You're very welcome to today's Triumph Church podcast.
We pray that you enjoy the message.
Thank you. Thank you.
Wow, what an honor to be here and be in your beautiful
country. Can I tell you something you
have? A beautiful country.
We've been here for 9 days, 10 days and we haven't seen an ugly
place yet. And I'm going to tell you, we
haven't seen ugly people. Yet.
Well, there might have been 2IN Dingle, but other than that they
were on the line whether they were ugly or not.
Every The country is so beautiful, so green.
Oh my goodness, I wish every day I get up I have to fight envy
because my yard does not look like any yard here.
Any field. Your roads are mostly green
compared to my yard. And it it is just at we have had
the time of our life. Last week we got the to minister
at Pastors Amy's parents church and it's just it's it's just you
just have absolute beautiful country and it's we have known
pastors Brad and Amy for known about them for years, many
years. We are dear friends with their
pastors, Mark and Janet Brizzy and we would see them from a
distance and I get their newsletters and things of that
nature and we've just admired them for years.
A young couple would leave the comforts of the States and come
to a land that they know nobody in and and have no roots in.
But they come because the Lord sent them and and and have set
up home and have this has become their home and you have loved
them and we just we honor you. We honor you and it, it's so
wonderful to see the greatest young man in all of Ireland,
Aiden and, and, and the reason we know that's because his
grandmother told us and she said, you get to see my
beautiful, my handsome, talented, brilliant, smart
grandson. And I'm thinking, my God, this
is his father, son, Holy Ghost. And Aiden, I mean, it's, that's
the order and he hasn't disappointed me yet.
Yes, yesterday pastors Brad and Amy took us, showed us around,
showed us several things and was so fortunate to get to have a
meal with them. And Aiden didn't get to go.
He had to have tea with his baby sister.
Now I'm going to tell you what an 18 year old that willingly
has tea with his baby sister. You are part of the Trinity.
I guarantee you we don't see that in the States.
Tea. I ain't having tea with that
brat, you know, and the name you know.
So it's just such a such an honor to be here.
Let me tell you about this book. If you know Trinity College here
in your Trinity College and Manuth University did a study in
2023 that came out at the end of 2023.
That tells us that 42% of all adults in Ireland are dealing
with some type of mental health issue. 42% that's not, that's
your university's. Trinity College and Manuka
University did a study. 42% of all adults in Ireland are
dealing with some mental health issue and they think it's higher
than that because they do know this.
And this is true in every nation that the majority of people who
are struggling never seek treatment.
They're either ashamed or scared or don't know how to seek
treatment for some type of mental health issue.
And so they really don't know what the numbers are.
That 42% are those numbers that they know of it because those
people have sought some type of treatment.
And when we talk about mental health issues, we're not
talking. Most people think, well, they're
just crazy. They're we're not talking about
that. We're talking about depression.
We're talking about being bipolar.
We're talking about dramatic mood swings that it hinders you
from being your best on certain days.
We're talking about fears, phobias.
We're talking and many of the people because sometimes the
weather, a lot of the time the weather might not have the sun.
We've been blessed with sun this week, but a lot of people here
struggle with the lack of sun here and it makes them feel
gloomy. And so it could be
schizophrenia, multi personality disorders, it could be some type
of family situation that your family, your grandmother was
depressed, your mama's struggle with depression or daddy
struggled with depression and now you're struggling with
depression. It could be a myriad of
different ailments. Anything that affects us
mentally that hinders us from being our best for God.
Your country, your universities have discovered that 42% of the
adults in this in this nation. And the reason why that is, and
it's true about every nation, the reason about why that is, is
because Satan operates in the arena of thought.
And that's one thing we must learn.
And we Christians have been slow.
We know there's a devil and we talked about spiritual warfare
and we read about it in the book of of Daniel where Daniel prayed
and the Angel came back and said the Prince of Persia or the
demonic personality of Persia, that's over.
Persia has withstood us coming back and giving you the answer
from God. So we get to get this solo
thinking, this focus thing that all spiritual warfare is up in
the heavenlies and we got to pull it down and take authority
over it. And there is spiritual warfare
in the heavenlies. The Bible talks about that.
