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Amen. Well, uh, we've been in a summer series called Disciple talking about what it means to be a disciple all summer. This is gonna be the final teaching in the series. And the next week is Vision Sunday. I'm gonna be sharing some vision for where we feel God is calling us in the next season. But uh last week we looked at to kind of catch up to speed, we looked at Jesus' words in Luke chapter six, where Jesus said, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. And so we talked about how growing as a disciple of Christ actually requires spiritual training. There's different areas, different spiritual muscles, if you would, that when we when we exercise them and work them out, it actually produces fruit in our lives. We talked about training our minds to be set on things above. We talked about training our ears to discern the voice of the good shepherd. We talked about training our eyes to remain fixed on Christ, training our feet to walk in the way of righteousness, training our hands to worship, training our mouths to impart words of life and encouragement, and training our hearts to behold the glory of Christ. And so if you missed last week's teaching, that's a little recap. You can check it out on the podcast. But as I was praying this week about bringing this series to a close, I really felt like I was supposed to double click on one of those elements of our spiritual training. And so this morning, uh, what I'm gonna really highlight is a double click on what it means to have our minds being renewed. Double click and say, God, what does the scripture say about our minds being set on things above and being transformed, as Paul says, by the renewing of your mind? What does that actually mean and what does that look like? And the reason I wanted to unpack that one a little bit more is because the reality is the things that we think about and the things that we fill our mind with are eventually gonna trickle down and bleed into every other area of our life. So the our our mind and what we think and believe to be true is what impacts our actions. And so this is where I think God wants to just lead us this morning to a deeper understanding. And as I was thinking about this uh, this concept of our minds being renewed, I got an illustration of it yesterday, actually, as I was out sitting on a chair with my wife out front and looking over at how a bunch of leaves are starting to fall. And I got pine needles in my house too. And I don't know about y'all, but like I hate yard work. It is like the bane of my existence. Like, I get mad at Adam every time I'm doing yard work. So I'm like, why'd you have to eat of that fruit, bro? Now the ground is cursed and I'm having to waste my time doing this, right? So I'm out there sitting there, and my wife's like, when are you gonna like blow the leaves off the driveway? It looks so much better. I was like, I and I'm just like putting it off. I'm like, I hate doing this because I'm gonna have to do it like 10 times over the next month. So I'm just gonna wait till it's all done. She's like, no, I really want you to do it. And I was like, okay, okay, okay. So I go in and get the leaf blower, and it takes probably 20 minutes. I like blow the whole driveway. And y'all know, like, it does feel good and it does look good when it's all done, right? So like I'm now like reaping the rewards of like blowing off my all the leaves off of my driveway. And I'm like, okay, this actually is kind of nice. And I'm like OCD and I'm a perfectionist too. So like I'm making sure like every little crumb is out of my driveway. So if you saw drum my driveway right now, you'd be like, that thing's legit, right? So I'll go in, give the boys some food, put the boys down for dinner. Later on that night, I just I go out on the back porch, and as I'm standing out there, I notice something. And that is that a single leaf has fallen and is now like right in the middle of my driveway. And I'm looking at this from my upper deck and it is stressing me out. I'm like, dude, I just spent 20 minutes and got it perfect, and there's already a leaf back. And like I was fighting every fiber in my being to not like go down the stairs and like move that leaf. I was like, I just want to go to sleep with it being perfect. I know it's not gonna be in the morning. But I just realized like that that's the way that it works. If you if you want to keep the driveway nice, there is a renewal that happens. It's not a one and done. It's like you're gonna be, especially in the next month, you're gonna be doing that every single week. We're gonna be raking leaves and blowing our driveways every single week, right? So this is what it means with this the same concept with renewing our minds. It's like it's not like, okay, Christ, I gave my life to you, and now I got a new mind and a new heart, but now I just put it on cruise control. No, there is a constant renewal that needs to take place. And so the the reason for this is very simple, and that is that our natural mind, that is the state of our heart and our mind before Christ, it is actually at enmity with God. Like this is really important to understand. The natural mind versus a mind that has been filled with the Holy Spirit. Uh, the natural mind, the scripture says, is really at enmity with God. I want to give you a few references. Mark 7, verse 21. Listen to what uh listen to what it says here. It says, For from within, out of the heart of men, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. So Jesus says that the natural heart that's not been regenerated, the first thing that comes out of it is evil thoughts. That is our minds. And our minds and our hearts are closely connected in the biblical idea. So out of an unregenerated