Habits: Apply, Rinse, and Repeat Part 5

i am so excited to be uh here in the house of the lord we had a great service with brother stayton on sunday brother wesley taught last wednesday and i'm just excited to be back in the pulpit teaching the word of god finishing our finishing our series tonight on habits somebody say habits habits and i will give you a few things that we have discussed uh in previous times it's the small things that no one sees that result in the big things everyone wants successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally we don't rise to the level of our goals we fall to the level of our systems we are what we repeatedly do and the last wednesday that i taught discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most so tonight i want to continue in this vein of preaching or teaching and i want to teach you on habits everybody say thoughts so often we hear that we should fix our thoughts but if we would all be honest we have fought the thing that i am going to speak about first probably more times than not throughout the course of our life because we are dominated by this one word and that is procrastination anybody want to say amen on that procrastination has become the biggest one of the biggest enemies of producing change in our life because it's things like i'll start tomorrow or i'll put that off for a more convenient time and but here's the here's something that we must all come to grip with that if i don't fix my thoughts thoughts become words words become actions actions become habits habits become my destiny life if you're going to write something now you'll see these on the screen in just a second

life will always move in the direction of your strongest thoughts you think about that your life will always move in the direction of your strongest thoughts you got verses proverbs 23 7 for as he thinketh in his heart so is he for as he thinketh in his heart so is he think you can't you probably won't think you can you probably will dwell on problems you you feel overwhelmed you look for opportunities you're likely going to see some it's all and what you focus on it's all in your thoughts and what you allow your mind to dwell on and think upon do you feel like a victim you'll become one believe you're an overcomer you can it's all in what you allow your mind to consistently think on i'm going to say it again life will always move in the direction of your strongest thoughts that little train that thought it could finally got there because it said i think i can i think i can i think i can i think i can i think i can and before long it had accomplished what it thought it could do now i know where and you hear me you've heard me say this over the years you know we had a vision to build this building now to most people they think we're crazy we're people of faith there is no way it adds up on paper there's no way that this can happen in this city but you're talking to people you're talking to families who believe in the power of a thought a power a vision a power of a made up mind and you know what you think about it long enough you put hard work behind it long enough and before long you're going to realize you know what this all happened because somebody had a thought somebody had a vision and then put the necessary work behind that vision we move in the direction of our strongest thoughts somebody ought to say amen believe you can and you will

thought audit when's the last time you did an audit on your thoughts do an audit on your thoughts right now are you worried about your children worried about money worried about your health about your future if we're not careful our thoughts will get consumed over things that we can't even control we're worried about things tomorrow and tomorrow i haven't even got here we're worried about next week and next week has not even promised but it's like sitting in a rocking chair worry and you've heard this illustration worry is just like sitting in the sitting in that rocking chair thinking you're going to go somewhere you're not going anywhere you're just rocking back and forth worried about all of the things that really you can't change with human means and uh human ability but what if we did a thought audit and we stopped and paused just for a few moments and said you know what i will be secure in the promises of god and i will do what i can that's within my power but at the end of the day i've got to find the peace that passeth all understanding that can only come from the lord jesus christ hallelujah too many times we try to take on so much upon ourselves upon our plate and i just maybe i need to remind all of us we're not god he is come unto me all ye that are labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest i believe we're living beneath the privilege of a place full of peace when we allow ourselves not to do a thought audit every now and then do a thought audit and say you know what i'm worrying about this too much i'm worried about too much i'm letting it get the best of my emotions do you know covent 19 has has put so much fear into people i think if we all be honest at the beginning of it we didn't want to get out of our house we were scared to go down the road we were scared man this thing is gonna it's gonna reach up and grab us and i'm not trying to minimize it being real please i'm not poking i'm not saying anything but what i'm saying is there's a spirit of fear that can get behind something behind our thoughts until we just whittle away and spiritually we're drained spiritually we're not where we were six months ago come on somebody we've allowed a coveted 19 to to drain us of our spiritual vitality that's not the will of god we should be stronger right now because we've prayed more we've been more faithful to the house of god we've read our bible more we've got into deep communication in relationship with him or oh god i'm scared to go to walmart i might get the virus come on somebody y'all actually i'm just telling you we can be dominant our thoughts can be dominated by fear or i can be dominated by faith that's where we've got to get we've got to get dominated our thoughts have got to be dominated by faith too many times we can go the route of being negative i know none of you are but we can get so negative we can get critical of everyone we can find fault we can get discontented come on somebody or we can do a thought audit and say you know what i've been too negative this week i don't know what's wrong with me maybe i hadn't prayed i hadn't got up at six like i needed to get up and pray and get on my back man i have i'm just giving you and i was i was there on that back porch this morning with my bible praying for all of you my list praying but you know what if i don't pray if we don't pray we'll find ourselves being negative we'll find ourselves being critical we'll find ourselves blaming god and finding fault and being discontent and wondering lord am i doing the right thing but if i'm praying if i'm doing a thought audit you know what's going to happen i'm going to see the positive i'm going to believe the best in people i'm going to believe that life is good i am going to be optimistic about the future hallelujah i just need to remind somebody i i i know we got an election coming up here in just a few months we've got to get optimistic about the future we got to start praying like we never prayed before and we all better go vote come on now i know y'all are listening good tonight and i love it we got to see the positive in people believe the best know that life is good optimistic of the future and always live with this understanding this world is not my home i'm just a passing through i believe the preacher said it on on sunday we can get this envisionment of the american dream and when god doesn't line our lined up with our vision of the american dream we blame him we've got to get optimistic about the future and you know what it may get worse before it gets better but i still need to remind you and i need to remind the devil god's still in control he knows he's already he's already written the back of the book and we're going to win this thing hallelujah i cannot let my mind get so consumed with this life with material things you know we may not be liked by everybody but you know what we've got to make up in our mind we're going to make an eternal difference we're going to give and we're going to reach people hallelujah

