[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help, you know, God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. I remember looking at my kindergarten class pictures back in the day. They used to take this glamour shot style photo of us kids.
And I remember looking back on that a few years ago and I was, I only had one thought. What was I thinking?
Because the night before the story is told, I was upset at my mother because we couldn't afford a, we couldn't afford a haircut. And, you know, I didn't want to look like some weird hippie. And no offense, but because she wouldn't cut my hair, I went ahead and just grabbed the scissors and cut my hair myself. And so this, I have this big horseshoe kind of thing all across my head. And she was just like, well, now you're going to have to go to school with that. And I was proud of it. And I cut my own hair. I don't need you to cut my hair. But I remember looking at those pictures and my thought was, what was I thinking? What? The world was entering, you know, six year old Tim Ingram's mind to think that this was going to be a good idea. I don't know what I was thinking.
Another time that comes to my memory about my life is when I met my, my wife's parents for the first time. And at the time I had a red mohawk.
I, I can't explain that. I don't, I don't know what I was thinking.
It is what it is. It happened.
I don't get it. I don't understand what I was thinking in that, in that moment either.
I should have tried to make a better impression, but I made an impression for sure. And bottom line is it worked out for me. So. It is. It is what it is.
There's other times in my life where I question myself. What was I thinking?
For some of you that know my story, I got married at the age of 18 and yeah, but I had some mentors that sat me down and were speaking into my life and people that were trying to talk sense into me, you know, trying to be very kind, but also trying to help me recognize, like, this is, this is a, this is a pattern of unhealthy thinking that is leading you to this place. This is not a good decision. You're making your decisions on some unhealthy patterns and some unhealthy way of thinking. And. And you're going to look back on this and say, why didn't I listen? But I did not listen because I want what I want. And I think some of you can agree with me. We look back on our lives and ask ourselves, what was I thinking?
I didn't listen. I should have paid more attention. I should have been more teachable. I should have been submitted.
I should have, should have done anything different than what I actually did. But most of the important decisions I look back in my life kind of go back to what was I thinking and whether those worked out for the best or whether they didn't work out at all. And I had to learn from.
Kind of comes back to me having to take a good inventory of the way that I think. And I want to talk about the way that you think as well today. That's going to be our focus today. Our mental health, our ability to look at our thoughts and say, lord, is this right? Is this true? Is this good? The way that I think, I think some of us get kind of stuck in the rut of it just is what it is. That's the way I am. I kind of process this way. And I'm always going to be this. But God's word tells us a different story. So I want to turn your attention to Romans chapter 12.
And God's word shows us something so, so beautiful. Is that it? And it's that God wants to help us change our future by challenging the way that we think.
Because everything I do and all that I will become begins with how I think.
And if I only think the same way, if I only keep the same patterns, if I only have the same responses about the future tenure now version of me is going to look exactly the same. And the same is true for you. If you don't change the way that you think, then you're just going to be 10 years older, doing the exact same things, wondering why hasn't God helped me. But God's word gives us some brilliant insight. Insight to how we think, how we process and what the Lord has for us, which is a much better way. And so I'm not here to criticize anyone or the way that you think or your life choices. I'm simply saying let's evaluate for a moment the way that we think and our patterns. And if we could be teachable and allow God's word to kind of speak into our lives. I think the future version of us is going to look back and say, I'm thankful for this. God has helped me change the direction of my life. And so here's what we know. Thoughts become responses, responses become patterns, and patterns repeated over years shape a life, for better or for worse. How you think, how you respond becomes your pattern.
And it's very difficult for you to break out of that pattern unless you have the truth, the miraculous truth, the powerful truth of God's word. So Romans 12. Paul writes this to the church, and he tells them this. This is so important because I think a lot of churches in Christianity has kind of gotten this scripture twisted into something that's wrong. And I want to show you what God, I believe, is saying to us today that's going to really help us to interpret it rightly and to find the nuggets of gold that are in here that will really help us to become more like Christ. Here's what it says.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. And I want to stop right there before we go any farther with what God wants for me, how he wants to change the way that I think. Let's. Let's recognize that Paul builds this on a foundation of God's mercy. Why is that a big deal? Because if you don't believe God is a merciful God, you won't trust him to let him change you.
