Restocking Our Shelves

Happy feast, everyone! Good to see you all here this beautiful morning. Well, a little rainy but we can suffer through that, can't we? It's beautiful in here. It's good to be together. It seems at this time of the year we can't help but think of food. Lots of things that are reminders about that as we go through the days of Unleavened Bread. And I was reminded of a story I heard about a stock boy at the grocery store. One day a man came in as he was stocking the produce department. The man asked him, can I buy a half a head of lettuce? The young stock boy said, no, sorry, we only sell full heads of lettuce. The man said, but I only want a half. I don't want a whole head of lettuce. I just want a half. Can't you go ask somebody if you could sell me a half? Stock boy thought about it. Okay, I'll go ask my manager. So he walks into the back room and he says to his manager, he says, some idiot out there wants to buy a half a head of lettuce. Is that possible? And he turned and there was the man and followed him right into the back room. And he noticed that and he quickly said, and this fine gentleman wants to buy the other half. So the manager okayed the deal. The man went on his way. Now later, the manager calls the stock boy in and he says, listen, kid, you almost got yourself in this whole store in a whole heap of trouble. But I'm pretty impressed at the way you got yourself out of it. It was really showing how you think on your feet and we really appreciate that around here. And so he said, you know, son, where are you from? Anyway, the stockman said, I'm from Minnesota. He said, oh, really? Minnesota? Well, why did you leave Minnesota? The stock boy said, ah, they're just a bunch of crazy idiots and hockey players in Minnesota. The manager said, wait a second, my wife is from Minnesota. The stock boy quickly said, oh, what team did she play for? That's called thinking on your feet. But you know, by tomorrow night, we'll all be stock boys, I suppose, in one sense or another, as we begin to restock our cabinets and our pantries and our kitchens with leavening. And so as we begin to do that, it certainly is a reminder of what this week has been all about. A week ago, we were given an action-oriented command that demanded personal involvement. So we began the days of unleavened bread. We were told to keep this feast not with the leaven that was old, but with not the leaven of malice and wickedness, but the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so by that command, we are shown that it's so urgent, so important, that God set up a week's worth of time, an entire seven-day festival, not just to change our diet, but more importantly, to change our hearts and our minds, literally to become new. And so God's shown us that we need to be transformed, transformed from a slave from the Egypt of this world to a citizen of the kingdom of God.

And so here we are at the end of unleavened bread. And if you're like me, probably by tomorrow night, you're going to go back to eating all that good stuff that we like to eat and munch and stock up on our favorite leavened items. But can we do that spiritually speaking? I mean, as we got ready for unleavened bread, it took some preparation. You've got to get ready. You remove leaven from your homes. At Passover, we recommit our lives to God and our baptismal covenant. And we put a lot of effort into preparations for Passover in the days of unleavened bread. And so here we are at the end, and we have to ask ourselves, what will we plan to restock the shelves of our lives with?

How will we restock? Do we just stock up like before? Is that what we should do? Well, let's think about that for a moment. How we restock our shelves after unleavened bread, and more important than our kitchen shelves, the shelves of our lives. Because when it comes to restocking our spiritual shelves, yeah, we're all like spiritual stock boys. We're spiritual consumers, shoppers, and we've got to go to that spiritual grocery list to look at these items that we need to put on our shelves. And like unleavened bread, was this the time that you bought something at the store and you had to look at it to make sure, oh, that yeast can be hidden in all kinds of different things. And you've got to recognize, oh, baking powder. What is sodium bicarbonate anyway? You've got to look at those ingredients. You know, it's no different when we put these things back on our shelves. Spiritually speaking, we better look at the ingredients as we restock. So let's think about two considerations to keep in mind as we restock our spiritual shelves. Number one, we have to restock with repentance. Restock with repentance. What is repentance anyway? And why is that important? Well, as we begin this journey toward the kingdom, we better make sure the direction we're going. We've got to think about that direction. And repentance is all about thinking. Rethinking, what I did in the past, didn't work. And so I have to think again and rethink why this didn't work and what way we'll spiritually be successful. That's repentance. That's rethinking. That's thinking again. Because we are told very clearly we can't just put back spiritual leavening. We don't want that. We've got to put that in sincerity. We've got to put that out of our lives. We've got to restock with truth, with things that are sincere. Romans 13-14 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. So when we gave up things for unleavened bread, were we called to give up something?