romans 12 and 2. romans 12 2 and you'll see it on the on the screen and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good acceptable and perfect will of god i like the new living translation 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 and pleasing and perfect hallelujah changing the way you think how i know some of you are saying my lord it sounds so good but how do i change the way you think how can i change the way that i think

capture destructive thoughts capture destructive thoughts second corinthians 10 3-5 for though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world on the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ now for too long we have bought into the idea and we have told ourselves i can't and i won't change or i'm not good enough i can't change or i never can be happy and we bought that thought process and we bought that that mindset but here's what i want to help you with tonight is if i can get you to capture those destructive thoughts that tell you you can't or you won't or i'm not good enough or i made this mistake and i'll never recover i'll never get over this or i'll never be happy i've made a mistake you know x amount of years ago i'll never be and you know what we wake up every day with a tormenting thought process that i'll never move forward but if i can get you to to categorize or to move and fall some of these allow some of these thoughts to fall into a category i believe you're going to be liberated tonight

everybody say truth or trash if i can start understanding my thoughts and start putting it truth or trash now we've all seen it come short of the glory of god everybody say amen and some of us believe that i can't make a difference after what i've done is that truth or trash that truth or trash you can still make a difference no matter what you've done but the enemy just condemns and brings destructive thoughts into our spirit that says you can't make a difference after what you've done and it becomes truth in our thought process when in reality it's nothing but trash you just need to wake up there's somebody that needs to hear your testimony there's somebody that needs to know i can relate to what you've been through there's somebody out there that is going through similar or certain circumstances that if they hear your story they can believe they can change they can believe you know what i can capture my destructive thinking and become something for the cause of the lord jesus christ hallelujah no well i'm just stuck in life truth of trash that's trash you're not stuck in light no no no you're an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony hallelujah i am who god says i am is that truth or trash that's truth hallelujah hallelujah well you've just blown it truth or trash trash god works all things for your good see what i'm saying here we've got to start you know what i'm putting some things in my mind in the trash can i'm not going to allow those thoughts to dictate to me about my future about who i am and how god sees me i know how god sees me because i've read it in his word i understand through his word all things work together for the good yes we like sheep have all went astray yes we have all seen and come short of the glory of god but can i tell you even in my weaknesses his strength is made perfect hallelujah hallelujah so i've got to truth or trash it and then

