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Powerful Sermon Renewing Your Mind- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate this opportunity that you give me each
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Speaker 1: week to study the Bible and share ideas with you.
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Speaker 1: We're tackling this whole theme of anxiety because I really
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Speaker 1: believe that we can win the war on worry. Anxiety
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Speaker 1: has its place. It comes with life, but it doesn't
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Speaker 1: have to run our lives. And God has a prescription
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Speaker 1: for worry. He has a solution, an antidote for anxiety.
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Speaker 1: And it's in the book of Philippians. In the summer,
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Speaker 1: we're dissecting it phrase by phrase. The words are about
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Speaker 1: to appear on the screen. Many of you have memorized
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Speaker 1: the passage. If you'd like to look at the screen
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Speaker 1: for the words, you can. Let's all read it and
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Speaker 1: cite it together. And I want you to sit up straight.
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Speaker 1: Put your shoulders back and fill your lungs with air
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Speaker 1: and your hearts with hope. Let's say it like we
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Speaker 1: mean it. Are you ready? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
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Speaker 1: I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.
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Speaker 1: The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for it. And
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Speaker 1: the peace of God will guard your.
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Speaker 1: Finally, brethren....
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Speaker 3: Whatever things are noble, whatever things.
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Speaker 1: Are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
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Speaker 1: whatever things are beautiful, Lord, if there is anything, praise you.
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Speaker 1: Meditate on these things. Yes, Lord, grant that we could
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Speaker 1: do just this. Would you please take the anxiety out,
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Speaker 1: replace it, Lord, with meditation on good things. We would
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Speaker 1: request this peace that passes understanding. We lift up to
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Speaker 1: you all of our requests, but we do so with
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Speaker 1: thanksgiving and gratitude for all the good that you have
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Speaker 1: done for us. Forgive our speaker today. His sins are many.
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Speaker 1: Help us to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray.
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Speaker 1: And all the church said. You might consider adding to
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Speaker 1: your summer reading a wonderful book that just came out.
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Speaker 1: It's called Called for Life. authored by Kent and Amber Brantley.
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Speaker 1: You may remember their story this time last year. Dr.
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Speaker 1: Brantley's name was in the news. In fact, it was
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Speaker 1: on Wednesday evening, July 23rd, 2014, that Dr. Brantley took
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Speaker 1: a seat on his couch and he opened his journal
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Speaker 1: and he needed to collect his thoughts because he had
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Speaker 1: spent the day feeling the effects of an illness. that
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Speaker 1: he knew would either be malaria or Ebola. And he
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Speaker 1: was praying for malaria. He was a medical missionary in Liberia,
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Speaker 1: waging a war on the cruelest of viruses, Ebola. There
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Speaker 1: was no sure cure. The epidemic was killing people by
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Speaker 1: the thousands. And as much as any person in the world, Dr.
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Speaker 1: Brantley knew the consequences of the disease, He had treated
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Speaker 1: dozens and dozens of cases. He knew the symptoms, the
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Speaker 1: soaring fevers, the severe diarrhea, the nausea. He had seen
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Speaker 1: the results of the virus, and yet, for the first time,
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Speaker 1: he was feeling them himself. His colleagues had drawn blood
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Speaker 1: and begun the tests, yet it would be three days
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Speaker 1: before anyone knew the results. Dr. Brantley quarantined himself in
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Speaker 1: his cinderblock house, and he waited, his friends, Wife and
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Speaker 1: family were across the ocean. His colleagues were not permitted
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Speaker 1: to enter the residence. He was quite literally alone with
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Speaker 1: his thoughts. And in that moment, he opened his Bible.
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Speaker 1: And he found a passage from the book of Hebrews
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Speaker 1: and began to meditate on it. The passage reads, the
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Speaker 1: promise of entering his rest still stands, so let us
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Speaker 1: never give up. Let us therefore make every effort to
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Speaker 1: enter that rest. Brantley called to mind the phrase, make
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Speaker 1: every effort, and he circled it and decided, now that's
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Speaker 1: exactly what I'm going to have to do. He kept reading.