If we only look at it that way, I think we're in trouble. Were we called just to give up something? I don't think so. We were called to give up someone. Not something, but someone, ourselves, that old individual. And we had to determine once and for all, by God's calling, to stop feeding self. We have to stop that. This is not just a little modification that we were called to. That's not what God called us to. In this spiritual grocery store, we have to rethink and repent, because you know what? That is not found in a convenience store. This is a challenging calling that comes from our great God. It's called to the aisles of the spiritual grocery store, where we've got to wrestle with ourselves and put off the old man and rethink our lives to put them into the character of Jesus Christ. Because if we just have a change of pace, without a change of heart, where will we be? We'll be circling in the wilderness, just like Israel did, over and over, year after year after year. And if we only focus on our destination, that's a problem. Oh, I can think about the kingdom. I can think about the church. I can think about the spiritual promise land. But if I don't change my direction, I'm not going to get there. I won't be there. So before we change our conduct, we have to change our minds. That's true repentance. That's changing our thinking. We don't cover up our sin. We don't deny it. We don't excuse it. Unleavened bread has reminded us. We cannot put it on someone else or blame them. We have to admit our error, sincerely look at ourselves, and truly take a spiritual perspective on our own lives. We're given that perspective in 2 Corinthians 7, if you'd like to turn there with me. 2 Corinthians 7, verse 9 lists the ingredients of that true repentance, how to rethink our actions and our lives. That's what this week's worth of new habit has reinforced to us. That we've got to look at these spiritual ingredients of true repentance so that we can continue on. So 2 Corinthians 7, verse 9 reminds us of this. As Paul writes to Corinth, they were sorry by his first letter. And so he recognizes that. He says, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.

You see, just recognizing sin is not enough. Something must be done about it. He says, you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.

For godly sorrow produces repentance, rethinking, reorganizing our brain so that our actions are different. It says it leads to salvation, not to be regretted, but on the other hand, the sorrow of the world, the leavened sorrow, produces death. So both produce something. One produces repentance to salvation, the other one just leads in the wrong direction, leads to death. But when we change our thinking, notice the ingredients of that kind of rethinking. Verse 11, observe this very thing. You soured in a godly manner what diligence it produced in you. Because we're not just quitting at the end of the days of unleavened bread, we're on a lifelong journey to change our lives, not just change our habits for a week. We're gonna be diligent, spiritually speaking, not just making some physical thing that's over and done in seven days, but we see the spiritual significance and we're gonna be diligent about changing our minds so our actions change. In fact, it says, what clearing, because we recognize in true repentance is where our sins can be put away and God can forgive us and justify us and bring us into a right relationship with Him. He also says, what indignation, because we need to be sick and tired of sin. You ever get mad at yourself? How could I do that? I'm indignant with myself for allowing me to think that way. What was I doing? I can't have that. God's spirit has to convict me to change, to be different, to be totally sick of sin so that I'm not going to go that way anymore. I am indignant with myself and I'm not going to allow myself to go that way because by the power of God's spirit, I can be different. I need to be different. I can't accept sin in that way because God doesn't accept it. Because if I accept that, He says, what fear? What a fearful thing to take sin casually. We cannot accept that. We cannot have that ingredient in our thinking. It's got to be gone. In fact, we've got to have a vehement desire.

Nothing will stop us from fulfilling our calling to put on the character of Jesus Christ. We're going to have this zeal. We're going to have this direction in our life and ultimately be vindicated because we can put that old self, that wrong thinking, those sins behind us, and never look back. And ultimately, by the power of God's spirit, we can prove ourselves to be clear.

I mean, these are powerful, active ingredients. Desire, diligence, vehemence, zeal. This isn't just some, oh well, another year. So what? Big deal. Got through it. Now I can have red again.

If we think that way spiritually, we're just consuming this world's junk food, and we cannot restock with that. And we're told here, sorrow, being sorry about it's not enough. True repentance is when we're sorry, but then we determine without a doubt to change our conduct. And we can do that. It's possible. In fact, it's more than possible. It can absolutely happen because God promises us it is 100% locked deal. We can be different. So God's not standing in our way. Now who is?

Yeah, I'm standing in my own way. It's my choice. It's my choice. No one will change and be pleased with God without repentance. And so we need to ask God to grant us repentance. Romans 2, verse 4 reminds us of that. God grants repentance. Turn to God and ask Him, because in our daily lives we are under siege. We are in a war, a spiritual battle, and thoughts are constantly besieging us and hitting us from every direction that we turn. What kind of thoughts are they?

Powerful, positive, spiritual thoughts, right?

Unfortunately, they're not. Most of the thoughts that besiege us are negative. They're negative thoughts. It reflects the attitude of this world. In fact, surveys have been done by the number of thoughts that enter into our minds just because of the advertising that we face every single day. You might not even have thought about it as you drove over here today. You were besieged by all kinds of different ads as you were driving down the street. Or if you used a GPS, probably ads popped up on your GPS that says, hey, why don't you stop here? Why don't you go over here? Buy this hamburger. Oh, no, wait, I'm loving bread. I'm not doing that. Studies have shown that you have probably been hit with 5,000 advertising messages a day.

