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.
Thanks for listening to this edition of Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are an international
teaching and discipleship ministry that motivates
Christians to live like Christians. We're in
the middle of our series, I Choose Peace. We
hope you've been encouraged by Chip's teaching
so far. And to help others experience that encouragement
too, take a minute after this message and pass
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Thanks for spreading the word about how this
teaching is impacting you. All right, if you
have a Bible, go to Philippians chapter 4 for
the remainder of Chip's talk 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 2 and 3. 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 bed 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's 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 an encouraging book. Yesterday, I'm
very excited. I guess it was Friday. I played
golf a couple times. It's so fun. And as I was
driving, it was about 6 .30 in the morning and
all these puffy clouds. and then it was all red
and pink behind them. And I was just driving,
and it was just like winsome, attractive, admirable.
Oh, Lord. And it happened to my phone. 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 I just began to ponder
his kindness and his sovereignty and his love
and beauty and creation. Guess what happened
to my emotions? 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 2, and it was like, oh
my gosh. I got to Channel 4. 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 don't, by the way, if you kind of are thinking,
oh my gosh, this would radically change what
comes in my house, good. It'll 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, okay. 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's
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, I'd 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 Lion. It's the life of
Winston Churchill. It's just, it's fabulously
interesting. So in my car, I mean, 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 31 hours left. But I mean, his courage and
what was happening in the 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,
and it's just 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes, I'm reading
about the life of Martin Luther. And just all
I want to do is, how do I fill my life and my
mind with good things? Because I will be the
product of my thought life. But 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. You're listening to Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And before we return
you to today's message, are you tired of feeling
anxious about what's happening in our world or
your personal circumstances? Stick around after
the teaching to learn about a powerful resource
we have that will encourage your soul and help
you experience real lasting peace. You won't
want to miss it. But for now, here's Chip to
continue his talk. 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 8, 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 deaf, 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 too. 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 it's
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 older.
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 renew or 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 the 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 know what
I 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, 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 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 am 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. 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.
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram, and the message you just heard in a broken
world is from our series, I Choose Peace. Chip
will join us in studio to share some insights
from today's talk in just a minute. What's weighing
on your mind right now? Financial uncertainty?
A tense relationship? Or is it just the grind
of everyday life? Whatever it is that's robbing
you of your peace, let me tell you there's an
antidote. Through this practical study in Philippians
chapter 4, Chip will teach us how to access the
peace of God, which can restore, calm, and encourage
your soul, no matter what may be happening around
you. You're not going to want to miss a single
program of this series. Well, our Bible teacher,
Chip Ingram, is with me in studio now to share
something that's really been weighing on his
heart recently. Chip? Yeah, thanks, Dave. I want
to pause and talk to those who are right now
crumbling under the pressure of our chaotic world.
So many people who love God have developed addictions
or unhealthy behaviors due to their difficult
circumstances. And whether it's drinking or logging
onto websites or some prescription medication
or shopping or eating disorders, the list goes
on and on. God wants to give you peace. In fact,
he's already given it to you. But what you need
is his truth. You need his truth to deal with
this anxiety and these struggles and these conflicts
in relationships. And what I want you to know
is that we really want to help you. I think the
book that I've written, I Choose Peace, is a
great resource that... If you would commit to
it, you could go through it with another person
and just walk through it slowly. You have to
share your secrets. You've got to get rid of
your shame. You can't keep hiding. God loves
you. He's for you. When we don't have peace,
we go to pseudo -peace and all kind of artificial
things. Don't take second best. God has a supernatural
peace for your heart, your life, and your mind.
Don't settle for less. Well, to get your copy
of Chip's book, I Choose Peace, visit livingontheedge
.org or call us at 888 -333 -6003. Learn how
to quiet the worries of your heart and the anxieties
of this world and experience genuine peace that
only Jesus offers. Again, go to livingontheedge
.org or call 888 -333 -6003 for complete details
about this book, I Choose Peace. App listeners
tap special offers. Well, Chip, in your message
today, you really emphasized the idea that transformation
begins with your thought life. So if you would,
take a few minutes and explain why monitoring
what we watch, read, and think about is so critical.
Absolutely, Dave. And this is one of those where,
oh, I so wish I was just sitting across the room
from each one of our listeners with a cup of
coffee. My background is in psychology and undergraduate
and graduate work before I became a pastor. And
the study of the mind and how the brain works,
your very first thoughts. or the very first things
you do in the morning, it shapes your day more
than you can ever imagine. So if you pick up
your phone, or look at the Wall Street Journal,
or look at your Facebook, or in other words,
your mind is bombarded with multiple things,
and it starts a chain reaction versus pausing.
As I shared, you know, I quote Psalm 23 or a
portion of Colossians 3 or a passage of Scripture
where I begin to ask God and talk with Him. I
mean, in the first two, three minutes before
I get out of bed, and then I make sure I get
into the Scriptures and have a good conversation
with the God that knows everything before I face
anything. And then at the end of the day, if
you can just discipline yourself to... turn off
the screens, turn off the TV, turn off the noise,
and calm yourself and recite some things and
have a quiet moment of prayer or review some
verses or some psalms, you will be astounded
at the impact and the change that it'll make,
so much so that you'll realize how hard it is.
And you got to ask yourself, why is it so hard
to turn off the noise? And we just so want to
encourage you to allow God, to transform your
life so that you experience. What's the Spirit
produce? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, self -control. And the
way He does that is not by us trying harder.
It's by the transformation of our mind. That's
what Romans 12 says. So let me just encourage
you. Give it a try this week. I mean, start today.
Before you go to bed, turn everything off, just
15 minutes, and calm yourself. And then jot down
just a couple things. Maybe you don't have a
passage memorized that you just want to read
over as you first get up and see if it doesn't
make a big difference. Great word, Chip. And
we want to help you tune out the noise of this
chaotic world and better connect with God. So
let me encourage you to check out the Chip Ingram
app and get plugged in with our helpful resources.
You can listen to our most recent series, sign
up for daily discipleship, and more. We want
you to grow in your walk with Jesus, and the
Chip Ingram app is a great way to immerse yourself
in uplifting biblical content. Well, until next
time, this is Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening
to this edition of Living on the Edge.