[0:08]We should be thanking God's thoughts. What does he think? How does he want us to think? How does he want us to live? And in the process of doing so, remember this, when you're thinking his thoughts, you're thinking the most powerful thoughts there are. When you're thinking his thoughts, you're thinking and beginning to see what he's thinking about you.
[0:34]Our mind is the control tower of our life. Whatever happens in our life, starts right here. All of our decisions are there. And the truth is, whatever we are today is the result of what we've been thinking about all those years. The Bible says, as a man think in his heart, so is he. So if you don't like what's going on around you, maybe you should ask yourself the question, what am I thinking about? What do I think about myself? What do I think about other people? Because what we think about is really what controls us. For example, our relationship to God, our relationship to each other, our sense of direction in life, whatever we accomplish, our failures in life, all of that is a result of the way we think. And often times we forget that. That this is the control tower, that everything else is the result of how we think. Now we can't control everybody else and control of all of our circumstances, but we are going to respond to circumstances in one way or the other. And so, when I think about how this affects us, I think about the fact that many people are where they are because of wrong thinking. And so they don't like where they are. Other folks are where they are because of right thinking, because they've been thinking the right way. What you have to ask is this: What is it that determines what I think? Is it the word of God, or is it something else I read, something else that I watch? And I think about how many people sit down and open their mind to a television program or to the news or whatever it might be. Not realizing they are sitting there being programmed in their mind to think a certain way. You say, well, does that include preaching too? Yes. And I want you to listen carefully, because I want you to be programmed to think the way God thinks. Programmed to understand the word of God, programmed in such a way that you will live in a fashion that's pleasing and honorable to God. And that the very best that God has for your life, you'll be able to experience that. Yes. But on the other hand, you're watching some program that's full of sensuality, or just crime and all of these movies and so forth that you see in programs that I don't watch. I can't name them, but I can tell you a lot of it is just pure junk, that you do not need in your mind, in your thought life and certainly as a part of your life. So what I want to talk about in this message is controlling our thoughts, because this controls everything. And that's where our thoughts are from. So, if you'll turn in your Bible to Colossians chapter 3, and I want us to read these first eight verses, and look at this. Then I want to answer the question, how do we control our thoughts, which determines our life?
[3:39]And Paul begins in this particular chapter, and he says for example, Therefore, that is based on what he's been talking about, If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on Earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, that is when he comes, then you also will be revealed, come with them in glory. Therefore, watch this, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them, you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now, you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth and so on he goes. So I want us to look at this passage for a moment, then I'm going to come back to it until the end of the message. But notice what he says, therefore, if you've been raised up, what in the world does that mean? When you were saved, it's as if the Bible says, you died to your old way of life, and you rose to walk in newness of life. That's what baptism pictures. You died to your old way of life, you're buried in Christ Jesus, risen to walk in newness of life. And he says, therefore, keep seeking, since this is a new life, keep seeking the things above, spiritual things. That doesn't mean that you forget everything that's in this life. We have responsibilities and joys and whatever it may be. But keep seeking those things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So you understand the quality of those things. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on Earth. Which is an awesome statement. Set your mind, you're going to set it on something. Set it on things above, things that are holy and righteous and good and godly and helpful. For you've died and your life is hidden with Christ in God, that is you died your old way of life. When you said I'm trusting Jesus as my savior, you didn't just say, well, I just want to add Jesus to my present life and I'll keep going. Now, this is what people do when they're living in areas of idolatry. And they have all kind of idols in their house, and unless they fully understand what they do when you explain Jesus to them, they say, oh yes. And they've got a God to this, they've got an isle to this God, this God, this God, and then they want to know what kind of isle they put up here, Jesus and add to their religion. No, when you trusted Jesus, you died to your old way of life, and when Christ who is our life is revealed, when he comes, then you also will be revealed to come with him in glory. Now watch this next verse. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to illicit sex, to moral impurity of all sorts. Passion, that is that drive within you that causes you to do things that are not right, and he says evil desires, greed which amounts to idolatry. And in those days in what you'll find in the scripture often times when the Bible talks about immorality, he also talks about greed. Because he puts them together, and in the days in which Paul was writing, to the Colossians, and to the Romans, and so forth, in Roman society, idolatry and sensuality were all sort of mixed up together, their gods, and they had prostitutes in the in the temples, and so forth. And so it was all a mixture. So he says, it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them, watch this, in them, you also once walked, that's past, when you were living in them. That is, that was your lifestyle. Then he says, but now you also put them all aside, that is anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech, that is you you change.
