The Battle for Your Mind

Thank you, drama folks. By the way, I think we have several members of the Princeton devil raise here this morning. Would you guys please stand? Not to associate with what we just saw, but, you know, if you guys stand, great. If you haven't been to see these guys play, you need to go. Genie and I have already been to one of their games and we are going to go to some more. These guys are great. They are going to win the league this year, right? Okay. Good. Craig Stout is the chaplain of the Princeton devil raise and we are delighted to have you guys with us. We are going to be running a van over to the place where they are staying and hopefully you guys will be coming as often as you can. And get to know some of these guys, treat them right. When they hit the major leagues, they may remember you. Who knows? No, I am just teasing. Well, what we just saw is a true illustration of what I believe the devil is all about. I think that Satan's greatest strategy that he adopts for the most of us at least is to keep us busy, successful, self-reliant, so stressed with the pace of life that we really don't have time or energy or focus to think about spiritual things. And in that strategy, the most important battlefield is your mind. Paul says it this way, in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 and 5, he says, 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 an obedient to Christ. So what he's saying is that the battlefield in spiritual warfare, which is really what we're talking about in this series on stress, Satan's strategy to get us so busy preoccupied, so stressed with the demands of life that we don't give spiritual things the time of day. The battlefield really is in your mind and we take captive every thought to Christ if we're going to win that battle. I said it this way in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed how by the renewing of your mind. You see spiritual transformation becoming more and more like Jesus Christ happens by the transforming of your mind. And in applying that to a specific example, Paul says in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, finally brothers, 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. Because it's no mistaking the fact it's no, you know, just thing out of the air that verse comes right after two verses where he's talked about anxiety and stress. In verse 6, Paul has said, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. The peace of God which passes all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So right after he said, don't worry about stuff, don't be anxious about anything, but let the peace of God control your thought life. He says, whatever is true, whatever is noble, think on these things. You see, the battleground where we win this battle or lose this battle of a stressful lifestyle that takes us away from spiritual focus. The battleground where we win or lose is in our minds. Now we began this series last week and last week we talked about the relationship between stress and personality. And we talked about the fact that there are obsessive, compulsive people. Some of you went away, many of you went away last week feeling, I'm obsessive, compulsive, didn't even know I was. Well let me just say that not everybody is obsessive, compulsive, but the stress-paced life that we live, the demands of our culture often put stress and pressure on us, even if we're not that kind of personality type. And so all of us at times are stressed out because we react in the wrong ways to the demands and pressures of life. Now remember we talked about obsessive behavior or obsessive thinking is the kind of thinking that's kind of like a pattern. It's developed over time, you have a pattern of thinking a certain way about a certain issue which causes you to respond the same way every time. It really is like the picture we saw earlier, it's like having a CD player in your mind. Someone hits the right button and you automatically stress out because you have trained yourself to think a certain way to respond to that situation. You have an argument with your wife or your husband, track eight on the CD and you go into stress mode. You have a deadline at work, track two on the CD that's been burned in your mind. And you've taught yourself to think a certain way and you go into stress mode to relate to that. You get in a line at the store or at the bank, track one in my CD in my mind and you just go stressful because you've taught yourself. You thought your way into thinking this is a stressful situation. So we have to understand if we're going to deal with this problem in our lives, we have to understand the relationship not only between stress and personality but the relationship between stress and our thinking. That's what we're going to do this morning. So what I want to do this morning is I want to take that CD in your mind and I want to play back some of those tracks for you that have been burned into your mind by thinking the same way about those situations. And you've trained yourself to respond stressfully by the way you respond in your mind. So I want to play back eight of those tracks this morning and then I want to take the word of God and do exactly what Paul said. Let's start renewing our minds by putting something else on the CD. So we're going to train ourselves to think differently about stress, prompters about those buttons that get pushed and we automatically react with stress. It begins in the mind. In fact, those who study the subject of stress say that 80% of all stress is in your mind. Now that doesn't mean it's not real. But what they're saying is that you have begun to think certain ways and you automatically respond in stressful situations with a stressful response because of that CD that's been burned in your mind. Okay, so