Transforming Thoughts: Thinking and Living Like Jesus

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)**: "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
2. **Romans 12:2 (NLT)**: "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
3. **Philippians 4:8 (NLT)**: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

#### Observation Questions
1. According to Proverbs 4:23, why is it important to guard our hearts? How does this relate to our thought life? [59:25]
2. In Romans 12:2, what does Paul say is the result of letting God transform us by changing the way we think? [01:15:20]
3. Philippians 4:8 lists several qualities that our thoughts should have. Can you name them and explain why each is important? [01:21:09]
4. What did the pastor mean by "taking every thought captive" and how does this practice help in aligning our thoughts with Jesus'? [01:17:22]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the concept of guarding our hearts in Proverbs 4:23 connect with the idea of auditing our thoughts as discussed in the sermon? [59:25]
2. Romans 12:2 speaks about transformation through the renewal of our minds. What practical steps can believers take to allow this transformation to happen? [01:15:20]
3. Philippians 4:8 encourages us to fix our thoughts on specific qualities. How can focusing on these qualities change our daily behavior and interactions with others? [01:21:09]
4. The sermon mentioned that Jesus viewed sin as a serious issue. How does this perspective influence our understanding of sin and its impact on our lives? [01:10:07]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your current thought patterns. Are there specific areas where your thoughts do not align with the qualities listed in Philippians 4:8? How can you begin to change these thought patterns this week? [01:21:09]
2. The pastor emphasized the importance of taking every thought captive. Can you identify a recurring negative thought in your life? What steps will you take to capture and replace it with a positive, Christ-like thought? [01:17:22]
3. Jesus viewed people with compassion and love. Think of someone you find difficult to love. How can you change your thoughts about this person to reflect Jesus' compassion? [01:12:09]
4. The sermon discussed the importance of thinking about our purpose and not being consumed by worry. What is one area of your life where worry tends to dominate your thoughts? How can you shift your focus to God's purpose for you in that area? [01:11:00]
5. The pastor mentioned the need for a thought audit. This week, take time to audit your thoughts. What did you discover about your thought patterns, and how can you make adjustments to think more like Jesus? [01:02:01]
6. How can you incorporate the practice of "fixing your thoughts" on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy into your daily routine? Share a specific strategy you plan to use. [01:21:09]
7. The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in transforming our thought life. How can you invite the Holy Spirit to help you in your thought transformation process? What specific prayer or practice will you implement to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance? [01:36:59]

Day 1: Auditing Thoughts for Christlike Alignment
Self-reflection is a powerful tool in the journey of spiritual formation. It is through this introspection that individuals can assess whether their thoughts mirror those of Jesus, particularly in areas concerning sin, life, people, and self-perception. This is not an exercise in self-condemnation but rather one of growth and transformation. By examining one's thoughts and comparing them with the perspective of Christ, a believer can begin to understand where adjustments are needed. As thoughts become more aligned with those of Jesus, actions will naturally follow, leading to a life that more accurately reflects the character of Christ. This alignment is a continuous process, requiring regular check-ins and adjustments to ensure that one's thought life remains on the right path [07:40].

"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." - Philippians 4:8

Reflection: What specific thought patterns do you recognize in your life that do not align with Jesus' perspective on sin, life, people, and self-worth, and what practical steps can you take to begin aligning them with His?


Day 2: Cultivating a Mind of Christ
The renewal of the mind is an active and intentional process. It involves the deliberate focus on thoughts that embody the virtues of truth, honor, righteousness, purity, love, admiration, excellence, and praise. This practice is akin to cultivating a garden where negative thoughts are uprooted, and positive, Christlike thoughts are planted and nurtured. Over time, this intentional cultivation leads to the development of new neural pathways, which replace old patterns of negative thinking. As believers consistently immerse themselves in thoughts that reflect the mind of Christ, they will experience a transformation not only in their thought life but also in their overall character and actions [07:40].

"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." - Colossians 3:9-10

Reflection: Identify one negative thought pattern you struggle with and choose a corresponding virtue from Philippians 4:8 to focus on this week. How will you intentionally cultivate this virtue in your daily life?


Day 3: Discipline of Captive Thoughts
Taking every thought captive is a spiritual discipline that requires believers to scrutinize each thought that enters their minds. This involves determining whether a thought is in line with God's truth and deciding whether it should be nurtured or discarded. This practice is not a one-time event but a continuous effort that helps maintain a mindset that honors God and promotes spiritual growth. By regularly examining their thoughts and holding them against the standard of God's Word, believers can prevent harmful patterns from taking root and encourage a healthy, godly thought life [07:40].

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." - 2 Corinthians 10:5

Reflection: What is one thought that you have allowed to dwell in your mind that is not obedient to Christ, and how can you actively take it captive today?


