Think Small- Chris Lindberg

Good morning, men and women, such an awesome privilege to be able to come and speak to you again on the Pando app from Life Fellowship Church right here in McKinney, Texas, to your tablet wherever you may be. Man, my name is Logan Williams, my TDC number is 1490218, and I was just thinking how much I wish I had a tablet when I was incarcerated and could just have access to the, I think 150 plus churches was the last time I counted. There's probably more in all the Chosen and the Bible Recap and all the books, and man, you guys are so blessed. And we are blessed to be able to make you a part of our church family by giving you our services, by telling you how much we love you. Just want to remind you again that when you get out, even if you don't live here, if you're anywhere near the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex on a Sunday, man, we want to meet you. Maybe this can't be your home church, but man, we want to meet you, we want to get you some coffee, we want to have lunch with you. I want to introduce you to Pastor Chris, and a lot of guys have been coming, they want to meet Nathan, they want to meet, and everyone wants to meet you because we do love you. Our heart is truly for you, not just me, everyone here. We're praying for you, we're constantly wondering what we can do to pour into your lives more, and we mean that. When we say you're a part of our church family, we mean that. And so please come visit us if you can. Tell your friends and family to download Pando on their phone so they can have access to the same stuff you have access to. And I know you might think, well, I can just look at sermons on YouTube or whatever. It's important as a family to at least have one service or one teaching or something that you can watch together. And then when you see each other at visitation or when you talk on the phone or when you write letters, however you communicate, you can discuss it together, what the Holy Spirit say to you during that message. Oh, that's cool.

I never thought about it like that. And you can grow as a family, even though you're incarcerated. See, the enemy wants to tell you that you can't do that. The enemy wants to tell you your family is ruined. Your family is, there's division, it's over. That's not true. We serve a God that loves to restore families. Even in the midst of a situation like this, God can take it and just turn it for the good. And your family can, you can come out the other end of this even more solidified as a family unit. Romans 8 says that. And so I want to give you just a scripture that the Lord put on my heart. It's one of my favorite parables to Mark chapter five. I'll just start reading. And verse 21 says, Jesus got into the boat again and went back to the other side of the lake where a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jarius, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. This is a leader. This is a guy that's got standing, right? But he goes and he falls at Jesus's feet, pleading fervently with him, my little daughter is dying. He said, please come and lay your hands on her, heal her so she can live. You know, this guy probably had some pride, he probably had some arrogance. He's a leader, leader. He's a leader of leaders in the church there, in the synagogue. Sometimes it takes situations, right? Desperate situations for us to become desperate, for us to go and fall at Jesus's feet per se, in your heart, and plead with him fervently to do something in your life because you're just at your wit's end.

You don't see any other way. You don't see any other path. It doesn't matter who you are or how high up you may be or how important you are or how much money you have or what job you may, what title you may hold. Life has a way of bringing us to our knees, and so my question is, are you to that point in the situation that you're in? Is it possible that God has plucked you out of a situation where you maybe were going to die or things were going to get way, way, way worse and is preserving you right now, is trying to get you to a point where you can fall at his feet and say fervently, help me. And so Jesus went with him says and all the people followed Jesus pretty popular Help me. Help me. You know, there's an amazing rock show going on the Jesus show. He's healing people. He's he's he's feeding 5,000 he's doing all these crazy things and everyone loves him and it's great. I wish often wish man I could just get in a time machine and and go back and just just hang out for a few days during that Time period and just how amazing that must have been So this crowds following him Crowding around him. He's like a celebrity almost And it says a woman in the crowd had suffered 12 years with constant bleeding she's bleeding right this menstrual bleeding we think She had suffered a great deal for many doctors and over the years had spent everything she had to pay for them But she had gotten no better You know when I when I read that how the woman Was just continuing to bleed even though she went to many many doctors and she spent all her money She just got worse. I think about all the things that I tried to do to In my drug addiction to relieve of the drug addiction I would go to treatment centers They would send me to counselors. They would send me to all these things and it just seemed to get worse. I Can relate to this woman in that respect? I Didn't want to just ruin my life and do drugs for 25 years and go to prison four times. I didn't want to do that

Yet that's what happened So she had heard about Jesus I Heard about Jesus too so she heard about Jesus so she came up behind him through the crowd and Touched his robe before she thought to herself if I can just touch his robe. I'll be healed Immediately the bleeding stopped and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition So There's this great crowd around him There's this woman who's bleeding who would be considered unclean people would would want to get away from her She would kind of be an outcast, but she heard about Jesus. She tried everything else she'd spent all her resources trying to to relieve her condition and She just said man. I Again, like Jerry is like like the like the the leader that we just read about who fell at his feet She was also at her wits end and she and somehow this faith rose up in her man If I can just touch his garment, I can be healed and so I picture this woman Elbowing her her way through the crowd Pushing people out of the way Bleeding, you know people looking at her crazy probably like oh my gosh. What is this? look at this crazy woman just Mauling people over to try to get to Jesus and she touches his robe Do We have the same tenacity in our walk to get to Jesus or do we say to ourselves Man, I don't care what it takes. I don't care who I got a nudge out of the way who I got a What crowd I've got to get through? I'm touching Jesus Because I heard about him and I believe that he can heal me Guys he can heal you But but we've got to get through the crowd and get to him It's sometimes that crowd can be our own thinking it can be the enemy coming against us It can be our family that doesn't believe there's gonna be all kinds of people that might come against us