God is a merciful God. He's a good God. He's a God that has great grace, amazing grace, wonderful mercies. His scripture says that his mercies are new every morning.
That means there's mercy for me today. There's mercy for me to be able to become who God has called me to be.
Right here, right now. I can learn. I can change. Why? Because he's merciful to me. He's not trying to kill me. He's not trying to hurt me.
He's trying to make me into what I have potential to become.
Therefore, in view of God's mercy, he says, here's what I want you to do. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. He's saying, worship costs you something. And what happens to your body will affect your mind. And there should be a natural response to the mercy of God is, Lord, I want to submit to you. I want to surrender to you. You've been so merciful and so kind to me that I want to trust you with my very self, my very being. So in view of God's mercy, let's Offer our lives, offer our bodies as a willing sacrifice. I want this. I want you to help me. God's not going to force you into becoming something new, but he wants to help you do it. And he wants you to see his mercy and his goodness and trust him to be able to walk into that and what is best ultimately for you.
It says, this is your true and proper worship. And he tells us this. Do not conform to the path pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing.
Renewing, it's a great word of your mind. The way that you think says God gives us the ability to. To. To change that, not to just something else, but to make it new, to start over, a fresh start in the way that we process and think. And it says this, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good and pleasing and perfect will. What's the will of God for my life? It all starts right here by looking at him as a merciful God, Me laying down my life, submitting to Him. And then things start to change where I can start seeing his will and what he wants from me. But if God showed you his will, but you didn't really want it, what good would that do if you weren't really willing to listen to it? What good is that when you won't lay down your will, but you want to see what he has to offer you, you say, let's, let's, let's trust Him.
So then it goes on to say, for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith that God has distributed to each of you. And so I want to pause right there.
Paul says, don't think of yourself like that. Think of yourself this way. Then he gives us the key to the key to doing it. In view of God's mercy, let's trust God with this process. So here's a couple of things that I think are important for us and where I want to focus today as we're digging into how can I live today with tomorrow in mind? What will my Life look like 10 years from now? Am I struggling with the same things? Will my marriage look the same? Will my finances look the same? My friendships, my relationships with my children? Are things going to be the exact same? Do I hope they stay the same? Do I need change? Do I resist change? What my life look like? And ultimately, what is the condition of my soul in 10 years what, what is my, my walk with Christ going to look like in 10 years? Will I be closer to the Lord?
And how do I know that that's even possible? How do I know that I'm, I'm willing to do that? And it all starts with the way that you think, let's live today with tomorrow in mind. And in order to do that, there's a couple of things I think God's word is very clearly outlining for us and things I want to challenge you with this week as you process through what the next 10 years of your life will look like according to God's word. The first thing is I can examine my patterns.
It says, don't conform to the, to the pattern of this world. Our world has lots of patterns. There's ways of thinking, there's lots of mindsets. And it's very easy for us in our digital age to be surrounded with the, the way that other people think and kind of allow those, those algorithms to influence the way that we think. Paul says, hey, there's, There's a better way, there's a better pattern, and it's not the world's pattern. But, but God has outlined a timeless pattern for us to follow, says, don't conform to the pattern of this world. Because underneath every sin and every unhealthy behavior is a thought pattern. You've got your thought patterns, I have mine. You've asked yourself before, what was I thinking? Some of us look back at 90s fashion and say, what was I thinking? I look back at some of the things I wore, and I'm thankful that there's not a whole lot of digital evidence on that.
And I'm grateful that I can't just look at that every day and say, what was I thinking? But on a more sobering term, I look back at my sins, at my addiction, at the parts of my life that are embarrassing, and ask myself, what was I thinking?
