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A Place To Stand- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The campaign. That's an important number because hold on a second,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Hold on second, that's an important number because we pledged
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to give of sixteen point six million dollars. So not
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: only did you meet the pledges, you exceeded the pledges.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Isn't that great? When's the last time you heard that?
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you Lord. Now, we're still very serious about getting
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: debt free again, but we're grateful for our new facilities
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: and this step, this completion of this three year pledge period,
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  Speaker 1: not only meeting the goal but exceeding it is a
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: great step toward being debt free again. We're headed in
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  Speaker 1: that direction. Another number even more important, and that is
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  Speaker 1: the number two hundred and seventy five. That's how many
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  Speaker 1: souls were baptized into Christ over the last two weeks
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  Speaker 1: on all of our campuses on baptism weekend. Two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy five. That's a lot of people in't there.
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  Speaker 1: That's bigger than most churches. And so we're so very
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  Speaker 1: grateful for that harvest. These are wonderful days at Oak
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Hill's Church, days of answered prayer, and I'm so very
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  Speaker 1: grateful that you are a part of them. Let's pray
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  Speaker 1: and then we'll get to work on our new series.
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  Speaker 1: And so, Heavenly Father, we thank you. We could do
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  Speaker 1: nothing without you. We need you now, Heavenly Father, to
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  Speaker 1: forgive the sins of our speaker, because there are too
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  Speaker 1: many to count. Grant that we can see Jesus, just
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  Speaker 1: Jesus through Christ. We pray and all the Church said.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Pretend that you visit me as I am working inside
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  Speaker 1: my greenhouse. I do not have a greenhouse. I do
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  Speaker 1: not have a green thumb, but we're pretending you come
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  Speaker 1: to see me. I'm inside my greenhouse, and I tell
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  Speaker 1: you that this greenhouse was a gift from my father
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  Speaker 1: and that it was created as the ideal place in
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  Speaker 1: which to raise flowers and fruit trees, which is exactly
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  Speaker 1: what I want. I want to raise flowers and fruit trees.
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  Speaker 1: So I show you around my greenhouse, and then I say,
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  Speaker 1: I need to get more seeds from my flowers and
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  Speaker 1: fruit trees. Would you like to go with me to
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  Speaker 1: get some seeds. You follow me outside of the greenhouse,
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  Speaker 1: and boy, are you surprised when instead of going to
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  Speaker 1: a garden center to purchase seeds, I just go out
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  Speaker 1: in some pasture and I begin stripping weeds of their seeds. Grass, birrs,
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  Speaker 1: dandelion seeds, all kinds of weed seeds. And I begin
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  Speaker 1: collecting those in a little pouch and I take those
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  Speaker 1: and you follow me back inside the greenhouse and I
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  Speaker 1: tell you good, I've got enough seeds to plant. And
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  Speaker 1: you look at me like I fell off of the truck.
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  Speaker 1: You say, wait a second. You said you wanted flowers
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  Speaker 1: and fruit trees. I said, exactly, well, then why did
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  Speaker 1: you go and get some weed seeds? Don't you think
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  Speaker 1: you should get some seeds that bear fruits? Don't you
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  Speaker 1: think you should get some seeds that turn into flowers?
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  Speaker 1: And I say, well, yeah, but do you know how
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  Speaker 1: expensive those seeds are? You got to pay for those.
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  Speaker 1: I can get these seeds for free, just right out
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  Speaker 1: here in the pasture. And besides, you have to go
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  Speaker 1: to the garden center to purchase those seeds. It's such
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  Speaker 1: an inconvenience. Doesn't it make sense that I take seeds
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  Speaker 1: that are free and convenient and plant those in my greenhouse?
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And you turn and you walk out mumbling something about
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  Speaker 1: how Max is missing some brain cells. Because you understand
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  Speaker 1: the simple principle when it comes to growing plants, and
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  Speaker 1: that is you reap what you saw. We get that,
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  Speaker 1: don't we We don't dare think that we can sow
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  Speaker 1: seeds from weeds and get anything except what weeds. So
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  Speaker 1: if we want to grow flowers, we need flowers seeds.
