I Choose Peace - In a Broken World, Part 2

The most important decision that you and I will make today and every day is what we allow to go into our mind. We are the product of our thoughts. Here's the question.

How do you filter out the bad ones and dwell on the good ones? That's today on Living on the Edge. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Druey and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. In this program, Chip continues his series, I Choose Peace. But just before we get started, let me encourage you to take a second to download Chip's message notes. He's going to cover a lot of practical info in this program, which is all laid out in his notes. To download this helpful tool, just go to the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap fill in notes. With that, let's join Chip for part two of his message, In a Broken World. Before I watch, listen or think, is it true? Does it honor God?

Is it right or wrong? And next, is it pure? This is from the same root word as holy that means to be set apart, means to be free from defilement, sexual and moral purity and thought, word and deed. And the question you want to ask is, will this cleanse or dirty my soul? Job would say in Job 31, 1, I've made a covenant with my eyes, how then could I gaze lustfully for a virgin?

David in Psalm 101, about verses two and three, he says, I've committed before you, Lord, to live a blameless life and I will set no worthless or vile thing before my eyes. Can I just say something and we won't belabor it? If you have a porn addiction, just get help. All the research is that it is as addictive as cocaine and trying hard and really intending and wanting to break a porn addiction is not something you'll probably do on your own.

No one else has. And it produces fears and it multiplies into lies and cover up and it's no less addicting than if you were sticking a needle in your arm. And it's a pseudo intimacy that will destroy your relationships. And so God's heart would be, I want you to see sex as holy and pure.

The Bible says God made it. He loves it. But the marriage beds should be holy.

He wants what you watch, not just porn, but the kind of movies and not just the sexually explicit ones. But what about the ones that they sort of suck us in by you have this kind of mean guy married to this wonderful gal and she falls in love with someone who's really not her husband, but he's a nice guy and she's a nice guy and he's a jerk. And we find ourselves rooting for them in their affair.

And you know what that does? Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, seed planted. The enemy is very shrewd. The battle for your life is not out there. The battle is right here.

The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but divinely powerful. And we will take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And that's why if you have a teenage son, in fact, in our day now, if you have a teenage daughter, you have to open the phones and have a conversation and you need to do it in the next 24 or 48 hours and sit down and talk about your mind is so precious and you are so precious.

And the kind of addictions and the kind of information and the kind of attacks, no one would take their 12 or 13 or 11 year old daughter or son or 10 year old boy and drop them off, you know, like in downtown San Jose in the middle of the night or downtown Oakland and go, hey, I'll catch you later. Have fun. And yet when you don't have filters, when you don't have a conversation, when you haven't talked about these things, it's exactly what you're doing.

And our kids are dying. Ask yourself, will this cleanse or dirty my soul? The next word is lovely. I like this one.

Attractive, winsome, beautiful. It pictures things that call forth a response of love and warmth versus bitterness, criticism and vengeance. This is a call to smell the roses, to look at a rainbow, to watch kids playing in a park, to ponder a pleasant memory, to pause with a warm embrace, to put your feet up and read encouraging book. Yesterday, I'm very excited.

I guess it was Friday. I played golf a couple of times. So fun. And as I was driving, it was about 6 30 in the morning, all these puffy clouds, and then it was all red and pink behind them.

I was just driving and it was just like winsome, attractive, admirable. Oh, Lord. And I happened to my phone, you know, you know how these phones work where they just play songs that are on your phone.

You never know which is coming up. And out of the blue comes up a song from a 25 year old young man who's best friends with my son. And he died of cancer at 25. And the song came on restore me. And I thought back of those memories and I thought back of what God has done.

And it was just I just began to ponder his kindness and his sovereignty and his love and beauty and creation. Guess what? Guess what happened to my emotions wins. I mean, we live close to the ocean. When's the last time you went there?

When's the last time you went to the redwoods? Get your faces out of the screens and look at the beauty that God has brought. Ask yourself this question.

Will this renew or harden my heart? I had come home and we were going to eat in about 10 minutes and I looked on channel two and it was like, oh, my gosh, get to channel four. You know, PBS, sometimes they'll give you a more documentary sort of position. I found myself disturbed within, sad, angry about the injustice in the world, a sense that the world is completely messed up.

Here's the deal. In 10 minutes, in 10 minutes, everything bad that happened in the globe went on my screen and to me. And I'm telling you, there were hundreds of millions of acts of kindness and children born and people being generous and love given and people caring and kids adopted and food given and fresh water and people pulled out of the sex trade and all that wonderfulness. I didn't see all I got in 10 minutes was that and it shaped my thinking.

What you allow in your mind the last 30 to 45 minutes before you go to bed and what you allow in your mind the first 30 minutes of your day will shape your subconscious, your mind, your thinking. You're either starving, fear and feeding faith or you're doing the opposite. Finally, he says that which is commendable, good repute. He says gracious, admirable is the meaning of the word. It literally means fair speaking.

It describes things which are fit for God to hear versus ugly words, false words and pure words. And the test here is could I recommend this to someone who looks up to me? Right? Now, you know, but by the way, if you kind of thinking, oh, my gosh, this would radically change what comes in my house. Good.