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Speaker 1: He paused in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16. Let
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Speaker 1: us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so
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Speaker 1: that we may receive mercy and grace to help us
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Speaker 1: in our time of need. He wrote the verse word
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Speaker 1: for word in his journal. And when he came to
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Speaker 1: the word confidence, he wrote it in italics. Then he
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Speaker 1: closed the journal and waited. The next three days brought
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Speaker 1: unspeakable discomfort and then brought the news that they feared
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Speaker 1: he had indeed contracted Ebola. Amber, Kent's wife, was across
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Speaker 1: the ocean in her hometown of Abilene, Texas. She received
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Speaker 1: a call from Kent the following Saturday afternoon. When the
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Speaker 1: phone rang, she stepped into her bedroom to receive it.
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Speaker 1: She was actually at her parents' house, so she stepped
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Speaker 1: into her former bedroom. And there Kent went straight to
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Speaker 1: the point. Over the phone, he said, the test results
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Speaker 1: came back. It is positive. She began to cry, and
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Speaker 1: they talked for a few moments until Kent said he
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Speaker 1: was too tired to talk anymore, but he would call soon.
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Speaker 1: Now it was up to Amber to process the news.
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Speaker 1: She told her parents. The three sat on the edge
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Speaker 1: of her bed, and they wept for several minutes. After
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Speaker 1: some time, Amber excused herself, and she went outside. And
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Speaker 1: she walked across a large field toward a mesquite tree
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Speaker 1: that had a low-hanging branch. She sat on the branch.
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Speaker 1: She tried to pray, but she found it difficult to
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Speaker 1: put her concerns in words. So she began to sing
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Speaker 1: hymns that she had learned as a young girl. She sang,
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Speaker 1: there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not,
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Speaker 1: thy compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou
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Speaker 1: forever will be. That lifted her spirits and so she
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Speaker 1: sang even louder. I need thee every hour in joy
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Speaker 1: or pain. Come quickly and abide, our life is in vain.
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Speaker 1: I need thee, oh I need thee, every hour I
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Speaker 1: need thee. Come and bless me now, my Savior. I
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Speaker 1: come to thee. She later wrote these words. I thought
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Speaker 1: my husband was going to die. I was in pain.
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Speaker 1: I was afraid. Yet through those hymns, I was able
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Speaker 1: to connect with God in a meaningful way. Maybe you
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Speaker 1: remember this story. Maybe you remember watching the news reports
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Speaker 1: of the Brantley family unfold. Maybe you remember the decision
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Speaker 1: of the caregivers to give an untested treatment to Kent
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Speaker 1: because they had no other option. Maybe you remember watching
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Speaker 1: his transport from Africa to Atlanta, watching him as he
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Speaker 1: climbed out of the back of the van and was
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Speaker 1: carefully walked into the hospital. We celebrated the news of
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Speaker 1: his improved condition. And then we thank God when we
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Speaker 1: heard the news that Kent was cured of Ebola. But
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Speaker 1: you know what? I think we can celebrate the curing
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Speaker 1: of yet another disease. A virus that is every bit
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Speaker 1: as contagious and every bit as deadly. The unseen virus
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Speaker 1: of anxiety. Kent and Amber were prime candidates for worry.
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Speaker 1: Yet they reacted to the presence of anxiety with the
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Speaker 1: same deliberate resolve that they reacted to the presence of
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Speaker 1: the Ebola virus. They went on the offensive. They took
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Speaker 1: control of their thoughts. Kent opened his Bible. Amber opened
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Speaker 1: her heart. They pondered scriptures. They meditated on hymns. Before
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Speaker 1: anxiety could get a hold of them, they got a
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Speaker 1: hold of the anxiety and they marched it out. They
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Speaker 1: did exactly what the apostle prescribed in Philippians chapter 4
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Speaker 1: and verse 8.
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Speaker 1: If the Bible has a
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Speaker 1: recommended diet for the mind, This is it. These are
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Speaker 1: the green vegetables for the soul. My wife, Dean Lynn,
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Speaker 1: likes green vegetables. I don't, but she does. And she
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Speaker 1: has a list of vegetables that are good for the body.
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Speaker 1: It includes things like broccoli and asparagus and lettuce. As
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Speaker 1: I read over the list, I don't see anything that
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Speaker 1: I think is a health food. Donuts and Barbecue potato
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Speaker 1: chips and Oreo cookies and ice cream. But I don't
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Speaker 1: ask why. I know the answer. I've heard all the slogans.