Day 4: Fixing Thoughts on the Eternal
The concept of "fixing our thoughts" carries a dual meaning: it involves both correcting wrong thinking and firmly setting our minds on the right things. By ensuring that thoughts are anchored in truth and godliness, believers can influence their actions and character to be more in line with Christ's. This practice of fixing thoughts on the eternal truths of God's Word allows believers to navigate the challenges of life with a perspective that transcends the temporary and focuses on the everlasting. It is a conscious choice to direct one's mental attention to what is truly important and lasting [07:40].

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." - Colossians 3:2

Reflection: What are the "things above" that you need to set your mind on, and how can you practically fix your thoughts on these things throughout your day?


Day 5: Empowered by the Spirit in Thought
While believers play an active role in renewing their minds and taking thoughts captive, they are not alone in this endeavor. The Holy Spirit is a crucial partner in the transformation of the thought life. As believers surrender their thoughts to the Holy Spirit, they allow Him to empower, correct, and lead them into all truth. This cooperation with the Spirit is essential for thinking and living like Jesus. It is through this divine partnership that believers can experience the fullness of a transformed mind, one that is capable of discerning God's will and reflecting His character in the world [07:40].

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." - John 14:16-17

Reflection: In what area of your thought life do you need the Holy Spirit's guidance today, and how can you open yourself up to His leading and correction?

We've been on a little bit of a journey over the last four weeks in becoming more like Jesus, because what we want is that when the world looks at us and what we do, what we talk about, they wouldn't just see us. They would see a reflection of our Savior. Right?

So we've been doing the hard work in this series of going back to the mirror and comparing what we look like to what we read about Jesus and what he looked like. And we're doing the hard work of actually fixing some things in our lives so that we can look more like Jesus and less like us.

But really, what happens here on Sunday pales in comparison to how important what happens during the week is. That's why we started this life group campaign where groups all over the city are meeting throughout the week to actually talk about this stuff. Because all you get from me today is somebody talking at you. But in a group, you get to talk with somebody, and you get to bounce ideas off of them, and they can encourage you, and they can challenge you, and they can give you insight into what they're doing to make this all a reality.

So don't just come and listen to me talk. Get into a group. And I know we're in week four of a six-week process, so you might feel like you've already missed it, but you haven't. OK? It would be better for you to get plugged in in these last couple of weeks than for you to completely miss out on what God is doing through those groups.

So you've heard me say this a lot. I'm going to keep on saying it until the day I die: Get in a group, get in a group, get in a group, get in a group, get in a group, get in a group. And so if you need help doing that, you can go to the website and get help that way. Or you can use the kiosks in the lobby to find a group in your area where you can actually continue this conversation.

And so the conversation we're going to have today is all about thinking like Jesus. And I have to kind of issue an apology right here at the front because we've done this completely out of order. So blame it on me going to Senegal. We kind of messed up the schedule doing that.

But here's the problem: It's from our thoughts that our actions are derived, right? From our thoughts come the things we do. So if you want to pray like Jesus, what do you need to do first? You got to think like Jesus. If you want to serve like Jesus, what do you got to do first? You got to think like Jesus. So we really should have done this message a couple of weeks ago. My apologies. But here we are. We're going to do it now, and it's going to be great as we learn how to think like Jesus.

Pastor Alistair Begg, which in the first service said he's English, he's actually Scottish, and that is super offensive to Scots. And as a McQuay with red hair, I should not have confused Scots and Englishmen. But he says this a lot cooler than I can because of the accent. He says, "You and I this morning are what we think about. Our minds form the root of it all. All of our human actions emerge as a result of thought processes. It is in our minds that affections are stirred. It is by our minds that our wills are directed. It is in the mind that we conceive of and produce every action. It is therefore imperative that we learn to think about the right things and that we learn to think in the right way."

And so that's going to be our goal today: that we would begin to think in the right way about the right things because what we think really is the most important thing about us. Because what comes into our minds comes out in our lives, right? Which is why Solomon gave this brilliant piece of advice to us in Proverbs 4. He said, "Above all," like this is top tier, above everything else, "above all, be careful what you think." Why? Because your thoughts control your life.

And if our thoughts control our lives, then we probably need to spend a little bit of time thinking about our thoughts a little bit more and paying more attention to where our thoughts are leading us and how they're controlling us.

And so Craig Groeschel wrote an amazing book. You should get a copy of it called *Winning the War in Your Mind*. And in it, he talks about this idea that our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts, which is why this conversation about thinking like Jesus becomes incredibly important. Because if we're moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts, if our thoughts are not leading us towards Jesus, we got a problem. How are you ever going to become like him if your thoughts aren't leading you in that direction?

And so we need to do something today that we probably don't do nearly enough and something we should probably get into the habit of doing. Today, we're going to think about what we think about. All right, how often do you think about what you think about, like in all honesty?

Now, I don't know if you're anything like me, but sometimes when Sol and I are driving in the car, I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet, the serenity, just staring out the window, driving, just enjoying the moment, and then my wife will ruin the peace by asking a question that every husband in the room has been asked at least one time this week. You know what the question is? "What you thinking about?" Ruins the moment.