let's look at the tracks that have been burned into your mind. You've learned to think a certain way and you're struggling to break free from that. That's a reason you haven't so much trouble problem with stress. Track number one. Here it is. Quantity output is more important than quality output. That's a stress tape that we've learned a way we've learned to think that plays over and over in our minds and creates stress in us. Quality or quantity output is more important than quality output. You see the emphasis of many of our lives today is just churning out more work, cramming more activities into an already busy schedule. And so you're already maxed out as far as activities are concerned but you decide you need to start reading one book a month. Or with a schedule that is already busy you decide, okay, I got to add somehow an hour workout every day. Or maybe you're one of those kind of people that just has the to-do list and you love at the end of the day being able to check all those things off. It doesn't matter to you whether they were done poorly just so long as you can check them off. It doesn't bother you if they weren't done well but it bothers you if you can't check them off at the end of the day. And so you are living in stress mode, believing in your mind that quantity output is more important than quality output. Okay, we need to reprogram. So let's open our Bibles to Matthew 25. Turn quickly. Hurry up, fast. Get to Matthew 25. Come on, let's get there. Matthew 25. Verse 14. Jesus is going to reprogram our thinking about what's most important in life and what will keep us from getting stressed out. Matthew 25, verse 14. He's talking about the kingdom of God. He's going to give an illustration of what it's like and he says here in verse 14, again it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money to another two talents and to another one talent each according to his ability. Now let me stop right there. God does give out responsibilities according to ability or according to how he knows he's made us and what we can handle. Some people get five talent kind of responsibilities. Some people get two talent kind of responsibilities. Some people get one talent kind of responsibilities. And the way we have been programmed to think is that the five talent guys are a lot more important than the two talent guy. And the one talent guy is kind of way down here somewhere. Now what Jesus is going to tell us is that's not the way God looks at things. It's not quantity output. It's quality output that is important in God's eyes. It's faithfulness with whatever God has given you to do that's important in his eyes. So let's read on there. Verse 15 says, then he went on a journey. Verse 16. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also the one with the two talents gained two more but the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more. Now I want you to see in verse 21 what Jesus says to him. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. That sounds wonderful. He's rewarded because he gained five other talents. Now look at verse 22. The man with the two talents also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two talents. See, I have gained two more. Now look at what the master says to him in verse 23. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. That is a word for word repeat of verse 21. The exact same words are said to the guy who invested and was faithful with the two talents as said to the guy with the five talents. Now what's going on there is this. Jesus is teaching us that it is not the number of things that you are given to do or accomplish. It is the quality, the faithfulness with which you do whatever God gives you to do. And we don't need to be in this comparison thing where we say, I have five talents. What about you? I want to go to. Now the thing is that God wants whatever we have, He wants us to do faithfully. He wants us to be diligent with that. The only one who has judged harshly is the guy who did nothing. But both who are faithful, regardless of how much God had given them, both who were faithful, who did it with quality, with diligence, with earnest effort, both rewarded exactly the same way. Tom Watson's senior was the founder of IBM and he ran Big Blue for 40 years. One of his greatest leadership moments came at a critical point in that company's history. A junior executive had been entrusted with a major project to try to launch it, get it off the ground. It was a total flop and the company lost $10 million. And so this junior executive is called into Watson's office and the executive, junior executive is really nervous, of course. And he blurtts out as soon as he gets in the room, I guess you want my resignation, right? And Watson said, you can't be serious, we just spent $10 million training you. Now what he was saying was, if you're looking at quality input or quantity input, that was a total failure. But if you're looking at quality input, then you could learn some wonderful lessons from this and you will be a much better executive because of it. You'll be a better worker because of it. And that's exactly what Jesus is telling us here. It is not all about quantity, it is about quality, it is about being faithful to Him. So we need to reprogram our minds, it is not always quantity that's the most important thing, it is the quality of what we do. Now reprogram that CD now to respond differently when you hear this message to start playing. quantity output is more important than quality, then reprogram your mind with Matthew 25. Second track on the CD, faster is always better. You see many of us are living on a treadmill that's moving faster and faster and as the pressure increases, we try to work faster, we talk faster, we try to even think faster. And so we try every