This is the Chip Ingram Sermon Podcast, brought
to you by Living on the Edge. In this podcast,
you'll hear Chip's teaching unedited and from
beginning to end. Now here's our guest teacher,
Kyle Eidelman, with a message titled, Mind Mold.
I am overwhelmed and really excited to share
with you that last weekend, across all of our
campuses, we... baptized 839 people. 839. Now
listen, you know this, but what we are clapping
for and what we're celebrating is not a statistic,
it's a story. It's not a number, it's a name.
We are celebrating one life at a time, encountering
Jesus and discovering the difference that Jesus
makes. That he forgives our sins, that he doesn't
just forgive our sins, he forgives the guilt
of our sins. That you don't have to be weighed
down by shame anymore. You don't have to be weighed
down by guilt of the past. That he sets you free.
And I told so many people in the water last Sunday,
like there's things we're leaving in the water.
We're not carrying it out with us. Like shame
and guilt stay here. And so when we celebrate
these numbers, we're celebrating that one person
at a time is experiencing the difference that
Jesus makes. And really, scripture is full of
those kinds of stories. Luke 15. Parable that
Jesus tells of the prodigal son. I've read that
parable hundreds of times. And I've thought to
myself many times, what's that prodigal son look
like? What's he look like? The Bible says that
he goes to his father, he takes his inheritance,
that he spends all the money on wild living.
And then language in scripture has it this way,
that a day comes where the prodigal son says
he came to his senses. Well, what's that look
like? I saw it. Last Sunday morning, young man
in his 20s comes into the water with his dad.
He's emotionally a bit overwhelmed. You can tell
there's a lot happening there. I ask him about
his story. He tells me about this rock bottom
moment in his life. And then he uses language
that he doesn't even know he's using when he
says, but I came to my senses. Oh, that's what
he looks like. And I see father and son weep
and embrace in the baptistry. John chapter four,
woman at the well. Been married five times, finds
no satisfaction and joy. She meets Jesus. I've
thought to myself, well, what's that woman look
like? I met her on Sunday. She came down into
the water, just went through her third divorce.
I could sense the heaviness in her voice as she
talked to me. Then she said with a smile, slight
smile, she said, I'm just tired of being disappointed
by men. I said, well, you're in the right place
because there is one man that doesn't disappoint,
and his name is Jesus. And in John 4, he says
to the woman at the well, I'm the living water.
I'm the one your soul has been thirsting for.
And I met the John 4 woman last Sunday. Acts
chapter 9, Saul on the road to Damascus. He's
been persecuting Christians, trying to put an
end to the church. encounters Jesus. I've always
thought, what's that moment look like? And then
last Sunday, I met this man, 60 -ish years old,
told me he'd been an atheist for the past 40
plus years of his life, argued with Christians,
did everything he could to make fun of the believers
in his life. A friend of his invited him to week
one of our At The Movie series, and he came skeptically,
not really because he was interested in it, but
because he wanted to be able to make fun of it.
And then while he was here, he was just overwhelmed
with this reality that he had spent the last
40 years of his life running from a God who loved
him. And he was baptized. And I'm like, oh, that's
what that looks like. That's what Acts 9 looks
like. Genesis 32, we meet a man named Jacob.
And Jacob is known for wrestling with God. What's
that look like? Well, the last baptism after
our 9 a .m. service last weekend, a man comes
into the water later than everybody else. Like,
baptisms had kind of been over for four or five
minutes. I knew that one more person was coming,
so I'd said to the 1 ,500 or so people that were
left in the sanctuary, hey, we got one more.
And so people were hanging around, waiting for
him. He comes into the water. I don't know him.
I don't know his story. For whatever reason,
I feel led to just put a microphone in front
of him and let him share that with everybody
who was left. I didn't know what he was going
to say. I was a little nervous about it once
he started, thinking maybe that was a bad idea.
But he says that he and his wife, after church
last Sunday, got in the car. They started driving
home, going down Shelbyville Road. And then he
said he was wrestling with God. Makes a U -turn
on Shelbyville Road, comes back, runs in here.
