"Healthy Mind - God Help Us" Dary Northrop at Timberline Church

We are excited to start a new series this weekend called healthy mind. We would like to invite you to join us online or live. We will be talking about our thought life and how to control unhealthy thoughts. There truly is a battle going on for your mind. God wants you to win this battle with his help.

Transcription:

- Good morning, Timberline. It's so great to see all you here this morning. If you're able, will you please stand as we sing praises to our God this morning about the great things that He has done? So let's just offer that up to Him this morning. ♪ Come let us worship our King ♪ ♪ And come let us bow at His feet ♪ ♪ He has done great things ♪ ♪ And see what our Savior has done ♪ ♪ And see how His love overcomes ♪ ♪ He has done great things ♪ ♪ He has done great things ♪ ♪ O Hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave ♪ ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive ♪ ♪ O Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ You've been faithful through every storm ♪ ♪ And you'll be faithful forevermore ♪ ♪ You have done great things ♪ ♪ And I know You will do it again ♪ ♪ For Your promise is yes and amen ♪ ♪ You will do great things ♪ ♪ God, You do great things ♪ ♪ O Hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave ♪ ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive ♪ ♪ O Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ Hallelujah God, above it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah God, unshakable ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, You have done great things ♪ ♪ And hallelujah God, above it all ♪ ♪ Hallelujah God, unshakable ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, You have done great things ♪ ♪ You've done great things ♪ ♪ O Hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave ♪ ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive ♪ ♪ O Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high. ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ Amen, let's praise Him. Amen. ♪ Let praise be a weapon that silences the enemy ♪ ♪ Let praise be a weapon that conquers all anxiety ♪ ♪ Let it rise, let praise arise ♪ ♪ We sing Your name in the dark and it changes everything ♪ ♪ We sing with all we are and we claim Your victory ♪ ♪ And let it rise, let praise arise ♪ ♪ We'll see You break down every wall ♪ ♪ We'll watch the giants fall ♪ ♪ For fear cannot survive when we praise You ♪ ♪ The God of breakthrough's on our side ♪ ♪ Forever lift Him high ♪ ♪ With all creation cry, God, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You, oh ♪ ♪ Let faith be the song that overcomes the raging sea ♪ ♪ Let faith be the song that calms the storm inside of me ♪ ♪ Let it rise, let faith arise ♪ ♪ We'll see You break down every wall ♪ ♪ We'll watch the giants fall ♪ ♪ For fear cannot survive when we praise You ♪ ♪ The God of breakthrough's on our side ♪ ♪ Forever lift Him high ♪ ♪ With all creation cry, God, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ This is what living looks like ♪ ♪ This is what freedom feels like ♪ ♪ This is what Heaven sounds like ♪ ♪ We praise You, we praise You ♪ ♪ This is what living looks like ♪ ♪ This is what freedom feels like ♪ ♪ This is what Heaven sounds like ♪ ♪ We praise You, we praise You ♪ ♪ This is what living looks like ♪ ♪ This is what freedom feels like ♪ ♪ This is what Heaven sounds like ♪ ♪ We praise You, we praise You ♪ ♪ This is what living looks like ♪ ♪ This is what freedom feels like ♪ ♪ This is what Heaven sounds like ♪ ♪ We praise You, we praise You ♪ ♪ We'll see You break down every wall ♪ ♪ We'll watch the giants fall ♪ ♪ For fear cannot survive when we praise You ♪ ♪ The God of breakthrough's on our side ♪ ♪ Forever lift Him high ♪ ♪ With all creation cry, God, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ Oh, we praise You ♪ ♪ The King is in the room ♪ ♪ Come see the scars of love upon His hands ♪ ♪ The King is in the room ♪ ♪ We'll watch the darkness flee at His command ♪ ♪ And who is this King ♪ ♪ Who is this King ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ And His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ And awesome in power ♪ ♪ Reigning forever ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ The Healer's in the room ♪ ♪ Let miracles break out across this place ♪ ♪ The Savior's in the room ♪ ♪ No soul beyond the boundaries of His grace ♪ ♪ There's resurrection power in His name ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ He's awesome in power ♪ ♪ Reigning forever ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ There's never been a love so great ♪ ♪ He died so we could live ♪ ♪ Then He rose up from that grave ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ Now all authority ♪ ♪ Forever belongs to Him ♪ ♪ He reigns in victory ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ There's never been a love so great ♪ ♪ He died so we could live ♪ ♪ Then He rose up from that grave ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ Now all authority ♪ ♪ Forever belongs to Him ♪ ♪ He reigns in victory ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ Who is this King ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ And His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ Awesome in power ♪ ♪ Reigning forever ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ There's never been a love so great ♪ ♪ He died so we could live ♪ ♪ Then He rose up from that grave ♪ ♪ Name another King like this ♪ ♪ Now all authority ♪ ♪ Forever belongs to Him ♪ ♪ He reigns in victory ♪ ♪ Name another King ♪ ♪ His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ And His name is Jesus ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ Awesome in power ♪ ♪ Reigning forever ♪ ♪ Light of the world ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪ ♪ There's freedom in His name ♪