And only by the grace of God, only by the mercy of God, only by the sanctification of God, can I look back at my life and say, that's not me anymore. Not just that I've gotten older and wiser, but then I've gotten closer to the Lord and he's been able to break off my thought patterns to where I can see things differently. I can process differently, I can make different choices. But it starts with examining my patterns. Why am I thinking that way?
And is it true?
Is it right? Is it good?
Is this the way that the Lord wants me to think? Can I even process a Different way. Because if I can't change the process, if I can't change the way that I'm thinking, if I can't submit that to the Lord, I'm just going to have the same old results.
I'm just going to be what I am.
What does Popeye say? I am what I am. Right? Do you remember that? Some of you have no idea what that is. Doesn't matter. We're going to move past it. Here's what we know. He says, don't conform to the pattern of this world. And here's where I think a lot of people get this, get this really twisted and Christianity messes this up. When we say, don't conform to the pattern of this world, what we hear is don't behave like the world.
Don't behave like the world. And that's not what he's saying. That is not what he means by saying don't conform to the pattern of this world. Because if you interpret it that way, don't behave like the world behaves. Then Christianity becomes nothing more than behavior modification. It becomes legalism. Well, you're not, you're putting on a show to say I don't behave like the world, therefore I'm not conforming to the pattern. That's not what that means. Christianity is not self help.
It's not this. Make sure that you look good on the outside and do all the right things because that proves that you're a Christian on the inside. That is not what that means.
He's very clearly saying, do not conform to the pattern of this world. What's the difference between being conformed? And then he says, but be transformed. I just want to put this on the screen so that you can see this because this helped me a lot as I was digging into this.
Let's say this. Conformation is pressure from the outside, but transformation is renewal from the inside. And this is what God offers that is so much better than legalism and following a set of, of rules than making sure that you wear the right thing, that you say the right thing, that you do the right thing, you go to the right places. Because this proves I'm a Christian. This is what proves that I love the Lord. No, he says, the, the transformation I'm talking about is renewal. That's happening on the inside. How do we do that?
One of the brilliant things that Paul is doing here without even knowing the term that we use for it today is what lots of psychiatrists and psychologists would call metacognition.
He's saying this. You can Think about what you're thinking about.
When you ask yourself, what was I thinking?
That's metacognition.
When you ask yourself, why am I thinking this way? That's metacognition. And Paul is laying out those brilliant psychological and psychiatric terms in biblical language to show that this is not just some psycho mumble mumbo jumbo. This is actual truth from God's word. I can think about what I'm thinking about.
I can give it a moment to say, why am I thinking this way?
In Psalm 42, the Psalmist writes this.
Why my soul are you downcast?
Why?
Why am I downcast? Why am I feeling this depression? And he says, why so disturbed within me? What is he doing? He's talking to his own thoughts. It's very biblical. I can talk to my thoughts and say, is this right?
Is this true? Did they actually say that? Or do I just feel that?
When you start thinking about what you're thinking about, God's word begins to do things inside of your heart that you couldn't do. You can start examining your patterns and allowing the light of the Holy Spirit to show you perhaps this is not a healthy pattern. And the way that you look at the opposite sex, the way that you look at finances, the way that you look at your children or your family or what you have, what you don't have, what you want, what you need, if, if, if you can allow the Holy Spirit to start examining and you can say, lord, let's look at my pattern together. Why? Why do I think that way? Why. Why do I feel this way?
All of a sudden, God begins to do things that you can't do on your own. It's a submission to God's way over, saying, that's the way I feel, so it must be a fact.
