Matters Of The Mind

today I want to preach and I'm going to go to Proverbs the 4th chapter I want to preach on the title matters of the Mind matters of the mind I want to preach about our thought life today because you may know this but you can be born again and not always think like somebody who's been born again you can have the Holy Ghost operating inside of you but you can you can think and act just like you did before you got the Holy Ghost so it matters what you think it matters what you think look at your neighbor and say it matters what you think I just saved some marriages right there it matters what you think Proverbs the 4th chapter the 23rd verse it says this keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life

going to read the cont temporary English version some of yall get nervous when there's other versions being read it's all right it's just for emphasis today says this in Proverbs 4:23 and the cev carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of True Life we've got to guard our thoughts today yes sir we got to make sure that our mind is where God wants it to be that our thoughts are on things above and not on things of this world we're going to talk today about matters of the mind let's bow our heads right now and let's pray Jesus God I pray that your spirit God would just continue to move in this place God I pray that right now Lord Jesus you would begin to speak to every heart and every mind that's in this house God lord I pray that your will

would be done today God I believe that you want to transform the way we think the way we operate the way we act the way we behave the way we operate in your spirit God and I pray that today would be that Fresh Start for somebody in the house in Jesus name we pray amen and amen amen it was a few years ago that my young or oldest child my daughter brought me a gift from from school I'll never forget it was one of those I love my dad because and there was a lot of things there some things were true some things were maybe fabricated some things had not existed yet so maybe she was working in the prophetic but there was a lot of thoughts there and as I was reading it I thought to myself you know I love

this gift from my daughter it doesn't quite make sense it doesn't isn't quite factual but I had this thought it's the thought that counts her love and her affection even though the gift or the drawing and the illustration the descriptions weren't necessarily accurate it meant a great deal to me because I knew there was great intent behind the gift that she gave me and I knew that it was it was saturated in love and I don't know about you but I've given gifts before where I could tell it did not hit the mark I had G I've given gifts before and I could tell that they thought to themselves at least he thought of me or at least he appreciates me but it matters today what we think about it matters today our

thoughts are worth something they truly do matter the Bible says in Proverbs chap 23:7 for as he thinks in his heart so is he as a man thinks in his heart that's who he is so it's it's important today that we carefully guard our thoughts that that we make sure that our thoughts are in line with what is true and what is Godly in what is pure aw toer one of the great theologians of an earlier era he wrote this he said that the most important thing that a person can do in life is to think properly and rightly about God now I'm I'm no great Theologian like toer but I will add this addition to it if it's all right that the second most important thing we think about outside of who God is who we think we are in God it's

important that we have an understanding of who we are and whose we are that we have a comprehension that we are not just some Heathen or some rebellious person or that we're some person that that can't get their life together or that that always makes mistakes and isn't quite doing exactly what we're supposed to do but that we understand that we are blood-bought children of the king that we would see ourselves for what we really are and that we are his and we belong to him and that pray paid a high price so that we could be children of Christ we need today to have an understanding a firm understanding of our identity in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so I asked the question today who are you who are you has it been a while since you've considered that that you

belong to the king that you belong to Jesus that he loves you and that he cares for you and that he died for you somebody needs to be reminded today he went to Calvary with you on his mind he shed his blood because he's in love with you that there is a crazy love that he has for each and every one of you nobody in this place is exempt from that love I don't I don't care who you are I don't care what your last name is I don't care what you did last night the reality the truth is today he loves you he loves you he loves you there is no greater love than his love for you there is no mistake that that will relinquish his love for you there there is nothing you could ever do that could separate you

from the love of Jesus Christ today if you have the Holy Ghost if you are filled with his Spirit you belong to Jesus Christ and he's not just some God out there but he's a god inside of you he is active and he is living inside of you today today I'm I'm acutely aware that despite the fact that we belong to him and despite the fact that we are filled with his spirit that that most of the time the messes that we see and have in our lives as children of God is because of our un fruitfulness because of our unhealthy ways because of our ungodly thinking patterns that we have in our mind Christian pastor and author Craig relle he says it this way he says our life is always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts reality is today is whatever

you're thinking about wherever your thoughts are whatever you're considering that's where your life is moving towards some of you right now your thoughts are already on lunch you're already somehow halfway here to the restaurant already in your in your thought process but what whatever is the strongest thought wherever your mind is taking you that that's where your life will soon follow you are the product of your thought pattern and so you can see the kind of life that you're going to live you can have an expectation for the life you're going to live based on your thoughts today it's a matter matters of the Mind what's going on between your two years you see I've come to the realization that it's impossible to have the wrong thoughts and end up with the right life it's impossible to have negative thoughts