angle we can to make life work faster. That's why we look for the fastest line at the store or the bank. That's why when we are wanting something to eat, we go for the fastest way to get it ready. I would say that probably most of you in this room this morning use your microwave more than you use your conventional oven. Why? Because it's faster. And you stick something in there and you punch 30 seconds and you stand there and this thing takes forever. You know, you just get all stressed out about it. This is a reason why we try to drive faster, just go to any major city. Whenever we go to Chicago for the Moody Pastors Conference, it's kind of a joke among the guys who go that you have to turn into a Jedi knight to drive in Chicago. And it's amazing to watch the transformation that takes place to the person behind the wheel. You get up there and whatever it's me, I kind of think this is my only chance to do NASCAR. And so I just, what? You know, we even in and out, you know, it's fun. But you kind of take on a whole new personality. There are times when we want to go faster. Told you last week that our family was a Disney World a couple of weeks ago and I found a wonderful, wonderful innovation at Disney World. It's called Fast Pass. What that means is if you don't like to wait in lines, you can stick your ticket in a little turn style thing and it will give you a time when you can come back and you don't have to wait in a line. You can go through the Fast Pass line and you can get in right into the attraction. I thought that is a wonderful, wonderful thing that somebody thought up. You see, we're always looking for a faster angle on something. But I want to tell you something. I'm going to spend a whole message on this a little bit later in this series or at least I hope to. For today, I want to say this, you will never grow in your relationship with God unless you learn to slow the RPMs down a little bit and do exactly what Joseph sang to us about a moment ago. Be still. It's exactly what the Psalmist says in Psalm 46 and verse 10 when he says, be still and know that I am God. That's what the Psalmist says in Psalm 27 and verse 14 when he says, wait for the Lord. Be strong and take hard and wait for the Lord. You see, David was in a very stressful time when he wrote that. He was running for his life from Saul and rather than being all stressed out about it, he writes, wait, wait on the Lord. We have to learn to be still and know that he is God, to wait on the Lord. You remember the story when Israel was leaving the land of Egypt and they got to a point where they were at the Red Sea and the Egyptian army is coming quickly behind them? And this is what God said to them when they are in that very stressful circumstance. This is what God said in Exodus 14, verse 13, Moses answered the people, do not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. Now you know what would have happened if you were in an hour in charge of that? You know what would have happened? We would have turned around to Israelites and said, run and run fast. Get away from this place. Get out and the chariots are coming, run and run fast. And God says, stand still and you will see the salvation of the Lord. You see there are some things we will never see about God, some things we will never learn about God unless we be still, wait on the Lord and stand still, be quiet before Him. So that takes slowing the RPMs down, that takes getting into His Word, that takes some time and prayer. Faster is not always better, especially when it comes to spiritual development. Third track that's playing on that CD in your mind, whatever you're getting a stressful situation is this. Missing a deadline is a disaster. Missing a deadline is a disaster. You say, wait a second, John, are you saying it's okay to miss deadlines? Now let me make myself very clear. I am not suggesting a lack of faithfulness or discipline on your part. I am not suggesting that it's okay to be chronically late with everything or to everything. Disregarding anybody else's schedule or effort, I'm not saying that. What I am saying is this, when you have been as faithful as you can be, when you have been as diligent as you can be, there will be times when you will still miss a deadline. It's not a disaster. In fact, there are unrealistic deadlines you put on yourself sometimes. I've got to start reading my Bible through once every six months. I've got to lose 30 pounds in two weeks. There are unrealistic deadlines that you put on yourself some, or there are unrealistic deadlines that are put on you by other people. Here, do this. I need it done tomorrow. Now if that's a superior, you know, at your work telling you that, then you do your dead level best to get it done. But if you're faithful and you do your best and you miss the deadlines, not the end of the world, maybe the end of your job, but it's not the end of the world. I am amazed at the number of things that I am given each week. Books, CDs, tapes, DVDs, articles, magazines, emails. Here, you need to see this past. You need to read that. And I love those things. I'm not saying, do you stop giving me that stuff. I'm not saying that at all. I love those things, but quite realistically and honestly, I can't get through them all. There's no way. I can't read every book, email. Look at every CD, video, everything people give. I just can't do it. No way to do it. If I did that, there were a lot of other more important things that would suffer. And so realistically, sometimes I have to say, I'll give it a glance or I'll stick it in a file or something like that. But there are sometimes deadlines that are put on you that are unrealistic. Now, in order to reprogram our mind, we need to take a look at something that Jesus did. John chapter 11. Did you know that Jesus missed a deadline