Unlock The Power Of God's Truth- Transform Your Mind Today!

Ever wondered how to transform your thought life and align it with biblical principles? Join us as we explore the battlefield of the mind, drawing wisdom from Romans 12:2 and personal stories of overcoming negative thinking. We promise you'll walk away with actionable insights on how to renew your mind, expose lies, and align your desires with God's will for positive outcomes and ongoing sanctification. This episode sets the stage for understanding how our thoughts shape our lives and how God's word can transform us from the inside out.

Temptation and spiritual warfare are often misunderstood in the Christian journey. Using Jesus' experience in the desert as depicted in Matthew 4:1-11, we tackle the misconception that a Christian life is free from challenges. Through heartfelt reflections, we address how temptations vary, from physical needs to pride and greed, and emphasize the importance of perseverance and faithfulness. You'll gain a deeper understanding of how to combat the devil's schemes at your weakest points, using the power of scripture and unwavering faith to stay rooted in God's will over worldly desires.

Discover practical steps to internalize God's word and stand firm in your faith amidst societal pressures. We share our personal routines of starting each day with prayer, scripture reading, and praise, illustrating the transformative power of being led by the Spirit. By meditating on scripture and seeking God's guidance, we can ensure His word resonates deeply within us, empowering us to walk in victory and embody His grace and truth. This episode is a call to embrace God's transformative power, equipping you with divine understanding and strength to impact your life and the lives of those around you.

Chapters

• 0:00 Battlefield of the Mind
• 7:31 Temptation and Spiritual Warfare
• 19:57 Transforming Minds Through God's Word
• 33:33 Stand Firm in God's Word
• 44:20 Embracing God's Transformative Power
• 53:27 Defeating Temptation Through Scripture

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet, consider subscribing, hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one-time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated. Now let's get into the video.

Speaker 1: 0:35

Hey, what is up everybody? Welcome back to another Bible teaching episode here on Faith and Failures. If you joined me last week, you know that we talked a little bit about what I call the battleground, which is your mind, and kind of ways to think, how to change the way that you think, and so we're going to dive deeper into that kind of topic, into that kind of going down that path, so that I can help you understand your mind, understand how the mind works. There's a little bit of psychology behind this, but we're going to look at the Bible, what the psychology is and what the Word of God says as believers, and I'm going to give you some scriptures. Some of these scriptures are longer, so I didn't write them out, I just cited them. So I put like one of them is going to be Matthew, chapter four, but it's verses one through 11. So instead of writing the entire thing and putting it on the screen, I do have slides for you today. I'm going to just kind of give you a site, a verse and chapter, a chapter and verse and the book, so the main scripture that I want to kind of get your mind thinking in a positive way, in the way, and set it up for preparing your mind for what we're going to talk about today, and that is coming from Romans 12, verse 2.

Speaker 1: 2:07

So if you look on the screen here, you can screenshot this. It says don't copy verse 2, 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, to a new person. By changing the way that you think, then you will learn to know God's will for your life, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So in the short time that I've been alive, one of the things I've realized is that God's will for my life is better and greater than anything that I could come up with and try to make happen. Matter of fact, a lot of the bad seasons in my life not all of them, but the bad seasons in my life were self-inflicted to where I could have submitted myself to God completely, given my heart and my life, my desires, which the Bible tells us to do. We're going to get there later in the series of Bible study. But I could have done things so much different if I would have been willing to submit what I wanted and allowed God to do the work that he wanted to do. But instead I was concerned about what I wanted to do and I didn't give God full control, even though and this is me, being a Christian like I gave my heart to Christ and I believe that there's an ongoing process called sanctification that is described after we come to Christ, that it's not a one and done. His sacrifice was a one and done.

Speaker 1: 3:56

But the way that we live out our salvation every single day matters. The way we do things, how we act, how we respond, how we think matters, because your life I'm going to repeat this in every single live stream, every single episode your life will move in the direction of your strongest thoughts. If your mind is thinking wrong is thinking negative, is thinking bad. If it's like everyone is against me, guess what You're going to think everybody's against you. If you're one of those people that you feel like you don't have any friends and you constantly talk about or think about not having friends, you probably won't ever feel like, even if you have people that think you're their friend. You'll think that you don't have a friend because you're allowing your mind to manipulate the way you live your life. So don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new creation, which actually is a part of the mandate of being. What the scripture calls born again is dying to what you want to do, dying daily and picking up your cross and following Jesus. That's the way Christ has designed and mapped out and laid out for us to every day, decide that we are going to follow him and we do that. I'll describe it to you this way. So it's very difficult to pick up your cross if your hands are already full. I hope that lands with you. It's very difficult for you to pick up your cross if your hands are already full.

