BELIEVE - Get Your Mind Right 1

With our future secured, Christians ought to be the most upbeat and positive of people.

So why do many of us tend to be so gloomy and discouraged? Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah considers how to embrace a more cheerful outlook by examining one of the Bible's greatest optimists, the Apostle Paul. Listen as David introduces today's message, Believe, Get Your Mind Right.

Well, thank you for joining us. We are in the midst of the series Forward, Discovering God's Presence and Purpose in Your Tomorrow. And today we're right at the core of what it means to have the courage to go forward in a world that is not always positive. The message today is called Believe, Get Your Mind Right. And it's based upon the life of the Apostle Paul. Let me tell you what I know about Paul. Of all the people you read about in the New Testament, apart from Jesus Christ, he had the most reason to be negative and fearful and live a life of insecurity. And of all the people in the New Testament, the most positive person you can find is the Apostle Paul. He's the one who said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. As we get into this message, I will tell you a little bit about why this is important to me personally and why it's important to all of us.

It is possible to be an optimist and be a Christian. And that seems to surprise some folks, but we'll learn about that again in just a few moments. Well, let's get started with the first part of this lesson, Believe, Get Your Mind Right. Some meetings you'll never forget. When I was in New York a while ago, the hotel manager pulled me aside. He knew that I loved sports and he offered to introduce me to a fellow guest, Clemson football coach, Davos Sweeney. I love this man and I have followed him from almost the beginning. So my family and I sat with Dabo for an hour as he talked about his faith, his love for his football team, his excitement about his players, his zest for life. The love that he had for his team was so obvious. He was animated.

He was speaking with his eyes and he was gesturing with his hands. I don't think I've ever been around anyone more positive than Dabo. I remember thinking, no wonder he wins championships. He is a champion.

He's a man who believes. Dabo, well, his real name is William Christopher. He was born to a mother who had battled debilitating polio. When he was a baby, his older brother Trip tried to call him that boy and Sweeney was known as Dabo ever since.

When Trip was 16, a horrible accident left him permanently injured. About the same time, their father had business problems, fell into debt and started drinking heavily. Dabo's parents broke up. Dabo lived from pillar to post. At the age of 16, Dabo had a life-changing experience with Jesus Christ and his new found faith bolstered his belief in the future and in himself. He tried out for the University of Alabama football team as a walk-on and he got a scholarship. During his last college game on New Year's Day 1993, the Crimson Tide won the national championship.

At the end of his college career, Dabo reconciled with his father and eventually helped to lead him to Christ. In 2003, Dabo joined the coaching staff at Clemson University. He became head coach in 2008. At the time, Clemson was known for losing games they should have won.

It happened so often people called it Clemsoning. Coach Sweeney knew that belief was at the low ebb in his university outside the program, so he posted a large sign in the training room bearing one word and the word was, believe. The coach's belief was sincere and contagious. No matter the challenges or setbacks, he believed in his players more than they believed in themselves.

He believed in them so much, their confidence began to surge and under his leadership, the Tigers have won national championships in 2016 and 2018. Part of my admiration for Coach Sweeney comes from my own background. I grew up knowing a lot more about doubting than believing. I was raised in a good church, but my church was better known for what it was against than what it was for. At the time, I didn't realize how that can affect your outlook. To be sure, there's lots of things we should do things we should be against, but that mustn't be our primary focus. It took a while for me to learn that, but praise God, I did, or there's no way I'd be standing up here in front of you doing what I'm doing today. It takes a positive attitude to move forward. As you read that, you may be thinking, oh, oh, Dr. Jeremiah's fallen into the positive thinking trap. No, I'm not.

I know about that pitfall. We should guard against any self-help ideology that pushes God to the sidelines, magnifies human ability and doesn't tell the whole truth. But there is a positive, hopeful, joyful optimism that is totally biblical and it comes from Christ alone.

So I want to say this loudly and clearly. You can be a Christian and an optimist at the same time and you should be. Faith adds a positive power to your life. Just listen to Philippians 4, 13. Paul wrote, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I don't know how you listen to that, but that sounds pretty positive to me. The man who wrote those words was an optimist with a capital O. If you read his story in the book of Acts and study his 13 letters, they're packed with optimism.

Dr. John Henry Jowett said of Paul, his eyes are narrowly illumined. His cheery tone is never absent from his speech. The buoyant and springy movement of his life has never changed.

The light never dies out of his sky. The apostle Paul is an optimist. So for the next few minutes, let's sit at the feet of the great apostle and learn his powerful secrets for resilience and optimism and positive belief. By stepping into his story at critical moments, you can understand how he lived such a life, how he was so positive, how his accomplishment happened in his life, even though he had many hardships. It's the only way to plunge forward into the future that God has for you.

You need to learn to be positive. If I were in a big auditorium, I would say, can he get a witness? And everybody would say, amen. So number one, you have to be positive in your convictions. Paul's optimism started with what he believed, with his positive convictions. Now, I don't know if you know what a conviction is, but it's a fixed belief, a deeply held set of certainties that lodges at the center of your mind and heart. Paul's core convictions were the foundation of his incredible life and ministry.