on purpose? Jesus missed a deadline. John chapter 11, an expectation that was placed on him by someone else. He missed a deadline. John chapter 11, verse 1. Now, a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary whose brother Lazarus now lay sick was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one you love is sick. Now, obviously, they're sending a message to him because they think he's close to our family. He loves us. No doubt this will be an urgent call to him to respond. The one you love is sick. Lord, what they're saying really is please come help us. We have an urgent need. Look at what happens in verse 4. When he heard this, Jesus said, this sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. And then by the time he got there, Lazarus had been dead four days. And both Martha and Mary come to him and say, Lord, if you'd been here, our brother wouldn't have died. In their minds, he missed a very important deadline. But wait a second, Jesus did that on purpose. You know why? Because God would receive much greater glory from what happened because Jesus missed the deadline. Because he missed the deadline, God would raise, Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead. And there would be a great turning of many people to the Lord because of that. So you see, there were greater things that happened because Jesus intentionally missed that deadline. Again, I'm not saying that's an excuse for us just to throw caution to the wind and say, I don't care who says water or what I'm supposed to do, I'm not under any deadlines. Now that's not what I'm saying. I'm simply saying, when you have done your best, sometimes God has other plans. When you've been as faithful as you know to be, sometimes God has other plans. And in his sovereignty, his plans for your schedule and what you do are much more important than a result in greater glory to him. So if it means at times you miss a deadline, that's not the end of the world. Don't let that CD play in your mind, missing a deadline as a disaster. And you get all stressed out. Sometimes missing a deadline is God's timing, rearranging your life and schedule so that you can do what brings more glory to him. Fourth track on that CD in your mind is this, winning or losing is a measure of my personal worth. Winning or losing is a measure of my personal worth. You see, in our country we have developed a win at all cost mentality. And quite frankly, this is how the sports world operates, right? Win at all cost. But it's not only the sports world. You see, I love basketball. I love baseball too guys, but I love basketball. And used to play a little bit, but that was 30 years and 30 pounds ago. But I love basketball. The NCAA tournament, I really enjoy it. But you know what's sad thing about the NCAA tournament is the end of the season only one team smiling. Wise is the coach who gathers his players together and says, you know, we had a great season. We accomplished a lot of great things. We didn't win the championship game, but we had a great season to focus on the right things. The recent NBA playoffs in USA Today newspaper, they were advertised on a daily basis this way. You remember the slogan, win or go home. In other words, if you don't win, you're a loser. You go home. And in reality, you do go home if you don't win. But see that mentality has crept over into business and industry and even personal relationships. We have seminars that teach you how to beat the competition. And in many of our personal lives, we are caught up in this win at all cost. If I don't win, I'm worthless. If I lose, I'm worthless. Listen, we need to reprogram our minds. Oh yeah, I believe in athletics and in other endeavors doing your very best is the most important. And one of the reasons you're there on the ball field is to win. Sure. But that's not the most important thing. To reprogram our mind, we need to go to 1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. Where interestingly enough, Paul uses an athletic metaphor to get across his point. 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 24. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize, run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave. So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. Now, don't get fooled by the athletic metaphor that Paul uses here. He's using an example of athletes who discipline themselves, who train well and who train to win. They do not train aimlessly, they train with purpose and focus. But there is a great difference. What Paul is saying is the likeness between athletes and Christians, those of us in the Christian race, is that we should have the same focus and purpose. What is different is this. Did you notice it? The first difference is in verse 24, in an athletics only one can win the prize. In the Christian race, all of us can win the prize. You see that? He says they do it so that one can win the prize there. Runners run, but only one gets the prize. And then he turns to the Corinthians and he says, run in such a way as to get the prize. He didn't say, run in such a way that one of you will win. No, he says, run in such a way that all of you get the prize. Every Christian can win the prize. You know why? Because of the other contrast in this passage. He says they do it to obtain a corruptible or a temporary crown. We do it for an eternal reward. So you see the reason why any of us can win in the race of the Christian life is if we are faithful and diligent and live with focus and purpose like an athlete does. We will stand before Christ someday and here well done. We will not be disqualified, like Paul reminded himself about, we will not be disqualified from the reward because we messed up somewhere along the way. So that's the great difference, the difference between a temporal reward and an eternal reward. Most of us know James Dobson today as the founder of Focus on the Family, a great spokesman for biblical moral issues in our country today. But when he was a college student, he had another entire purpose, totally different purpose. Jim Dobson was a good tennis player in his younger years and when he got to Pasadena College, he looked at that tennis trophy in the cabinet there in the hallway of the school. And it had the name of every tennis champion for every year. Whoever was the champion, tennis player for that year got their name inscribed on that trophy and he said, I want to make it my goal before I graduate, have my name on that trophy. And you know what he did? His junior and senior years, he was the captain of the tennis team and he got his name on that trophy, the outstanding tennis player, the tennis champion for Pasadena College. 