That's gonna try to hinder us to get to Jesus But we've got to have this mindset like Jarius and like this woman that I don't care what it is I'm getting to Jesus and yeah, there may be people around your life that look at you crazy There may be people are like who is this lady? Elbowing people out of the way bleeding all over the place. Oh my god. She's nuts but because of her crazy Because of her nuts she got to Jesus and got healed forgiven and set free in that moment because of her crazy Do you have some crazy in you to get to Jesus? Do you have something in you? That's like I don't care what other people think. I don't care what other people say I'm getting to Jesus. I'm doing this You can see that they both did that Jarius fell at his feet she elbowed through the crowd bleeding on people It says Jesus realized at once that the healing power had gone out of him So he turned around in the crowd and said who touched me And his disciples said to him Lord look at the look at the crowd pressing around you. How can you ask who touched me? in other Words, there's lots of people touching you. There's lots of people bumping into you. But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. Then the frightened woman trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. And he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace. Your suffering is over. I don't know what you're gonna have to lay down. I don't know what you're gonna have to do, but I know that God has you in the position that you're in for a reason. There is a plan and a purpose on your life. And the life that you were leading before, okay,

was not a part of that plan. And so I can see that now, having done nine and a half years in prison and having come out on the other side of that, I can see that, man, I can honestly say that I'm thankful that God put me over there all those times. Because if I would have kept going, man, like who knows what I would even look like today. Would I have any teeth in my mouth? Would I have any, what kind of diseases would I have from the life I was living, the drugs I was doing, the crazy women I was sleeping around with, all that stuff, man. And so I can see that now. And so could it be the same for you? Could God in his love, in his perfect plan for your life, have you in the place that you're at right now so that he can preserve you, so that he can mold you and shape you. But he's looking for our yes. We're gonna have to get a little crazy like Jarius and like this woman and chase after Jesus with the desperation of a drowning man. And that's what I wanna encourage you with today. Don't waste this time. I don't care if you're in the county jail right now and you just got booked in or if you've been in prison for 15 years. There is a plan and a purpose on your life that you can't even think, ask, or imagine.

And it's hard to believe that. I know right now, it was hard for me to believe that as well. But when I finally got all in, when I finally said, I don't care who I gotta push out of the way, I'm touching his robe, metaphorically, then his plan started coming together. And so I wanna encourage somebody today to do that thing that he's asking you to do, to lay that thing down, that sin down that he's asking you to lay down, to wage war to try to live a righteous life. We have to try. Yes, we're not gonna be perfect. We're not. We're humans, we're gonna fall, we're gonna fail. But we need to try to be perfect. He tells person after person after person after he heals them, go and sin no more. He didn't say, well, okay, hey man, go. And when you do sin, then repent again. No, no, no. You gotta try not to sin. I don't know, that's weird thinking to a lot of people. Well, how can I possibly? You have to try. You have to try. But when we fall, he's right there to pick us back up. And so I just wanna encourage you. I don't know what it's gonna look like for you,

but get through the crowd, get to Jesus, touch his robe. Heavenly Father, I love these men and women who faithfully watch us, that you've picked out, hand-picked out, God, man, I just pray that there would be a mindset change in their hearts of how they look at the time that you've got them incarcerated right now. That maybe it is a blessing. That it could be that my most catastrophic day that I had, that I thought life is over and nothing worse could possibly happen to me than getting arrested right now has turned out to be the biggest blessing in my life. And God, I just pray that you could give them a glimpse or a vision or impart something into their hearts where they can maybe start changing their mindset around the time that they are incarcerated and that they could start using this time, man, to chase after you, to get through the crowd, to do whatever they gotta do to get to you, to fight against sin. In one of your scriptures, you painted a beautiful picture of how you want us to view our sin when you said, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. And I know you didn't actually mean that you wanted us to pluck out our eyes and cut off our hands, but that's how you want us to look at sin. You want us to hate it.

You want us to hate that thing that we bring to your feet and do everything that we can to sever that from our lives, whatever it takes. And so God, I just pray that fresh fire, fresh tenacity would just. rise up in these men and women to chase after you, to go after the things of God and to deny the things that we know grieve your heart. And so God, I just ask that you would bless them, that you would just fall on them right now with conviction. I pray that they would shake off any religious spirit of condemnation. We know there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but where conviction lands, God, I pray that they respond. And I ask that you would bless them, bless their families and let them know, God, how much you love them, that you bankrupted heaven for them and that you would do it, even if they were the only person on planet earth, you would do it for them. And so we love you, we give you all the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. I got one question for you. Whose house? God's house. Let's give him some praise. Amen. That success. Thank you God for everything.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. So we just taught a little video about what flashy war was like. Dtroite戰 shi. I think it was Afghanistan. And Dtroite was a day in 100 years, and Golden Age, and then Iraq and Burke and so forth. And it really meant a lot to me in that perspective. And like I said, you can choose whoever you want. I'll show you. It's good to be in the house of the Lord. The word of God says, the heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they pull forth speech. Night after night, they reveal knowledge. They have no speech. They use no words. No sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth. Their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth. The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statues of the Lord are trustworthy,

making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. The Lord is exalted on high. He is great and greatly to be praised. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. I will praise Him. He is exalted, forever exalted. And I will praise His name. For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in His holy name. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. He is exalted, forever exalted. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. I will praise Him. He is exalted, forever exalted. I will praise Him, He is exalted, the King is exalted on high, I will praise Him, He is exalted, forever exalted, and I will praise His name. For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in His holy name. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high.

