A (0:01)

This program is made possible by the giving of the God called partners of Renner Ministries. Get ready for a teaching that feeds your spirit and your mind, where the word is the anchor in uncertain times. And doctrine doesn't bend to culture. We keep it simple, but dive deep, revealing a truth that strengthens us, a love that emboldens, and a mission that touches the world. Let's join Rick Renner. Welcome to today's program. My name is Rick Renner. Thanks for letting me come right to where you are. And today we're going to wrap up this series, which is called Getting a Grip on your Thought Life. Thank you for reaching out to me and letting me know that yesterday's program really helped you. And if yesterday's program helped you, I believe today is gonna help you even more because today we're gonna see how to permanently get a grip on your thought life. I'm talking about permanently. It's gonna really be important. So stay with me all the way to the end of today's program. But the whole series is called Getting a Grip on youn Thought Life. It's five parts, comes with a study guide and in all kinds of formats. And right now I'm also telling you about my book called Dress to Kill. It's a book that is fully illustrated. It's a book on spiritual warfare and spiritual weaponry. But a big part of that book deals with conquering strongholds in your mind. As I told you yesterday, the devil's after your head. God is after your head. In fact, everybody's after your head. Education wants your mind. Hollywood wants your mind. Society wants your mind. The fashion industry wants your mind. Everyone wants your mind. Because it's a fact that whoever controls your mind controls you. That's why it's so important that you make sure Jesus is lord of your mind and you don't give your mind to anybody else. But if you've already surrendered your mind to wrong thinking and that wrong thinking is entrenched in your mind, you can remove it. You really can. But it's gonna require a very fierce decision. And that's what I'm going to be talking to you about today. But I cover a lot of this in my book called Dress to Kill. But if you're interested in this series or in this book, just go online or give us a call. We'll tell you more about it and how you can get it. And if you have a prayer need, please reach out to us. Let us know how to pray for you, because we're wanting to pray for you and waiting for the phone to ring right now or for your email to show up in our inbox. And by the way, if you're a partner, I want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being a partner with our ministry, important to us. Together we're taking the trusted teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth. And if you're not a partner yet, please pray about becoming a partner with our ministry. But I want you to reach for your Bible. And today we're going to go back to 2 Corinthians 2, 11, which is the foundational verse for this series. And in this verse, Paul gives us very profound insight about how the devil works. He says, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we're not ignorant of his devices. And we've seen over and over that the word Satan in Greek is the word satanas. And it describes an accuser, a conspirator, a deceiver, a manipulator, a schemer, or a slanderer. And all of those words are appropriate to describe the activities of the devil. So it really means lest the accuser, the conspirator, the deceiver, the manipulator, the schemer, the slanderer should get an advantage of us. And the word advantage in Greek means to take advantage of, to defraud someone of something. It means to outmaneuver or to outwit. And now Paul tells all of us these are the objectives of the devil. He wants to take advantage of us. He wants to defraud us of what belongs to us. He wants to outmaneuver us, outwit us. And Paul says for this reason, we are not ignorant, and you don't need to be ignorant either of his devices. And we've seen that the word devices is the Greek word noemata, which is the derivative of the word nous. The word nous is the Greek word for the mind. But when it becomes noe mata, it's no longer just the mind, but it's a mind that is confused. A mind that is filled with all kinds of schemings and arguments and reasonings that are wrong. And I say it's the picture of scrambled brains, Somebody whose mind is so confused, he's listened to a lie so long that now he really believes that lie is the truth. And when you believe a lie, that lie becomes a stronghold in your head. Now, you saw in the last program that God has given us weapons to pull down those mental strongholds. But today we're going to move on to James 1:21 to see what kind of determination is required to take that stronghold apart bit by bit and dismantle it. So let's go to James 1:21, where James says, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Let's begin with the two words lay apart. In Greek it is the word apothemi. The word apo means away from, and it implies distance. The word means to place or to set. But when you compound the two words together here in the King James Version, it's translated lay apart. But here's what it really means. Appo, tithy appo, away from, to lay down or to place, to lay something down and appo push it far, far away from you. In fact, you push it so far away from you that you cannot reach over and easily retrieve it. You're intentionally putting space between you and that thing. And here it's describing wrong thoughts and wrong attitudes that have ruled you for a long time. You've got to make a decision. I am repenting of these thoughts. I'm rejecting these thoughts. I'm laying them down and I'm pushing them so far from me I can never reach over to retrieve them. But something very important, these words lay apart. The Greek word apotithyme was the same Greek word used to describe removing your clothes at the end of the day. Well, at the end of the day, how do you take off your clothes? Do you just stand in front of the mirror and wish that your clothes would come off? Or do you get involved in removal? Of course you've got to get involved in removal. Now I'm wearing a white shirt. It just so happens that this is a new shirt and for me to remove it, I have to push really hard to get the buttons through the buttonholes. Ay yai yi. I can't just wish my shirt off of me. It involves my. It involves my fingers, it involves my actions. And likewise, if you finally realize