heart comes evil thoughts, which leads to all sorts of other evil: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, covetousness, all of that comes from the natural mind. Paul puts it this way in Romans 1, verse 28 through 31. It says, he says this since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not be done. And then it goes into what a debased mind which is separated from God, what comes from it. He says, They're full of all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. So all of those things, he says, comes from a mind that is debased, a mind that has said, I do not submit to God. I am not being renewed, I am being deformed. All of these things come out of the natural mind of man. And then finally, Paul put it this way in Romans 8 7. He said, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Now that's interesting. Not only does the natural mind not submit to God's law, he says it cannot. Like a heart and mind that has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit actually cannot submit to the working of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. And so this is really the big idea here that the natural state of our mind, according to what Jesus said and Paul in the scriptures, is that it is the source of all evil thoughts. It is debased and it leads us to do what ought not be done. It is hostile towards God and it cannot submit to God's law. So there's a there's a problem here. That's the spiritual diagnosis of the natural state of the mind of man. And so what we see in that is that in order for that something to happen, God has to do something. And what God does is God comes in and he regenerates us by the Holy Spirit. And we see this in Ephesians chapter two. If you want to flip there real quick, Ephesians chapter two, Paul explains and describes our spiritual deadness and then contrast it with the working of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter two. Look down, starting with me if you would, in verse one, it says this He says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in once in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. So Paul says here, hey, here's who you were. Again, all all these all these descriptors here are not really good. He's like, We were children of wrath, we were sons of disobedience, we were living out the desires of the flesh, we were enslaved to our own minds. And then he says, though, in verse 4, look at verse 4, the contrast, but God, Ephesians 2, 4, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So the who we were, he says, not good. Enslaved and controlled by the desires of the flesh and mind. But now, because of Christ, who we are, he says, now we are granted mercy. Now we we are loved and alive in Christ. Now we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. We are saints, we are members of the household of God. So what I want you to see is that if you've placed your faith in Christ, there is already this radical spiritual transformation that has taken place from who you were to who you are. Who you are now as a disciple of Christ, you have been given a new heart. Who you are as a disciple of Christ, you have been given a renewed mind. You have been given a new identity. In fact, Paul says we've been given an entire new citizenship. Like when you place your faith in Christ, you you become a citizen of an eternal heavenly kingdom. Philippians 3 20, Paul says it this way: Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, for those of y'all who have traveled at all or been to any other country or any other culture, you know that people who are not citizens of America, people who are citizens of other countries, they look a little bit different. They talk a little bit different, they speak a different language or a different dialect, they dress a little different. And the reason they're different is because of the way that they think. The reason people in different countries do things differently is ultimately that they think differently because it is again what we think that shapes the way that we live. I was in uh I was in Tokyo earlier this year, and my bro Packy just got back from Tokyo. Welcome back, doggy. Uh, I was in Tokyo and it was the craziest experience of my life. I don't know if you've ever been there before. There's not a single trash can anywhere in the entire city. It's like the biggest city in the world, I think like 40 million or something. And I like got some McDonald's or I got a sandwich or something, and I was just trying to figure out where to throw my wrapper. I was like, dude, where are the trash cans? And I was literally walking forever trying to find a trash can. Then finally I talked to someone. I was like, yo, like, where's y'all's trash cans? And they're like, you take it home with you. And I was like, why? And they're like, so that we don't have to clean up your trash from the trash cans, you throw it in. And I was like, that makes sense. Okay. So the biggest city in the world, and it's like, it's so clean, you'd think it wouldn't be clean because there's no trash cans. You think people just litter everywhere, and it's like, we're the ones who got trash cans everywhere, and we just throw our stuff everywhere. So they actually got it right. And so, again, that that's a different way of thinking. They think differently about garbage there in Tokyo, and apparently it's working. So, again, for us as citizens of heaven, we ought to think differently than people who are just citizens of earth. And that's exactly what Paul is getting at in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, which is primarily where I want to camp this morning. In Romans chapter 12, verse 2, listen to what Paul says here. He says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So