- Hey, will you pray with me? Timberland family, we are just so thankful, Father, for this time, this time in maybe a crazy week, maybe a tragic week, maybe a confusing week, maybe a good week to come in and stop, and to acknowledge Jesus, that there has never been and there never will be a king, a Lord, a Savior, a Father, a Friend like you to our souls, to our hearts, to our minds, to our life. Father, for those souls in the room that are hurting, Holy Spirit, meet them in healing power. For those souls that have more questions than answers, Father, bring peace because you are the answer to every single one of those questions. Lord, for the friends that had a great week, may we take this time to stop and just say thank you, something we don't say enough to a God that gives good gifts to His people. Lord, what a privilege to be in your house this morning. Open our hearts, open our minds. Father, invite us into a new way of thinking this week as we learn what you have planned for us to learn through your word. We love you, Lord, and we pray this in your name. Amen. Amen, hey, as you are seated, will you turn to somebody next to you, behind you, beside you, and just ask them, do you prefer wind or do you prefer rain?

- Please stop.

- Rain.

- Rain, rain. This was a pretty good one, right? Okay, okay. This has been a very unpredictable situation, not really. But just by show of hands, how many of you prefer wind? We have one, I think, in this service, bless you. Okay, by a second show of hands, how many of us prefer rain? Lord, from our hands to your ears, hold the wind, send the rain, amen?

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Amen, oh, my gosh. Hey, welcome to Timberline. My name is Niki Macintosh, I'm the young adults director here. If this is your first time, we're so excited to have you. If you are visiting online, we see you guys too and we're so glad that you're here. We wanna connect with you. The best and easiest way, and quickest way to do this is gonna be on the seatback in front of you, there's a connection card. There's also a QR code on the screen. And if you've been coming for a season and you're ready to get more involved, ready to find out some more opportunities that Timberline offers to build community, that's also gonna be a great way to get connected with us so that we can get connected with you. Well, this weekend, we're excited to start a new series after Easter called "Healthy Minds". And in partnership with the launching of this new series, we're also launching a new resource called The Well. And this resource is gonna be a way for you to take what you've learned on a Sunday or a Saturday here at service, and go deeper throughout the week. It's gonna be a place where there's gonna be more resources available to you. So it's called The Well. If you're in the app and you open the app, it's gonna be one of those first things that you see. If you go to our website, it's gonna be underneath the Resources tab, and The Well is gonna be organized by topics. So as we go through topics up here and through the years and weeks that follow, we're gonna be adding those topics to The Well. And you can get to it by clicking on it. So if you go there, the first topic that you're gonna see is depression. And we're talking about that next week. And you're gonna click on it, and then once you find that topic of interest, you'll see a variety of resources that are gonna be organized on that page. It's really cool, there's blogs, there's resources for adults, there's resources for teens, for kids. There's music, there's links and places that you can go to continue to pursue and dig into whatever that topic is. And connection is a huge priority for us at Timberline. So on The Well, there's also always gonna be a way for you to be able to connect with a pastor in regards to that topic. So we're excited to have this resource available to you. It's live now and it's gonna be there, and the resources are gonna stay and grow with us as we learn and grow here on the weekends. Now let's just take a moment as we enter this new series called "Healthy Minds", to stop, maybe still our minds and open our hearts to what God has for us.