that you're dominated by wrong thinking, your thought life has been penetrated with wrong thoughts. Just recognizing that it's wrong is not going to get rid of it. You've got to do something to get rid of it. You say, well, what am I supposed to do? You've got to involve your own actions, your own will. You've got to say, I. I'm going to remove this wrong thinking. I'm going to get rid of it. I'm going to push it up. Oh, so Far away from me. I can never reach over and pick it back up again. And then James goes on to say, lay apart all filthiness. This word filthiness describes how you need to view wrong thinking. It's filthy, it's stinking, it has a stench. It has brought a putrid smell into your life, my friends. Your life is not worthy of that filthiness. And the word filthiness is the Greek word riparion, which describes that which is filthy, vile, soiled, dirty, obnoxiously filthy. And it was especially used to denote filthy and smelly clothes. And here we find that when we have wrong thinking, wrong thinking. And we allow that wrong thinking to continue unfettered in our life, that wrong thinking not only builds a stronghold in our mind, it produces an unbearable stench in our lives. It makes the aroma of our life terrible. And when I see this word filthiness, I think back to the early days of our ministry, when Denise and I were pastoring a little church in Arkansas. I tell about that church in our story in the autobiography called Unlikely. We had two men in that church that were not mentally sound, but, oh, how we loved them, loved them, loved them. And they were filthy dirty, I mean, obnoxiously filthy. They would come in, their elbows were soiled, their hands were dirty, their clothes were just stinking, stinking, stinking. And one of them worked in a chicken factory where he worked in blood all day long, where they were killing chickens. And he would come to church in those same dirty clothes. The two of these men were just obnoxiously filthy. They just stank when they walked in the door. And Denise and I loved them so much. So Denise and I said to one another, let's take them home and let's let them go in and take a good bath. Let's wash their clothes, clean them up. So Denise and I brought them home and I remember thinking, wow, our house is going to really stink after bringing those two guys into our house. But we loved them, we wanted to help them. So we brought them home, they took a shower, and very lovingly, Denise took those grimy, grimy, grimy clothes. She put them in the washing machine, the dryer, she got them all fixed up and we redressed those two clean guys in brand new washed clothes. They looked good, they smelled good, we even gave them cologne. But the next time we saw them, they were back in their filthy, stinking clothes. They didn't like being clean. They were just adjusted to living in those old, filthy garments for so long. They were not comfortable being clean. They were comfortable being obnoxiously filthy. And you know, when you're dirty like that, you reek. People want to sit on the other side of the room and avoid you. Well, likewise, when you have a wrong thought in your mind, sometimes you become so accustomed to the wrong thought that you become comfortable in it. But, my friends, it ensnares you. It captivates you. And when your wrong thinking really becomes a stench, people will try to avoid you. All of that is in this text. Do you see how bad it is to let the devil inject wrong thinking into your thoughts? And this verse says, lay apart all filthiness, all this stinking thinking. And then he calls it superfluity of naughtiness. The word superfluity is the Greek word paraseia. It describes something that is excessive, exceeding, something so profuse that it can be likened to a river that is overflowing and flooding its banks. And when I see this word in the Greek, it always reminds me of when I was a kid, because my grandparents lived out near a creek in one part of Tulsa that flooded almost every year. And that creek was just filled with mud. Mud. And my grandparents lived on a large acreage where they had beautiful, beautiful pecan trees. But, you know, we never got to enjoy the pecan trees because every year the creek flooded. And when the creek flooded, it rotted all the pecans. And I can remember my dad put me in his fishing boat. And rather than drive out to their place to get my grandparents, we would get in the fishing boat and would drive down the highway in a fishing boat to the front porch, where my grandparents were standing on the porch waiting for us to come rescue them every year. And when the waters finally would recede, all the mud in that creek had slimed everything. Ay, ay, yai. It was so sick. And one time it even came inside their home. It ruined everything inside their home. It looked like everything had just been bathed in mud. And now we find that if you don't deal with wrong thoughts, they increase. They increase. They begin to flood into every single part of your life. And notice that James calls it superfluity of naughtiness. The word naughtiness is the Greek word kakia. It describes that which is bad, evil, vile or foul, something so putrid that it produces a dreadful stench. And here we find that once a Christian realizes that his thoughts have been invaded, he's been penetrated with wrong thoughts. And now wrong thoughts are dominating him. He has a choice. He can choose to hold onto those thoughts that he's become accustomed to. If he holds onto them, it's just going to get worse. It's going to become superfluity of naughtiness in his life. Or he can choose to reject them. You say, how do I reject them? Well, verse 21 goes on to say and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. The word receive is a form of the Greek word dakomai. And the word dakomai means to take quickly, to take readily, to take with a receptive and welcoming attitude. And the attitude is with meekness. Now put away the word meekness because your idea of meekness is probably wrong. Most people think meekness is being timid, is being quiet. But do you know the word meekness is the Greek word prates? It is completely opposite to what you think. The word meekness actually describes a strong willed person who believes that he is right. However, he has made a decision to put aside his opinions and to submit his opinion to a higher opinion. Even though he may not like it, he has chosen to deny himself and to take