I want you to notice here there's a negative command, something not to do, and then there is a positive command. So, first off, he says, do not, that is a negative command, do not be conformed to this world. That word conformed in the original Greek language, it has this idea of being pressed together or molded by an outside pressure. So he says, do not let the outside pressure conform you and mold you. And that outside pressure, as we know, is the world, which is why he says, do not be conformed to this world. And that phrase the world, that that speaks of in the Greek, the the entire collective human system that is opposed to God. So the big idea on the negative command is do not let the world and culture and people who are living in rebellion against God, do not let them shape and form you. And do not let the ideas of a world that is opposed to God, do not let that be the thing that you're filling your mind. Because if it is, you are gonna be shaped by that pressure. That pressure is gonna shape and mold you into what it wants you to be. But instead, on the contrast of being from an outside pressure, being forced and pressured into becoming further from what God intends for us, he says, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So while conformed speaks of an outward pressure that is that is being forced upon us, transformed in the Greek speaks of an internal force. Transformed speaks of something happening internally that affects us externally. And what he says needs to happen on the internal for us to continue to grow in our discipleship is this there needs to be transformation that we would be transformed by the renewal of the mind. The thing that the Spirit of God is after above all else is our minds being transformed, the way that we think being transformed. Notice again, Paul doesn't say that the way you live needs to be changed and transformed. Paul doesn't say our behaviors and our actions need transformed. Rather, he says what needs to be transformed is the way that we think. And the reason Paul says that's the starting point, again, this is not just behavior modification. It's not just try harder and do better and why are you doing this? He says the issue is our minds. And the reason our minds are what's in need of transformation is because this our thoughts and what we fill our minds with are what is going to direct our daily decisions and govern the course of our life. Everything that you do is because it first enters into your mind and then you make a decision to act upon that or not. I love how Dwight Pentecost put this. He said, the battle is long fought in the field of thought before it is fought in the field of action. Meaning everything we do, it starts as a thought and then it manifests as an action. Jonathan Edwards, the old Puritan, put it this way: the ideas and images in our minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern us. Isn't that interesting? It's the ideas in our mind, what we're putting into our mind, what we believe, those are the things that are governing the course of our life. And that's why Paul says, What needs transformed is not our lives and how we live and behavior, it is our minds that need constantly to be renewed and transformed. So, my question for you is simply this. And it might sound like a funny question, but the question is this have you ever stopped to think about what you are thinking about? When is the last time you thought intentionally about what are the things that I'm filling my mind with? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about what do I think about? What do I fill my mind with? And you might not think it's a big deal. You might not think it's a big deal what you think about, but if you don't slow down and begin to think about what you think about, eventually what will happen is you will end up going down a course and a path in life where you will end up saying, I never thought. And that phrase, I never thought, is one of the most dangerous things a person could say. And we don't say it actually, although kids do, right? Like my kids be getting in trouble, they'd be like, hey, why were you hating them? Well, I never thought I should. And it's like, well, yeah, that's the problem, is you never thought, right? So like we need to think about what are we thinking about? Because if you don't think actually about where are your thoughts leading you, you end up doing things where you go, I never thought. I never thought I would end up here. Isn't it interesting? No, no, nobody ever thought that they would be a drug addict. Like, ask any drug addict, hey, when you were a kid, did you think that this is what you'd be? No. No drug addict ever thought they'd be a drug addict. No, no person addicted to the bottle and alcohol ever thought that they would be addicted to the bottle. No person who's in prison right now ever thought that they would be in prison. No person addicted to pornography ever thought that they would be addicted to pornography. The list goes on and on, but the common denominator, do you notice what it is? They never thought. That is the issue. That is the core, and that is the root. And almost every time we find ourselves in a situation where the enemy has a stronghold in our lives, it can almost always be traced back to a lack of thinking. Maybe you're here today and maybe you never thought that you would be experimenting with drugs. And yet you're here and you're like, oh man, like why am I doing that? I never thought I would be that person, and yet now you are. Maybe you're here and you never thought that you would be trapped in sexual sin. And you're like, gosh, I've been trying to get out of it, I've been trying to fight, and I just can't. You never thought you would be there, but yet here you are. Maybe