Renew and Repeat

♪ Thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ Put your sacrifice on that cross ♪ ♪ We can breathe in there ♪ ♪ We can raise our hands ♪ ♪ We can shout a praise ♪ ♪ And as you live inside of us ♪ ♪ Hey Matt, come on ♪ ♪ And I will live the hands ♪ ♪ And near the scars ♪ ♪ One who meets God and rests on me ♪ ♪ And I have known the love of the Father's heart ♪ ♪ And the heart ain't gone down to the end ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪ ♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ It's all around me ♪ ♪ The more it goes ♪ ♪ I see a blue ♪ ♪ All around me ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but lift you ♪ ♪ The sound of joy ♪ ♪ And when I think of my future plan ♪ ♪ Faithful come to the end ♪ ♪ For I can't help but raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ And for the blood is still ♪ ♪ To save my life ♪ ♪ But that I cannot repay ♪ ♪ And for the cross you bore ♪

♪ With open arms ♪ ♪ And some fish in that corner ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪ ♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ It's all through where I'll be ♪ ♪ The more it goes ♪ ♪ I see a blue ♪ ♪ All around me ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but lift you ♪ ♪ The sound of joy ♪ ♪ When I think of how good you can ♪ ♪ Faithful come to the end ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but raise you ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me ♪ ♪ I feel that redeem ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Call on the day ♪ ♪ Not bury my shame ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ I can't help but ♪ ♪ That's 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me ♪ ♪ I feel that redeem ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Call on the day ♪

♪ Not bury my shame ♪ ♪ We'll open my grave ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Call singing our church ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Let's open my grave ♪ ♪ Shouse the door ♪ ♪ And when I think of how good you bet ♪ ♪ Make your mouth to the end ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ ♪ Oh I can't help but ♪ ♪ Raise you ♪ ♪ Raise you Lord ♪ Come on give him a praise, Earth. He is worthy. - Hey man, hey, good morning. Welcome to the local church. Have you been seated for just a quick moment? And hey, my name is Carson Padraza. It's my privilege and honor to welcome you here today, especially if you're a guest in our house. We're so grateful that you're spending your Sunday morning with us. In fact, we have a free gift just for you.

It's our little way of saying thank you for joining us. If you haven't already done so. Do us a favor, fill out that connect card and a seat back in front of you. We wanna put a free gift in your hands. So much more than that. Wanna get to know your name and your story. Make sure to proper welcome here today. And hey, whether you are new around here or you've been hanging out with us for a while, I want to invite you to connect track. If you've never been a part of it, we don't have formal membership around here, but we do have familiar. And connect track is your very best next step of getting connected and becoming part of our church familiar. It happens the last Sunday of every month, which means it's happening right now. But you can sign up and join us next month for that. And it's a great way to get better connected. And hey, last weekend, we got to celebrate Baptisms here at the local church. And it's so fun to celebrate Baptism. I'm such a big fan of that. And maybe you watched that happen and said, hey, I think it might be my turn. I think I might be next. So that's you, our next Baptism is just three weeks away. You can sign up through our website or through our app.

But while we were celebrating last weekend, a friend of mine. She said, I was baptized as a baby but I don't remember it, and we got to have a really cool conversation. She said, you know, my parents made that decision, and I'm grateful for that decision, but I didn't get to make that decision. And maybe you're here, and you're like her, you got baptized as a baby, and when your parents made that decision for you, what an incredible decision. They said, I'm committed to making sure that my children are going to walk in the way that they should go. And then as an adult, she made that decision, she said yes to Jesus, and she said, you know what, this decision to be baptized is now a decision that I am affirming the commitment that my parents made. So if you're here today, and maybe you don't remember being baptized, maybe your baptized as a baby. Well, I'd encourage you, if you said yes to Jesus, but not yet taken that step, I'd encourage you to be a part of our baptism sex month. It's going to be a great celebration, I can't wait to be there and cheer you on and celebrate what God is doing in your life. All of that information's on our website and our app, all those great things. And I was thinking back this morning, back in the day when, like my freshman year of college, I was in like a Gen Ed class, and I had to read this book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. And I remember almost nothing from that book, but I remember one thing. And I remember that in that book, it says a person's name is their favorite word. And isn't that true, like don't you like it when somebody gets your name right? People call me Carmen, and I was like nope, I don't know you, right? When you get my name right, like we're good, it's such an encouraging thing. And I was thinking about the names of God. Scripture lays out some incredible names of God. It talks about how Jehovah Rafa, God is our healer. It talks about how Jehovah Shalom, God is our peace. We're going to talk about that today. It talks about Jehovah Jaira. God is our provider that he provides everything that we need. And when I think about the names of God, how God is our provider, he provides peace. He provides hope. But that specific, he provides the very things that we need, the resources that he places in our hands, the things that help us feed our family, the things that he provides, the jobs that we need, he provides all of those things. And so when we give at the local church, we're giving because our provider has provided.