But here's the sad thing: the number of times that my response, my answer to that question is the God's honest truth, but the answer to the question is either nothing or I don't know is way too high. Like, if I'm honest, I do not spend enough time thinking about what I'm thinking about. And so I'm sorry, Sol. I know you don't believe me when I say I wasn't thinking about anything, but it's true.

But we're going to get better today at thinking about what we think about, and we're going to do that by doing a thought audit. And so I got this idea from Pastor Craig, but after hearing it from him, I've actually found it's kind of a common practice in counseling and in a lot of mental health exercises that we do thought audits, or we do assessments, or we do an inventory of our thoughts.

And so we're going to do that together right now. So grab your pen, grab your note paper, grab your phone, whatever you got to do. Now, for those of you that feel too much pressure to take a test in a room full of people, you can just screenshot this and then save it for later to do during the week. But this audit might be a great thing for you to talk about with your life group.

Exactly, thank you very much. All right, so here's our thought audit. Are your thoughts leaning towards the worried or leaning towards the peaceful? Like your average thought this week. Did you wake up with worried thoughts or peace-filled thoughts? Are you worried about what's going to happen today? Are you worried about what's going to happen with politics? Are you worried about finances? Are you worried about your health? Are you worried or are you peaceful?

And even when there's chaos, even when there are unknown things in your life, do your thoughts tend to lean towards, "It's going to be okay, like God's got this," so I can have peace-filled thoughts? We're just thinking about what we think about.

How about this one? Do they lean towards the negative or do they lean towards the positive? Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person? The first thought in your head in the morning is, "Oh man, here we go again," or is your first thought when you wake up, "I'm ready to seize the day. Today's going to be a great day." Is it negative thinking or positive thinking that overshadows your life?

How about this one? Are the thoughts worldly or kingdom? And when I say worldly, I don't even just mean sinful, but like this week have your thoughts been consumed with the bearish trading Justin Fields? Too soon? I mentioned that in the first service, and somebody in the room didn't know. They were like, "What?" They didn't hear another thing I preached the entire morning because they were just Googling, you know.

But are your thoughts worldly? Are you just thinking about sports and the game and the players and the people and the movie that's coming out and just world-focused thoughts, or is it kingdom-focused thoughts of what is my purpose here and how can I get closer to God and who should I be praying for and how can I serve like Jesus this week? Where do your thoughts tend to lean? If this is the middle, where are you falling on that spectrum?

How about this last one? Are your thoughts selfish or selfless? Are you thinking about yourself, your own wants, your own desires, your own needs, your own problems, or are you thinking about other people and what they need and how you can be of help to them? Are your thoughts about you or are your thoughts about others?

And if our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts, where are your thoughts taking you? Because when your thoughts lead you in this direction, you're becoming more like Christ. If your thoughts are leading you in this direction, you're becoming less like Christ.

Because let's break it down. It's really hard to serve like Jesus when your thoughts are worldly and selfish. It's really hard to pray like Jesus when your thoughts are worried and negative. But when you can have the right type of thinking, now you can actually do the things that Jesus did and the way that Jesus did them.

And our goal with this series, again, is for us to become more like Jesus. And so we want to think like Jesus thought. But that should bring us to a question, right? What did Jesus think about? Honestly, what did he think about?

And that's been a real struggle for me as I've been preparing for this message because the Bible doesn't really tell us what Jesus was thinking. How do you realize there's no Dear Diary entry in the middle of Matthew? Like you're not flipping through the pages and then you get Jesus going, "Well, Dear Diary, today was a great day. I talked with a woman at a well. She seemed very confused, but I think she's going to be okay. I'm thinking about doing some miracles later because people really need some help. I was thinking about Judas. It's almost time for him to, well, you know."

We don't get a Dear Diary entry from Jesus. We don't get a clear exposition of what his thoughts are. But we do get something. We get what he did and what he said. And if our thoughts lead to our actions, then maybe we can backtrace from his actions to find out his thoughts.

And so what I want to do is I want to take a quick look at some things that I think maybe Jesus was thinking about, some very important subjects, some things that maybe you're thinking about or maybe some things that you need to be thinking about more.

So for instance, what did Jesus think about God? And I get that that's kind of a weird place to start because it's kind of like saying what did Jesus think about himself? But there are a lot of moments where Jesus says something about God that really gives a light into what he thinks about God and what we should be thinking about God.

For instance, did you know that Jesus calls God Father nearly 200 times in the Gospels? That's a lot of instances of him calling. It's like 180 something. He calls God Father. And maybe that means that when we think about God, we shouldn't be thinking about a far-off mystical being that's just trying to punish us and judge us for everything we do wrong. Maybe we should be thinking about God as a personal and relational God who is a father that just wants what's best for our lives.

Not only that, but when Jesus was about to be arrested, he's about to go before Pilate and get crucified in this horrific moment, before that, he goes to a garden to pray. And in the garden, it's such an intense moment. The scripture says that he's sweating blood as he prays, as he bears his soul. Why? Because he is about to suffer, not just physical, not just emotional, but even spiritual pain like we can't even understand, as the sin of the entire world is placed on him.