For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in His holy name. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in His holy name. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. Forever exalted, forever glorified. We exalt the King, we exalt the King of kings in the light of the Lord. Forever exalted, forever exalted in love. Forever exalted in love. For He is the Lord, forever His truth shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in His holy name. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. Yes, He is exalted, the King is exalted on high. We exalt You, Jesus. You have our attention. You have all of us. Oh, yeah. My Jesus, my Savior. Lord, there is none like You. All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love. Be my comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath, let all that I am never cease to worship You. Come on, every hand lift it, let's sing. Shout to the Lord. ♪ Oh Lord, all the earth let us sing ♪

♪ Power and majesty praise to the King ♪ ♪ Mountains bow down and the seas will roar ♪ ♪ At the sound of your name ♪ ♪ I sing for joy at the works of your hands ♪ ♪ Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand ♪ ♪ Nothing compares to the promise I have in you ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing compares to you, Jesus ♪ Come on you guys, sing with us, my Jesus. ♪ My Jesus, I see you ♪ ♪ Lord, there is none like you ♪ ♪ Oh, all of my days are dedicated to you ♪ ♪ There is none like you, oh, all of my days ♪ ♪ I want to praise the wonders of your might ♪ Come on, if these are comforts, sing that, my comfort. ♪ It's my comfort and my shelter ♪ ♪ Tower of refuge and strength ♪ ♪ Oh, let every breath, let all that I am ♪ ♪ Oh, never cease to worship you ♪ ♪ Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing ♪ ♪ All power and majesty pray to the King ♪ ♪ All mountains bow down and the seas will roar ♪ ♪ Oh, at the sound of your name ♪ ♪ So I sing for joy, I sing for joy ♪ ♪ Oh, marvelous words, I love you forever, I'll stand ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have, oh ♪ ♪ We shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing ♪ ♪ Power and majesty, all praise to the King ♪ ♪ All mountains will bow down and the seas will roar ♪ ♪ At the sound of your name ♪ ♪ And I sing for joy at the works of your hands ♪

♪ Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand with you ♪ ♪ Oh, to the promise I have in you ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing compares to you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, look at all you've done, Lord ♪ ♪ Just look at all you've done, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, just look at what you've done, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing ♪ ♪ Power and majesty, praise to the King ♪ ♪ Mountains bow down and the seas roar ♪ ♪ Just at the sound of your name ♪ ♪ I sing for joy at the works of your hands ♪ ♪ Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand with you ♪ ♪ Oh, I sing for joy at the works of your hands ♪ ♪ Oh, forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand with you ♪ ♪ Come on, sing that I sing, I sing for joy ♪ ♪ Come on, look at what the Lord has done in your life ♪ ♪ So forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand, I sing ♪ ♪ Oh, I sing for joy at the works of your hands ♪ I sing for joy. Oh, look at what you've done, Lord. Just look at what you've done, Lord. Forever I'll stand and I'll sing for joy. Cause I'm broken, my love. Because I'm here today, Jesus. Forever I will love you, God. Forever I will stand here and I'll declare how much I love you, Jesus. At the words of your heart. Oh, look at what you've done, Lord. Look at what you've done for us, Jesus. Nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, we shout to the Lord. All the earth, let us sing. Oh, a power and majesty. Oh, mountains, mountains fall down and the seas will roll. Oh, at the sound of your praise. So let's sing for joy.

Oh, I love you, Jesus. Cause nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to you, Jesus. Oh, yes. Oh, nothing compares to you, Lord. Nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh, nothing compares to the promise I have. No, nothing compares to the promise I have. Can we close our eyes all around the room? Let's have a moment with you and Jesus. Just begin to love on him. We love you, Jesus. For thou, oh Lord, are high above all the earth. For thou art exalted far above all gods. For thou, oh Lord, are high above all the earth. For thou art exalted far above all gods. Real sweet. Let's sing I exalt thee. Come on. I exalt thee. Come on, church. I exalt thee. I exalt thee. Come on, sing oh Lord. Come on. Oh. I exalt thee. Come on. Oh, I exalt thee. I exalt thee.

That's good. Oh, I exalt thee. Oh, Lord. For thou, oh Lord. Come on. High God above all the earth. For thou art exalted. You are exalted. Far above. For Thou, O Lord, art high above all the earth. For Thou art exalted. For Thou art exalted. Come on, lift your voice. Far above all girls. Come on, church. Come on. Oh, I exalt Thee. Come on, let's exalt King Jesus today. I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee. Oh, I exalt Thee. Oh, I exalt Thee. Oh, I exalt Thee. Oh, I exalt Thee. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Now, come on, let's create an atmosphere and worship the King of Kings. Come on, let's exalt Him. We exalt You, Jesus. You are worthy, Lord.