Is it too late? It's not too late. He gets in
the water. It shares a story. Just before I baptized
him, I said, now, remind me of your name. And
he said, my name is Jacob. And I'm like, yeah,
it is. It's totally Jacob. And being able to
see through Scripture these one -at -a -time
stories and then being able to experience them
together as a church and being able to recognize
our own story of how God is at work. So we celebrate
839 baptisms. God is moving. We celebrate that.
really what we're celebrating is life change
that only happens through the grace of Jesus.
And every life change story has one thing in
common, and that is a change of thinking. A change
of thinking. Take the prodigal son, Luke 15,
says he came to his senses. What's that mean?
It means that he was thinking about his life
one way, and then there was an awakening, and
he started thinking about things differently.
John 4, the woman at the well meets Jesus. And
what changes? Well, her thinking changes. For
a long time, she thought, this guy will satisfy
me. This guy will satisfy me. This guy will satisfy
me. And now she's thinking differently. And she's
looking to Jesus to be the living water. Every
transformed life involves a change in thinking.
And so this week, we're starting a series called
Every Thought Captive. It comes from 2 Corinthians
10. where Paul challenges believers to address
some strongholds in their lives. Some lies they've
believed for a long time, maybe so long they
don't even know where they came from. Things
that were passed down to them generationally.
There's strongholds that need to be torn down
in your life and in my life. How do we do that?
Paul says you do that by taking every thought
captive. We're gonna learn to do that together
to experience the transformation God wants to
see take place in our life by taking our thoughts.
I did a little research as I was getting ready
for this sermon, looking online for someone who
would be considered a gravity denier, somebody
who doesn't believe in the law of gravity. I
had this idea that I wanted to use as an illustration,
but I needed to find a person who didn't believe
in the law of gravity, and I couldn't find one.
And so I thought what I might just do here is
imagine it. So imagine there's this guy named
Jack who doesn't believe in the law of gravity.
He believes in the concept of gravity, but he
thinks the law of gravity is a hoax perpetrated
by the scientific community. He will argue his
point. He'll say it's all about density and buoyancy.
There's not some invisible force out there. And
his friends, they've tried to convince him. They're
like, Jack, you need to accept the law of gravity.
Every step you take is evidence. That gravity
is real. And other friends just kind of accept
the fact that Jack's a little bit quirky. And
so Jack finally decides, you know what? I'm gonna
prove them all wrong. And he invites everybody
over to his house to watch him jump off the top
of his two -story house. This isn't real. Remember,
we're just imagining this. So don't feel sorry
for Jack. He doesn't exist. So Jack gets on top
of his two -story house. Everybody's watching.
down below. They don't want to watch because
it's horrific, but you can't not watch. And so
with lots of confidence, he steps off the roof
of his house thinking that he's going to float,
not fall, but he falls and he falls hard and
he hits the grounds and he breaks a leg and he
breaks the ribs and he's concussed and he's got
to go to the hospital. Why? Because gravity doesn't
care what Jack thinks. Gravity doesn't care.
Gravity does what gravity always does. Gravity
acts the way gravity always acts. And Jack can
refuse to believe in it, but it doesn't mean
it's not true in Jack's life. Jack can say, I
don't believe in the law of gravity, but the
law of gravity still applies to Jack, whether
he's aware of its existence, whether he believes
in its existence or not. There's another law
that's both recognized in science and recognized
in scripture that's called the law of cognition.
The law of cognition basically says that Your
life is shaped by your thoughts. To a degree
that you probably don't fully realize, and I
may not recognize, our lives are shaped by the
way that we think. It's the law of cognition.
Now before neuroscience and psychology had firmly
established this law that's built into who we
are, scripture had already taught us this truth.
