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Join us for Sunday Sermons from Pastor Ronald Daugherty. Recorded live at New Beginnings Full Gospel Church where he presides as pastor. New Beginnings Full Gospel Church is located in the south side of Chicago. A small community church founded by Bishop Corneal Harper, and Pastor Joyce A. Harper in 1996. Rooted in service, community, love, and the teachings of the word. Under Pastor Ronald Daughertys leadership New Beginnings continues to be a staple in the community. Listen, Learn, and Be blessed.
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So we bless him and we honor him and we thank God for each of you who are here today to enjoy fellowship one with the other and to spend time in the presence of the Lord.
Spend time in the presence of the Lord.
It's a place where you can be changed and built up and strengthened and all of those things.
So we come into the house of God, a holy place.
Why?
Because he's here.
Because he's here.
Because he's here.
Where whatever our situations is, it can be changed because we're in his presence.
If we open up ourselves to him and really kind of realize that his goodness has brought us to this place and to this point.
Because there's been a lot of things that we faced that took us out a long time ago.
But he's been good.
He's been good.
You've got friends who are falling by the wayside.
You've got those who you spoke to maybe a couple weeks ago and you called them, but there's no answer now because they're no longer here.
He's been good to you.
He's been good to you.
Not that you shouldn't be sad for their lives and things of that nature, but he has spared your life, given you another day to get things right, to get things in place for him, to experience his goodness.
Amen.
You may not have everything you want right now, but you still living.
That means there's still an opportunity and chance for you to receive and become all that God has for you to be.
He is good to us and we want to be those who show our gratitude by how we serve God and by the things that we do to show him.
It's like when somebody does something.
beneficial for you you were you were down and out didn't have you know and whatever the situation was and they came alone saw your situation and helps you out every time you see them just about you remember you're reminded of it and you begin to thank them and it's kind of find a way to do something not that you can pay them back but to show them your gratitude because they didn't have to do that God is faithful to continue to do
The various things that we need done.
And every time we get an opportunity and chance, we ought to be those who are willing to show our gratitude.
To show our gratitude.
Because he's been good to me.
Not just because I decided to serve him.
Because in my own life, I look back when my head was nowhere near God.
My desire was not in his direction at all.
But I remember situations that, you know, you know, somewhere along the line, you know, you heard it from somebody when you got in the tight, you said, Oh God, and he got no relationship with old God.
Lord, if you get me out of this and you know what he did, he did.
And as soon as you got out, you forgot what you said.
Went on about your life.
But the next time, he showed up again.
He showed up again.
So we're grateful to the God who consistently shows us his love.
And because I now recognize his goodness to me, now I want to do something to show him my gratitude.
Because you didn't have to.
You didn't have to.
You didn't have to.
You didn't have to.
But you did, so how can I thank you?
What can I do to, and from my side, feel like I'm giving something back to you for what you did for me.
So I seek to serve him.
Now, I don't get it right all the time.
But when I mess up, I try it again.
Because he keeps being good to me.
So I keep striving.
I keep trying to do those things that make him glad or in my mind, makes him have a reason for sparing my life.
For giving me another chance.
So today we are grateful to be a part and to be in a space and place where we can show God gratitude.
The scripture said, let everything that had breath.
You still breathing?
You better because you're looking at me.
And if you ain't something wrong here, let everything that have breath praise the Lord.
Give God thanks that you are still breathing.
So we're grateful today and we're thankful to God for what he is making happen in our lives as we serve and trust him.
He's a great God, and we're grateful.
We thank God for each of you here and those of you via Facebook and YouTube, however you're seeing us.
Thank you for joining in and tuning in with us on today.
We're grateful for your choosing to spend this time with us on today.
We've got a couple of members who are not here because of various reasons.
Got a couple of calls this morning from Texas.
Different ones weren't feeling too good in their bodies.
And my encouragement to you is if you're not feeling good, don't come here.
Don't come here.
Let's stay home.
Get under the cover.
Get better.
Amen.
We will pray for you.
We will pray for you.
We will pray for you.
So don't be, you know, sometimes we feel an obligation.
And I understand it.
I understand it.
God's been good to me.
I've been pressed my way to work and all that type of stuff.
And Sunday, you know, I should be at church.
So let me kind of press my way in.
I've been there, done that.
And we'll do it again.
But God is concerned.
You know, this ain't the only place you can serve him or worship him.