And we're recognizing you are Jehovah Jaira. In response to your provision, I show up with open hands and gratitude. If you're giving us part of your worship today, that's why we do it. That's how we do it. Recognizing all that we have comes from him in the first place. And in response of gratitude, we respond with generosity. So if giving is part of your worship today, there are several ways you can do so. They're on the screens behind me. There's some offering boxes on your way out. They're giving kiosks in the lobby. You could always give safely and securely online. But right now we're going to pass some buckets. So if you're on the left-hand side of your row, if you do me a favor, reach down and pass that over to the right. Be greatly appreciated. And man, thank you guys for your generosity. Thank you for trusting the local church with all that God has provided you for. All right. Hey, we're going to continue to worship together. Let's stand to our feet and lift our voices this morning. I wish there were other hearts to you. I'll never be more loved than I am right now. Wasn't holding you up. So there's nothing I can do to let you down. It doesn't take a trophy to make you proud. And I'll never be more loved than I am right now. Going through a storm, but I want to go down. I hear your voice carrying the rhythm of the wind to call me down. You were crossing ocean, so I wouldn't drown. You've never been closer than you are right now.

You are a gyre, you are in love, gyre. You are in love, and time will be. I will be content in the circumstance. Every circumstance. You are a gyre, you are in love, forever enough. I'm always enough. I'm always enough. Forever enough. I'm always enough. I'm always enough. I don't want to forget how I feel right now. On the mountain top. Like I see you so clear with a song. ♪ When the sun goes down ♪ ♪ Don't wanna forget how I feel right now ♪ ♪ Jara, Jara, you wanna know ♪ ♪ And Jara, you wanna know ♪ ♪ Say I will be ♪ I will be content in every circumstance You are a tyrant, you are a girl Forever enough, always enough, always enough You are all enough I'm already chosen, I know who I am I know where you've spoken I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love I'm already loved, more than I could imagine And daddy is the love

You are a tyrant, you are a girl And time will be content in every circumstance You are a tyrant, you are a girl Whether our lives are in your hands, there's need for us to fear Because you love us when you're at this room And eternity will be there Watch him work for me, you are a girl Because he's not done with what he's seen And he's not done until it's good Because he's not done with what he's seen And he's not done with what he's seen And he's not done with what he's seen And he's not done until it's good ♪ The end ♪ ♪ Hello, hope is a new horizon ♪ ♪ Hello, peace ♪ ♪ Hello, joy ♪ ♪ Hello, love ♪ ♪ Hello, strength ♪ ♪ Hello, hope is a new horizon ♪ ♪ And if you're ready for a break ♪ ♪ Break through ♪ ♪ Open up in just receiving ♪ ♪ 'Cause what he's pouring out is nothing ♪ ♪ You've never seen ♪ ♪ You've never seen ♪ ♪ Say hello, please ♪ ♪ Hello, Lord ♪ ♪ Hello, Lord ♪ ♪ Hello, strength ♪ ♪ Hello, hope is in new horizons ♪

♪ Hello, please ♪ ♪ Hello, Lord ♪ ♪ Hello, Lord ♪ ♪ Hello, strength ♪ ♪ Hello, hope is in new horizons ♪ ♪ It's in new horizons ♪ I'm gonna invite our prayer team to come join me down front. And maybe you're here and you're having a hard time saying those words. Hello, peace, hello, hope. Hello, joy, and you're like, where? Where are they? I haven't met them this week. Our source for those things is the Father. And so maybe you're here and you are needing some peace, needing some joy, needing some hope, needing some breakthrough. I'd love to invite you to come forward and our team would love to pray with you. They'd love to run to our Father, this source, the well that does not run dry. And just ask, God, can your peace show up in this circumstance? Can your joy fill my hope? Can your strength get me through this diagnosis? He's our source. And so don't worry about the people next to you. We'll make some room.