5,000. And that's on the low side. Some go as high as 10,000. And so, whether it's the internet or our GPS or the radio, the television, whatever it may be, billboards, they're all out there. And it's infecting our thinking. And so, if you consider, all right, if I sleep eight hours a day, I'm exposed to these 5,000 to 10,000 ads of negative thinking overall every single day. In a year, that's 1.8 million thoughts. Just in advertising. Just in advertising. And they're always so intelligent. They're always so thoughtful. They're always so helpful. They're always so wonderful. But I think we get a really good idea. It's a reflection of this world. The greedy side. It appeals to the greedy side, the carnal side of human nature.

And when we think about those negative thoughts, this negative side of things, is it possible to have a negative thought and a positive thought at the same time?

I don't know about you. I can't do it. Well, unless you're positively negative, I guess you could do that. But you can't. Your brain doesn't work that way. It doesn't. So, if I'm going to change where I'm at right now, I have to change my thinking. God even tells us, if we just think as normal, everyday human beings, our carnal nature points to the fact where God tells us, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Isaiah 55 verse 8. Certainly that reminder. And so, as we think about these various things, what is it that comes into my mind? Where do those thoughts come from? Who do I listen to? What am I thinking? I could be on my phone right now, going through whatever the latest news is, whatever the latest sports score is, whatever it is. Is that where I'm going? How do you handle those thoughts that come into your mind? You see, if we restock with repentance and right thoughts, we have to have a process. There has to be a process to help us to understand how to do this. How do I change my thought life? Well, if we're going to change our thought life, it starts with our reception. If you're keeping track, this is point 1a. 1a out of our two points. Change thinking starts with our reception. How we receive thoughts. Now, how much am I guarding my thinking? How much am I protecting my brain? Because I'm receiving these things every waking moment of the day. So what do I do when it doesn't line up with God's thoughts? When it doesn't line up with spiritual thinking, spiritual ideas, it doesn't line up with the commandments of God? Well, do I purposely, intentionally cast them down so that it doesn't undermine my growth, my relationship with God? Or do these ingredients look pretty good? Well, maybe I'll just have a little taste test. A little taste couldn't hurt, could it? Just a little nibble for my palate. You see, too often that's the way we are. We allow a little taste instead of just casting out these wrong thoughts. But we've got to do otherwise. In fact, if you look over to 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, look at this powerful passage.

God inspired Paul to remind us this taste test of wrong thinking, wrong thoughts, the insincerity, the wickedness that's out there. We can't satisfy our palate with that.

We've got to watch how we receive these thoughts and what we do with them. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, it says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not physical, they're not fleshly, but mighty in God. We've been given the power of God's Spirit. We have the weapon that is the most successful in overcoming sin. It says, mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Every moment we just might want a little taste, just a little nibble. We can cast that out because we've been given powerful weapons to overcome that kind of thinking. And so he says, we can bring every thought into captivity, to the obedience of Christ, and be ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So with God's help, how many thoughts can I control? How many thoughts do I rule over? How many thoughts that are evil do I allow to enter my mind? Well, He says He's given us the power to bring every thought, every thought into captivity. But with everything that's going on in our world, the economic mess that's out here, all the anxiety, the stress, the political things that are going on, every new name that's coming into the race already, all of these types of things, family issues, the drama that surrounds our lives, it tries to penetrate the stronghold of God's way of thinking. And so do we allow it to have a grip on our thinking? You see, God's not worried about that. He says He's not given us a spirit of fear, that we have to be fearful, that we have to be anxious, that we have to allow that kind of thinking to override the positive spiritual way of thinking. He says, no, I'm not giving you a spirit of fear, but it's a spirit of power and love and of a sound mind. And so we don't have to be timid when we face the challenges of the thinking of this world. We can have the power to be calm and well-balanced and disciplined and self-controlled. That's what that passage that Paul told Timothy all about. He said, when we have that kind of thinking, we can make it our goal and purpose in our hearts to only receive right thoughts. We can make it intentional. We can be deliberate. We can choose and not have to worry because we can pray that God will lead us to peace and to power and to love. But we better watch how we receive these thoughts. Because if we're to restock with repentance, we've got to examine those thoughts. That's 1b. 1b. If we're to change our thinking, those things that come to our minds have to be examined, just like we examine our lives before Unleavened Bread, just like we examine the ingredients to make sure there's no yeast or leavening in this product. Now, as I go on from Unleavened Bread, I better examine my thoughts and analyze these things that are coming into my mind. Would you ever have some negative thought just, boom, come by special attack force? And it leaves you wondering, where in the world did that come from? Well, we better be thinking, where did that come from? Because it's important and absolutely critical to understand, where does that unwholesome thought come from? Where does that unrighteous idea come from? I better examine it. I better test it. And just like that yeast or baking powder, I mean, I can't believe what items have baking powder. Can you believe that? It's like, how does that have baking soda in it? That's just no way! Yeah, yeah, I've been surprised a couple times this week by things that have baking powder in them that I never would have guessed.

