Last week, David helped us understand that it’s often the SMALL things that no one sees that result in the BIG things that everyone wants. None of us reach our goals overnight. It takes patience and persistence to get to our destination. It takes years of practice to learn how to play an instrument well. It takes years of training to become a good athlete, and improvement in these areas comes a little at a time. We often don’t even see any change day to day, but then one day we suddenly see how much we’ve improved.
When the Jews returned to Jerusalem, after being held in captivity by the Babylonians for a generation, they rebuilt the Temple by putting one stone on top of another. It was that small thing that led to the foundation being laid, and then the altar being built, but the people got frustrated that things weren’t moving faster, and that they were not farther along in their rebuilding. It was then God told them, do not despise the small things. God’s encouragement to them, and to us, is to focus on the small things because in time those small things will bring about the big difference and positive change that will make our lives better.
David encouraged us to find one word for this coming year to focus on. Instead of trying to do 5 or 6 new things, or make a list of 10 things we want to improve, find just one word to focus on and then allow that word to begin to make a big difference in your life. Did you pick a word for your year? If not, it’s not too late, you can start today. While the best day to make a change might have been yesterday, today is the second best day. It is never too late.
I thought of a few words during worship last week that I thought could be my word for the year, but I realized that they were things I wanted, so I tried to listen to what God wanted for me, and the word I couldn’t move away from was - JOY. The more I thought about this one word, the more I realized that this was what I needed and God wanted. Joy might be the one thing that can improve many areas of my life, so I have made it my one word.
If you want to work on finding your one word, I encourage you to go back and listen to David’s message and reflect on what one word God might have for you. (bellefontefaith.com/smallthings)
For the next three weeks, we are going to focus on our thoughts, our words and our actions. While they might seem like small things, they can lead to major life changes because our thoughts influence our words, and our words change our actions, and our actions shape our habits, and it is new habits that can lead us to new destinations. Today let’s just focus on how our thoughts can begin to change our lives
Our thoughts really can change our lives because Solomon said, for as he thinks in his heart, so he is. Proverbs 23:7. Our lives will always move in the direction of our strongest thoughts. If we think we can’t do something, we probably won’t ever do it, or even try to do it. If we think life is bad and unfair, we will always see how life is bad and unfair. If we think that we have nothing to offer to our family, the church, or the community, we won’t even try to offer anything in order to make a difference. Our life will always move in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
Now if our strongest thoughts tell us that we can do more than we ever thought or imagined, we will probably step out and try new things and find success. If we see opportunities in every situation, we will be more likely to take them and do more. If we trust and believe that God is not just with us, but FOR us, we will step out in faith to do more, and find that God is right there working with us. Our life moves in the direction of our strongest thoughts. So what are your strongest thoughts?
To help us answer this, let’s do a quick Thought Audit. A thought audit is simply stopping to think about what we think about. While we could look at any number of thoughts to reflect on, let’s just focus on three. Are our thoughts more:
Worried or Peaceful, Negative or Positive, Worldly or Eternal
On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being worried and 10 being peaceful, where are most of your thoughts? If every day you wake up worried about your children, or your pets, or your job, or your finances, and you never see any hope in those situations, you might be a 1 or 2 on the worry end of the scale. But if you are feeling confident and secure that God’s promises will come true in your life and that God is fully in charge of your kids, your pets, your job, and your finances, then you might be at a 9 or 10. What do you think about your thoughts in this area, what number would you circle?
On a scale of 1 - 10, how positive or negative are your thoughts? Do you always see what is wrong in a situation and critically focus on every problem at hand? I’ll be honest, this is an area of struggle for me. Most of my staff know that if they come to me with a new idea or project, I will first be negative and think about every reason why we shouldn’t do it. The one place this always seems to come up is when we plan worship for Christmas Eve.
When Pastor David came to me and said, hey we want to make it snow in the sanctuary on Christmas Eve, I almost shut it down at the beginning. I could see all the problems in this. What is the snow? Will it stain people’s clothes? Will it make the carpets slick and be a hazard when people leave? Will it hurt the organ and electronic equipment? I focused on all the negatives. In time I agreed and for the 3 and 5 worship services a few years ago, if you were here, you saw it snow.
For both of those services I stood in the back of the sanctuary and watched with humble amazement at how people reacted. There was joy and wonder that filled this place. I heard from parents and grandparents for months afterwards about how wonderful that experience was. I’m so glad David and LeAnn pushed me to move out of my negative thinking to see the positives in it. This is an area in my life that I need to get better at and I’m hoping that focusing on Joy might help me. If I can be more joyful, then I will be more positive. On a scale of 1-10 are you negative or positive?
On a scale of 1-10, how worldly or eternal are your thoughts? Let me explain this one. Worldly thoughts are when we are always focused on our “self” and our “stuff? What is it that I want and need in order to be happy? What kind of phone do I want? What kind of car do I want? What clothes are going to make me happy? What do I need to post to facebook so people will see the best me, or the me I want them to see? These are worldly things, and while we have to focus on these things at times, the question is are we focused on these all the time?