He says, "If there's any way that this cup could pass from me, if there's any way I wouldn't have to do this, God, let's go with plan B. If there's a plan B, let's go with that one." But how does he close the prayer? He says, "But not my will, but your will be done."

And maybe that means that when we think about God, we should have that terminology, we should have that understanding that he is Lord and we're not, and that we submit every single thing to him. Not just the easy stuff, but the hard stuff too, the stuff that we don't want to let go of, the stuff that we don't want to do, we submit to him and say, "Not my will, but your will be done."

So what did Jesus think about God? And compare that, we're auditing our thoughts, we're thinking about what we think about. How do your thoughts about God line up with what Jesus thought about God?

How about the Bible? Jesus thought about the Bible a lot. He directly quotes the Old Testament 78 times in the Gospels. He alludes to scripture, I think it's like 200 and something times. When he starts, or actually before he even starts ministry, when he's just a little boy, he goes into the temple and he's teaching the scriptures to the people there.

When he's about to start his ministry, he's taken out into the desert to be tempted. And what does he do to fight temptation? He quotes scripture. Throughout his ministry, he's exposing, he's illuminating the scriptures to people. He's showing them what God's word really meant. When he's on the cross, what does he do? He quotes the Old Testament.

After his death, burial, and resurrection, he's seen walking with some followers, and he describes to them in detail, walks them through the pages of scripture for where the Messiah is found. He points at himself throughout the pages of scripture. Clearly, the Bible was something very important to Jesus. It was the focal point of his life and of his ministry.

So maybe that means we should be thinking about scripture a little bit more highly, a little bit more frequently. We're just thinking about what we think about, just a little thought audit.

How about sin? That's kind of a big one, right? He said that anyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. He told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. He told his disciples that his blood was about to be poured out for the forgiveness of the sins of many people. Clearly, Jesus thought that sin was destructive, that sin was not something to be played around with, but that he was the solution to our sin problem.

How do your thoughts about sin match up with Jesus's? Do you think sin is just kind of no big deal? Is it just that thing that you'll deal with at some point, but it's not that big of a deal? It's not a big problem right now? How do your thoughts about sin match up with Jesus's thoughts about sin? It'll be an interesting conversation this week.

How about this one? You think about life a lot, right? What did Jesus think about life? Well, we started this year with a series called Kingdom, where we're looking at the thing Jesus talked about the most. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So out of this abundance, what he talked about the most is probably what he was thinking about the most.

And so his thoughts were constantly on the kingdom. In fact, he said that the kingdom was the focus of his life, his ministry, the purpose that he came. He said, "I must preach the good news about the kingdom of God. It is the purpose I was sent here to fulfill." Jesus thought about kingdom. He thought about purpose for his life pretty much more than anything else.

But on top of that, he also didn't allow worry to consume his thoughts. He said, "The body is for more than just food or clothing. And by worrying about those things, no one is able to add a single moment to their lives." So clearly he was not being consumed by worry.

What about your thoughts about life? How do those measure up? Are you consumed with worry or are you focused on purpose? Just thinking about what we think about.

Here's another good one. What do you think about people compared to what did Jesus think about people? Scripture says that when he saw people, he was moved with compassion for them. One place says that he looked at them as they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Clearly, Jesus looked at people with love and compassion. He wanted to do something to help them.

When you look at people, is that what you're thinking? When you're looking at your boss, are you just filled with compassion for your boss? You're laughing because you're not thinking compassionate thoughts. You're thinking, "This jerk underpays me, overworks me." When you look at people, are your thoughts moving towards, "I want to do something for them. I care for them." Just a little thought exercise.

How about this one? What does Jesus think about you? C.S. Lewis said that what God thinks about us is infinitely more important than what we think about God. So what does Jesus think about you? Guess what? Jesus thinks you're awesome. He thinks you have value. So much so that he numbered the hairs on your head.

And I recognize that's way more impressive for some people than it is for others. But Pastor Asa, Jesus still loves you too. I told him last service I was coming for him. But literally, Jesus thought you were to die for. Hebrews 12:2 talks about Jesus going to the cross and says, "Who for the joy set before him, endured the cross." You know what the joy set before him was? You. That was the joy set before him.

He was enduring the cross because he knew that the cross was the only way your relationship with God could be restored. He loved you so much that he was able to endure the cross, scorning its shame, all because he was thinking about how much he loves you, how much he would do anything for you.

So how do your thoughts about yourself line up with Jesus' thoughts about you? Have you been thinking that you're not worthy, that you're not good enough, that you're a failure, that you're miserable? How have your thoughts matched up with Jesus' thoughts about you?

We're just thinking about what we think about. Just a few thoughts of what maybe Jesus was thinking about some pretty important things. But as you go through this audit, you're probably going to run into the problem that I ran into. And that is you will discover that your thoughts and Jesus' thoughts don't always line up.