and end up with the right life it's it's impossible to sit and dwell and have a pity party for one and find yourself right with God at some point you've got to make up in your mind that I'm going to live a healthy life that I'm going to live a fruitful life that I'm going to live a life full of the Holy Ghost that I'm going to do what God has called me to do that no no one's going to stop me no one's going to hinder me no one's going to prevent me no no devil in hell is going to stop me from seeing my purpose come to fruition I I've I I've lived too much life and I understand that that each and every Sunday and Wednesday we get to hear great word after a great word we get

the word of God preached to us and we get to hide it in our hearts we got we get to put his truth and make declarations at an altar but if we don't watch how we think if we don't watch what what we're considering we can walk out those back doors and before you know we're back to our old self our old way of thinking okay I want you to hear this today no matter how many declarations you make at an altar and I'm thankful for them I'm grateful the fact that people do come to this Altar and they have their lives changed if you don't walk out of this place with a determination in your mind that you're not going back that you're not picking up that garbage anymore that you're not going to buy that lie anymore then whatever happens in here

it is basically lessened because of what happens out there we have to be mindful we have to consider what what we are thinking about we have to be mindful of what we're considering because of we're not careful we will sabotage the truth that God has placed in our lives and it's not the enemy's fault it's our own fault it it's our own decisions it's our own thought processes that could Rob us of what God is wanting to do in our lives today in this place if you have a life full of chaos confusion and bondage I ask you what are you thinking about what what's going on upstairs what are your strongest thoughts right now what are you choosing to think about the writer of Deuteronomy he says this in Deuteronomy 30:19 he says I call Heaven and Earth as Witnesses today

against you that I have set before you life and death you have a choice life or death you can choose blessings or cursings therefore because you have the choice choose life choose life today you have a choice to make are you going to choose life or are you going to choose death are you going to choose holy or are you going to choose fleshly are you going to choose right or are you going to choose wrong and ultimately the choice is all yours the choice is all yours you understand today you're not a robot right poke your neighbor tell them you're not a robot we are not robots we get to choose we have the freedom to choose you don't serve a mechanical God who has made robots who just follow him around at his will no

the reality today is you have a choice but here's what's scary you have a choice to choose something that will hurt you can choose things that are going to destroy you can go down a path of Destruction if you are not careful you have that freedom and you can think to yourself well how can I serve a God who would allow me to do that the reality is he wants you to have the freedom to choose he wants you to be able to freely choose if you're going to live for God or not he wants you to choose if you're going to come into the house of God and you're going to worship do you know this today that when we came to this house and when the music was going and the and the songs were

being sng nobody had a gun to anybody's head forcing them to worship today God did not force a single person in this in this room to worship today when you worship today you worship because you realize that he's a good God that he is a faithful God that he has been more than kind to you he's been more than fair to you he has been more than faithful to you that you are serving a good God you you've come to the realization that every good thing in your life is because of Jesus every good gift you have is because he loves you and he cares for you you've come to the realization that you have nothing left to give him except for your worship and your adoration and your praise and so that's why I can't come into the house of God and just play

patty cake he's been too good to me he's been too great to me I've got to worship him because he deserves my praise you have the freedom to choose and you canate today you can choose life you can choose life but I will I will warn you right now a great indicator of if you're going to choose life is if you start thinking healthy thinking properly thinking the way God wants you to think do you know God has a certain way he wants you to think he doesn't want you just to go ramp it on Facebook and get your philosophies of life from your peers and friend groups on Facebook does this make sense he has a way he wants you to think he there are there are things that he wants you to ponder on but there are also

things he does not want you to ponder on there are there are ways of thinking that that do not please your God that that do not make him happy we have to be aware of what's going on in our minds I submit to you today that the greatest Potential Threat in your life is not a sin that you committed 10 years ago it's not a failure it's not the haters who want to pour haterate on you it's not the ones that that want to talk about you behind your back your greatest threat is not a failure it's not a bad marriage it's not bankruptcy th those threats to you are not your greatest threat the greatest threat in your life is not even a demon from Hell or the Devil Himself let me tell you your greatest Potential Threat in your

life it's what takes place between your two ears right here that is your greatest threat that is the greatest hindrance from you getting to where God wants you to be it's your thought pattern it's what you think about it's what you loop on it's what you can't bre it's the it's the it's the cycles of thinking that are keeping you from what God wants you to be God wants you to be somewhere he's got a plan he's got a purpose for your life but our hindrances are often times our thoughts in fact it was a few days ago that God began to reveal to me that that the Potential Threat I was looking at this and I kept feeling man my this phone is a threat to my well-being yes sir I love it but man sometimes