Hey, thoughts are like that. Just when you are open and we let our guard down, boom, there it comes. Where did it come from? Did that come from my own selfishness, my own greed? All too often, that's where those thoughts begin. Yes, it could be an attack from evil forces, no doubt. But I better identify where that's coming from. Because if I don't identify it, I'm going to be caught off guard again. So to do that, I identify the source of that unscriptural thought, because then I can eliminate it. Then I can expose it. Then I can reduce the impact of that in my life. And like it says here in 2 Corinthians 10, I can bring every thought into captivity, to the obedience of Christ. I mean, that's the only way we're going to continue to be spiritually unleavened. It's the only way to take those thoughts into captivity, to identify them, see them for what they are, examine them, and captivate them. This word, captivity, it's eich malitizo is the Greek word there. Say that with me. Eich malitizo. Eich malitizo. Okay, probably the only time in your life you'll ever say that. What does that have to do with anything? Well, it's two Greek words. The eich me is a military word for a spear.

The malitizo means to be captured. Captured with a spear. We're talking about a military conflict. And here it's a spiritual campaign that we've been called to a spiritual military campaign because sin is constantly marching against us. And its thoughts are coming to our thinking and trying to gain control. But through Christ, those thoughts can be captive. And the triumph, the success, the victory is through the mind of Jesus Christ. And in fact, the way this sentence is worded here, this is a present tense. This is happening in an ongoing, continual kind of way. We are to bring constantly, continually, every day, all the time, the thinking in our minds into the obedience of Christ. All of our plans. Everything should be by the measure, the stature, of the mind of Christ. Formed, executed under His control. Because you know what they did with captives in the Roman Empire? When the Romans went out and conquered, they would bring back the leaders, the great generals of the enemy, and parade them through the streets of Rome to show their great power and authority of the Roman Empire and the Roman army. That's what this is talking about. It's using that as an example that we lead those wrong thoughts as conquerors. And we parade the fact that we have overcome. And so these strongholds of self-will, selfishness, self-importance have to be paraded as nothing because we have conquered them and led them captive as the victors through Jesus Christ. And so all our own plans, all our own purposes have to be subject ultimately to the one who conquers, to the all-powerful, conquering Jesus Christ. So we have to take them our prisoner. And we can do that by the power of God's Holy Spirit. So every thought, everyone that comes into our mind has to be analyzed, has to be examined. We compare that thought to the will of God in our life, and then either we reject it or we accept it. We accept it. Because ultimately, if you look over at Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3 verse 15, we can accept the godly thoughts and must accept those thoughts. And we must allow them to be our dominant thinking. Not just a once in a while, well, once in a while I put my mind on God. Once in a while I think of spiritual... No, that has to be our dominant thought. So Colossians 3, 15 is a great reminder of that. It says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you are also called in one body and be thankful. Well, who rules your thinking? Who rules your thinking? Unleavened bread is a great reminder of that. Who decides? Whose opinion really counts? I was reminded of a story that Colossians 3, 15 is actually connected to Babe Ruth. You might say, what in the world has Babe Ruth got to do with the peace of God ruling in your hearts? Well, supposedly it's a true story back in the day when Babe Ruth played. The time he got up to the plate and he lets one strike pass. Umpire, strike one.

Next ball comes, Stereich II. Babe Ruth calms the crowd. He's going to hit this next one out of the park. He waits, looked like a ball to him. Kecher catches the ball. The umpire says, Stereich III, you're out! The crowd goes crazy. They're booing. Everything's going nuts. And Babe Ruth looks at the umpire and he says to the umpire, he says, there's 40,000 people here that know that last one was a ball, you tomato head. Supposedly he said tomato head. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the way the story goes. You know what the umpire said to Babe Ruth?

He said, well, maybe so, but mine is the only opinion that counts. You're out.

So Babe Ruth walked to the bench. All right, what does that have to do with Colossians 3.15?

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. This word for rule in the Greek, it's bravao. I won't make you say it, but it means to be an umpire. It means to be an umpire because the umpire determines the calls. He decides ultimately the game. He directs the game.

Let God and His Spirit be the umpire in your heart. So if we're going to examine our thoughts, change our thinking, we better be umpires using God's Spirit to make the calls. Because wherever there's wrong motivation, wrong thinking, the peace of Christ better step in and we better allow God's Spirit to help us decide what thought is going to prevail. The right thought, the wickedness, the insincerity, or the truth. And so here, once again, we're commanded continually. Notice it says, let it rule in your hearts on an ongoing basis. This has to happen continually to be that umpire, spiritual umpire, in order to enjoy godly peace. Because once we start entertaining that negative thought, that sinful idea, we start to accept it. We allow it to lodge in our brain, in this mental hard drive, and it starts to take its place. We can't accept that. We can't allow that to happen. And some of these thoughts, some of these ideas, some of these suggestions that come to our thinking, boy, they're from some very well-meaning places. Maybe they're from a good friend. Maybe from family. Maybe from a place they don't even realize what they're saying is totally against the will of God. But if we ever begin to entertain that, we ever begin to sample that, or taste test it, or consider just a little morsel of that, then we're allowing them to build a stronghold in our life. And so we analyze it, we reject the negative, sinful thoughts, and we call them out. Because that's the only way the enemy is going to be defeated. And every one of us have been given the authority to do just that. God has designated us as spiritual umpires in our own lives.