And so what do we do with that? How do we think more like Jesus and less like ourselves? That's a great question, Carlton. I'm so glad that you asked it today. Thank you.

So the Apostle Paul actually gives us some great advice, some great instruction on how to have the mind of Christ. And since he told the church in Corinth to imitate me as I imitate Christ, I think it's safe for us today to say if I want to think more like Jesus, I need to learn from Paul.

And so here's what Paul had to say about this subject. He said in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? By the renewal of your mind." And so when my thoughts and Jesus' thoughts don't line up, I need to change my mind, not try and change his mind.

And we do that when we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. Your mind is an amazing thing. Your brain is pretty cool. Because there's this thing that develops called neural pathways. And the more you think a certain thought, the more those neural pathways are developed and strengthened to make it easier to have those thoughts again and again.

And so when you think in one direction, you're able to think in that direction more quickly, more easily. It's kind of like working grooves into a carpet, where all of a sudden it's like there's a path for this thing, which is why muscle memory and autopilot exist. There are some things that you can do without even thinking about them because you've done them so much, because you had the thought so often.

Now it becomes easy for you to do. That is an awesome thing when your thoughts are good. That's a horrible thing when your thoughts are bad. Because the wrong thoughts still work the same way. Bad thoughts still create neural pathways. And now all of a sudden you're always thinking negatively because you thought negatively too often.

And so we need to renew our minds. We need to work out some of those grooves, flatten them out, put in new grooves, put in new neural pathways so that we can think the right thoughts more clearly, more easily. And that sounds awesome, right? But how do I do that? You guys have all the great questions today. I'm so proud of you.

So here's how we're going to do that. There are two things that Paul teaches us. He tells us to take every thought captive, and then he says to fix your thoughts. And so we're going to do those two things as we renew our minds.

Let's look at the scriptures. 2 Corinthians 10 says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." And I wanted to start with verse 4 because for a lot of us, the strongholds in our lives are bad thinking. We've believed a lie so much that it has now created a stronghold in our lives, and we can't even understand the truth. We can't even accept the truth because this lie has taken root, and now it's a stronghold.

So we need to destroy some strongholds in our minds. And we destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God by taking every thought captive to obey Christ. Quick question. Which thoughts are you supposed to take captive? Every thought. Come on now. Every thought. In the Greek, every. In the Hebrew, every. In the English, every. In Spanish, todos. Just take every thought captive. Leave nothing behind.

Take every thought captive because you can't always trust your thoughts. Just because it pops in your head doesn't mean it should take up residence there. So we need to take every thought captive.

Last week we were driving home from church. Wasn't last week amazing? My wife preached an incredible message. She is awesome. I love this woman so much. Clearly, I married up. I still don't know how that happened, but I am grateful for the experience. My wife is amazing. I love her to death.

And I'm saying all of these really nice things so that she doesn't get mad at me when I say something that's not quite so nice. Because as much as I love my wife, there's something in her that's missing that's present in most people. And that's called a filter. Okay?

So most people will have a thought and go, "I should not say that out loud." My wife does not experience that moment. If it's a thought in her head, it will come out of her mouth. And so we were experiencing that on Sunday driving home from church. We were talking about a story. We were remembering a moment from the past.

Won't go into detail because it's always borderline inappropriate when the thought comes in Sol's head and comes out of her mouth. But we're having this moment, and all of a sudden Sol says something, and the whole van just went silent and then erupted into laughter. Because it was like, "I can't believe you just said that. No, you're not supposed to say that."

Just because you thought it doesn't mean you need to say it. And she actually in the van said, "What? It popped in my head." As if that was justification for since it was in here, it's got to come out here.

Anybody else live with somebody with no filter? Anybody? Yeah. Jayden raises his hand. So we're having this moment in the car, and out of the backseat from my daughter Kelsey came the greatest piece of advice I have ever heard regarding this subject.

And so in the words of Kelsey McQuay, she yelled out from the back of the van, "Mommy, sometimes you need to say no brain." And so today I want to plead with you. If you're going to take every thought captive, sometimes you need to say no brain. OK?

And so we're going to take these thoughts captive. We're going to explain what that means in a second. But then we're going to fix our thoughts. This Philippians 4:8 that says fix your thoughts. Now I'm going to pause right there because this fixing is kind of two directions. One is when we have the wrong thinking, we need to fix it. We need to get into the right thinking.

But there's also a connotation here of we need to affix. Like we need to attach our thoughts onto the right things. And so we're going to fix our thoughts because your mind is always going to attach to something. We want to make sure that our minds are attached to the right things.

And then he gives us a list of the right things. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, what is right and pure, what is lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

And if you haven't yet, I highly encourage you this week to memorize Philippians 4:8. If you don't like the NLT, find a translation you do like and memorize this. Because what we're going to be doing is we're going to take every thought captive. Then we're going to do an audit of that thought and see how that thought fits with the instructions of Philippians 4:8.