you never thought you'd be the person who's hiding a secret addiction from your spouse. Maybe you never thought you would be the person who got addicted to online sports gambling and now you're broke and you can't pay your bills. Maybe that you never thought you would be the person who has a low view of yourself. You hate yourself. You're like, I always thought I'd be cool with myself, but honestly, when I'm alone, I hate myself. You have such a low view of yourself and low identity. Maybe you thought you'd never be the person who walked so far away from God or who comes to church, even though you feel so far away from God, you never thought. Like for all of us, this is what leads us to those places where we know we ought not to be. It is a lack of thinking. The addition, the issue isn't the addiction, the issue isn't the bottle, the issue isn't the pornography, the issue isn't the nicotine, the issue isn't the insecurity, the issue isn't the gambling, it's not the affair, it's not the lust. It is always rooted in the way we think or the lack thereof. And that's why Paul says what needs to happen is a transformation in our minds. We need to be renewed in our minds the way that we think about the decisions that we're making. JC Ryle put it very sternly, and he said this not thinking is one simple reason why thousands of souls are thrown away forever into the lake of fire. Men will not consider, will not look ahead, will not look around them, will not reflect on the end of their present course and the sure consequences of their present days, and wake up to find they are damned for a lack of thinking. This is why our minds need to be renewed daily. This is why we need to think about what we are filling our minds with. Because even throughout the course of the scripture, you see all these, you also all these characters like Adam and Eve, who never thought a tiny bite from a small fruit tree would lead to the curse of sin coming upon all humanity. Or you think about Moses, who never thought a quick outburst of wrath would actually prevent him from being able to enter into the promised land. Or Samson, who I'm sure never thought that such a small deed as allowing his hair to be cut when God told him not to, would lead to all of his strength being taken from him and eventually dying at the hands of the Philistines. Or David, who probably never thought that a small glance at Bathsheba would lead to an affair and adultery and then ending up becoming a murderer and killing her husband. Or like Ananias and Sapphira, who never thought a little bit of greed and a little bit of dishonesty would lead them to ultimately drop dead at the feet of the apostles. Or Peter, who never thought he would deny Christ, and yet he ended up doing it three times. And the list goes on and on and on and on, and the root of all of it is what are we thinking about? Are we thinking about what we're thinking about? Is there a transformation and a renewal happening in the way that we think about our lives? And so the question is, okay, so what's the solution then? Like I don't I don't want to end up being that person who gets to that place in my life where I end up being, wow, I never thought. How do I make sure that I become the type of person whose mind is being renewed? And again, in Romans 12, 2, Paul says this be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Again, transformed speaks of something happening internally, and what's happening internally is that our minds are in need of renewal. Now, here's what I want to remind you of. In life, for something to be renewed, for renewal to happen, it means that ultimately something has kind of gone wrong, right? You know what happens when you don't renew something? If you don't renew something, it expires. And you know what happens if something expires, it no longer works. That's why some of you got pulled over this week because your tags expired, you didn't renew them, and that's why you got a ticket. Some of y'all are like, dang, I gotta go to the DMV this week, right? If you don't renew it, it expires. If it expires, it's no longer valid. So here's what this means Paul says, what happens is our minds need renewal, which means if we're not daily renewing the way that we think, guess what happens? A spiritual expiration can happen in your mind. Your brain will not just drift towards godliness, it is something daily that requires active participation on our part to intentionally say, God, I am renewing my mind by fixing it on you. I'm renewing it today. I'm meditating on truth today, I'm filling my mind with things on that are above today. It is not a one and done, but it is a daily discipline. And so I want to close this morning by just getting very, very practical for you. I want to give you four ways, very practically, how you can actually renew your mind every single day. Because if you don't, if you don't renew your mind daily and allow the spirit to transform the way that you think, you and myself and any and all of us will become like just about everybody else who ends up going down a path and then you say, I never thought. I never thought I'd end up here, never thought I'd be here, I never thought I would become this type of person, never thought I'd have this addiction. And we do because the problem is the way that we think. So if you're a note-taker, I really want to encourage you to write these down. If you miss any of the points that are already on our social media story from first service, but really practically, how what does it mean to renew our minds every day? How do I do that? Give me the ABCs. How do I do that? Number one is this fill your mind with the truth of God's word. If you want your mind to be renewed every day, it starts with number one, filling your mind with the truth