[8:02]So it's time to put away the things that don't fit your new life in Christ Jesus. Now, I'm going to come back to that and show you something about that passage in a few moments, but I want us to, I want to give you three ideas. Three points to this message. And I want to end up with the last one being, how do I control this control tower of my life? How to control my thoughts? Is it possible to do so? But the first point is simply this. The pathway to controlling our thoughts begins with an understanding of our relationship to Jesus Christ. You don't understand that, you'll never understand this idea of controlling your thoughts. That's where it all begins. Because he says here, we were raised up with Christ Jesus, referring to our salvation. There was a change that took place when you were saved. And as a result of that, God intended for our thinking to change, our mind to change, because this this mind of yours controls everything else in your life. You say, well, what about all the other parts of my life? We're we're respond to the way we think. And so if we think right, we're going to have one response, we think wrongly, we're going to have another. Very important that we understand how that works. So this requires me to understand how to control my thoughts. If I want to think right, if I want to think godly, if I want to think righteously, right here's where it starts. And many people lose it right here. They don't think right, they don't think godly, they don't think like they're worth anything. And they say, well, you know, I just never had the opportunity, or I just never will be that, or I'm just this, and I'm not that. This is why people who are very beautiful can think they're ugly. And people who are very skinny can think they're fat. And they refuse to eat because they think, they look in the mirror and they don't see what's reality. And so your mind controls every aspect of your life. In fact, what you think determines how you live. What you think determines how you relationship to God is as we said, your relationship to others, your relationship to yourself. And many people start out in life defeated because of the influence of their parents, their grandparents. That tell them they'll never amount to anything, or this is wrong with them or that's wrong with them. And as a result, they go through life what? Having heard written in their minds, impressed in their thinking, if my mama said it, my daddy said it, or my grandmother said it, it must be true, therefore.
[10:44]And often times people are ruined as a result of what they have been taught, or what they have been, or what they've heard from someone that they value very highly. So with that in mind, I want to come to the second point, which is the challenge to controlling our thoughts. Because once you're saved, is say your environment's the same, it could even get worse. But we're to live godly in an ungodly society and an ungodly environment. And some people's environments worse than others. I think about people who grew up in families, they get saved, nobody else in the family is a Christian. The family uses foul language, they never read the Bible, they drink, they carouse, maybe unfaithful to each other, all kind of things. And here's this godly life that now is surrounded by a very ungodly circumstances. And I think about some situations and people that I've met and they tell me where they've come from and how God has worked in their life and how they live where they live and the circumstances they live in. It is very difficult for them, especially unless they're trained, less they're taught. And I think often times people go to church year after year after year and nobody tells them or explains to them or helps them understand this is the way you think. And you can only think this way if certain things are true. And so this morning my goal is simply this. To say there are challenges to thinking godly, but thinking godly is absolutely essential to our success in life. Learn to live with ourselves and learning to live with others and accomplishing whatever God has in mind for us. And uh when I think about that, I think about two verses of scripture for example, turn to second Corinthians for a moment. And look in this uh, look in this, um, fourth chapter of second Corinthians and the fourth verse. He says in this fourth verse, he says, speaking of the gospel and so forth, he says in verse 3, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
[12:53]In whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever, so that they may not see the letter of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Watch this, Satan blinds the mind of the unbeliever, so that they can't, don't want to, have no desire to see the truth. If you turn to the 11th chapter of second Corinthians, and look if you will in the third verse. Now, he blinds the minds of the unbeliever, but listen to what he says in the third verse. But I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, this your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. He blinds the minds of the of the unbeliever, and he deceives believers. This is why people who profess to be Christians often times live a life that we know is absolutely not biblical, because they're deceived. Well, so and so says it's okay, or so and so says it's all right. They're deceived by what they hear, by what they see, about by what they feel. So Satan works. He doesn't work on your toe, your leg, or somewhere else. He works in your mind. It's the battlefield in every person's life. It it whatever goes on right here is going to affect every single aspect of your life. And so this is why it's so important and why Paul is talking about it here. And so what happens is, uh Satan working in your mind will enable you to recall things that happened years and years and years ago. Maybe things that were bad, something somebody did to you, somebody molested you, somebody mistreated you, whatever it might be, and it's still there. You you can keep recalling it. And when you recall it, it's a bad feeling. And so we have the power to recall. But if that mind is filled with things that are unpleasant, ungodly, or as people says here we've been blinded, and so forth, then we suffer the results. And so the mind is very important and can be easily deceived by the devil unless you fill it with the truth of the word of God. And I'm not talking about just reading the Bible once in a while, which we'll we'll see in just a few moments. So, when I think about this, and I think about what is a reprobate mind? A reprobate mind is one, watch this carefully, that has looked at life, looked at particular sin in their life, and decided that's what I want. That's what I'm going to do, and I'm giving myself to that, no matter what somebody else says, or what anybody else likes, they can say anything they want to say. That's what I want to do, and that's what I'm going to do, and it is something that the scripture teaches