Is that thought true? Is it honorable? Is it pure? Is it right? Is it lovely? Is it admirable? Is it excellent? Is it worthy of praise? And if it is not, we are going to kill that thought. Kill it dead. Not like mostly dead or partially dead. You're going to kill it dead, leave it dead, leave it buried, and move on.

If the thought does fit within Philippians 4:8, then we are going to feed that thought. Because what you feed grows. And we want to develop the neural pathways to do these things more quickly and more easily. We want our thoughts to go in this direction so that we can think more like Christ.

Let's break these down. First thing you're going to ask is, is this thought true? Is it a true thought? I heard somebody one time say, "Don't tell me that worry doesn't work. The stuff I worry about never happens." Because a lot of times what we're thinking isn't even true. And we need to be cautious of allowing false thoughts, lies to creep in.

And so we need to stop and measure, is this thought true? And how do we measure truth? The word of God. The world's doing this really weird thing right now. We're like, "You get a truth and I get a truth and they get a truth and everybody gets their own truth and have fun with it." That doesn't make no sense.

Because true is true is true, whether you like it or you don't like it. Truth is truth. And we need to get back to this understanding of it isn't true for you and then true for me differently. No, like it's just true for everyone who exists. OK?

And so we measure truth by the word of God. So if the thought pops in your head that you are not loved, is that true or is that a lie? And I know it's a lie because I know of at least two people that love you. I love you. And more importantly, Jesus loves you. And I'm positive that it's more than just the two of us. But those are the only two that I've talked to about it.

So I know that the two of us love you. So when the thought pops in your head that I am unlovable, that I am not loved, that I'm not valued, that I'm not cherished, those are all lies. And we need to kill those thoughts because they're not true.

But then we move down the list because just because it's true doesn't necessarily mean yet that we should feed it. OK? We got to keep going down the list. Is it also honorable? Because it could be true, but not honorable. And if that's the case, kill that thought.

OK? And we need to measure honorable based on what is honorable to God, not based on what is honorable to the world. Because some things that the world calls honorable, God doesn't. Like the world says, "Take care of yourself, put yourself first." That's honorable. Jesus says, "Put others first." That's honorable. Right?

And so we want to match is this thought true and is it an honorable thought to be thinking? If it isn't, what do we do? Kill it. And if it is, we keep moving down the list to see if it's something we should feed.

Next question is, is this the right thing to be thinking right now? Is this thought right? Because how many of you know I'm going to die? And so are you. Aren't you so glad you came to church for this encouraging word today? It's a true statement, right? Because all of us are going to die.

But if that's all you're thinking about all the time, is that healthy? Is that the right thing to be thinking? No, it's not. When you're sitting down to read through the Bible and all of a sudden you start thinking about doing your taxes. Is it true that you need to do your taxes? Yes. Is it honorable to do your taxes? Yes. Yes, it is. Carlton is nodding his head vehemently.

But is it the right thought to have at that moment? So we're going to get rid of that thought so we can think the right thing at the right time.

All right, moving through. Is it a pure thought? And if your brain works anything like my brain, then you are going to have to kill a lot of impure thoughts. Because what I've found in my own life is that my sinful flesh nature rears its ugly head in here long before it has any action out in the world.

And so we need to kill impure thoughts before they have a chance to take root and grow and develop and turn into action. It's easier to kill the impure thought than it is to fix the sin. So let's stop it at its inception.

The way I do this in my life is called the bounce method. Because sometimes thoughts just bounce in your head. They just pop in there out of nowhere and you're like, "Whoa, what was that?" OK, you got two options. You can bounce off of that thought and be like, "Nope, moving on."

Or what a lot of people love to do is they grab hold of that thought and they entertain it. And then they start thinking about that thing, and then it starts to grab hold of them. It starts to dig roots, and it starts to manifest into action in your life. We want to kill it before it has a chance to grow.

And so when the girl walks by and your first thought is not a good thought, bounce off of that thought. Move on to something else. That's why it's great to memorize scripture. Because you can bounce from an impure thought to a Bible verse really quick if you've memorized scripture.

Really hard to do that if you haven't memorized anything. But we're going to bounce our thoughts from the impure to the pure so that we can kill it before it has a chance to do anything. It pops in, make it pop back out.

Next is, is the thought lovely? I'll be honest, this one kind of tripped me up. Because that's probably not the word I would ever choose to use to describe any of my thoughts. And maybe it's just a guy thing. But I don't think there's any guy in the room that has ever started a sentence with, "I just had the loveliest thought."

And if you have, I'm not judging you. I'm just saying that's probably not normal. But for me, I don't have that thought. So I came across this, and I'm like, "I don't even know how to measure. Are my thoughts lovely? What is a lovely thought?"

And so I started digging a little bit deeper into the language used. And I discovered that the word translated to lovely is a little bit of a rare word in scripture. It's not used very often. It has this reference to things that attract one another, things that please other people.

If we were put into words, it was winning other people's admiration and affection. Are the thoughts you're thinking winning people over? So the thoughts you're dwelling on, are they causing love for one another to take place? Or are the thoughts you're having for people more like, "I cannot believe this idiot just said what he said. My boss just came in and he is ridiculous. He's a moron."