Proverbs chapter four, verse 23 says, be careful
how you think, and here's why. Because there's
this law that applies to you. Your life is shaped
by your thoughts. And you don't have to agree
with that for it to be true. You don't have to
believe this to be true for it to have the power
of truth over your life. The God who created
you says, this is how it works. There's this
law that is built in to who you are, built into
this world that says your life is shaped by your
thoughts. And if that's true, the most important
question that you can ask yourself is, What do
I think about? What do I think about? Paul seems
to understand just how significant this issue
is in Romans 12 verse 2. When he writes to the
church in Rome about transformation, and he says,
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. The Greek word
here for conformed means to be molded by something
external. Don't let your mind be molded by something
out there. J .B. Phillips in his translation
says, don't be squeezed into the mold of this
world without even thinking about it. And what's
interesting about this word conform is it's written
for us in the present imperative tense, which
means stop doing what you're already doing. Paul's
not saying like, hey, there's going to come a
day where you're going to have to decide if you're
going to be conformed or not. He's saying you
are being conformed. The world you live in is
squeezing you and shaping you and molding you.
Stop it. Stop it. It's happening right now. Stop
doing what you're already doing. And modern neuroscience
would underline what Paul is teaching here. Neuroplasticity
shows that our brains are constantly, constantly
being molded by what we experience and what we're
exposed to. take part in every second of your
screen time, it's molding. There's a pattern
that we're being squeezed into. And so Paul warns
us that your thinking and my thinking is being
squeezed into this pattern of this world. Whether
we know it or not, that's what's happening. The
law of cognition is playing itself out through
the thoughts that we think. And neuroscientists
say that the average person has between 60 ,000
and 80 ,000 thoughts a day. 60 ,000 and 80 ,000
thoughts, that's a lot of thoughts. Most of us
would say, that seems a bit much. I'm not aware
of thinking 60 ,000 to 80 ,000 thoughts. But
this is the point. 95 % of your thoughts and
my thoughts are below the level of consciousness,
meaning we're not even aware that we're thinking
the thoughts we're thinking. 95 % of our 60 to
80 ,000 thoughts are on repeat. They're just
happening. We don't think about the thoughts
we're thinking. This is why you can look back
on your life and have these moments where you
see something you said or did and you're like,
what was I thinking? Why did I do that? I must
have thought about it because I did it, but I
don't remember thinking any thoughts about doing
that. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present
to you Exhibit A. This is me, circa 2002, with
frosted tips. I see this picture. I know it's
real. Like, I know that this happens. I don't
remember ever thinking about this. Like, I don't
remember having any kind of thought process that
weighed the pros and cons of having frosted tips.
But at some point, I clearly walked in to a salon
and said, I'll have some frosted tips. At some
point, that decision was made. I don't remember
thinking about that. I don't remember a moment
where I stood in front of my mirror at home and
thought, you know, what my wife would be really
attracted to. I don't remember that process.
I don't remember thinking, you know what the
world needs. It's a pastor. That looks like he
rated the clearance section a hot topic. That's
what the world really needs. Like, I don't remember
any of those thoughts, and yet clearly that happens,
and all of us can have these moments where we've
done something or been influenced in some way.
Like, I don't know, what was conformed? You know,
it was a boy band era. I look like a rejected
Backstreet Boy. Like, I tried but didn't make
the cut. Like, I don't know what was influencing
my thinking. Because I wasn't thinking about
it, but clearly there were some thoughts I was
being conformed in such a way that resulted in
me having frosted tips. So take your thoughts
captive. I want us to spend a few minutes just
unpacking this connection, this biblical truth
of our life being shaped by our thoughts. First,
let's recognize that our thoughts establish our
emotions. Now that doesn't mean our thoughts
are exclusively responsible for our feelings.
There are a lot of factors that could be at play.
But more than we recognize, Our thoughts establish
our emotions. We tend to talk about our emotions
as feelings that we don't have any control over.
I can't help the way I feel. Or we look at circumstances,
situations. We look at people and we say, well,
if this circumstance changed, if this person
didn't do what they did, then I'd feel differently
than I do right now. But what we find is that
there's this intricate relationship between how
we think about things happening. and the feelings
we have about those things. God created our brains
with a limbic system, specifically the amygdala,
which helps us process our emotional responses.
