Sermon Tone Analysis

Your mind is an amazing creation of god..

It stores billions of pieces of information.

It can record 800 memories per second … for 75 years without wearing out.

No computer, not even a Mac, will ever match that capacity and you will only us a fraction of the capacity of your brain.

Your thoughts shape your life more than anything else… more than what happens to you...

You are what you think about.

What you think about is more important than your heredity or your background.

If you want to change your life, you have to change your thinking, and if you are serious about changing your thinking, you have to begin with

So I want us to get some clear thinking on some things in the coming weeks, and to do that we have to allow God to change our thinking.

family… finances… future… relationships… problems…

Life is a series of ups and downs … mountains and valleys… highs and lows… obstacles and opportunities…

One thing is certain.... life will have problems and we will encounter them

Depression - fell disappointed or discouraged

Defeated - overwhelmed and feeling like a failure.

Feel like giving up

Darkness - feel like you are all alone.

But the good news is that with God’s help, we will not only overcome them, we will thrive while we do it.

So how can we get through these difficult times?

How can we get through difficult times?

How can we get through difficult times?

By changing the way we think!

Your perspective is your biggest problem.

Some people seem to be able to handle almost anything while others can’t handle anything, and a lot that has to do with perspective.

If you see this world as all there is, you will worry about everything.

If you see this world as practice for heaven, you won’t worry near as much.

When you have the right perspective, you can handle almost anything.

Look at what Paul said,

Paul was going through some difficult times that threatened to kill him.

What was the secret to his endurance in these difficulties?

It was clear thinking!

Look at verse 18

fix your gaze means to deliberately focus on things that can’t be seen… IOW God.

He saw things from an eternal perspective, not from an external perspective.

We want to learn how to have clear thinking and one book that’s good for that is the book of Psalms.

David encountered every kind of problem you can imagine.

But whenever he would encounter a problem, he would talk to God.

From Daivid’s example, we can learn three keys to clear thinking.

How to think clearly

1. when your situation looks depressing think about the goodness of God

Depression is a warning light that you are focusing on the wrong things.

You are focusing on the negative things, the external conditions.

It also means that you have forgotten about all the ways God has blessed you and come through for you in the past.

This is often caused by all or nothing thinking.

If criticized - no one likes me....

If I make a mistake - I am a total failure

If there are delays and difficulties - Everything is wrong…

Faucet clogged - If I were to go home today after church and turn on the faucet in my kitchen and no water came out, it would be kind of silly for me to go outside and yell in the street, “The world is out of water!” No, the world isn’t out of water it’s just that my faucet isn’t working.

Yet you do that all the time with your problems and that’s what leads to depression.

All-Or-Nothing thinking.

You forget the good things in your life

Get your eyes off of what you have lost and onto to what you still have.

Get your eyes off of how you feel and onto how God has blessed you.

Gratefulness is the healthiest emotion you can experience.

If you fill your life with gratitude you will be healthier and emotionally.

If you are depressed, you need to focus on the goodness of God in your life.

It’s a change of perspective.

Make a list of things you are grateful for...

Thinking about the goodness of God means remembering what God is really like.

Listen, not everything that happens in your life is good.

There are bad things that happen bit God is alway good and he can and will bring good things to your life from the bad things that happen in your life.

Story of Joseph … Joseph told his brothers… you meant it for evil, but God mean it for good.

Question -

What have others meant for bad in your life?

Surely others have mistreated you.... mistreatment of you… putting you down… cheating you… using you… stab you in the back… lie…cheat…

They mean it for evil, but God will bring good out of it.

Have you ever stopped to think about how God has brought good out if those times?

If you will stop focusing on how people have hurt you, you will stop being depressed.

Instead think about how God has worked good in your life during difficult times and what he wants to do in your life as you go through it.

Here is the principle.

Focus on the goodness of God when life doesn’t make sense.

Life is full of disappointments… full of them.

So when you face these disappointing days… these depressing days, what do you do.

You focus on the goodness of God.

example of when you have gone through disappointment… When things don’t make sense, remember that God is a good God and worthy of your trust.

Life is filled with disappointments… some bog some small.

But for a Believer, NOTHING is by accident.

We use this verse all the time.

God has good plans for you because he is a good God.

He is always working for your good.

The oldest tactic of the devil is to get you to doubt the goodness of God.

That’s what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden.

He said, If God really loved you he would let you eat from every tree in the garden.

In 2022 if things are not going your way, Satan is still trying to get you to doubt God’s goodness.

Sex - God says sex is for marriage… why?

He knows what’s best for you.

When you don’t do it his way, it causes you and others pain and you are saying that God isn’t a good God because he is trying to hold back on me.

Tithing - God says to give 10% of your income to him.

You say, I can’’t live on 90%.

You are doubting God’s goodness.

When things don’t go as you had planned… when there doesn[t seem to be ab explanation, Satan comes around and tries to get you to doubt God’s goodness.

He will say, if God is so good, why did this happen.

That’s when you need to focus on the goodness of God.

When you focus on the goodness of God, you will have an overwhelming desire to worship him.

Thank God for his goodness.

2. When your situation looks defeating think about greatness of God

The fact is that you will fail many times at something...

sometimes you run out of energy… feel like giving up… I’ve tried but nothing seems to change… It’s hopeless… Why try?

My marriage isn’t getting any better

My career is going nowhere

My kids are not going in the right direction