I hate it and I began I opened it up I was like man I don't even know where is last 15 minutes gone I'm reading about Sally's cat that got stuck in a tree I don't even care about cat no I'm just gotta be careful here and then and then God revealed something to me he said Wes I want you to open up your camera and I want you to turn it on selfie mode oop let's see if I can do this selfie mode he said I want you to do this I want you to look at it and I want you to take a picture he said you think your threat is your phone your threat is this the greatest threat in my life is why it's taking place that's a terrible picture that is not Instagram worthy he said the greatest threat to

you getting to where you want to be to where I want you to be is you it's your flesh it's the way you think it's the way you operate it's it's when you think you've got it all figured out the greatest thing that's going to keep you from from my purpose in your life is you now I consider letting you all take your phones out and taking pictures but I know some of you wouldn't put your phones back up but the truth is today you often times are the responsible party from keeping you from where God wants you to be it's you but con conversely while you may be the greatest hindrance you can also be the greatest Aid to ensuring the blessings of God in your life your greatest blessing hear this it's not going to be a better car your

greatest blessing is not going to be a bigger house it's not going to be a better job it's not going to be another spouse it doesn't work that way your greatest blessing is not the things you can collect your greatest blessing is allowing God to give you a healthy productive Godly thought life that's what's going to be a blessing to you that's what's going to keep you that's what's going to let you feel the joy and the Peace of the Lord when you allow him to transform the way you think now I have to be real honest here I have to be careful when when I preach things like this because what I don't want is I don't want this to feel like a big self-help seminar all right I didn't get this message from from a bookstore in the

self-help section I promise you but what but what I'm I I'm fearful of is that we can hear a message like this and we can think in humanism type terms and we can think to ourselves that we as long as we have positive thinking we can change the course of our life it does matter what you think but hear this without the Holy Ghost without the spirit of God moving in your life without him covering your sins without him being willing to change all this is for not so we need to make it clear today that while we need to change the way we think we also better be very thankful for the fact that he does care for us and that he does love us and that he has filled us with his holy ghost it's his holy ghost that makes a

difference in our life I and you we need the Holy Ghost we need God to help our thought life I was reading a study and I can't remember the neuroscientist's name but she made this point I thought it was such a powerful point and if you want the person's name you can maybe find me later and I can share it with you but she made this point she said that God has created our minds in such a powerful way that you have the ability to as you're thinking about something separate your thoughts and allow your mind to actually consider what you're thinking about does this make sense that that your brain is so powerful that you can literally in essence step out of your brain look at your brain and judge your brain and say brain you're

doing a bad job today or brain you're doing a pretty good job or Brion you're doing better than yesterday that's for sure it's an amazing thing how how God has created us and she says this little thing that we're doing it's called selfawareness huh how many people know that our world could use a little bit more self-awareness right you don't believe me go to Walmart after church people could use a little bit more self-awareness it was yesterday morning I made pancakes I have a custom our house we make pancakes on Saturday morning I love pancakes can I get an amen there I love pancakes I do but man they don't like me they don't like me they're not good for me I like them so much but they make me so tired afterwards I like at 8:00 it sounds like the best

decision at 9:00 I'm passed out food coma CU I ate a loaf of bread you know it's like come on that wasn't that wasn't good but yesterday we were we were eating pancakes and I make chocolate chip pancakes for my wife Lindsay and for my middle kid Knox they are our chocolate chip pancake eaters Hazel and I we're purist we like them the oldfashioned way right Knox he ate pancakes yesterday and afterwards he we had baseball practice so he puts on his baseball uniform and I look at him and I realize as he's getting ready for baseball practice that he has literally chocolate all over his face it looks as if I had made the pancake grabbed it off The Griddle and just slapped him in the face with it for 30 minutes like you're going to like this pancake he had it