15 years later, one of his friends who was now a teacher at the Pasadena College was throwing away some of his trash out of his office one day in a dumpster out back and saw that trophy in the dumpster. Recognized it, pulled it out, cleaned it up, you know, it worked out some scratch marks on it and took it to James Dobson and Dobson has it in his office today, not as a reminder of his tennis trophy. He says on his book, Life on the Edge Page 60, I believe it is, he says, the reason I have that trophy in my office is to remind me, if you live long enough, you will see all your earthly trophies in a trash heap. That is a good reminder. And it is exactly what Paul is reminding us of. If all you serve for is earthly trophies, earthly rewards, they will all be in a trash heap someday. Paul says, Run with the same kind of purpose and dedication of focus that an athlete does, but Run for the eternal prize. You see, it is not winning or losing that is a measure of my personal worth, it is whether or not I am faithful to Christ and whether or not you are faithful to Christ, that is a measure of our personal worth. Are we in Christ and are we living for Him? That is what life is really all about. You know what I love about our softball team? And the guys who run our softball team is that it is not all about winning. Yes, they want to win, they want to do their best, our two softball teams, I should say. But the real purpose of the men who run our softball teams is not to win softball games. That is what they try to do whenever they go out on the field. But there is a deeper purpose on the part of Pastor Jim and the other guys who run our softball team. And that is this, the disciple and mentor younger men, and to form a bridge of friendship and fellowship for new men. Purpose of fellowship, purpose of discipleship. That is how a softball team fits into the purpose of a church. It is not all about winning, it is about purpose. It is about running with purpose, eternal purpose. You see, and that is what makes it important. You will bust a lot of stress in your life if you will get this down and reprogram in your mind that winning or losing is not a measure of my personal worth. That is unbiblical. We run for the eternal price. Not an earthly one. Number five track, quickly. Number five track is my accomplishments measure my personal worth. My accomplishments miss, that is a track that many of you struggle with in your mind, a way of thinking that you've programmed yourself to think. My accomplishments measure my personal worth. Just listen to your conversation. How much time do you spend talking about your achievements, your accomplishments? I have been there, I have done that, and I have got the trophies or the awards to show for it. So we post them on our walls and put them up in our little cases and make sure everybody we know sees them. These are my accomplishments, how measure my worth. Solomon did that. I'm not going to take the time to turn, but if you were to read Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verses 4 through 11, you would find that Solomon lists a bunch of accomplishments. He said, I built parks, I built water systems for Jerusalem, I planted forests, I did all these great things, and then I looked around and saw that it was all a meaningless chasing after the wind. Now he goes on to develop in that book that the only real sense of purpose and accomplishment in life comes through a personal relationship with God. The book of Ecclesiastes is one of the most relevant books of our time. But Solomon knew what it was to say, my worth is based on my accomplishments and then find out that's empty, doesn't really lead anywhere. If you want to reprogram your mind, let's look at Luke chapter 10. I want you to see what Jesus told us. Luke chapter 10. This is after Jesus had sent out 72 disciples to preach and teach, and they had done wonderful things, and they had even cast out demons and done miracles and so forth. In verse 17 of Luke 10, the 72 returned with joy and said, Lord even the demons submit to us in your name, he replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you. Now look at verse 20, however, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That is a sense of proper priorities. Don't rejoice over your accomplishments and achievements. Don't come back saying, man, I cast out 20 demons last week. I did all this wonderful great stuff. He's saying rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life in heaven. Martin Lloyd Jones was a great preacher in London several years ago, a generation or so ago, and his biography Ian Murray tells the story of going into his room one evening in the later years, later months of Martin Lloyd Jones' life. Martin Lloyd Jones could hardly get from the bed to the chair. He would have someone dress him typically, dressed every day in a three-piece suit, and he would be seated there in his chair in his room. He would be checking