In a World of Violence and Uncertainty, Part 2

The question is: Will this renew or harden my heart? The King James Version says, “Ponder,” or, “dwell on that which is gracious,” or, “admirable.” Literally it means, “fair speaking.”

I love this. It describes things which are fit for God to hear, versus ugly words, false words, impure words. I don’t know about you, but now and then I will drive and I will pull up next to someone, and the vibrations, Boom! Boom! Boom! Right? You know?

And then I hear these words: “Kill your mother and blinkety, blink, blink, blink, blink! And a delete and a delete and a delete and kill and blow and…”

Think of the music videos. Think of the culture. Think of the games that people play. Why are we surprised? Why are we surprised that a seventeen year old boy just got a life sentence for killing his best friend’s little brother who was ten and his response was, “I wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone before someday, someone kills me.”

What perverted culture produces that? It all starts with your thinking. There is no casual, This doesn’t impact me. The question is: Could I recommend this to someone who looks up to me?

And this may sound a little cheesy, but I’m just going to say it, because I actually do it.

Let’s face it, everything is not black and white, right? There are certain things that this is on YouTube – don’t go there. This is on the Internet – don’t go there. This movie – don’t go there.

But there are some that, well, it’s kind of grey and I kind of like it and I’m not sure. And so I actually have a little experiment. I will sit down, and when I am feeling a little bit of the Spirit of God thing, I am evaluating, I ask this question: If the Lord Jesus, in His resurrected body, sat down on the couch next to me, I would say, “Hey, what do you think, Lord? Why don’t we watch this together? Do you like this part?”

Or I think of one of my little grandsons – six, seven, eight years old – sitting on my lap, “Let’s watch this together.” Here’s the deal. If you don’t feel comfortable watching it with Him or with someone who really looks up to you or one of your kids or a grandchild or one of the pastors in our church, why would you watch it alone?

And, yet, that process, that seduction is sucking the life and the heart out of people. And the upside down finances and the depression and the relational struggles and the parenting pain – you are the product of your thought life. And the person who shows up to do those things believes either a set of lies, or the truth.

And when there is no peace, we all do it, we sedate it, right? And you sedate it with shopping or pills or workaholism, and then it reinforces the cycle.

He finally says, summary, just in case I have missed anything, “If there is any praise, if any moral excellence, set your mind on these things.” Anything that will inspire, that will motivate toward godliness, encouragement, and positivity.

And, by the way, it doesn’t have to be spiritual. It might be walking through a museum for some of you. But what is it, that when you do it, when you hear it, when you ponder, you are motivated?

For me, often, it’s getting a workout. Sometimes it’s watching someone do something amazingly. When I see gymnasts do things. I was on a gymnastics team as a young kid, and so I kind of get what happens.

When I see leadership done in an amazing way, the moral excellence and the beauty of it! When I ponder that. When I go on and think it’s a long plane flight and these movies are all a bunch of trash and what am I going to watch? And I turn on a TED Talk. And I hear someone with brilliance that goes, Wow! I’m inspired!

It moves my emotions to want to be and want to grow and want to think, instead of sedating my mind with mindless teaching and potato chips.

Why? Why all this? Because your mindset determines your future, okay? Do you think I have said that enough times for us to either get it? I don’t know if you believe it yet, but get it?

Let me read a passage to you. I would recommend it as a possible passage to memorize. If you think that I am overdoing it, Romans chapter 8, Paul has told believers that there is no condemnation in Christ. Whoo. Awesome.

But then he talks to them about how that process has to happen in your life. He says, “For those who live according to the flesh,” the world system, notice the phrase, “set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit,” life and peace, “they set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death,” separation, negativity, “but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

Does anyone see a phrase in here that: Set the mind, set the mind, set the mind, set the mind on the flesh – death. Set your mind on the Spirit, things that are good, holy, honorable, winsome, good repute – life.

He goes on to say, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.” When I am watching stuff that dishonors God, it’s hostile to God. “For it does not submit to God’s law, indeed it cannot. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

And so I guess the question that I would ask is, you’re sitting here and I hope by this time, because I kind of know my struggles and I hang out with a lot of you, you’re thinking, Man, you’re killing me, Chip. I brought a friend to church and this is what you’re talking about? I’m thinking about, please to don’t come to my house and look at my movies or no one look at my hard drive. This is really painful.

But you’re probably also saying, I would really like to change, or you wouldn’t be here. And I never thought about it like this, I didn’t realize this was so important.

And the culture is just, whoo. I mean, the culture is just squeezing you like crazy, and your kids.

And so to learn to dwell on good things, I did this a number of years ago, and I didn’t understand all this, but now I realize why it was so powerful. I thought, If I am going to dwell on truth, I thought about, Here is a question, you might jot down on your notes just this question: Who do I really want to be? Who do I really want to be? Not expectations of others – who do I really want to be?

I remember asking that question and I felt all these pulls and all these demands and pleasing people and all my insecurities. But Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” And that other passage says, “If you would ask, seek, and knock, God will answer.”