But the greatest spiritual warfare that happens in our life
takes place between our ears and behind our eyes because Satan
operates in the arena of thought.
He's never showed up at my house, and he'll never show up
at your house in a red devil suit in a pitchfork and ring the
doorbell and say, hey, I'm the devil.
I'm here to torment you. How does he come?
How does he mess with us? How does he tempt us?
He tempt us in our thought life. And here's how.
Here's how. How a creative he has learned to
be is that he'll get on one side of your shoulder and whisper a
thought in your ear and then immediately come around the
other side on the other side and whisper this thought.
If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't be thinking that.
Yet He's the one that put it in your mind.
And I didn't understand these truths, and I didn't understand
the five simple truths I'm going to share with you this morning.
And when I was 29 years old, my grandmother was a frequent guest
patient at a mental hospital. Back years ago, they in America,
they called them insane asylums. OK, where they just and years
ago, the compassion care for those people struggling mentally
wasn't as compassionate as it is today.
Back then, when my grandmother was alive and struggling with
it, they just put people away, out of sight, out of mind, and
she was in a mental hospital. My aunt, her daughter, spent
time in the same mental hospital.
My dad struggled with mental health issues.
And I thought growing up, I thought they were.
Weak. I thought they were just being
lazy, get out of bed, go to work.
Stopped acting that way. I just thought because it never
affected me. And then, at the age of 29, out
of the clear blue, a spirit of depression got on me.
And I wouldn't. I didn't hardly leave my house.
For a solid. Year because of paranoia and I
couldn't turn my mind off. Terrible, harassing, tormenting,
unhealthy, impure, faults racing through my mind, Fearful
thoughts racing through my mind. I never slept over 3 hours a
night. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't get
my mind to turn off. And it was during that one year
period that the Lord began to teach me how to break that thing
over our family and how to overcome thought attacks and
this spirit of mental health crises that had been running
through my family. And that's where this book came
from, conquering the chaos in your mind.
It's literally my story and how the Lord appeared to me and
taught me some things and how I went to heaven once and, and he
shared with me some things about I'm why I'm here today.
He showed me that this would be my ministry.
So everywhere I go nationally or internationally, I teach on the
fault life because I'm under mandate to do that to help
people get free. So if you would like this book,
you can get it back. There's just my story.
I'm not here to sell books. If you don't have the money and
would like to have it, you don't have the money, just grab you
one. Just grab you one.
OK, We have in America they call grab it and go.
So they go, they go into department stores and whatever
they want, they grab it and go, well, don't grab it and go tell
somebody back there I'm grabbing it.
And then you go, OK, but, but they are, I think they're $15
euro. But if you'd like 1, you can get
them back there or you can just take one.
If you don't have the money, we'd love to give it to you.
We just want our message is just to get the message out.
Anybody want this one? Anybody, anybody want this one?
I'm I've got it up here. Anybody want?
Nobody want you want it, sister, You want it?
All right, here you go. You can have it.
Pay the lady back there. 15 year olds OK.
I'm just kidding, it works every time.
It don't make any. There's what city I'm in, what
nation I'm in. People, suckers fall for that
line every time. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 For though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ.
Here's something I want you to understand.
If you and I do not take our thoughts captive, our thoughts
will take us captive either. You and I will take our thoughts
captive, or our thoughts. Will take us captive.
How many of you have, like me in the past, have had a thought get
in your mind and it just ruined your day?
It might have ruined your week and then you found out later
that that which was ruining you. That thought wasn't even
accurate at all. It was inaccurate information,
or that fear that paralyzed you for a week, or a day, or maybe a
month. Turned out it never
materialized. It never happened what you were
scared of and the thoughts that were tormenting you never came
into reality. See, we have to learn this
truth. Satan operates in the arena of
thought and we have a choice as believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because remember what Jesus said
in Luke chapter 10. Behold, I give you authority
over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
hurt you. And where Satan's power lies is
by putting deceptive thoughts in our minds and we grabbing hold
of those and believing that. So we have to take every thought
captive. It's not a suggestion, it's a
commandment from the Lord. And 2nd Corinthians chapter 10,
Satan operates in the arena of thought.
Let me show it to you again from the Scripture.
Turn with me. You have your Bibles.
Turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. 2nd Corinthians
chapter 4 verses 3 and 4. Second Corinthians chapter 4
verses 3 and 4. I'm just going to read it from
the new King James Version. I like them all, but it's just
the one I happened to pull up. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
says to Christians. He's talking to Christians now.
He's not talking to sinners. He's not talking to people that
that are drunkards. He's not talking to people that
are heathens. He's talking to Christians.
Bible believing spirit filled Christians in Corinth.
Amanda and I was just back there in Corinth in October of this
past year. We were there and and taught
over in Corinth. But listen to what he says.
If our gospel is veiled one translation, I think the King
James. Says if our gospel is hid, it is
veiled to those who are perishing.
Now notice this. Why are they perishing?
Why is the gospel veiled or hid from those who are perishing?
Whose minds? Everybody say they're mine,
mine. Who's mine?
The God of this world has
blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on
them. The Bible tells us here that
Satan operates in the arena of thought.
Have you ever talked to a friend, a family member, and
witness to them about Jesus, told them about Jesus, and they
just looked at you or responded like we're crazy?
What are you talking about? That's the craziest things.
And yet you think about it. We serve a God who came to
earth, left all of his wonderful glory and riches, and came to
earth and became a man, never sinned, and paid the price for
our eternal judgement so we could spend an eternity with God
in heaven. And he offers it to us free of
charge, Salvation free of charge.
Who in their right mind would not accept such a wonderful
gift? Christianity is such an amazing
and wonderful gift. Why wouldn't anybody want to be
a Christian? Why would if God says, I'll,
I'll bless you with all the blessings of heaven?
Why wouldn't anybody want the blessings of heaven?
And yet we talk to people and they'll just look at us and say
you're crazy. You don't know what you're
talking about. You, you're and they look at you
like we are mad. And they just, they just don't
see it. They can't see it.
Their eyes are blinded. Amanda and I have been to
Israel. We take pastors to Israel.
We've been to Israel 8 times and we'll go over there and we'll
witness to people when in, in certain areas.
We get to witness to people and, and, and they, they're so
friendly and they're so kind, but when it comes to Bible and
they just don't see it. Their eyes are blinded.
Why? Because Satan, the Bible says,
blinds people eyes to the truth, lest the light of the glorious
gospel should come upon them. Notice what he says.
He blinds their minds. No, she didn't say blinds their
hearts. He blinds their minds because
we've got to be able to get it through the mind before he can
ever get to the heart. Satan operates in the arena of
thought and you and I need to understand unless we take our
thoughts captive, our thoughts will take us captive.
So there's five simple little truths that I want to share with
you today and about how to what the word says about your thought
life. First of all, I'll say this.
Did you know that studies have shown us that the average
person, the average person in this room processes neuroscience
has told us the average person in this room processes around
between 50 and 60,000 thoughts a day.
The average person now now brilliant people like brother
Aiden and according to his grandmother and and these two
who are studying physics at at the university, they're
brilliant, brilliant people process according to
neuroscience up to 80. Thousand thoughts a day.
But average people like me and Amanda and and Pastor Brad,
Pastor Amy's a little higher on the scale, but we we do between
process between 50 and 60,000 thoughts a day.
Now, have you ever thought about this?
Did you know they're 86,400 seconds in a day?
86,400 seconds in a day? And if you're processing 60,000
thoughts a day, did you know you're See, the Bible says we're
fearfully and wonderfully made. Did you know every 1.3 seconds
your brain is processing a thought?
Every 1.3 while we've while I've been standing up here in the
last 15 minutes, I know your brain.
Your brain has processed 1000 thoughts.
I know what you're thinking. Does everybody in Tennessee
tall, dark and handsome like that little fella?
I know what your brains process it, but every 1.3 seconds we're
processing the thought. Now here's what's amazing.
Neuroscientists tell us that out of the 60 thousand thoughts a
day that we process that our brain, 90% of them are
repetitive or the same thought. So if we're processing 60,000
thoughts a day, 90% of them 54,000 of those thoughts are the
same thought repetitive. You say, what do you mean?
Have you ever got a tune, a song stuck in your head and it just
keeps playing over and over and over and over?