You can do it at home if you're at home getting better.
Amen.
And we want you to get better so that when you come to the house of God, you can give it everything you got.
Amen.
Because he deserves that.
So we've encouraged some of them to kind of take care of yourself.
Take care of yourself.
Take care of yourself.
Get yourself together.
Then come on back and we'll have a good time.
Then that type of deal.
But, you know, tune in on Facebook or YouTube or however you're going to get us.
Don't sleep through us, please.
Amen.
Amen.
But God is good and he's faithful.
So we thank God we're praying for our deacon Dion wasn't feeling too good yesterday.
So I encouraged him.
I told him, I don't want to see you tomorrow.
So I told his wife, don't let him come here.
Make him stay home.
Amen.
And different ones who are not feeling well, we know we've been praying for Elder Larry and the various ones who are dealing with difficulties in their bodies or just difficult circumstances.
We hold them up in prayer.
We hold them up in prayer.
God's going to work it out.
They're going to come back with a testimony and we're all going to shout.
Amen.
Amen.
We're grateful and we praise God for his blessings, for his goodness.
So for those who are not here, as you look around and see, remember to lift him up in prayer.
Amen.
We don't always know the circumstances, but God does.
You talk to God about it, God will handle the situation.
He knows how to do what he's doing, and he does it well.
But for each of you who are here, we're grateful to God.
And for all those who have your Bibles, we're going to get right into the word of God so we can get down the way, up the road, wherever we're going.
Amen.
Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8.
We read a few verses of this, not last Sunday.
Last Sunday, we were not, well, y'all saw us.
If you tuned into Facebook, amen.
It was a good service.
I enjoyed it as I watched it with everybody else because the weather was really bad.
And Sister Sardia, I'm sorry we didn't call you earlier.
I'm sorry, I apologize, but there was no way I was going to have y'all come out here next Sunday.
It wasn't happening.
I had to go take care of some stuff to make sure things were right in the church, and I stepped out the door, and I'm like, oh, Jesus.
No, no, no, it's too cold.
I ain't having nobody come here.
So for those of you tuned in and watched the service last Sunday, we wasn't in here.
It was a prerecorded.
service but i enjoyed the service last week it was good amen i had a good time the word was good i said that man yeah i was like i was afraid to listen to him because it was me i said okay okay okay but it worked out well it worked out well but we're here today and we're here to rejoice in the god of our salvation we give him
But last, the first Sunday of the year, we started out in the book of Romans chapter 8, and we're right back there.
We're going to pick up, we read verse 3 and 4, so we're going to pick up at verse 5, and it says, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.
If so, be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And as far as they're reading as a text,
for this morning and we just like to take it to thought for today.
Where's your head?
Or like we say in our neighborhood, where your head at?
Where your head at?
You know, where's your head if you wanna be grammatically correct and all of that, but from the neighborhood that we grew up in, where your head at?
Every now and then we've been with some situations with some people and they did something that was way out the way or something that wasn't conducive to what was going on here.
And we look at them like, where your head at?
Like, you ain't with what's going on.
You off somewhere else.
Where your, bring it back together.
Come back to where we are.
So we want to kind of think on this as we're talking today.
And the first Sunday we began to talk about, and our theme for this year is that let's grow.
We want to grow.
And one of the ways that kind of helps us in this development is how we think and what's going on in our heads will help us in our growing process.
Just the same way if I'm thinking the wrong things, it can hinder my growth as I'm looking to go forward in some things.
So there's this big dynamic in our lives when I'm seeking to please the Lord that I keep my head in the right place.
that I keep my mind on the right things, that I keep my head going in the right direction.
I've noticed this about me, and I've noticed it about other people, too.
You can be walking down a straight path with somebody, and as long as you keep your eyes straight forward, you normally walk straight.
But as soon as something catches your attention to the side and you are walking continually, but you're looking at that, if you look back to where you were, you have veered really off the path because
the direction of your head is going to have some leaning as to which way the rest of your body is going to go.
Sometimes we driving down the street and I got my hand on the wheel and I'm right in my lane, but I something on the side, catch my eye and I'm looking this way for a minute and I look back and I've been drifted almost into another lane.
Why?
Because my head went that way and because my head went that way, the rest of me,
wanted to go in that direction.
So it's important where I keep my mind when I'm talking about going forward or growing or achieving some things.
If I keep my head in the wrong place, I will miss the mark every time.