very specifically that it's an act of disobedience to God. When you give yourself over to a particular sin, and you say, that's what I'm going to do, that's where I'm going to live, then what you have is a reprobate mind. It starts right here. Only you can decide that about yourself. A reprobate mind. I remember one of my friends who had been, um, ahead of the the Baptist in a particular state where I was, and uh he and I were good friends and I remember one day we were eating lunch and he said, I remember he was down a little bit that day. And I ask him what was going on. He said, you know, uh he was in the service and he was in another country. And he was there over there for a pretty good while. He said, you know, I don't want to tell you what, but he said, uh, in those few years, I think he was there about three years. He said, I did a lot of things, I saw a lot of things, I experienced a lot of things. He said, I just sort of did what I wanted to do. And he said, now these years have passed by and I'm in the ministry and I'm still suffering the results of my sins because somehow I can't get them out of my mind. He said, because I was so indulged myself and those three years are doing what I wanted to do, what I thought I wanted to do. He said, it has happened me ever since. So I just say this to you. It makes a difference what you think. And you may think it today and think, well, it's not going to ever happen, or it's not going to hinder me in the future. What you, watch this, what you think is imprinted on your mind. Well, how long does it take you to forget it? It may not take you but two weeks to forget it, but remember this, it is still in your mind. This is why things crop up in your thinking that you hadn't thought about in years and years and years and years. Then on the other hand, something happens this morning, you can't remember it. So, the mind is a strange thing, but one thing about it, whatever you put in there is there to stay until Jesus delivers you from it. So the mind is a powerful part of your body and the truth is your life is an expression of what you think. If you don't like what you're thinking, you can change your thinking. You say, well, now I don't know that I can change my thinking. Yes, you can. For example, if you're angry, you don't you you can lay it down. If you feel that you're a nobody, full of unworthiness, you can lay it down. If you are jealous of somebody, you can lay it down. And we can just go through a whole list of pride and and criticism, rejection, fear and greed. All of these things that people feel, they can lay it down, if they choose to. Now, if you don't think you can, and you've just convinced you can't, you say, well, I've thought this for years and years and years. Remember this one thing, are you listening, say amen. You have the Holy Spirit living in you as a believer. When you trust Christ as your savior, the Holy Spirit came to live in your life. And remember what Jesus called him. He said, I'm going to send a helper, and when he comes, he'll be in you with you and upon you. You and I, who are believers, trusted Christ as our savior, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. And one of his responsibilities is to, as a helper, is to enable us, that is in our thinking, to bring that back to our minds, what we think and how we think. And to help us to remember scripture and so forth. But he's there to be a helper and to help us to think right about God, about Jesus, about our life, about others, about ourselves. He is our helper. So you can walk away. You do not have to keep remembering things that you say, well, do you just said it's it'll be there. It doesn't mean you have to remember it. It doesn't mean you have to bring it back. When somebody says to me, well, I can't help myself. Yes, you can. Yes, you can help yourself. And I've lived long enough to know that times when I thought I couldn't help myself, finally God got through to me. He says, yes, you can. You are responsible for what you think and how you think it, because as a believer, you have the Spirit of God living within you to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So I want you to think about this, and this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this: We sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right.
[22:38]But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion. Or you may just wrestle with it for a while. Or you may deny it. And this is the way Satan'll defeat you. If you're thinking something, and you deny it, it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper. So you can accept it and express it, you can wrestle with it, deny it, or you can control it. Because you have the Holy Spirit working within you, you can control what you think. And that's if I'm going to control my thinking, I have to understand that. You have within you the power of the Spirit of God to enable you to think right. But it's important we understand what God says and how he says it. So, I want you to think about this. And this will be on the screen so you can jot it down if you'll do it quickly. And simply this, we sow a thought and reap an action. We're going to respond. We sow an action, reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action. We sow a habit and reap a character, because habits in our life determine our character. We sow a character, we become something, we reach we reap a destiny. This is who we are and this is our future. And then remember this idea. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences. Unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in our life. That was whatever we think. Nobody else in the world knows exactly what you think. But the way you think is going to be visible at some point or the other. And if you feel unworthy, you feel like nobody cares, nobody loves you, it's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. You think nobody really cares for you. It's going to show. It's going to be a part of your life. But it came from your thinking. Don't think less of yourself than God thinks, and he died for you. No matter what somebody else says about you, you are a child of God, once you've trusted Christ as your savior. So we're the ones who determine what we're going to be and so forth, because it's the way we think. And this is why people can come from nowhere to the worst kind of situation, circumstances, you think they'd never amount to anything in their life. And they excel, excel, excel, beyond even their imagination. What? They started thinking rightly about themselves, and about the Lord and about his place and position in their life. So unseen thoughts produce visible consequences in their life. Now, I say all that to come around to saying this, how do we control our thoughts? How do we control them? Well, when a thought comes to your mind, one of several things you're going to do. You're going to accept that thought and you're going to express it in some fashion.
