to be free. Give your life to Jesus, and I encourage you to read the word to know what exactly that looks like and what that means. Jesus tells us that we must be born again. We were born of water. We must be born again of spirit.

Speaker 1: 1:05:30

There's a Philippians chapter four. I do have this one last verse for y'all, and I tell my church sometimes, philippians, philippians. Chapter four, verse eight, says and now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. This becomes a blueprint for our thought life. This is guiding us to focus on what is true. It's guiding us to focus on what is noble. It's guiding us to focus on what is right, what is lovely, what is admirable, what is excellent and what is praiseworthy. The scripture is not only shaping the way we think, but it molds our character, it directs our relationship with God and it carves out a divine destiny that God has for every single person who says yes to him.

Speaker 1: 1:06:36

You are not meant to be an island. You are not meant to do life by yourself. You are not meant to just come, live your little blip of life and gone. Every person that will submit to the creator will find the purpose they were created for. I love you, I am praying for you and I hope that this video today touched your life in some way to allow the Holy Spirit to transform the way that you think Whether it's just a little bit of tweaking that needs to be done, or whether you need a whole overhaul, god wants to do it for you, and this is something that's available for everybody. You can always reach out to me personally if you want it faithandfailures at Gmail. You can also follow our social media and like and share this video with somebody who needs a reminder that they do not have to stay where they are, that they can be set free, because who the son sets free is free indeed.