So I've got to keep my, as they would say, I got to keep my head in the game.
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
What are you thinking about?
What are the things that have the most influence in your mind?
What are the things that
stay on your head because the things that stay on your head are the places and stages that you stay in because that's where your head stays.
You ain't gonna change if your head stays where it is.
You're not gonna develop and grow if your head stays in the space and the place there it is.
If you wanna go somewhere, your head has got to go somewhere else.
I've got to be able to see it to be able to achieve it.
If I don't think it through, if I don't think my way there, if I don't keep my head in it, I'll get discouraged and I will quit it and leave it alone.
I got to keep my head in the game.
Where your head at?
What are you thinking about?
What's going on in your mind as you look at the things that's going on?
Scripture encourages us in Philippians 2 and 5 says, let this mind be in you
that was also in Christ Jesus.
God, right off the bat, has given us a clue as to how to become what he wants you to be.
Keep your mind the way that Jesus kept his mind on the things of God, on pursuing God, moving in that direction.
Jesus said, I don't do nothing unless the Father show it to me.
I only do what he say do.
I only go where he say.
In other words, I keep my head connected with him.
So that what I do and where I go can be what he wants me to do and where he wants me to go.
And the way that I get there is I keep my head there.
I keep my head there.
So if I'm going to develop and grow and be what God wants me to do, I've got to be in the space and place where I keep my head where it needs to be.
We talked on the first Sunday about this battle with the flesh.
Our thing was flesh, you're not the boss of me.
God created us.
He made this body.
He made this flesh.
And as he made it and as he created it, he stepped back and said it was all good.
And it was.
We were in line with God.
We were in tune with God.
We were in sync with God.
Whatever God said, that's what we did.
If he said, don't do it, we didn't do it.
That's how man was created, to be like God, in God's image and in his likeness.
So man was so connected with God that if God said, don't do a thing, then the thought of man, we talked about it in the first Sunday, that the thought of man was in the opposite direction of what he said.
If he said, don't go that way, then I'm going this way.
It shows out so much so that when the serpent came to tempt Eve, that he said, what did God say?
Did you need all the trees?
He said, yep, all the trees except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
They knew where it was.
They knew that God had forbidden it.
They stayed so far away from it that they didn't even realize it.
what it looked like or what it was all about because when the enemy began to talk to us about eating the fruit, she looked at it and saw that it was desirable.
It didn't change what it looked like.
It had been that way all along.
But because God said no, they stayed as far away from it as they could.
Because they were so in sync with God, this flesh that they had was so connected with God that whatever God wanted, that's what they wanted to do.
It was the enemy that brought that to her attention.
Look at the tree.
Don't it look good?
Listen, if you eat of that fruit of that tree, you will be like God to no good and evil.
It was the enticement of the enemy.
that pulled Eve in the direction that she was.
And when she ate, she gave to Adam.
And it says at that point their eyes were opened and they began to, they died spiritually.
Their connection with God was being severed because now they were going in the direction away from the plan and the purpose of God for their life.
So when that happened, it began not only to separate them, but it also began to, what the enemy began to see is that in this flesh,
If I show it the right thing, if I make it aware of the things that I want it to, if I bring to its attention the various things, then I can lure them away by what they see.
Make them want something else.
Make them desire something else.
And that was the school when sin came in this life, it began to corrupt this flesh where it was no longer attached to God like it was before.
No longer in line with the things of God like it was before.
Yes, a God conscious, but not really connected.
And the enemy began to see that if I want to get them away from God, then the only thing that I'm not to do is lure them or send something their way that would attract them in the way that it would captivate their mind.
So much so that they will want to have it or they will desire to have it.
So this flesh became, from the side of the enemy, the way to get this flesh away from God is to put things before it that will be tempting to it.
We talked about that there's no man that God doesn't tempt any man, but when we're tempted, we're drawn away of our own lusts.
Have you ever been driving down the way, walking down the way,
billboard catches your eye and you see something on that billboard that you ain't never you ain't even thought about that but it caught your eye whether it was the color whether it was doing some flashing or whatever it caught your attention and when it caught your attention it planted something in your mind and you leave that sign but you're still thinking about what you saw got in your mind
There are some things that we try to do.
Whenever you try to do a thing, whenever you make up your mind to do a thing, and I'm not just talking about fasting or whatever, but you decide to go somewhere, you just want to be something, and you got a direction that you want to go, and you put the goal out that you want to do, as soon as you make it up your mind that that's your goal that you're seeking to strive to get to and to achieve, it'll look like everything out of the woodwork that goes against it pops up in your way.