Speaker 1: 5:35

So this is the second episode of this the battleground overcoming the way you think and I want to kind of this will be exposing. We'll be talking about exposing the lies. So there's a lot of things in our life that we believe to be true. If you're watching it live or watching it at the recording of this video, it's 2024 and it is voting year. I have seen over and over again people keep repeating the same thing, and what that does is it makes people that hear it begin to believe it, because, well, if I hear it again, it must be true. And there are lies that keep getting repeated over and over, and over and over and people are eating it up as if it is true because it is continuously being put out there. Just because it's repeated doesn't mean it's true.

Speaker 1: 6:37

So in matthew, chapter 4, let's look over in matthew four. So we're going through like the battleground. This is what I believe. What I want you to grasp and understand is that your mind see the little brain in the middle, right there, your mind is the battleground. If you can win the war here, if you can fight, if you know where to fight, you can fight properly. If you know how to fight, if you know what you're fighting against, you can fight properly. If you know how to fight. If you know what you're fighting against, you can win the battle. There's nothing more dangerous than trying to fight a battle and you don't know how to fight, what you're fighting and what tools you have to fight with. So we want to expose the lies. So look at mat Matthew, if you have your Bible, or if you, if you want to look at this later, screenshot this.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Matthew, chapter four. Now, this is the temptation of Jesus in the desert. This is a prime example of and I know it feels like some people paint salvation. They paint the Christian life up as hunky-dory rainbows and butterflies. I actually say that phrase a lot now, for some reason rainbows and butterflies, like everything is going to be good, everything's going to be great. Just serve the Lord, just give your life to Jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:00

And that's actually not what we're promised. We're actually promised kind of the opposite. We are told that we will suffer. We are told to lay down everything we love and pick up what Christ loves, to pick up and sacrifice for others. No greater love than someone to lay down their life, for someone To give your life up is a that's, that's love. Well, that's what Christ did. Christ isn't calling us. He doesn't call us to do something or be somebody that he did not do himself. That's like with my children I have an 11 month old and I have a 60, almost a 16 year old. I don't ever have a rule or regulations or or a set of anything for them to follow that I myself do not follow myself. That's fair, that's just. That's right. So Christ doesn't ask us to do anything that he himself has not already done.

Speaker 1: 8:59

So look at Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 through 11. It says then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Now, this is key right here, because sometimes and this is how I think Christians or churches are producing weak Christians is that we paint up Christianity as being like everything's going to be good after you accept Jesus. That's not the case. Matter of fact, it's often the bullseye on the back of you is now painted much larger, and being led by the Spirit doesn't mean that everything is perfect. A lot of times, the Spirit will lead you to places for you to be tempted, so that your faith can be tried, so that perseverance can be produced out of you. The only way you make it to heaven is persevere to the end. A lot of people back out of church or they leave. They do certain things they're like oh no, me and God are good. I still read the Bible. Reading the Bible does not get you into heaven. If you're forsaking what the Bible says is good and should be a part of your life, you are forsaking the path of Christ. There's no wiggle room here.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He did not lead him out there for a patty cake with the devil. He was led to be tempted Verse two. It says for 40 days and 40 nights he fasted and he became very hungry. Now I think it's no coincidence that in verse three, that's when the devil showed up, when Jesus was at his maximum capacity for suffering hunger. He showed up at the right time. See, god shows up at the exact right time for salvation, for rescue, for help. The devil shows up at just the right time because he is very patient. He knows when you are at your lowest. He knows when you are easily manipulated and easily tempted. So he will show up when you are at your weakest. That is his goal, that is his mission, that is the way he is. He's good at what he does. So. Verse 3 says During that time, the devil came and said to him If you are the Son of God, these stones tell these stones to become loaves of bread.

Speaker 1: 11:16

So what did he do? Immediately dove in to exactly his weakest point because he knew he was hungry. He said oh, come on, man, if you're really the son of God, can't you speak to these rocks and they'll turn to bread so you can satisfy that hunger? So what this tells me is that the devil was trying to tempt him in a place where he was hungry. Now, that's a physical thing we're talking about right here.

Speaker 1: 11:44

But how many times does the devil show up and he tries to tempt you in will? What will physically satisfy you with lust, with private issues, with money, with power, with, with greed, with pride? The devil knows how we will be tempted to the greatest. He's not going to waste his time on some little thing. Hey, because to me. So here's something and I pray that I never fall to it, but it's never been an issue for me. So here's something that. And so I can say this with confidence and not be like, oh, the devil's going to get me.

Speaker 1: 12:21

I am not tempted with money. I have been homeless. Oh, the devil's going to get me. I am not tempted with money. I have been homeless, I have lived in my car and I know from experience that God will provide my needs, like right now in our finances.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Personally, money is a little tight, but I'm not worried. I say a little prayer. I'm like Lord, the money's yours anyways. We ain't going to stop doing what you've called us to do. We ain't going to stop giving what you've called us to give, and if you tell me to give more, I will and I do. Every single time I pay my tithes online to my church, I give above and beyond what is biblically the 10%, because I want God to understand and nobody knows what I give, except for the clerk at church that sees it coming in. But I don't even know what people give at my church. I have no clue who gives or what they give. I don't know and I don't care, because I am a person who is not controlled by money and I will never be controlled by money. I don't care if somebody gives a little, I don't care if somebody gives a lot. I believe that we're all called to give in some form or fashion and that's just the way that it is.