and I was like Knox are you even aware of the fact that there is chocolate literally everywhere like are and the reality is he wasn't he wasn't aware he had no clue but what scares me is that spiritually speaking sometimes we lack self-awareness sometimes we don't even consider how our thoughts could be separating us and hurting us and keeping us from the presence of God we have sometimes a lack of self-awareness to realize that that God wants us to think differently so today I feel that God wants to take advantage of this opportunity he wants us to consider how we are thinking to take inventory of how we're processing information the human mind it has roughly 50,000 thoughts a day some of you it's a little less we don't judge you some of you it's a

little bit more we do I'm joking we don't judge you either 50,000 thoughts a day my question to you is how many of those thoughts are good thoughts versus how many thoughts are t toic thoughts of those 50,000 where where are the majority of your thoughts landing on a on an average day you've got those 50,000 thoughts 50,000 thoughts which ones are productive and which ones are harmful which ones are leading you towards God and which ones are taking you away from God which ones are making you a better person which one is making you a worse person on in my house talked about pancakes that's one of my responsibilities I take it very seriously another responsibility that I take seriously but maybe not as serious as my wife would oftentimes want me to take is I'm the trash guy I take the

trash out now I do like that job I like I don't know why I just enjoy taking the trash out anybody like to take the trash out I'm like it's I guess because it's no longer in my house like I want to take it out and I we've got we live in the city and we've got the that that City trash can that you know all the folks have around here and I take it out there I I'll open it up you know something I've noticed brother Elkins is when I open that trash can if it's the sixth day before the pickup day that thing smells a lot different than it did the first day when it was empty and then the then the days for whatever reason that there's a Monday holiday and my day gets pushed back just that extra day it's

like that extra day especially in the summertime it's like the devil does something real special in there like something stirring it up that green gas comes out of it when you open it up I take the trash out you know something I've never considered I've never considered well I had a great meal a few days ago and I threw it in the trash can today would be a great day to revisit that I've never I've never looked at the trash in my trash can and thought man today that would be a great thing to add to our meal tonight I never look at that toxic waste and think this is something I want to digest in my body but how often do we allow toxic thoughts thoughts that we should not entertain thoughts that we should not consider thoughts that are not

from heaven but possibly are from hell how often do we allow those thoughts to become digested by our minds and our brains and we sit there and we saturate on them and we think about them and we eat on them and we chew on them and we say this is what God wants me to consider folks we need to be careful that we're not going to the trash cans and getting toxic information and pouring into our lives and saying this is how God wants us to live we have to be careful what enters our mind and so there are three categories today three areas of toxic thinking that I want us to consider the first is this is self-exalting thoughts self-exalting I hate I hate to do this but some of you in this room you think too highly of yourself some of you in

this room you think you're it and then some the best thing since sliced bread you are it you are the model Christian you are the model employee you are the model everything and you've got it all figured out somebody from you think that that you are deserving of things that other people in this room aren't deserving of well I deserve this I deserve this job I deserve this income I deserve this family I deserve what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:12 he says therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall some some folks in the room today you think you're standing but the problem is if you think you're standing but you're not actually standing you're the most likely person to fall does this make sense we need to we need to take a

good inventory of where we're at right now are we actually standing in the promises of God are we actually doing what we're supposed to be doing or are we are we just thinking too highly of ourselves that we've convinced ourselves we're actually standing when we're not people that often times think too highly of them M themselves they consider themselves Invincible they consider themselves to be a God that that is able to make their own decisions and that there is no need for the real God to help them make decisions they think that their intelligence is above even God's wisdom itself and that they don't need anybody to help them in life Paul said this in Romans 12:3 for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought

to think but to think soberly hear this today humility is not thinking less of yourself than you should it's it's thinking of yourself less period I believe that that God wants to remind somebody this afternoon that you are doing a lot of things according to your will and according to your way but you're not even considering what God wants and if you do that if you keep living that kind of Lifestyle the things you're going to birth are things in the flesh and not things in the spirit and the only way to keep flesh things going is you had to keep investing in a fleshly way God will not sustain by his Spirit the things that you have birthed In the Flesh he won't touch it he won't touch it the Bible says things that are born of the spirit are Spirit but those

are flesh are flesh some of you are birthing things in the flesh and you're expecting God to come in and save your bacon but he doesn't work that way he doesn't work that way you can't do your own thing and then go ask God to come in and save you one day save you from your own mess no that's going to be a very humbling thing for you that's be a very humbling thing for you because the Bible says that Pride when you have pride that's what comes before a fall there's going to be a fall if you keep walking in the flesh you keep walking with the pride of life eventually you're going to fall and God is going to let you fall because he cannot save something that you've birthed In the Flesh you don't believe me look at Abraham