I don't know if y'all know this song, but year years ago there
was a song in America and it was a rock from a rock band.
And I know pastors aren't supposed to listen to rock
bands, but have us having a bad day.
So I listen to the rock band and and there's and there was this
song called She's a Brick. House and it was talking about
the the girl's friend's body. She's built like a brick house.
All right, it's not what a pastor needs to be listening to.
OK, but that was years ago. Well, I heard that song few
years ago again just to heard it on a radio station and it
brought back all these memories. Well, I got that song hung in my
mind and I'm humming it. I was at a pastor's lunch and I
was sitting with some pastors and this pastor looked at me.
I didn't realize it. This pastor looked at me and
said, what are you humming? I said, am I humming?
He said, yeah, what are you humming?
And I started humming it a little louder and I.
And I was so embarrassed. I said, I said, that's a new
rendition of Amazing Grace. That's what that is.
So that's called a looping thought.
It's a looping thought. It just keeps over, over and
over and over. We deal with all.
I deal with a lot of people who are struggling with, we call it
PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder.
We deal with a lot of. Military veterans who've been in
war, we deal with a lot of first responders, police officers,
firefighters who've seen some terrible and tragic things, and
they get those looping thoughts because of an accident they have
been to or a terrible moment in their life.
Now, that's just a small segment of society, but we deal every
single day and we get letters and emails from all over the
world of people who've gotten the book.
And they've had a conversation with an ex where he told the
spouse that he'd been unfaithful to her.
And it caused such a traumatic event in her emotions, in her
mind, that she replays that over and over and over again.
Or maybe an employer that tells you that you're being fired or
let go and you remember that over and over and over again.
It doesn't have to be some terrible tragedy or accident.
It can be a betrayal, a moment of betrayal, a moment of fear.
It could be a conversation that you've had that's brought you
such a trauma in your life. But the truth of the matter is
we've all experienced those moments where those thoughts,
those moments of trauma happen in our life.
It could be as a child being abused, molested, but we've all
had moments. And if we're not careful, and if
we don't know how to catch those moments and take those thoughts
captive, those moments will replay over and over and over
again. And what happens is that it
replays over so much that your body and your emotions begin to
react. Every time you see something
that reminds you of that traumatic moment, you hear
something that reminds you of that traumatic moment.
Or even I've had people tell me I get around a place and I
smell. The smells, and it reminds me of
a traumatic moment, all the emotional upheaval that they
experienced maybe years ago. When the moment happens, it
comes back fresh and new all over again.
So we must learn to take our thoughts captive or our thoughts
will take us captive. And here's what the Lord has
taught me about the fault life. 5 simple things that I want to
share with you #1 the direction you and I pursuing life is
totally determined by our thought life.
Your direction, where you're going, Aiden's, Aiden's, Aiden's
wanting to go to university and he's already thinking about it.
You guys have come to the university to study physics
because you thought about it. You you are here today because
you thought about it. See, the direction we pursue in
life is determined by our thought life.
In fact, what you're wearing today, especially you women,
what you're wearing today, you thought about.
In fact, some of you started thinking about it on Thursday.
Well, Sunday I'm gonna wear this.
You probably changed your mind two or three times.
You might have changed your mind this morning, but you thought
about last night. Tomorrow at church, I'm gonna
wear this. See the direction we pursue now,
we men, we're not that way. We don't think about what we can
wear. You can look at us and tell.
We don't think about. We pull a shirt out and give it
a sniff. Oh, that's good.
Let's go see. But the direction we pursue in
life is determined by our thought life.
The let me give you Scripture for that.
Let me give you the Scripture for that.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 8, verse 5.
Romans chapter 8, verse 5. Notice what it says.
Paul's talking to Christians in Rome.
He says for those who live according to the flesh.
If you live according to the flesh, notice what he says.
In the New King James Version, you set your mind on the things
of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set
their minds on the things of the Spirit.
So our direction in life is determined by our thought life.
My question is, what do you been thinking about lately?
What have you been thinking about doing lately?
Where have you been thinking about going lately?
So our direction in life is determined by our thought life.
That's number one. Number two is simply this.
Not only is our direction in life determined by our thought
life, but our quality of life is determined by our thought life.