Speaker 1: 13:24

So the devil doesn't come to me and he doesn't try to tempt me with money. What he tries to tempt me with is my time, because the more he can get my time occupied not all the time but if it's him trying to tempt me, it's usually with people. Or I used to have a serious problem with women. It could be with lust, it could be with pornography. That was a big hang up for me. I feel that God has delivered me big time from that.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Does the devil come and try to pull me back to that temptation? Yes, because it's where I'm weak. He's not going to come at me through finances. He's going to come to me through finances. He's going to come to me through summertime, where women's butt cheeks are hanging out in the middle of the mall or wherever else. And thank God he's given me a compassionate, loving wife that I share my struggles with. That I let her know and she loves me and says I too have struggles and it's a strength part of our marriage where she helps me and I can go to her and ask her to pray for me when I feel that the weight of this temptation is trying to push me back down to a low point. I can go to her. She prays for me and I feel the release. And here, recently, praise to the Lord, not anything that I'm doing this pull, as soon as it even tries to pull me in any direction, I rebuke it in the name of Jesus and it flees and so we can look back.

Speaker 1: 14:55

I'll put the scripture where you can reference it back on the screen. Back here, the devil is doing the same thing to Jesus. He's at a low point where he is very hungry, he is weak, he is trying to dedicate time, give something up for God and to show us what to do, and he is being tempted. The verse three the devil came to him and said if you're the son of God, turn these stones to become loaves of bread. Verse four. But Jesus told him no, the scriptures say people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So what did he do? First, he resisted and he backed it up and supported it, and it gave weight to his resistance through scripture. So then, verse five Now think about this Jesus is 100% God, 100% man at this part of the story, and he's allowing. I believe he allowed, because if he really wanted to, he probably could have just punched him and it had been over with. But he allowed the devil to take him Verse five over with. But he allowed the devil to take him Verse five.

Speaker 1: 16:07

Then the devil took him to the holy city, jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple, and said if you are here, he is again trying to push his buttons because what's one thing that Jesus has not been able to receive on earth? All the glory and all the honor that he had in his position in heaven. So he had to lay that aside and come as a lowly servant and live the life of a servant, live the life of a less than so that he could be humble before us and serve the ones he created, which, if you think about it, is very, very hard to do. He said if you are the ones he created which, if you think about it, is very, very hard to do he said if you are the son of God, jump off. I dare you, I double-talk, dare you? For the scriptures say he now here.

Speaker 1: 16:55

Here's the devil, now using scripture, trying to tempt Jesus. The scriptures say he will order his angels to protect you and they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone. And Jesus responded. Scriptures also say you must not test the Lord, your God. The devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I will give it all to you. He said, if you will kneel down and worship me. So he tempted him with food. He tempted him with saying hey, if you jump, god will come and rescue you. Now he's saying listen, you don't have to do anything. I know you're already weak. Probably be easy for you just to kind of fall down right where you're at and just worship. You know, just easy. So I will give it all to you. He said just kneel. If you knew that I worshiped me. Sorry, I lost my place. And then he says so. Then he rebuked him and finally said okay, listen, this is enough is enough.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Verse 10 says get out if you're satan. Jesus told him, for the scriptures say you must worship the lord, your god, and serve him only. So, if you pay attention, everything Jesus did was pointed back to God, every scripture, every scripture, from the food, by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. You must not test the Lord, your God. You must worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only. And then verse 11 says then the devil went away and the angels came and they took care of him. It wasn't until he resisted. And now is this a pattern Three times? We see three times Peter denies on the third day. It's pretty cool when you see things like that in scripture. But the devil left, the angels came and it was after the temptation that then Jesus was ministered to and Jesus was released to eat. So here in Matthew, chapter 4, we witnessed Jesus enduring 40 days of fasting in the desert, now only to be tempted by Satan. But his response serves as a model for us today to follow.

Speaker 1: 19:09

When confronted by the enemy, jesus did not rely on his own strength or reasoning, but instead he countered each temptation by pointing out his trust in God and in God's word. So he recognized the lies. He recognized that the enemy had no true power, even though he was taking him different places, he was promising him different things. Jesus knew that whatever the devil said was a lie. And even the Bible calls him the father of lies, and so the second thing is the replacement principle. So the first one is to expose the lies and then replace the lies.