You are worthy, Lord. You are worthy of all our worship. You are worthy of all our praise, God. We exalt You, Lord. We exalt You, Lord. We exalt You, Lord. Come on, church, press into this moment. Come on, we exalt You, our Father. We exalt You, our God. We love You, Jesus. You alone deserve the glory, Lord. We exalt You, Jesus. Yes, Lord. We exalt You, Jesus. Oh, yeah. Come on, sing I exalt Thee. Come on. Oh, I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee. Yes, Lord. I exalt Thee. Oh, yeah. Come on, I need everyone to lift their voice and sing I exalt Thee. Come on. I exalt Thee. Come on, church. Oh, I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee. Oh, Lord. Oh, I exalt Thee.

I exalt Thee. I exalt Thee. Oh, Lord. Lord, in this place, may Your name be exalted. May there be no other name higher than Yours, Lord. May the name of Jesus be glorified and be worshipped. May we feel the presence of Your Holy Spirit today. May we feel the supreme authority of God in three persons dwelling among us. God, as we exalt You, may we humble ourselves. May we be reminded not only of who You are, but who we are in You. God, may we be a people who chase after the things of God today. And God, may we find You and may our lives be changed so that those around us could experience the same freedom in Christ. We pray this all because of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Good morning. We're so glad you're here today. Before you take your seat, I'm going to play the role of Southwest flight attendant. Could you just scooch to the middle? Don't pass up a middle seat. The house is full today. If there's an empty space next to you, if you don't mind just scooting in just a little bit because our incredible usher... usher team today y'all can we give it up for the usher team today they do an incredible job every week thanks for doing that for us it's a great day here at life fellowship and we're honored that you've chosen to be with us if you're new today this is your first time with us I want to encourage you to text the word new to 510 10 we'd love to meet you to get to know you to share some information with you that's a great way to do that if you're looking for man how

do I get involved in life fellowship how do I learn more about the church what do they believe what do they not believe you want to text the word growth to 510 10 and join us for our next growth track class you can do it in person or online we'd love to have you there it's been a great day so far amen are y'all still asleep did you not get coffee are we good amen there it is okay so I kind of have to tell true confession today it's been a minute since I've heard shout to the Lord I mean that's that's a throwback okay and what I love about worship music what I love about music in general is how the Lord can use a specific song to trigger a memory to take you back to a place in this morning as we sing I was reminded two three four decades ago when I was new in my faith in my early 20s on a mission field barely knew Jesus barely knew anybody singing those songs and just tears pouring down my face out of gratitude for what the Lord had done and today as we saying I was reminded of Psalm 103 verse 2 that says this praise the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all our sins who heals all your diseases who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like an eagle and so I want to encourage you today wherever you find yourself make gratitude is our anchor to give thanks to the Lord for what he's done in the past and it also encourages our generosity as we think about what the Lord's doing in the future the ways to give her on the screen it's something we do every week here because we believe that when we're generous that we're giving to a church we're also giving through a church and that our generosity today can be somebody's miracle tomorrow so I want to encourage you to do that as we get ready to hear God's Word Chris has an incredible message you're gonna want pen you're gonna want paper bust out all your apps all your journals it's gonna be a good one today let me pray for us and then we'll hear the word together God thank you for this moment thank you for the gifts that are being given God take what is given today and multiply that into magnify and to grow your kingdom here on earth and we pray this because of Jesus amen I wake up

already behind I replay conversations in my mind and assume the worst I wonder if I'm enough it was a great day but I talked too much he probably won't call I don't even know why I'm interviewing for this job everybody else is so much more qualified than me I want peace but my thoughts just won't slow down I just want to go home and get my sweats I hope I can make some new friends this year even if that means being uncomfortable still something in me says to be still and trust God maybe Oh with God's help I can think differently because big wins are built on small thoughts well hey everybody good to have you in service with us today right on week number two of our new series called a little goes a long way want to say a big hello to our church online family man we love you so much and I want to give a special warm welcome to all of the men and women in all of our Department of Corrections around America come on everybody would you explode would you just let them all know it's great to have you with us in service today in fact those of you in the correctional facilities this last week we just went over 10 million men and women joining with us in services and we want you to know today you are not a project we see you as a part of what God is doing here and we are so thankful and honored to be able to speak into your life and so today I believe is going to be a really good day no matter how you're joining with us and before I jump into the message I just wanted to I want to stop and just remind all of us that what we do here on the weekends is not the game our game actually starts tomorrow morning when we step into the marketplace like this is an opportunity for us to be fired up for us to be energized for us to be connected with one another and fill with God's Spirit so that we can go out and be the salt and light in the community that's all around us and you have no idea how God can take your life use you in ways you never even imagined. So I'll give you an example of this. I wasn't going to share this but this last week I was asked to go out now and I spoke a service at a friend's church and it was a revival service and then we saw all kinds of people come to faith in Christ. We we saw all kinds of notable