That's what this time is for. And so I just wanna invite you to come forward. We're gonna pray together. Maybe you're here and there's nothing specific going on in your world. We get to lift each other's burdens in prayer. And so I'm gonna pray for a handful of prayer requests that you guys trust us with. Representative of the many. If you're comfortable this morning, would you just extend to hands? In agreements, in recognition, in honor of the Father who can show up and bring the hope and healing that we need this morning. God, we run to you, recognizing that you are where our hope is, that you are our joy, that you are our strength, that there is nothing else. And so we run to you just pleading, Father, let your joy fill our hearts. Let your peace fill my home. Let your strength guide me through. May you lift my arms as they grow weary, Father. God, we come before you, for the burdens of this household. We come before you, for Uncle Victor, who's needing healing God. You have healed him of cancer once. We believe that you can do it again, God. We pray that you would continue

to give him the strength he needs to keep fighting. We pray that you would bring him through this, that your healing would be upon his body. God, that every single cell of cancer will be removed in the name of Jesus, and that you will put him back on his feet. You'll put him back on his purpose. You'll put him back on his path, so that he can give you honor and glory, and that his life will shine so big, what you are going to do in his life. God, we pray right now for Ross, a neighbor and a friend who's got some health issues coming up, who's got some scans coming up. God, we pray right now your peace would show up in his heart and minds. We pray right now your hope and your faith would show up in his heart and minds. God, we pray right now that every small scan would come back clean, that he would be standing on his feet, recognizing the healing that you have done, that you still have a plan for him. God, we come alongside, into praying for her children, praying for spiritual protection. Your word tells us already, that your angel angels are fighting battles that we have not seen, that we never will see.

We pray that they continue to do so. We pray that you would arm them with your truth. You would arm them with what they need to keep fighting the battles. God, we pray circles of protection around those children. Forever child represented in this room right now, God, we pray your angels would protect them as they step onto their school campuses, where these angels would protect their hearts and minds, that they would stay innocent and pure of minds, that they would keep their eyes on you. God, we pray for the people in this room right now. The bird has spoken and unspoken. We pray against any lie of the enemy that is whispering the untruths into their ears right now, the things that have taken root. We pray right now the name of Jesus, that you would unroot it, God, that your truth would replace it. The truth that you are hope, that you are strength, God, that you have lifted our arms, that we can persevere in the name of Jesus, that you are fighting battles for us, that we do not see God. We pray your healing in this room. We pray your hope in this room. We thank you that you're not done with us. We thank you that you've given us

all that we need to fight these battles. We think that you just do have a plan and that you are working and that you meet us right here. We love and praise you. It's your great new friend. Amen and amen. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ So fear is not my future. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ Sickness is not my story. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Say heartbreak's not my home. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ And death is not the end. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ You are, come on boys. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ There's your boys and sing it out. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ Fear is not my future. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ Sickness is not my story. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ It's heartbreak's not my home. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ You are, you are. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ And death is not the end. ♪♪♪ ♪ You are, you are ♪ ♪ Hello, joy, hello, love ♪ ♪ Hello, strength, hello ♪ ♪ Oh, is it me right there ♪ ♪ Hello, peace, hello, joy, hello, love ♪ ♪ Hello, strength, hello, love ♪ ♪ Here is not my future ♪

♪ You are, you are ♪ ♪ The sickness is not my story ♪ ♪ You are, you are ♪ ♪ Our faith is not my home ♪ ♪ You are, you are ♪ ♪ The sickness is not me ♪ ♪ You are, you are ♪ ♪ We receive it, Lord ♪ ♪ We receive freedom in this place ♪ ♪ We can let go of our fear ♪ ♪ Let go of our anxiety ♪ ♪ Let go of our depression ♪ ♪ Let go of our secrets, Lord, our worry ♪ ♪ 'Cause you're giving us life ♪ ♪ If you're giving us life abundantly ♪ ♪ We receive it today, Lord ♪ ♪ We say goodbye, fear ♪ ♪ Goodbye pain, goodbye ♪ Church, are you grateful that your story in Christ Jesus is different than the story maybe you've lived? It's better than we can imagine. It's full of peace and hope and restoration, redemption, whatever you brought in caring today. I want you to know that if you cast your cares upon him, he can give you peace that surpass understanding. He cares for you. So if everyone in this place, if you just lift up your hands in a posture of response and also surrender, let's carry, let's carry the hope that Jesus has and cast all of our cares upon him right now.