- [Dary] Well, good morning.

- [Congregation] Good morning.

- It is great to see ya. Oh, I love it, you doing good?

- [Congregation] Yeah.

- All coffee'd up? How many of you've already had a big, hot breakfast somewhere? Oh, look at that, look at you. Great to see you, thanks for joining us. Hi, everybody online. Thank you for being with us, we really do appreciate it. Yeah, I'm excited about all these new things happening and we're having a really fun time building The Well, it's gonna become a really powerful resource on almost any topic, as we just continue to add to it through the years in the ministry here. I wanna just say a couple of things about something else that's happening today, that I wanna personally invite you to, with my wife, Bonnie, and that's called Summit One. We have two classes in summit, but it starts with Summit One, and it happens today, just a couple hours from now. So if you want to come back at 12:30 or so, just across the hall in our south auditorium, Bonnie and I wanna join you, meet you. You'll meet some of our staff, we'll feed you lunch, take care of your kids. It doesn't get any better than that, and we'll get to know ya. Then we'll spend about an hour together after that, walking through the kind of philosophy, values, core values of Timberline Church, why we do what we do, and it's a really fun but meaningful class. So it's worth your time if you're new around here, and we would love to meet you. The second thing is, I've mentioned a couple times, our new giving platform. Those of you that electronically give online are gonna need... you're getting some information already, but you're gonna continue to get some email on instructions, how to resign up, I'm sorry. You have to enter your details again. I don't like that but we do. It's gonna save us in some fees and some other things, it's a better platform for us. And so please... And you'll notice there's three main funds, one for each campus, it's called a priority fund. And that's for Windsor, Timberline Road and Old Town. And then from that priority fund, we're able to take percentages out of that to do things like helping Ukraine, like helping Convoy of Hope. 'Cause what's happening now, we have so many tabs that come down. A lot of people don't know what all those words are. What are we doing with all this? So there will be times when we add a tab for something special or specific, but for the most part, priority giving is where we want you to be giving. And thank you, I mean that. Thank you for just being so generous. I look at how God is using this church, and you know what I feel like? We're just like a big funnel. And it's just given and it just keeps on going, and we don't keep anything in between. And I'm so proud of you for that, and thankful that you are giving the way you are giving. So it really means a lot. Well, we are in this series, as Niki mentioned, "Healthy Mind", and it's really challenging me. I've had quite a week walking through some of the scenarios that I'm gonna talk with you about today. Today's sort of the kickoff for the whole series. We're gonna be looking at quite a few topics in this, but today is more of a general topic of your brain. How many of you have one? I know you do. I was thinking this week, as I was doing some monitoring of my brain and a little journal that I've been carrying around, and why I think like I do. And I've decided that my brain has its own brain, and it just goes off somewhere and I'm like, "wow, wow, wow, that's... what is that?" So we're gonna have some fun talking about what this means. But I wanna read something to you. This series just simply called, "Healthy Mind, God help us", 'cause we do need His help with our thinking. Thinking is everything as you'll see and we'll talk about. There's a passage in 2 Corinthians 10, that some of you are familiar with, but I want to read it in a new format. I typically read from like NIV or NLT, but I rarely read from The Message. And The Message is a great paraphrase of the Bible, which kind of expands it a little bit. And I want you... maybe you know this passage and you want to just sit back and close your eyes and listen to me read it, but it's about the brain and it's about the world and the corrupt systems of the world, and how we have to be careful not to buy into those systems. So just let me read it and you just listen, and then we'll about it. "The world is unprincipled. it's dog-eat-dog out there. The world doesn't fight fair, but we don't live or fight our battles that way. Never have, never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or for manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire, massively corrupt culture." That's talking about the culture that we live in. "We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, for tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God. Fitting every loose thought and emotion, and impulse, into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction, and building lives of obedience into maturity. And I know that's a lot, but I want us to dive into what that means and how we can live it out. And I wanna make you a promise. Throughout this series, you're not gonna feel like it's a... Let me just say it like this, a try harder series. 