Not only are you here today because you thought about coming
to church this morning, but the attitude in which you are here
with is the attitude that you've allowed in your thought life.
Not only is our direction in life determined by our thought
life, our quality of life, because let me give you
scripture for that. Look at Romans chapter 8 verse 6
next very verse Romans chapter 8 verse 6 in the new king J the
mind governed by the flesh. The mind governed by flesh,
selfish carnal desires. Notice what it is it's death.
That word death in the original language means empty, lacking
void. The mind governed the mind.
The fault. Life that is governed by
selfish, carnal thoughts is empty, lacking in void.
But the mind governed by the spirit notice is life and peace.
You're mine. See my not only is my direction
determined by my thought life, my quality of life is determined
by my thought life. You choose.
You and I have to understand. We choose what kind of day we're
going to have. Circumstances don't choose it.
Our family doesn't choose it. Our employer doesn't choose it.
The government doesn't choose it.
Listen, the weather doesn't choose it.
We choose what kind of day. The mind governed by the flesh
is death, empty, lacking in boy. The mind governed by the spirit
is life and peace. I can't tell you the number, the
dozens, literally dozens over the years of very wealthy people
who have come to see me and, and, and their wealth.
I mean, some of them super wealthy.
Their, their wealth made their life comfortable.
It made their life more able to have things maybe other people
didn't have. It enabled them to go where they
wanted to go and do what they wanted to do, but their wealth
never gave them Peace of Mind. I can't tell you the number of
wealthy people who've come to me who are who, who have more money
than they ever spend, but they'd give it all away if they had one
night apiece. On the other hand, my
grandmother, my my grandmother on my mom's side, my, my dad's
mother, my grandmother on my dad's side, she's the one that
that's the line that had the mental health problems.
My grandmother on my mom's side, my grandfather was a.
Preacher and and back when preachers, you know, they paid
you in America years ago, many years in groceries here and the
most he ever made as a preacher. I still have his little book was
$42.00 most he ever made for a week.
And so when it came time for we call it Social Security.
What do they call it here in the the the pension things of that
name. She only got 42 dollars $342.00
a month. That's all she got.
And $342 a month from the government.
You. You couldn't.
Live on that and so, but you know what, we would go to see
her and every time we would leave her house, we felt like
kings and priest because she never said a negative word,
never had a bad day. Every missionary would come to
her little church. She made she gave an offering to
because the thought life governed by the flesh.
Like the people who had plenty of money, but they couldn't
control their thought life. They'd give it all away for one
night of peace. Here's my grandmother that
didn't have hardly anything, just barely getting by.
And she was so full of joy and full of life, because the mind
governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
See, not only is our direction in life determined by our
thought life, but our quality of life.
Is determined by our thought life.
And then here's the third thing. Your thoughts.
My thoughts are blueprints for actions.
People tell me have told me this for years.
What doesn't matter what you think, what does matter?
What you think? The Bible doesn't say as a man
does, so is he. The Bible says as a man
thinketh, so is he. It does matter what you think.
Faults are blueprints for actions in the States.
If you're going to build up something, if you're going to
build a house or even a garage or any type of building, you've
got to go to the authorities to get approval to build that, and
you take what they'll ask for you.
We need to see the blueprints, and the blueprints are just
drawings on the paper that gives the authorities the dimensions
of the, the building, where the building's going to be located,
and they approve it if it meets within the codes of the the
area, they approve that. Now, the blueprints are not the
building. You don't eat in the blueprints.
You don't sleep in the blueprints.
The blueprints are just showing you what the building's going to
look like. Well, listen, faults are
blueprints for actions. You keep thinking those same
thoughts long enough, you'll eventually do it.
Remember what I said to you earlier that the average person
thinks 60 processes 60,000 thoughts a day, and that
neuroscientist tell us that 90% are repetitive?
So if we think 60,000 thoughts a day, 54,000 of them are the same
thought. Now that's wonderful.
That's a wonderful truth to know if your thoughts that you're
thinking are you're blessed, God loves you, He wants you well, he
wants you healed. He wants you family well, he
wants you family healed. If you're thinking those kind of
thoughts, 54,000 of them a day would be wonderful.