Father, we lay down every burden, every anxiety, every fear, every thought that is not of you, that is untrue. We lay down at your feet like I pray that you would just fill us with hope, peace, help us to take steps of obedience in your direction, that we would be the sons and daughters you've created us to be. Let it begin in us today. Stop by power. Stop by my nothing we could accomplish on our own strength. It's all because of you, Holy Spirit. So your will be done in this room, in our families, in our hearts, in our minds, on earth as it is in heaven, we pray, and all the people that God who love them said. Come on, Church, if you are grateful that his peace rewrites our story, why don't you turn a few people as you're having a seat, tell them I'm so grateful to be sitting next to you today. Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 is our key passage for today, and it says this. Paul says, "I appeal to you, therefore brothers, "by the mercies of God, to present your bodies "as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable God, "which is your spiritual worship." Verse 2 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." This is the Word of God. I want to welcome you once again to the perfect place for imperfect people to experience the presence of God.

I'm Eric, and I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here at this place. Last week, we started a new teaching series titled, "Peace of Minds," and we learned this incredible truth from Philippians 4. that doesn't make sense in our given circumstances will guard our hearts and our minds in Jesus. And we learned that this peace of God doesn't mean that every situation we go through is peaceful. It means that he's with us every step of the way in the middle of whatever we're going through. Now I wanna share something on the onset. I wanna talk to you about our Thursday nights. In this series in peace of mind on Thursday nights where we're doing things a little bit differently. We want it to feel more like a family gathering where we can create some more space to praise God, to pray together, to make room for him to do what he wants to do. And so the worship is acoustic on Thursday nights. Set up is far more simple. I teach the same message, but from a more personal and intimate kind of setting. And so if that connects with you, I would encourage you and I would invite you to the Thursday nights, especially as we're in this season of growth, what you can do is you can create some more space in our Sunday services for people. But I really believe that the spirit of God is doing something really special on Thursday nights.

So I wanna invite you to that. Now today as we continue talking about peace of mind, I wanna take this conversation one step further. Because what happens when the thing that's causing the chaos in your mind is not what's happening around you. What happens when the thing that's causing the chaos in your mind is how you are thinking about what's happening around you. Let me paint the picture this way. Do you know what this is? Shout it out if you know what this is. What is this? My family, we call it the clicker. That's exactly what it is. Growing up, this was the clicker. I'd say, where's the clicker? Everyone in my family knew what I was talking to. Is there anyone else besides you who calls this the clicker? Like four of you, okay. My wife, apparently the same. In her household growing up, this was called a remote control. Now technically that's what it is called, but I just think it's so unnecessarily formal. Give me the remote control. No, pass me the clicker. Now you laugh, but for me, this is the clicker because I've repeated that my entire life. Here's my point.

Something can sound right to you because you've said it for a long time. Let me say it this way. You can call something by a name and be wrong just because you've said it and you've always said it that way, doesn't make it true. Now it's not a big deal when you're talking about the remote control, but when the thing that you keep on repeating to yourself is I'm not worthy. God is disappointed in me. This is just who I am and I don't think I'll ever change. If that's what you keep on repeating to yourself, that's when it becomes problematic. See, church familiar, the thing that we repeatedly think eventually affects the way that we live. This is why Paul writes in Romans 12, too. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Paul says, God wants to transform your thinking, but notice where that transformation comes from the renewal of your mind. Your life can be transformed, but it comes from the renewal of your mind. That's a big idea that I want all of us to get. So write this down. The transformation of my life requires the renewal of my mind. That's the big truth I want to understand today,

that the transformation of my life, it requires the renewal of my mind. Now, I want to be clear like I was last week of what this doesn't mean. This doesn't mean for us to say, hey, everything's great to think positive thoughts and ignore what's really happening. That's not what we're talking about. And this also doesn't mean that every anxious thought that comes to your mind is something that you consciously chose. I want to give us a working definition of what the renewal of our mind looks like. Write this down. Renewing your mind means letting the Holy Spirit show you what's shaping your thinking and bringing it back under the truth of God. When we talk about renewing our mind, it means letting the Holy Spirit show you what's shaping your thinking and then bringing it back under the truth of God. This is important because we can follow Jesus but still have some thoughts and some thinking that needs to be renewed, right? You can love Jesus but still operate in insecurity. You can have a faith in Him but still live sometimes out of fear. Hear this, I'm gonna talk about this today. Today I want to give us three next steps for us to experience peace of mind, peace that surpasses understanding. First one's this, write this down.