Speaker 1: 19:57

So, in renewing your minds, look at Romans 12, 2. This is the same verse we started off with Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good, it's pleasing and it's perfect. Now, what this tells us is to not conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So it's literally telling us to change the way that we think. That if you want to live a life that is fulfilling, that is something you can enjoy, you've got to stop taking lies from the world, lies from culture, lies from people, cherry picking from the scripture, like the devil did, and making religions out of it, making denominations out of it, making their case for why they do or don't do certain things. It's a bunch of nonsense.

Speaker 1: 21:06

And so this scripture tells us that this world will promise us a lot of things. It'll try to show us and tempt us with a lot of things. But if we know, how can you know actual truth not my truth or your truth? Like actual truth, god's truth? There is only one truth. That is what God says in his word. And listen, if you're watching this and you're not a believer, you're probably not going to agree. That's okay, you don't have to agree, but I do challenge you to read the word so that you can see what I'm talking about. You can't argue against something if you really don't understand it. So this transformation occurs as we apply this replacement principle, removing the lies of the enemy and replacing them with the truth of the scripture. So, just as Jesus rejected Satan's temptation with scripture, we too can overcome the enemy's lies by saturating our minds with the word.

Speaker 1: 22:07

If you're in a place in your life and you and I'm coming from some serious experience in this like if you go through life and you, it seems to be over and over and over again that you find yourself being tempted and falling into temptation, and it's a constant issue. It may mess with your marriage, it may mess with your work, it may mess with your work, it may mess with whatever fill in the blank, and it seems that you constantly have the same issue over and over and over again. Let me present you with this. Could it possibly be that maybe you are not diving into, digging in and studying the word as you should as a believer. Now, why do I say that? Because it is so important as a and this is our next point as a firm foundation for you to build your life and be able to get your mind right, to be rooted in and really, really know God's word. When Satan came and tempted Jesus, jesus didn't say hold up. Let me look at what the Bible says about this. Let me turn over to whatever. Whatever he didn't, he had it internalized in his heart, in his mind, so that when temptation came he was able to spit it off. Like that.

Speaker 1: 23:29

The problem with a lot of us that are Christians that maybe were new to Christ, were new to church, were new to the Bible, or you've been serving Christ for years and you still have not internalized scripture. You haven't memorized scripture. I'm not saying you have to be perfect. Like me, I'm a pastor of a church and I'm terrible at remembering where, what book, what chapter and what verse. Now I can quote the scripture, I can tell you what it says, but I'm very terrible at like saying in this book and this chapter and in this verse it says this I don't know why I can't remember that. I'm also bad at like. I don't know how these old dudes do it, they're very, very good at it Back in 1983, it was a Sunday morning on the 12th of October. You know, I can't remember that, I don't know why. I remember, like things that happened, but when it happened I have to have reference points, like my son's when he was born, and you know birthdays and things like that. But beyond that, I'm terrible at it, I can not remember it.

Speaker 1: 24:31

But for us to be able to fight temptation, for us to be able to know how to fight, temptation for us to know a lot of Christians are walking around so weak they don't even understand what authority they have to speak to, temptation to speak to the devil and he flees. They read this story in Matthew and they're like to the devil and he flee. Like they read this story in Matthew and they're like well, that was Jesus Read after that, when Jesus dies, and before that and after that, there are so many scriptures, verses and books of talking about how now we have the authority because Christ died and went and sat at the right hand of the father. If we are grafted into the true vine, we become heirs to the throne. We now have the right to speak to the enemy, to speak to the devil, to speak to darkness, and it must flee. The same goes for our temptation, the same goes in our mind, because I don't know if you've ever been there, but I've been in some dark places where I didn't feel God. I sure didn't see God and I didn't know if he even existed.

Speaker 1: 25:36

That's real life. That actually happens to people who have. I was raised in church and I got to that place. But it's not talking bad about people that have gotten there. To me, that's prime real estate for God to really show up and do something and display how powerful, how mighty he is. And as Paul writes he talks about sin and how much we are in need of a savior and in need of God's grace and mercy. Not that we should sin to show how great he is, but because we have sinned. The depths of our sin shows that his mercy and grace is much, much greater and his love for us is so much deeper than anything we ever could have done wrong. And to me. That's pretty amazing because I deserve nothing that he gives. So there is an importance to knowing God's word. So the firm foundation.

Speaker 1: 26:36

You must start your starting place to re rewire your mind, rebuild the way that you think. Like you're going to have to tear down some strongholds. You're gonna have to tear down some, some processes, some patterns that you have been building your entire life so that you can begin to be free again. Like. This is not an overnight process. I wish that it was. This is not an overnight process. This is a a a very intentional thing that you have to start doing in your life. You have to start pausing and thinking do am I doing something wrong or is am I need to do? I need to change the way I do something. Like is there? What can I do different here? Like if you keep, if you keep going through these processes like relationships, bro, I used to do this all the time and bro debts, whatever, whoever's watching.