But if you get those negative. Thoughts.
Go kill that person. Go injure that person.
People ask me all the time how in America, how in the world in
America, can people grab a gun and go into an elementary school
and kill innocent babies? How do they?
Do that because 54,000 times a day for the last week proceeding
they thought it. It was stuck in their mind.
And thoughts are blueprints for actions.
You think it long enough, you're going to act it out.
See, that's why it's so important.
You and I take our thoughts captive.
OK, let me give you a script. I can tell some of you look at
me like you're crazy. No, I got delivered from.
Crazy years ago. Let me, let me give you some
scriptures that prove that to you.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 15.
Matthew chapter 15, verse #17 If if you read your Bible at all,
you've read this verse of Scripture and I'd read it for
years and the truth slipped by me until one day the Lord showed
it to me. Look at Matthew chapter 15,
verse 17. Jesus is talking.
This is this is red letter stuff.
Jesus is talking. He says, do you not yet
understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach
and is eliminated? Now there's no spiritual truth
to that whatsoever. There's no, there's nothing
spiritual about that right there.
I just want you to know I'm just reading it because it's in
there, OK? Literally what he's saying, fish
and chips in, fish and chips out.
That's exactly what he's saying. But look at the truth comes in
verse 18 and 19. But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
Now look at verse 19. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
These are the things which defile a man.
But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.
Now if I was to tell you somebody quote that verse to me,
you'd say for Alba heart proceed murders, adulteries,
fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemous.
You would quote that like that for Alba heart proceed murders,
adulteries, fornication, thefts with false, false witness and
blasphemous. But notice what he said.
The first thing that comes out of your heart is for out of the
heart. Notice what he says, verse 19.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.
Now how can an evil thought come out of your heart?
I don't know what you're thinking.
I don't know what Aiden's thinking.
I don't know what my friends are thinking here.
I don't know what any of you are thinking.
Yet Jesus says for out of the heart, the first thing that
comes out is, is evil thoughts. How can you tell a person's?
Nobody knows what you're thinking, but you and God.
Out of the heart precede evil thoughts.
How do we know what a person's thinking?
Notice out of the heart. Proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adultery's fornica. You know, murder begins with a
thought. Adultery begins with a thought.
Fornication begin. Why?
Because thoughts are blueprints for actions.
You think it long enough, you're going to act on it.
You're going to do it. It's going to become a reality
in your life. I get calls quite often from
businessmen and business women. Who travel for their work,
they're in a H2 or three nights a week and out there in this
world, it's a very sensual, seductive world and good
Christian godly men and women will call me and say pastor,
it's seductive, sensual. How can I stay faithful to my
wife? How can I stay faithful to my
husband? I'm around people of the
opposite sex all day long. I'm I'm, I'm eating with them.
We are doing social dinners, we're doing business dinners
and, and we spend more time with them than I do with my, my own
family many weeks of the year. How can I maintain my my honesty
and and faithfulness to my family?
And it's very simple. You don't think it, you don't go
there in your thought life. You will not go there in your
actions because thoughts are blueprints for actions.
Every sin that you and I have committed, it began with a
fault. We entertain the fault, and then
the thought became an action. So number one, our direction in
life is determined by our thought life #2 our quality of
life is determined by our thought life #3 Our thoughts are
blueprints for actions #4 As Christians, how many of you are
believers in Jesus Christ? Raise your hand.
Yeah, thank you. As Christians, you and I are
commanded to be the gatekeepers of our thought life.
It's not your pastor's jobs, not your spouse's jobs, not your
parents. Job.
It's not the government's job. It's not social media's job.
You and I are commanded to be the gatekeepers.
Of our thought life. Look at Romans chapter 12 verse
one and two, Romans chapter 12 verses one and two.
In Romans chapter 12, verses one and two, it says in the new King
James, Romans 12/1 and two. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your What's that next word
mine that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God. Do you realize he's talking to
believers. He's talking to people who've
made Jesus the Lord of their life.
He's talking to people who've been delivered from the power of
darkness translated into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.
He's talking to people who've been filled with the Spirit.