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  Speaker 1: If we want to grow fruit trees, we need fruit
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  Speaker 1: tree seeds. We get that when it comes to the soil,
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  Speaker 1: But do we understand that when it comes to our thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: You have been given a greenhouse, and it sits right
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  Speaker 1: here between your two ears. Would you like to touch
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  Speaker 1: your greenhouse? It's right up here. How do you like it?
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  Speaker 1: It's very nice. Your father gave that to you. Your
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  Speaker 1: father gave that to you. And I know every so
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  Speaker 1: often you say I'm losing my mind, but you're not.
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  Speaker 1: It's right there, and it is your greenhouse, and it
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  Speaker 1: is it's perfectly suited for growing things. It has soil
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  Speaker 1: within it, and given the right conditions, it can grow
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  Speaker 1: really beautiful flowers and it can bear some wonderful fruit.
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  Speaker 1: But if you sow the wrong kind of seeds in
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  Speaker 1: your greenhouse, guess what you're gonna get. You can say
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  Speaker 1: it out loud. Weeds, weeds, weed seeds grow weeds that
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  Speaker 1: ought to be a Bumpersticker said we seeds grow weeds.
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  Speaker 1: Why would we think that we could sow weedy thoughts
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  Speaker 1: and get anything except weeds. We see examples of this
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  Speaker 1: principle all the time. You know some people whose joy
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  Speaker 1: just seems to be impenetrable. They have this teflon capacity
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  Speaker 1: to face the challenges of life, and though they may
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  Speaker 1: be staggered and stumble a time or two, they really
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  Speaker 1: are able to pull themselves up and face life with
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  Speaker 1: gusto and hope and strength and faith. They're contagious in
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  Speaker 1: their happiness. How does a person like this become like that?
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  Speaker 1: I think it might have something to do with what
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  Speaker 1: they do all day long, the kind of seeds they
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  Speaker 1: plant in their greenhouse. Did you agree? What about the
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  Speaker 1: person who always seems, no matter how blessed they are,
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  Speaker 1: excuse me, always seems to be facing and carrying burdens.
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  Speaker 1: They're always anxious, perpetually uneasy, grumpy and cranky about life,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how blessed they are. Could it be that
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  Speaker 1: they've been sowing some weed seeds in the greenhouse that
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  Speaker 1: God gave them? This is a biblical principle. Galatians chapter
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  Speaker 1: six and verse seven says people harvest only what they plant.
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  Speaker 1: Can we read that verse out loud together? People harvest
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  Speaker 1: only what they plant. Would you like to be a
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  Speaker 1: person of courage tomorrow, then deposit seeds of faith today?
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  Speaker 1: Would you like to be a person of bitterness tomorrow?
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  Speaker 1: Then deposit and plant seeds of unhappiness and resentment today?
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  Speaker 1: You will tomorrow be the person you're thinking about becoming today.
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  Speaker 1: You are today a consequence of the seeds you planted yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: So does it not make sense that we should carefully
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  Speaker 1: guard the greenhouse of the mind. I'm so sorry I've
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  Speaker 1: been talking too much. Maybe you've heard the joke about
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  Speaker 1: the fella who comes home one evening at six point
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  Speaker 1: thirty and his wife is really mired down in an
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  Speaker 1: unhappy state of mind. She is cranky. She is really cranky.
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  Speaker 1: So he sets out to cheer her up, but he cannot.