i've got to fix my thoughts on spiritual things philippians 4 8-9 and now dear brothers and sisters one final thing fix your thoughts on what is true what is honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise then the god of peace will be set with you everybody say i'm an evangelist if you'll get this one revelation it's not necessarily what you do it's who you are i am created to reach people that are far from god that's what i was created to do i was created to bring individual to first get myself back in a relationship with god we were ostracized we were torn by sin and separated from god at birth we were all born in sin shapen and iniquity but we made been made nigh to him by the power of the holy ghost now our job as an evangelist fixing our thought on spiritual things god now helps us to reach people who are far from god and we bring people for the cause that's greater than us to jesus christ so they can receive the same holy ghost receive the same baptism receive the same peace and joy that you have hallelujah so fixing your things on spiritual things is so easy by nature to be carnally minded it's very easy to be carnally minded by nature it's the sin nature but if we can fix our thought on spiritual things we'll begin to find what we're looking for what do you mean by that how about reading your bible what about prayer what about getting involved in the kingdom of god maybe you've been hesitant in getting involved in the kingdom of god and because the enemy has just beat you down because of things you've done years ago and you feel like i'm unworthy to get involved i'm unworthy to do anything and that oh enemy plagues and and just ridicules you in your thought process and you sit idle but what if involvement what if you begin to pray what if you begin to be thankful i promise you your thoughts are going to shift and you'll begin to seek god everywhere you'll see god in the faces of people that he brings into your path you'll begin to see things you've never seen before when you begin to fix your thought on spiritual things hallelujah hallelujah you'll wake up one day and understand that truly people do need the lord hallelujah there is a special peace that comes there is a special peace and rest that come to the people of god i believe that there is no life any better than living for the lord there's nothing better our worst day in the church is better than our best day in the world hallelujah and i i purposed in my in my preparation for this message tonight i want to do my best to enter into the rest that the bible calls where the weary can find rest what my mind rests at night my mind's not spinning completely out of control worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow what's happening next week or what happened last year or 10 years ago i can do all things through christ hallelujah i can do all things through christ i trust god with everything i can't control with god's help i can change somebody say i can change i said with god's help anybody can change well you don't know you don't know how bad i don't care how bad they are how far away they are with god's help anybody can't change hallelujah it's not by my strength or my power god's spirit is what makes the difference when you receive the baptism of the holy ghost you're a new creature in christ the old man is gone and the new man is come hallelujah you become a new creation in christ hallelujah hallelujah everybody say thoughts everybody say words

thoughts become words because words become actions proverbs 18 21 the tongue has the power of life and death i'm dealing with thoughts and i'm dealing with words because those two things have a heart a huge role if not just a paramount role in developing healthy habits change the life you have by changing the words you speak i want a different life oh and a better life change the words you're speaking today you reckon that works i know it works small changes in the words we speak create big differences in the life that we live goes back to being negative you're negative every day you get up out of the bed you know what kind of life you're going to be have a very negative life you start speaking positive well it ain't happening yet i try to keep speaking it keep speaking it keep speaking it keep believing it keep declaring it the power of life in death is in the tongue say that's my tongue don't wait for me to speak life over you every sunday and every wednesday you start speaking life over you on monday and tuesday and thursday and friday and saturday before long you're going to wake up you're going to have an understanding that my words do make a difference hallelujah james 3 3 and 5. we can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in his mouth and a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go and even though the winds are strong in the same way the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches but a tiny spark can set a crate forest fire you think about that a large horse can be led wherever he needs to go with a small bit in his mouth a small rudder can take a huge ship in any direction it may choose to go and inside of our being is a mouth a tongue that can produce great eloquent speeches or just a tiny spark can send off a forest fire so i now have to categorize my words and as a pastor and as a leader there's husbands wives here grandparents single adults you can probably relate