Lots of people do that, by the way. That's very common. If I feel it, it must be true. Your feelings change all the time. Your feelings change depending upon how much ice cream you eat. You eat a little bit, you're going to feel great. You eat two gallons, I don't feel so good. You understand? Your feelings change. Your feelings are valid in a lot of ways, but they are horrible leaders of your life. And when I can ask myself, why do I feel this way? Why do I think like that? Why is it that I follow the same pattern? Why is it that I always date the same kind of person? Why is it that I fall in love with the same kind of person? Why is it.
Is there a pattern here that's called metacognition? And God's word says, let's think about what I'm thinking about. By the way, the psalmist goes on to say, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to remember the Lord, I'm going to praise him. I'm going to change the way that this pattern is going because I know where it ends. It leads to more depression, it leads to more being disturbed in my soul and downcast in my soul. I'm going to choose a different path.
So he examines his patterns, chooses something different so I don't have to just experience my emotions, I can examine them. And this is what I want to challenge you with this week. Don't just let your feels be your feels, but examine them and ask yourself some great questions. Is this right? Is it true? Is it valid that I feel this way?
Is this lining up with God's word? Does God's word say that? Or is it just the way that I feel? I don't have to just feel my feelings. I can examine it. And that's powerful. I hope that you're catching onto this because this is some good stuff. This really did change my life when I. When I found that I could not break my own cycles of addiction. For some of you that know my story and the things that I was struggling with, I had to examine what led me to a place of addiction. And then I had to examine why am I so consumed with this and I can't let go of it.
But God. God is an incredible, incredible deliverer. And he loves to not just change your circumstances, he wants to change your outcome, he wants to change your future. And God has a better future for me. But it started when I started allowing him to have authority over my thought life.
Every sin, every unhealthy pattern begins with a thought and submitting those to the Lord and saying, lord, why do I think this way? Help me. It's true. In its proper worship, you're presenting yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord and God begins to change what you can't change on your own. It's not self help stuff. It's not pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. It's relying on them, great mercy and the great grace of God to help you in a very practical way. Here's the second key that we see from God's word that's so powerful. Number two, you're going to have to try God's pattern. So it's not enough to just examine the way that you think and say, now I understand the way that I think that's great.
But at some point it has to become a step of faith where you say, okay, I know why I think that way. I recognize the pattern. I see myself going down that road, and that's not a healthy version of me. I don't like that about myself.
If you can recognize that and see it, that's beautiful. I'm thankful that you can. That's a wonderful step that most people never take. Here's the second step is you're going to have to, at some point, try God's pattern. You can't just say, I understand. You have to say, now I take a step of faith. So what are we talking about? He says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I love that word, transformed. By the way, it's where we get our word that you learned in biology class. Metamorphosis. You remember that word. It's kind of like photosynthesis or chlorophyll, but metamorphosis. And a good example is where a caterpillar is inside of a cocoon and it becomes a beautiful butterfly.
Paul is not saying that you're going to have.
You're going to. God's going to put some new things on the outside of you. It's not A butterfly is not just a caterpillar with some wings taped on him. It's a completely new thing. It's a renewal that happened on the inside.
And this is what God is saying. It's not about outward modification. It's not about just changing your personality. No, he said, I'm going to renew you on the inside to make you new again on the inside. It's part of the beautiful process of being born again that God gives us a beautiful, beautiful new beginning. And he's saying, I want to make you new on the inside, so be transformed by the renewing of your mind on the inside.
So not just your outward stuff, but what's happening on the inside. We have to take a step. So God's word doesn't just reveal unhealthy thinking, but he gives us truth to replace it.
And this truth is good, man. If you're walking through temptation and trials, if you're walking through difficulties, if you're walking through dark days, you're going to have to combat it with the truth of God's word. What did God's word say versus what I feel, what I think I know I have some tendency towards some unhealthy patterns. And by the way, the greatest example of this is in Mark, chapter four.
Jesus Never committed any sin. Jesus had no unhealthy patterns of thinking, but yet he still modeled this for us. In Mark, chapter four, when he was facing temptation in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted, just like we are.