Recognize what's shaping your mind. First thing we need to do is recognize what's shaping our mind. Romans 12 to do not be conformed to this world. The new King James says it like this. It says do not conform to the patterns of this world. That word conformed, it's describing a pressure taking a certain shape. Did anyone grow a Play-Doh, show of hands, you grew up with Play-Doh. You know what Play-Doh looks like, right? Play-Doh is a type of clay. And depending on what pattern you pressed it into, it produced a different product. You could have a pattern of a banana or a pattern of a minion, whatever pattern you pressed the Play-Doh into, it took that shape. The clay takes whatever shape it's pressed into. So a pattern could be a mold that shapes something but a pattern can also be something that happens again and again and again. Write this down. The patterns we're pressed into can become the patterns we repeat. We actually carry something around with us all day long, a device that has an algorithm trying to figure out what grabs our attention. Do you know what I'm talking about, if you have one of those, would you just show it right now? You see like three, one in the back. We all have a cell phone, right? And the more you scroll, the more you watch, the more you click something, the more it gives that back to you. The algorithm literally learns your pattern so it can keep feeding you your patterns. And some of us, we spend hours every day being discipled by the internet, being discipled by social media. And we wonder why we don't have peace in our minds. Now again, let me make it clear. Not everything that has shaped us has been bad, right? Maybe your family had a good work ethic or maybe they had high morals. Not everything that shaped you is bad, but not everything that shaped you is necessarily true as well. This is why one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves when we feel anxious is, where did I learn this? Where did I learn to think like this?

For a lot of us, the thoughts that come most naturally aren't necessarily truthful. Maybe a group in a home where conflict meant that somebody was going to leave and so now every disagreement feels like rejection. Maybe in your household, failure wasn't an option. And so every time you fail, you feel like you're a failure. Even when you're growing up, keeping everybody happy meant peaceful. And so now your people pleasing, but you call it, I'm just being loving. When you start repeating a pattern long enough, you start believing that pattern. But church, what if it isn't true? What if the thing you kept on repeating wasn't true? What if a lot of what you called your personality was just a pattern you kept on repeating? This is just who I am. No, that's what you've been telling yourself. Paul says, do not be conformed. In other words, you don't have to keep taking the shape of what you're being pressed into. Because God can renew your mind, tell that to your neighbor, take it. God can renew your mind. The first thing we need to do is recognize what's shaping your mind. Second thing is this, write this down. Replace what isn't true. Recognize what's shaping your mind and then replace what isn't true. Paul doesn't just stop with do not be conformed. He continues. But be transformed by the renewal of your mind. God doesn't just want to reveal what's wrong. He wants to renew what's been shaped. And renewal isn't simply not thinking the wrong thoughts. How many of you have ever tried to stop thinking a thought? What happens? You think about it, right? Let's do a little exercise.

Whatever you do, please, for the love of God, do not think of a pink elephant. A lot of us, right? Some of us were exhausting ourselves trying not to think into thoughts, trying not to think negative thoughts, trying not to think about what happened, but biblical renewal isn't not thinking thoughts, it's not removing thoughts, write this down. Real renewal is replacing what isn't true with what God says is true. That's why when Jesus was praying and fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, our enemy Satan came before him and started tempting him with all these things in the world. And how did Jesus respond every single time? He said, no Satan, it is written. Why Heavenly Father said it is written, God's truth is the standard. So when the thought comes, I feel alone. I don't have to pretend that I don't feel alone, but what I do is I take that feeling and I put it under what God said. No I will never leave you or forsake you. So my mind thinks I have to control everything or nothing will work out. I take that thought and put it under submission under the truth that I'm not God. I don't control anything, which is actually a good thing, right? When shame comes and says God must be finished with me, I can come back to the truth of the gospel that there is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Now notice what I'm not doing, I'm not pretending, I'm not pretending that I don't actually feel this way, I'm not pretending that everything is good, I'm not saying, hey, everything's amazing, today's going to be an awesome day, it's going to be the best day ever, no I'm not doing that, I'm not even replacing a negative thought with a positive one, I'm replacing what is not true with what God says is true. That's renewal, that's renewal, what was this saying called again, clicker, remote control, you call it whatever you call it, but what is the point of this device? Change the channel, a lot of us we've handed the remote control of our life to things that should have no power over us. Now again, let me make this clear, sometimes thoughts pop in our mind that we can't control,