'Cause I get worn out by those. I sometimes get sick of trying. How about you? It's like, "I know, I know. I can't do it, I failed, give me an F, I'm done." So I'm not gonna do that with you. I think we, all of us on our teaching team, are really committed, not to just say try harder, 'cause sometimes trying harder just doesn't work. But instead, I believe you have everything in you, according to scripture, you have the power of God in you if you've believed in Jesus Christ through the resurrection power of God. And I'm gonna read this to you, and listen to this because this is a very powerful promise, when you start a series like this, about your behavior and your thinking. And it's in 2 Peter 1:3, and I'm just gonna read one sentence of it, and it says this. "By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life." True or false? You really believe that's true? So you already have all the tools. You have everything you need to do what we're gonna be talking about today. Everything, it's in you. Now, you might not know how to properly structure it. How many of you have ever cooked something using a recipe? All the ingredients are there, you can have all the ingredients. How many of you believe you can still mess it up if you don't do it right, even with all the ingredients? Some you're shaking your head like by experience, right? Yeah, you can. You can have all the ingredients, but you need to know how to use them. Someone could gift you a car and they say, "There's a new Ferrari, I put it in your garage." And you go, "I'm in." You open your garage, and it's all in pieces. Every part is separated. It's all there, all you have to do is assemble it. It's all there. And sometimes I feel like that's what we need to understand in our faith walk. Some people pray like, "God, give me more patience or give me more," you don't need to pray that. You have what you need, you just have to practice it. You have to learn how to put it together, how to assemble it. You have all the gifts from God, you have the power of the Holy Spirit. So know that you have what you need to walk through these topics. And not every week is your deal, you might not live in depression at all, but you're gonna learn something about your thinking next week when we to talk about depression, or then anxiety or contentment. We're gonna talk about contentment. How do you have it? How do you know when you have it and you want more contentment ? That's a joke. Do you get it? You don't just... You know, if I said tomorrow morning, we're gonna all run a marathon together and we're gonna run it in under three hours. We could try harder and still not do it, right? You could try and try, and try, and try, and try and never do it. So that's why, I don't know, it's been over a decade ago, we've started this phrase, saying it to you, and there's books written about it. Stop trying, start training. Stop trying and start training. If you have the tools you need... Now, I don't know that everyone could run a marathon under three hours, but if we spent the next year training seriously, many of you could run a marathon in under three hours because of training, but not tomorrow because it takes time. The renewing of the mind doesn't happen tomorrow or today, it happens through time by the decisions you make. And so I want you to give yourself some slack today. I don't want you to feel frustrated, like, "Man, I can't get out of this hole. My thinking is warp because of the way I grew up and my needs that I have, my relationships that I keep blowing up." All of us are victims of what happened to us somewhere back there. How we're raised, abandonment, all of us have issues. But God has given us a new mind and God has given us everything we need to live for Him. So keep that in mind as we walk through this. So number one in your outline, if you're following along on the app or if you picked up a sheet with the outline on it, is simply this, my thinking matters most. My thinking matters most. And I'm not sure how much I have thought about my thinking. And in these last few weeks, knowing this series is coming and I'm kicking it off, I've been thinking a lot about my thinking. And it's pretty weird. I wonder how many times a judge in the court system hears words... Through the years, it's been fun to talk to judges, we've had a few here at Timberline, and to see kind of what their life must be like. But I bet judges hear so many times, someone say, "I just wasn't thinking straight." How many of you, as a parent, have heard that before? "I just wasn't thinking, dad, I just wasn't thinking, mom." Well that's a truth, there's truth in that. Sometimes we are not really thinking. As a matter of fact, on a serious note, I think that's why these brain diseases, Alzheimer's, dementia, all these things are so very sad, because it takes someone out. When they no longer have the capacity to know who they are or remember, or have a relationship. All that's taken away and it's so tragic. So I have a couple questions for you as we dive into this. Do all actions start with your mind? What do you think? Does it all start in your brain? The way you think? Now I know there's such a thing as a reflex. You know, you sit on the table, There's a reflex that maybe isn't just a mind thing. But typically, all of your actions and behaviors start right here. So if I say, hold out your right hand in front of you, you can do that, but you've processed it really quickly and your brain is giving you permission to hold out your... because you have a function that attaches that to your motor skills, and you're able to hold your right hand out in front of you. Does all sin start with the mind? I'm not trying to ask trick questions, I promise. Does it start with the mind? Do all addictions start with the mind or with my thinking? You need to ponder this because your answers really matter. So we're talking about that. It's not easy... Living a life that is renewed in my mind, as scripture calls it, takes time and energy, but you have all the tools. Don't forget that, you have what you need, but it's gonna take pulling those things out and getting them structured in a way that you can win the battle of your mind, 'cause there is a battle there, scripture talks about it. Number two, in your outline, becoming a living and holy sacrifice. What does it mean when... Romans 12:1-2 some of you're familiar with this passage, it's pretty well known. A lot of articles' written on it, books written about it, the renewing of the mind and presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to please God. This is a great place for us to start the study of the mind and our pattern. So I'm just gonna read it, the first verse, part of the first verse. "And so dear brothers and sisters," this is Paul writing to the church in Rome, "I plead with you to give your bodies." This is talking about your actual body. "I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you." Does your body include your mind? Yep, it does. "Let your bodies be a living and holy sacrifice." What's the tee off for the word sacrifice? What would that do to the people in this culture? Death, the lamb, offering a sacrifice. But Paul does a play on words, a living and holy sacrifice. So you don't have to die, why? Who died? He has risen, right? He died. So now I can present my body as a holy and a living sacrifice, the kind that he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship God. Wow, how was this done? Giving my body, my mind, my thought processes. And there's a key word that's gonna be underlined in everything we talk about these next few weeks. It's the word surrender. Surrender is everything in this series. And I can honestly tell you, I don't think you fully know when you're really surrendered or not. I think some people say, "I've surrendered that to God," but honestly they haven't. I'm just throwing that out there. It's easy to say, hard to do. Am I really surrendered to God? And not just saying it, but living it out. And how do I become a steward of this word? How do I offer my body, my mind, in a way that is a living sacrifice to honor God? Number three, where does my behavior actually come from? This question will be pondered every week. And I think there's a root and will all of us, our behavior comes from some similar things, but sometimes, your behavior is based on something a little different than mine because of our life experiences. Romans 12:2 says this. After it says to offer our bodies, it says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world." Why is that? Because that behavior and those customs are not pleasing to God. This is talking about the sinful nature, and how man's tendency is to think in a way of that sinful nature, which causes a behavior and a pattern that is not the pattern of offering my body as a holy and living sacrifice. Everybody's still with me? So keep this rolling in your mind and in your heart, and how do we learn? How is our behavior created? I've watched our three kids grow up. I remember as, when they were children, I remember when they were born. I remember watching them mimic me, doing everything that I was doing, doing everything their siblings were doing. That's how they learn. It's just a phenomenal thing to watch a child. So my behaviors depended on a few things. Now there's three things that I'm gonna talk about that I'd love for you to just not come to a conclusion about it today, but put it in the process of thinking about. The first word is capability, capability. So my behavior is going to always be conditioned by my capability. Let me give you this example. A child must become capable to roll over. When they're born, they can't roll over. You could stand there and say to your kid 10 times, "Roll over, roll over, roll over." Are they gonna do it? No, why? They're not capable. "Walk, walk, walk." Remember that? They roll over then they sit up finally, then they crawl a little bit, then they crawl a lot and you wish they couldn't crawl. Then they walk and then they run, then they grow up. Why? Because they're now capable. That's a big word in terms of behavior. I have to be capable. It's even a big word in court systems and justice, but we won't go there. Number two, this is even a bigger word in my opinion. Available, availability. So my capability, but availability. My patterns are dependent on availability. So I'm gonna really jump out to an extreme to illustrate the point. If you never have an illegal drug in your home, is it true that you will never use illegal drugs in your home? Go like this? Yes, why? Because it's not available. Now, this, really, is important because what happens is people don't compute in their thinking, in their mind, what they are making available to them that ends up with a terrible consequence. The consequence is way later. And I think we don't even realize the power of this thought process. I was praying with a mom whose son is in jail. He was addicted, got caught, drugs. And I said to her, there's one good side about this. And she said what? She was in tears, and it's sad. I said, "Drugs are not available to him." And she went, "Oh, my goodness, let's pray he stays there." Availability. So this is gonna be a fun moment. How many of you, be honest, have ever been on a diet? Just kinda wave it, some kind of diet, okay. Stand and come forward, we wanna hear all about... No, I'm just kidding. This is fun. So I certainly have, and so there's all these different kinds of things, and so be honest, how many of you have actually cleared out your cupboards or your refrigerator of certain foods so it's not even in the house? Okay, why'd you do that? So it wouldn't be, say it with me, available. Because right now, I'm strong. I just had dinner and I ate really healthy. But after a couple of shows and I want a midnight snack, that's gonna be available. This makes things available. You can hit a few buttons here and reach high levels of anxiety just reading social media. Just think, I want you to just think about this. So many of the strongholds in people's lives are because they made it available. Last week, Tom gave such a great testimony. He and Shannon, I appreciate them. Someone bought that beer. Someone walked into a store and bought beer that would be consumed later. You walked into that pub. You don't just wake up in a hotel room with someone you're not supposed to be there with, and go how, "I don't know how I got