the opinion of someone else over himself and to submit to it and to embrace that opinion until it becomes his reality. That's really what the word meekness means. A strong willed person who has learned to submit his will to a higher authority. And my friends, if you have a wrong thought and you've lived with that wrong thought, you probably believe that wrong thought is the truth. For you to get rid of it, you've got to make a decision that you're going to submit your will, submit your feelings, submit all your opinions to what God says about you. Whether you agree with God or not, that's what meekness is. God, I'm going to submit to you. I'm going to believe what your word says, whether I feel it, whether I've experienced it, I'm going to submit my will to you. I'm going to believe what you say. I'm going to receive with a meek attitude the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. The word engrafted. The Greek word emphutas means engrafted or subsequently implanted. And the best example of this word implanted or engrafted is an organ transplant. Let's say a person has a kidney that has failed. Well, the only way that person's going to live is if someone donates a kidney. Well, the kidney is not theirs, it's not original to them. But the fact is if they don't receive it, they're going to die for Them to receive that organ from someone else, they've got to crawl on the operating table, they've got to be opened up, they've got to be willing to receive a donor organ from someone else. It's got to be planted in them, engrafted into them. And that's not the end of the story. In order for that kidney to work in them for the rest of their life, they've got to be on medication. Medication that receives that organ. Otherwise the body will reject it. And in the very same way, when the Word of God comes to you, the Word of God is God's donation to you. It has the power to save you. And in fact you won't make it without the Word of God. But it's got to be engrafted into you. And for God's Word to be engrafted into you, you've got to be willing to submit to the surgical work of God. To work, remove everything that is wrong, remove everything that is dead and to receive that life giving truth. And once you receive that life giving truth, you've got to decide that from that moment forward, you're going to do anything you have to do to make sure you never reject that truth that's been placed in you. Do you see how powerful this is? And I want to give you five steps to eliminate wrong thinking and to think correctly. Pay attention to this. Number one, Submission. You have to be submitted to the authority of God. You have to choose to come under his authority, believe what he says in His Word and then do it regardless of what you think or how you feel. Number two, elimination. You must then eliminate your own opinion and feelings and anything else that would distract or keep you from submitting to God's authority. You've got to take it off, lay it down, push it away, and not never reach over to pick it up again. You've got to submit yourself and align yourself with God. Number three, you've got to decide that you will never veer from what God says, but you will instead remain committed to the principles of His Word. Number four, continuation. Your decision is not a one time event, but an ongoing commitment to continually eliminate wrong thinking and to remain in submission to the Word of God for the rest of your life. And number five, reception. As you walk out the first four steps, which is submission, elimination, decision and continuation. As you walk out the first four steps, you will finally begin to receive the Word of God into your life permanently. And when you do that, James 1:21 says it is able to save your soul. Wow. The Word Able is the Greek word dunami. It means it has the power, which means innate. In the word of God is the power to save your soul. The word save here is a form of the Greek word sozo, which is normally translated as salvation in the New Testament. It also carries the idea of deliverance. It also carries the idea of wholeness, of mind. It carries the idea of soundness. It means to heal, which means when you receive the word of God in you, it saves you, it delivers you, it heals you, it makes you whole. And particularly, it will save your soul. And the word soul, my friend, is the word. That's where you get the word for psychology. It's the Greek word for your psyche, the mind, the will, and your emotions. Well, what is the name of this series? Getting a grip on your thought life. The thought life is where all the problems begin. Adultery begins in your thoughts. Fornication begins in the thought. Looking at pornography begins in the thought. Overeating begins in the thought. Rage begins by entertaining anger in your thoughts begins in your thoughts. And as we saw in yesterday's episode, some people have believed wrong thoughts for so long, they've become strongholds in their minds. But now we have seen today that if you will choose to accept what God says, you can replace wrong thoughts with biblical right thoughts. And when you receive them, like a donor organ planted into you, it will kick into gear. And that engrafted word will save your mind, will and emotions. It will straighten up your thoughts. And when your thoughts are in order, everything else comes into alignment and everything becomes good in life. That's the power of getting a grip on your thought life. I'll be back in just a moment and I want to pray for you. This is Rick Renner, and somebody has asked what are some of the reasons that people depart in their relationship with God? Well, sometimes people get disappointed. They have an expectation that is not met as soon as they wanted it to be met. So they feel that God failed to them. But in most cases, these are people that are isolated and they are alone. If they were really surrounded by a good church family who could speak faith to them and encourage them and bolster them up in their faith, they would remain in their walk with the Lord. But because they're slugging it out all by themselves, when they run into hardships, they begin to question God and perhaps even begin to think that the Bible is not true. And out of disappointment, they begin to walk away from the Lord. But my friends, don't let that be you. And if you know someone that is struggling, make sure that you're one that's speaking words of encouragement to them.