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Speaker 1: What tastes good on the lips does not look good
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Speaker 1: on the... How did you know that already? If you
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Speaker 1: want to feel good tomorrow, then eat good today. These
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Speaker 1: are principles of a healthy diet, but they are also
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Speaker 1: principles of a healthy mind. It is good to be
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Speaker 1: a picky eater. It's equally good to be a picky thinker.
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Speaker 1: And the Apostle Paul sets himself up here as our
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Speaker 1: thought dietician. Because just as not every food qualifies to
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Speaker 1: be eaten, not every thought qualifies to be thought. It
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Speaker 1: must meet a standard. And he gives us the nine standards.
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Speaker 1: First of all, it must be true. It must be
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Speaker 1: based on God's word. It must align itself with scripture.
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Speaker 1: It must be noble. The word here means worthy of respect. Boy,
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Speaker 1: that eliminates everything that's immoral or inappropriate. It must be just.
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Speaker 1: It advocates fairness to all parties involved. It must be pure.
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Speaker 1: This is a call for high and lofty thoughts. It
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Speaker 1: must be lovely. Lovely thoughts focus on whatever beauty can
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Speaker 1: be found in any situation. It must be of good report.
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Speaker 1: No need for slander or gossip. It must be of
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Speaker 1: good report. It must be of good virtue. It must
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Speaker 1: be praiseworthy. So we welcome any ideas that promote the
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Speaker 1: best of life. High ethics, lofty goodness. We meditate on
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Speaker 1: these things. And as we turn our thoughts toward these things,
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Speaker 1: a wonderful thing happens. We turn our backs on their opposites.
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Speaker 1: As we fill our minds with veggies, we avoid a
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Speaker 1: junk food diet of deceit. Unsavory thoughts, ugly thoughts, dishonest thoughts,
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Speaker 1: where you tend to rose a thistle cannot grow We
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Speaker 1: focus our thoughts on good things so the weedy thoughts
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Speaker 1: do not have room. So just as some people are
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Speaker 1: picky eaters, we choose on purpose to be picky thinkers.
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Speaker 1: The big idea in this passage is simply this. Meditate
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Speaker 1: on good things. Meditate on good things. You want to
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Speaker 1: treat anxiety? Turn your thoughts toward good things. This word
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Speaker 1: in Greek, as you know, the Bible was written, New
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Speaker 1: Testament was written in Greek. This word in Greek is
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Speaker 1: a great word. Look at it. Logizomai. Meditate. Logizomai. Do
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Speaker 1: you see an English word, the roots of an English
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Speaker 1: word inside that? Anyone? Logic. Logic. We meditate on good things.
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Speaker 1: We treat our anxiety with logical thinking, with clear thinking,
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Speaker 1: with rational thinking. Easier said than done. The consequence of
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Speaker 1: anxiety for many is muddled or unclear thinking, if we
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Speaker 1: think at all. In July 1943, a British army officer
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Speaker 1: by the name of Lionel Wygram studied the reaction of
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Speaker 1: soldiers to intense battle. He noted a predictable pattern. He
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Speaker 1: said in a typical platoon of 22 men, there will
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Speaker 1: be a small number who respond in courage and There
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Speaker 1: will be a small number who respond in panic. The
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Speaker 1: vast number of the men will go into mental neutral.
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Speaker 1: He called them sheep, bewildered sheep. They will quit thinking.
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Speaker 1: He writes, every platoon can be analyzed as follows. Six
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Speaker 1: men who will go anywhere, 12 sheep who will follow
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Speaker 1: a short distance behind, and four to six men who
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Speaker 1: do not have what it takes. Another psychologist by the
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Speaker 1: name of John Leach has spent the last couple of
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Speaker 1: decades studying the human response to sudden stress like airplane
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Speaker 1: turbulence or economic downfalls. According to his studies, about 10
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Speaker 1: to 20% of us remain cool and composed under stress.
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Speaker 1: Another 10 to 15% freak out. But about 70 to
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Speaker 1: 80% of us become what he calls mentally paralyzed. We
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Speaker 1: stop thinking. Well, long before this research, the Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: was calling on us to mind our minds in times
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Speaker 1: in which we're anxious to be careful what we think.