miracles. In fact the pastor has continued to text me of like physical miracles that have been happening in people's lives. But there was one thing that happened I've never had ever experienced in 30 years of full-time ministry. At the end of the service there was a mom and she had her two little kids that were almost deaf and she came up to me she said I've been waiting to share this with you. She said God spoke to me that this was going to be the year that I was going to get involved in sign language. I'm supposed to go to school I'm supposed to learn how to do that so that I can sign in church so we can see people that have maybe never signed that they don't go to church because they can't they can't hear. And she said I was really skittish about it I'm really fearful and could God really use somebody like me and all this shyness. She said while you were speaking she said you did these things with your hands. You're doing all and she she says you actually were speaking sign language while you were speaking. And she said you spoke directly to me in sign language telling me to have faith to step out and that God was going to strengthen me. I'm like wait a second show me what I did and she did all her hand things I'm like I do that. And I'm just telling you everybody you have no idea how God can use you. He might even use your body language to communicate to somebody that you never even realized before and to tell them teach them to inspire them to step out and trust God to surrender their life to him and so give God something to work with amen everybody amen. Well if you missed it last week we talked about the fact that it's really easy to look at life and you look at all kinds of people you compare yourself to them you think there's no way I could ever become somebody like them. And so you start to discredit yourself as you compare but we learned this incredible truth and that's this that the life that everyone dreams of is built by the small choices that nobody sees. So last week I asked you to pray to seek God for the one word that God would give you that would help direct guide your 2026 and I'm curious how many of you you did that come on put your hand up you did that this last week all right way to go now those of you

whose hands are not lifted I actually have your word for 2026 you're ready for you might want to write this down it's procrastination all right I'm I'm kidding I'm just gonna assume that you were not in last week's message and you have no idea what I'm even talking about but it was heaven so let me tell you where we're going in the next couple weeks next week we're gonna talk about our words your words are powerful we're gonna actually unpack this in a way that maybe you've never even thought about it before because it's not just what you say to other people that matters it's actually what you've been speaking to yourself so we're gonna deal with that because your words are actually nuclear and then we're gonna deal with our habits because habits are massively important they're creating a future that you love or one that you'll hate so we're gonna dive into that and then we're gonna go into a six-week series going verse by verse through the song of Solomon and it's gonna get spicy it's gonna be fun and I'm gonna just ask you help me to pack the house like you find any if they're if they're breathing so for anybody that is married or you're married you have some challenges or if you're single or single again or maybe you're engaged or maybe you're dating somebody if you have any kind of relationship I'm gonna challenge you to be a part of this relationship series it is going to add so much value to you like I just promise you they will thank you for inviting them to the series that begins in February but today we're gonna talk about our thoughts because your thoughts are creating who you are they're creating your future in fact King Solomon This he said for as he thinks in his heart What happens? Come on everybody so is what so is he I love how my friend John Maxwell because my name is John and I just want to be your friend. I Love how John says it. He says change your thinking and you will change your life Henry Ford said if you think you can if you think you can't either way you are right like your thoughts are like a Steering wheel that direct your life, and when you are thinking the way that God thinks

Man, it unleashes the presence the power of God it opens up doors of favor God steps in and does things that are magnificent Because if you change the way that you think you can change your future the way that a man thinks is how he is becoming And so here's what I want to do today. I'm going to lay a foundation for all of us And I'm going to do that by giving you what I'm calling a thought inventory Okay, in fact guys if you could thank you very much. It's already there So here's what I want you to do. I want you to think about What you've been thinking about? And we're going to make it really really relevant I Want you to circle the number that best defines your thoughts this past week? So let's start with the first line there Have you found yourself worried? I mean you're worried about job and stress and signing finances and kids and debt Or have you woke up throughout this week filled with this? Undeniable sense of God's presence you are so aware of it And it just is creating this peace that passes all understanding in your life Or how about the next line? Are you more negative or? positive Some of you have a gift of negativity You walk into a room and you see immediately everything that's wrong You are discontented you are critical about everything So for instance you think well if I was just married, then I'd be happy You all need to be at our marriage series coming up here. I just tell you it's gonna be good And so you get married, and you're not happy so you think well if I was just married with kids Then I'd be happy And then you have kids so you think well if I was just married with different kids Then I'd be happy You're just negative Or are you positive? I mean do you believe the best and everybody that you see? Do you get around?

I mean do you walk into a church like this and see all the things that are wrong or do you walk into a place? Like this and you see God at work. Where do you land on that spectrum positive or negative? Or how about that last line there? Have you found your thoughts being more worldly? You're thinking about your life, and what you drive and how much money you have and what everybody thinks about you or Are you filled with an awareness of the eternal? Like you wake up Every day this past week, and you think man. This is the day God's made Lord I'm gonna use it to bring glory to you God I want to leverage everything that you've given me to see as many people be impacted with the goodness of God Like where do you land on this? Spectrum so I want you to assess yourself find out where you're at in Your mind I want you just to circle that Here's my guess My guess is that most of you if not all of you nobody was ten ten ten and That's why it's massively important that we engage in a message like this today because as a person thinks in their heart So are they becoming? You change your thoughts, and you will change your life Now the reason why we're probably not all tens is because we live in a world That's filled with all kinds of pressure from culture and social media and society and friends, and they push worldly negative worrisome thoughts on us and this is exactly What Paul the Apostle wrote about in Romans when he said Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God Transform you into a new person by doing what? Come on everybody by doing what change? In the way you think because you are becoming like your greatest thought whether that's for the positive or for the negative then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and