a manuscript that he was still working on the last few months of his life. Ian Murray had the audacity to say to him one day, well, Dr. Lloyd Jones, what does it feel like now that you're on the shelf? And he reminded me, he said, you have written dozens of books. You pass your one of the most famous churches in the world. You started intervarsity in London. You've spoken all over the world. What does it feel like now that you're on the shelf? And he said Lloyd Jones looked up at him with a great smile on his face and said, don't rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but rejoice that your name is written in the book of life. And he smiled and said, I am very, very contented with my life. He had the right perspective. And that will damage stress in your life if we will understand my accomplishments, do not measure my personal worth. Track number six in your mind. For many of you is this, that creates stress. Non-productive activities are a waste of time. You see, high stress people look for excuses to work overtime. They bring work home with them. They're all the time working on three or four projects. They skim over relationships, not listening to husbands or wives or children because they've got three or four other things going on in their minds. That's high stress kind of living. Those same people often think that leisure or fun or resting one evening or taking a nap or a day off or vacation is a waste of time because you're not accomplishing anything. Okay, if that's the track that plays a lot in your mind, that will create incredible stress for you. It's also unbiblical. You've got to reprogram your mind. How do you do it? Mark chapter six. Look at it with me, Mark six. Just a few pages over. Right after the account that we just saw in Luke where the 72 have gone out, the 12 have been involved. They've been preaching, casting out demons. This is what Jesus said for them in verse 30 of Mark six. The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Even Jesus and His disciples needed to come and aside apart from the crush of responsibility and get some rest. Now I know, I know workaholics like to point out how the passage continues. That they got across the sea but the people knew what they were going, met them on the other side. And when they got off the boat, there was another huge crowd of people and Jesus took them up on the hillside, taught them and then fed the 5,000. So there was no rest on that occasion and workaholics like to point out they didn't get any rest. See, well wait a second. It's not like Jesus said on the boat on the way over or as they got off this rest thing. That was a bad idea. Now get back to work. It wasn't like Jesus said that. It was Jesus' intention to take some time for rest. As things worked out, it didn't happen. But there are plenty of other times when Jesus did get alone and have some solitude and get alone with God. And there are times in the gospels where he and the disciples, one time in particular where he pulled them out of the whole area of Galilee up into Gentile territory and spent some time just with them, teaching them. So there are gaps in the gospel record where there's a lot of rest going on. If you have a track in your mind that says non-productive activities are a waste of time, renew your mind with Scripture. It is Jesus' intent sometimes to pull away from the demands of life to get some rest so that you come back renewed and recharged for the work that lies ahead of you. And sometimes non-productive times can be very productive in the long run. Track number seven. Some of you have this one playing in your mind a lot. Complete control of my life is the goal. Complete control of my life is the goal. Some of us think that we're just a little more effort. We can have everything in our life and our schedule under control. And we've already got it all organized. Our day is well planned. Our week is planned. Our year is planned out. And we've got it all right there in our daytime or our palm pilot. And all we have to do is click on it and see what we're supposed to do each day. And it's all organized. And just a little tweaking of that and I can have the perfect day or the perfect week. It's taking me a while to learn this but there is no such thing. No such thing as a perfect day or a perfect week. There are lots of things that happen that are outside your control. The book of Proverbs says that a man makes his plans but it is God who orders his steps. And there are lots of things that happen that are out of your control. You're trying to get to an important meeting and the stoplights will not cooperate or you have a flat tire on the way or an emergency call comes. And there are things that happen in life that just blow your whole day apart. Or you're getting ready to come to church and the baby just loses everything. You know, both ends. Everything. And they choose the worst times to do that, don't they? That's a schedule buster, isn't it? Or you've got the perfect dinner plan for your anniversary and the thing burns on the stove. Those things happen. There are certain things in life that you cannot control. I think I've told you about the truck driver who was driving down the street. There was another truck blocker so behind him he notices this truck in front of him and the truck that's in front of him is stopping about every two blocks and the truck driver is getting out and beating the back of the truck with a two before. And so the guy in back pulls up beside him and flags him down and says, hey, I want to ask you, what are you doing? Getting out every couple blocks and beating on the back of the truck with a two before. And the truck driver said, well, I got two tons of canaries that I'm hauling. It's a one ton truck. So half the canaries have to be in the air all the time. You