Renew | The Mind | Pastor Nick Mastrude | April 12th, 2026

Man, I believe in faith that some things are going to start shifting today. If you're brand new with us, we don't do things half-heartedly around here. We believe that Jesus deserves all of us every last bit. So if you're coming here and you're intending to sit on the sidelines, it's only a matter of time before you get a little bit uncomfortable because we're going to continue to call you up. You might feel like we're calling you out, but really we're just calling you up. And a lot of what we would call like seeker-friendly churches would say is, we've got no agenda for your life, just come and be. Man, I'm just going to speak and let you know we have an agenda for your life. And that is for Jesus to be the Lord of your life. And that is for you to actually receive salvation because man, a true friend will tell you the honest truth in love. And we're here to tell you the honest truth. You need Jesus. The life that you are created for is on the other side of a surrendered life to Jesus. And we don't want you to just say, "Yes, pray this prayer and go about your merry way." We want to say, "Pray this prayer." Man, get baptized, get filled with the Holy Spirit and let us walk with you and do this thing called life and faith together. Amen. Amen. Awesome. So how many of you know that Easter Sunday is all about salvation? Jesus dies. He has victory over life and death. And how many of you also know that there is a whole life-long process afterwards called salvation that we are after? It's a life of transformation. It's a life of renewal. It's not like you just experience the cross, you experience the grave, you raise up, and it's all hunky-dory. How many seasoned Christians in the room can attest that it gets hard. And we have to go through a process of renewal in our minds, a renewal in our minds, a renewal in our spirits, a renewal in our hearts. Man, we're constantly being renewed. If you are a Christian and you're here and you have believed that you've arrived, come tell me how you did it because I'd really like to know. But I believe, and I've been sensing this from the beginning of praying through this series and praying through the text, even prophetically that drastic changes are on the way. Jurassic, I mean, drastic change. And I think some people have walked in this room and you're like, "Dude, I'm just checking things out." And I think God's trying to get a hold of your heart and saying, "Just give, just test it. Lean in, go all in." And maybe you're sitting here and you're like, "Bude, dude, I was born in the pew. I've been in the house of God since the beginning of time. What if there's another level of intimacy for you with the Lord?" If there's another level of clarity in another, I don't know what God's leading you into, but there's more. There's always more. I love that we're going from glory to glory. You know what I'm saying? That's what the Scriptures would say. From glory to glory, salvation is just the starting point. So man, we experience glory on Easter. We're like, "Let's go, but guess what? It's the Sunday after Easter and God has just as much glory and even more so today." Some of you have been taught, you just get saved, you hold on tight and you just wait for Jesus to come back. That is not the gospel. And I want to teach you well. That's not the gospel. The gospel is not just that you've been rescued from sin, but now you're being shaped into an image. The image of Jesus. It's called sanctification. I've never come across somebody who experiences renewal or transformation on accident. I've always wanted that to be true where I just wake up and one day I'm just stacked. Some of you are thinking you already are, Nick, and I thank you for that. But you know what I'm saying? Nobody woke up one day and went, "Holy smokes, I'm just like Jesus." It takes a process of intentional transformation, of seeking the things of God. The danger is not that God would stop working in your life. The danger is that you would stop submitting to the renewal process. It's going to be uncomfortable. It's going to be hard. Some things are going to be shaken up. You're going to be asked to do some things. You quite frankly don't want to do. But I can tell you this, there is blessing on the other side of that. There is blessing on the other side of that. We're just not going to be apathetic. We're going to refuse to just remain unchanged. Who's ready to experience some change up in this place? Who wants to be more like the image of Jesus? Okay. Over the next few weeks, I'm talking about the mind, the spirit, the heart. But today I have the honor of talking to you about the mind. So we're going to pull out our scriptures and we're going to turn to Romans 12. We're going to stand to our feet out of reverence for God. And I'm going to read this. And if you didn't bring your Bible, that's okay. You'll have to be in the back of the line on the way to heaven. But you could still get there. But if you didn't bring it, we've got the sky bowl above us. The floating Bible behind my noggin here. And here's what Romans 12 reads. It's one of my favorite sections of scripture, but probably one of the most challenging texts of all time. It goes like this. Romans 12 verse 1. "Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." This is your true and proper worship. Wait, I thought true and proper was when Israel's up there like, "Yeah, that's like true and proper." No, it's actually when you wake up and you put yourself on the altar. Do not conform to the pattern of this world. Let me say that again. But dude, it's the world that I live in. What do you mean don't conform to it? I mean, don't conform to it. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good and pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, "Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." You're not all that great. Tell your neighbor, you're not all that great. But you're not that bad either. Think of yourself with sober judgment. In accordance with the faith, God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of you has one body with many members and those members do not all have the same function. I sure hope not. So in Christ, we, though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others, we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesying, in accordance with your faith, if it is serving then serve, if it's teaching then teach, if it's encouraging, then what? You give encouragement. If it's giving. You track in here? Give generously. It's almost like a wrap. Mm-hmm. Right? If it's a lead. No, I'm just kidding. If it's to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Okay, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You can be seated. You can be seated. So I want to start by telling you this. Your mind is a powerful thing. I wonder where your thinking has been lately. Ask yourself that question. Where has my thinking been lately? There's a lot going on in the world. If you're anything like me, you can start doom researching, you know, and your mind's kind of in the gutter of like, we're all going to hell in a hand basket. Like this is going to end quickly. But I would tell you this, that not for us, not for those who claim Jesus says, Lord, you know, the government rests on his shoulders. But here's the thing. Have you been in a boat or in the place where your mind is on repeat? And it's thinking of things you can't control or it's thinking