And here's the best part. You can embrace them for yourself. Here are two examples of how to do just that as you move forward toward everything God has in store for you in the next phase of your life. Number one, be positive about God's love for you. The most basic conviction in life is rooted in understanding the nature of God. You see, without a good, powerful, loving, creative, eternal God, there's no reason to be optimistic. Consider Paul's words in Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Consider the reasons for optimism packed into this passage. Not only is God real, but he loves us. And not only does he love us, but nothing we might ever experience can ever separate us from that love. The 10 things that Paul lists in these verses I just read, could each one of them be a potential barrier between God and you? But Paul says, with absolute assurance, that none of them can ever separate you from God's love. The powerful words in Romans 8 about God's love are reinforced by a blessing Paul offered toward the end of the same book. It became a favorite verse for many people I know, especially for those who were going through difficult times in their lives. Here's that promise. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I'd like to suggest that you pray those words aloud every day, every noon, every morning, every evening, until you know them by heart. That prayer can adjust your mindset in any given season of life, deepen your core conviction, strengthen your belief, which is what Wendy Lou Lee discovered. Let me tell you about her.

Wendy was the delightful child actor who played Grace Ingalls on the television series, Little House on the Prairie. She's grown up now and her life has taken some difficult twists, including a terrible health crisis. But she has a deep faith in God and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When Fox News interviewed her and asked how her health crisis impacted her, she said, I just kept going back to that verse in Romans 15, 13. And after surgery, I was so joyful and so at peace more than really made sense.

And I think that's because I put my trust in God. In his book, The Wisdom of Tenderness, Brennan Mannin tells the story of Edward Farrell, a man who decided to travel from his hometown of Detroit to visit Ireland, where he would celebrate his uncle's 80th birthday. Early in the morning of his uncle's birthday, they went for a walk along the shores of Lake Killarney. As the sun rose, his uncle turned, stared straight into the breaking light.

And for 20 minutes, they stood there in silence. And then his elderly uncle began to skip along the shoreline at that age with a radiant smile on his face. After Edward caught up with him, Uncle Seamus, he said, you look so happy.

Do you want to tell me why? Yes, lad, the old man said, tears washing down his face. You see, the father is fond of me. The father is fond of me. Oh, my father is so very fond of me. That moment, Uncle Seamus experienced how much he was loved by his father in heaven. An overwhelming sense of joy flooded his heart, and he began to dance along the shoreline. Have you ever had a moment like that?

Have you ever awakened and said, he really does love me? Do you know what it means to overflow with hope and optimism? Paul did, and you can too. Hope and optimism can become your everyday attitude. So be positive about God's love for you.

And then secondly, be positive about God's plan for you. The apostle Paul constantly referred to the future. He put the past behind him.

He strained forward toward what was ahead. And even when he was near death, Paul was excited about the future. Think of it, while waiting on death row for his martyrdom, he was eager for tomorrow.

The last known letter Paul wrote was to his friend Timothy, and it was written from a prison in Rome where he awaited certain death. Listen to what he said in the final chapter of his final book. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight.

I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me on that day, not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Paul, you see, had an incredible perspective on living and dying.

Some years before, he kind of expressed that to the Philippians. In these words, he said, For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ, so I really don't know which is better. I am torn between the two desires. I long to go and be with Christ, with the Lord, I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.

But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Perhaps Paul's remarkable perspective flowed from the time he was caught up to heaven and glimpsed the glories that were waiting for him up there. We have a blessing Paul didn't have. We have the book of Revelation, which was written after Paul's death. And the final two chapters of that book describe the heavenly home where we're going to spend eternity.

It's in great detail in Revelation 21 and 22. And the more we study these chapters, the more excited we become about tomorrow. There is an agelessness to optimists that keeps tomorrow fresh. I want to tell you about one man most of you know about. His name is Dick Van Dyke. He's 94, but he doesn't know it.

In his book, Keep Moving, he recalled filming a Disney movie. He was performing a dance scene when he suddenly felt the back of his leg snap like a rubber band. His injury grew worse, and he saw a doctor who took a bunch of x-rays. After studying them intensely, the doctor looked at Van Dyke and he said, you are covered with arthritis from head to foot.

I'm surprised you could dance. I've never seen so much arthritis in one single person. What about a married person, said Dick Van Dyke, always the comedian. Married or single, you're literally suffused with arthritis, the doctor said. Well, what about the pain in my leg? It's the arthritis, the doctor answered, chiding him and telling him it was no joking matter.

The doctor predicted Van Dyke would be using a walker if not a wheelchair within five years. Dick was scared so badly he did something rash. He stood up in the examining room and he started tapping his toes, then shuffling around and then dancing as if proving to myself I could still order my body to do a soft shoe anytime I wanted.

The doctor looked at him in shock. That was 1967. He was 40 years old and he writes, I have never stopped dancing since, nor do I plan to hit the stop button anytime soon. As a card carrying the glasses half full optimist, I'm going to declare that old age doesn't have to be a dreary weather report. In 99.9% of the stories I've heard, it is better than the alternative. If only because you get to see what happens next, how can you not be curious?