Speaker 1: 27:30

I used to be the person that would put like all of my heart and soul into relationships and I kept getting like used and even like relationship, not romantic, just like friendships. People would just walk all over me and I'm like, why is it that this keeps happening to me over and over? I'm everyone's doormat. Why? Well, over and over, I'm everyone's doormat. Why? Well, once I matured and grew up a little bit and I experienced some things in life, I realized that it was me allowing the same type of people over and over again into my life that would walk all over me. Then I started being very selective of who I let in my inner circle and guess what? And I and I got a little more outspoken on that. But that also the people that walk all over you. They don't want to be around someone who's not going to let them anymore. Now you're the bad guy, right, and I had to be okay with being the bad guy. So I had to change the way that I saw myself. I had to change the way I saw people and it made it to where my environment around me became healthier because I started thinking different about me. I started thinking different about my inner circle, my surroundings, and not that I got rude, but I got a little more assertive and more intentional with my relationships. And when I started acting like that, started thinking like that started, and when I started acting like that, started thinking like that, started being that way. Well, the people who didn't need to be around me was like chaff in the wind. They didn't want to stick around, and so the toxic relationships that I was allowing to be there kind of buffed themselves out and worked themselves out of my life because I wasn't going to just take it anymore. So it was good, anyways, firm foundation.

Speaker 1: 29:15

So take a screenshot if you need it. Psalm 119, 105 says your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light to my path. So in a world filled with deception, in a world filled with confusion I don't know if you've noticed out there, but there's some confused people, confusion, deception, scripture. The word of God. We're talking about a foundation being the word of God. The word of God will give you the starting point, will give you a place that you can build your life on that will not waver and will not fall. Okay, so it will serve as a guiding light. What does light do? Light will show traps. Light will show creatures in the dark that are trying to get you.

Speaker 1: 30:08

I am not a fan of snakes. Matter of fact, I might be a big old weenie when it comes to snakes and I love my wife, but if a snake comes up, I'll probably push her down. Okay, I won't do that, but here's what happened. So, and I felt very, very manly when this happened at an old house we were living at, we were out on Lake Palestine and we were we were going to go on a trip and we had this kind of outside kennel type thing for the dogs and the people that live there before us. They didn't really take care of it. They it ended up they buried some weird stuff in the yard. It's like they just didn't care and they put dirt over it. It was weird. So a half of a wood fence was inside this chain link fence in the kennel. I don't know why. Never met him to ask him, whatever. So that was our problem.

Speaker 1: 30:58

So we're out there, we're chopping things up, we're getting things ready, we're trying to like get the vines out, because it kind of grew up because they were inside dogs. We didn't really use it. It was our first I think first time to ever use it. So we're burning stuff around the country, we're burning stuff on this uh, fire pit, uh, fire, yeah, fire pit. And all of a sudden they're, and so I like run over, I'm like, oh no, what's going on and oh, it makes my skin crawl thinking about it. So my wife had lifted up the wood fence that was kind of half buried. She lifted it up and it it was bad. Okay, it was like a nest, like, uh, it was little baby snakes and I think it was the uh, copperheads or whatever. So we got a hoe and we got, uh, some shovels and listen, I held my composure, like right now my heart's racing thinking about. Held my composure, but my heart was racing and I was trying to act like a man and in front of her I did. But, bro, my skin, like the inside of my skin, was like it was trying to jump to the outside, but I didn't move. So it was uh.

Speaker 1: 32:07

So the light of the word will shine on the path of your life and it will keep you from stepping on dangerous animals, dangerous creatures, dangerous things that the enemy is going to try to put in your path. It will keep you on the right path, because if you're in the dark sometimes you can get on the wrong path. So it is illuminating and it will help you keep going forward and it will guard you against the traps of the enemy. So by immersing yourself and by completely surrounding yourself not only with the word but with God's presence, we establish a firm foundation that will keep us solid when everything around us is shaking and crumbling. So I'm a pretty level-headed guy, like, when it comes to things and drama and stuff like that, I don't get worked up too easy. It's not worth my time. So I'm pretty level-headed, but I used to not be that way. I used to just pull back and just kind of run. But now I can be level headed. But I used to not be that way. I used to like just like, pull back and just kind of run. But now I can be in the thick of it and it doesn't bother me. But I believe God has placed that in me to be able to lead others. But there's principles in his word that direct us to become that Like God's word inside of us.

