Attitude of Gratitude sermon Series

Stop Your Stinking Thinking!

Q: If you just catalog your thoughts for the day, are your strongest ones leading you closer to Jesus or away?

My thoughts are all over the place.

There is a battle in my mind. I want to be thinking thoughts that direct me towards Jesus. And yet, I’m all over the place. And this battle is nothing new. It’s not like it just happened.

“Your life will not get straightened out until your mind does” --Joyce Myers

“Inevitably, we have to face the reality that God has given us the responsibility of cleansing the thoughts of our hearts. The Holy Spirit and God’s Word are available to help us, but each person must decide for himself what he will think, and what he will imagine requires that we be responsible for our thoughts.

Our thinking and our thoughts are inseparably linked.

The science of thoughts is called cognitive psychology; it's a branch of psychology dedicated to studying how people think, including processes like perception, memory, reasoning, language, and problem-solving, essentially examining how the brain generates and manipulates thoughts.

Key points about the science of thoughts:

Neurons and Neurotransmitters: Thoughts are formed by the firing of neurons in the brain, which release chemicals called neurotransmitters that transmit signals between them, creating complex patterns of electrical activity.

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· Brain regions: Different areas of the brain are associated with specific types of thought, allowing for specialization in functions like visual processing, language comprehension, and decision-making.

External stimuli: Sensory information from the environment plays a crucial role in shaping thoughts, as the brain integrates new information with stored memories to generate interpretations. (so we think a lot because of our upbringing) Progressive Insurance "Elevator"

· Neural pathways: Repeated thought patterns can strengthen neural connections, forming pathways that influence how we think and react to situations (like a ditch of thought)

(ex. No one likes me, what you were told or happened to you during formative years)

Fundamentally, our thoughts are maps representing and corresponding to things that our brains have either

-perceived with our senses

-felt with our emotions

-or formed as an action plan

What we think affects our heart.

How we think affects our heart. Likewise, the condition of our heart affects our thinking. Many bible passages support this idea. Before the flood, God described the condition of people’s hearts in

Genesis 6:5 “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually.”

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What we think in our hearts, in turn, affects our actions.

Jesus himself confirmed the connection in Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

Humans act out the condition of their hearts through deeds. Our actions and our lives resemble what we think. So, to take responsibility for our thoughts, we must renew our minds and clean up our thinking.

Adopt a New Mindset!!

The Bible teaches us to adopt a new mindset

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2

The human mind can only be set on one thing—either the desires of the flesh or the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirits. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:5

Proverbs 4:23 Be very careful about what you think. Your thoughts run your life.

It’s not like this battle just popped up. It is a human problem that our minds go all over the place. Paul, one of the central figures of the New Testament, understood this battle. He knew how hard it was to kind of reign in your mind and direct your thoughts toward Jesus.

He knew how hard it was to keep yourself from being distracted and going all over the place. He knew it and he gave the Romans some advice about it in Romans 12, and that’s what our key text is going to be for today.

We’re going to look at what Paul said to the Roman church who was struggling with this very thing, who was losing the war in their mind. They were not winning this battle. They were going all over the place like we do.

Romans 12:1-2, Paul says this. He says,

“Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Don’t be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Paul says, “Don’t be conformed to the pattern of this world that goes all over the place, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Friends, if you want to change the direction of your life, you’ve got to start by changing the way you think, because your strongest thoughts are going to lead you wherever you are thinking. If you are thinking over here, it’s going to lead you that way. We’ve got to change our minds if we want to change the trajectory of our lives.

Paul says this to the Romans, “Don’t be conformed, but be transformed.”

It’s interesting what he says before that. He says, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, because this is your true and proper worship.” Paul is speaking, writing to the Roman church, which is a bunch of Greek people who grew up with a certain philosophy, they were living with the cultural mindset of that day. The pattern of thinking that they grew up with was called platonic thought or platonic philosophy from the philosopher Plato.

Have you heard of him?

What they understood, how they viewed the world, the lens with which they viewed the world was this, through platonic dualism, which meant they saw the material world as bad and they saw the spiritual world as good.

Material, bad. Bodies, bad. All that stuff. All the material, bad. Spiritual, good. When Paul says to them, when he says, “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, this is your true and proper worship,” this blows their mind because they’re like, “Whoa! I thought our bodies were bad. God wants them? God cares about them?”

And Paul says, “Yes. Don’t be conformed to the old pattern of thinking, the pattern that the world thinks in. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

God made your bodies and your mind and your heart and your soul and your spirit. He made all of it and he wants you to direct it towards him.” He’s changing the way that they think so they can worship God more fully.

Sometimes we have no control as to what thoughts enter our minds, however we are able to take control of these thoughts. God's Word's help us to recognize our thoughts for what they really are, and how to act (or not act) upon them.

14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Use these Bible verses to help control your thoughts in a way God encourages us to.

Philippians 4:4-9 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness[d] be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true,

whatever is honorable,

whatever is just,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is commendable,

if there is any excellence,

if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned[e] and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

When I begin to examine my thoughts and line them up with Christ,

I can become more like Him.

And the God of peace will be with me.

As I get rid of stinking thinking I come closer to him.