Perfect. So you might ask the question today. How do I change my thoughts? I'm so glad you asked Because God's Word gives us two paramount things Number one capture destructive thoughts before they capture You you got to start seeing your thoughts like TSA security Not every thought that comes into your brain is something that needs to go through security Some of those thoughts need to be captured. Some of them need to be flagged for more screening and This is exactly what Paul the Apostle taught look at this in 2nd Corinthians He said for though we live in the world Hey Christ follower You don't wage war like the world does on the contrary you have Supernatural weapons that honestly most Christ followers aren't even using In fact, we got a lot of spiritual armor that most Christ followers aren't using it's called the armor of God Most Christians are spiritual streakers They're just walking around with their helmet of salvation and that's about all they got You don't do that You have supernatural let's keep going here It says that they have divine Power I like that to demolish strongholds now that word Power in the Greek is the Greek word duty miss and it means it's actually where we get the word dynamite from so in other words, God has Explosive power available for you to demolish Strongholds and a stronghold in the Greek is the Greek word. Okaroma Come on, everybody say that with me say Okaroma. Yeah, you Greek scholars already And it means this literally it means a prisoner that is trapped you are locked behind bars But it's actually nothing more than deception It's like my dog My back gate could be wide open and my dog

Believes that it cannot walk past that that one boundary So the gate is open But it is being trapped. She will not move past that because she believes That she can't so I need you to think about this your greatest enemy his name is Satan and And his greatest weapon is not power it's a lie He's trying to get you to build your life on a lie instead of truth and Scores of us have actually bought into it. So you limit your hopes you limit your dreams and I just tell you today You're not dreaming big enough You're really not And I can prove that to you because God is bigger than any dream that you can come up with You show me the size of your dream and I'll show you the size of your God That's why Jesus came along. He said I'm going to give you truth and the truth is going to set you free He goes on He says we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God And come on everybody look at this last statement, what do we do come on read this out loud with me everyone we take Captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. So when you have a wrong thought that shows up Whether that thought says well, you're never going to amount to anything and you're just a screw-up You take that thought You take a captive and you make it obedient to Christ For example, you would be a fool To open up every single email that you get I Mean a fool Not every email that you get deserves your attention They don't some of them are spam Some are scams some are viruses you open up those emails and they will Unleash all kinds of hell in your life that you just do not need it'll put all of those emails into one place your personal data at risk at jeopardy

because you were foolish enough to open up every email that you get your thoughts are the exact same way not every thought that you that you get is something that you should give attention to they don't all deserve your attention some do not deserve your reply they don't deserve you thinking on them they actually deserve to go to the trash and you're gonna need to determine is a truth or is it trash so when you have these thoughts that come your way that says that you're not you're never gonna overcome you're always gonna be a failure your business is never gonna succeed your marriage is always gonna be mediocre your kids are gonna be failures you're never gonna make a difference God's so disappointed with you you need to take those thoughts and place them in the trash because not every thought that you think deserves to stay in your heart we're gonna take every thought scripture says and we are going to capture them and we're gonna make them obedient to Christ because the way that you think is what you're becoming you want to change your life you need to change the way that you think there's a second thing if you're taking notes and by the way this is good preaching today you can say amen at any time and y'all know the more you amen me the faster I preach and I get an amen on them okay all right number two choose to focus your thoughts on what is good and spiritual you're gonna have to make the choice two birds sitting on a wire one decides to leave one decides to stay how many birds are there still to just because you make a decision doesn't mean anything changes you're gonna have to step out you have to do something and Paul did this while he was in prison look at this says in Philippians which by the way this is the bedrock for all modern psychology watch this now dear brothers and sisters one final thing fix your thoughts ruminate on what is bad and going wrong in your life right no he said fix your thoughts on what's true honorable right pure lovely admirable think on things that are excellent and worthy of praise and then notice the byproduct of doing that then the God of peace will be with you I'll give you an example of this y'all know that one of the greatest fact it's the biggest fear

that people have it's public speaking I mean it's bigger than heights and death there's a bunch of you you'd rather be dead then up on this platform today mm-hmm and so I wish you could have seen me when I first started off in ministry I was petrified to speak like completely petrified it's the reason why I failed my speech class in Bible College and in high school and so fast-forward here I am I'm in student ministry they asked me to speak to the adults and so I get up my hands are sweating my voice is shaky I mean I blurted out everything that I didn't want to say and then I said nothing of what I should have planned to have said like I think everybody was really thankful when the message was done you know I'm saying I mean there was probably more enthusiasm at the DMV than there wasn't that message that day man it was so I remember I went home that night and I vented to Tatum I'm like honey this was the worst thing ever I am a failure I am the worst communicator God could never use me and she didn't side with that in fact she looked me square in the eyes and she said Chris you're stronger than you think and I believe in you and then she said you speak God's Word and you speak it boldly because anytime that you open your mouth the energy of God flows through you and then she didn't stop there she said Chris you were made for this she said the call of God that's on you is greater than the fear that you feel you don't choke under pressure you thrive under pressure and when she said that it did something on the inside of me it's been a thought it's been a statement that has stuck with me ever since Chris you don't choke under pressure you Thrive under pressure. I'm going to tell you I've been in a bunch of sticky situations and it just seems like God has again and again allowed me not to sink and buckle underneath the pressure but to thrive in the middle of it. I mean I've been in some of the most complicated leadership situations you can think of and when I walk in I predetermine in my mind how I'm going to walk in. I don't see myself as failing. I don't see myself as stumbling. I don't see myself as buckling underneath the pressure. Instead I see myself walking in full of the glory and the presence of God. I see myself walking into whatever that meeting whatever that situation filled with God's confidence. I have pre-decided that I will not buckle underneath