Eternal things are when we wake up in the morning and ask ourselves, how can I glorify God today? Who needs my prayers, or my love today? How can I reflect God’s goodness to someone? How can I be the hands and feet of Jesus today? If these are the things we are focused on, then we are more at the high end of the scale. So on a scale of 1-10, where are you?
If you have a chance, circle your numbers, or jot them down. Now add them up. You don’t have to share that number with anyone, but I’m going to tell you that if your number isn’t 30 - then the rest of this message is for you. If we want to see a big difference in our lives and families and outlook and faith, then we need to start focusing on our thoughts because our life will be led in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
So let’s look at the 2 things we can do to change our thoughts.
#1 Capture destructive thoughts. We need to literally capture negative and destructive thoughts when they come to us and remove them. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
When Paul talks about strongholds here, he is not talking about actual forts and walls and gates that need to be torn down, he is talking about the lies of Satan that so quickly enter our thoughts. For example, when our first thought is, I’m never going to amount to anything, or I’ve strayed so far or sinned so greatly that God could never love me, forgive me, or use me, those are lies that need to be demolished.
When we tell ourselves that we can never get out of debt, that our families don’t need us, or that it can’t snow in the sanctuary, we need to quickly take these thoughts captive and demolish them for they are not the truth of God, but the lies of Satan. The word Satan means deceiver, and he is known as the father of lies, so when his lies come at us, we have the divine power of God to take them captive and not allow them to move forward in our hearts or mind.
When those thoughts come we need to literally stop and say, no, that is a lie, and then take hold of that idea and demolish it. Crush it. Destroy it. End it right then and there. Capture every destructive thought, but then keep going and
#2 Focus on Good Spiritual Things.
It’s not enough to just remove the negative, we have to fill that space with the positive. If you want to grow a healthy lawn, it’s not enough to remove the weeds, you have to plant and feed good grass. Good grass can keep out bad weeds. Good spiritual thoughts can keep out bad destructive lies. So focus on good spiritual things. Again, the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:8-9
Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
So focus on what is good and right and true. Start each day by focusing on what God has brought you through in the past and how God can strengthen you in the day to come. We hear this from the Old Testament book of Lamentations 3:19-24:
Remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
Here is a great example of taking our negative thoughts captive and replacing them with good spiritual truths. The author says, I’ve been through difficult times, I remember them, I’m going through them now, BUT because God loves me (a good spiritual truth!) I am not consumed by those thoughts. I will take them captive and then I will call to mind that every morning God’s great faithfulness and love are new. I will wait for Him. I will trust Him, and depend on Him, and He will get me through.
This is how we need to begin each day. This is what we need to remember when we walk into a class that we are struggling with, or a job that we are unsatisfied with, or a friendship we are unsure of. God is with me and for me and God will see me through. Those small thoughts can lead to big differences in our life.
The more we focus on good spiritual things, the more we will be able to see those things.. During VBS we ask our children to share God sightings, or ways they have seen God during their day. Each day they come with more and more things to share because #1 they are looking for them, and #2 they can more easily see them. The same is true with us. The more we focus on the things of God that are good and noble and lovely, the more we will see those things.
Last week, David asked us to think about one word to focus on this year. Today, let me invite you to find one thought that can lead you back to that one word. Maybe it is a scripture that can lead you to that word. For example if your word is peaceful, your thought might be, I will not be anxious about anything because God is with me. If your word is courage, maybe your thought can be, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. If you want to be more generous, then maybe your thought needs to be, I am a generous person who can give more to others. What one thought can help you embrace your one word?
I shared earlier that my word for the year is joy, here is the one thought I’m going to try and focus on each day. It comes from Psalm 126:3, The Lord has done great things for me, so I will be filled with joy. When I get worried or cynical or frustrated or immediately jump to all the reasons why something shouldn’t be done, I am going to take those thoughts captive and speak truth to them. I am going to call to mind that the Lord has done great things for me and He will keep doing them and I will be filled with joy.
What one thought can help you take captive all the negative thoughts and lies that come at you? What one thought can help you move toward the one word that you want to define your year, and your life?. One thought. One word. They are simple things that can bring about a big difference and create a positive change in your life.
Next Steps
Small things - Big difference: Our Thoughts
What is the one word you want to focus on this year? If you haven’t chosen that word, watch last week’s sermon and consider Pastor David’s next steps. You can find these at bellefontefaith.com/smallthings
How have you experienced your life moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts? Were these good and positive thoughts or difficult and negative ones?
Take the THOUGHT AUDIT
Circle the number that best represents your daily thoughts.
Worried 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 Peaceful
Negative 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 Positive
Worldly 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 Eternal
To change our thoughts:
1. Capture Destructive Thoughts
Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. What destructive thoughts and lies about yourself or others do you find most difficult to overcome? How can you take those thoughts captive?
2. Focus on Good Spiritual Things
Read Philippians 4:8-9. What are positive thoughts and spiritual truths about yourself and others that you need to focus on? Write them down so you can daily think about these things. How can identifying God at work in your life help you see more of God at work in your life?
What one thought can help you stay focused on your one word? Write that thought down and place it somewhere where you will read and consider it often.
My One Thought:______________________________