And so we can do this and examine these thoughts if we're to restock with repentance. Now, of course, it doesn't stop there. This is 1c. 1c. If we're to change our thinking, restock with repentance, we have to replace those thoughts. Repentance means replacing those, not just examining them, but we've got to replace them. Because it's not enough just to cast down arguments, to refute it, to destroy that way of thinking, reckoning, reasoning, whatever you want to call it. Is that enough? Is that enough just to cast it down? Well, if unleavened breads taught us anything, we recognize the fact we were to replace leavening with what was unleavened. We have to replace the wrong. We have to replace the sinful, the negative, with the truth of the Word of God. Because that void has to be filled, and it has to be filled with life, real life, spiritual life, the words of life. And so we replace with truth the falsehood. We replace with generosity if we've been stealing, if we haven't been honest in our work. We must be generous. We have to be healthy, helpful talk if our talk has strayed from the right, nutritious, healthy way of speaking. We have to put on kindness and compassion, put away the bitterness and the rage and the anger. Because just coming out of sin, it's not enough. It's not enough. Years ago on Fox News, there was a guy who kind of promoted spiritual side of things. They called this guy the anti-fat pastor. You ever heard of the anti-fat pastor? I think he's still around.

His name was Steve Reynolds, and he was really big, really big. And as a pastor, he kind of did the whole biggest loser kind of thing. And he ended up losing a hundred pounds. And they interviewed him on Fox News, and they started calling him the anti-fat pastor. Because he talked about how he replaced the bagel with a health bar, and how he replaced the ice cream with non-fat yogurt, and how he got rid of the mayonnaise and started using mustard. And the whole idea behind the anti-fat pastor was this replacement principle. You replace the unhealthy with a healthy one. And spiritually speaking, that's what we have to do. You know what it comes down to?

It comes down to a thousand little teeny decisions. It's not one giant decision. Well, yeah, okay, we have to make a big decision. But every step of the way, we don't overcome evil by just recognizing it. We have to replace it. We have to replenish ourselves with the words of life. We have to exchange that for what is good. And so we can break the sinful habits by replacing them with righteous ones. Are we grateful? Well, that's how you stop complaining.

Are we self-important? I'm me, myself, I, I'm what's most important. You know, is that the way it is?

Well, replace that with serving and helping and cooperating. Think life, think replenish, think restocking. You see, if I'm greedy, I need to replace that with generosity.

Put people before things and don't allow those negative thoughts to drag us back into this wallowing pit of sin and worthlessness because God can and will and promises to bring us back when we dedicate our lives to Him. There's a beautiful passage in Psalms, Psalm 94 verse 19. Here's an example, because sometimes it's just overwhelming anxiety and stress that we're faced with because so many things are hitting us from every direction. It can be overwhelming. Notice what Psalm 94 verse 19 even says about this because our world has placed us in this bubble of anxiousness. But Psalm 94 verse 19, it says, in the multitude of my anxieties within me, your comforts delight my soul. That's a change of thinking. That's a change of direction because normally we're going to be worrisome. We're going to let things overwhelm us. But when we redirect our thinking, we examine those thoughts, we replace them with God's way, we cancel out the negativity, the anxiety, and we've replaced it with the very loving words of our great God.

I mean, when's the last time you memorized a passage of the Bible?

If you haven't memorized a passage in the Bible lately, you better do it.

We all have to do this because at the right time, that passage will fill our thoughts and can battle that negativity. It can very easily do that when those kinds of positive, godly thoughts fill our minds, when we recite those things. Great peace have those who love your law and nothing, nothing causes them to stumble. You see, when I'm about to fall, if that passage comes to my mind, I know God's with me. I know He's there. I know even though I'm faced with all the trouble and trials and difficulties and anxiety, God's there and He's not going anywhere. And He can fill my mind with that right kind of thinking. But if His word isn't there, how am I going to combat it? How am I going to overcome it? Yeah, He's going to bring all things into remembrance. But if I haven't put it there, what am I going to remember?

Probably the negativity, probably the sinful thoughts, probably the evil that comes into our minds. And so what we begin to see through this lesson of Unleavened Bread is that right thoughts allow God to work powerfully in our lives. We are to be His workmanship. In fact, Ephesians, chapter 2 tells us that. You can just write that down. We are His workmanship. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works. We weren't created to fail. We weren't created to fall short. We weren't created to restock our shelves with the sins and evil ways of this world. We put away that old individual sinful man, and we don't stop there, not just putting away the old, but we put on the new, and we replace it as we repent. Because ultimately, that means renewal. Renewal. And that's point 1d. When it comes to repentance and rethinking, if we're going to change our thinking, that means being reinvigorated, being renewed. It's not, ah, another unleavened bread is by, well, at least I don't have to suffer through this for another year.