Speaker 1: 33:33

Here's what I tell my people all the time that when life squeezes you, what is inside of you is what's going to ooze out. So if you're filling your life with nonsense, all the worldly things, it has nothing to do. It could be your language, it could be your attitude, it could be whatever you surround yourself with. When you are surrounding yourself with things. You consciously, subconsciously, you ingest them, and so when life comes at you, when people come at you, things that are inside of you will come out every time, and if they haven't yet, they will eventually. If you're not pouring God into you, if you're not pouring scripture into you, if you're not being led by the spirit. These things are meant to protect you, protect your heart, protect your mind, protect your actions, your attitude and your tongue, because you can ruin your witness faster than anything by your tongue running off on you. So surround yourself, internalize God's scripture inside of you, but start off small. So I give my people this challenge almost every Sunday five, five and five, five minutes of prayer, five minutes of reading a word, five minutes of praising the Lord. Every single day. I prefer to do this when I start my day.

Speaker 1: 34:53

I get a lot of road time. I have a business that video and photos and stuff. It's a media day. I get a lot of road time. I have a business that video and photos and stuff. It's a media company and I get a lot of road time. So my time with God is windshield time, like I'm on the road. So I get the kid up my 16 year old. I take him to school, I get him ready, I come home, I do some work in the office and then I load up my equipment and I'm on the road. And when I'm on the road it's me and God. And then you know other stuff like podcasts, things like that.

Speaker 1: 35:21

Uh, I try to feed myself wholesome things as much as I can, and there's no greater wholesomeness than God's word Bible study. You may not be a reader, but I encourage you, if you're not a reader, to have it be read to you. There's a Bible app that I share with my church, like get the scripture in you, somehow. You may not be a avid reader I'm not but I have this thing called Audible and I read scripture or I read books through that all the time, like I get sermon series from the books that I read. So, anyways, it will keep you from falling for lies and falling for deception that this world has to offer.

Speaker 1: 36:12

I don't know if you've been paying attention in the last few years, but there has been a hard. It's seemingly. Maybe maybe it's not as hard of a turn as as I feel, but it seems like all of a sudden, it's like everything is pointed towards transgender and the LGBT, all the the letters. I have. Companies I use for my company to deliver media, to edit things, and everything is pushing an alternate lifestyle that has nothing to do with what their business does Nothing at all has nothing to do with it, but they keep pushing it all the time. I don't understand it.

Speaker 1: 36:51

But if you're one of those people that call yourself a Christian but you support things that the Bible clearly says is sin, then you are not a Christian. I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you that, but that's just the fact. It's not my opinion, it's not my outlook on life. It's not my truth. It is the truth, the word of God. There are clear texts that says what is sin, and it even goes even further to say even things like this are detestable to God and the world is trying to feed it as if you don't approve of it. You are hating them and that's not hate. Matter of fact, me telling you the truth and being honest with you and say listen, this is going to lead to your destruction in one way or another. It is not healthy for you and it's not healthy for the people around you. This is not me being hateful. This is actually me being more loving than the other people trying to approve whatever nonsense comes your way. Approval does not equal love. I'm not going to tell my testimony right now, but just for a small little example.

Speaker 1: 37:54

My father, when I was on drugs I was on meth. He didn't know exactly what I was on, but he knew something was off. I would disappear for days. I'd show back up, I'd you know use and abuse. I would steal, I'd do you know whatever. I even had a credit card one time of theirs and I'd ran it up getting cash out and you know, just using whatever I could to get whatever I wanted. And he kicked me out of the house. And when I got arrested shortly after, the first phone call that I had with my dad from jail was me blaming him and I'm a grown man crying on the phone blaming my dad that it was his fault that he kicked me out. And I wish I never would have had that conversation with my dad because there's no telling, I can't even imagine if my son was in jail talking to me that way, especially knowing that it actually was their own fault and it was my fault that I was in jail.

Speaker 1: 38:47

But I wanted to blame somebody else, and that's a part of the lies the culture is trying to sell right now to our children, and some of the adults are eating it up and I don't understand how that could work. You've got to have low brain cell counts, but just the flipping around of what truth is. But it's really the lies, deception and sinful nature being masqueraded around as truth, purity, morality, and it's not even close. It's a synthetic and I don't know if you've ever consumed synthetic stuff before. But eventually it ends up causing some major physical issues because it's not natural, because the world only has lies and deception to offer. That's the bottom line. All it has is lies and deception. We need to choose.

Speaker 1: 39:43

If you are on the fence or you are saying that you are a Christian but yet you are partaking in things that are of the world, you need to check your definition of what Christianity is. Because here's the thing A lot of people, a lot of people, want to wear the name tag as Christian, but they are not Christian by definition, especially here in East Texas. Man, everybody goes to church, everybody loves God, everybody's a Christian, and none of them even know who God is. They live their life completely for themselves and they say no, I'm a Christian, I go to church. Going to church does not make you a Christian. Reading the Bible does not make you a Christian. You can quote scripture until the day that you die, every moment of the day, and it will not get you into heaven. As we just read in the beginning of this live stream, the devil was able to quote scripture and that boy ain't going to heaven. Amen, somebody All right? So here's the next one. Let's apply Jesus' example when we read with him being tempted.