It ain't like it ain't never been there.
But what has happened now, you have set a goal in mind, a thing to reach, and the enemy makes sure that everything that will hinder you from getting there is what you see.
Been there all along, but it never caught your attention.
Some years ago, when we were living in Texas, I purchased and we needed a car and I was running to it.
I went to a car lot and they showed me this Buick Rendezvous.
I got one out there.
This Buick Rendezvous.
And I looked at this car and said, I ain't never seen no car like this.
When they started making these, the car itself, the one we were looking at was already six years old.
And I'm thinking like, how come I ain't never seen no car like this before?
I liked it and everything.
We wound up buying it.
I drove off the lot with it.
I saw 12 on the way home.
I'm like, where they been?
Where they been?
They been there all along.
But now because I've been introduced to one, now it catches my attention.
So what the enemy does to get us off track from the things that we're striving to get to is that he puts something in our mind that keeps catching our attention.
Been there all along.
We never paid it no attention at all because it ain't had nothing to do with us.
We ain't had nothing to do with it.
But now I've got a goal in mind.
Now this thing becomes a hindrance to me because every time I look around, it's over there, it's over there, it's over there, it's over there.
And it keeps my attention from where I'm trying to get to.
and it hinders my progress.
So the enemy knows that the way to get me off track is to get something else on my mind other than my goal.
If he can get my mind plagued or filled with something else, he will keep me hindered from reaching where I'm trying to get to.
So he works on me by putting things in my head or putting things in the way of me so that my head gets caught up in that.
and I don't reach my goal.
So this flesh gets corrupted or my targets gets blurred and I get distracted because of the things that are around me.
Y'all got some things around y'all?
No, I ain't talking about your kids, no.
No, no, no.
There's some things that, yeah, they popped up, but there's some things that popped up.
Ah!
But when I'm striving to get to the place that God wants me to be and I'm striving to grow and develop, I've got to be on guard to put a guard or covering over my mind.
Or else I'm going to be hindered in my
There's a verse in Ephesians 4 and 27 says, neither make place for the devil.
I've got to know that the enemy is going to try to get me and try to pull me away and get in my head so I've got to be on guard that I don't make no place for him.
I don't open up any gates for him.
When he seeks to distract me or pull me aside, I've got to say to him, you know, and realize what that is and turn away from, make no place for the enemy.
Make no place.
Neither give space.
Don't do nothing that entertains, don't allow those things to entertain your mind or your thoughts.
so you can keep on track and keep in the right place.
One of the things that I've got to do, this happened to us a couple of years ago.
My brother that lives in Atlanta and our family, when we were in Texas, we would get together periodically for Christmas and spend Christmas together.
We went to Atlanta, they came to Texas, and that type of deal.
And one of the things that we did on Christmas Day, we all went to the movies.
And I know that we had a, one night we was going to the movies, trying to figure out what we were gonna go see, and Karen and my sister-in-law and others, they said they wanted to go see The Great Debaters, that was out there.
And the other movie that was out was I Am Legend.
Me and my brother wanted to see I Am Legend.
We talked the rest of the family into seeing I Am Legend.
We got in I Am Legend and Karen was doing all of this.
I enjoyed the movie.
But it got so that when we left the movie and went back to the house, after sitting up a little while, I got up and went on to bed.
Karen and them couldn't go to bed because I Am Legend was in their heads.
They had to turn on the TV and watch something funny to change the image of their mind so now they can go to sleep.
And oftentimes what happens to us in the various places and spaces that we get into, some of the stuff that's going on around us is not in line with where I'm trying to get to or where I'm trying to go.
And because I'm inundated with the whole day with all of this stuff going on in my head, when I get home, I got to realize that I have been pushed in on every side with all this other stuff.
Now what I got to do is do something to get my mind back on track.
And for a lot of us, we don't do the get back on track mind part.
We just let those things ruminate and marinate in our minds before we know we're affected by it over and over again.
But I've got to realize that when I've been inundated with stuff, because I can't get away from everything.
Some things I'm going to be exposed to as I go along.
But because I do have a goal in mind, when I get by myself or get into a space and place of safety, then I've got to get my mind back on track.
Or I'm going to miss what I need to get to because all this other stuff.