Now we're taking those spiritual lessons to heart. We're going to be restored and replenished and restocked with God's way of thinking and be revived that way. Romans 12, verse 2 is certainly a reminder of that. Maybe this is a memory scripture. Romans 12, verse 2, Don't be conformed to this world. That's the way of the world. That's the thinking of this world. It wants to grab us and shape us and mold us into its way of thinking. But if we're going to be renewed, regenerated, we're going to be refurbished with the mind of Christ. Look at Romans 12, too. Don't be conformed to that way of thinking, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we see this is not just a one-time thing, ongoing, day after day, hour after maybe minute by minute, minute by minute. And by doing this, it says we prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We can prove it. We prove it to ourselves. We prove it to our families. We prove it to God that His way really does work in our lives. We allow God to change us from the inside to a new way of thinking. In fact, when you look back at verse 2, I love the way that the message version translates this. Romans 12, too, you can follow along. It says, take your everyday ordinary life. You're sleeping. You're eating. Go into work. Walk it around life. Place it before God as an offering. Embrace what God does for you as the best thing that you can do for Him.

Don't become so self-adjusted to your culture that you fit in without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. It says you'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you and quickly respond to it. And unlike the culture around you always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out in you and develops well-formed maturity in you. Wow, those are powerful words, aren't they? You see, God's called us to a whole different way. Now, I know at this time of the year it's getting to be spring. Many of us are campers. How many of you like to go camping? Okay, some of you are campers.

Now, there is a spiritual connection here that's an interesting one.

As we think about this renewal and change of thinking, if we're into camping, it's one thing to get out there and set up your tent. But I know some like to buy an RV. That's my kind of camping because I hate camping. Okay, you buy an RV, you buy a camper, you buy a motorhome.

I mean, it's a literal home on wheels. Who needs a sleeping bag, right? Who needs a campfire? I don't have to haul up water from the stream. I got my little sink there. Everything's great. I can take that park with all the comforts of home. And so you can go camping, never even go outside.

All right, why'd you buy an RV anyway?

Well, I think the idea behind buying an RV is I want to see new places, experience new things. I want to get out there in the world.

Whoa, it changed.

You brought everything with you. You see, nothing changed. Oh, yeah, you might drive to a new place. You put yourself down in new surroundings. The scenery changed a little bit.

But how useless is that? Because we carry along all our old possessions, our old junk, our stuff, all the things that are up in those little cubby holes. Who knows what's there anymore? We brought our whole old perspective right along with us. And all we did is change the scenery. We can't do that. We can't do that spiritually speaking.

We can't be that way. We've got to be different. We've got that. That's all the stuff we're supposed to leave behind. That's not what we're supposed to drag along with us. And so as we consider that, we're called to fill our minds differently. It's got to be different. If we're in Christ, Paul says we're a new creation. That old RV, it's gone. It's done. It's passed away. All things have become new. That's reinvigorated. That's renewed. That's rejuvenated. That's what it's all about. We change our life by changing our thinking. And as we do that, we become like Christ. And so as we consider how we restock the shelves of our life, repentance has to be at the forefront.

But there's also a second thing to keep in mind.

We have to restock with an action plan. We have to have a plan. What's the plan? How are we going to do this? How are we going to accomplish it? I mean, don't we do this normally in our life in certain ways? I mean, many of you have meal plans for the week. If you're a student, you probably have a homework schedule. If you're a parent, you might have chore charts for your kids. Or maybe you've got a calendar for your job and you've got a work calendar. You've got your Google reminders.

If we're going to succeed, we better have a plan. And it is amazing, even in the physical things, the amount of planning that goes into certain activities. Just physical activities that in the greater scheme of things don't matter two bits. I was reminded of that this week. It's the NFL draft. And yeah, many people are getting sidetracked with that. Maybe right now. But really, get down to it. What is the importance? Okay, I'm a fan. I admit that. And I was reminded of this, the amount of preparation that is needed, even in just something as simple as you might think as a football game.

And if you can imagine the season during the NFL season, Sunday they play the game. Do you know what happens by Sunday night? By Sunday night, the coaches are grading film for their players, preparing for the next week's game. That's just hours after the game just ended. And then they get to Monday, and now all the corrections are made.

The players get there at six o'clock in the morning. They go over film with their position coaches. They look at the mistakes that they made from the last game. The players get treatment, and the coaches flip the page from the last opponent, the mistakes they made, to what's coming next. And they start game planning on Monday morning. By the time they get to Tuesday, every individual coach has done his research, and their planning, and their staffs meet together. And they begin to compile all that information. And then they create by that Tuesday morning the game plan. How are they going to attack this next team? What are they going to do on offense? What are they going to do on defense?