Speaker 1: 40:44

We must stand firm. So look in Ephesians, let me get this up here for you. So we must stand firm. We must, we must, we must stand firm. If there's any any time that we, as believers, need to stand up for what is right, that time is now. We have got to stand up for what is right.

Speaker 1: 41:06

There are so many out there that claim truth, but they have no truth in them. We, as Christians, have to stand up. We have to be firm in what we believe and have an understanding of what we believe. We need to be able to answer for the hope that is within us when those that have no hope are fighting against us, and the sad thing is, churches have produced weak Christians that just let anything slide because we want to let them in the church. We want to win them over. You're not winning people over, you're just adding to your numbers and your bottom line.

Speaker 1: 41:39

That's not true conversion. There's no transformation. It's exactly what the world is, but just in a different building. That is not Christ. Christ tells us to turn from our wicked ways, to turn from our sin, to leave the old us behind, actually to kill our flesh daily. It should be a murder scene every single day, for us to kill our flesh so that we can allow the spirit within us to live, because two cannot exist in the same. You have to choose today who you'll serve. Is it Christ or is it yourself or your own agenda? It's not a game.

Speaker 1: 42:17

Ephesians 6, 17 says put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. These things go hand in hand. If you want to protect your mind, you must remember that you are saved. You may have to remind yourself every day I don't think like that anymore. I don't talk like that anymore, I don't do that same stuff with those same people anymore, because I am saved Because if you do things in your life or if you let things slide in your life and you're not wearing your helmet, things will get into your mind. This passage instructs us to keep the word of God, the weapon of the spirit, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, in our spiritual warfare. There's no greater downfall or loss in battle than when we bring our fleshly weapons to a spiritual war. We will lose every single time because you're not fighting the battle with the right weapons and, like Jesus, we must wield scripture as weapons against the enemy's attacks, standing firm on the promises and truths found only in God's word.

Speaker 1: 43:22

I love a good book that has a lot of good substance to it, but there are a lot of false teachers out there who have written well-learned books and they speak as authority on spiritual topics that they have no business talking about. So you have to do your due diligence to and I've done this before you read a book and you're like man, that's a good book, and then you find out the person the theology is like. That's almost witchcraft. It's easy to do because you're reading one book about a certain subject. You're not diving into the other stuff they believe in the background. You don't have a clue. So make sure that you are doing your due diligence, because it is a part of being a spiritually mature Christian to make sure that you are feeding on healthy things of God, not a false synthetic labeled as truth and labeled as of God.

Speaker 1: 44:20

So, that being said, how do you know this? If it does not measure up with the word of God, it is trash. Okay, it does not measure with the word of God. Measure up to the word of God. It is trash. The same with someone speaking prophecy. The same with people doing gifts and things. There are certain things that are allowed according to scripture, certain things that are not allowed or should be done a certain way, even prophecy. In the Bible, paul tells them to weigh prophecy. How do you weigh prophecy? Does it go against the word of God? Does it go against the deity of Christ? This is how we know that the Muslim Allah is not the same God, because when Muhammad wrote this, he said Christ Jesus was a prophet, but not a deity, not a one true son of God. And that is where you know that it is a false God. It is not the same God. It is a very close. Written sounds good, sounds right, but it is not the same. God, how do you measure up what truth is and what truth is not? Number one God's word. More so through prayer, through meditation on the word.

Speaker 1: 45:34

Don't just go through a checklist of reading the word and thinking that everything is good. Go through the actual process of is this what I need today? Or what can I use this for today? You don't want to read the word just to check it off a list. I have an app, a Bible app that I mentioned earlier. That's a great tool for me to remember to read the word. It's a great tool that reads to me. But if I'm not studying, if I'm not meditating on what the word says, then it won't stick up here and it won't resonate down here. So meditation on the word is so important and vital because you don't want to just go down the list. You want to stop.

Speaker 1: 46:18

If you ate your food the same way you read your Bible, just to get it done with. How boring would that be and how much would you choke if you didn't take time to chew it. Meditation is chewing, meditation, chewing Meditation. Slow down, read it. Read it three or four times. Read it until it sticks, read it until it resonates and then go on. And before you read the word I highly recommend this kind of posture before you read is Lord, what do you want me to receive from you when I read this? That's very important. So prayer, meditation, and then you have obedience. There must be action. The Bible even says that faith like you, can't be a Christian without faith. Grace through faith, that's how you receive Christ. But if there is no action to your faith, faith without works is dead. So you got prayer, you have works is dead. So you got prayer, you have meditation, and then you have an application obedience. We strengthen our defenses and remain steadfast in the face of adversity and opposition.

Speaker 1: 47:28

With these ingredients, this fan is freezing me out. Hold on just a second. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Usually I'm drinking coffee instead of this stuff. I got in the cup, it's warmer. Hallelujah, hallelujah, all right.