here." Sure, sorry. That's the damage is done. It happened because you made it, say it with me, available. So I want you to think about what is available in your life and what you need to clear out so it's not available to you. Because if there's a stronghold that happening in your life, and there's a way to make it unavailable, that's a win. Now it might not always have to be unavailable. Once you train your mind and you cross some lines of discipline, and you like your behavior, and you establish a new way of thinking, then you can say, "No, not doing that. I know where that goes." And that's the last word that I want to put up here, is action. We have capability, availability, but then there's that action. That's a big word because what I do with this, and I choose to act on those impulses, or I refuse to act on those impulses. It's an action, and I choose to do something, either positive or negative. That's all happening, you guys, in my brain. it's all happening in the way that I think. I can change my behavior with these tools. You have all that you need. You don't need to ask God for anything else. You have the tools. It's a matter of you learning how to use them and equipping yourself. You are capable of acknowledging your weakness and coming back to the place it starts, and removing it from the availability. I have a friend who removed his app looking at the stock market, because he had listed all of his investments. So it was right on the front page, on his phone, and he could hit the button one time and all of his world comes up, and he was checking it 30 or 40 times a day, worried, anxiety, said, "I can't do this." And boy, the stock market, the last few months, the last few years, it's all over the map. So he removed the app. He could still find the information another way, but at least it's not so fast for him, why? He didn't want it to be available. It's just amazing to me. All these ways that people get all these sports app now, all this betting on sports. I mean, I know there's a such a thing as a fun, silly thing you do, but my goodness, there's consequences to these actions. You don't just wake up in a casino some morning with your mortgage on the table, ready to offer it up. Something happened way back there. Pay attention to those temptations and those weaknesses. Behavior is learned and often planned, and sometimes it's subconscious and we don't even realize we're stuck in a behavior pattern that we don't like. We just don't wanna suffer the consequences so we try to avoid the end of that bad behavior, which usually doesn't happen very often. Usually the consequences come to us. So wrong thinking usually is from that bad behavior. But that means these tools can also work for right behavior because of right thinking, right? So stay with me in this through these weeks. The number four is this, transformation comes from the way we think. Transformation is not just automatic. It starts with my thinking, and then it turns into patterns of behavior. And you've gotta really be hard on yourself this week. I did this this week. So I literally started monitoring my thinking. And I have this little thing in my... It's a little journal, I don't journal that much, but I just would write down, okay, I drive the same way to work every time, why? Is it the shortest route? And then I Googled it and it wasn't the shortest route. But it does go by a restaurant that I like. That a couple of times a week, I stop and take something home. So all of a sudden, I'm looking at these patterns, like why am I doing that? Why do I sit in this chair in our living room? There's another chair. Why am I turning this news on rather than that news? Just start questioning everything. Why am I doing this? And I'm telling you, you'll be surprised at how stuck we can get and not even know it. And I'm not saying you need to go change all that up. I'm just saying, you're in a pattern of thinking right now. And your behavior is because of that pattern of thinking. And it might do you good to think, and that's what Romans 12, the second verse, that last half of the second verse, we've already read the first and first part of verse two, says this, "Let God transform you." Wow, I like that so far. "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you," what? Think. Then you will, keyword, say it with me, learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So here's the question. Does God change us? Be careful when you answer. Or do you change with the strength God has already given you? I hear people pray, "Oh, God change this in me. I don't wanna be this way anymore." He's given you all you need. Just accept that, realize it. When you pray that, stop praying that. God's up there, going, "Dude, I've given you everything." I so wish that there was like a little SD card slot right behind my right ear, and... Wouldn't it be awesome? Every time someone accepts Christ, we bring him up here and we pull out a little box of SD cards called God Wins. And we say, "We're gonna take this old SD card out. Woo, here's the new God card." You're thinking this is gonna blow your mind. It's not how it happens. God has not decided to come in and change your thinking. God has decided to partner with you so you can learn to change the way you think. I don't just say, "Okay, God, I'm ready for a new mind, hit me with it." Wouldn't that be nice? It's not what happens. So you have the tools. Offer your body as a living sacrifice and be willing to trust God to learn my new behavior patterns. We're a culture and this is... Last couple of thoughts, we're gonna go to two ideas to practice this week, and it's just a starting point. But I wanna say this, our culture is really big on two words, fix it. If my laptop isn't working right, I want to take it to somebody, hand it to them over a counter and say, "Can you fix this?" And they say, "It's gonna cost $200." And I go, "Okay, that's