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  Speaker 1: He cannot get her out of her sour disposition. So finally,
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  Speaker 1: after an hour of trying, he says, all right, let's
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  Speaker 1: start over. I'm going to walk out the door and
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to come back in. Let's just start over,
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  Speaker 1: see if we can do it better this time. So
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  Speaker 1: he walks out the door, he comes back in. First thing,
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  Speaker 1: she says to him, is seven thirty and you're just
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  Speaker 1: now getting home. Could be that she has been depositing
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  Speaker 1: the wrong kind of seeds into the soil of her
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  Speaker 1: thought process. Now let's make some application here. If indeed
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  Speaker 1: you have a greenhouse, the greenhouse of the mind, If
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  Speaker 1: indeed your thoughts are going to bear fruit, and you
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  Speaker 1: truly are the consequence of what you think as a
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  Speaker 1: person thinketh so is he? Then does it not make
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  Speaker 1: sense that we would be very careful about the thoughts
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  Speaker 1: we sew in the soil of our mind? Does it
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  Speaker 1: not make sense that we pay careful attention to what
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  Speaker 1: we could call thought management thought management. We talk about
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  Speaker 1: money management, we talk about personnel management, we talk about
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  Speaker 1: calendar and time management. I even read an article once
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  Speaker 1: on scalp management. What about thought management? Have you given
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  Speaker 1: much thought to managing your thoughts? God has, and he
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  Speaker 1: urges us to be careful about what we think. The
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  Speaker 1: Scripture gives us this prompt us when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: our thoughts, that we will reap what we sow, and
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  Speaker 1: we should be careful what we think because our thoughts
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  Speaker 1: run our lives. Be careful what you think, because your
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  Speaker 1: thoughts run your life. That's the idea behind this sermon
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  Speaker 1: series that we begin today. We want to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that we have the right thoughts in our mind when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to life. The word for this is worldview,
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  Speaker 1: our understanding of the world. How do we process the
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  Speaker 1: world and filter the world? Do we have the right
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  Speaker 1: view of the world. Under that theme of worldview, are
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  Speaker 1: these seven big ideas God. We believe that there is
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  Speaker 1: one true God and he is eternally existing in three persons,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, that he was born of a virgin Mary,
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  Speaker 1: that he led a sinless life, and he died a
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  Speaker 1: sacrificial death. The Holy Spirit is equal with God, the Father,
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  Speaker 1: and the Son in dwelling and empowering the believer. We
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  Speaker 1: believe in salvation, that it is a gift of God,
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  Speaker 1: and that all have sinned, but that all can be saved.
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  Speaker 1: We believe in the Church and that is the unique
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  Speaker 1: body of Christ living on the earth. We believe in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible as the inspired word of God. We believe
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  Speaker 1: in the return of Christ, that Christ will one day
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  Speaker 1: return and judge all people. These statements are in our
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  Speaker 1: thinking the big idea. They're kind of like the fountain
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  Speaker 1: head out of which our other thoughts flow. We need
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  Speaker 1: to get these thoughts right. We need to be careful
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  Speaker 1: what we think about God, about the Holy Spirit, about Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: about Salvation, about the Father, about the return of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: These are core doctrines out of which our lives and
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  Speaker 1: our thought process flows. Get these right and life can
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  Speaker 1: be right. Get these wrong, not only will the church
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  Speaker 1: be confused, but will be confused. For that reason, we
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  Speaker 1: want to go back and revisit this statement of faith.
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  Speaker 1: I've asked our campus ministers to do most of the
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  Speaker 1: teaching one reason I'm ready for a break. And number two,
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna love our campus ministers. Whatever campus you visit,
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  Speaker 1: whether it be here at Crownridge or out at Fredericksberg
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  Speaker 1: or Journey, whatever campus you go to, we have gifted
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  Speaker 1: teachers who are chomping at the bit for the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to teach. And if you attend here at Crownridge, you
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  Speaker 1: know what a blessed and wonderful teacher Travis Eeds is.