So there has to be this thing in me that realizes and understands that when all these things are happening around me, don't make no space for the devil.
Get your mind back to where it needs to be because it's going to pull you away.
And you're not going to grow because of all these other things around you.
So I'm inundated with all this stuff that's going on around me.
I've got to, as they would say,
detoxify my mind some of us have grown up and there's some things that were revolting to us when we saw it you eat that and every time you see it you're like but if they keep showing it to you over and over again you ain't as you may not eat it but you're not as repulsed by it as you once were before why because you keep seeing it
It keeps getting a space and place in your mind.
And where you was a 10 that you didn't like it before, now it's a 3.
Still don't like it, but it ain't like I used to.
And it's only because you've been over and over being saturated in your mind with the image of that thing or that type of thing.
So in order to keep it as a 10, when I see it, I got to turn to something that's opposite of that.
So that it counteracts and I begin to stay with the same repulse about it.
But too often we're trying to do the right thing and there's so much stuff around us that's bombarding us.
That used to repulse me don't repulse me no more.
Not like it used to.
It's all because my mind has been exposed to it in such a degree that I have not done anything to counterbalance it.
Getting my head back in space.
Jesus began to tell the disciples about, you know, the thing that Jesus did as they were doing the various things that they were doing.
Every now and then Jesus would say, come on, fellas, let's just go aside.
Let's go into the mountains.
Pull you away from all of this so I can get your head back to where it needs to be.
Because this stuff will illy affect you.
And not just it'll illy affect you in the wrong way.
Sometimes the success, when he sent them out two by two and they went to cast out devils and all of this stuff like that.
And they came back with testimony.
Listen, the devils were subject to us.
And we did that.
And he said, no, no, come on.
We need to go back.
Because not only the ill, the bad things will disrupt your mind and thoughts.
Even the good things will start helping you thinking more highly of yourself.
So Jesus would do with them this detoxifying or getting your mind back to where it needs to be.
Because if I don't do that, you're going to get off track.
Peter got off track when Jesus started talking about what he had to suffer and things of that nature.
And Peter was the one who said, listen, I will die for you.
And Jesus began to talk about where he's going to Jerusalem and where he's going to suffer.
And Peter grabbed him and said, no, no, no, that ain't happening to you.
Jesus looked at Peter and said, what did he say?
Satan, get thee behind me.
I know where I'm going.
I know what the path is.
I know what the track of God is.
And what you're saying, although it may be appeasing or appealing to me, I can't let this get in my mind.
Satan, get thee behind me.
Let me keep my head in the right place so I can get to where I'm trying to get to.
So I've got to do the stuff that I need to to keep my mind right.
Because as the scripture said in Proverbs 23 and 7, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
In other words, and that heart right here is interchangeable with the word mind.
It's meaning the same thing.
So whatever's going on in your thinking, it's what you're going to become.
And you've got to be sure that you keep your mind in the right place and not let things so bombard your head and that you don't do nothing to counteract it.
That thing can begin to overtake you and overwhelm you and this becomes all that you think about.
And it pulls you.
And it pulls you.
And it pulls you.
So I have to begin to do those things that will help me to get my head in the right space and place so I can become and be what God has called me to be and do those things that God has called me.
So a part of my growing is to keep my mind right.
Don't let it just flow off to this or don't let it just flow off to that, but keep my head in the direction that I want to go.
Keep doing the right things about the things that I want to do so that I can be benefited and go on the way that I need to go.
So as we're striving to serve God and do what's right in the sight of God and we're growing and developing God, we'll take this analogy and we'll just kind of move on from there.
I was thinking about the kids.
I just saw, you know, shall they pick up Onyx and
He's standing on the seat.
I think about the kids when they're young and they're babies and stuff like that, and they're moving their arms and legs, but as far as them being mobile, going anywhere, it don't really happen.
But then they learn how to crawl and get around and stuff like that, but then they start learning how to walk, and that thing of walking is, you know, they'll pull up on the table, get their feet under them, but they ain't letting go of the table.
So they walk around the table holding on, holding on,
But the thing that keeps them wanting to progress with this walking is not necessarily that, you know, because, you know, you're the one that set them in the middle of the floor and they're doing this.
They didn't set themselves because they're reaching for something to hold on to.
But every now and then we set them in the middle of the floor and we say, come on, come on, come on.
And sometimes they'll take a step or two and then they'll fall.