Father Abraham had many sons one of those Sons he didn't do the right way is that all right we're still paying we're still dealing with that decision well Abraham and Sarah said hey we got to help God we got to help God they started thinking too highly of themselves well God needs my help he doesn't need your help he doesn't need your help he's not a man that he should Li he's promis something to you he's going to come through with it he doesn't need you out there encouraging the plan as far as being able to promote it for hear this today I believe this with all my heart some of you think you aren't going to get help unless you help yourself that's false the only help you need is from God he's the best marketing director he's

the best promotions director that this world will ever know and if you want to truly be elevated in life let God Elevate you and stop trying to elevate yourself let him do the work Abraham and Sarah they thought they had to step in and save the day no they didn't they just needed to trust God they needed to wait on God they needed to know that his timing was perfect that he's never late that he's never delayed that he is right on time each and every time today in this house I feel so strong to remind somebody that if you keep pursuing the things that you think are right and that you think are good you will destroy yourself because the flesh always leads to destruction well I'm a legend in my own mind good for you good for you nobody else thinks

that nobody else thinks you're Legend nobody can teach you nobody can rebuke you nobody can correct you nobody can tell you hey I think you should tweak this a little bit nobody can love you nobody can father you can mother you can Pastor you oh pastor's not here today let me just step out on this for a second it amazes me how some folks think it's okay just to have a preacher in their life come on now it's good enough for just for just me to have a preacher in my life let me just tell you you need a pastor you need a pastor it was one of the gifts that Paul says was given to the church for the edification of your soul you need a pastor you need somebody that can look you in the eyes and say that's not

a good decision you're doing it wrong you're going the wrong way you shouldn't be doing that you shouldn't be looking at that you shouldn't be listening to that you should be doing things better and you need a pastor who you look them in the eyes and say yes sir yes I will do according to what you say is best for my soul the Prophet Jeremiah he said this in Jeremiah 3:15 and I will give you Shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with the knowledge and understanding Maybe This sounds too oldfashioned but here's what I believe here's what I believe you should make no big decisions in life without your pastor beside you well I want to start a business have you talked to Pastor well I want to get married have you talked to Pastor well I want this person to

be my inner circle have you talked to Pastor and I hope youall understand this Pastor is not and I hope I can say this he's not Uber aggressive he's he's not controlling every aspect of your life but when it's a big decision when it's a life-changing decision and you never go to your pastor am I talking to anybody today yes when when your when your marriage is on the rocks and you don't talk to the pastor when when when you're going through hell at work and you don't talk to the pastor do you know why he's there there for he's there to guard your soul to make sure you get from here to heaven let him do his job that was free advice for somebody today I'll get back to my notes Pride it comes before a fall when you believe that

everything is for you and that you deserve everything it's going to lead you to destruction God humbly reminded me this week of this exact pattern because I went to Kroger I like Kroger I you know some of y'all guys out there think Kroger's not good enough for you got to go to public I like Kroger I know where things are at Kroger kind of I went to Kroger this week you know what I did I was singing I was praising I was worshiping God Pastor Taylor I wasn't listening to Southern Gospel like you do but I was praising the Lord sorry I threw you under the bus there and I started saying I'm the head not the tail God is blessing me going in God's blessing me going out I started praying bold prayers like God give me that front row parking

spot and you know what happened when I pulled in the parking spot you know what happened when I pulled in that parking lot the first spot right in front of the new doors over here at the last cast c it was open wow and you know why I said I said Thank You Jesus I was like Jeff Gordon dashing in there real quick and don't you know right before I pulled in that spot some thief some robber some Heathen somebody that was probably sent by the Devil Himself saw that spot about the same time I did and there was this look of like are we doing this is this where the chicken is being played are we you know what God said he said let her have the spot I said okay God I'll let her have the spot I parked an entire

four spots down from that spot I walked into Kroger I spent the next 15 minutes telling God why that was my spot why he was wrong this time why I should have let have been able to park there because I prayed for that spot and God told me this he said Wesley not every open door and not every opportunity is meant for you wow you've gotten into this mindset where you see an opportunity and you think it has to be you that I'm blessing with there are hundreds of thousands of people in Murphy's bro I could have been open in that spot for her here's the deal Pride doesn't want you to think that way Pride says that spot's mine but what I feel like God's want to do today is to remind us that we're not all that important that we are important