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  Speaker 1: And he's going to carry most of the teaching load
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  Speaker 1: for Crownridge over the next few weeks as we explore
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  Speaker 1: these But you're also going to be reminded how important
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  Speaker 1: these core doctrines are. If you're a new Christian, this
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  Speaker 1: is a perfect opportunity for you to make sure you
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  Speaker 1: got the important doctrines. If you're a seasoned saint, it's
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  Speaker 1: good to go back and revisit these. If you're looking
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  Speaker 1: for a church home and you want to know what
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  Speaker 1: do they teach it Oak Hills, you couldn't. You couldn't
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  Speaker 1: be a part of a better series because we're gonna
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  Speaker 1: answer that. We're gonna look at these core doctrines. We
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  Speaker 1: believe these core doctrines are essential because they are to
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  Speaker 1: the mind what seeds are to the soil. They are
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  Speaker 1: to the mind what seeds are to the soil. And
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  Speaker 1: we want to think biblically, think in a healthy fashion.
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  Speaker 1: As the Apostle Paul said, don't let the world squeeze
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  Speaker 1: you into its mold, but let God remake you so
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  Speaker 1: that your whole attitude of mind is changed. How many
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  Speaker 1: of you know that you don't have to think what
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  Speaker 1: you're thinking? Okay, I'll say it this way. How many
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  Speaker 1: of you know that just because you have a thought,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to think it. How many of you
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  Speaker 1: know that just because an idea comes into your mind,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to buy into that idea. Now, does
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  Speaker 1: it not make sense if your mind is the greenhouse.
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  Speaker 1: If thought sroceedes that we would be very careful what
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  Speaker 1: we think about. God wants your green house to be
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  Speaker 1: fertile and fruitful. He wants you to think like Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, this is God's goal for you and for me.
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  Speaker 1: He wants us to think and act like Christ. Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: When you read about Jesus in the gospel stories, that's
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  Speaker 1: more than just a picture of him back then. It
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  Speaker 1: is God's dream for you today. In fact, the scripture says,
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  Speaker 1: we actually have the mind of Christ. Who would have thought, huh.
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  Speaker 1: You see, when you gave your heart to Christ, he
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  Speaker 1: gave you more than just forgiveness. He placed within you
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  Speaker 1: the kernel the essence of the mind of Christ. This
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  Speaker 1: means that as He has his way with you, you
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  Speaker 1: will worry less, you will trust more, You'll have the
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  Speaker 1: joy level of Jesus, the peace loved of Jesus. You'll
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  Speaker 1: see people the way Jesus sees people. You'll see the
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  Speaker 1: world the way Christ sees the world. Does that appeal
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  Speaker 1: to you? Does that appeal to you? This is God's
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  Speaker 1: goal for you and for me, that we have the
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  Speaker 1: mind not of Max or Joel or Mary, but we
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  Speaker 1: have the mind of Christ. That he changes the way
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  Speaker 1: we think until we get to the point where we think, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think the way I used to think. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think the way I used to think. I don't
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  Speaker 1: have the anxiety I used to have, the guilt I
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  Speaker 1: used to have the bitterness I used to have. He
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  Speaker 1: changed the way I think. Now, how does this happen? Well?
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  Speaker 1: In addition to understanding these big ideas that we are
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  Speaker 1: going to study, we must also be willing to submit
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  Speaker 1: our thoughts to the authority of Christ. We must acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: that He has authority over what we think. Just moments
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  Speaker 1: before he ascended into heaven, he said, all authority heaven
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  Speaker 1: and on earth has been given to me. So he
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  Speaker 1: has authority. He has authority about what MACS deposits in
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  Speaker 1: the bank. He has authority about the relationships that you have.
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  Speaker 1: He has authority over everything in life, including what you think. Hm,
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  Speaker 1: who would have ever thought that God has authority over
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  Speaker 1: your thoughts? Do you think God knows what we should
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  Speaker 1: think about more than we better than we know what
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  Speaker 1: we should think about? Would you agree with it? So
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  Speaker 1: he says, let me tell you how to think. Let
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  Speaker 1: me work on the way you think, what you think about,
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  Speaker 1: and all of our thoughts can be subject to the
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  Speaker 1: authority of Jesus Christ. He will help us think in
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  Speaker 1: the right way. He has authority over our thoughts. It
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  Speaker 1: falls to us to simply do what the apostle Paul
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  Speaker 1: says in Tewod Corinthians in verse five, and that is
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  Speaker 1: fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. So a thought comes into your mind and
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  Speaker 1: you fight it. You fight it now. I love that
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  Speaker 1: word fight. It has really struck me as I was
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  Speaker 1: reviewing this message yesterday, that the mind is in truly
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  Speaker 1: a battlefield where the fight is fought. The mind is
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  Speaker 1: the battlefield where the fight is fought. Do you want
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  Speaker 1: to be a person at peace tomorrow, then fight this
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  Speaker 1: good fight today. And when a thought surfaces, you fight.