of God's word. Jesus said it this way in John 17, verse 17. He said, Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. You know what sanctification is? That's discipleship. Sanctification is the way that we are being conformed daily into the image of Christ. How does that happen? By the truth. And what is the truth? He says, Your word is truth. Paul the apostle put it this way in Philippians 4, 8. He said, 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's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. So on a very practical level, if you want your mind to be renewed every day, if you want to begin to think differently than the world thinks, so you're not being conformed to the pattern of the world, it starts with filling our mind with truth. Filling our mind with the truth of God's word, because the truth of God's word reveals the truth of God's nature and God's character. And this is what John Owen said. This is a beautiful quote. He said, If I have observed anything by experience, it is this. A man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations upon the person of Christ. That's it. Your spiritual growth, that is maturity and discipleship, or decay, deformation, he says it's it's equal proportion to a person's meditation and fixing their mind on things above. And we do that when we go to the word and we see the reality of who Christ is. So, number one, how do we fill our minds and renew our minds? We fill it with the word of God. Secondly, which by the way, number two is not possible if you skip number one. So these build off of each other. But practically, how do I renew my mind? I fill it with the truth of God's word. Number two is this take captive thoughts that are not true and replace the lie with the truth of God's word. How do you renew your mind every day? Well, a part of that renewal is you're taking captive thoughts that are not true, and then you replace the lie with the truth. Now, here's what that looks like. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4 and 5. He says, For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. So, how many of y'all know this? That again, just because you have the Holy Spirit, you've been given a new heart, you have a renewed mind, doesn't mean that there's no longer a spiritual battle in your mind. Like just because you have a renewed mind doesn't mean the enemy still isn't after it, and trying to fill your mind with everything that is contrary to God's kingdom and what God wants in your life. And so Paul says, this is the reality. There's still a spiritual battle going on. Just as much as God wants our minds to be set on Him, the world and the enemy wants to keep our minds distracted from the reality of God's kingdom. And you know this to be true just as I do, but you cannot control every thought that comes into your head. Like you might just be sitting there all of a sudden and you start thinking about something, and you're like, why am I thinking about that? You can't control that. But although you can't control what comes into your mind, you can control what you do with it. I forget who said this illustration, but they said, like, you can't prevent a bird from sitting in your tree, but you can't prevent it from building a nest there. So in your mind, sometimes thoughts come in, and what we need to do is if those thoughts are not true, if that is a thought that might be from the enemy or the world trying to impose its will on us, we need to take it captive, as Paul says. You take every thought captive, and the way you do that is by determining is this true what I'm thinking, or is this a lie? And if the thought that enters into your mind is a lie, which this is often how the enemy begins to influence our lives, is it starts with a thought that's a lie. If you are able to identify it as a lie by holding it up to the light of God's word, then you can replace it with the truth. So let me give you just a few examples practically. These are thoughts that probably every person in this room has thought at some point in time. One of the lies the enemy will bring, a thought that might enter into your mind for no reason is this I'm not enough. I'm not enough. Maybe you're sitting alone on your couch and you just start thinking that. Maybe you're sitting in a room with your best friends, maybe you're sitting in the middle, but all of a sudden you just start feeling like I'm not enough. And maybe it's you're looking at your life, you're looking at where other people are, you're comparing, I don't know what it is, but you think I'm not enough. So the question is when that thought comes into your mind, is that true or is it a lie? Well, you won't know whether it's a true or a lie unless you know the scriptures. But if you know the word of God, you know that the scripture says, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. So if I start to hear I'm not enough, I'm not good enough. If I don't know what the scripture says, which is I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, then I might believe that to be true. But what I can do is I can take that thought captive if I'm filling my mind with the word and go, you know what, that's not true. That's not how God thinks of me. God's not looking at me going, yep, you're not enough, you're not good enough, I need you to do more. That's not how God sees me. So that is what it means to take a thought captive and we replace alive with the truth. Some of you, a thought might just enter into your mind sometimes. God must hate me. God hates me, God's angry with me, God doesn't want anything to do with me. Sometimes that thought might come into your head, and maybe that thought's coming into your head because maybe you've made a poor string of bad decisions. Maybe you've been walking down