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Speaker 1: Our most valuable weapon against anxiety weighs 2.7 pounds and
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Speaker 1: it sits right here between our ears. This was the
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Speaker 1: point of Jesus in the most famous sermon ever preached
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Speaker 1: on the topic of anxiety. He begins the sermon by
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Speaker 1: telling us, quite bluntly do not worry about your life
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Speaker 1: what you will eat or what you will drink or
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Speaker 1: about your body what you will put on and then
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Speaker 1: he gives us two commands with which to fulfill the
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Speaker 1: first he says look and consider first of all he
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Speaker 1: says look look at the birds of the air he
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Speaker 1: invites us to go outside and just look at the
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Speaker 1: ravens or look at the at the cardinals look at
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Speaker 1: the birds And when we do, we notice something. They're
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Speaker 1: not grumpy. They don't frown. They don't look sleep deprived.
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Speaker 1: They're not lonely. In fact, they appear just the opposite.
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Speaker 1: They're quite happy. They sing. They soar. They whistle. And
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Speaker 1: then Jesus says, they don't sow or gather in the barns.
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Speaker 1: In other words, they don't work. They don't save money.
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Speaker 1: They don't get stressed out in occupations, but they look happy.
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Speaker 1: And then he tells us to lower our gaze from
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Speaker 1: the birds and look out over the valley. He says,
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Speaker 1: consider what? The lilies. Consider the lilies. Remember, he's helping
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Speaker 1: us treat anxiety. So he tells us to look at
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Speaker 1: the birds and now consider the lilies. Same point. They
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Speaker 1: don't look unhappy. They really are very beautiful. In fact,
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, even though their lifespan is short, they're here
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Speaker 1: today and tomorrow they're going to be thrown into the fire.
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Speaker 1: Even Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed
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Speaker 1: up like one of these. He's the richest king in history.
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Speaker 1: And a field of lilies is prettier than he was.
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Speaker 1: The point, we disarm anxiety by looking and by considering,
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Speaker 1: by thinking, by processing. We look at the birds. We
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Speaker 1: look at at the lilies. We don't get lost in
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Speaker 1: our negative downward spiral of thoughts, nor do we get
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Speaker 1: frozen in no thinking. We stop, we collect ourselves, we
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Speaker 1: look at the birds, we consider the lilies, we manage
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Speaker 1: anxiety by managing our thoughts. We manage anxiety by managing
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Speaker 1: our thoughts. Now, maybe you wanted something that was a
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Speaker 1: little more mystical, a little more supernatural. a little more angelic,
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Speaker 1: maybe some heavenly visitations or chariots of fire. Maybe you
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Speaker 1: thought that God treated anxiety through these supernatural visions. Paul
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Speaker 1: and Jesus would tell you otherwise. The key to peace
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Speaker 1: is not in the emotion you feel, but in the
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Speaker 1: thoughts you think. The key to peace is It's not
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Speaker 1: in the emotions you feel, but in the thoughts you think.
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Speaker 1: Do you want to feel peace tomorrow? Then think godly
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Speaker 1: thoughts today. Meditate on good things. Years ago, a renowned
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Speaker 1: British pastor by the name of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote
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Speaker 1: these words about the passage in Matthew chapter 6 that
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Speaker 1: we just looked at. Faith, according to our Lord's teaching
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Speaker 1: in this paragraph, is primarily thinking about And the whole
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Speaker 1: trouble with a man of little faith is that he
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Speaker 1: forgets to think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. The
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Speaker 1: way to avoid that, according to our Lord, is to think,
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Speaker 1: to look at the birds, to think about them, to
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Speaker 1: draw your deductions, to look at the grass, at the
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Speaker 1: lilies of the field, consider them. The trouble with a
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Speaker 1: person of little faith is that instead of controlling his
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Speaker 1: own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else.
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Speaker 1: And he goes round and round in circles. This is
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Speaker 1: the essence of worry. That is not thought. That is
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Speaker 1: the absence of thought. That is a failure to think.
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Speaker 1: Paul elsewhere said, Kent, set your mind on things above,
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Speaker 1: not on things of the earth. There is a time
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Speaker 1: in which we intentionally and deliberately set our mind on
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Speaker 1: things above. That's what Kent Brantley did when he was
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Speaker 1: about to spend three days waiting on the results from
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Speaker 1: the Ebola test, he set his mind on things above.