only because we are his not because of something we've done ourselves we have to watch the spirit of self exaltation the second spirit that we have to watch and it's just as dangerous as a self-destructive thought pattern you can exalt yourself but then you can do the opposite and you can be the person that that has self-destructive thoughts you think I'm not qualified I'm not worthy I'm not smart enough I'm not talented enough I'm not qualified to do what God has called me to be you can't get past your mistakes you can't get past your insecurities you think yourself I will never be worthy I'll never be good enough I'll never be qualified enough to do what God has called me to do and I feel the Holy Ghost wants to shake some of you today and to tell you

you are good enough you are qualified you are capable you are called of God to do great things for his kingdom I feel that God wants some of you to start thinking in the ways that he thinks about you stop stop having self-destructive thoughts stop telling yourself you're not good enough stop telling yourself well so and so is better that at that than I am so I'll just let them do it no if God has called you to something do it do it if God's called you to preach become a preacher if God's called you to teach Bible studies teach Bible studies if God's called you to work in the nursery and oh I feel in the Holy Ghost God's trying to put some put that on somebody today if God's called then work in the nursery change a diaper or two don't

don't disqualify yourself don't say you're not worthy don't say you're not good enough don't don't say well my mom struggled with this or my dad struggled with this I'm going to have to no that's not normal thinking that that's not scriptural thinking that's not what God has for your life you are worthy to be a child of the king you are worthy to pursue what he has purposed for you to do you are worthy the Bible says that we are to agree with our adversary do you know that you know it's okay every once in a while to agree with the Devil Matthew 5:25 says this agree with your adversary quickly quickly you know what the devil tells me sometimes he says you're not worthy you know I say I'm not worthy Jesus is the one that made me worthy devil says you're not

smart enough I say I'm not smart enough but God has given me wisdom and understanding that that far superseded anything I could have come up with devil will say you're not strong enough I'll say you're right devil I'm not strong enough but greater is he that's in me greater is he that's in me I by myself I am not strong enough to do it but my God who's in me who's living inside of me he's greater than anything that's in this world there's nothing like him there's nothing compared to him so while I am not strong enough he is more than strong enough to see it come to pass it's all right to agree with your enemy but you need to turn it on him you need to turn it on him when he says you're not say you're right I'm not but

my God is well I feel that in the Holy Ghost some of you need to wake up today to the reality to the real world not that imaginary world that you've created with your self-destructive thoughts but you need to start working in the real world where God has called you to do real things for the kingdom of God for such a time as this I feel that in the Holy Ghost for somebody today you got the self-exalting you got the self-destructive and then you've got the folks that really make me sick and that's the critical people you know a spirit that will destroy everything God's trying to do is a spirit of critique judgmental people they I'll just tell you they rob my joy I'm like why you got to be that way for those are the people that I

I say extra blessings for them like God you really got to bless them I'm talking about the folks that they can walk in and they can tell you everything wrong but they'll give you no solutions for it they'll tell you what needs to be fixed but they're not going to lift up a finger to do the work that's there's two types of folks in my world there are people that that solve problems and there's people that report problems and I struggle with the folks that just report the problems yeah I'm cool with you finding the problems but let's work towards the solving the problems I'm talking about the people that they say things like this well if this was my church well if I was running things around here we do this every Sunday be careful what you say be careful with

that critical spirit be careful that it doesn't lead you astray lead you away from what God is really wanting to do in this church be careful that that that criticism doesn't start at church because here's the reality is if it starts at the church that's going to follow you home well I'm critical of the things of the church but now I'm also critical of my spouse I'm critical of my kids well then it follows you on Monday to work well now I'm critical of my boss I'm critical of my co-workers and you know what that critique is doing it's it's literally destroying your relationships it is it is destroying your relationships when when all you can do is give critique it's going to destroy you and it's going to destroy other people it doesn't help it doesn't help and listen to this and