And the falling is kind of devastating to them, and sometimes they'll sit there and they'll cry and stuff like that and reach out their hands like, come get me, come get me, come get me.
And you will think that, you know, in the middle of that, you come pick them up and try to stand them up again, but they sit right back down because, no, no, we ain't doing that again because that's going to make me fall.
But after a while, they get to the space and place where they may be on the table and you start beckoning them and they may start taking a few steps on their own to do that.
This is their development and this is what's happening as they're growing and going forward.
And every now and then they fall, but sometimes they get up again.
And I'm wondering, so what makes them want to get up again?
So what makes them get up again?
One, because they do want to walk.
Why do they want to walk?
Because they see everybody else walking.
And they say to themselves that if you can do it, then I can do it too.
The thing that will stop them from trying to walk if nobody else walked around them.
If they were not exposed to walking, then they wouldn't want to walk because that's not what they see.
And this thing of us striving to be, and one of the things where the enemy kind of gets us a lot of times, when I'm giving my life to the Lord and wanting to do the right thing because of all the stuff that's bombarding me and I'm failing, is that I don't stay around people who are walking.
I want to walk.
But I don't stay long enough around the people who are walking so the desire to walk kind of abates and wanes because I don't see it happening.
So when I'm striving to be what God wants me to be, I got to be around people who is doing the God thing.
Because when I fail or when I fall, when I look at them and they're still walking, they're saying, I can get to this, I can do this, and I get up and try it again.
So oftentimes when the enemy has put something in my mind and it's away from where I'm trying to get to and I fail, sometimes he wants to pull me away from those who are doing it.
Because if he can keep me awake, then I won't desire to do that no more.
But if I stay in the congregation of the upright, if I stay around the people who are doing it, I may have fallen, but I'm getting up again.
Because my goal is to overcome this.
My goal is to walk in this thing.
And the thing that's happening is that in my mind, I'm seeing myself walking.
In my mind, I see myself achieving.
In my mind, I see myself overcoming.
Why?
Because I see achievers.
I see overcomers.
I see victors.
I see ones who have come out of what I'm in right now.
And if they can get out, if I stay around them long enough, I'm getting out too.
So I got to stay in a place where my mind is constantly being inundated with the positive things and getting up again and trying it again and go for it again.
Let this mind that was in Christ Jesus.
You fail or you fall trying to do the right thing and you say, well, ain't no need to try it anymore.
Listen, stay around the ones who walk in because it's going to make you get up again.
Stay around the folk that's doing it.
It's going to make you try again because it's keeping that image in your mind.
And as he thinketh in his heart, so will he become.
So will he do.
So will he operate.
The scripture that we read in Romans says, listen, the carnal mind
It's enmity against God.
It's against the things of God.
So I can't let the carnality of this world abide in my mind.
I've got to stay around those who are spiritually minded so I can grab the spiritual mind and let it stay in my head.
It says the carnal mind can't even please God.
So I can't serve God and stay in allowing all these other things to bombard my head and stay there.
I've got to counteract it with something that's positive and something that's building, being around those who will encourage me in the things of God so that I can become what God wants me to be.
The enemy tries to pull us away and cause other things to grab our minds and grab our attention.
But I got to snap my head right back and say, no, no, no, I'm going this way.
To be spiritually minded gives me life and it gives me victory over this flesh that keeps getting pulled by the attractions and the advertisements as I'm going down the way.
Let this mind be in you that's also in Christ Jesus.
Don't entertain those things.
And if you just happen to have been in that environment a whole day or whatever, when you get by yourself, get your mind back on the right thing.
Get in the word.
Let it fill your mind.
Get in the presence of God.
Let it fill your mind.
Get among the fellowship of the brethren.
Let it fill your mind.
Because it's going to help you get to the next space and place that God has for your life.
Yeah, I'm trying to grow in God.
And the way that I help myself grow is to keep my head in the right place.
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
Where your thoughts?
What's going on up there?
Is it toward the things of God and achieving?
Or is it a bunch of other stuff that got your head?
Listen, last week we talked about, I mean, the first Sunday we talked about this flesh and having this battle against the flesh and trying to overcome this flesh.
But we also talked about that Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Jesus came and said, you can't do this.
Let me show you how it's done.
Let me conquer this thing so that you can know you can conquer it too.
Let me come just like you are.
Born, walked among men.
In all places he was tempted just like you are yet without sin.
Didn't let it get to him because he kept his head.