It also change your fear, change your emotions, change your kids if you have them. But you don't have to raise your hands on this one. Have you ever been watching something and someone's coming down the hall and before they walk in, you change the channel?

Oh, OK. I did that once. We've all been watching something and a little kid is coming in or your mate's coming in or something. And I don't mean that it's terrible, but you just I'm not comfortable with them watching this.

How about this test? Imagine you're sitting on, you know, one of those couches with two or three seats and whatever is coming on your phone, your screen, your TV, the Lord Jesus and his resurrected body shows up and says, hey, Chip, how you doing? Great. I'm just going to relax a little bit and watch this. Great. Mind if I sit down? No, love to have you. Here's the question to ask. Are you comfortable with him sitting next to you watching what you're watching?

Are you comfortable with a five year old, with a grandchild? He finally summarizes and said, if there's any virtue or praise, in other words, in case I left anything out, it's sort of a think on anything that has the moral excellence and that will inspire and motivate you to love God and to love others. So everything doesn't have to be spiritual. I'm listening to a book called The Last Line. It's the it's the life of Winston Churchill. It's just it's fabulously interesting. So in my car, I mean, it's it's a book like this. That's why I put it on Audible. I said, I'll never read that. I've got like six hours in and I looked the other day.

There's only thirty one hours left. But I mean, his courage and what was happening in war. And I'm listening to another book by John Ortberg on the life you've always wanted. And at night before I go to bed, it's just 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes. I'm I'm reading about the life of Martin Luther and just just all I want to do is how do I feel my life and my mind with good things, because I will be the product of my thought life.

It's just not thinking. It's then acting habitually practice these things, habitually practice these things. He says you've learned and received. You had an appetite and you applied. You heard and saw.

I gave instruction and I modeled it. And here's why. Your thought life determines your write the word future.

I don't know what your hopes are, but I'm going to tell you, your future will be determined by your thought life. The dreams. The passions, the joys, the thoughts.

For friends, for family, for work. The scripture in Romans Chapter eight, I put it in the amplified because it's so graphic. Here's a great truth.

Follow along. For those who are living according to the flesh set their minds. Notice the phrase on the things of the flesh which gratify the body. But those who are living according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. His will and his purpose. Now the mind on the flesh is death both now and forever because it pursues sin. But the mind of the spirit is life and peace, the spiritual well-being that comes from walking with God.

Both now and forever. The mind of the flesh with its sinful pursuits is actively hostile to God. It doesn't submit itself to God's law since it cannot. And those who are in the flesh, living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses, notice, cannot please God. You can't keep putting things in your mind and then in your will, oh God, I want to do this. Transformation always begins with your thinking. Second how, it's the principle of mind renewal.

The principle of mind renewal. It's a verse we hear a lot around here. Romans chapter 12, 2. And I like this again in the amplified Bible. And do not be conformed to this world any longer with its superficial values and customs, but be transformed. And notice, not overnight, progressively changed as you mature spiritually by the renewing of your mind.

Sometimes in some of these illustrations they sort of, they kind of get me because I'm getting old-er. I've been a Christian a little over 40 years. I didn't grow up as a Christian. I'm still doing the most basic things that I did years ago because I'm still struggling with everything that I'm talking to you about. But what I can tell you is, as I have done what I've talked about, the transformation that I've seen God in my life and those I love and those I've had the chance to help.

So I have a little card, you can make your own. Before I watch, listen or think on it, is it true? Does it honor God?

Is it right or wrong? Will this cleanse or dirty my soul? Will this renewal harm my heart? Would I recommend this to someone who looks up to me? Will this bring peace or fear in my life?

When I went through this stuff with my back, I had a time to really ponder some big issues and look at some pretty big holes that I felt God was speaking to me. And so there was a lie. I've always been, you know, semi-ADD, you know, A-type personality. But here's a lie I've believed most of my life. I'm a prisoner of the opinions of the important influential people in my life. I agonize when my best judgment and direction from the Lord is different from theirs. Disagreeing with them will harm our relationship irreparably. So I attempt to please everyone creating an unhealthy lifestyle.

I mean, you could say it a lot easier like people pleasing. But part of that is an alcoholic father and realizing, you know, you've got to keep the peace and so you learn clues. And so that's on one side of a card and it says lie, I believe. Then I flip the card over and it says truths. Here's a truth. People love me and are for me and want me to live a life of joy, rhythm, rest and fruitfulness in all areas of my life. I do not need to prove my worth through hard work or extraordinary productivity.

I'm accepted, loved and greatly valued just for who I am. But that lie pops up. So guess what I do? I read this side of the card and then I say stop. And then I turn it over and I read this side of the card. And you want to do? I'm setting my mind on the spirit. What lies do you believe?

What cards do you need to make? You would just be shocked at what God will do as you renew your mind, as you turn the page. Here's the promise. The God of peace, the God of Shalom will be with you. It's not just you're going to receive his peace but his blessing, his power, his presence, his provision.

He wants to fulfill the desires of your heart. Are you ready for this? Here's the biggest lie you believe. You don't think God is for you. You think you've got to measure up.