But Jesus didn't have any unhealthy patterns. But yet he still models this and this way of thinking, this metacognition, and the ability to show us how powerful that God's truth is by replacing the old unhealthy patterns.
So every time that Satan comes to Jesus, he offers him another way around the will of God for his life. A shorter path, an easier path. He says, you don't have to go to the cross. Basically just fall down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms in the world, all the things that your destiny is supposed to, is supposed to be, including, I'll just give them to you. Just, here's a separate way. You don't have to do it this way. You don't have to do it God's way. You don't have to submit it. You can, you can just fall down and worship me and I'll give it to you. And notice every single time that the enemy tempted Christ, Jesus responded with the same three words. It is written. It is written. It is written.
I love that Jesus combats the attacks of the enemy. He combats those unhealthy patterns of, of the world with it is written the truth of God's word replacing the lies that the enemy is trying to offer you. And it's a beautiful pattern of what's happening there. I challenge you to go back and read it. Mark, Mark 4 is, is great. When you look at how Jesus defeats temptation, it, it's a great challenge for you to, to pick up on.
So when, when you start reading God's word and, and I say it every, every so often, but at some point you gotta actually read this and I give you full permission. If you don't understand something, just skip it. Go to the next verse. If you don't understand a chapter, skip it. Go. Just don't quit.
Get God's word, get God's patterns of thinking into you. God shows us how he thinks. God shows us how he processes and what's important to him. And as you begin to learn that, as begin to grow in it, those things become more than quiet time. Bible reading is not just quiet time.
It's creating a library of truth to help me when life hits. You can go back and say, wait a minute, God's word says this.
Well, this seems like I'll never be able to find a way out of this. Wait a minute. God's word says, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world.
God's with me. God's word says, he's never going to leave me. He's never going to forsake me. He's not going to abandon me. He's here. So that proves that I'm not alone. When you get hit with things like you'll never become, you'll never be, when you get hit with, this will never change, or this is always going to be the same. What was I thinking? God's truth, God's word that we invest into our lives every single day produces incredible results because you have a library of Scripture to draw from. That happens over the long view. By devoting ourselves to God's word every day, it matters. Try God's pattern. Philippians 4 says this. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things. That's a great scripture for you to memorize this week. If you haven't taken a scripture and ever tried to memorize it, memorize that one Philippians 4, 8. And it tells you, you know what? I'm not going to think about that right now. I'm going to try God's pattern. I'm going to focus on the things that are true. What do I know that's true?
What can I prove? What's praiseworthy, what's noble, what's right, what's good? Let me focus on those things and I can hear some of us. Yeah, that's thinking positive.
Let me just say I'm a fan of thinking positive. I believe in it. I think if you have a choice between thinking the negative and thinking the positive, think the positive.
But that's not what I'm talking about. God's word isn't thinking positive. It's thinking truth. And there's a big difference between positive thinking and knowing that this is God's absolute truth. When you can rely on truth, you can change the patterns that you're thinking. Not just to have a better day or a better attitude or choose to ignore your problems. But know that God's truth does what positive thinking cannot.
I hope that helps you. 2 Corinthians 10:5. With God's truth, this is what we can do. It says, we demolish arguments. All the things happening inside of your mind, all the things that are attacking your mind, all the outside influences that create so much turmoil says we demolish those arguments. We demolish the pretension. We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. That means that you don't serve your thoughts. You're not led along by your thoughts, but you make your thoughts submit to the authority of Christ.
And this is where great breakthrough comes from. If this thought that I have in my mind, I can't get it out of my mind, I'm going to submit it to the authority of Christ and say, lord, is this true? Does this line up with your Word? And if it does, then I'm going to allow myself to be led by it. If it does not submit to the authority of Christ. If your word does not, does not positively reinforce that multiple times in multiple places, I'm going to put that thought to death.