Our thoughts are connected to our feelings more
than we realize. Our neurotransmitter system
connects thoughts and emotions, so what we think
about can trigger the release of neurotransmitters
like serotonin and dopamine that influence our
emotional state. So here's how you might play
this out. Let's say that you have, been feeling
pretty discontent lately. Spending more time
thinking about your life and what you don't have
or maybe you're behind on some things compared
to other people and you're comparing yourself
to others and your thoughts have just been very
focused on that. But then you read 1 Thessalonians
5 .18 which says, give thanks in all circumstances.
And you think, okay, well, Paul says, give thanks
in all circumstances. I should think about things
that I'm grateful for. I'm gonna do that. And
I'm gonna just start taking my mornings. This
is God's will for me. And so I'm gonna give thanks.
I'm gonna spend my mornings just expressing gratitude
to God for some things in my life. Now, when
that happens, there is a neurotransmitter effect.
That practice of being intentionally grateful
increases serotonin levels, which is associated
with mood regulation. Then you go throughout
your day and you're not just reacting to everything
that's happening around you, but instead. You've
created a different neural pathway that responds
with gratitude and thanksgiving when things don't
go exactly how you thought they would. You're
starting to recognize and see things to be thankful
for, and it changes your emotions. It changes
your feelings. So our thoughts establish our
emotions. Secondly, our thoughts direct our decisions.
It turns out that just like our emotions, our
decisions are largely determined by what happens
in our prefrontal cortex, which is... sometimes
called the executive center, because it's where
decisions get made. Our thoughts, being molded
by the patterns of this world, are constantly
assigning, subconsciously, assigning benefits
and consequences to different actions. And whether
or not you value the immediate pleasure and satisfaction,
or whether you're consciously thinking about
something that will come in the future because
of a decision you make, but we all have these
neural pathways that... Much more so than we
realize are making certain decisions for us or
taking us in the direction that we're going.
Think of it this way. Think of a neural pathway
as if you get in a car and you drive to a destination
that you've never been to before, you're paying
close attention. watching your GPS and you're
aware of the road you need to turn on and you're
paying attention to road signs. But if you've
taken that path dozens of times, eventually you
don't really even think about it. Like when you
drive to work, you just drive to work. You're
not paying attention to anything because you
have created this pathway from doing it so many
times. And the way God has designed our brains
is to have these neural pathways so that so many
of the decisions we make come from The way we've
been thinking over an extended period of time.
This is why you can decide you're gonna have
a calm, rational discussion with your spouse
around finances, but during the conversation,
your emotions take over, you start raising your
voice, you're getting sensitive and defensive.
Why? Because you've got this neural pathway about
talking to your spouse about finances, and even
though you didn't mean for it to happen, you're...
response to them, the way you talk, the way you
act starts going down that pathway that's been
established. So this is one of the reasons why
we get in trouble by putting too much emphasis
on behavior modification over thought transformation.
We think the key to bringing about change is
I'm just going to do things differently. I'm
going to behave my way out of this. But typically
that doesn't last very long. It's not sustainable.
That true transformation, according to Romans
12, comes when we change the way we think. Renewing
of our minds brings transformation. Thirdly,
our thoughts regulate our relationships. There's
a term for how our minds interpret what other
people say and do. It's called cognitive interpretation.
That if you come and you say something to me,
no matter what you meant by what you said, no
matter what tone you think you had, How I think
about what you said is going to determine our
relationship. My cognitive interpretation of
that comment is going to determine the direction
our relationship goes. And we all have this constantly
happening in our minds where our cognitive interpretation
might be constantly negative, in which case we're
going to react in a way that's defensive or sensitive
or antagonistic, or we might pull away and withdraw.
But our thoughts are constantly filtering. what
other people say and do. A few years ago, I was
having some challenges with some relationships
in my life, and I was talking to a friend about
it, and he just really challenged my thinking,
specifically, and he explained to me that this
concept of filling in the gaps. And he basically
said, look, any interaction you have with someone,
your mind is gonna fill in some gaps. Things
that you don't really know, but your thoughts
will interpret what they say and do, and how
your thoughts interpret that, it's filling in
the gap. So let's say somebody says something,
you're offended by it, but let's say there's
a context gap. Like you don't know what led up
to that, you don't know what they might have
heard, you don't know what's happened during
their day, you don't know a lot. And so how you
fill in that context gap is going to determine
how that relationship goes. Or maybe there's
an information gap. Like what you're hearing
is missing some important pieces. And how you
fill in that information gap is gonna have a
lot to do with the direction of that relationship.