They have their separate meetings, and they set these game plans in motion. They look at video. They cut all kinds of video clips together, and every kind of information is distributed to all the players with a click of a button so they can look at it on their tablets. And by the time they get to Wednesday, now they're getting more intricate.

They're looking at what happens on first down and what happens on second down as they're going to face this new opponent on Sunday. They get together, and the head coach talks to them, and they position them in ways that they can win. And the full team gets together with offense and defense. Then they separate, and they go into all kinds of details on what they're going to do on these very specific important downs of first down and second down.

And the position coaches get into very specific details of what they want each individual player to do. And they focus on those downs and special teams. They have to practice every single day, every day. And so this practice goes on until they finally get to Thursday. Thursday they focus usually on third down because that's where you stop the offense or the defense can hold them up.

And they start that day once again with more meetings. And the offense and the defense, they get together. They have their positional coaches, and they focus on how to approach very specific circumstances. This is what we're going to do if we're putting this situation. This is how we're going to deal with this. And they do this on both sides of the ball. And then they practice. And they put those plans into motion. And they review film of the practice.

Because by Friday, now they're going to get into the red zone. Special situations that may come up. They're going to practice those things. And the offense and the defense has more meetings, more practice, more film review. So that by the day before the game, they say the hay's never in the barn. Because they continue to work. They continue a walkthrough practice. They continue to adjust.

They continue to add. They continue to remove things from the game plan. Because they want to be totally prepared for this opponent. And in fact, those adjustments go on all the way up even to Sunday morning where they may tweak things. But by 1 o'clock on Sunday, it's game time. It's game time. It's time now to put this plan into action.

How can it be any different for us? I mean, if it's that and a physical thing? Spiritually, do we put any kind of time like this into our spiritual thinking and action plan? Do we have a spiritual action plan?

Football teams have an action plan. The Bible tells us we have to have an action plan. 11 bread reminds us that we need an action plan. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 13.

1 Peter 1, verse 13. In a way, this is talking about this preparation, this action plan, the game plan that we need to institute when it comes to our spiritual responsibilities. 1 Peter 1, verse 13. It starts out with a kind of funny phrase. You've noticed this before. 1 Peter 1, verse 13. It says, therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober, rest your hope fully on the grace that's to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I remember reading this a long time ago and saying, well, I didn't know my mind had loins that had to be girded. What in the world are they talking about? I know some translations get rid of the girding your loins and it says to be strong, be of strong mind. But once again, it's interesting, this girding that is to take place in our minds, goes back once again to battle, goes back to soldiers, goes back to the military, because the soldiers would gird themselves for battle. And what would that mean? Well, normally they'd be wearing longer tunics, robes of sorts. And so, in order to go into battle, they would lift up those long robes and tuck them into their belts.

By tucking the robe into their belts, now they're ready to run. They're ready for battle. Their sword's not going to get caught up in all the flowing material that's down there. They've girded their loins by tucking it in. So now their knees are exposed and they're ready for battle. They can run. They can take on the enemy. And so they girded themselves. So imagine this going on in our mind. Get your mind ready for battle. Get all the junk out of the way. Get the extra material out of the way so you're ready to fight. You're ready to take on the spiritual enemy. And in fact, if you look to girding up in the Old Testament, in Hebrew, when it uses the word gird, it is connected to the Greek. It can mean to tuck it in, to put it into your belt. Yes, it can definitely mean that so you don't trip over. It can mean to fasten it so you get it out of the way. But there's also another aspect of the meaning in Hebrew that carries the sense of being encircled. Because your belt goes all around you and you tuck that thing in all around.

And so to gird yourself also means to be encircled. And of course, if you think of a soldier in a battle, they're going to go march against this city. And that wall encircles the city and is protecting it. Well, the soldier is supposed to be encircled and protected by a wall, in a sense, because they gird themselves not just to run faster, but they lock themselves up. And they're encased. They're protected, in a sense, especially when you begin to think about this spiritually. We get our minds ready for action and we are encircled, protected by the Spirit of God. We're like a walled city when we gird the loins of our minds. We are prepared for spiritual battle. In fact, some of the newer translations will say that. Prepare your minds for action.

So what does that lead us back to then? Prepare for action. Have an action plan. Have a purpose. Have a guide. Have that chart that will lead you to success. Be prepared. Be ready, in other words. And we have to devise that plan. You can write down Proverbs 14, 22. It says, devise to do good. In other words, plan. Make a plan. Prepare. Work it out, in other words. I mean, can you imagine for a second if God didn't prepare? If God didn't have a plan. If God didn't have a purpose. Over and over and over again we look through His Word and He purposed everything. He planned it all out. Even the sacrifice of Christ from the foundation of the world, long before it was even needed, was already a done deal. So we better, likewise, have an action plan for success. And of course, okay, we heard this. Blah, blah, blah, yeah, yeah, here it is again, yeah, and all this kind of stuff. Oh, we've heard it all, but when am I going to do something about it? Am I just going to sit here or talk and listen to this once again and never put it into practice and never change? Blah, blah, blah, yeah, let's get out of here and ready to eat. I can't think like that. I've got to stop that kind of thinking and have an action plan, because this is important. This is so critical for each and every one of us. And if I don't take it at heart, I'm in trouble. Because if I do what I've always done, I'm going to get what I've always got. And that's not spiritual. If I do what I've always done, I'll get what I've always got. Isn't it time to get past the blah, blah, blah, oh, heard it again, yeah, got that, the old stuff, yeah, same old jokes, yeah, okay. Well, we better not look at it that way. If we're going to change our life, we need a specific, practical checklist of action items that will ultimately lead to change. Because if we do what we've always done, we're going to get what we've always got. And that's not on the menu of God's spiritual list for us. Let's look at an example. My spiritual theme for the month, quit complaining.

