Speaker 1: Hey, friends, thanks so much for joining us today on
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick Warren. We're so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1: And today Rick continues in his series called Transformed. Together,
Speaker 1: We'll dive into God's Word and discover powerful principles that
Speaker 1: can truly change our lives from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
Speaker 1: and vocationally. You'll experience how God's truth brings real transformation
Speaker 1: to every part of your life. And now here's part
Speaker 1: two of a message called Change your Life by changing
Speaker 1: your Mind.
Speaker 2: Number two, I have to free my mind from destructive thoughts.
Speaker 2: That's the second thing I need to do. Free my
Speaker 2: mind from destructive thoughts. Your mind needs to be lid,
Speaker 2: Your mind needs to be delivered, Your mind needs to
Speaker 2: be released because you are a prisoner of your own thoughts,
Speaker 2: and you're a prisoner of things that people have told
Speaker 2: you that simply weren't true. And as I said earlier,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter if it's true or not, if you
Speaker 2: believe that it's affected your life. You may have been
Speaker 2: told you were clumsy, and maybe you weren't clumsy at all.
Speaker 2: But if you believed it, you're clumsy. And you see
Speaker 2: yourself that way because you always act in accordance the
Speaker 2: way you see yourself. And he says, I've got to
Speaker 2: free my mind from destructive thoughts. Now that isn't easy.
Speaker 2: And the reason it is easy is because you got
Speaker 2: three enemies. And those three enemies are trying to team
Speaker 2: tackle you and keep you from having your mind liberated.
Speaker 2: These are the things that keep you from fulfilling all
Speaker 2: your good intentions. You know, all those good intentions about
Speaker 2: things you'd like to change in your life. Change this,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna change that, and I'm gonna change this, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to change that, and it never never happens. Why,
Speaker 2: Because you have three enemies in your mind that are
Speaker 2: battling in your brain to keep you from doing the
Speaker 2: things all your best intentions would like to do, all
Speaker 2: your good resolutions, things like that. And they're not gonna
Speaker 2: give up ground easily. You're gonna have to fight to
Speaker 2: free your mind. What are the enemies, let's write them down.
Speaker 2: Number one. The first enemy is my old nature, my
Speaker 2: old nature. I want to show you a Verse Romans,
Speaker 2: Chapter seven, Verse twenty three, Paul talks about how his
Speaker 2: old nature keeps him in mental bondage. She says this,
Speaker 2: I see in my body a principle at war, a
Speaker 2: principle at war. There's that battle for your brain. I
Speaker 2: see in my body a principle at war with the
Speaker 2: law of my mind, taking me captive to the law
Speaker 2: of sin that dwells inside of me. He's using war
Speaker 2: language here. Let me put it this way. Do you
Speaker 2: ever find yourself doing things that you don't really want
Speaker 2: to do? That's the battle? Okay, let me say it
Speaker 2: this way. You don't have to raise your hands on
Speaker 2: this one. But have you ever knowingly engaged in self
Speaker 2: defeating behavior? I know this isn't good for me, but yeah,
Speaker 2: what's going on there? The battle in your brain, the
Speaker 2: battle in your brain. You have all of the best
Speaker 2: intentions in your new nature. I want to do the
Speaker 2: right thing, But the battle in your brain, and the
Speaker 2: first battle is with your old sin nature. Your old
Speaker 2: nature is not your friend. It is the source of
Speaker 2: all your bad habits. Romans eight fives says this on
Speaker 2: your outline, those who are dominated by their sinful nature
Speaker 2: think about sinful things. But those who are controlled by
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. Think about things that please the Spirit.
Speaker 2: Notice it's all about your brain. It's about how you think.
Speaker 2: So the first thing that's I may have a good
Speaker 2: intention for changing something in my life, but my old
Speaker 2: nature is going to battle me on it. The second
Speaker 2: thing that's gonna fight me, the second enemy is Satan.
Speaker 2: And Satan wants to control your mind. He can't, but
Speaker 2: he wants to control your mind, and so he sends
Speaker 2: these ideas, these thoughts into your mind. Now, let me
Speaker 2: be real clear. Satan cannot force you to do anything.
Speaker 2: If you're a Christian, you have a house Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: in you. Satan cannot force you to do anything, because
Speaker 2: the greater is he that is in me than he
Speaker 2: is in the world. But he can make suggestions, and
Speaker 2: those suggestions are very, very powerful. And he is constantly
Speaker 2: continually planting negative thoughts in your mind. And he'll use
Speaker 2: other people, or he'll use the television. If you know
Speaker 2: you can't get a he'll just throw a thought in
Speaker 2: your mind. You go where in the world that one
Speaker 2: come from. Have you ever been praying and you're praying
Speaker 2: real hard, and all of a sudden, the weirdest thought
Speaker 2: comes in your mind. While you're praying. You know where
Speaker 2: did that one come from? Well, I'll tell you where
Speaker 2: it came from. The devil just dropped the little bomb
Speaker 2: on your brain. Okay. Now, Martin Luther said you can't
Speaker 2: keep the birds from flying over your head, but Rick
Speaker 2: Warren says, you can keep them from pooping in your hair. Okay,
Speaker 2: you can duck and you you know, and you can move,
Speaker 2: and you don't have to accept a thought. One of
Speaker 2: the most important things is don't believe everything you think.