For God is.
How do I please the Father?
How do I walk?
He said, Lord, I come in the volume of the book to do thy will.
Keep my head in the right place.
So that as I'm struggling in this life, as I'm going forward, when I face, when I come to hiccups, when I come into obstacles that may distract me or pull me aside and I may fall, I don't stay there because I keep looking around for the people that's walking.
Listen, all I need to see is two of y'all.
You still walking?
Let me get up and try it again.
Because if you walking, if you overcoming, if you've gotten victory, let me get that in my head.
Because the same God who did it for you, he'll do the same for me.
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
Yeah, you got a lot of distractions.
Yes, you got a lot of reasons for not going forward.
But you've got one better reason for going forward.
I want to walk.
Tired of crawling.
Tired of scooting.
If they can walk, then I can walk too.
Let me not let this distraction get in my head.
Telling me I can't when God says I can.
Who report you going to believe?
Somebody wrote a song and said, we're going to believe the report of the Lord.
As I trust God and I push in his direction and keep that in my head.
As I said before, I go in the direction of my head.
I keep pushing in the direction of my head.
Where your head at?
you keep your head in the right place, eventually you'll get to the right place.
God will help you overcome.
You will be victorious because that's his desire and design for you.
If we walk in this spirit, if we walk in doing those things of God, if we not yield to the flesh, if I flip the switch, go from the carnal mind to the spiritual mind, feed that spiritual thing, feed that spiritual, feed that spirit, feed
And we said that, I think we said it on the first Sunday, about the two wolves inside of every person.
Did we say that?
Did we talk about that?
Y'all remember?
If you didn't, let me say it real quick.
So the Indian chief is talking to his grandson, and he's telling his grandson that inside every person there are two wolves.
One is evil and wants to only do vile, deadly, dangerous things.
And one is good, wants to do peace and all that.
And he said they are fighting.
Fighting.
And he left it at that.
Grandson looks at him after a few minutes and say, Grandpa, which one wins?
And the grandfather said, the one you feed.
The one you feed.
The one you feed.
So if I want to be spiritually minded, I got to feed that one.
I've got to give it what it needs.
I've got to get in the word.
I've got to get in the presence of God because if I don't feed him that other one, sometimes that's why my struggle is as strong as it is.
I ain't been feeding the right one.
I ain't been feeding the right one.
But if I feed the spirit, we read it, the carnally mind is enmity.
In other words, it's against God.
It's fighting to win.
But the spiritual mind is life and peace in God.
Which one you feed?
Which one you feed?
Where your head at?
Where your head at?
Jesus rose up from the grave.
After going through this life and all the challenges that he faced, yet not sinning.
And because he did, he got victory over the grave.
And he came back to his disciples as they were gathered and said, all power is in my hands.
And you know what?
I give it to you.
In other words, just like I have come through, I make it available for you to do the same thing.
Where you're headed.
Where you're headed.
If I keep my mind on those things, Philippians 4 and 8 begins to tell us what to, it's good to have a test and then them give you the answers to the test.
It's good when you go in there and I remember taking the test in the class and I was perplexed because all them questions and all that stuff that I was kind of looking over.
Some I remembered and some I didn't and stuff like that and I'm tripping because it's a hard test and then the teacher said, it's an open book test.
In other words, pull your book out and open it up.
Find your answer and put it down.
Philippians 4, they say, find it, brother.
Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are pure.
And it goes in the name of all those different things.
And then he says to you, think on these things.
Later on, as the verse kind of continues down the next verse, he said, those things that you have read and known and heard of me do, and the God of peace will keep your heart and mind.
What's in your head?
What's in your head?
What's in your head?
Get your thoughts in the right place.
Yes, temptations are all around.
Yes, troubles are all around.
Yes, all kind of crazy stuff is all around.
But you can do like my cousin told me one time, if you don't like what's on channel five, change the channel.
That makes sense.
I ain't gotta stay on channel five unless that's the only channel I got.
But if I got options, I can turn the channel.
But my head is in the wrong place and I understand it and realize it and the way I realize it is by the actions that are taking place in my life.
My head is in the wrong place.
Turn the channel.
Get back in touch with the things of God.
Let it fill your heart and mind so you can overcome.
And what you are striving to get to will ultimately be the place that you arrive.
Are you here?
Are you here?
Are you here?
Set it in the things of God and you will overcome.
Let's pray.