there are life-taking and life-giving words life-taking versus life giving every day you wake up if all you do is ever vocalize and ever complain man i've just got a bad marriage is that life-giving or life-taking but what if i woke up tomorrow morning and start declaring you know what i'm going to have a good marriage i'm going to have a great marriage or man i just hate my job life-taking what if i woke up tomorrow said you know what god thank you for my job help me to understand those people that i work with that are making me miserable i'm speaking life over my job life giving i just don't want to be around people life-taking what if i woke up and say you know what i can't wait to get to church i'm ready to get around the body of christ and have some fun and fellowship i'm ready for coven 19 to be over with i'm ready just for us to just be able to you know not have to worry about a mask and you know six feet of social i'm ready for a hug from a brother or sister in the lord and i'm ready just to get back to somewhat of what we call normal and we start declaring life-giving words instead of life-taking i say it all time is that glass half full or half-empty what what how do you think like half full half empty if if i say well it's half him oh yeah my god it's ham empty i i can't believe this glass is half empty i don't even know what i'm gonna do tomorrow i can't believe the pastor ain't called me my glass is half empty i ain't even got a text this week or my god i'm glad i got half of that water bot i'm sad i'm so thankful god's allowed me to preserve half the bottle of water i'm so glad pastor was in church on wednesday night i'm so glad that he i'm so glad we got brother hamilton coming sunday and i'm going to invite a friend and you know life-giving or life-taking we can we can we can get in a realm of thinking if we're not careful our words words have you ever been guilty of this i have i didn't mean it to come out that way it just it just came out and it didn't come out the way i intended but you know what it come out is a life-taking word instead of a life-giving word i don't know nobody in here has ever done that but if we're not careful it can become a way of life everything we say has just a little slant to it has a little life taking instead of edifying instead of uplifting instead of building up our most holy face we're taking and zapping life out of us we're zapping our witness we're zapping our zeal we're zapping those things the things that god's trying to do in our life we're taking it right out of our nobody else is doing it but us we're taking it we're robbing our own selves by the words that we speak solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and he contrasted life taking words in life giving words constantly listen to proverbs 12 and 18 the words of the reckless pierce-like swords but the tongue of the wise is health thus in proverbs 15 4 the soothing tongue is a tree of life but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit life-giving life-taking everybody getting it life-taking words versus life giving word life taking is you see somebody we'll just give you some very comical example well you sure a little pathetic tonight who fixed your hair where in the world did you get that dress i hope nobody makes that mistake to their wife or looking at your kids so you ain't never gonna amount to anything life-taking when they don't ever amount to anything could it be because you prophetically spoke it over them you ain't never going to get a job why don't i say you know what baby i'm praying for you today i'm praying that the lord would stir up a desire in your heart to go get a job a little way of difference of saying it but it's life-giving i believe in you i'm proud of you i couldn't love you anymore i love you i love what you're wearing boy you sure do look good tonight boy i sure like the way you fixed your hair life giving some of you me and that may pay dividends for you your wife may be a little sweeter to you start complimenting her lord have mercy what time is it i know y'all ready to get out of here brother guzman you're all right okay

if you can't say anything helpful skip it can i get an amen in here if you can't see something helpful skip it and sometimes you got to have tough conversations and but there is a way to say it don't you just love people that always bring problems they just bring problems and i try to do that when i bring a problem i'm already thinking of a solution always always if you're going to present a problem bring a solution that's not always easy but if we can start if we can't say something helpful skip it ephesians 4 29 do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen help build up others nobody elbowing their wives or their husbands right now if you can't say something helpful skip it but if you think this is this is so good if you think something good say it i heard somebody say this i don't want you standing over my casket and telling me how good i was i don't want you telling all these accolades over if you ain't never said it to my face i want you to tell me now if i'm good tell me now right brother you know i can't hear it when you're standing over my dead body if you think something good say it somebody goes out of their way i'm a bra brother dodd has managed this whole many of you have seen all this uh dozier work back here smoothing this out making it drain water doesn't stand on the top now most of you didn't even know that but all of this land is just it's just been smoothed out and it looks a thousand times better got the pond cleaned out and brother dodd managed that whole project for me and brother dodd you've done an absolutely outstanding job and i give you a hand of appreciation you've done a good job there are things that people do all around us every day little things if you think something good say it well the church did smell good when i come in this morning somebody had to plug in somebody had the mop somebody had to spray if you think something good say it well you come in and man you walked in this afternoon and did your wife have or maybe maybe somebody cooked a meal and it was sitting there waiting on you to come in or maybe you didn't even eat lunch ain't he made supper yet but many times we come in and we flop down and we eat a meal and we don't even pause to say you know what thank you thank you for taking time to cook and clean and do the little things of life that make the world go round don't rob someone of a blessing say something positive to somebody encourage them it's the little words of encouragement that's going to make them try a little harder and do better in life if you think i'm going to say if you think something good say it and i'm going to help us all right here as i try to wind down my thoughts