Speaker 2: That's one of the most liberating thoughts you'll ever get.
Speaker 2: I don't have to believe everything I think. You see,
Speaker 2: we automatically think that if we think it, it must
Speaker 2: be true. Are you kidding me? You think a lot
Speaker 2: of stuff that's not true. In fact, maybe a majority
Speaker 2: of the stuff you think isn't true. And you have
Speaker 2: all these ideas and you think, well, I thought it,
Speaker 2: it must be true. Of course it's not true. So
Speaker 2: just because you get a thought in your mind, it
Speaker 2: may come from your old said nature, it may come
Speaker 2: from the devil. It doesn't really matter. If it's not true.
Speaker 2: It's not true. You don't have to think. You don't
Speaker 2: have to believe everything you think. In fact, let's just
Speaker 2: say it together. I don't have to believe everything I think.
Speaker 2: Let's say it. I don't have to believe everything I think.
Speaker 2: If you will listen to that one truth right there,
Speaker 2: you're on the road to mental health. Because not everything
Speaker 2: you think is true. Stuff you think about yourself, stuff
Speaker 2: you think about God, stuff you think about your husband,
Speaker 2: your wife, or a life or community or the government,
Speaker 2: or it's just not all true just because you thought it.
Speaker 2: But Satan puts these thoughts in the moment you wake up.
Speaker 2: The moment you wake up, he starts dropping little seeds.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna have a good day to day. Life
Speaker 2: is gonna really be bad. Nobody's gonna like you. In fact,
Speaker 2: you're flat out ugly. If I were as ugly as you,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even show my face. And you've got to
Speaker 2: start getting all of this talk going on in your brain.
Speaker 2: Why in the world am I even trying? It's not
Speaker 2: gonna be any different. And he starts giving you all
Speaker 2: these reasons to give up, and you haven't even started
Speaker 2: the day yet. See if you get up in the
Speaker 2: morning and you don't meet the devil face on, and
Speaker 2: it just means you're going in the same direction, follow
Speaker 2: that one, all right, And so he's gonna drop these
Speaker 2: little thoughts on you. And then sometimes they'll say, go ahead,
Speaker 2: you deserve it, really, yeah, go ahead, get angry? Good
Speaker 2: even How dare they say that to you? Why don't you?
Speaker 2: And he's just constantly dropping thoughts. When the devil gives
Speaker 2: a thought, we call it temptation. When God gives a thought,
Speaker 2: we call it inspiration. But both of them are putting
Speaker 2: thoughts in your mind, and then you're coming up with
Speaker 2: your own thoughts. We call that stupidity. Okay, now these
Speaker 2: thoughts are going on in your mind, but you've got
Speaker 2: this enemy called Satan. Look at this up here on
Speaker 2: the screen, tewod Corindians two eleven says. Paul talks about
Speaker 2: I've forgiven that man, a guy in the church. You'd
Speaker 2: really messed everything up. He's really critical and problems. I've
Speaker 2: forgiven that man so Satan won't outsmart us. What's he
Speaker 2: saying there? He's going when I am unforgiving, I'm falling
Speaker 2: into Satan trap. I've forgiven that man so that Satan
Speaker 2: won't out smartest, for we're very familiar with his schemes.
Speaker 2: Satan wants to keep you in bitterness. Satan wants to
Speaker 2: keep you in bondage. She wants to keep you in resentment.
Speaker 2: If you have not forgiven anybody, you've fallen into Satan's trap.
Speaker 2: And Paul goes, hey, we're wise to this guy. He's
Speaker 2: been using the same traps for so many He tries
Speaker 2: to get you hurt, and then he tries to get
Speaker 2: you bitter, and then he builds on that bitterness. He
Speaker 2: gets a foothold in your life, and on and on
Speaker 2: and on. Anytime you refuse to forgive anybody you've fallen
Speaker 2: for Satan's trap. Point here is he says, Satan has
Speaker 2: schemes and you need to be aware of it. So
Speaker 2: you got the enemy number one, that's the flesh, and
Speaker 2: you got enemy number two, that's the devil. Then the
Speaker 2: third enemy is the world's value system, and that is
Speaker 2: culture around you. The world the flesh and the devil,
Speaker 2: and the world is not helping you be a more
Speaker 2: disciplined person. Are they does anything in our society encourage
Speaker 2: self discipline? No, not at all. In fact, every advertiser
Speaker 2: saying you deserve a break today, have it your way,
Speaker 2: We do it all for you. It's all about you.