I hope this is okay what what really makes me upset with critical people is that they always latch on to other critical people it's like this great magnet that takes place like how can critical people always find other critical people is there a connect group for that I don't want that connect group to exist he how how are y'all helping each other be critical why why don't that's a word for somebody it is a virus it's contagious let me tell you what it is it's a wildfire one person gets a little critical and then the next person then the next then you got a whole section that just critical I was talking with brother govern we talking about the LA fires just last week and he was here for Missions conference and I asked him I said how did it start he said it started

innocently with a Transformer blowing and then with they think a small little fire that just two two small innocent everyday kind of things like nothing extraordinary right massive Wildfire what I'm fearful of is that is that your critical spirit will latch on to somebody else will latch on to somebody else will latch on to your kids will lch on to your kids's kids and before you know it there are generation after generation after generation of critics and critics don't get anything done people that just solve or report the problems they don't bring a solution to the problem when when you're living that lifestyle all you're bringing is you're bringing toxic thoughts today I ask this question those that are critical what are you critical criticizing because this is how God's helped me not be critical now I wish every day I wasn't

critical I wish I never complained I can't say that I'm in church I need to be honest today but you know what's helped me not be so critical of other people I realize there's Humanity in them just like there is in me and what I'm really being critical of is I'm being critical of their Humanity but what I should be doing I should be speaking to the god that's inside of them I should be telling them what they could be doing and why how they could improve the kingdom of God I'm not going to bring discouraging words I'm going to bring an encouraging word I'm going to say hey I'm not going to say hey bro you you've been doing poor you know want to tell them I'm say Hey you you've got so much potential in you can do things for the you

can be that Pastor you can be that preacher you can be that Soul winner that God's called you can do it be an encourager be somebody that elevates people not devastates them toxic thoughts self exalt self-destruction critical Spirits these things destroy purposes Walk In Love Today speak with Love Today speak with Grace today let let God enable you to encourage the people in your home your family your church your workplace be a person that that changes the atmosphere the for the positive not for the worst I'm I'm coming to a close in just a few minutes I promise I hope this is helping somebody today yes 2 Corinthians chap 10:5 says this it says casting down arguments and every High thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to The Obedience of Christ you know how

you stop toxic thinking you take every thought you have to Jesus you take every thought you have to the Lord and you say God is this in line with your will for my day is this what you want for my day today Dylan come up here real quick come here Hudson come here real quick all right we're going to do something y'all y'all help me here this right here Dylan I hate to do this to you this is a bad thought you're a bad thought good this is a bad thought this is this is a critical thought this is a self-exalting thought this is a self-destructive thought this is something that God doesn't want me to think about when when this pops up in my life Hudson you get the honor of being Jesus today you've got to take that thought to Jesus understand

Paul's not given a suggestion here to the church in Corinth he's given he's given a command he's not suggesting that this is a good idea he's saying you need to take these thoughts and he doesn't he doesn't say most thoughts or a lot of your thoughts every thought needs to be held captive to Jesus and so what you have to do is Dyan grab my hand is you've got to arrest that thought you've got to tell that thought you are not going to dictate my day anymore because you know what this wants to do drag me around real quick this wants to drag me around this wants to take me further away from what God wants from my life this bad thought it wants to take me away from from his feet that's what this bad thought wants to do but I have

the power through the Holy Ghost I have the power because Jesus died for me and he loves me and he cares about I can take this bad thought and I can say hey I'm arresting you I'm taking you captive I imagine I didn't bring handcuffs but imagine I handcuffed myself to Dylan that would be weird but I did it and I said hey bad thought we are not going to stay over here and have a pity party for one anymore what I'm going to do with you is I'm going to take you to Jesus I'm going to take you to Calvary I'm going to take you where he redeemed me where I'm not that mistake anymore I'm not that failure anymore I'm not that prideful person anymore I'm going to take my mistake I'm going to take my bad thought and I'm

gonna take it to Jesus and I'm going to make you bow bow that's right stand back here he's every bad thought every evil thought every thought that does not line up with what God has for your life you need to drag that thought and you need to take it to the feet of Jesus and you know what that bad thought's going to do every time it's going to bow at truth it's going to bow at the revelation of his goodness of his grace of his mercy of his love that bad thought has no power has no Authority because Jesus has all authority thank you guys you can be seated that's what you've got to do that's what you that's what we do on Sundays here is we take those thoughts and we say I'm going to take it to the alar I'm going to take