And so what I did is I started writing things down. They are just desires. I didn’t try and memorize them, I didn’t try and, This is what I am going to do. I just started reading these over every morning and then before I went to bed. And I didn’t try to do anything with it.

So the first one is: I want to love God. So I just wrote, not even a goal, because if it’s a goal, it’s what I can do and I can fail. I desire to hunger for God and His Word, to memorize and mediate on it at a renewed level, and consistency in order to know Him better. I just wrote that down. And there is a passage there where Paul talks about: “I want to know Him.”

Then I thought about, Okay, my goal is to fill my mind with good things and guard my mind from evil things, and there were three or four passages that I just memorized about setting my mind, setting my mind, setting my mind.

And then I just thought about my, this was, I have been a people pleaser most of my life, and so I wrote down: I want to stop caring what others think, and apply myself and my schedule to what will make me the best that I can be, to honor God the most. I want to grow free of the invisible expectations that I allow to hinder my joy, my freedom, and my schedule from pursuing the best.

I found myself always, down deep, afraid to do this or do that or these expectations. And I just, God, I can’t change that. But I began to change.

I long to cultivate a heart of integrity and purity before God, allowing the Holy Spirit freedom, daily, to correct, convict, and restore me.

I don’t know about you, but I can skim with God and not have any really honest times of prayer and one layer after another layer. And so I just read this over.

I thought about my wife and you’ll notice the circle, you can’t read it, which is really good. It says, “Insensitivity.” I’m, historically, was an insensitive husband. And so, My desire is to love Theresa sacrificially and in a way that makes sense to her. And then later I added, Every single day.

It’s just a desire. It’s just a desire. I don’t have to do four or five, I just, that’s a desire.

And then I thought of my kids, and this was very specific, because some of you have struggles with your kids. And I had a son who, a long history, but he was so fearful. He was afraid to try anything.

And I love my kids. This was 1986. My goal is to help Eric overcome his fear of failure. And I asked him to do something simple. And he goes, “Dad, I can’t. I’m afraid I’ll mess up.” And I realized I had an assignment from God. I needed to push with love, encourage and build him up, and help him see the positive in his life.

And then finally, with other people, it was, I would like to preach great messages, serving others for the glory of God, that are used to transform multitudes of people’s lives. Now, I wasn’t teaching to a lot of people when I wrote that in 1986. But those were desires.

You know what? When you have desires, what I know is every one of those is the will of God. They are the desire of my heart. I don’t have to ask, God, do You really want me to love Theresa sacrificially? Oh, gosh, let me think about that one. Do You really want me to help my child? Do You want me to hunger for Your Word? All I know is, left to myself, I don’t do those things naturally.

And by reading those over, you know what happens? Whatever you put in your mind, you unconsciously start gravitating toward making that happen.

And so I started finding myself doing stuff for my wife. Where is this coming from? God was giving me the desires of my heart. If you want to change, challenge. Jot down two or three desires that you know are God’s will. Just read them over.

Second, how the principle, is the principle of mind renewal. Romans 12:2 says, literally, it’s, “Stop allowing the world,” the messages of the world system, “to mess up and mold your life.” It’s the Chip Ingram translation. “But start allowing the Spirit of God and the Word of God to transform your thinking so that your experience, your lifestyle, that you would experience the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

“Do not be conformed to this world; be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And so you have to stop some of the negative messages. See, you have to limit how much screen time, how much TV time, you just have to limit it.

I saw a lady outside in between services last night and she had these three, small kids, literally, this size, this size, this size. And she said, “I’m kind of new and I am in with this mothers group, and we are doing something really radical and crazy.” I said, “What are you doing?” “We are reading the Bible in sixty days.”

I said, “Not the whole Bible.” “No, no. The whole Bible.” I said, “How are you doing?” She goes, “I’m halfway through.” And I looked down and I said, “But, are these your kids?” “Yeah,” she goes, “when you make that as a goal, you watch a lot less TV.” I’m sitting here thinking, Read the Bible in sixty days? I’m not sure I can pull that one off.

And then she goes, “Yeah, my husband started doing that too and, man, the changes were crazy.” But then she said, “Staying on the schedule is almost impossible. But when I started it, he got back with it.”

Now, here’s what I want to tell you, if God leads you to do that, that’s a great plan. That sounds like so over the top to me, right? I would be excited to see you read the Bible every day.

But you know why I think God had that lady run into me and tell me that? And she was glowing. She removed every excuse in the world. A young mother with three kids – one, four and six – see, you do and I do what matters. And she decided that mattered. So her schedule got changed. Her priorities got changed. And then she began to tell me of the change that has happened in her life.

Renewing your mind – really important. I would encourage you to, I used to tell people to do a three-day media fast and almost no one does it. Okay? Do a partial one. Some of you it’s like, Chip, are you kidding me? The playoffs are on. I’m not doing a three-day media fast, right?