Speaker 2: Mountain Dew, my favorite commercial says, obey your thirst. In
Speaker 2: other words, be an animal. Just do whatever it feels
Speaker 2: like doing. Okay, obey your thirst. And so the world
Speaker 2: has their value system and is promoted by advertisers, and
Speaker 2: is promoted by movies, and is promoted by television, is
Speaker 2: promoted in songs, and it's certainly promoted by celebrities. So
Speaker 2: nobody in around you is actually encouraging you to live
Speaker 2: a responsible, mentally healthy life. One John two sixteen says
Speaker 2: this here on the screen, all that is in the
Speaker 2: world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
Speaker 2: and the pride of life. In other words, that's passion,
Speaker 2: possession and position, or it's it's the lust of the
Speaker 2: flesh that's sex, the lust of the eyes that's your salary,
Speaker 2: and pride to life, that's success and status. He's saying,
Speaker 2: this is what everybody is going for. Okay, money, section power,
Speaker 2: he says, all these things. It's not of the fathers,
Speaker 2: but it's of this world. And so everything around you,
Speaker 2: all the commercials, all the media, they're not encouraging you
Speaker 2: to think smart, to think healthy, to think wise. They're
Speaker 2: encouraging you to do the other thing. So how do
Speaker 2: you fight this battle? I mean, it's so wonder you
Speaker 2: have all these best intentions for changing, but then you've
Speaker 2: got this triple threat of your own old nature the devil.
Speaker 2: So you got the nature within you, you got the
Speaker 2: devil against you, and you got the world around you.
Speaker 2: Was no wonder. You keep struggling with discouragement and spare
Speaker 2: and failure and things like that. How do you fight
Speaker 2: this mental battle? Look at the next verse, tewod Corinthians ten.
Speaker 2: We live in the world. We do not wage war
Speaker 2: as the world does. The weapons we fight with are
Speaker 2: not the weapons of the world. In other words, because
Speaker 2: he's talking about the mental battle we're going through. Our
Speaker 2: weapons have divine power to demolish stronghold. Circle the word stronghold.
Speaker 2: We'll come back to that word in just a minute.
Speaker 2: Our weapons have the divine power to demolish strongholds. We
Speaker 2: demolish any argument and every pretension. That's the arguments in
Speaker 2: your own mind, the pretensions in your own mind that
Speaker 2: sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And here's
Speaker 2: the important part. We tape captive every thought to make
Speaker 2: it obedient to Christ. Notice this is warfare language, and
Speaker 2: he's talking about this battle going on in your mind,
Speaker 2: this mental battle. He said, we demolish strongholds. Now, what's
Speaker 2: a stronghold. I want you to write this down. A
Speaker 2: stronghold is a lie that I believe. That's a stronghold.
Speaker 2: A spiritual stronghold in my life is a lie that
Speaker 2: I believe. So the lie might be God really doesn't
Speaker 2: love me. That's a lie. The lie might be I
Speaker 2: know better than God what will make me happy. That's
Speaker 2: a lie. The lie I should do what I want
Speaker 2: to do, not what God wants me to do, and
Speaker 2: that'll make me happier. That's a lie. I know better
Speaker 2: what will make me happy than God does. That's a lie,
Speaker 2: And that's a stronghold. Anything that I believe that's a
Speaker 2: lie is called a spiritual stronghold in my life. Now,
Speaker 2: stronghold can be a false value system like in the world.
Speaker 2: It could be a philosophical system like hedonism, which says
Speaker 2: the only that matters is pleasure. In other words, the
Speaker 2: whole goal of life is to have fun. That's a lie,
Speaker 2: it is not true. Or materialism is a philosophical worldview.
Speaker 2: It says the only thing that matters is making money.
Speaker 2: That's a lie. That's not true. So secularism, hedonism, materialism,
Speaker 2: all that matters is money or sex or power. Those
Speaker 2: are all lies and if I believe them, then I
Speaker 2: get a stronghold in my life. Could be a worldview,
Speaker 2: or it could be a personal attitude. A stronghold could
Speaker 2: be an attitude like I'm never going to forgive that person.
Speaker 2: That's a stronghold. I could never forgive myself. That's a stronghold.
Speaker 2: I will never amount to anything. That's a stronghold. If
Speaker 2: something bad's gonna happen, it's gonna happen to me. That's
Speaker 2: a stronghold. It's a lie that you are believing. And
Speaker 2: he says, if you're gonna learn to be mentally healthy,
Speaker 2: you've got to learn how to demolish strongholds in your life.