Speaker 1: 47:43

So the next one is embracing the transformative power of God's word. Now, how do you do this? You walk in victory, you walk in victory. We got some walking to do the Lord this. You walk in victory, you walk in victory. We got some walking to do. The Lord wants us to walk in victory. He doesn't want us to walk around. Oh, the devils are going to come after me. How am I going to fight them? You got to walk in victory. So let's look at Hebrews, chapter 4. We're going to wrap it up pretty quick.

Speaker 1: 48:12

A couple more scriptures, for the word of God is alive and powerful. Okay, the word of God is not something you just lock away, write down and whatever. It is powerful, it is a tool that we are supposed to use to fight the enemy, as we saw in Matthew, chapter 4, with Jesus being tempted. It is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts, and Now we are called to embrace this transformative power of God's word, to embrace it, to allow it to do something in our lives, to allow it to cut us down to the bone so that we can be rebuilt. Now we experience his victory, through his word, over our sin, over our fear, over our doubt, and we are transformed into willing vessels for him to pour into and to pour through onto other people.

Speaker 1: 49:13

Salvation is not something that you obtain and you just stop like, oh god, thank you, lord, I appreciate that I'm saved. It's something that we are to spread around other people. We are to be transformed in the vessels of his grace and truth, like in romans, chapter 12, verse uh wait, I guess I didn't put that one up there. That's okay. But if you want, write this down. If you're taking notes, if you don't, whatever, this is the same. Write this down and put it somewhere. This is the same scripture again. Don't copy. This is actually the second half of it. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let god transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think.

Speaker 1: 49:54

God's word transforms us into something we could not obtain on our own, just like in Acts, chapter two, when the Holy Spirit fell, jesus went up. The spirit came down. It gave them an edge. It gave them a power that they could not under. It gave them even a understanding when they begin to prophesy outside of the upper room. It gave them something beyond what they had already obtained. They obtained knowledge from jesus. They spent three years with them at least the 12 did, and most of them spent those years with him, following him, loving him, listening to him, helping him prepare um the meals. You go out and pass the meals around to everybody watching him work. It had been a cool experience. But when the spirit fell, it gave them something they did not have before Jesus left. It gave them something different that was not there before.

Speaker 1: 50:51

Now, if the enemy will go toe to toe with Jesus, you best believe he'll try to get you too. Don't live a naive Christian life that you think well, because now you're saved, now everything's good. The devil won't come after me. That is the exact opposite. He will try to come and tempt you in any way possible. So let's look over. You hear that weed eater outside. I don't know if y'all can hear that or not, it's extremely loud. 1 possible. So let's look over here. We eat her outside. I don't know if y'all can hear that or not, it's extremely loud. First corinthians, chapter 10. Hopefully it'll quit in like five seconds. Okay, I think it's gone kind of all right. First corinthians, chapter 10, verse 13, and we will wrap it up.

Speaker 1: 51:25

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience, and god is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. So I just actually said this Sunday to my church it irritates me when people use this scripture as talking about God won't put on you more than you can bear. That's a lie. It's talking about temptation. You just read the whole scripture. Look, it's on your screen right now Temptation, he will give you a way out. He people who say he won't put on you more than you can bear is an idiot. If he didn't allow things to be on you more than you can bear, you would never need him. So just, it's a little little small, like study of the Bible right there would. You can understand that. But whatever, he would not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Speaker 1: 52:17

The devil's been doing this gig for a while. He knows the tricks. He knows what gets you. He's been here longer than any of us and he knows what buttons to try to push to get you to slip up, to fall back into the old you, to put down your cross and to pick up your flesh again. He knows the good tricks. But if you, if you will surround yourself and internalize God's word and stand on his word and believe and you build your life on Christ, the chief cornerstone, not the culture, not what people are saying, but what does the word say, not the culture, not what people are saying, but what does the word say. Then you can replace the lies that the culture tries to tell us and tries to shove down our throat with the truth and the word of God and you can remain righteous before God and you can live a fulfilled Christian life. God doesn't desire for us to live a boring, dull Christian life. He wants us to be people who are alive, people that are people of action, that actually do something, not just sit on our rear ends and watch as time goes by.

Speaker 1: 53:27

So what did Jesus do? First of all, the devil knows when we're weak. He sees your weak spots. So you need to have accountability in your life so that those weak spots will not be exposed to other people Just like he did with Jesus. He knew when to attack at his weakest moment. But what did Jesus do? He kept to what he knew was true. He quoted scripture and he rebuked the devil and he had to leave. And the center of it all, the enemy could not stand against the scripture. So that's what I want to leave you with when you're feeling tempted, when you're feeling like the enemy's trying to tell you who you are again and trying to remind you of what you've done in your past. Just remind him of his future, rebuke him and send him on his way. Praying for y'all. I love y'all, thank y'all for watching and I'll see you on the next one.