And some of you, Well, you expect me to do a three-day media fast? You don’t understand, if I don’t read the Wall Street Journal, the world will end! Okay?

So here is what I would encourage. Why don’t you figure out what a partial fast, where maybe you don’t watch any news for three days. Maybe just glance. What I do, every day, I read all the headlines in the papers and decide which of those things I need to put into my mind, and know what is going on.

But just a thought. I found when I got real strong and said, “You should do this,” no one does it. So how about this? Just a thought. You know?

And then what if you memorized something. What if, for some of you, what if you memorized verse 8? “Whatever is true. Whatever is honorable. Whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute. If there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, set your mind, let your mind dwell on these.”

What if you just memorized one verse? I will tell you. Or the chapter of Romans 12. Just try it! You’ll like it! It will really start changing you.

Well, the second portion is it’s not just doing a mind renewal. Notice the second command is: Habitually practice these things, which you learned and received. To learn, you have to have an appetite, right? You’ve got to want to. That lady had an appetite.

“Receive” means you put it into practice. You apply it. He said, “What you have heard and saw to be in me,” so they got instruction and then they modeled it. And so here is what I want to tell you. I am going to give you a very specific plan about how to completely change your mind. It will cost you thirty minutes. That means that whatever time you get up right now, you’ll have to set you clock thirty minutes earlier.

Because I am going to tell you, the best way to do it is first thing in the morning, because it will shape everything. Well, Chip, you don’t realize how early I get up. Go to bed thirty minutes earlier. What were you doing at eleven thirty anyway? Work. Facebook. The news. Okay?

If you will take this challenge, thirty minutes. And start renewing your mind. And start saying no. You’re going to have to say no to something, all right? You’re going to stop some media, somewhere, somehow, and you are going to say, This thirty minutes, I am going to do for the next thirty days. And, God, if You are real and if it works, I’ll see. And if not, forget it.

But here’s the promise: If you begin to renew your mind, and think on what He said, and notice, habitually practice, habitually practice, habitually practice, habitually practice. Did you get the word “habitually?”

How many people here brush your teeth every day? How did you ever learn the discipline? You amaze me! How many people eat one meal a day? You’re the most disciplined people in the world! How did you ever pull that off?

You have habits. Your habits produce a character. Your character produces a destiny. I’m saying start one new habit. And I will tell you, six months from now, people at work will go, “What happened to you?” You will be kinder, you will be more gentle, you will have more peace.

Five years from now, you’ll look back and you won’t recognize you, because you will be the product of what is pure and honorable and lovely and holy.

So how do you do that? On the very back, I have given you your game plan. It’s very, very simple. Thirty minutes to change your mind, literally, it’s to change your life. Pray. And if, for some of us, I didn’t grow up in the Church, so I didn’t really know how to pray. I put a little acronym called “ACTS.”

Just four little words. “A” is for adoration, it just means start by praising God. Second is confession. Actually, God, was I rude? Did I do anything wrong? And just tell Him. Just agree with Him. Clean the slate.

The “T” is for thanksgiving. I usually write these down, just because it helps me. And “S” is supplication. That means, Who do I care about? Pray for a friend, pray for a wife, pray for a husband, pray for kids, pray for a co-worker, pray for a brother, pray for a sister. Ask God specifically.

And so take eight or ten minutes. Believe me! If you use a little clock, it will be the longest eight or ten minutes of your life. And you will begin to connect with God. And then listen. So you read, you pray, and then just sit quietly, God, whatever You would want to say to me, I am going to sit quietly and learn to hear Your voice.

And if you have thoughts come into your mind that have to do with loving people, being generous, caring for others, making a sacrifice, believe me, it’s not you. It’s the Holy Spirit. If you get weird ideas about jumping off of cliffs, being mean to people, that’s not the Holy Spirit.

Finally, apply it. And this is the key. Apply one specific truth to your life. That’s the key. So, what do You want me to do? I read about this. What do You want me to do? And second, choose right there, you are going to serve someone. You’re going to serve someone.

Let me just tell you, you really, really want to change? This church wants to change, we want to reach this valley, you want a different kind of family, you want different kind of relationships, two things have to happen. One, two.

Your mind has to be transformed, and that is with the Word of God in your thinking. Number two, your heart has to be transformed. The only way your heart ever is transformed is you have to serve. We are all narcissistic.

Until your time and your money is given away to others, you will be a self-focused person and your heart will stay hard. That’s why Jesus talks so much about giving. It was for our benefit, not His.

He said, “Wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be.” So where do you want your heart to be? Your heart will never be a generous person, your heart will never be soft, you’ll never be transformed until God gets your money and God gets your time.

And He will show you how and where and what to do. But those two things, that’s why this is one of the most important messages we have ever had as a church. Because the weight of, What am I going to do with that? I will guarantee the peace of God and the God of peace will be with you in ways beyond you could ever imagine.

And, see, He has lots of time. He can give you more. He has lots of money. He will give you more. He is just looking for some regular people who would trust Him.