know what? Some of you try to live that way. Some of you try to live that kind of a stress-filled life. I got complete control of it. I've got it all down. All I have to do is beat on the truck a little more and it'll all, you know, and it just is not going to happen. There are too many things outside of your control. You want to reprogram your mind? Let me just give you these verses, please. Second Corinthians 12 verses 7 through 10, jot them down, read them when you get home. Second Corinthians 12, 7 through 10. Paul said in those verses, I had a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to Buffett me, an affliction, I believe, of a physical nature that Satan inflicted on him that got aloud. And he said, I prayed three times, Lord, please take this away from me. And I'm sure that Paul felt like he would be more productive and do a better job as a minister of the gospel if he didn't have that physical affliction. And you know what God said? No. No, I'm not taking that away. And he said, basically, I have a purpose for allowing that. And Paul said, I've learned that in weakness, I'm strong. And I've learned that his strength is perfect. So you see, God may have other purposes for things that are outside your control that he wants to accomplish in your life. So no, just reprogram your mind to think complete control of my life is not the goal. Complete submission to God's purpose is the goal. That's the goal. Okay, one last one that plays in a lot of our minds and creates a lot of stress. And that is perfection is my expectation for myself. Some of you went through your whole academic career, no matter how long it lasted, thinking, I can never get anything but an A. And you've carried that same thing into your workplace and you expect perfection and you expect perfection of everybody around you. Some of you who never made an A in your life expect that of your kids, don't you? You got to make nothing but A's. And you drive everybody around you crazy with your perfectionism. Perfection is my expectation for myself. Now, I know what Matthew 548 says. Be perfect as your father and heaven is perfect. But please remember, first of all, the word perfect there means complete, well-rounded. And it's talking about loving your enemies in the context. What Jesus is saying there is your love will be perfect. It will be complete when you learn to love your enemies. He's not setting the level of expectation that God has for you as perfection. If you don't measure up, you're out of it. You're out of the game. That's not it. If you want to reprogram your mind on this whole thing of perfection, then you need to read Philippians 3 verses 4 through 9. John it down, read it later, Philippians 3, 4 through 9, where Paul saying, before I got saved, I was into perfection. He said, I kept the law to the letter. I was the most self-righteous Pharisee of them all. I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. I outstripped all my contemporaries in zeal for the law. I mean, I believe he was really striving for perfection. And then he says, when I got saved, those things I counted gain, I now count as a loss. And the only thing that really matters is that I'd be found in him having his righteousness. You see, my friend, you are never going to be perfect this side of heaven. So don't make that your goal this side of heaven, at least as far as a realistic goal to attain. Christ's likeness obviously is our goal for all of us. But you will never be perfect. You will make mistakes. You might as well learn that and live with it. You will make mistakes in this life. We had a beautiful wedding yesterday, a beautiful wedding cake. When I saw that cake, I was reminded of a cake that I read about in New Zealand. A cake decorator was asked to do a wedding cake and to inscribe a scripture verse on that wedding cake. And the verse they were asked to put on the wedding cake was first John 4-18, which says there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. Wonderful verse for a wedding cake. The problem was the cake decorator was no Bible scholar. And when she heard first John 4-18, she didn't know the difference in first John. And the gospel of John. She thought first John meant the first time John appears in the Bible that must be it. So she turned to John 4-18. And that day of the wedding on the wedding cake inscribed in beautiful letters on that cake was not first John 4-18, but John 4-18, which says you have had five husbands. And the man you're living with now is not your husband. Whoa. Whoa. What do you do with a wedding cake like that? You cut it up and eat it real fast. You're going to make mistakes. You're not going to be perfect. You might as well not try to set perfection as your standard. You're going to make some mistakes in life. So perfection is not the goal. Being more like Jesus every day, growing to be more like Him is the goal. Now, we're over time and I appreciate your patience with me today. Let me just stop this way. Close this way. If you find any of those eight tracks playing on the CD of your mind, then please, please, will you take the scriptures we've used to counter each of those? Take them home and begin to meditate on them, begin to think about them. So when somebody pushes that button again, rather than one of those eight tracks that on that CD that play automatically, you find something else beginning to come from your mind. Because you know what's happening as you're meditating on scripture and making it a part of your thinking, you are renewing your mind. And the greatest victory you will ever have over stress in your life is if you learn to renew your mind from the scriptures and reprogram that CD of your mind to what God wants it to be. Will you promise to do that? I hope so. Between you and God, please do that. Let's bow to God.