He's talking to people who've been discipled by the apostle
Paul personally. And he said, now once you give
your heart to Jesus, you've got two things you're supposed to
do. You got to keep your fleshed
under control, and you got to make sure your mind changes the
way it thinks. See, we are commanded to be the
gatekeepers. Of our thought life.
And see what happens. A lot of us, we give our heart
to Christ. We get changed here, but we
never get this changed. We still think the same way.
Have you, have you? The apostle Paul said it this
way. It's amazing what he's he said
it this way. He says the things I don't want
to do, I end up doing. And he says the things I wished
I would do, I don't do them. And he says, oh, wretched man
that I am, who deliver? Who would deliver me from this
body of death? I don't know about you, but I
have a struggle every day with my flesh.
Have you? I struggle and you guys are so.
Polite in traffic? I've never seen that politeness
in all my life. I honestly, I'm, I'm, I'm not
blowing smoke here. I mean, people will let you out
in the middle of traffic. They'll let, they'll stop and
let you turn and cut them off. In America, you don't do that.
It's every man for himself. If you get out, you got to bully
your way out. Or you wait till the end of the
line, 2 hours later, that's when you're getting out.
You folks are the most kind people.
I need your patience when it comes to driving.
Because if somebody cuts me off in traffic, my flesh wants to
pull up beside them, shake my fist.
What do you mean cutting me off in traffic?
And here's my greatest driving. I hate people drive in America.
We drive on the right y'all drive on the left, so your fast
lanes the right correct our fast lanes the left peep in America
people's driving slow in the fast lane.
Oh brother, that incites my flesh to the point that I want
to go Antichrist on them. I mean, it's, it's just here,
it's driving fast, slow in the right lane.
And, and you know, when that happens and you understand this,
there will be things happening in your, your flesh wants
revenge. Somebody says something hurtful
to you and your flesh wants to respond with something hurtful
to them. Somebody says something to you.
And and and and and stabs. You with a with a comment or
with a joke or something and you want to stab them back.
Somebody does you wrong and you want your flesh wants to get
revenge. See that's our flesh, but our
spirit man that's been born again.
When they cut me off in traffic, my flesh says drive around them,
cut them off and wave your fist in their face.
That's my flesh. My spirit man says let him go be
Irish, let them go be nice to them.
Don't drive up beside them and just forgive them and let them
go. Be patient.
See, there's this constant, there's this constant tension.
There's this constant pull every day of our lives between our
flesh wanting to go selfish and revengeful and hurtful, and our
spirit that has Jesus wants to walk in love, kindness and
forgiveness. Every day there's this tension.
It's tension and you and I have to decide, are we going to
follow our flesh? Are we going to follow our
spirit, our heart that's born again?
Paul says it like this. He says we have this treasure,
this born again experience, this salvation experience in an
earthen vessel. See, our spirit is born again,
but our flesh is not born again. We got to keep it under control.
So you've got your flesh pulling you towards sin and selfishness.
You got your spirit that's born again, that's pulling you toward
righteousness in Christ and love and forgiveness and it's one
against one. Just do the numbers.
It's a. Fight every day.
Your flesh fighting against your spirit, your flesh wanting to
cuss them out, your spirit wanting to love them out.
I mean, it's just a there's just this tension every day.
And the arbitrator, the one who will determine which direction
you go. Is your soul, your mind, your
will and emotions? And if your mind has been
renewed with the word of God, guess what will happen when that
temptation comes? When that injury comes?
Your mind, which has been renewed with the Word of God.
Will be reminded of God's scripture to walk in love, walk
in forgiveness, walk in mercy and your your soul will hook up
with your spirit and guess what? Two against 1A win.
Every time people ask me I'll tell how can Christian people do
such sinful things? I know they love Jesus because
they ain't got their mind renewed.
See their flesh, all your flesh will always want to do bad, and
your spirit will always want to do right.
It's who you got if you got your mind renewed or not.
Because if you're, if you have Jesus in your heart wanting to
do good and your flesh is wanting to do bad, but your
mind's not renewed with the word of God.
And that temptation comes. All of a sudden you don't have
any scriptures to come to mind. And all of a sudden your mind
will just jump in with your flesh.
Yeah, get them back. Yeah, talk about them.
Yeah, get revenge on them. Yeah, hurt them back.