poorly of yourself or it's thinking poorly of another person. And that's a stranglehold. That's a hard place to be. And I want to tell you that if you want to change your life, if you want to look more like Christ, it's going to begin, you're going to have to begin by changing the way that you think. We're going to have to really start thinking about some different things and dwelling on some different things. And something I've come to find is that most people don't lose spiritually in public. It's not like, dude, I got up there to read a scripture and I just choked. Most people lose spiritually privately in their thoughts. I've been there. And the reason Pastor Tony and I were praying through this series and he's like, which one do you want? I didn't say the mind because I've got it figured out. I said the mind because this has been my Achilles heel. If you're here and you've been struggling in your mind, I can relate. It's a hard place to be. Pat Benatar was false. Love is not a battlefield. Your mind is a battlefield. So the Apostle Paul, he opens up this section of scripture by saying, in view of God's mercy. Oh, this is going to get good. Let me explain real quick between grace and mercy. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. It's like deserving a time out and you get an ice cream. You're like, great, I get to receive it. It's a gift. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Mercy is not getting when you are spared from punishment. Like you deserve punishment, but you're redeemed from that. In other words, this is what it's saying. And in view of the fact that God rescued you from death, hell, and the grave, which you deserve, in view of that, it's only logical. It's only common sense that in response, you would go through hell and high water to live a holy and God-pleasing life. This immediately like sobers us up. Like we're like, whoa, yes, I was in that going in that trajectory. Like don't forget the life that was waiting for you is what he's saying. And now you have a completely new destination. And that's good news. But more than that, you get to experience something totally different in this world and the world to come. Don't just hold on until you get to the world to come. He wants a new life for you now. Anyone grateful that you've been rescued from the hell that you deserved? Anybody? Anybody? Come on. I'm so grateful for that. And that is why we can willingly lean into these things. I'm John Stott. And he says it this way. The only appropriate response to God's mercy is to offer ourselves in whole-hearted worship. And this isn't worship through singing. This is worship through lifestyle. This isn't like, yep, on Sundays I sing. No, mercy demands more than gratitude. It demands surrender. We're not just gonna be a church that admires Jesus. Friends, there are churches all over the valley that might even claim to be Christian. They simply admire Jesus. We're not gonna admire Him here. We're gonna worship Him here with our lifestyle. When you truly see God's mercy, sacrifice stops feeling extreme and it starts feeling reasonable. You're like, God's asking me to give that up. Dude, look what He saved you from. This is nothing. A wholehearted follower of Jesus is not radical. A wholehearted follower of Jesus is common sense. You're not a fanatic. You're just what the scriptures actually say. And I've been guilty of saying something on stage that I got called out on. How many of you know, you got accountability as pastors? They're like, bro, I gotta hold you to the fire. Pastor Tony's like, dude, you've been saying something I wanna correct and I receive it. I've been saying this. We are just crazy enough to believe that the Bible is true. And we're just crazy enough to believe that He is so true that we're gonna be obedient to Him. And here's the thing is He's like, dude, that's not crazy at all. Like responding to God's mercy is not crazy. It's just common sense. What is crazy is knowing God's mercy and not following through and not seeking Him as the Lord of your life. We're not crazy enough to believe. Some of you all might be crazy enough to believe that He did that for you and won't respond. And so Paul is saying in view of his mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing. So a life of a follower of Jesus is literally to crawl an Old Testament altar to crawl on that puppy. Not leave your phone off there and you'll grab it when you get off the altar. Everything in your life, your family, your decisions, your whatever it is, your belongings, and you plop that right there. And you say, it's all for your use, your disposal. You can reuse it for your glory. You can burn it for your glory. You can redirect me for your glory. You can make me stay put for, you know what I'm saying? It all belongs to Him. This is for you. Do what you will. Do what you see fit in my life and everything and it belongs to you. But this puts us in quite a pickle because in the Old Testament, the only thing that was on the altar typically was not alive. I don't know if you know about things that aren't alive, but they're not moving, you know what I'm saying? But we are asked to be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice. DL Moody would put it this way. The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar. That's the issue that we're in. Can anybody relate? Am I just by myself in this? Man, on Sunday morning, it's so easy to be on that altar. ♪ You can have it all ♪ You know what I'm saying? Monday morning is like maybe next Sunday, you know what I'm saying? You're crawling off that altar. My friends, we are a church that is going to climb on that altar and learn to live on that altar. Day in and day out, your most powerful worship is not up front on Sunday morning. Your most powerful worship is when you wake up Monday morning and you get back on that altar, regardless of what you feel, regardless of your preference. And guess what? He starts getting glorified for that. I love this story. I'll tell you briefly. It was early on in my ministry and it was early on in this young man's ministry. When he was discovering what he wanted to do in life, he was working as a janitor. He's now a pastor in the valley, but he was a janitor. And he goes to this, the basement of this old dusty church. Man, anybody missed dusty church basements. Those were so legit. That's where revival happens, you know what I'm saying? But he's clean in one day and he goes downstairs and he finds an old testament, altar replica. It's like wooden and it has like plastic rock. And he realized you could plug it in one day and you could flick it on it and there was like a little flame. Like a little fan blowing the flame, you know what I'm saying? And here's the thing is he's like, I don't know what I'm doing with my life, but I know one thing that I want God to guide and direct my life. So what he did is an hour before work every single day, five days a week when he would show up here. He'd flick on that altar. He would lay on the altar and pray for an entire hour. God make me into a man that burns for you. Make me into a man that burns for you. Make me into a man that, and I remember just being so compelled by that because I remember thinking I want that kind of life, but I don't think I have the gumption to live into that type of life. But friends, I'm believing that this valley is going to start changing when we start stepping up and saying, I want to burn for you and you can take it all. You can have