the pressure. Instead I will thrive in the middle of the pressure. And here's the thing some of you you keep predetermining that you're going to fail. Before you ever even step into the room before you even walk into that situation you're already thinking it's not going to go good. I'm not going to get the sale. I'm not going to get the promotion. She's not going to say yes. I'm going to fail at this. Why even try? And look at my eyes everybody. Look at my eyes. Stop. Stop that. What in the world are you doing? Stop. Those are not God's thoughts. Listen we all will fail but we fail forward. We're going to learn from our mistakes and then we're going to refocus our heart and our mind on spiritual and good things. Because as a man thinks in his heart so he is becoming. You want to change your life? Change your thoughts. And I know what some of you all are thinking. You're thinking well that's easy for you Chris. You're a pastor. Let me tell you something. I'm a normal guy just like anybody else. I have my own struggles. I mean I'm just I promise you I'm an ordinary average normal guy. But if you will change your focus it'll begin to change your feelings. I'm not going to get the promotion. I'm not going to get the promotion. I'm not going to get the promotion. But if you will change your focus it'll begin to change your feelings. If you want to change your life change what you're thinking about. Because you'll always find what you're looking for. You always will. It's like the difference between a vulture and a hummingbird. They fly over the exact same desert. One sees dead rogue kill. The other sees beautiful flowers that have this sweet nectar. You will always find what you're looking for. So for example right now I see scarves everywhere. Scarves. You know like a scarf. I see it everywhere. I'll tell you what. A couple months ago we were in Cusco, Peru. Cusco, Peru. Thank God we were able to host probably the largest crusade that's ever happened in the city in the history of Peru. I mean so many people came. Healings and salvations. It was unbelievable what God did. But everybody there in Cusco, Peru. It seemed to me like they were all wearing baby alpaca scarves. I mean everywhere. So now I come back to the states and it's like I see scarves everywhere. In fact last week in service every service somebody had a scarf on. If I see one more scarf I'm going to start wearing scarves. I might even wear a chevron scarf. Come on somebody.

I just found out that chevron is not a gas company. It's fashion baby. It's fashion. Here's why. Here's what you need to know. That what you are looking for you will always find. And if you look to see God at work all around you I'm telling you you will see Him everywhere you go. So you say how do I do this? How do I step into this? It's actually really really simple. Start your day with something spiritual. Start it spiritual. Meaning when you wake up in the morning instead of the first thing you do to check your phone to see how many likes you got on social media. Oh I got five likes last night. Why don't you open up God's Word and read a chapter from Scripture and let your thoughts drift towards spiritual things? Or why not make the first thing that you do every morning be a moment that you pause and you pray? Now if you have to use the restroom, use the bathroom if you need to first and then pray. Some people say, well, do I have to pray for hours? No. If you need to, you know, start your day off. Start it with two minutes. Start it with five minutes and just say, God, this is your day and that's a gift and I pray Lord that today you would use me however you want to use me. I pray God that I would be sensitive to your spirit, that I would be spirit led in everything that I do. And then when you get in the car to drive to the office or you're in the gym, why don't you listen to some worship music or maybe your favorite sermon and allow your mind to drift towards spiritual things? And then throughout the day as God does great things, why don't you just stop and give God credit for that? And here's what's going to happen. The more that you do that, the more that you're going to see God at work all around you. And then when you're in the office and your boss wigs out on you, you don't flip out. Instead, you call their name out in prayer to God and you say, God, I know that everybody

is facing a battle that I know nothing of and I don't know what's going on in her life, but you do. So help me to be light in the middle of her world. Help me to make a difference in her life for your glory. If you want to change your future, change the way that you think because a man is becoming like we think. So how do you take a message like this and move it from just being something that you hear that you walk away and go, okay, that was nice. And how do you make it where it's something that's actionable? So last week I told you how God had given me my word for 2026. Today I want to build on that foundation and instead of just the word that God has for your 2026, I want to ask you to seek God for one small thought that could change the course of your life forever. Just one thought that you think again and again and again and again, and before you know it, it's actually going to begin to change the way that you, that you live. So I shared with you that my thought that God gave me was a word that I did not like. I wanted the word conquer, but instead he gave me the word rest. And there's a verse, a cool verse in Hebrews that at the end of it, it's got the coolest little statement. It says this, let's do our best to enter that rest. So here's my thought for 2026. I will do my best to enter into his rest. And I've actually thought that thought probably about a hundred times this last week. In fact, Tatum and I, we've talked about it a bunch. She's like, how are you going to do that? How's this going to happen? So I've thought it again and again and again and again, and it's actually changing the way that I live because normally, you know, I'd spend extra time at the office or I'd spend extra time in my study and there's been times throughout this week that I've just stopped and I thought, you know what, I've done enough for today, done enough.