As a follower of Christ, I'm ready to die and willing to live, but either case, I can't wait to see what God's going to do next. I am positive about my convictions. If you want to have the mental attitude to be able to dream and to believe, and to believe you need to get your mind right, and when you get your mind right, you will have positive convictions. Then let me say something else. Along with positive convictions, you need to develop positive conversations. Let's talk about talking.

If you're positive in your core convictions, then you'll literally become more positive in the way you talk. In recent years, I've been working out with Todd Durkin at his gym. Fitness quest number 10.

It's near my home in San Diego, and it's one of America's best gyms. Todd is more than a trainer. He's a dedicated Christian who speaks motivationally to large numbers of people. His upcoming book is entitled, Get Your Mind Right. I'm not surprised by that title because whenever anyone walks into Todd's gym, they're greeted with a shout, get your mind right.

I need it. Getting out of bed, heading to the gym is no easy task every day, but an uplifting greeting and a positive shout really does improve your spirits. What does it mean to be positive in your conversations?

Number one, speak positively to yourself. Sometimes we have no one to encourage us at the break of day, so we have to speak to ourselves. We have to say something like Psalm 118 verse 24. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Try saying that over and over throughout the day. This is the day the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. Outside of praying, your most important words are the words that you say to yourself. These words are silent, but they're significant. Pop psychologists call this positive self-talk, but I'm going to skip the trends and go straight to the scripture. My thesis, remember, involves Paul's example to us. So did Paul ever talk to himself? He said he strove to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. He said, for in my inner being, I delight in God's love and in his law. He said, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he's able to keep what I've committed to him against that day. And as we've observed and learned, he also said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I recall preaching a sermon years ago on how to handle negative thoughts.

I still remember my outline. Here's what you do with negative thoughts. Don't curse them, don't nurse them, don't rehearse them, but disperse them.

That's still a pretty good formula. Push out your negative thoughts, worry and anxiety, fear and pessimism, by filling up your mind with God's scripture, especially his promises, and then preach those promises to yourself. Psalm 42, the Psalmist said to himself, why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I show yet praise him the help of my countenance and my God. What was David doing? He was preaching to himself. He was saying to himself, what's wrong with you, David? Why are you cast down? And why are you disquieted?

What's wrong with you? And then he said, I'm going to hope in God. And he gave himself a little sermon.

We don't know the author of Psalm 42, but we're pretty sure it was King David because he knew how to preach to himself whenever he needed to do it. As a younger man, he went through a lot of debilitating experiences while he was waiting to be the king. And he had a lot of things happen to him.

One time he ran into a disastrous problem in a little village called Zig Lag. His family and the families of his men, his soldiers had been kidnapped and even his own men were turning on him. He was their leader and they were talking about stoning him to death. So what did David do? He preached to himself. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 30 verse six, that David, watch this, strengthened himself in the Lord. Why did he have to strengthen himself? Because there was nobody around to help strengthen him. He didn't have any men strengthen him.

His buddies had all turned against him. The enemies were out to kill him, but David knew something that we all need to know. When everyone else forsakes you, God never will. And you can strengthen yourself in the Lord. And in that strength, David rose up to tackle his problems.

And he had a positive spirit that came from his belief in God and God's care for his life. We're constantly processing thoughts, wrote Dr. Norman Wright. Depending how active your mind is, you may produce more than 45,000 thoughts a day. It might be compared to a flock of birds flying in and out of your mind. To complicate our minds more, Dr. Wright wrote, not all these are conscious thoughts.

Sometimes they go past us so fast we barely notice them. But listen to what he says next. He says next, every time you have a thought, it triggers an electrochemical reaction in your body. Each thought sets off a biological process, about 400 billion of them at once. Because of that thought, chemicals surge through your body, producing electromagnetic waves. And these set off emotions which affect how we behave.

Science simply confirms what Scripture has been saying all along. We are shaped in much of our lives by our thoughts. So, my friend, the coach at Fitness Quest, who tells me, get your mind right. Every time I go up there, he's onto something, isn't he? As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

That's what the Scripture says. Once again, tomorrow we'll finish up the Message Believe. On Wednesday and Thursday, we're going to talk about investing.

And then on Friday, finish. So we have some powerful lessons left this week, and we'll finish all of this up in the month of October. It's all the lessons from the book Forward. And by the way, these lessons are also on television during this month. And also our magazine, Turning Points, features articles and information about this series. So I hope you're getting the magazine. I hope you're watching the weekend television series. And we're going forward together.

Yes, we are. Forward into the purpose and plan of God. We'll see you right here tomorrow. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's current teaching series, Forward, please visit our website, where you'll also find two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine, Turning Points, and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio. When you do, be sure to ask for your copy of David's powerful new book, Forward, Discovering God's Presence and Purpose in Your Tomorrow. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard Version, the New International Version, and the New King James Version.

All are available in a variety of handsome cover options. Visit davidjeremiah.org forward slash radio for details. I'm Gary Hooke Fleet. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Forward. That's here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah. Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from Vision Christian Media. To find out more about us, go to vision.org.au.