Are those lovely thoughts? Yeah, not so much. So if it's not a lovely thought, what are we going to do? We're going to kill it. We want to think more lovely thoughts.

Next up, is it admirable? If you just told me what you were thinking about on a regular basis, would I admire that in you? Would I be like, "Man, that is an amazing thought. Man, I want to think like that. That's so awesome. That's admirable."

So that's your thinking more on the shameful side of things, where it's like, "I pray that nobody ever develops telepathy and starts being able to read my mind because it's a dark place that nobody belongs." Are your thoughts shameful or admirable?

We're just thinking about what we think about. And then finally, are they excellent and are they worthy of praise? Because I don't know about you, but I don't want to just think good thoughts. I want to think excellent thoughts. I want to think about the stuff that's going to make the biggest impact on my life and on the lives of others.

And so I want to feed those kinds of thoughts. And if it's not an excellent thought, I don't even want to waste my time or energy on it. So what are excellent and praiseworthy thoughts? I think it's the thoughts that glorify God. I think it's the thoughts that draw you closer to him, the kind of thoughts that God would put his stamp of approval on to say, "Yes, that is excellent. That is worthy of praise."

So what are you thinking about? And so we're going to take every thought captive. We're going to measure it against Philippians 4:8 and those eight different categories, those eight different things. And if it doesn't line up, we're going to kill it. If it does line up, we're going to feed it.

But can I just also encourage you, when you kill a thought, don't let any zombie thoughts creep back in. If you killed it at 10 a.m., don't start thinking it again at 5 p.m. Let it stay dead. No zombie thoughts in the room. Let it stay dead and buried. Don't entertain something that you've already killed.

And here's what's really cool. Alistair Begg, we started with a quote from him. I'm going to kind of close off with a quote from him. He's talking about Philippians 4:8, and he says, "That a mind that is filled with what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy will have little time for anxiety-producing, peace-disturbing, joy-destroying thoughts."

That is beautiful. I love that. That is awesome. And so the more we develop these neural pathways to go into these, the Philippians 4:8, these eight categories, when our thoughts lean towards that more regularly, when we develop those neural pathways to make those thinking so much easier, you know what happens? It removes all of the negative thinking. It removes the anxiety. It removes the peace-disturbing. It removes the joy-destroying. And you are able to think more like Jesus.

And so if we're going to do this thing, if we're really going to sit here and think more like Jesus, then you know what you've got to do? You've got to think about what you're thinking about more often. You need to stop feeding bad thinking. You need to take every thought captive and measure it against Philippians 4:8.

And then I want to encourage you with this as we close. You've got to remember that right thinking leads to right living. Right thinking leads us to right doing. We don't want to just think like Jesus. We want to live like Jesus.

The whole point of this is not for us to become more intellectual, where we can just sit in a room and talk about our deep thoughts all the time. And don't get me wrong. I do fully believe, and if you hang out with me long enough, you'll realize this. I fully believe that we need to become more intellectually Christian. That we need to know and understand what we believe and why we believe it beyond just the feelings we get.

There are thought processes that need to happen in Christianity to understand God's Word and the significance of it. We need to engage our minds when we engage Christ. But we are also to be not just hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. And so this thought process should be fueling action in our lives.

I love 1 Peter 1:13. It says, "Therefore, preparing your minds for action." And if you've got like a study Bible, you'll probably have a little annotation here that tells you that in the original Greek, this phrase here, "preparing your minds for action," literally said to gird up the loins of your mind.

And there's probably some older saints in the room that know exactly what that means. But for the young people in the room that are like, "I don't know what a gird is or what a loin is," I'm really glad that they translated it to this. But when you understand the concept of girding up your loins for action, it adds a depth of meaning. It adds some significance to the Scripture.

Because what happened in those days is they didn't wear pants like this. They didn't wear jeans. They wore long robes. You ever worn a robe and tried to run? It don't work really well. Jeans are great. They give freedom of movement. Robes, not so much.

And so if somebody wearing a robe needed to do a physical activity, if he needed to fight, if he needed to run, if he needed to work, he would gird up the loins. So he'd pick up the bottom of the robe. It's a really interesting process. They'd like wrap it between their legs, pull it up behind them, and tie it off. It would create like shorts so that they would be ready to do something.

Preparing your minds for action. That's what this is all about. We think like Jesus so that we can do good. We think like Jesus so we can pray like Jesus. We think like Jesus so that we can serve like Jesus. You're going to learn next week. We think like Jesus so that we can love like Jesus.

But our thoughts should fuel our actions. One last verse for you. The people in the room that are struggling with your thoughts. I want to give you Romans 8:5-6. It says, "People who live following their sinful selves think only about what they want. But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do. If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace."

And so what we want to do for all of us in the room that may be struggling with our thoughts, we want to surrender our thoughts and our minds to allow Him full access, full control. That we wouldn't be fighting Him in our minds. That we wouldn't be trying to hang on to some thinking that's wrong. And it's bad that we wouldn't allow those strongholds to rear their ugly heads.