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  Speaker 1: You fight to make it submit to the authority of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Let me show you how this works. Let's say you
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  Speaker 1: have a thought come into your mind wanting to be thought.
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  Speaker 1: You have a seed coming up to the greenhouse of
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  Speaker 1: your mind, wanted to be planning in the soil. And
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  Speaker 1: this is a thought regarding your existence. A real common
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  Speaker 1: thought in our society today is that all of life
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  Speaker 1: is comprised of what happens between the day you're born
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  Speaker 1: and the day you die, nothing else. It's called secularism.
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  Speaker 1: Secularism is the removal of God from the conversation. There
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  Speaker 1: is no reason that you're on this earth. There's nothing
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  Speaker 1: that's going to happen after this earth. All of life
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  Speaker 1: is what you see between the birth and the hearse.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. There's nothing more. That's a certain pattern of
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  Speaker 1: thought that exists. Do you see that most of the
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  Speaker 1: people who make the movies you watch come out of
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  Speaker 1: that thought process. Many of the books that are written
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  Speaker 1: these days just come out of that thought process. That
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  Speaker 1: basically it's a negative, sour, secular mindset. Consequently, this thought
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  Speaker 1: process comes into our mind like dandelion seeds or grassburst seeds.
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  Speaker 1: It springs weeds, weedy thoughts of like, well, there's no
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  Speaker 1: reason to live, there's no purpose for life. The only
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  Speaker 1: goal of life is to have fun. So I guess
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  Speaker 1: I'll have all the fun I can get. So you
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  Speaker 1: see how these thoughts begin to take root and they
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  Speaker 1: bear these seeds in the way we live. So maybe
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  Speaker 1: This thought comes your way through a conversation, maybe it
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  Speaker 1: comes through a book, maybe it comes to a philosophy
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  Speaker 1: class you're attending at a university. This thought comes up
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  Speaker 1: to the greenhouse. But since you were listening that day
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  Speaker 1: when lo Cato talked about thought management, you say to yourself,
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  Speaker 1: wait a second, if I've not been told to fight
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  Speaker 1: to take every thought and make it subject or submit
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  Speaker 1: to the authority of Jesus, Okay, well, just because he
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  Speaker 1: said it, no matter how important he looks, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to take this thought and I'm gonna make it stand
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  Speaker 1: the test, the litmus test of scripture. I'm gonna make
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  Speaker 1: it submit to the authority of Christ. And so you
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  Speaker 1: get your handcuffs and your leg irons, and you take
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  Speaker 1: this thought captive. And before this thought can go into
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  Speaker 1: the greenhouse, you march it down the sidewalk to the courthouse,
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  Speaker 1: because Jesus is the ultimate judge overall, and you take
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  Speaker 1: this thought and you march it right into the courtroom.
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  Speaker 1: And you have this thought stand there in front of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: and you say, King Jesus, your Lord, over my thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: You have authority over what I think. Do you want
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  Speaker 1: me to let this seed into my greenhouse? Am I
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  Speaker 1: making sense? Do you want me to let this thought
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  Speaker 1: into my thought process? Remember, just because you have a thought,
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you have to think it. So you
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  Speaker 1: take this thought and you submit it to the authority
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  Speaker 1: of Christ, and you say, Jesus would what do you
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: say about this secularism idea? Well, we know what he said.
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  Speaker 1: He's going to tell you get that thought out of there.
