The Great Reset (The Desire for Something New) pt.2
All Scripture taken from the New Living Translation
We are continuing our sermon series titled, “The Great Reset.”
We started by looking at how we can seek God for help in resetting our lives… Getting a fresh start in an area, or areas…
For many of us a reset began the moment we invited Jesus into our lives… Our sinful nature was put behind us and a new person was born…
And then, there are many times in our lives we could use a do-over… Or we could use a reset in certain areas… Jesus is the one who helps with this…
The first step to this process is to talk to Him about it and begin the dialogue of what we are looking for and how can Jesus be a part of the change…
Or what is it that He may deem a better direction, or better wisdom in the reset…
Once that is established, we need people around us to help keep us accountable…
We talked about joining a small group… Having like-minded believers in our lives who can see the things about us that we cannot see…
Today, we’re going to go a little deeper into this subject by looking at what our greatest struggle is when needing to create the desire for something new…
Where does the desire, or the drive for a reset come from? It’s all about choices…
Remember, God gave us free will, and part of free will is the desire to choose…
As human beings our thought process is where it all starts…
Sometimes the stakes for the desire to change are high… But they are even higher when Kingdom values enter the equation!
Colossians 3:1-4: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.”
As followers of Jesus our reality is the Kingdom of God… Being Heavenly minded… This is the vertical part of our lives… The vertical part of the Cross equals heaven!
That is why our thoughts… Our minds… Need to be focused on the things of God… Not the things of earth… Not the things of this world…
The more kingdom minded our thought process is, the more focused on the things of God we will be when it comes to the desire for something new…
When we are intentional of our thoughts being more kingdom minded and not so much focused on the things of this world…
Then our faith in Jesus… Who is our life… is revealed and shared with those around us… Therefore, we get to share in His glory!
This is the horizontal part of the cross… Revealing Jesus to those around us…
This passage can be very helpful when it comes to the struggles we have that start with our thoughts…
The mind… Our intellect… Is a powerful thing… And it’s where all the internal conflicts begin…
Isaiah 26:3-4: “3You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! 4Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”
It is God Himself who brings perfect peace to those whose thoughts are fixed on Him… To those who are Kingdom minded in all they do!
Proverbs 4:23: “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”
What starts in our minds affects our hearts… What starts in our minds affects who we are… It affects our decisions… It affects our desires, and eventually determines the course of our lives!
This is a true statement regardless of whether a person follows Jesus or not…
Good thoughts lead to good behavior, good actions, and reactions… And bad thoughts lead to unhealthy behavior, unhealthy actions, and reactions…
And the truth is, we’re constantly going over things in our heads, right?
We’re constantly weighing out decisions and depending on the severity, or the weight of the decisions depends on the level of struggle we may have internally…
This is where the benefits of following Jesus come into play… When staying focused on Him… On Kingdom minded principles… We have a peace that transcends all understanding…
We have a peace that keeps us grounded during the tough chapters of life… And we have a Savior who offers His Holy Spirit to help us with the decisions we make!
So, here’s the thing… We’ll never get a reset in life started until we get the right mindset going…
And for a follower of Jesus the right mindset is to be Kingdom minded… A mind focused on the things of God…
This is how we battle the thoughts we fight with… And the Bible is very clear that we are constantly battling our thoughts…
PRAYER
God, I know that in this world I will have many troubles – but I also know You are with me. I’m grateful that I can trust You to guide and protect me as I go through hard circumstances. Please give me peace during challenges, and allow me to rest with the promises You’ve made. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Even the Apostle Paul struggled with this…
Romans 7:21-25: “21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[a] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”
This is a personal testimony from the Apostle Paul… And it’s same for us when it comes to the battle with our sinful nature… Our old self… Who we were prior to following Jesus… This battle is something that will always be there!
I want to make one thing very clear here… It is not an excuse to blame bad behavior on our sin nature… At some point we made the decision to act on what was going on with the struggle in our mind!
The other thing I want to be very clear about is that this is exactly why Jesus came to the earth and allowed Himself to be nailed to the Cross… To redeem us from our sinful nature!!
We have a constant battle going on in our mind… With our thoughts… And it often creates tension between two desires… The desire to do what it right, what is kingdom minded… And the desire to do what might not be in our best interest…
If you’re identifying with what I’m saying right now, a good book to read on this topic was written many years ago by a lady named Joyce Meyer… It’s titled, “Battlefield of the Mind.”
Our mind is our greatest asset, and the devil knows this… Without our brains, our intellect… We would not be the person we are…
The devil, demons, cannot read our minds, but his minions can make suggestions, plant thoughts, and steer us in directions we did not plan on going…
Or they can create so much mental noise we struggle with making Kingdom-minded decisions!
And it is in our minds that God’s Holy Spirit helps us with the process of a changed person… Our hearts and our minds are connected!
Ephesians 4:21-24: “21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
Colossians 3:10: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him.”
Romans 8:5-8: “5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.”
Life is all about choices… And in this context the choice is, Do we want to be controlled by our sinful nature… Which leads to spiritual death…
Or do we want to set our thoughts on the things of God… Having a kingdom mindset that leads to spiritual life?
A Kingdom mindset is what will lead to life and help create the desire for something new when seeking a reset in certain areas!
So how do we do this? How do we silence the battling going on in our heads?
How am I to keep a Kingdom mindset to create the desire for a healthy reset (Financial, marriage, career… Break or create habits and routines)?
Philippians 4:8: “…Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
What are you listening to… What are you watching, reading, thinking about?
We must be intentional on what we allow into our minds…
It’s hard to control what I’m thinking about… It’s hard to not let my mind wander to certain websites… It’s hard not to watch movies with certain content when my friends seem like they’re doing just fine, and they indulge in all kinds of stuff…
It takes hard work and determination… And the Word of God for verses and passages like the ones we’re looking at today to help us!
We know that if we eat healthy, we will be healthy… If we eat junk food and fast food… We will not be healthy… We know that if we exercise and take care of our
bodies, we will be healthy and if we just lay around and do nothing, we will not be healthy…
Again, it’s all about choices… Freewill… And the choices we make in life affect our spiritual life… And it all starts with our minds… Our thoughts!
Proverbs 15:14: “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.”
Let’s close with this…
From the first passage we looked at in…
Colossians 3:2: “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”
For the desire for something new to be birthed in our spirits we need to be focused on the things of heaven if we want our Creator to help us in the process!
Since our thoughts direct our lives… Our thoughts determine the direction we are heading…
We need to ask ourselves how serious are we in resetting our lives in certain areas?
Are we willing to stop feeding our minds with certain things… Are we serious about keeping the things of heaven at the forefront of our thoughts instead of the things of this world…
And if the answer is, yes, I’m serious about making a change… Then start by reading the Bible.
Happy Valentine’s Day
