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8-Minute MindShift Wk 6 · Mental Health and the Mission of the Church

• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everybody, this is our uh eight-minute mind shift.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you uh hanging in there with me.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um this will be the first one that I'm doing uh from the road.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually uh outside of Atlanta at an awesome church, uh Victory World Church, and um just enjoying working with Pastor Dennis and Colling Rouse and their awesome staff.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But uh just wanted to talk to you a little bit about the the concept we've been working with so far that God has an amazing plan for each of us, and uh obviously we're we're already in a direction, we've made a lot of choices, there's a lot of life behind us, but there's a lot of life in front of us, and what's stopping us, what blocks us, what inhibits us from entering and enjoying all the cool stuff that God has for us?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the things that's encouraged me and and informed me, I guess you could say, over the years, is uh the story of uh the children of Israel in the Old Testament as they were in bondage in Egypt and uh how God brought them out of Egypt and then through the wilderness and into the promised land.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I just find a lot of encouragement there, uh, and a lot of um challenge there because it it lays out some pretty cool stuff to help us understand uh our journey from where we were, what we were, the challenges we face, the the stuff that just would bog us down, sin and other things, and then how how to how to maneuver ourselves into the life that God has for us.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to share a little bit about out of that story, uh, you know, just in case you don't remember all the details, uh God said, I'm giving you this land, it flows with milk and honey, it's awesome.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for me, the promised land is an image of the life God wants for us.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: The uh it's not a geographical place like it was for the children of Israel, but it's uh it's a way of life in connection with God and each other and other people.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So God says, you know, I'm giving it to you, and uh he tells them to send spies in to check it out, right?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So 12 spies go in and they check it all out and they come back and they report to Moses and the people, and they tell them that um, man, awesome place.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: The lot, man, it looks so good.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of like preaching all the promises, you know.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: We preach, you know, that Jesus will set you free.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: We preach about all the cool stuff that God has done for us as Christians, uh, but we kind of leave out like that there's giants in the land, there's there's obstacles between us and what it is that we want.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So they come back and they report that it's amazing, and then there's a but.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing, but there's giants in the land.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to read you just two verses in uh Numbers chapter 13, so uh verse 32 and 33.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Numbers 13, 32 and 33.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And these are ten of the 12 spies, because two, Joshua and Caleb, gave a good report.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to show you what these two spies said.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what that's what happened is they came back and reported.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, here's what they said, and we're gonna talk about how this applies to us.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: The land through which we have gone in spying out is a land that devours its inhabitants.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And all the poop people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, all they could see was the reasons this is not going to work.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: They they they they earlier said how awesome it is, and you're right, God, it's it's it flows with milk and honey.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: But right here they said, but dude, it's full of giants, man.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then here's a really interesting statement.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: There also, this is them continuing with their report, there also we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, this breed of people that were giants.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And listen to the statement that they said.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we became like grasshoppers in our own sight.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: We became like grasshoppers in our own sight.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're giants, we're grasshoppers, but where?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: In our own sight.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we were in their sight.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they go on to say that that's how they saw us too, which I'm not sure how they knew that.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: In a sense, you could say it like this: the external obstacles between them and the promised land were not going to be a problem.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, God had already set it all in place to defeat those.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what stopped them, by the way, in case you don't know, this generation wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until all of them died out, so that the only families that were at this point coming out of Egypt that got into the Promised Land that really experienced and enjoyed the life that God has for them, the only two families were Joshua and Caleb.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because they brought a good report.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't think God's trying to make us feel bad.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think God's trying to, like you, you know, you losers, you know, you're part of the ten that didn't, you know.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's trying to teach us something.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe for me, what I pull away from this is this we became as grasshoppers in our own sight.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, here's the thing.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm going to refer to some notes that I have, and eventually I'm going to figure out ways to get you these notes so that you can follow along or have them afterwards or whatever.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, why didn't most of the children of Israel get into the Promised Land?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I would say to you, it's the same reason we don't.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Those who entered had a different mindset.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Those who entered saw God differently, they saw themselves differently, and they saw the obstacles to the Promised Land.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Between them and the Promised Land, they saw them differently.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I would call it a mindset.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: They had a different mindset than the people who did not make it into the land.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And here's what I'm saying to you: the greatest obstacles between you and the life God has for you are not people and things out here.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're concepts and ideas and beliefs in here.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, let me give you my definition of a mindset.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think I might have given this to you last week, but my definition would be a set of ideas or concepts that form the basis of one's beliefs and actions.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Just in other words, briefly, the way you think.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple years ago, uh, I mean a few years ago, actually, 10 probably, uh, my wife and I are sitting on the couch, and uh my phone rings, we're watching, I don't know, American Idol or something.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And my phone rings, and um, it's my daughter, who by the way has given me permission to tell the story, who lives in uh who at the time had courageously moved to Austin, Texas to go to the University of Texas, get her master's in social work.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um she was upset, and uh she said basically something like this um, last week, great week.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: This week I'm crying every day.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now that might not be exact, but it's pretty close.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, Ruth, let me know if I'm wrong.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and last week, great week, this week, crying every day.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, okay.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I knew it wasn't money because she didn't have any.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I knew it wasn't real estate, she didn't have any.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew it wasn't a relationship issue because I think I would have known if there was something going on in that area at the time.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I knew there wasn't.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever tried to give a pill to a cat?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, sometimes trying to help someone, you have to get them to swallow something that maybe is going to be hard to get down.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm thinking to myself, okay, I've got to help my daughter see something that might be a little tricky for her in this kind of hurting moment.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the pill was between last week, great week, this week, crying every day, was this, darling?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing that changed was between your ears.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing that changed was the way you're thinking about something.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And to my great pleasure, my daughter kind of got it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Oh, okay, you know, I don't remember.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And but but I could tell, all right, all right, we're making progress.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked, you know how you can be talking to somebody and you're kind of praying at the same time.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of was like, God, give me something practical to share with my daughter.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I gave her, I can't, God gave me something that I've used many, many, many times since.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we're we're kind of journalers, you know, we journal a lot in our in our time with God.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked her, I said, baby, I said, take these three questions, and and you listening right now might want to write them down, because they're a great way, when you're feeling kind of out of sorts, they're a great way to center yourself.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I said was, baby, um, three questions.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, how do I see God?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: How do I see God?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like right now, it's important for you to think about when I turn toward God, do I feel like a disappointment to him?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do I feel like he's he's ready to just, oh man, I've been waiting for you to come.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna straighten you out.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do I feel like he's he's compassionate and available and willing to help?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do I see God?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And number two, how do I see myself?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do I see myself as um, you know, I'm just a constant problem.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I bet he's tired of seeing me.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I bet every time I turn toward him to come talk to him, he's just like, oh gosh, here she comes or here he comes again.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do I see myself?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then third, what do I need to do to please God and get what I need?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, get my needs met.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do to please God and get my needs met?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I've learned in my own life is this if I'll whenever I feel out of sorts, it helps me to just kind of slow down and think about how do I see God?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what I typically find when I'm off out of sorts is something's drifted, some kind of a thought has come in.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I maybe I screwed up and did something, but something has come in and disrupted how I see God, how I see myself, and what I believe is required of me to please God and get my needs met.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to encourage you to use those questions.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Next week we're gonna start talking about the practical things you and I can do to here's a phrase for you change your mind, change your life.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Romans 12, 2, be renewed or transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Next week, we're gonna start talking specifically about how, how, how, how, how, how do you change your mind?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So uh bless you guys, love you, have a great week.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.