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  Speaker 1: He may do so by virtue of the final installment
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  Speaker 1: of this very series, because we're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: the return of Christ, and the return of Christ carries
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  Speaker 1: with it the promise that the best life is the
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  Speaker 1: next life, so it changes everything. He might even remind
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  Speaker 1: us of the key verse that we're going to look at.
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  Speaker 1: When we look at the return of Christ, the Lord
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  Speaker 1: himself will come down from heaven with a loud command,
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  Speaker 1: with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet call
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  Speaker 1: of God, and those who have died believing in Christ
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  Speaker 1: will rise first. After that, we who are still alive
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  Speaker 1: will be gathered up with him in the clouds to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: meet the Lord in the air, and we will be
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: with the Lord forever. So encourage one another with these words.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: So she say, well, okay, thought, you don't stand this
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: test because the Bible says that there's much more to
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: life than what happens between the birth and the hearse.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: In fact, the best part of life is what's coming next.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: And so you give that thought a big kick in
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the rear, tell him to leave, thank you very much,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and you you change the way you're Is this making sense.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: It's just because you have a thought, you don't have
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: to think it. Think it, okay. Another example, The first
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: thought was a bully, The next one is a groupie.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: He comes not telling you how small and insignificant you are.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: He comes telling you how great and wonderful you are.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: He tells you're the you're the most beautiful thing, You're
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the smartest thing, You're the greatest thing. You're the most
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: important thing. That your spouse is so blessed to be
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: married to you, Your kids are so blessed to have
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: you in the home. Your work, my goodness, the good
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: looking level rises just when you walk in the office.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: You're such are The whole world revolves around you. Everything
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: is all about you. That's the thought. It's called arrogance.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: So centeredness, and so that thought comes and knocks at
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: the door of the greenhouse and says I want to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: come in. I want you to plant me in the soil,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: and I want you to let me grow. Of course,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: we know that we'll sprout into the weeds of pride.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: And so you think, wait a second, this doesn't sound right.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I do recall, I'm supposed to take every thought and
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: submit it to the authority of Christ Jesus. And so
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the authority of Christ comes through the scripture, right comes
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: through the word. And so we take this thought, we
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: march it down the sidewalk, we make it stand before
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: the judgment seat of Christ, and we say, Christ, do
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: you have anything to say about pride? Oh, my goodness,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: gracious does he ever he knows how devastating pride can be.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Maybe he takes us to Romans chapter twelve and verse two.
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  Speaker 1: Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: but just think of yourself as sober judgment and according
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: with the measure of faith that God has distributed to
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: each of you, and say, say, oh, okay, I got it,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I got it. Okay, humble myself before the Almighty God.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I trust you, Lord, And you take that arrogant self centeredness,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and you do your family a favor and tell it
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: to leave because you know you'll be a better person.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Because God knows better about what you need to think,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: then you know what you need to think. Making any sense,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: So do you think you practice this thought management? Is
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: it something you'd like to do more? Is it something
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: you'd like to do better? Are you excited about the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: thought that you can be a better person today because
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: of the thoughts you I mean tomorrow, because of the
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: thoughts you permit today. Isn't that an exciting thought? I've
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: got to use one more example, because when it comes
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to thought management, the one area that may sow more
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: seeds of devastation than any other area is an area
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of sexual attraction. Sexual thoughts come and we don't quite
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: know what to do with them. Example, the thought comes
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: to you in the form of a beautiful lady. She's
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: dressed in a slinky, revealing red dress. The thought comes
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: to you in the form of a beautiful, handsome hunk
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: of a guy. He's the best thing you've ever seen.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: And a little conversation takes place, a little chit chat,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: a little exchange of niceties, eye contact is made. You
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: can smell the cologne, smell the perfume, you can just
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: begin to envision the whole event. Thoughts come into your mind?