Speaker 2: Behind every sin is some lie that you're believing. The
Speaker 2: Bible calls Satan the father of lies. Jesus says, I
Speaker 2: am the truth and the truth that you're free. Satan
Speaker 2: is a liar and he's gonna enslave you. You So
Speaker 2: this stronghold needs to be destroyed. How do we how
Speaker 2: do we fight this mental battle? Well, notice two phrases.
Speaker 2: I want you to circle it. First, he says, we
Speaker 2: take captive. Circle that phrase, we take captive, and the
Speaker 2: word in Greek is akmalotidzo and it means it literally
Speaker 2: means to conquer. It means to bring under control. It
Speaker 2: means to capture. We take captive, we conquer like a country.
Speaker 2: We amalotidzou a country. And then the other phrase, once circle,
Speaker 2: he says, we make it obedient. We take it captive.
Speaker 2: Every thought captive, and we make every we make it obedient,
Speaker 2: make every thought obey Christ And that word there literally
Speaker 2: make it obedient. Whopokoa means to bring in the submission?
Speaker 2: How do you do that? What's he talking about here?
Speaker 2: He's talking about how do you make your mind mind?
Speaker 2: How do you make your mind mind? You? We bring
Speaker 2: it into submission, We take it captive, we make it obedient.
Speaker 2: Let's just have a little confession here. My thoughts often
Speaker 2: disobey me. They often rebel. My mind often has a
Speaker 2: mind of its own. It wants to go in another direction.
Speaker 2: This morning I was studying for this message. My mind
Speaker 2: didn't want to study. They wanted to sit down with
Speaker 2: a big sandwich. Some jalapenia, potato chips. Okay, piece of
Speaker 2: mud pie. I'm making you all hungry now here. See
Speaker 2: what I'm doing. I'm messing with your mind. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 2: you're already salivating on that kind of stuff right there.
Speaker 2: You know. And if you got add or ADHD, your
Speaker 2: mind often goes off in a whole different direction. And
Speaker 2: you get ready to pray, and you're going, what do
Speaker 2: I say? I don't know, I don't anything. Say you
Speaker 2: got anything of that? Say Lord, I don't anything. Say
Speaker 2: is anybody identifying with this? Okay? And you know I
Speaker 2: don't know. You know I'm supposed to pray? What do
Speaker 2: I pray?
Speaker 1: Or?
Speaker 2: Hello God? Amen? My mind often rebels when I need
Speaker 2: to ponder. My mind wants to wander. It doesn't always
Speaker 2: obey me. When I need to pray. My mind drifts away.
Speaker 2: He says, we take captive, we make it obedient. What's
Speaker 2: he saying here is you have a choice. Your mind
Speaker 2: has to listen to you and your will. God didn't
Speaker 2: give you just a mind. He gave you a will
Speaker 2: and emotions. We're gonna talk about emotions next week. But
Speaker 2: part of your will is to bring your mind into order.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I've
Speaker 1: got some great news to share with you today. We've
Speaker 1: got some generous friends of Daily Hope that have offered
Speaker 1: a fifty thousand dollars matching grant, and now here's Rick
Speaker 1: to tell you more about it.
Speaker 2: You know, I started Daily Hope so I could spread
Speaker 2: the good news about Jesus, not just across America, but
Speaker 2: all around the world. And we want people to know
Speaker 2: that God's word is filled with hope and truth and
Speaker 2: the power that we need to follow him every day
Speaker 2: is available to every single one. You know as well
Speaker 2: as I do that the Word of God changes lives.
Speaker 2: It's a live it's active, and it bringthes new life
Speaker 2: and new love into all of our lives. So wherever
Speaker 2: you listen to this, whether you listen on the website,
Speaker 2: whether you listen on a radio station, or whether you
Speaker 2: listen to a podcast, you're a part of the Daily
Speaker 2: Hope family and I need your help. We could not
Speaker 2: do this without your support. Now, you know, I don't
Speaker 2: take any funds from this broadcast. We don't have any
Speaker 2: giant million dollar donor who's giving big gifts to this.
Speaker 2: It comes from daily donations from listeners like you. We're
Speaker 2: one hundred percent listener funded. Would you continue to pray
Speaker 2: for this broadcast and would you continue to support us,
Speaker 2: and let write to me, let me hear from you.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
Speaker 2: So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry,
Speaker 2: and God will bless it, and God will bless you,
Speaker 2: and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for
Speaker 2: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 1: You know, when you give a gift to Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: you're helping share the hope of Jesus with people everywhere.
Speaker 1: And right now your gift will be doubled by the
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars matching grand So please go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com or text the word hope to seven oh
Speaker 1: three oh nine. Again, go to Pastorick dot com or
Speaker 1: just text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.