I'm going to go enjoy my family. I'm going to take care of my health. I'm going to date my wife. I'm going to enjoy life. And this one thought here is starting to change the way that I think and the way that I live. So here's my question for you today. What's your thought? What's yours? I don't know. Maybe God gave you the word this, this last week in service, the word generous. So maybe your thought is I am a generous person. You may not be a generous person right now. But you will be, because you're going to begin to think this thought again and again and again. You're going to think, I'm a generous person because I truly believe that it is more blessed to give than to receive. There's going to come a day that you're going to become a very generous person. You're going to step into what God is calling you to be. Or maybe for you, you find that your life is filled with such sadness. You're so discouraged. And so God's giving you this word here, hope. And I don't know, maybe your statement is, the best is yet to come. And you're going to think that thought over and over and over. And guess what's going to happen? You're going to actually become a very hopeful person. Or maybe your marriage is struggling right now. There's not a lot of love going on. And God spoke to you and said, your word is love. Maybe this is your thought. I will love and serve with the love of Christ.

And so you think that thought again and again and again. And over the course of time, you are actually going to become a loving person. Let me tell you why this is important. It's because thoughts shape words, words shape actions, actions form habits, and habits determine our future. As a person thinks in their heart, that's how you're becoming. If you want to change your life, then change the way that you think. Because I need you to understand this today, that the weapons that God has given us, he's given to you, they are not natural. They are supernatural. And God wants us to capture every thought and make it obedient to Christ. And then we're going to focus on what is true and right and lovely and pure and admirable. And then, and then, the God of peace, he's going to walk into your life. And this is not just hopeful thinking. This is a promise from God. King David said this. He said, may all my thoughts be pleasing to you, O God, for I rejoice in the Lord. And people say, oh, it's just a small thought. It really doesn't matter. But you and I, we know better. We know that small things, we know that small thoughts make massive, will make a massive impact on your life. We're going to determine what is trash and what is truth. And when your mind is filled with truth, I promise you that your life is going to be filled with freedom because Jesus said, the truth shall set you free. Amen, everybody. Amen. So do me a favor. Why don't you bow your heads and close your eyes. I have two questions for you today that I want you to grapple with.

Number one, what is your statement for this year? Not just the word, what's your statement? The thing that you're going to think over and over again. So God's given you a word, he's given you a verse that you anchor that to, as we talked about last week, and now there's a statement. What is it? I pray that the Lord would speak to you in this service. He would speak to you before the end of this day. And then second of all, what's the lie that you've been believing? What's that area of deception that the enemy has just, I mean, you're looking at an open gate and you don't see potential. You don't see blue ocean all in front of you. Instead you just see the obstacles. And God's calling you to dream again. If you'll do the little things like they're big things, God will do the big things like they're little things. Dream. What's the lie that you've bought into in your life that needs to be replaced with the truth of God's word? So Father, I pray for my church family that I love so much. I pray that you help us. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us and give us something that would... Change who we are because your word says that we transform our lives by the way that we think when it's based on your word. I ask you, Lord, that you would expose the lie that we've been believing. And use, God, people in our lives if they need to speak into it. Because sometimes we've got these blind spots, and help us. I pray that over every person in Jesus' mighty name, and with heads bowed and eyes closed, I just want to ask you, where are you at with your relationship with God? You know, there's coming a day you will stand before Him. Life is short.

Yesterday morning I got a call, early in the morning, a gentleman in our church. The first thing he said was, she's gone. She's gone. Your tomorrow is not guaranteed, nor is mine. You and I will stand before God one day. This is your moment to get things right. Please listen to me, friend. Don't have a saved soul and a wasted life. Go all in with God and then give Him everything you've got. Today I'm challenging you to give God your life. So come on, just whisper this and just say, Jesus, I give you my failures. I give you my sin. I give you all of my regret. Make me new. Bring my spirit to life. I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that you are the Son of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Can we just say amen and can we just explode in this place in celebration for those that have made that decision for Jesus? God bless you, everybody. Amen. What an incredible day in the house of the Lord. If you just prayed that prayer, you're ready to begin your faith journey again. I want to encourage you to take a brave step today and text the word Jesus to 51010. We want to send you some resources. We want to walk alongside of you because you are not designed to do life alone. We want to meet you. We want to pray for you. In fact, our prayer team is going to begin making their way down front now because we believe in the power of prayer. We want to pray over you guys. We want to hear what God's doing in you and through you.

We want to walk alongside of you in this as well. As you guys stand to your feet, I do want to remind you that this Monday – yeah, you guys can go ahead and stand up. I saw that. I said it too fast. I'm telling y'all. Y'all need some more coffee next week, okay? Hey, this Monday and Tuesday, our 21 Days of Prayer continues. We're praying together as a church family Monday night and Tuesday night at 630. You do not want to miss it. It's an incredibly sweet and special time. As we get ready to dismiss, let me pray for us as we head out today. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. We pray this because of Jesus. Amen. You guys be blessed, and we'll see you next week.