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Does God have anything to say about sexual attraction? Does
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: He have anything to say about these thoughts that come
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: our way? Well? I think he does. And because you
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: have decided to take every thought captive, yes, even those
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: kind of thoughts, and make them submit to the authority
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. You say, you know, Lord, I think
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: you know more about what's healthy for my sexuality than Hollywood.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Does I really think that? I think you have a
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: better track record of managing mankind than the guys in
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: the locker room do. So I'm going to say, Lord,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: what you say is what I will do here. Do
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: you have anything to say Lord about managing sexual attraction? Well,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the Bible is amazingly practical on this topic. There you
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: might recall even a passage from first Corinthians, chapter six.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Than then Verse Corinthians, chapter seven. We must not pursue
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: us more lonely than ever. It's a good thing to
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: have sexual relations, certainly, but only within this certain context.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: It's good for a man to have a wife and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: a woman to have a husband. Sexual drives are strong,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: but marriage is strong enough to contain them. And like
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: a good father, your heavenly father says, now be careful
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: with those thoughts. And so, now that you know God's
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: opinion of sexual attraction and those kind of thoughts, you think, Okay,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: now who is this person I'm thinking about? If this
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: person is not your spouse, you've banished those thoughts. Say
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you're not welcome here because you're going to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: sow seeds that bear weeds. If that person is your spouse. Hubba, hubba, hubba.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Let's go out for a candlelight dinner. Because God speaks
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: to us even about these kind of thoughts. Oh, dear
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: child of God, would you please receive the word of
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the Lord today? Would you let him change the way
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: you think? You have within you the mind of Christ.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: And it's his aim that you and I think and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: act just like Jesus. And you're going to be so
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: much happier the more and more you think like Christ. So,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: as we bring this to a close, I want to
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: ask you, what is that one particular thought pattern that
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: disrupts your life? All of us have one. I really
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: think we do. I have one or two. You have
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: one or two, and that's just this thought. They look
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: like weather patterns. They come and they hover over us,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and we just get in these negative thought cycles, or
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: these immoral thought cycles, or greedy thought cycles, or arragant
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: thought cycles. What's yours? You don't have to say it
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: out loud, but I would encourage you to tell it
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: to Christ sometime, even before you put your head on
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: your pillow. Tonight, get off in the corner, say Lord,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I'd like to enter into a new chapter, a chapter
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: in which I'm not the anxious person that I've always been,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: or the irritable person that I've always been, or the
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: angry person that I've always been. What is that one
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: part of your life where you could really use the
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: help of the Almighty God? You know what He wants
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: to help you, so you're agreeing with him. He wants
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: you to have the mind of Christ. Okay, Oh my goodness,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: I can't wait. I can't wait for you to experience
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the blessings that are going to come your way. And
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: as we move into this series looking at these big ideas,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: may they too inform the way you think. Please be
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: prayerful for Travis as he brings us this word each week,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: and may the Lord's blessings be upon all of us
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: as we receive it. Amen. Thank you Lord, Thank you
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: for your goodness and kindness. Thank you for your mercy.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you that you have not given.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: But everything I used to live for faith is slowly
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: out of sight. Now my days just circle around you,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: like I'm lost without life.
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: All the noise of s turns to silence when your
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: memory comes through. And the world I once was chasing
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: and now feel small.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: A shape. Thank you. My whole world is only every
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: thought he's breaking through.
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: You're so close inside in my mind, but so far
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: and relife.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I can feel you everywhere else and the things we live.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: She All this love I'm going through never reaches you.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: Every image feels so real now, like you're standing.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Next to me.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: But the truth is in the silence you are never.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Man to see. My world is on me. Every dark
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: he is waiting through.
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: You're so close inside in.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: My mind, but so far in real life.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: I can feel you everywhere and the things we live sh.
• 34:42
  Speaker 5: Ah, this all I'm going through never reaches you. If
• 34:50
  Speaker 5: you fail to fall moment, it would have changed the
• 34:54
  Speaker 5: way stay would still be shadow at you, fatal.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: My world is only one, is only the world a
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: different you.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: I'm just someone passioned by in your old and Scott
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: still hold on to.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Every Harvey costs for you on this left. I always
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: know who never reads you.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: H mm hmmm