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Speaker 1: That's what his wife Amber did when she got news
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Speaker 1: of her husband's positive diagnosis. She didn't panic. It was
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Speaker 1: not easy, but she did deliberate things. She took deliberate
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Speaker 1: steps to set her mind on good things. I did
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Speaker 1: something like this once. And it had to do with
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Speaker 1: a little lemon And a little phrase that was written
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Speaker 1: on the lemon that I had attached to the dashboard
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Speaker 1: of my car. One of the most difficult days of
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Speaker 1: my life happened when I was 19 years old. And
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Speaker 1: I was in a town called Dalton in the state
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Speaker 1: of Georgia. I had never been to Dalton. I didn't
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Speaker 1: know anyone in Georgia. And I wondered what in the
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Speaker 1: world had happened there. I was 19 years of age.
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Speaker 1: This was the summer of my first year in college.
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Speaker 1: I found myself sleeping in the cellar. Army because it
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Speaker 1: was cheap and the night before a person who had
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Speaker 1: had too much to drink rolled over in his bunk
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Speaker 1: up above mine and vomited right down on the floor
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Speaker 1: I was so homesick If homesickness was water, I was soaked.
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Speaker 1: What had I gotten myself into? Well, on the promise
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Speaker 1: of some fast cash and some new sites, I had
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Speaker 1: joined up with two buddies and signed on to sell
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Speaker 1: books door to door. We went to sales school. My
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Speaker 1: friends went home during sales school. Left me to go
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Speaker 1: to Georgia all by myself. I went to the field
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Speaker 1: after sales school, and the first day I discovered something.
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Speaker 1: People don't like door-to-door salesmen. They don't. Not even when
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Speaker 1: they're a nice kid from West Texas. That first day
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Speaker 1: was terrible. Hello, I'm Max. Slam. Hello, I'm Max. Slam. Hello,
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Speaker 1: I'm Max. Slam. The second day was just as bad.
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Speaker 1: I didn't know if I was going to make it.
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Speaker 1: I couldn't envision going through a whole summer like that.
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Speaker 1: So I ended up at that diner for lunch and
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Speaker 1: I ordered a hamburger and I treated my bruised ego.
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Speaker 1: And as I was paying for my burger, checking out
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Speaker 1: at the cash register, I noticed that to the right
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Speaker 1: of the cash register, there was this display. And upon
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Speaker 1: this display was a collection of of rubberized, magnetized truisms.
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Speaker 1: The kind that you stick on a refrigerator door. Do
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Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about? Little statements. And there
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Speaker 1: was one of them that was shaped like a lemon.
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Speaker 1: And on that rubberized lemon, these words appeared. I bet
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Speaker 1: you know what I'm about to say. When life gives
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Speaker 1: you a lemon, make lemonade. Well, it's old, it's a
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Speaker 1: shop horn, it's corny, but I'd never heard that before.
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Speaker 1: And that was exactly what I needed. That little slogan
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Speaker 1: told me that my problem was not my problems. My
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Speaker 1: problem was the way I was looking at my problems.
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Speaker 1: And it was just enough to convince me to stay
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Speaker 1: on the job. I bought that little thing. And I
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Speaker 1: took it out to my Plymouth Duster. My Plymouth Duster
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Speaker 1: had a metal strip on the dashboard. And I stuck
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Speaker 1: that magnetized lemon on that metal strip. And every day,
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Speaker 1: at least a dozen times, I would reach up and
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Speaker 1: I'd rub my thumb across it. And I'd think, okay.
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Speaker 1: I can either be miserable or I can make some lemonade.
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Speaker 1: I survived the summer. That's been 40 years. Much has happened.
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Speaker 1: Much has changed. But friends, this much has not. Life
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Speaker 1: still gives lemons.
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Speaker 4: It does.
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Speaker 1: It does. And my prospects of a miserable summer are
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Speaker 1: nothing compared to the lemons that some of you have received.