right? Sometimes a fear of the past that you thought you got over comes back into your mind, sometimes an anxious thought appears in your head and you didn't plan on thinking it. We can't control every thought that comes to mind, but just because it starts playing in our head doesn't mean we have to continue to watch it, turn your neighbor, tell him, take back the clicker and change the channel, that's what we mean when we talk about replace. I recognize this thought isn't true, but instead of allowing it to keep on playing over and over in my mind, I bring it under what God has already said, why does that matter? Because God loves me, God created me, and God's Word gets the final words. We actually see this take place in one of the greatest prophets in the Bible. In first Kings chapter 18, the prophet Elijah, he just had this incredible God moment on the top of Mount Carmel. He prays, fire comes down from heaven and consumes this sacrifice, and everyone in the vicinity recognizes that God is the one true God. No one can deny the power of the living God, and then you turn one more chapter in what happens to Elijah. What happens to him? Jezebel says, I'm going to kill you for what you did. Elijah becomes afraid, he runs, eventually he finds himself underneath the tree saying this. First Kings 19-4, he says, it is enough, now O Lord, take away my life. This is Elijah, right? It's a guy who saw fire come down from heaven, and now he's literally sitting underneath the tree saying, Lord, take my life, I can't do this anymore. Listen to how God responds to him. I love this. He doesn't shame him. God didn't say seriously Elijah after all that I did. This is how you respond first Kings 19-5. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him,

"Arise and eat." And he ate and drank and laid down again. God lets him sleep. God gives him some food. God gives him some water to bring nourishment to him. Church, I'm telling you, one of the most spiritual things you can do is get a snack and take a nap, amen? Some of you, that's the freedom you need today. To hear that, I can eat a snack and take a nap. God cares for Elijah as a whole person. He's exhausted, he's frustrated, he's isolated, and all of those things are affecting his thinking. Eventually, Elijah, he goes into a dark cave. He isolates himself even further, and he tells God in 1 Kings, 1910, he says, "I, even I only am left." And Elijah's mind, he's all alone. Elijah feels alone, but he's not alone. That same chapter, God reminds him, there are still 7,000 people who have not bowed their knee to bail. You are not alone. Now notice Elijah, he feels this way, but God doesn't tell him that his feelings aren't real. God allows Elijah to feel what he's feeling, but he tells Elijah that your feelings aren't telling you the whole truth. That's an important distinction.

A lot of times what I'm feeling is real, but the conclusion of what my feelings are, making me believe aren't necessarily true. Sometimes our mind, when we feel rejected, we think, I'm all alone. When we feel like we failed, we start to think, "I'm a failure now." When we do something, and we don't see the results that we anticipated, we're hard on ourselves. We start to make that our identity. Listen, your feelings are real. The fear can be real, the exhaustion can be real, but at the end of the day, none of that gets to find a word. God does. God loves Elijah enough to meet him in what he's feeling while still reminding him of what's actually true. So we have to examine what we're thinking. We can't renew a thought that we refuse to examine. If you feel anxious, one of the most practical things you can do this week is to catch that anxious thought and ask, "Is this true?" Where did I learn to think this? And what does God actually think about this? We gotta examine it. And once we examine it, here's the third thing. Repeat the truth until it becomes your new rhythm. Repeat the truth until it becomes your new rhythm. See, I think just where a lot of us get frustrated.

We come and we hear an encouraging message from God's word. We take his word, we capture a verse, we recite that verse now, we think, "Great, now everything's fixed." And the next morning we wake up and we have the same or similar anxious thought or wondering, "How come it didn't work?" Let's write this down. Renewal is usually not a moment in life. Renewal is a rhythm of life. It's a rhythm of life. God doesn't just leave Elijah in that cave. After God speaks to him and cares for him, after God corrects him in the thinking that he has, God gives Elijah his next assignment. Verse 15, "And the Lord said to him, "'Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, "'and when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael "'to be king over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimchi, "'you shall anoint to be king over Israel, "'and Elijah, the son of Shafat, of Abel, Mahola, "'you should anoint to be the prophet in your place." In other words, he's saying, "Elijah, "'I have more for you to do. "'I'm not done with you. "'I have an assignment for you to walk into." And so Elijah had to get up and continue walking in the direction of what God said. That's a picture I want us to understand of renewal. in the truth of what God said.