what you want. And I want people to know Jesus because of my yesterday. And I want to burn for you. A saved life is a different life. A saved life goes from death to life. The gospel didn't just save your life. It renewed your life and transforms your life. And there's a process. Actually this process is called metamorphosis. Or in Greek that were for transformation is metamorphos. We've got a bunch of, you know, transformers up in the house. And here is what that term literally means. It is the process of a caterpillar becoming a pretty little butterfly. But I actually got educated in between services here. But when that caterpillar is in the cocoon beforehand, it literally dies to its old nature. It's like soup. It's gooey. It's, you can't even recognize it. Friends, that's what happens when you go under the waters of baptism. You're like, I'm dying to my old way of life. And you come out. A butterfly. But here's a thing. You have different gifts. You look different. You talk different. You act different. You're flying when you used to crawl. You're speaking in love when you used to hate. You're doing things that you never thought you could do because the spirit of God is living in you. You have a new identity and a new purpose. Jesus didn't die so you could fit in. He died to make you new. So I got to ask you, are you being transformed in your mind so you can live into that new self? If we're going to be renewed, we're going to have to completely change our thoughts. I've heard it said, your life will move in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Think about that. Think about what you think about. Write that down. I'm just kidding. But for real, we need to think about this stuff. Proverbs 23, 7. For as he thinks, as a man thinks and as heart. So he is. You're not what you eat. You are what you think. Think about it. You become what you give your mind to. And I want to break this down into three categories and we got to get cruising. And here's the first one. We need to renew what we think about God. Every person in this room has an idea of who God is. And some ideas are accurate. And some of them are inaccurate. And some of them are just plain toxic. And we need to change this because it drastically changes how we relate to God. And here's what I mean. A.W. Tozer. He's much smarter than me. And I'm not going to say that I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. can actually lay it out for us. In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, he said it this way, "If we insist upon trying to imagine him, we end with an idol." So we just imagine, "Hmm, I wonder what God is like. I bet he's up there with. " You know what I'm saying? "We end up with an idol made not with hands, but with thoughts, and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand." Here's the thing, we don't really care what you think about God. We care about who God has revealed Himself to be. For the most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you think about God. I want to talk about some important things. What comes to mind when you think about God? And why is that important? If you think God is a Birkenstock wearing hippie who's permissive and just wants you to do you, bro. It's probably down at Hyde Park in San Fran. You're not going to take direction from him. He's going to say, "Hey, I'm going to have to call you out and correct you on some things." And you're like, "Dude, no, peace and love, bro." You know what I'm saying? You're not going to. If you think that God is an angry, tyrant waiting for you to mess up to be like, "I told you, you know what I'm saying? You're going to live out of obligation and fear of like, I'm not doing this because I love you, I'm doing this because I don't want you to kill me." You know what I'm saying? That totally changes how you relate to God. If you think Jesus is your homeboy, you're only going to call him when it's convenient for your life. Sorry to all my homeboys out there. I just call you when it's easy. You know, I'm just kidding. But if you think God is out to make your life easier, you're going to start viewing him like a like a vending machine. Like your praises go up, your blessings come down. It's gambling with Jesus. No one you're going to get paid. That's not how it works. Your perception of God determines your posture towards God. If you have a really small God, it's going to produce a small life. If you have a really distorted view of God, it's going to produce distorted disciples. When you have a proper view of God, it changes everything. And I'm not up here saying, I've got it figured out. But I am up here saying I'm in progress. And I've had to unlearn a lot of things. And I've had to relearn a lot of things. When you have a proper view of God, man, you come to find this. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Oh, so he's not going to shred me. No, he might, but he's first he's a brother. He's a good shepherd that takes care of you. Man, he's going to trim. Trim. Trim. But he's also going to protect you. And he's also going to correct you. That's what a good shepherd does. When he's the Jehovah Jairah, that means that God who provides somebody hooks you up with someone would be like Jehovah Jairah. And they say, what's that? The Lord provides. When you know that he's the Lord that provides, you go, he takes care of the birds. Are you kidding me? Those dirty old things. He takes care of birds and get this. He takes care of fields by covering them with flowers. How much more so image bearers that he created? How much more so is he going to care for you? Man, he's going to hook you up. Jehovah Jairah. I have a God who provides. He's going to come through, but I don't have much. Man, wait and see. Put him to the test and see how he shows up. It's paramount that we renew our minds about who God is. So how do we do that? We're going to be a broken record once again every single week. We do a book report on the same thing and we seek the same God every single week. And here's the thing we draw the same conclusion. Read the word. Get this word. Don't just get into the word. Like I got my pumpkin spice latte. I'm getting into the word. No, get this word into you where you're like, I can't go about my day without reciting the word of God. Man, you can't worship a God. You don't know. And you're like, I just want to hear God's voice. Dude, then read the Bible out loud. Okay. Here's voice loud and clear. It might take you a while to figure that one out. But you need to spend time in prayer. I don't know if you know about this, but prayer is not a one way conversation where you say, Lord, I need this and I need that and I need this. It's actually, hey, Lord, what do you think about me? Lord, could you reveal yourself to me? Can you show and you sit and you actually spend some time listening? Because I've tried this in my marriage and if you just it's a one way conversation doesn't go well. You don't have to learn that lesson. I did it for you. But and you need to constantly get, I mean, consistently get into the house of God. We have a high priority of getting here consistently. And I'm telling you, if this has just been a casual thing for you, let me tell you, get here consistently because it's a place where not where we're filling religious duties, but it's a place where we come to hear the gospel and we come to put our minds and shift our minds into a kingdom oriented thing like renewal and formation. We're going to tell you a