We take captive every thought before it becomes an action, before it becomes sin, before it becomes a stronghold, before it becomes anything else. I look at that thought and say, why am I thinking this way? Is this the Lord? Is this submitted to the authority of Christ? Is this a healthy thought?
And if I can submit it to the authority of Christ, there's great victory for us there. Once again, God's word speaks so much, life speaks so much, health speaks so much help for each of us to say, let's try a new pattern. And here's the final thing I want to share with you before we finish up our, our time today. Number three. Let new thoughts become new choices.
Thoughts that are submitted to God's word. Let those begin to govern the choices that you make. You're trying a different road. You're trying a different path. You know where this path goes. For God's sake, for your sake, for your future sake, let's try something different.
Let new thoughts become new choices. And this is what Paul says at the end of Romans 12. He says, Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is for your life. There are things that you think are God's will, but he says, you can, you can test them, you can, you can approve. You say, okay, I know that this is what God wants for me. I'm taking this path. This is the right path. But notice that everything starts with that word then.
Then is a super important word. The then there matters.
Because now I have the keys to following and finding God's will. Not my old patterns, not my old way of thinking. Not just is what it is, it's going to be what it's going to be. No, I have God's truth and Then I can find God's will. So as God changes how I think, I begin to see myself, my circumstances, I begin to see my future differently and I start taking new paths. And this is where life gets really exciting. This is where life becomes brand new. Because you're starting to follow in the will of God for your life, because you're not thinking as the old version of you would think. It's part of the sanctification process, part of the renewal process. As God. God wants to help us think differently, to think according to the truth of, of his word.
I wrote this. I wrote this down that I thought would be helpful to you. A renewed mind doesn't just change how I feel. It changes how I see not just emotions, which is great, but it changes how I see, how I see myself, how I see my future, how I see my children, how I see the future of this church, how I see my finances. That just learning to submit those things to the Lord and letting him renew my mind and transform me from the inside, it's not just a more positive and a brighter outlook on life. I begin to see things the way that God sees them. I see them with hope. I see them of what it can be according to what God wants to do. Remind yourself, he has good plans for you.
He has good plans for you. You have a future. You have a hope. There's a life that God has called you into, a life that God wants to bless each of us with. And by the way, you never graduate from this. There's always new things that we can lear from the Lord, new patterns of thinking, and there's ruts that we get stuck in that God says, I want to, I want to deal with that in this season.
Let me, Let me show you a new path and let me let it change the way that you, that you see. So it's. If you apply these things, I want to challenge you to apply that this week.
Just know this. You probably won't. You probably won't change every thought pattern this weekend.
Okay? And that's okay. It's not going to happen overnight.
It won't be an instant thing. Now, God's timetable is different than your timetable, but you're not going to see instant results.
Why?
First of all, because this series called the Long View, and we're living today with, with tomorrow in mind. This is over the course of, of perhaps years, maybe months of you applying these things, getting into God's word, submitting your thoughts to Christ, taking new paths, new choices. You're going to be shocked at what God can do over the long term, you might be a little underwhelmed on what it does for you tomorrow. Okay? But this is about the long view. This is not called the short view. This is called the long view. Come on, somebody. So here's what we know, is that over the course of a period of time, you're going to notice some things that begin to change. And so every time you recognize a lie, every time you replace it with truth, every time you refuse to let fear make your decisions, every time that you surrender tomorrow to God, every time you choose what is true over what you feel about, another small piece of your mind is being renewed from the inside.
And over years, those thoughts become responses, those responses become patterns, Patterns become your character. And character shapes the direction of my life. So if. If. If I let God change the way I think today, he can change the direction that I'm headed tomorrow.
You have a good future, my friend.