Now listen, I get it. A lot of us, we want all the feelings and all the thoughts to immediately disappear the moment we recite a passage. I wish I could promise God does that all the time. Sometimes he does that. I remember the week before we started this church. My wife went to go get groceries and I'm left in my living room and I break down. I start weeping, I start crying 'cause in my mind I'm thinking, I can't do this. I can't pastor a church. I'm too young. I don't have the right experience. I don't have the experience of like an Andy Stanley or I don't have the leadership of a Craig Grisha. I bet Francis Chan doesn't love Marvel movies and watch Marvel movies like I do. I can't do this. And in that moment, the Holy Spirit felt his comfort. Consume me. I heard his still small voice say, I didn't call you to be them. I called and equipped you to be you. I've set you aside to love and serve people in the community that I've placed you in. And in that moment, those anxious thoughts disappeared. Sometimes God can do all the miraculous in just a small moment but so much more often church. What he does is he gives us the truth

and he teaches us to walk in that truth day after day. That's what I had to do from that moment on. Every time the thought came up of you're inexperienced. No, no, I'm gonna walk in that truth. You're too young for this story. I'm gonna walk in the truth that he's called me to. So on Monday morning, when you wake up and that anxious thought comes again, what do you do? You continue to walk in his truth. Tuesday, when that thought pops up in your mind, you continue to walk in that truth. Wednesday, same thing. You think it, you walk in that truth. Thursday comes along and when the lie of the enemy starts to speak to you must not work. No, you continue to walk in his truth again and again and again, that's growth. That's transformation. That's his renewal. Turn to someone, tell them, you're getting better. Let them know, you're getting better. We gotta repeat that truth until it becomes a new rhythm that we walk in our life with. We have to continue to repeat it. Listen, some of us, we have walked and believed patterns for years of our life and we get frustrated after one sermon thinking it didn't work. That's not how it works, right? For anybody who's training to get healthy,

you don't step on a treadmill for 20 minutes and walk in and get off and say, oh man, it didn't work. You don't make one grilled chicken salad and cut sugar from one snack and say, ah, it didn't work. No, we think that's foolish. Transformation in our physical health takes what? Repetition. The same is true with our mental health. Transformation takes repetition. We have to keep on walking in it. Keep on repeating it. But by the way, this is why it's so important that what we repeat is helpful and healthy and holy. Let me ask you, who are you listening to? Who do you surround yourself with? If you hang out with negative and nasty people, you will become negative and nasty. What gets your attention? What do you turn your eyes to? What's the last thing you watch before you go to bed? What's the first thing you reach for when you wake up in the morning? If we spend five hours a day feeding our fears and only five minutes a day, feeding our faith, there's no wonder why one of them is much louder than the other. We shouldn't feel surprised when what we let disciple us isn't the truth of God's words. So here's how we can make this practical this week. Here's the practical next step.

I want all of us to pick one thought that pops up into our mind. I know some of you have 10, some of you have 20, that one thought is capture it and write it down and ask, where did I learn this? Where did I learn this? Is this actually true? And then find a promise from God's word that speaks to that anxious thought and repeat it. Write it down, put it somewhere you can see, somewhere you can pray it and say it and think it often and recite it and repeat it every time that thought comes up, you repeat it and allow the Holy Spirit to let the word of God change the way that you think as you repeat His truth every time that thought comes back. Because church, the thought may come back. The goal is not that we never think an untruthful thought again. I want you to write this down. The goal of God's renewal is to stop letting the wrong thought have the final words. That's the goal. It's gonna come back, but I'm not gonna allow it to have the final words. You can be renewed. Telling you church, I'm a product of God's promise. You're changing, can think. Your life can be transformed. And as your mind is renewed, your life will be transformed. Listen to how it continues. That by testing, by putting it into practice,

you may discern and have understanding of what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, and it's perfect. Do you see that? As your mind is renewed, you start seeing things differently. You start discerning what's from God and what is not. You begin to respond differently to what's happening around you and in you. That's renewal. That's renewal. That transforms our mind and allows for us to have peace. That surpasses understanding. Before we conclude, I wanna go back to the beginning. Because I think we all read this word, but we overlooked it. We don't see the power of this word. I wanna read it one more time. Romans 12, one, it says, "I appeal to you, therefore." Say, "Therefore." I appeal to you, "Therefore," that's the word. "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God." I know it just sounds like a throwaway word, but church therefore is there for a reason. Before Paul says renew your thinking, let your mind be transformed. He starts with mercy. Romans chapter one through 11, all of it is paying a picture of the good news of Jesus. We're all sinners, but God so loved this that he sent his one and only son, Jesus, that whoever believes in him and places their faith in him,