time and time again, you are loved and we're also going to tell you, we need to get our act together and a little bit of both and we all need to hear that. Amen. There's a few churches that may want to just tell you your love. There's a few churches that may just want to tell you you're shredded, but we're going to try to balance that the best that we can. Because here's the thing, Isaiah 64 would actually say that he is the potter and you are the, woo, some Bible folk in the house, you're the clay. I'm not a potter, but I've never heard of a story where the clay is arguing with the potter. In order for you to be molded and shaped, you simply have to yield to the direction of the potter. So I want to ask you, have you been arguing against the one who is trying to form you or have you allowed him to put you through that process of renewal? Maybe it's been years. Maybe you're like, I've been following Jesus for a long time and I actually always kick against the goats when it comes to this area. And he's saying through this series and through bringing this up, it's time for you to get remolded. It's time for you to yield to the hand of the potter. You do not experience transformation or renewal by resisting the hand of God. You just don't. So let me ask you, do you know him? Let me ask you, what are you doing to get to know him? Let me ask you this, what has been influencing your thoughts about who God is? If it's primarily TikTok or Instagram where like God is so loving, like look at the verse I just read or if it's like God's gonna shred every last one of you. Listen, that theology is gonna mess you up, get into the word of God yourself, get into the prayer clause at yourself, get into the house of God, and develop a robust understanding and theology of who God is. Get to know him yourself. Something I've come to find is that a lot of people believe a God who is suspiciously very similar to who they are. You ever met somebody like this? Like God would totally believe in this. Like dude, you believe in that. He's reduced to like personal preference. He like you would totally rock climb. You know, dude, you love rock climbing. What the heck? He's downsized to what is comfortable. He's reshaped into something that somebody can manage. I was reading an article about a seminary professor who you'd get a new class of freshmen in every year. He would actually do this test at the beginning of the four years of school and at the end of the four years of school. But at the beginning he would hand him a piece of paper and it would say what you believe about God and it would ask attributes like what is he like? What are his preferences? What just tons of those? You turn it in and directly after turning that in, he would give you the same piece of paper and it would ask you the questions, what do you like? What do you believe about political things? What do you believe about your, or like what do you like? Your preferences, those types of things. And 75% of the answers were exactly the same as God and themselves. Meaning this. We really have the tendency to create God in our image, to look like us and to agree with us. And let me just tell you this, if God always agrees with you, you might not be following God. You might just be following yourself. And I don't mean that harshly. I just mean that to be true. Once I started submitting myself to the fact that I might be wrong and God might be right. And this might be really hard. I started growing like nobody's business and I'm still in process of that. Voltaire would say this, man way back in the day. So this is a human problem, not just a modern problem. God created man in his own image and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since. And that's so good. Ricky likes that one. Thank you. Thank you. Renewing your mind starts with renewing your vision of God. When you think differently, you start living differently. Okay, secondly, we need to renew what you think about yourself. We're going to dive a little bit deeper. What do you think about yourself? Romans 12, 3, 4, 5, the grace given to me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought. But rather think of yourselves with sober judgment. What does it look like to have sober judgment of who you are? Let me just tell you this. If you're in here and you struggle on the pride spectrum here and you're like, I'm pretty legit. I am God's gift to mankind. Or you've come here and you're like, I'm the worst. I'm terrible and you have horrible self-talk and you're insecure. Both people, both scenario, both extremes have their eyes on the same person and that's you. And that's you, itself. And we're here to put our eyes on Jesus. And if he's telling you who you are, you can hang your hat on that at the end of the day. This was a really helpful quote for me. It says, you're not amazing, as amazing as your ego says, but you're more loved than your insecurity believes. I'm here to tell you the same. You're not all that great and that's same time you're amazing. Okay. And you also don't get a trophy just for being here. The reality, that's a millennial thing. But the reality is, for most of us, and for most of us, you would never talk to somebody else the way that you talk about you. You say, like, oh, I'm trash. Oh, I'm the worst. You would never say, you're trash, you're the worst. Why in the world would you say that to yourself about yourself? If you're like me, I've struggled with this. There's an echo to it. chamber of who you are and it's also in light of who you were. Like this is who you were, this is where you come from, this is how you'll always be. A lot of it's negative, it's not an accurate representation, but if you constantly believe the your garbage, you're going to live into that. If I think I'm garbage, I'm going to do what garbage people do, right? If I consistently tell myself, I'm a failure. What's going to happen? You're going to fail, right? I'm not preaching mind over matter. You're not going to be an astronaut. You could be whatever you want, just think about it. No, that's not a thing. For a variety of different reasons, we'll get into that later. There is so much science behind this reality. Science is finally catching up to the word of God, which is amazing. But there's this thing in neuroscience called neuroplasticity. Anybody familiar? Yes. Neurons that fire together, wire together. Let me put it in terms that I can understand. The thoughts you think repeatedly become the pathways your mind naturally takes. I'm trash, I'm trash, I'm trash. Before you know it, you have cut a trail through the woods of your mind that it's almost subconscious. It's default. You just go there. Every thought is like cutting a trail through the woods. Eventually, you don't have to think about it anymore. You just go there. I'm not good enough. Dude, I'll never change. This is always going to be what I do, right? I'm the worst. You're not so disappointed in me, right? You're not just having a moment in that sense. You're actually building a mental pathway. And the enemy would love to tell you this. You can change someday. It's okay. Change tomorrow. You ever fall into that trap? Just change tomorrow. Dude, tomorrow's the devil's day. You only own today. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day we change our minds. Today is the day that we do the hard work. But here's the good news. Because of neuroplasticity, you're not stuck in your current patterns. Your brain can actually be rewired. This is so good. Because science would say it this way, your brain change is based on what you think repeatedly, which is true. But scripture would say, your life changes when your mind is renewed. We're going to start thinking thoughts and rethinking those thoughts and going back to those thoughts. If you don't choose your thoughts, your thoughts are going to choose your future. Man, choose your thoughts. Choose your thoughts. Let's do this. Here's what I've come to know when it comes to the thoughts and the lies that we believe is that the enemy knows your name and he calls you by your sin. And Jesus knows your sin and he calls you by your name. And I love that because a lot of times when my mind is on repeat and I'm thinking of things that are destructive to my life, it's because I've started to believe the lies of the enemy and I haven't anchored myself in the truth of what God says about me. Anybody else? Or is that just me? A few of you. Great. Well, I want to just kind of bless you real quick by just taking a moment. It's going to be like a commercial break. But I'm going to tell you who God says that you are. And the temptation you're going to have during this is you're going to go, oh yeah, for sure that person, but not me. No, act like I'm just sitting right in front of you and reading it to you. That's a little creepy, but act like I'm doing that. You're like, we just met. Yep. And I'm reading you the truths about who God says you are. Sound good? So just take this in. Just take this in. You're not the lies that the enemy says is true about you. This is who you are. Write this down. Just kidding. There's a reason why it's tiny. It's because it goes on and on and on and on. But I'm going to read them so you can just hear them audibly. You are a new creation. You're not who you once were. That new new swag looks good on you. You know, that new creation looks good on you. You're chosen by God. For me, I always got chosen last in dodgeball. You being that first pick looks good on you, Rick. Looks good, man. You're adopted as his son or child, son or daughter. You're forgiven after everything I've done. Yep. And redeemed. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Your God's masterpiece. Me? Little O me? Yes. Little O you. You're brought near to God. After everything I've done, yes, you're a citizen of heaven. A child of God. You're born again, deeply loved, free from condemnation, more than a conqueror. And air with Christ. You got an inheritance coming for you, son. Jehovah Jairah. The temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you. Go ahead and Google search. Where is the Holy Spirit? It's going to wherever you are. That's his home address. You're bought with the price. Oh, it must not have been that much. Actually, it was the blood of Jesus, the highest price. You're washed. Ooh, washed in the water. You're sanctified. You're justified. The righteousness of God in Christ. That's who you are. You're an ambassador for Jesus. You're set free. You're a son and a daughter, not a slave to sin anymore. You're blessed with every spiritual blessing. I don't know about you, but that's pretty blessed. You're light in the world and you're light in the Lord. You're complete in Christ. You're hidden with Christ in God. Ooh, if the enemy's going to get to you, he's got to get through God first. That's some good news. You're chosen, holy, dearly loved. You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, called out of darkness and into light and overcomer. You are one who has been given eternal life. Isn't that some good news? Would you give God a shout of praise for seeing you that way? He has a high view of you. How dare we mar the image of Christ by the way that we speak about ourselves? If that's what he says is true about you, man, let's speak what is true over our lives. Amen. We're going to experience a renewed life on the other side of rewiring our minds to believe and know that what he says is more ultimate than what the enemy speaks over our lives. Man, I love this. In Colossians, Paul would say this to the church in Colossae. He would say, "Set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth." Man, set, where are you thinking? Where is your thinking? Is it like, man, I just got to get my basis covered? And I'm not saying be irresponsible. It's like, dude, you didn't get rent, you didn't go to work, you didn't do this. My mind's on the things above, brother, you know, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying be a responsible adult and honor the Lord and be a good steward. But I'm also saying, set your mind on the things above. And what I've come to find is what R.C. Sproul says. To be conformed to Jesus, we must first begin to think as Jesus did. We need the mind of Christ. We need to value the things he values and despise the things he despises. But I really like that thing he despises. Well let's pray that God would make that disgusting to us. Let's pray that God would remove that from us. We need to have the same priorities he has and consider weighty the things he considers weighty. Well, reading the word of God's not really a priority. It is now. And we're going to grow to like it. Let me put it plainly in these terms. We need to stop the stinkin' thinking. What stinkin' thinking have you been overcome with? This is like a spirit where you're like, I'm the worst, this is the worst. Following Jesus is hard and I want to toss in the towel. What stinkin' thinking has your mind in the gutter? What thoughts are holding you back from all that God has for you? Today is the day we take drastic measures. Man, desperate times call for desperate measures. Amen. Did you know your thoughts? This is crazy. Can actually be passed down through DNA. Actually family lineages, generational patterns of thinking can actually be passed down and I'm going to be so bold as to say this. Not with us. The buck stops with us. Like a generation of thinking and thinking and thinking wound up in a church. Not that was crazy enough, but we had enough common sense to obey the Lord and it set them free and for generations to come they were thinking thoughts that actually gave glory to the Lord. That can happen. I don't know what background you have, but can I tell you this? This can change today and from here on out we are all born looking like our parents. If you were to see my dad you'd be like what in the world? We're all born looking like our parents but we will all die looking like what we worship. Friends, you are not your parents. You are your Heavenly Fathers. Let's be made in His image. Let's be recreated and have the mind of our Heavenly Father. Amen. C.S. Lewis says if you read history you will find that the Christian who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. Let's set our mind on the things above. If you do that you are going to make a huge difference because when you set your mind on things above your life just automatically starts making a difference. You start seeing people differently. You start talking to people differently. You start recognizing people in the store that you never recognized. And Philippians 4-8 Paul would continue. Man, he's telling all the churches this same thing. Fix your thoughts. Fix your eyes. Fix your mind on the things that are true. Man, can we just be bold to call things out? That's not true of you. Things that are honorable. Not that would not honor that person. Right? That was a low blow. Things that are right. Things that are pure. Things that are lovely. Things that are admirable. And we start thinking of those things. Oh, but that person at work, they are the worst. Why don't you start thinking of something that is good about them? And put that on repeat. Yeah, but they are always late. Yeah, but they are always really nice. Oh, but you got the picture. Romans 8, 5 through 6, check this out. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature, what do they do? They think about sinful things. But those who are controlled by the spirit, think about things that please the spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. I can't preach it more clear than the scriptures. But letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Anybody want life and peace? and I tell you it starts by letting the spirit. control your mind. And finally, we're going to renew what you think about others. What you think about others, Romans 12, 4, 3, 8, 4, just as each of us has one body with many members and those members do not have all the same function. So in Christ, we, though, many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If you're gift is prophesying, then prophesying in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach somebody beatbox please. If it is encouragement, then give encouragement. And if it is giving, then give generously. If it leads, if it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Lots of gifts, lots of parts. This talks about people in the fold who are followers of Jesus. How we, and we're going to start with that. But, but also we need to change our thinking on how we view people outside of the church who have not claimed Christ as Lord. But let's talk about the first one. How we think of those in the church or Christ followers are in the fold, so to speak. If your mind doesn't renew in this area, that we all have a specific role, then comparison is going to start creeping in. And you start measuring and critiquing instead of celebrating and joining together. Like, hmm, they've got that gift of showboats. No, dude, get this. Did you know if somebody is operating in their gift, it is a benefit to you. Just like many body parts, you can't compete with the body because you belong to each other. You know what this means? Another person's gift is not a threat to you. It's a benefit to you. Put wind in their sale. Somebody's like, man, they crush it greeting at the front door. Honestly, I've never heard of this, but if somebody's like, oh, they're so good at that. It's like, dude, be like, be grateful that they're good at that. So you don't have to and also put wind in their sale. Like, you know what, you've always got to smile on your face because get this. The better you encourage and uplift the members of this body, the healthier our body is going to be. Let's have a reputation of celebration around here. Like, you're being who gots called you to be. Another person's calling doesn't diminish your calling. It completes your calling. You can't dishonor another part of the body without damaging the whole body, right? It's not like I'm going to smash my finger and everything else is going to be hunky-dory. I would like, we're all going to be hindered because of it, right? When you tear down what God's building, you're actually tearing down something that you're a part of. Okay? I don't, yeah. Okay. And here's where it gets practical. I want you to get this in your mind and to your spirit. You play a vital and significant role in this church body. Maybe you're like, I literally don't. Let me tell you today. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You play a significant role. I believe the way of thinking and a growing and a thriving church like this, which we hit. It was like the biggest Sunday we've ever had in legacy church history this last Sunday. And yeah, praise be to God. But, here's the thing. We're not obsessed with numbers, but we know that every number has a name. Every name has a story and every story matters to God. That's why they mattered to us. You guys know that. But, but here's the thing in a growing and thriving church like this. There are so many people serving and encouraging and leading that it would be really easy for you to pop and be like, this is a vibe. And they have all the help that they need. They're good. Friends, to be completely honest with you, we are, we're good. God's going to build His church whether you're a part of it or not. But, here's the other side of it. Is we're going to be a disabled bride without your hands in service? Because God is coming back. Man, we need a hundred percent participation. You're like, I've never heard of such a thing. Yeah, it's actually unheard of. The average church has a 30 percent participation. Do you know the kind of effect and impact we could have on our valley? If we had 100 percent participation, are you kidding me? If your gift is to encourage, man, I want to see you walking around that lobby like, what's up? Good looking. Oh, man, you're crushing. If it's to lead, man, we have a whole lot of spots on the youth team that we'd love to put you in. If it's to serve, we've got kids ministry that is bursting at the seams with an incredible ministry. Shout out to Holly. Man, if it's to prophesy, prophesies, it's to be kind. That's all of you. You're called to be kind, okay? Then be kind. Our church needs you to be a useful part of the body. Well, I'm not gifted. Dude, stop that stink and think and we'll find something for you to do. If there's breath in your lungs, we'll find something for you to do. Even David, he was like, dude, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in my father's house than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. So he's like, I'd rather stand up there and go, hello, would you like to come in? Then to be in the house is like, you know what I'm saying? Does it take a lot of skill to go? Come on in. No, man, God can use you, right? That down. Secondly, how we think about people outside of the fold, outside of the church? We need to shift our thinking in this. Matthew 936 would say this, when he saw the crowds, Jesus, he was super frustrated, disgusted, and bummed out that they were living the life that they were living. No, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. If you're a sheep without a shepherd, it's only a matter of time before you're devoured. And he said to his disciples, the harvest is great, but the workers are few, so pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, ask him to send more workers into the field. And actually the same account in Luke 19, it actually says that Jesus looked over Jerusalem at the crowds and he wept. He wept over the crowds. So we need to change our thinking to the thinking of Christ when it comes to people outside of the church. When we look at the world, when we look at how broken people are and how messed up and how lost and we see news headlines and we see individuals that are different from us and have different perspectives, is our first response, disgust and frustration, or is our heart to see them restored where we're moved to the point of tears? When's the last time you cried over your school campus? When's the last time you cried over your workplace? When's the last time you read the news and not went, "Ugh, this again? How bad is this world getting?" And you actually started crying out for God to encounter these individuals. Jesus didn't see the world through frustration, he saw the world through tears. Doesn't that