the wrong path, and all of a sudden now this thought comes and you're like, gosh, God just hates me. And so the question is, is that true? Is that is that how God thinks about you? Is that how God thinks about me? Well, you won't know that's true unless you know what the scriptures say. And the scripture says that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you've placed your faith in Christ, nothing that you have done makes God love you any less. There is no condemnation. You've been freed and forgiven all sin, past, present, and future. So that's taking that thought captive. Gosh, I feel like God hates me, but the scripture says there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. So we are replacing the lie with the truth. Maybe it's the thought, nothing's ever gonna change. He's never gonna change, she's never gonna change, I'm never gonna be able to change. This addiction's never gonna be able to change. Whatever it is. And that thought comes into your mind, you're like, where did that come from? I don't know. Is that is that God? God, are you speaking to me? That my life is just gonna suck forever, that things are gonna be like this forever? Or or or is this alive from the enemy? Well, you won't know whether that's true or not unless you know the word, which says with God all things are possible. And the scripture which says that who the sun sets free is free indeed. And so, yes, you actually can change. Yes, there can be change. Yes, there can be freedom and healing from addictions and bondage. And so, again, at the end of the day, you do not control the thoughts that come into your mind, but we control whether we give them dominion over us or not. We control whether we believe them as true and those actually impact our life, or whether we submit them and take them captive in obedience to Christ Jesus. And so the list goes on and on, but those are just a few examples of I think common ways that we need to be able to identify when a thought comes into your mind. How do we practically do that? Again, take it captive. I'm saying, is this true? Is what I'm thinking, is what I'm feeling, is this in alignment with what God has revealed and what God says about me in his word? And if it's not, that's what taking it captive means. I'm not gonna believe that. I'm not gonna submit to that. I'm gonna trust what God says about me is more true than wherever this thought came from. Amen. So that's very practical. Number one, we fill our mind with the truth of God's word. This is how our minds are renewed every day. Fill it with the truth. Number two, take thoughts captive that are not true and replace them with the truth. Number three is this a renewed mind is a repentant mind. If you want to renew your mind every single day, you have to understand this. A renewed mind is a repentant mind. Again, renewed means something needs to be shifted, something needs to be changed, something is a little bit off here. And that's where repentance comes in. Did you know that the biblical idea of repentance simply means a changing of mind? It is changing the way we think and coming into agreement with what God thinks. And so to renew my mind every day means I just say, God, is there any way of thinking that is impacting the way I'm living? Is there any way of thinking that's impacting my life that is not what you think, that is not what you reveal to be true, that is not what you think is good? And this is how the psalmist David put it in Psalm 51, verse 10. He said, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. So that's repentance. Repentance is, God, if there's anything in my life, anything in my heart, anything in my mind that is not good, that is not in alignment in accordance with the truth, would you do this work of renewal? Would you change my mind? Would you change the way I think? Would you bring me into agreement with what you say? Psalm 139, verse 23 and 24 puts it this way: Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. That is repentance. It is, God, search my heart and search my mind. And if the things I'm filling my mind with are not of you, if there's anything grievous or or or an error, God, bring it back into restoration. And so if if there is no repentance in your life, if there is no repentance in your heart and no repentance in your mind, coming to God and saying, God, I realize the way I'm thinking is not good, would you change me? I realize that the what the way that I am going about my life right now is not in alignment with what you declare to be good. Would you, God, by the power of your spirit, change me? We need that every day in our lives. And so part of having a renewed mind is a daily uh posture of repentance, a daily posture of humility, saying, God, would you search my heart? Would you try my thoughts? Would you fill me with your spirit and help me to walk in the way everlasting? So practically, our minds being renewed every day. Number one is filling them with the truth of God's word. Number two is taking captive every thought that is not in agreement with God's word and replacing the truth, the lie with the truth. Number three is renewing our mind daily through repentance. And fourth and finally, I close with this. The fourth way to practically renew your mind every day, what that looks like is this a renewed mind needs reminded of the gospel every single day. How do you renew your mind practically every single day? Well, you remind yourself of your need for the gospel. When you fall short, which you will, and when I fall short, which I do, every single day I need to realize, God, where I have fallen short, where I have not thought about what is good, where I have not placed my mind on things above, where I have not invited your spirit into my life, where I have fallen