Just you being here today and listening to this, I think God's power and the Holy Spirit's gonna begin to help you recognize some unhealthy thought patterns. You're gonna be able to look and say, what was I thinking? What am I thinking there? And try some new roads. And what's coming next I think is really good. So don't quit, don't give up. Keep pushing, keep moving forward. Keep applying God's word to your life. And watch what God can do over the long view. I want to finish right there, if that's okay. Go ahead and put away your Bibles. And I want to just take a minute and ask you, if you wouldn't mind, to just bow your head where you are. Let's have a moment of. Of reflection and. And asking the Holy Spirit to. To show us what he needs to show us.
Let me pray for you.
Holy Spirit, we invite you to come right now and let your word come to life. Lord, we recognize that Romans 12 was written to a group of people that lived thousands of years ago. But, Lord, your word is timeless. And it's speaking to us right where we are right now. It's confronting old, unhealthy thought patterns. It's confronting sins and habits and strongholds in our life, things that we thought maybe could never change.
And your word is showing us that there is.
There is a much better future. There is change. There is possibilities. If we learn to submit to you and present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you, this is proper and true worship, that we don't have to be conformed from the Outside, but we can be transformed on the inside. You can make us new on the inside.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would come make us new.
Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me? Would you pray that right where you are? Holy Spirit, what are you saying to me?
What unhealthy patterns have I seen in my life?
What are the parts of my life that I look back and say, what was I thinking?
Are there some strongholds there, things that I just can't ever seem to get past?
Because I'm believing that this is a season of miracles? God's doing great things because he's a good God and he loves you. He has a good future for you.
And now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you came here to church today. Perhaps you're watching this online and you're saying, pastor, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I don't know what that's like. I sure would like that. I want to know what it's like to be saved. My friend, I'm so glad that you're here, and I would love to introduce you to Jesus. My friend, I'm not going to embarrass you in any way. I would never do that. But you need to make a decision today, and I'm going to help you do it.
Or maybe, like me, you're. You're. You're saying, pastor, I've been in church. I've done the things before, but I've gotten away from God and I've been on the run from God. I've turned my back on God, and I need to come home. I need to make some things right between me and me and the Lord. My friend, I'm glad you're here.
If you've never met Jesus before, if you've walked away from Jesus, if you've been struggling with your faith and need to come home, I'm going to lead you in a prayer right now, and I'm going to ask that you pray this prayer out loud with me. I'll tell you the words to say. You can repeat it with me. As a matter of fact, all of us are going to pray this prayer out loud together, just so that you won't be embarrassed in any way. Pray this with me.
Just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died, and I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for my sins.
Will you please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life in Jesus name now, with heads Bowed and eyes closed with nobody else looking around. If you prayed that prayer, would you do me a huge favor? Would you just look up from where you are? Would you just lift your hand? I'm not going to embarrass you in any way, but just lift your hand and say, pastor, that was me. I prayed that prayer. I meant that prayer. I'm making a decision to go all in with God right now. Can you just lift up your hand all across this place? And I'm so proud of you.
Those of you that did that, if that was your prayer, there's a phone number appearing behind me on the screen right now. I want to encourage you to text me, text the words I prayed to that number, and I'll send you back some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what to do next. It's my. My gift to you and I'm so proud of you and the decision that you just made.
High Ridge family, go ahead and look up at me if you would. I wanted to say thank you so much for being willing to listen. I wish I could join you in person, but today I'm ministering to our brothers and sisters and our family of churches at High Ridge Church in Fort Worth, where I actually moved here from. And so they've asked me to come and to speak some things to them, but they're getting an old message. You guys are getting the good stuff today, but pray for me as you would. As we continue to navigate through tough economic times, as we continue to navigate through all the things that we've got to go through, I do know this. God is good. He's a good provider. He's got good things in store for me. He's got good things in store for you. He has good things in store for this church. And so as we pray for each other, I'm believing that what we're about to see next is the miraculous provision of God in wonderful ways. I've seen it before and we're going to see it again. Do you believe it? Come on. I can't hear you. Do you believe that?
Awesome. I'm going to turn it back over to your host for today. God bless you. Hope you have an amazing day.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook. Or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv. Or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