they are justified by that faith in him. And now there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and nothing can separate us from his love. After that, Paul says, "Therefore." He starts with mercy. Renewing your mind isn't trying to think correctly so that God can love you more. Write this down. Our mind can be renewed because we've already received his mercy. Church, we start with God's love and acceptance, not trying to earn it. That means even while I'm wrestling with this ancient thought, God isn't waiting for me at a distance for me to fix my mind before he wants to be known. In Christ, we've already received his mercy. Some of us, we get anxious about our anxiety, right? We have these anxious thoughts and we wonder, does God love me even though I can't overcome this? I've been battling this thinking for so long and I haven't changed yet and the thing that we're struggling with now becomes another reason why we wonder does God love me, does he want me? But Paul starts with mercy. Before he even says renew your mind, he reminds us of what God has already done. Church, that means I'm not trying to be loved. I'm learning to live as someone who is already loved.

Amen? I'm telling you, that's a completely different place to stand from, completely different place to plant our feet while God has transformed me. I can bring him the thing that I worry about. Not because I'm afraid that he'll reject me if I don't do it, but because he loves me enough to keep on renewing me while I'm still in it. We ask two questions at the conclusion of every teaching. What's the Holy Spirit teaching me? And what am I gonna do about it? Let me reframe that question and make it personal today. In the church, Christian, what is the thoughts that God wants to renew today? I have so many. I can think of so many things. How do we give God everything? We start with the next thing. What is the one thought that God wants to renew today? Think about it, write it down. Maybe your prayers simply, Holy Spirit, show me where I've been conformed. Show me the thinking that I have that is untrue. My thoughts about myself and your love or my future that isn't from you, show me reveal me those things. And then when you have it, surrender to him. Give him permission to renew it. How do we do that again one more time? Recognize what's shaping your thinking. Recognize what's shaping your thinking.

Then replace what isn't true. And then repeat that truth until it becomes your new rhythm. That's how we can continue to see and have peace of mind. And that's what we're gonna do today. Will you stand to your feet? Listen, I understand how we feel feels real and the thoughts that we've had that we think are true is because we've been rehearsing them and repeating them. And I'm telling you today, it's the time for us to start repeating something different. Not simply replacing a negative thought with a positive one, no, but to replace what is untrue with what God says is true. I'm gonna ask our prayer partners to come forward once again. And I know we took time for familiar prayer already today, but maybe you're here and maybe you realize that there's a significant burden. There's an anxious thought that I can't seem to shake. I can't control it. That's you. I want to invite you to come forward and receive prayer. You don't have to explain all the words. You may not have the words to explain it, but let us come, let us pray together. Let us speak God's word over you. Let us bless you. Let us help you to believe what he thinks about you. And for the rest of us, we're gonna repeat his truth, not recite the lie that we may have learned over the years.

We're gonna let his word have the final words. We're gonna declare as we sing, "I'm already loved." That we're chosen more than we can imagine. And I'm telling you, if you understand that, that's enough. That is more than enough. So I'm gonna invite you to come forward if you need prayer. And for the rest of us, would you just declare his truth, recite his promises as we sing this together? Father, thank you. Thank you so much that you meet us in the middle of our mess, that you love us enough as whole human beings to feel feelings that to not be robots, God, but you remind us of what you've already said. And so as we speak your truth today, let this be the beginning of peace of mind. God, as we declare your promises, I pray, God, that we would give you the final words, and we would not see ourselves or circumstances as the end, but we would declare your truth over our lives, how you see us, and that would shape us, and mold us, and renew us and transform our life. Thank you, God, that you offer that to us today. In Jesus' name, we thank you. Come on, church, it's sing it out. Declare it out loud. Let your mind hear the words of truth coming from your mouth, that the best is still before us and him, 'cause he's always with us. He never leaves us. He never forsakes us.

He's for us. He loves us. And that is enough, amen? ♪ Oh, I'm already loved ♪ ♪ I'm already loved ♪ ♪ Already chosen ♪ ♪ I'm already chosen ♪ ♪ I know who I am ♪ ♪ I know who I am ♪ ♪ I know I know what you're supposed to ♪ For that I could imagine That is a lot I'm already loved I'm already loved I'm already chosen I'm already chosen I know I know I know I'm already loved For that I could imagine That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot That is a lot

You are in love You are in love You are in love And I know You are in love And I know You are in love And I will be I will be content With every circumstance You are in love You are in love And I will be content With every circumstance You are in love You are in love