He is so outlandishly for you. In the New Living Bible, Psalm 86 about verse 5 says, it says, Oh Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so abounding in unfailing love to all who ask for your help. And I bet I've read that hundreds of times in the last probably 90 days.

Because I read that and I just getting it from here to here for me, as I just have this predisposition and I know where it came from, is that God's arms are probably kind of a little bit crossed and now and then his toes tapping and no matter what I do, well, Chip, that wasn't quite good enough. Here's what you need to do. And that's a lie. And I'm changing. And you can change.

And your kids need to change. But you, you will have to guard your mind like never before. Remember, we started, I ask you a question. Do you want to overcome your fear?

Do you? I mean, for real, I want you to go back to, this is what I was afraid of. Do you want to overcome your fear?

If you do, then you have to radically change. These things don't come into my house, they don't come into my mind, they don't come on my screen, they don't come on my phone, and they don't come into my kids' or grandkids' lives. This truth is going to start into my mind. I've given you a game plan, 21 minutes of how to spend time with God. That's a good start. It's written out for you. I'm so excited that as you take these steps, God will show up in your life like never before.

Now, here's the deal. Your emotions aren't going to change overnight. But if you do what we're talking about, I mean, a week you'll go, hmm, a little different. A couple, three weeks, whoa, a little different. About 30 days, it'll be like, wow. 90 days, people will say, what happened to you? Six months?

Two years? Those addictions, those anger issues, those I've got to measure up, those things can really change. Lord God, my Savior, my friend, the lover of my soul and the soul of every person in this room and anyone at any time, whoever might watch or listen to this, we praise you.

Here's what's true. You are good and you are forgiving, that you are slow to anger, that you are abounding in steadfast, loyal love and you want the best for us. Lord, there is an enemy that has infiltrated the media and sends messages of death and comparison and immorality that, Lord, we would just confess. We want to confess corporately our sin of how casual we have been with what we've allowed into the most precious commodity you've given, this mind. And so, Lord, would you help us to say no to that which is evil and say yes, renew our minds that we could break the power of slavery. In Jesus' name. Amen. This series provides practical biblical answers to these areas where we struggle to maintain peace.

And the fact is, we all wrestle with finding contentment and harmony. So let me encourage you to reach out to a few friends and go through the series together and discover God's truly satisfying peace. For more information about this series or to order Chip's brand new book, I Choose Peace, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners, tap Special Offers. Well, Chip, before we get to your application, you asked for a moment to share something that's very heavy on your heart. Well, Dave, what I know is because of what we've been through, a lot of people that really love God have found themselves in addiction right now.

They found themselves, whether it's drinking or logging on to websites or some prescription medication, shopping, eating disorders, some things that people who love Jesus that are very sincere, under pressure during the kind of times we've had, we all default to some things that are very unhealthy. God wants to grant peace. In fact, He's already given it to you. What you need is His truth. You need His truth to deal with this anxiety and these struggles, these conflicts, relationships. And what I want you to know is that we want to help you.

I think the book that I've written would be a great resource for you to go with maybe one other person and just walk through it. You have to share your secret. You can't hide it. I just want to encourage you to know that God loves you.

He's for you. Don't mask it. When we don't have peace, we go for pseudo peace in artificial things.

I just want to remind you, don't take second best. Get the peace of God. Let us help you. Well, to order your copy of Chip's brand new book, I Choose Peace, visit livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. If you're ready for more peace in your life, get your hands on this resource or order a few to study together with some friends. You'll want to revisit the truth in this book again and again, especially when anxiety and worry threaten to overwhelm you. To order your copy of I Choose Peace, just go to livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003.

App listeners, tap special offers. As we wrap up today's program, this is some of the most profound teaching in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul has insights by the Spirit of God into how our minds work. In fact, we are the product of our thoughts.

And although I would love to say we're all very logical and linear and strategic, the fact is the great majority of our decisions and our behavior is a reaction to our emotions. And the Apostle Paul then says, okay, dwell on these things. And then he's going to list six or seven very specific things that provide a filter to say, don't think on these bad things because viewing things, thinking on things, reading things, taking things in that are negative, ungodly, wicked, that attract your flesh, that make you want to do what's wrong. When you think and dwell on those things, it will literally play out in your behavior and then you receive the consequences. What we currently see in the behavior of Christians, in the value of Christians and in Christian families, is a direct correlation to what we're putting in our mind.

I just have to tell you, if you want your children or your grandchildren to have different kind of lives, it begins with us and what we put in our mind because my thoughts will produce my emotions, that produce my behavior, that will produce the consequences and the outcome of my life. Can I encourage you to think very carefully about what you put in your mind? Just before we close, would you pray for those who are feeling challenged to respond to Chip's encouragement right now? There's always a spiritual battle when we feel prompted to draw near to God.

Thanks for taking a minute to do that. And if there's a way we can pray for you, would you let us know? Call 888-333-6003 or email chip at livingontheedge.org. We'd love to hear from you. We'll join us next time as Chip continues his series, I Choose Peace. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.