it where the blood was shed I'm going to take it where his grace abounds much more than my sin I'm going to take it to the place where he can redeem me where he can restore me where he can transform my mind you need to take those thoughts to Jesus ooo I feel the Holy Ghost right now some of you you've convinced yourself that you have to fight your own thought patterns by yourself that is a Lie from Hell devil you do not do this by yourself you take it to Jesus you take it to Jesus you take it to Jesus and you say Jesus I cannot handle this by myself I cannot overcome this by myself but I'm bringing it to your feet and it's there it's there that truth prevails it's there that God allows you to see a healthy Godly productive life

where your thoughts are pushing you towards where God wants you to go today I don't know where you're at you can stand to your feet I don't know what your thought pattern has looked like lately I don't know what thoughts I've been going through your mind I believe that there are great matters great great weights great hurts great great things that we just keep chewing over and over and over again in our minds some of you you've made statements like I can't live with this anymore I can't keep going it's it's too it's too hard it's too heavy this baggage is too great these these weights they supersede my strength today you can bring those to Jesus you can bring them to him he can begin to transform your mind and here's what I believe I believe in the power

of one thought I believe in the power of a singular thought that says I believe God can change me I believe that God can work in me I believe that God can bring something out of this situation I believe in the power of one thought where you say God I don't see it yet I don't understand all the things I'm going through but I'm going to trust you and I'm going to give you my one thought and that is that you are good enough for me that you can take care of this situation for me I believe today if you can take a thought and you can hand it over to your father who's a good father who who doesn't want to hurt you who who doesn't want to see you destroyed who who wants to see your life be all that

it's supposed to be I believe that one thought can completely and totally change your life in the Bible there's a story in the New Testament in the gospels of the prodal son he thought to himself that he was better off living without those things at his father's house he thought he knew better he thought that he could figure it out on his own he thought he was smart enough capable enough he didn't need help I can do this by myself he didn't take counsel he didn't ask his father what was best he just did it he thought he'd be happier with a different lifestyle he thought he'd be happier doing things a different way so he went to a foreign place and the Bible says that it was there when he hit rock bottom living with the pigs the Bible says that he

came to his census and the Bible says in Luke 15:17 that after he had come to his senses he said to himself he thought to himself how many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat but here I am dying the prodal son he had a singular thought that was drastically different than the than the historic thoughts that he had had that led him to that place he had One Singular right thought and that one thought got him back on his feet got him walking back towards his father's house it was a singular thought he didn't know how his father would respond he didn't know how his father would take take him back he just said I had this thought and that is that it's better over there it's better with my father it's better with

my God it's it's better with my savior I I've been over here trying to figure out my own my own way but I'm realizing this isn't good enough but I've got this one thought that I need to go back to where my father is at the Bible says that that singular thought bought all the goodness of his father's house back on his life praise God and this is what I feel in the Holy Ghost today is I feel like there are some of you in this room you've been on this thought pattern and it's been a loop and it's been a cycle that you have not been able to break it's hurting you it's destroying your relationships it's it's destroying your ability to do things that you know you're supposed to do and you have allowed the enemy to convince you that this is

the way it's always going to be but today if you can just muster up one thought if you can be like that prodical son and have one thought and say if I can just get back to my father if I can get back to my savior if I can get back to the to where he's at he can do a work in my mind and he can change my life forever yes you don't have the ability to do it on your own but your father your God he's more than able he can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think in this house today right now I want to ask that you would bow your heads let's begin to pray right now Jesus I pray in the Holy Ghost right now God that Lord you would begin to do a

work in this place God there are people in this room they have been mentally struggling they have been mentally fatigued God they have been spiritually bankrupt for some time God they're they're at the end of the Rope God they don't know what to do next God but I pray that today Lord Jesus you would give them the power the ability to have one more thought God to think on you one more time to see you one more time God to walk towards you one more time and God I pray as they would begin to walk towards you and pursue you God that they would see your kingdom one more time that they would see your righteousness God that they would see your peace God that they would see your joy that's found in the Holy Spirit God I pray that today God you

would change a person's life forever because of a Singler thought to get back to where you're at God I pray Lord that you would help us get out of our own ways and God that we would seek you to today that we would allow you God to transform the way we think God that we would set pure honest good Godly things in our mind right now let us set our affections on things above Jesus help us right now Lord Jesus do a work and only the way you can do in Jesus name amen I'm going open this altar right now church it's time to pray it's time to have that thought that Godly thought that right thought right now it's time to get back to an altar surrender every worry surrender every anxiety surrender every fear surrender every surrender every thought that's holding you

cap that's that's keeping you pound back lay it down today at his feet church it's time to pray right now