don't just encourage others with your words because a lot of us are good with that we're good at encouraging others and when we get done encouraging others we take a back seat and we sit down we feel drained because we we give encouragement to everybody else and we forget to encourage ourselves while we're encouraging others with our words don't forget to encourage yourself i'm not talking about somebody i'm talking about you david was at a point in his life where they wanted to stone him but he said time out guys i got to get by myself i've been p i've been lifting you guys up i've been promoting you i know you want to stone me but everything i've done was for your well-being david had to take a timeout and say i've got to encourage myself in the lord we've got a pause in this in the and i hope and pray in your six o'clock morning prayers as you're praying and you're seeking the lord whenever that time is that you pause long enough god i'm encouraging myself god i'm pouring back into myself because you know what you created me to encourage everybody else but i can't encourage everybody else to not encourage myself hallelujah i've got to encourage myself paul said i've got to think myself happy in other words i got to encourage myself if you want to see it say it if you whatever you want to see start saying it start speaking it say what you want to see say to this mountain and that's what that's the way you want to say it that's the way i wa the way i'm saying it is the way i want it speak to this mountain it shall be removed what you want to see start speaking it whatever it is whatever it is just start speaking it waking to realize christ in you is stronger than the appetites in you i was praying this morning out and i was i said god help us paul would say when i would do good evil is present when i would do the right it was always lurking it was always there but the appetite in you must submit if you will allow the thoughts going back to thoughts you've got to submit to the christ that's stronger inside of you christ in you is stronger than the appetites in you god we gotta start speaking god is going to bless my home god is going to help me get better and better no i'm not perfect yes i've made mistakes but you know what it's not a cop-out it's not an excuse for you know easy greasy grace but by the help and the strength of the almighty god my bet my good was my best was good enough for today but tomorrow i'll be better that's the way we got to start thinking my best was good enough for today but tomorrow i'm going to do better hallelujah my children will grow in their faith and walk in truth god's hand of favor is upon my children is upon my life i will walk in that do you know what happens when you start vocalizing that when you start speaking that you're going to start walking in it you're going to start being attracted to those things that are after his favor after his righteousness my body is a dwelling place for the almighty god hallelujah i will do what his word said i would do i will not shy away from the commitments of holiness and righteousness and godliness i am getting my body my spiritual body in better shape every single day and with god's power i will overcome i will cast down imagination i will bring into captivity every thought i will speak life over me i will start declaring the goodness of the lord if you want to change the life you live change the words you speak can't say something helpful skip it small changes in the words you speak create big changes in the life you have if you want to see it say it words have the power of life and death change your thoughts

and i'm coming down to a close quick close change your thoughts change the way you live change the words you speak change the results you see you see that on the screen maybe you can see that change your thoughts i've got to get my thoughts it's going to change the way you live change the words you speak change the results you see tomorrow our challenge is this when we get up to the best of your ability find a place to pray that's going to get your thought process moving in a direction of spiritualness maybe you're sitting here tonight and you're fighting maybe it's an addiction maybe it's a destructive behavior i don't know what it is i just know what i feel in the hole it goes there are some things that you've been wrestling and fighting and it seems like there's no peace if i can get you to change your destructive thoughts and bring them into captivity and then i can change your vocabulary i'm changing my thoughts and changing my words it will change who you are it's just that easy it's just that if i change my thoughts i'm going to change the way i'm living and when i change my words i'm going to see a result in me you're going to see a result in you you're going to be the life-giving force that god's destined for you to become

why don't you stand all over this house hallelujah it has been an amazing series on habits and if you've not for those of you that are watching online thank you for joining us thank you for tuning in to what we have been journeying through over the last five weeks i would encourage you if you missed a lesson to go back and watch one two three and four and catch up to where we are i do believe that if you will apply what i have spoke and what i have taught i believe truly you will start seeing some differences and changes in your life