change things quite a bit? Isn't that soften up our hearts? Jesus didn't flip tables in the street. It's not your job to go out into the world and flip tables. What are you doing? Dude, they don't know any better. Jesus actually went into the church and he flipped tables. Can we love people? The lost person that you cannot stand is actually the very person Jesus came to save. The difficult person in your workplace is actually the person Jesus is in pursuit of. And while you're rejecting them and shredding them, Jesus is like, "No, that's my protocol. I've been waiting for them to come home and you're hindering the process, not helping the process." The person far from God is a testimony waiting to happen. Let's start dreaming for other people, amen? Here's something I've come to find, "If you forget what you've been saved from, you will lose compassion for those who still need saving." Can we always come back to the gospel? I once was lost. I was far off. I was wandering and he came and he rescued me. Don't forget that you once were lost. A renewed mind actually changes how we view every person. When I see people accurately, I have way less road rage. Anybody ever have road rage, you're like, "What the heck?" And then you actually cut somebody off and someone's honking at you. You're like, "Sorry, sorry." You know what I'm saying? It's like, that's classic. You're like, "Dude, I just did the very thing that I got frustrated." Here's the thing. We all have messed up, okay? And people are made in the image of God. When I see people rightly, I'm a lot more likely to start up a conversation in the store. Amen? You don't get to love God and despise His people. Because the people that you despise are loved by the God that you claim to love. It doesn't add up. It's like, if you come to me and say, "Nick, you're my homeboy. I love you. You're awesome. Your wife. I cannot stand her." I would be like, "We got issues." You know? I'd be like, "We're never hanging out again, but I love you." And Jesus didn't flip a table out here, but I'm about to flip one on you. Our culture, our culture, though, is designed to like measure people up. Dude, even social media is like, like, like, hate, hate. Love this. Don't like this. You know, American Idol is like terrible or like, "Oh, they're really good." You know what I'm saying? Anybody watching American Idol this season? Oh, so good. No! No! There was a worship on. Go listen to it. But never mind. Read the Bible instead. Back to it. If we're going to live renewed lives, we need to stop filtering people through our preferences. And start seeing them how God would see them. Who cares if you're not into the thing that they're into? You know? You can still show interest, right? We're starting this kind of early with my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Anybody have some youngsters that are just a handful. Anybody who's a little wave and loud and proud also just raise your other hand up and let's send a prayer. Yeah. She's strong, strong-willed. She's a rascal. And she's the sweetest, like most wild animal of all time. But instead of speaking over her, like, "You better get your act together," you know? Instead of saying, like, "You're such a rascal. You're so strong-willed." Here's the thing. That actually might hinder the view that we want her to have of herself. So she's in the process of being corrected and we're going to do that. But here's what we're praying for is that one day she's going to be strong-willed against against the enemy. She is actually going to to be stubborn for the things of God and for God to get his glory. And some of you in the room might be like, that's really naive and I would say this. No, I've seen it happen where God can turn things for good. People are not our enemy. People are actually God's prized possession. And let me ask you, are you drawing the best out of somebody or are you putting labels on people that are hindering them from God's plan for their life? Oh man, for those of you who don't know, Ricky Palacios, Ricky and Ashley, love you guys. They're incredible. I have such an honor of walking closely with Ricky throughout the week and Ashley as well, but just love you bro. But back in the day, I was his youth pastor when he was in high school, which is pretty crazy being just like a few years older than them, 'cause you get pushed around a lot. And Ricky was a rascal. He was sneaky. He was, was keyword a punk. But here's the thing, he was relational like you wouldn't believe. Near like I see him and I believe it, right? He can make connections like nobody's business, primarily with controlled substances and people with large amounts of money. It's kind of the world that he was living in. But here's the thing, as a young youth pastor, I could have written him off as a lost cause. Like this guy is wreaking havoc. Like dude, you're not here for the right reasons. Why are you coming? You're too far gone. But I thought if God could get a hold of that guy and he could go from making connections on the street to making connections in the Kingdom of God and from sling and dope the way that he's slinging to sling and hope the way that he's slinging, he could be a force to be reckoned with. And here's the thing, my view of him and the labels that I put on him could hinder him or help him. And I'm not here saying that I'm his hero and if I would have viewed him differently, anything would have been different. God's still what had done an amazing work. But what I'm saying is the people in and around your life are you hindering them by the labels you're putting on them or are you drawing the best out of them? Like you know what I see in you. I see you doing this, this, and this. I see you so gifted in this area and that's God given. There's this old song. It's like give me your eyes for just one second. Does anybody want to see it? Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I've been missing. Maybe we've been missing some things and we need God to open up our eyes to see. How different would your work day go if you go Lord? Before I walk into this place that I'd rather not be around these people, I'd rather not be around. Give me eyes to see. Wouldn't that change things for you? Wouldn't that be incredibly different? And I don't want you to misread what I'm saying. And I don't mean love in the sense of radical acceptance and approval disguised as love. Like you do you, God, like there are tons of roads that they'll eventually lead to God. I hate to tell you he's the way the truth the life. I don't hate to tell you. I'm actually eager to tell you there are not multiple roads. There are not. Well, some people believe, dude, there is one way in his name is Jesus. And that's a radically exclusive. There's one way, erratically inclusive, all can come. All can come, all can come. So here's the thing is a true friend. Somebody who really loves you. When you have something in your teeth, they tell you. And it's super embarrassing at first, but you're so grateful that you have a friend, anybody get home after like a long day out and about and you're like, what? That was in my teeth the whole time. You're like, all of you hate me. And I never want to see you guys again. But how embarrassing and redemptive is it when you're like, you'll bro, you got something there. You're like, oh, thank you. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Let's do that. Hey, this is what God has for your life. I know there's, you know what I'm saying? Okay, you guys got it. I'm going to conclude with this here. First Peter, it's almost like a replica of the verses that we just read, but there's more nuances and I think this is so powerful. Could you just take this, maybe even close your eyes, just take this in right here. First Peter 13, 21 through 21. So prepare your minds for action. Your minds prepared for action. And exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation. All of your hope. Put it all, like bank it all. Bank the farm on the salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So now because of that reality, you must live as God's obedient children. Obedience is hard, amen. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better than, but now you must be holy and everything you do just as God has chose you as holy. For the scripture say, "You must be holy because I am holy." And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. Wow. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as temporary residents. Man, don't get too comfortable here. You're not here for long. You're just passing through. For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors and it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose Him as your ransom long ago before the world began, holy smokes. He's had his eyes on you for a while. But now in these last days, He has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ, you have come to trust in God and you have placed your faith in hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory. The problem with living as foreigners is that we are tempted to start living like residents. You ever go on vacation somewhere and you're like, "I just totally want to live like a local." Like when in Rome, when we live in this world, it's so easy to be like, "I'm not hurting anybody." Yeah, but you're not glorifying God. We're gonna live completely differently. And it says, putting your minds to action, it actually means to gird up the loins of your mind. If you know this, you're like, "This is weird." It is weird. But dude's word dress is back, but not just kidding. No, but they wore like long, long roads. There we go. You tuck them in like so. And that would be girding up your loins because it's like the athletic stance because you gotta get going. Can I tell you what being alert and sober minded is not you wake up. Oh, gotta get up. Oh, gotta go to work. What life are we living here? Dude, we gird up our loins and we prepare our minds for action. We wake up and we say, "Lord, I'm getting on that altar. Here's my life and everything in it. I really didn't want to get up this early and I really don't want to do this but you're worth it." So Jesus, I'm gonna open up the word of God, help me to see things clearly. Jesus, I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna get in your presence, help me to form an idea of you that is accurate. God, help me to love myself the way you love me. Not thinking of myself too highly, not too lowly. God, help me to see people in and around my life. Help me to be an effective tool. God, when I in this prayer, would you help me to be the man I need to be as I walk out and greet my wife as I walk out and greet my family and just help me in that, Jesus, and you walk out. How much more so can you be an effective tool for the kingdom of God and if you were to just scroll and you know what I'm saying? We need to prepare our minds for action because action is gonna take place today. Let's stop being so numb to the things of God and so useless in the world and start waking up. Awake, awake as the scriptures would say, "O sleeper, arise. Allow Christ to shine on you." So here, I'm gonna ask you to just stand up and this is gonna be a quick response but I'm believing it's gonna be powerful. If you're here and you've related, you've connected in some respect with the word of God and you've identified some areas like I need to shift my thinking in this area and you wanna make a decision. Like not only do I want to shift how I'm thinking, I'm actually gonna choose to like do the hard work of shifting this thinking. One of the ways we're gonna keep our eyes open as we raise our hands is because we need our spouses, we need our family, we need our church to go, "Hey, I see you. I see you raising your hand and we're gonna go, "Hey, what areas of your life let's, yeah, self inventory. What do you think about God? What do you think about yourself truly when it gets down to it? What do you think about other people when it truly comes down to it? We're gonna hold each other accountable. We're gonna have a major impact in the valley. It's gonna start with the way that we think and we're gonna just pray in faith for a renewed mind. Let me just tell you, it's very unlikely, it's possible but unlikely that your mind is gonna be renewed in a moment. I've seen it happen, likely won't. But we're gonna leave this place and make a commitment to renew our minds. So in faith, right now would you, if you want, a renewed mind and you wanna make a commitment, I've got some areas in which I need to renew my mind and I want to, on the count of three, throw your hand in the air like you just don't care. And I'm gonna pray over you. One, two, three. I need a renewed mind in so many different areas. So we're gonna go ahead and offer this to the Lord. If you're like what's so special about raising my hand. It's the fact that you're just responding physically. If you can't respond physically with a hand raised what in the world makes us think that we can respond spiritually when we walk out of these doors. So would you raise your hand in the air right now across the room? Let me pray a blessing over you. Go ahead and close your eyes before I do so. I wanna tell you this, you're not the thoughts that you have. You are not waiting. that you've been told, you are who God says you are. You're being transformed. You're being renewed. This is good news. You're not too far gone. You're being renewed with your hands raised here. Let me pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, we bring our minds back to you. Jesus, we pray the blood of Jesus over the areas of our minds that have wreaked havoc on our lives as individuals. We pray over the area of our minds that have made you out to be somebody you're not. We pray over the area of our minds where we have demonized people instead of making the enemy the enemy. God, I ask that you would tear down strongholds in our mind. Those paths that we have gone to for year after year after year for some of us decades after decades, God, I pray that you would help us do the hard work. Holy Spirit, you would rewire, you would transform our minds. And it would actually start showing up in our day to day life that we are thinking differently. God teaches to stay on the altar even when it's difficult. Teach us to make the hard decision. And God, I actually ask that you would renew the joy of our salvation. Climbing on that altar might be hard, might be difficult, might be self-denial. But what a beautiful sight it is for you to smile upon what is happening, what a beautiful sight it is for our Father to be pleased and for Him to smell that pleasing aroma that He is after. Let our lives burn for you, not just in a moment, but as we walk around His foreigners, God help us to, help us to just remember we're passing through. We give you our minds, God, would you do a work this week and would it bear much fruit? It's in Jesus name we pray. And everybody said, amen, amen.