short, Christ, you didn't. And this is the power of the gospel. And what's amazing is that when Christ was being crucified on the cross, as we remembered in communion, as he stretched out his hands and the red sea of his blood was poured out for us to be washed clean, when Christ was on the cross, do you know what was on his mind? You were. I am. Even right now, Christ is our intercessor. He is interceding on our behalf. He is praying and making to the to the Father, saying, Give them strength today, give them your grace today, give them your mercy today. He is continually and ever presently keeping us on his mind. As the psalmist said in Psalm 139, verse 17 and 18, he says, How precious to me are your thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you. Wow. God's thoughts towards you and towards me. What he's thinking about, more vast than the sand of the sea. That is mind-blowing. Psalm 40, verse 5 says this you have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us. None can compare with you. Christ's wondrous deeds and also his thoughts towards us, there is none that can compare. Like how how amazing is that that you are on his mind. That although he should be on my mind, all the way, let's fill our minds with Christ and keep our minds on things above and fill our minds with the word. When we fall short in that, he doesn't. And that's the power of the gospel. That's why the psalmist later said, What is man that you are mindful of him? Like if that does not transform you and the way that you think that God, you are thinking about me, like I'm on your mind, I'm on your heart, you care about me, that you would give your life for me, that is the power of transformation. Not striving, oh, I gotta do it, oh God, I'm gonna get better at this. It's wow, God, it's the gospel. That who am I? Who are we that you would be mindful of us, that you would give your life for us. And so the way that we transform our minds and the way that we renew our minds daily is by realizing that we can't do it. It's by realizing that he did it. It's by realizing when I fall short to keep him on my mind, he will never fall short to keep me on his mind. And so daily we need to remind ourselves of the gospel. God, thank you that you've done it. Thank you that that you are the perfect one. Thank you that you made a way for us to even have our renewed mind and we're trusting in the power of the gospel every single day. So when you feel like your mind has wandered, when you feel like your mind has gotten off track, when you feel like you've gotten to a place where maybe you're just finding yourself saying, I never thought. I never thought I'd end up here, never thought I'd become this type of person, never thought I'd be living this type of way, and you need transformation. It starts with our daily habit of filling our mind with the truth of God's word. It continues by taking thoughts captive. When the enemy speaks lies, we were truth, we replace the lies with the truth of God's word. We continue to come before God with a humble posture of repentance, daily repentance, saying, God, change our minds and finally reminding ourselves of the gospel. Reminding ourselves that Christ has made a way for us to be in his presence for eternity, that we are on his mind, that we are his children, and we've been redeemed by the power of his blood. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the reality of the power of the gospel, which it is only that, it is only your finished work, God, that can change our hearts. It is only the gospel that can change our minds, it is only the gospel that can impact our actions and make our court, the course of our life move in a different direction. So, God, today we recenter our minds on your word. Today, I pray the truths of your word that we opened the scriptures and looked at and read and studied, God, with those begin to sink deep roots in us. So that when the enemy comes and puts lies in our mind, when the enemy comes to try to distract us, when the world tries to come and conform us into its image, that we will be able to identify the spiritual warfare that's happening and we will begin to be able to speak truth, the truth of your word, over our own circumstances and over our own lives and over our own families and over our own community. So, God, will we be rooted in the truth, where we know the truth, so we can walk in the freedom that comes with that? And God, I pray that you would keep us just humble. Uh, I pray you would teach us, God, the daily discipline of a mind of repentance, of saying, God, when my mind is not in agreement with yours, would you change me? I can't change myself. God, would you do the work in me? Because I can't do it myself. So we look to you and we trust in you, God. And thank you, Jesus, for having us on your heart. Thank you for having us on your mind. Thank you that when you went to the cross, you knew every single sin we would commit, which separated us from you, and you were willing to take the punishment for us so that we could have this perfect, restored relationship with you. Thank you that we've been robed in the righteousness of Christ. Thank you that your word says that he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So as we walk out today, God, we we receive that truth. We walk in your righteousness. We don't trust in ours. We trust that it's a finished work that you've robed us in yours, God. So daily renew our minds. Let us be a people and uh citizens of another kingdom. Let the world see the way that we live, the way that we think, the way that we walk, the way that we talk. Let him see the kingdom we're a part of. And would you use our lives to bring other people into it as well? We pray this all in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen.