HopeLives365

Mark Finley: We should walk in newness of life. Through the love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, we have a new life.

Guest (Male): This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: Renewing the Mind, Part Two. Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up on past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: God spoke, and animals appeared. This all-powerful God of creation, what does our text say? If any man or woman is in Christ, he is a new creation. Why is he a new creation? Because through the word of God, the Holy Spirit that spoke worlds into existence gave Christ the power as he spoke worlds into existence.

The very spirit that moved and words and worlds came into existence—that very spirit works in our hearts, works in our minds, and transforms us as we read the word of God. There's an amazing statement in the book *Education*, page 126. It says, "The creative energy that called the worlds into existence is in the word of God." Stop there. Where is the creative energy that called worlds into existence? Where do we find that today? In the word of God.

Now that's awesome. Think of it; just let your mind grasp that. How much power did it take for God to say, "Let the sun appear"? What power that must have taken to create the sun 93 million miles from Earth, that orb that warms the earth. The creative energy that calls worlds into existence is in the word of God.

This word imparts power. It begets life. Every command is a promise. Accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God. We understand the soul to mean the essence of life in the individual found in the mind. So what is the soul? It's the essence of life. Where is that essence of life? In the brain.

So what's taking place as I read scripture? Not only is my mind being filled with positive thoughts, but my brain itself is being changed. What is it that transforms our nature? What is it that renews our mind? What is it that changes the current of our thought patterns? It is the creative energy of God's word imparted by the Holy Spirit that changes us.

Merely reading the word in some haphazard, quick way to fulfill some obligation isn't going to do very much at all. But when we desire to know God, when we thoughtfully contemplate God's grace and goodness and mercy and his power, our minds are renewed. Reading the Bible is not some magic bullet to accomplish instant transformation. The renewing of the mind is a process. It takes time, but as we daily contemplate God's word and meditate upon it, our minds are changed.

The human mind will always focus on something. It's a law of life that if we think about something long enough or often enough, our thoughts will become in a groove and we'll not be able to stop thinking about it. Have you ever noticed that? Something that troubles you really troubles you. Something that upsets you, you keep thinking about it, you go over it, and you almost obsess about it.

The opposite of that is true. If you fill your mind with the positive thoughts of God's word, a groove will be established in the brain and a pathway will be established in the brain so that those positive thoughts will naturally flow into the brain, just like the flower naturally turns to the sun. Those things will dominate our thinking. They'll consume our thoughts. Our thoughts will naturally turn to those things.

In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us how to get rid of the negative thoughts in our mind. How do you get rid of thoughts of depression? How do you get rid of thoughts of anxiety, worry, and fear? How do you get rid of thoughts of inferiority and all that negativity? The Bible tells us. You don't get rid of the thoughts by simply saying, "I want to get rid of these thoughts. I don't want to think these thoughts anymore."

Romans chapter 12, verse 21 says, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." So you do not overcome negative thoughts by saying you want those negative thoughts out of your mind. You overcome negative thoughts by filling your mind with something else—by filling your mind with the word of God, with positive thoughts, by saturating your mind with that which is pure, noble, good, honest, and upright.

Our lives are governed by immutable laws. For example, take the law of gravity. If I step off this platform and jump, how many of you think I'm going to go up? These girls have faith in me. They say, "Pastor's going up, he's going to be translated right now." Girl, I'm not going up. I'm going down on those old knees. I just wanted to prove that. Why am I going down? There's a law. What's that law called? Gravity.

Does that law work in Africa? Does that law work in South America? Does that law work in Europe? There are immutable laws. Okay, I'll give you another one. Let's suppose here's a person that's a smoker, eats a high-fat diet, and the only exercise they have is pressing the remote on the TV. Are they on their pathway to good health? What are they on their pathway to? Probably a heart attack. Why? Because there are laws of anatomy and physiology.

Just as there are laws of anatomy and physiology, there are laws of the human mind. If you understand those laws of the human mind, you can have a transformed thinking process. There are immutable, unchangeable laws of the human mind. Look at this statement from a wonderful book called *The Great Controversy*, page 555. It says, "It is a law of both the intellectual and spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed."

The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence. Man will never rise higher than his standard of purity or goodness of truth. So there are natural laws in the universe, and there are laws of the human mind. If you want to change your thought patterns, it's not simply saying, "I don't want to think these negative thoughts."

You can think that you don't want to think the negative thoughts and you'll think the negative thoughts even when you think you don't want to think the negative thoughts. And that's true. It's not simply my willpower that I don't want to think negative thoughts; it's that I have to build new brain pathways. I build those new brain pathways and those new synapses in the brain by filling my mind with that which is positive, noble, true, and upright in the word of God.

It's a law of the mind that if we submit our minds to Christ in prayerfully meditating upon his character and saturate our minds with his word, our thought patterns will be transformed. We're transformed by these two things: contemplating God's character—that he's a God of love, that he only desires the best for us, that he's wise enough to guide our lives, and he's powerful enough to enable us to cope with whatever we have to cope with.

So our thought patterns are changed as we contemplate God's character. Secondly, our thought patterns are changed as we meditate upon God's word. Now there's a third way that our thought patterns are changed, and it's this way: our thought patterns are changed as we unselfishly enter into the work of God.

We used to think in psychology that if you want to get a person to act a certain way, you get them to think a certain way. If you look at the old psychological charts, you'll see it this way: thoughts lead to action. We know today from the study of the human brain that that's only partially true. We know that the issue is circular, not linear. In circular, thoughts lead to actions, but actions lead to thoughts.

So our physical actions impact the brain, and what we do impacts how we think. A transformed mind focuses on service, not selfishness. The renewed mind is one that turns self-centeredness to being other-people focused. It turns a life of self-inflated importance to a life of selfless service. It's more interested in doing God's will than seeking its own desires.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Hope Lives 365. We'll be right back, and if you like what you're hearing, we invite you to check out our website, hopelives365.com. There you can find many ministry resources, encouraging messages, and even a link to our Hope Lives 365 YouTube ministry. And of course, an opportunity to sow into this valuable ministry. Find out more by going to hopelives365.com. That's hopelives365.com. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: When we serve others unselfishly, something happens in our brains. What takes place is we develop those new pathways in service, and that produces an inner satisfaction and an inner happiness. Do you remember when James and John came to the kingdom of Christ and they said, "We want to be first in your kingdom"? They thought that first place in the kingdom would bring them happiness.

Jesus said to them, "I have to change their brains. I have to change the way they think. I have to change the process of thought that's going on in the mind." So what does Jesus say in Matthew chapter 20, verses 26 to 28? Jesus says, "Yet it shall not be so among you." In other words, you're not going to live the life of selfishness and think you'll be happy.

"Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." If you want to rebuild brain cells, contemplate the character of God. If you want to rebuild brain cells, meditate on the word of God.

If you want to rebuild brain cells, engage in the work of God in selfless service. The law of the new kingdom is the law of service. We are transformed as we contemplate the character of God and as we meditate on the word of God, but we're transformed as we engage in the work of God. As we bless, we are blessed. As we serve others, we are served by Christ.

New brain pathways develop as we discover the joy of service. Now there's an interesting study that was done recently, and some of these studies are so incredibly simple. What the researchers did is took a handful of quarters and they went down on the street by parking meters. They took this handful of quarters and they saw people walking down the street and they looked for parking meters where the time was almost going to run out.

They said to many people, "Go put this quarter in a parking meter." The people that walked over to their own car and saw they had ten minutes left, but then saw another car ran out and was in violation, thought, "I'd better put the quarter here." They studied the mental processes of the people that put quarters in somebody else's car rather than their own, and this is what they discovered.

The researchers found that when you put quarters in somebody else's car, you are happier than if you put quarters in your own car. Isn't that interesting? What we do dramatically impacts our brain. So when we unselfishly serve, we're building new brain pathways. We're building new neurotransmitter systems in the human brain.

God's love is the motivating power for all of this. Throughout the New Testament, there are seven "good newses" of God's love. When you meditate upon God's love, contemplate his character, fill your mind with God's word, and engage in service, your whole life is transformed. Let's look at these seven good newses of God's love. The first good news is the New Covenant.

God's love initiated the New Covenant. Finding fault with them, he says, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Jacob—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by my hand out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant." What is the New Covenant?

The New Covenant is the good news of God's grace, God's love, God's mercy, and God's forgiveness. So when I meditate on the good news of the New Covenant, my life is changed. The second good news is the new nature. Colossians 3, verse 10: "and have put on a new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him."

So here is the new man, the new woman, and we are renewed in knowledge by the word of God. Here is the second new: the new person that's renewed in knowledge. The third new: God's love makes us a new creation. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Why? Because creation takes place all over again in his brain—the new creation.

The fourth new is the newness of life. We have a new perspective and a new direction according to Romans chapter six. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we should walk in newness of life. Through the love of God, the wisdom of God, and the power of God, we have a new life.

What is it that transforms our brains? It is that we live in the New Covenant, not condemned but living with grace and mercy. It is that we have a new nature in Christ. It is that we are a new creation in Christ; he's made us over. We live a new life in Christ. The fifth area: God's love gives us a new name. I love that song, "There's a name written down in glory and it is mine."

Revelation chapter two, verse 17 says, "Let him who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat, and I will give him a white stone." You're going to get a white stone in heaven. God's going to give you that white stone. It's a special symbol of his love for you. And on the white stone, a new name is written, which no one knows except him who receives it.

Do you want new brain pathways and a transformed mind? Contemplate the day that Jesus Christ comes to you in heaven and he gives you that white stone. I'm going to have a new name written on that white stone. God's love gives us a new covenant, a new nature, a new creation, newness of life, and a new name, and it puts a new song in our hearts. Revelation chapter 15, verse three and four.

This is the experience of the redeemed. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty." When we come to Jesus in heaven, he puts a new song in our lips, a new spring in our step, and a new smile in our eyes. He puts a new song in our hearts. We have a new identity in Christ.

Lastly, it's God's love that provides for us a new heaven and a new earth. When the darkness of negative thoughts enters into your mind, think about the fact that you're a child of the New Covenant. You've been forgiven by God. In Christ, the guilt is gone. Think about the reality of the fact that in Christ, you have a new nature. You may not be everything you want to be, but you're not what you used to be.

You are a new creation. Christ is creating in you every day new brain cells. He's developing new pathways in your mind. He's drawing you every day closer to him. Think about the new life that he's currently giving you. Think about the new name that he's going to have for you. Think about the day that you'll stand on the sea of glass and sing the new song.

Lastly, think about the new heaven and a new earth. Because the scripture says in Revelation chapter 21, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself shall be with them and be their God. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things are passed away.'"

What is it that rebuilds our brains? What is it that changes these old minds into new ones? It's contemplating the character of God, filling our minds with his love and goodness. It's meditating upon the word of God, saturating our brains with his word. It is engaging in the work of God. It's recognizing that through his power, we are subject to the New Covenant, we have a new nature, and we are a new creation.

Through his power, we have newness of life. Through his power, one day we'll have a new name. Through his power, he'll put a new song in our life, and through his power, there'll be a new heaven and a new earth.

If you want to change the current of your thoughts, change your focus. Let the Holy Spirit remake your mind as you contemplate the character of God, meditate upon his word, and engage in his work. Let's pray.

O my Father, the subject tonight is almost overwhelming. We've often known that when we fill our minds with the goodness of God, contemplate his character, meditate upon his word, and engage in his work, positive thoughts flow into our mind. But the almost overwhelming thought is that the very cells of our brain, those very neurotransmitters of the brain, can be changed.

Lord, help us not fill our minds with the smut, the filth, the garbage of this world. Help us not develop pathways of selfishness and greed. Take away the pathways of anxiety, fear, and worry. May we be children of the New Covenant, rejoicing in your love, grasping your promises, and living the new nature in the power of Christ. Lord, perform that work in us by your Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. For Hope Lives 365, I'm Guest (Male).