But that we would surrender our thought life to the Holy Spirit. If you remember back to the start of this series, we looked at the mirror and I gave you, I think it was five things that we need in order to become more like Jesus. We needed to go to the mirror and evaluate these things.

But if we were going to become more like Christ, there were some steps we needed to take. And the last step of the process was we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Because ultimately it's the power of the Holy Spirit that transforms us.

Now please, don't misunderstand this. You still do your part. You do the work of taking every thought captive. You do the work of comparing it to Philippians 4:8. You do the work of killing bad thoughts and letting them stay dead. You feed the good thoughts. You do the work that you can do.

And when you still fall short, which all of us do, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in. And we say, "Holy Spirit, I need your help." Sometimes I need the Holy Spirit to be like my wife in the car. To just say, "What you thinking about?" Because sometimes my mind will just wander. And I'll be entertaining a thought that I've got no business entertaining.

And I need the Holy Spirit to come in and tap me on the shoulder and say, "Brent, what are you thinking about right now?" And when the Holy Spirit asks you a question like that, it's not because he's looking for information. He's already got it. But it's helping us understand my mind was going in a bad place.

And so we pray and we ask the Holy Spirit to give us courage, to give us strength, to give us wisdom, that throughout this week, throughout this month, throughout the years to come, that when your thinking is starting to lead you in the wrong direction, the Holy Spirit would speak to you and say, "Hey, fix your thoughts. It's not the right thought to be thinking."

So we do what we can do, and then we trust the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do.

So Father God, we just thank you so much for today, for this opportunity to come into your house and learn from you, to learn how to think like you, to think more biblically about things, to have heavenly thoughts, not worldly thoughts.

Father, I just pray for every single person in this room that we would feel the conviction of thinking about what we think about on a regular basis. But it wouldn't just be something that happens today, but even in the months to come, we would be doing a better job of thinking about what we think about.

That we would take the time to do an audit of our thoughts, to take every thought captive and go through the process of, "Is this the right thought to be thinking? Is this a true thought? Is this an honorable thought? Is this a lovely thought? Is this admirable? Is this excellent and worthy of praise?"

And if it's not, Holy Spirit, we just ask right now that you would give us the strength to kill some thoughts that we need to kill, even those strongholds in our lives, even those thoughts that we know are wrong to be thinking, but we just can't seem to stop thinking about them.

Holy Spirit, we need you to give us the strength to kill those things and to let them stay dead. So Father, we just ask right now that you would begin to speak to us, help us to know the thoughts we should be thinking and the thoughts we need to let go of today, that we could become more and more like you.

In Jesus' name, amen, amen.

We're going to close with a song of worship, and during this time, I just want you to be thinking about what you think about. Allow the Holy Spirit to begin to speak to you and to point out some thoughts that you've had this week that aren't honoring to him, that aren't the right thoughts to be thinking. Just allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you now.

1) "And so today I want to plead with you. If you're going to take every thought captive, sometimes you need to say no brain. OK, and so we're going to take these thoughts captive. We're going to explain what that means in a second. But then we're going to fix our thoughts." [01:21:26](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



2) "We've been on a little bit of a journey over the last four weeks in becoming more like Jesus, because what we want is that when the world would look at us and what we do, what we talk about, that they wouldn't just see us. They would see reflection of our savior." [57:05](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



3) "It's from our thoughts that our actions are derived, right? From our thoughts come the things we do. So if you want to pray like Jesus, what do you need to do first? You got to think like Jesus. If you want to serve like Jesus, what do you got to do first? You got to think like Jesus." [58:11](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



4) "Above all, be careful what you think. Why? Because your thoughts control your life. And if our thoughts control our lives, then we probably need to spend a little bit of time thinking about our thoughts a little bit more and paying more attention to where our thoughts are leading us and how they're controlling us." [59:48](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



5) "You've got to remember that right thinking leads to right living. Right thinking leads us to right doing. We don't want to just think like Jesus. We want to live like Jesus. The whole point of this is not for us to become more intellectual, where we can just sit in a room and talk about our deep thoughts all the time." [01:33:04](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



6) "Jesus thinks you're awesome. He thinks you have value. So much so that he numbered the hairs on your head. And I recognize that's way more impressive for some people than it is for others. But literally Jesus thought you were to die for." [01:14:11](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



7) "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? By the renewal of your mind. And so when my thoughts and Jesus' thoughts don't line up, I need to change my mind, not try and change his mind." [01:15:17](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



8) "You do the work of comparing it to Philippians 4.8. You do the work of killing bad thoughts and letting them stay dead. You feed the good thoughts. You do the work that you can do. And when you still fall short, which all of us do, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in." [01:36:59](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



9) "But those who live following the Spirit are thinking about what the Spirit wants them to do. If your thinking is controlled by your sinful self, there is spiritual death. But if your thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace." [01:35:44](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)