Father, we bless you.
We thank you.
We give you glory and honor and praise for what you've given us to share on today.
And we thank you, Lord, for the various things that you do to get us in the right space and place so that we can accomplish your will and your purpose.
The enemy of our lives, the devil, the one who does not want to see us connected with you.
who does not want to see us doing the right things, who does not want to see us walking the right way, souls and throws all types of distractions in our way, advertisements to get our attention, to get our heads somewhere else other than you.
And oftentimes he's successful because he shows it over and over again and we forget to detox.
So some of our lives have been trapped and we've been
snared by the various things going on, but you came in the likeness of sinful flesh that you might conquer sin in the flesh so that we don't have to be trapped by the lures of this life.
All we need to do is keep our minds, our hearts on you.
So today, Lord, we ask you
That if our heads are snared and entangled with the wrong things, that you will free us in our minds and help us to find that spiritual channel where you are, where your presence is, God, where your word is, where life is, God, where there are those around us, oh God, who are walking out your will and your purpose so that we can be, oh God, influenced by their lives and our heads can see this different thing.
that you are pulling us toward.
So be our strength today and help us to get our heads in the right place.
You are our victory.
And today we close the door and we make no space or place for the devil.
We turn our minds towards you.
Those things that are just, those things that are pure, those things that are righteous, those things that are lovely, those things are of good report.
We think on these things so that that peace, your peace, can be with us and we can overcome.
Today, Lord, we choose you.
strengthen our minds, set it in the right thing so we can grow and become what you planned and purpose our lives to be.
As we ask in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen.
He's got it better for you, but you got to get your mind there.
so that you can occupy the space and place in your life.
Know this, that the devil will continue to tempt, continue to flash advertisements, flash memories over and over again.
But every time he flashes, I turn my head and I lift up my eyes to the hills from what's coming my help.
He'll do it.
He'll do it.
He'll do it.
Perhaps there's some here in the sanctuary or on Facebook who are not saved and you want to commit your life to God.
That's how we get our minds right.
I commit my life to him.
One reason to commit my life to him is because I done jacked it up real bad.
I should be better.
I should be further ahead.
When I look at where I am and what I possess on the inside of me, it ain't an equal picture.
God's got better.
So I turn the control over to him so that he can save my life and put me on track so I can get to where he wants me to be with the right mind.
So if you're not saved, you haven't given your life to the Lord, that's where we start.
You want to commit your way to him?
He's ready to receive you.
The reason that you are feeling that is because he's drawing you.
Scripture says no man comes to the Father unless he's drawn by the Spirit of God.
And he don't draw you unless he got a plan for you.
So if you feel the draw, that means God's got a work for you to do.
He's got a plan and a purpose for your life.
So just surrender to him and allow him to work it in you.
You'll start by getting your head in the right place.
And we work to keep it there.
We continue to feed in the word and things of that nature.
But it starts with salvation.
So if you're not saved,
In Facebook land or here in the sanctuary.
Would you just stand with me?
And I just want to pray with you.
That's all.
That's all.
I just want to pray.
Those of you on Facebook, man, raise your hand, whatever you acknowledge that you want to receive.
You can stand in your living room, your bedroom.
You can't stand in your car, no.
Not while you're driving, but just open your heart to Jesus.
He wants to receive you.
He's drawing you.
So how do we do that?
Simply this prayer.
This is what gets us in the door.
It says, Lord Jesus, today I open my life to you.
I throw open the doors of my heart
And I ask you to come in.
I ask that you wash and cleanse my sin.
Make me right in your sight.
And from this day forward, fill me with your spirit so that I can walk out your will, your plan, and your purpose for my life.
I surrender to you.
Take control and lead me forward.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
As I say all the time, that gets you in the door.
When you go to school, first thing you do, you go in the door, right?
You can't stay there.
You got to go to class.
Just going in the door don't get it done for you.
You got to go to class.
So as you have just come through the door, now it's time to go to class.
Go and learn of Jesus.
Find if you don't belong to a church or
If you're estranged from your church, get back in there.
Start learning about God so you can grow and develop and become that that he planned and purpose for your life.
He will do it as you push in his direction or your head in.
Get it in him.
He'll make you a success.
God bless you in Facebook land.
YouTube, God bless you.
We'll catch you on the next time.
Have a great day.
Come on, give God a praise in the house on today.
We bless him.
We give him the glory.
Amen.
Amen.