cheaper than buying a new one, fix it, I need it to be fixed." What if they said, "You know what? For $50, we can learn together and I'll teach you how to fix it." You know what I would say? No. I don't wanna know how to fix it. I want you to fix it 'cause you know how, and I don't." It's worth $200 . See, that's our culture, so that's what we do with God. Fix me, I hate myself, I'm tired of this life. God says, "I've given it all to you. You have my Son, you have my Holy Spirit. Come on, let's partner and let's fix it." And it's not trying harder. It's letting God be joyful with you. It's seeing the tools in your garage and saying, let's put this sucker together. I've got all I need. I'm not gonna live by the behavior of the patterns of this old, repulsive world. I have a higher calling. Here's how you practice this week. Two really simple things. Number one is just recognize my behavioral patterns. Take an inventory this week, laugh at yourself, okay? Please laugh at yourself, have some fun. Why are you thinking the way you're thinking? What are my patterns? Why do I drive this route? What do I do? Why do I say this phrase? Where'd that come from? Why is this always a tension for me? Why do I watch these shows? Just start asking all kinds of questions about your thinking and have some fun with it. Maybe if you're with another person today and you live in the same household, you could just say, let's do this together. Let's laugh at one another in a good, healthy way, and let's identify, why my behavior, why my patterns always default to this? And is it good or bad? Maybe your patterns are wonderful and you don't wanna change a thing. You should probably ask if that's working for everybody or just you. Number two is just capture my thoughts. Capture my thoughts. So when I'm over here in the forefront of making a decision, it's true. I think it was Pastor Darrell Haley, last night, when we were praying, he said that Smith Wigglesworth, who was a revivalist evangelist back in the day, that he used to say, "You can't keep a bird from landing in a tree but you can keep him from building a nest." You know, Billy Graham used to say, "Well, the first thought of lust might be natural, but the second thought is lust and I have control over that." So I choose what I'm gonna the ponder on. And I get it, we live in a fallen world, so we're not gonna escape temptation, we're not gonna escape the needs of the flesh. It's all gonna be there. But I'm gonna learn how to process that through a body that is being offered as a living and holy sacrifice to God. 2 Corinthians 10:5. Listen to this, this is the capture. We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought or capturing every loose thought and emotion, and impulse, into the structure of life shaped by Christ. You follow that? You know the little tool you give a kid when they're learning shapes and there's a ball, and it has like a shape of a star on it, and they pick up a star and they wiggle it around until it fits in there? And then they go to the rectangle, then they go to circle, and they figured out that's what fits in here. That's what Paul's saying. We learn to put in the things that are the God shapes that fit in a life that's being offered as a holy, living sacrifice. Let's pray, Lord, thank you. Thank you that you love us so much. You gave us all we need to live a godly life. Wow. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for empowering us. Thank you for last weekend when we recognized you are risen, you live in us. Thanks for giving us the tools, help us to acknowledge that today. Help us to find some joy in discovering those in these bodies of ours. How many of you... you know, I don't even want you to raise your hand to these, but just a couple kind of probing questions for you to answer internally. How many of you need to stop trying and start training? You're wearing yourself out just trying harder. Why don't you just stop that this week, and why don't you just get the tools that we've talked about today and start training your behavior, your skills, what's available that no longer needs to be available to you? How do you get out of that situation? I'm not gonna be in that anymore. That action's gonna change, and it's just practical. And the second one is I will capture my impure thoughts. I'm gonna observe what I think about and I'm gonna capture those babies, and now I'm gonna say, "Okay, I don't think this is a good one. How can I get rid of this?" And let God give you some tools to actually start thinking about something good, something positive. This is how insecurity even can be dealt with. These don't have to be big, addictive, horrible sins that lead you to prison or lead you to broken relationships. These might just be little things. God help us to trust you with everything in our life, but especially our brains and our thought life. Purify us today. Help us to be able to walk out of here trusting you more, in Jesus name, amen. Amen, you guys, we're gonna have some fun these next few weeks. Put some work into it, let's enjoy it and let's let God refresh us. I sure love you. I'm praying for you and let's do this together. Some good consequences ahead. We're gonna sing this song. I want you to just think about these words, they're powerful words. And if I haven't met some of you, we have a new kind of welcome center. It used to be over on this side, but now it's on to your left as you walk out the door. And we have some people back there that you might wanna meet, that will help you. If you have questions about Timberline, come on by. We'll all be out there, love to say hi if I haven't had a chance to meet you yet. And let's stand if we're able and sing this song, and let's make this declaration to God. Sing it out. You have been faithful. ♪ You've been faithful through every storm ♪ ♪ You'll be faithful forevermore ♪ ♪ You have done great things ♪