And all of a sudden, 2 An unrenewed mind.
And a selfish flesh will win every time against the Spirit of
God that's on the inside of you. So this, this battle that takes
place, that's why you and I are the gatekeepers of our minds and
our thought life. That's why the Bible says get
your mind renewed with the word of God.
And you do that every day by being a disciple of reading,
reading the word of God, committing the word of God to
your mind and into your heart. Finally, the fifth thing,
because I'm getting hungry. The fifth thing is simply this.
More fish and chips and seafood chowder.
Hallelujah. If you don't remember anything
else I've said, and I'm said a lot, thank you.
You're so kind, you're so patient, attentive.
The fifth thing is this, if you don't remember anything else I
say remember this. You don't have to take ownership
of every thought that pops in your mind.
Have you ever had a what I call a rogue thought?
I mean, you, you'd be just doing nothing in particular and just
having a good day. And all of a sudden now the
clear blue, the craziest, dirtiest, unhealthy, fearful
thought, or just pop in your mind and you'll say, man, where
did that come from? Where did that thought come from
years ago? That's what sent me into my
depression. A terrible, impure and unhealthy
thought popped in my mind out of the clear blue.
And I thought because it popped in my mind, it came from me.
You do not have to take ownership of every thought that
pops in your mind. Satan operates in the arena of
thought #1 The direction we pursue in life is determined by
our thought life #2 Not only is the direction we pursue, but the
quality of life is determined by our thought life #3.
Our thoughts are blueprints for actions #4 You and I are the
gatekeepers of our thoughts. We must keep our mind renewed
with the Word of God. And finally #5 you don't have to
take ownership of every thought that pops in your mind.
If an unhealthy, fearful, revengeful, tormenting, doubtful
thought pops in your mind, you don't have to say, well, that
must be me thinking that you just say no, I don't.
I resist that thought. I will not receive that thought
that did not come from my born again, spirit filled spirit.
That's from the devil. And I'll not have it and it will
not entertain it in my mind. But if you ever take ownership
of that thought, then you'll start thinking I'm terrible, I'm
dirty, I'm ugly. See, I can't tell you the young
ladies who have been in our prayer lines and services,
hundreds of services, who when they walk up and they'll say,
I'll say, what are we praying about?
And they say, I just have such a low self esteem.
I said, what do you mean? You have a well, I've just
always believed I'm ugly and they're beautiful, absolutely
beautiful. But because they took ownership
of a rogue fault, it affected not only their direction, but
their quality of life. And you don't have to take
ownership of every thought that pops in your mind.
Amen. Thank you for being so
attentive, Josh. I see why you love them so much.
Lord Jesus, Amanda and I are so
honored to be here today to receive this invitation to
common speak for these beautiful people.
Now I pray, I pray, I ask that you would take these truths that
you've taught me and help our people to feed on them and it
make change in their thinking. Your words alive and powerful
and I've taught them the word so let the word do its work in
their lives in Jesus name, Amen. Now we're going to finish here.
I'm Amanda and I want to pray for anybody.
We always end our services praying for people who are
struggling with depression or bipolar or any type of fear or
or mental health, post traumatic stress or whatever it might be,
just just you're stuck in your thinking and it's making you
blue and discouraged. We want to pray for you.
We're going to lay hands on you. Now what will happen?
We lay hands on you because there's an anointing upon us for
this. We lay hands.
There'll be a temporary reprieve.
There'll be a peace come upon you.
But then after you leave here tomorrow, you've got to get your
start, getting your mind renewed with the word of God.
And I talk, I give you step by step how to do that in my book.
I just didn't have time today step by step how to do that in
the book, how to get your mind renewed with the word of God.
So if you want prayer, pastor's going to come.
Pastor Brad's going to come and give us some direction how to do
it. But if you want prayer, we would
love to pray for you. If you don't want prayer and
we're up here busy praying, it's just been an honor and I don't
get to talk to you. It's just been an honor.
And once again, we're going to pray for you from now on.
The you Irish people have gotten our hearts.
Thank you for listening to the Triumph Church podcast this
week. If it was a blessing to you,
share it with someone you know. For more information on Triumph
Church, you can visit us at www.triumphchurch.ie.