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Speaker 1: Just a few days ago, I found myself in a
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Speaker 1: conversation with an elderly lady whose husband has been diagnosed
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Speaker 1: with dementia. And she's going to have to tell him
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Speaker 1: he can no longer drive. And she was telling me
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Speaker 1: how she was going to have to take the car
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Speaker 1: keys away. Life has given her a lemon. I found
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Speaker 1: myself in a conversation with a young mom. She already
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Speaker 1: has one child and now she has a newborn. And
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Speaker 1: it seems like she can't remember the last time she
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Speaker 1: had a good night's sleep. And she's really worried if
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Speaker 1: she'll be a good parent. I had lunch not too
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Speaker 1: long ago with a fellow who's trying to get through
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Speaker 1: a very, very difficult divorce. He underestimated the damage it
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Speaker 1: would do. And he's worried about his kids. He's worried
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Speaker 1: about himself. If he'll ever be happy again. Life gives lemons,
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Speaker 1: doesn't it? Has life given you a lemon lately? Life
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Speaker 1: gives lemons to good people. Life gives lemons to bad people.
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Speaker 1: Life gives lemons to old people. Life gives lemons to
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Speaker 1: young people. Life gives lemons to medical missionaries. Life comes
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Speaker 1: with lemons, but we don't have to suck on them.
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Speaker 1: This is the point of the Apostle Paul. You can
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Speaker 1: read your Bible from beginning to end. You can capitalize
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Speaker 1: every letter in the epistles of Paul. And you will
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Speaker 1: never find a promise that says, fall across and you'll
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Speaker 1: have no lemons. It's just not there. But there is
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Speaker 1: this promise that when life gives you a lemon, God
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Speaker 1: will show you how to respond to it. How to
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Speaker 1: handle it. When life gives you a bucket full of anxiety,
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Speaker 1: Christ will show you a way to respond to that
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Speaker 1: anxiety so that that anxiety does not get to you.
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Speaker 1: This is the promise that God gives. That you can
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Speaker 1: cast all your cares upon him because he cares about you.
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Speaker 1: That you can be anxious for nothing. but in everything
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Speaker 1: by prayer and supplication. You can make your requests known
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Speaker 1: to God. Life comes with a bushel full of lemons.
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Speaker 1: But if you're sucking on them, they're going to make
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Speaker 1: you sour. But you can respond to them in a
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Speaker 1: better way. Meditate on good things. The passage one more time.
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Speaker 1: Read it out loud with me as the words appear
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Speaker 1: on the screen.
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Speaker 4: Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, Whatever things
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Speaker 4: are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
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Speaker 4: whatever things.
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Speaker 1: Are of good report, if there is any virtue, and
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Speaker 1: if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Lord,
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Speaker 1: would you grant us this? Thank you. so so.
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Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you.
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Speaker 1: For watching.
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Speaker 5: Thank you.
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Speaker 3: You don't have to be near me.
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Speaker 5: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
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Speaker 5: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
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Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me.
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Speaker 5: Don't need promises to keep.
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Speaker 6: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
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Speaker 6: world I see Even if I'm not beside you Even
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Speaker 6: if you never know There's a quiet kind of comfort
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Speaker 6: Just in knowing you still glow I don't need forever
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Speaker 6: I just need you to exist You don't have to
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Speaker 6: stay with me.
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Speaker 1: You don't have to feel the same.
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Speaker 6: Just as long as you're still out there calling softly
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Speaker 6: through my days.
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Speaker 5: You don't have.
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Speaker 1: To look my way.
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Speaker 6: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
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Speaker 6: know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
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Speaker 5: I won't chase you through the distance.
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Speaker 6: Won't disturb your chosen life. I'll just keep you in
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Speaker 6: my silence like a star that shines at night.
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Speaker 5: Through the dark and through the blue.
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Speaker 3: I still think of you. You don't have to be
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Speaker 3: my home.
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Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living in a world.
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Speaker 2: I'm not alone.
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Speaker 5: I don't need to be your light I don't need
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Speaker 5: to cross your.
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Speaker 6: Mind All I need is just the truth That you're somewhere.
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Speaker 5: Still alive.
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Speaker 1: You don't have to.
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Speaker 2: Stay with me you don't have to feel the same
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Speaker 2: just as long as you're still out there calling softly
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Speaker 2: through my days you don't have to look my way
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Speaker 2: you don't have to be my home it's enough to
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Speaker 2: know you're living
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Speaker 6: In a world I'm not alone