So our thoughts are constantly filling in gaps.
Do we presume the worst or do we assume the best?
Do we give a cynical explanation or a generous
explanation? If I pull in the driveway and I
see my wife has ordered Something else off Amazon
that's been delivered to the house. I see a box.
My thoughts fill in the gap. I can think to myself,
what could possibly be in that box that we need?
There have already been a few deliveries this
week. Doesn't she care about how we're spending
money? I could think those thoughts. I don't
know what's in the box, but my mind could fill
in the gaps. Or I can think something different.
I can say, well, you know... I never have to
wonder if we're gonna have what we need around
the house. My wife is much more intentional and
thoughtful than me when it comes to spending
money. She takes care of so many things that
I probably don't even recognize and I certainly
don't always appreciate. And depending on where
my thoughts go, depending on how I interpret
that moment, depending on how I fill that gap
will determine, will regulate my relationship.
It'll determine the course of our connection
for the rest of the evening. So let me just give
you some questions to think about as you process
this connection between your thoughts and your
relationships. When I make assumptions about
someone's intentions, do I assume the best or
the worst? Just pay attention to that as you
think about your thoughts this week. Do you assume
the best or do you assume the worst? Secondly,
when I think about my past with this person,
what do I remember? What do I remember? When
I look back on our relationship, does my mind
think about the things that went wrong or the
way they made mistakes or different failures
or negative things? Or do I look back and think
about things that are positive and affirming
and praiseworthy? Question number three, what
narrative do I tell myself about this person
when I have to fill in the gaps? What's the story
that I tend to tell about this person when I'm
not sure exactly the context of something? How
do I fill in the gaps with that story? Number
four, Our thoughts determine our spiritual growth.
Colossians chapter three, verse two, set your
mind on things above. Think about things that
are eternal, not on earthly things. When we think
eternal thoughts, it doesn't just shape our emotions
and our decisions and our relationships, it shapes
our soul. Like if I'll think about intentionally
God's goodness and his promises and his character,
my faith will grow. If I meditate on scripture,
as Psalm chapter one talks about, David says
in Psalm chapter one that we are to meditate
on God and on his word. That word meditate, it's
this idea of thinking about something so focused
that it looks like we're talking to ourselves.
If I'm doing that, it starts to bear fruit. If
I am watering my thoughts with God's word, then
it shapes my soul. But if I'm watering my thoughts
thoughts with anxiety, then anxious things grow.
If I'm watering thoughts of discontentment, then
discontentment flourishes. So our thoughts, we'll
talk more about this next week, determine our
spiritual growth. Let's jump back into Romans
12, look at verse two again. Don't be conformed
to the patterns of this world, but... Be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. This word transformed
is the Greek word metamorphou. It's where we
get our word metamorphosis, butterfly, caterpillar
into a butterfly. Something crawling around in
the mud is something soaring beautifully through
the sky. Like this is the transformation that
takes place when we take our thoughts captive.
What's interesting about this verb. be transformed
is it's in the passive imperative voice, which
is kind of weird because it's passive imperative.
The reason that's unusual is it's passive, meaning
that it's something that's done to us. We don't
transform ourselves. God transforms us. But it's
also imperative, like you have to do this. And
it's just kind of weird to say you have to do
something that you can't do. But this is the
partnership that we have with the Holy Spirit,
that we align our thoughts with God and with
his word. And when we do, we experience his transforming
work. It's also one of the reasons I love the
language here is it takes this whole series and
this whole conversation away from our self -help
manifestation, self -improvement mold. And instead
it says, hey, we're transformed supernaturally.
That's God's power that transforms us. And so
we're going to begin this journey over the next
six weeks of taking our thoughts captive, experiencing
transformation that can come only from God. And
the way I want to challenge you as we start this
series is to break the pattern of distraction.