- [Dary] Think about that. ♪ And I know You will do it again ♪ ♪ For Your promise is yes and amen ♪ ♪ You will do great things ♪ ♪ God, You do great things ♪ ♪ O Hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave ♪ ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive ♪ ♪ O Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ O Hero of Heaven, You conquered the grave ♪ ♪ You free every captive and break every chain ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪ ♪ We dance in Your freedom, awake and alive ♪ ♪ O Jesus, our Savior, Your name lifted high ♪ ♪ O God, You have done great things ♪

- Amen. God, you have done great things. The invitation from Pastor Dary this weekend is to recognize my patterns and capture my thoughts. Life homework. It's not homework, homework, it's not work, work. It's soul care, and it's time for you and Jesus to sit on the throne of your hearts and say who is king and Who is Lord over my life. If you took any next steps in the service, if there's something that the Holy Spirit is stirring in your heart, we wanna meet you in that space. There's a prayer team up front. They're gonna be here to meet with you, to pray for you, to encourage you. So don't be afraid, come up and use them and let them love on and encourage you. If you give faithfully to Timberline, thank you so much. You can continue to do so online, and there's an offering bucket at the back of this room. This week, check out The Well, the resources are available to you now. And then on your way out, we have the mall tables to check out also. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus to all the souls that come across your path. We love you, have a great weekend, you guys.