Words & Your Way Of Thinking
Foundation Statement: The Words that you expose
yourself to the most are the key issue in the way you think
I.
One of the major problems
in the church is we have spent the majority of our time with wrong words and
then expect to think like God (Isaiah 55:1-12)
A. If your way of thinking
is going to change you have to be thirsty
1.
There’s
a difference between wanting something to drink and being thirsty
a. Want doesn’t move you,
thirst will
b. This is a call for the
thirsty
2.
One
of the main reasons people don’t see change in their way of thinking and in
their life is because they are not thirsty; they don’t want it bad enough;
they’re not fed up enough with the way things are
a. If you’re comfortable
with where you are, you’re not qualified
b. You got to have a
violent, urgent, fervent desire for change
c. Evidence that you really
are thirsty is you’ll do whatever is necessary to get a drink
3.
Apart
from desire there is no growth or development (1 Peter 2:2)
a. Desire – Intensely
crave, to long for greatly, earnestly desiring, desiring greatly
b. They’re growing by their
desire and the milk; the milk alone won’t cause them to grow
c. Growth and change is
connected to desire; the greater your desire is the more change will see
B. Come to God and His Words
1.
God’s
telling us to come get His Word
a. Waters – Ephesians
5:26 – The water of the Word
b. Eat – Jeremiah
15:16 – I ate his Words
c. Milk – 1 Peter 2:2
– The sincere milk of the Word
d. Job 34:3 – The ear
tries words the way the mouth taste meat
1)
You
are what you eat
2.
You
eat those words as you hearken diligently to them
a. Hearken – (1) Hear,
(2) Attend to, (3) Obey
1)
Obedience
comes as a result of the hearing and attending to
b. Diligently –
Hearkening alone won’t get it done; you have to add diligence to your
hearkening
1)
Diligence
– Steady in application, constant in effort or exertion to accomplish a
task, attentive, not idle or negligent; to zealously seek with all one’s heart,
strength, and might; one who seeks passionately and determinedly that he literally
exhausts his power in his search
2)
To
see change in your thinking and in turn in your life is going to demand
diligence
c. Change only comes to the
diligent who are willing to do whatever is necessary
1)
1
Timothy 4:7 – Exercise-People who want to change and develop so much that
they are willing to put themselves through vigorous ,
demanding, strenuous discipline in order to bring about the change they desire
d. You are diligent to take
the time to hear it – You put yourself before the Word
e. You are diligent to
attend to and keep your mind on the word you heard (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
f. You are diligent to be a
doer of what you heard
C. You’re making investments
in something that’s not satisfying you or profiting you
1.
John
6:63 – The flesh and investments into it profit no thing
a. There’s no profit in
words that aren’t God’s and in that non character life
b. The profit is with the
words of God
2.
Stop
continuing to spend time with words that are not profiting you
a. You’ve seen no profit
from it, yet you continue to make investments into it
D. The prosperity of your
soul determines the prosperity of your life
1.
3
John 2 – You are prospering in life to the same degree that your soul
prospers
a. You level of prosperity
can’t rise above the level of your soul
1)
My
prosperity in life has not choice, but to line up with the prosperity of my
soul
2.
Spending
time with the right words will effect your soul (mind, will, emotions); it will
change your way of thinking
a. Spending time with the
Word of God diligently will make your soul a prosperous one
b. A prosperous soul is one
that thinks, feels, and chooses in line with God and His word
3.
Isaiah
55:3,54:14,55:12 – His covenant of peace is one of nothing missing and
nothing broken
a. Romans 8:6 – To be
spiritually minded is peace (security, safety, prosperity)
4.
My
power, prosperity, and protection is connected to my character; my character is
connected to the way I think
E. This is the idea
1.
6-Go
study and inquire and investigate God and His way of thinking and doing
a. You do that through His
word
2.
7-The
wicked is to leave behind HIS WAY of thinking and doing
a. The unrighteous man is to
forsake HIS WAY of thinking and doing
3.
7-Turn
back to the Lord and HIS way of thinking and doing
4.
8-11-Because
your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways I’m going to
send my word to give you my thoughts and it will prosper in what I’ve sent it
to do and change your way of thinking
a. He sent His word to us to
give us His thoughts and change our way of thinking
II. Words > Thoughts > Decisions > Actions > Habits
> Character > Destiny
A. Joshua 1:8
1.
Joshua
is speaking the word out of his mouth and meditating it day and night---Words
and Thoughts
2.
Joshua
dealt wisely---Right Decisions and Actions
3.
The
decisions and actions you do continuously form your habits---Habits
4.
What
you do habitually all the time without thinking determines your
character---Character
5.
Joshua’s
destination was one of success---Destiny
6.
God’s
telling Joshua his prosperity is connected to his character, his protection is
connected to his character, his power is connected to his character, but his
character is connected the way he thinks so meditate the word day and night
B. Psalm 1:1-3
1.
He
doesn’t go the evil way because he doesn’t have evil thoughts because he’s
meditating the word day and night and directing his thoughts to the things of
the spirit with his mouth and consequently everything he does prospers
2.
Meditate
day and night – Thirst > Diligence > Right investment > Soul is
prosperity
C. Isn’t it interesting that
your destiny can be traced back to the words you spend the most time with
1.
Those
words gave you thoughts. You made
your decisions based on those thoughts that words gave you. The actions you continued in because of
the decisions you made formed your habits.
What you do habitually forms your character. Your character determines the
destination that you reach.