If there's one mold of this world that I think
keeps us from experiencing the transformation
God wants in our lives, it's our constant distraction.
We are constantly distracted, more so than ever.
It would be fun. Maybe not fun. It'd probably
be discouraging to me to just pay attention or
know exactly what some of you are being distracted
by right now. Like right now. Like right now,
some of you are really distracted by something.
I don't know what it is. Maybe you're hungry.
Maybe you're watching your clock and you think,
is he about done? Maybe it's the white tennis
shoes. And you're like, you never trust a man
with tennis shoes that white. You can't trust
somebody. Like, I don't know what it is. I just
know that our minds are constantly distracted.
Like, we have so much vying for our attention.
There's 6 ,000 movies and TV shows on Netflix.
That's one of 200 streaming services available.
There's five million video games waiting to be
conquered. There's nine million apps you can
download. The average person spends like six
hours and 58 minutes on the screens every day.
Some of you are like, there's no way. Check your
screen time. And then take into consideration
when you're tripling up, when you're watching
TV, shopping on an iPad, and checking your text
messages at the same time. You think it's 10
minutes. That's 30 minutes of time on the screen.
It's constant, constant distraction. And so for
us to experience this transformation in our lives,
we've got to have more space, more margin to
think about our thoughts. We have to have more
space to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying
to us. And God often speaks in whispers. And
we have so much that distracts us. It's Luke
chapter 10 when Mary and Martha have Jesus visit
their home. And the Bible says Martha was distracted
by many good things. She's serving, it's hospitality.
She's preparing food for Jesus. And Jesus says,
Martha, you're worried and upset about many things.
You're distracted by many things. But few things
are needed. Indeed, only one. And Mary has chosen
what is better. And so my prayer for us as a
church is that we would break this pattern of
distraction so we could connect more deeply with
Jesus. We could experience this transformation
that we read about in Romans 12. I want to take
just three minutes and I want to show you a parable
that I wrote. And the reason I want to show you
this parable is that when I'm up here just preaching
or teaching, if you're like me, when I'm sitting
and listening to someone, I'm in a lane of, I'm
in the information lane where I'm trying to consume
some content, not necessarily a thoughtful processing.
I think one of the reasons Jesus told parables
is that the stories invited a different kind
of thinking than just receiving information.
So I want to show you this parable and then I
have a challenge for you before we're dismissed.
There was once a loving father who took his young
daughter to a spectacular circus. Unlike other
fathers, he didn't have to save for the tickets.
He actually owned the circus. In fact, he had
created everything inside of it. Over the years,
it had become much different than he had originally
designed, but he was sure she would have a wonderful
time and couldn't wait to share the experience
with her. As they approached the massive tent
together, neon lights flashed in hypnotic patterns.
Music pulsed from a dozen different directions.
Screens of all sizes displayed an endless stream
of attractions. Don't miss this. Limited time
only. Once in a lifetime experience, they promised.
Stay close to me, the father said gently as he
held tightly to her hand. But his daughter's
eyes were already darting everywhere, consumed
by the dazzling displays. Can I go look at that,
she asked, pointing to the social media spectacular
where performers were taking selfies with the
visitors. Before waiting for an answer, she was
already drifting toward it. The father watched
as his daughter raced from attraction to attraction,
barely noticing he was no longer beside her.
She dove into the streaming circus where countless
shows played simultaneously on countless screens.
She got onto the infinite scroll carousel, and
she was spun round and round. Her phone buzzed
constantly with alerts about new acts starting
somewhere in the park. Each notification pulled
her in a new direction, always promising something.
better something more exciting from the last
in the FOMO fun house mirrors showed her all
the other shows that she was missing she joined
the frantic crowds at the instant gratification
games competing desperately for likes and views
the father remained present watching waiting
sometimes she'd catch a glimpse of him in the
distance still standing where she'd left him
but there was always another attraction calling
her name another notification demanding her attention
But as time passed, a strange emptiness began
to grow inside her. Despite experiencing everything
the circus had to offer, nothing seemed to satisfy.
The likes and the views felt hollow. The endless
streams of content left her feeling somehow less
content. The constant rush for the next experience
left her feeling exhausted and alone. One quiet
moment between the flash and noise of attractions,
she heard a small voice inside her asking, remember
when you used to just sit with your father in
the backyard? She stopped moving for the first
time in what felt like forever. Looking around
at the frantic crowd, she suddenly realized what
she'd been missing all along. She turned and
walked back through the circus, past all the
flashing lights and screaming at screens until
she found him. Her father was sitting on a simple
bench. It seemed out of place amongst all the
chaos of the circus. Most people rushed past
it, too busy with their phones to notice, but
he was there, just as he'd always been, waiting
patiently with a gentle smile. I'm sorry, she
whispered, sitting beside him. I got so caught
up in everything else, I just, I just forgot.
He gently put his arm around her, pulling her
close to his side. For the first time since entering
the circus, she felt truly at peace. Around them,
the frenzy continued. Lights flashing, music
blaring, crowds rushing from one show to the
next. But she had found something better. Later,
as they walked together under the stars, she
asked her father why he had let her get so lost
in all the distractions. Sometimes, he explained,
you have to lose yourself in everything else
before you can find what truly matters. That's
where some of you are right now. I think that
was the prodigal son story. I think that's the
woman at the well story. I think that's the Acts
9 story. It's losing yourself in something that
might be good, it might be bad, but it's not
what's best. And before long, you look up and
you have scrolled away weeks, months, years of
your life. But just know that your heavenly father
is waiting for you. And so we want to just, over
these next six weeks, make space for that. I'm
going to give you some challenges, and I'd like
to encourage you to pick two of these for the
next six weeks. Don't think of this as punishment.
Think of this as partnership with the Holy Spirit
in your transformation. So one way to break this
pattern of distraction would be a social media
Sabbath. You delete apps, even if it's just for
one week. And you replace that with time in scripture,
time in prayer. And a second option would be
news detox where you limit your news to 15 minutes
a day. You spend extra time meditating on God's
word. 15 minutes a day, that includes like pundits
talking about what's happening in the world or
podcasts that are focused on current cultural
dynamics. Third is an entertainment fast where
you trade your streaming time for maybe some,
reading or some worship time or conversation
with others. Another option would be phone -free
mornings, where the first hour of each day belongs
to God, not your device. Each day, you stay the
first hour that belongs to God. The next option
is phone -free bedrooms. I'll tell you why I'm
smiling. Phone -free bedrooms. Each day, you're
going to say for the next six weeks, you're not
going to have a screen with you in your bedroom.
would be the one. And then lastly is notification
silence where you're just gonna turn off all
your notifications that are non -essential. If
you need help figuring out non -essential, ask
some people in your life and they can help you
recognize what's non -essential. The reason I'm
smiling is because my wife hadn't heard my sermon
until last hour and then I got a text from her
and she's like, so which two are you choosing?
And... So I was processing that while I was going
through the list with you, knowing that when
I get home that I'm going to make sure to give
her my two options as well. But can I just encourage
you to break the pattern of this world? And you
can choose something different if you want, but
just intentionally pay attention to the mold
and let's do some things to break free from it.
These next six weeks. So we can take our thoughts
captive. We can find freedom. We can experience
the transformation. That God promises us in Romans
12. Let me pray. God thank you that you are a
loving father. Who even in the busyness of this
world. And in our constant distracted state.
You don't leave. And you wait for us patiently.
And so I pray God that you would allow us. The
humility and the courage to recognize. how some
of our thinking is just really distracted these
days and that you would give us just the... to
follow through on this, to break free from some
of the patterns of this world, to not just say,
we're just gonna do what we've always been doing.
We're not gonna just follow on the path that
everybody else seems to be on, but we're gonna
do some things different. So would you help us
do that as a church community these next six
weeks, that we would learn to take every thought
captive and submit them to you and find the life
that you really have in mind for us. It's in
Jesus' name we pray, amen. This is Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. Friend, for over 30
years, Living on the Edge has been committed
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channel when you're there. Well, that wraps up
today's episode. Don't miss the next Bible teaching
message coming up here on the Chip Ingram Sermon
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