This is for me. You've got to knock that off. That is unacceptable. You've allowed that to enter your mind, and it comes out of your mouth way too often. I've got to have an action plan. My goal, I've got to focus on being more thankful. I've got to stop the complaining. I know Philippians 2.14 says, do all things without murmuring and complaining. I've got it. I'm not doing it. I know it to be true. But now I've got to begin to express my thankfulness, thankfulness to God, my appreciation of others. If I'm going to stop complaining, I have to do that. That's my goal.

What's my plan? I've got to have an action plan. When I get up, I have to start every single day with a prayer of thanksgiving. Thank you, God, for giving me another day. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to change and grow. I'm so thankful, Father, that you allowed me an opportunity to put on Christ. And I say, I have to thank you. I have to start that way.

Make that point in my life. Thank God for all the other blessings. Maybe you're a post-it note kind of person. If you're a post-it note kind of person, all right, put it on the mirror in the bathroom. Quit complaining! But I have to replace it with what's right. Be thankful. Be compassionate. Appreciate. It's the only words I have to write up there.

But I have to keep doing that until it becomes my habit.

Bing! Oh, hey, I got a reminder. It's breakfast time. Yeah, be grateful. I can set a reminder on my phone. It can ding me at breakfast or lunch, dinner. No complaining today! I can put it as a reminder in a hundred different ways to help me to exchange that wrong thinking to a right way through this action plan. And if I replace those complaints throughout the day by thinking something positive, thinking about someone that I'm grateful for, that I express appreciation to someone, or just be quiet. Keep it to yourself. Part of my plan is I've got to thank people as well. Boy, do I take people for granted. My plan, I'm going to write a thank you note every week. Challenge myself with one. Could I do one? I think I could do one. Okay, it could be a text. I could just text somebody. Thanks. Appreciate that.

Can I do that? I could do that. I could send an email, maybe a Snapchat, to appreciate someone.

I can do that. It's got to be a part of the plan, though, to say thanks and express the gratitude that I need to. Maybe with some kindness that they've done, just to appreciate the relationship that we have. When's the last time I told someone I just appreciate who they are? Thanks for being my friend. You know, you think about this action plan.

That's not very complicated, is it? It can be that simple. Because if we start small, we can always add more. We can always have another challenge as we need it. It's got to be like lifting weights. We start with the lighter weights. We gradually work our way up. And for you, I mean, I've got plenty of other things I've got a plan for, too. Not just quit complaining.

But it can be anything. It could be prayer. I need to be more dedicated to praying.

Well, what's my goal? What's my plan? I need to love my wife more thoroughly, more intimately. How am I going to do that? How am I going to watch less TV? Boy, do I get caught up in the Netflix, Amazon Prime, the whole thing. Now, I don't watch one episode. I've got to binge on the whole season to get through it. I can't do that. That's just such a waste of time. Well, what's my plan? How am I going to do that? You see, that is so critical to do those things. How can I read my Bible? How can I spend more time with my family? I can't just say, oh, I need to spend more time. Well, yeah, that's a given. All right, what's your goal? And how are you going to do it? We've got enemies out there that are against us. We better have a plan. Look at Proverbs 21, verse 5. Proverbs 21, verse 5 is such an encouraging passage for me personally, because it does show that this spiritual planning pays off. And really, I think we could take it as a promise from God. Proverbs 21, verse 5, we may just see the physical side of this, but I think there's greater spiritual truth when you really recognize what it's talking about. It's just a short little one-sentence phrase here in the Proverbs. Proverbs 21, verse 5, it says, The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who's hasty, surely to poverty. Now, that's an unleavened bread kind of thing. Sincerity and truth? Or wickedness? Insincerity? Which is it? I don't think this is just talking about, well, you work hard, you're going to make a lot of money. I don't think that's what it's talking about here. Talk about spiritual things. When we are spiritually diligent, it will lead to spiritual success. If we don't plan, how can it lead to prosperity? Good planning, hard work, spiritually setting a plan leads to spiritual prosperity. That's what's most important, because we want something that's going to be permanent. Unleavened bread was just seven days, and it's over with. But we want permanent change, and we've got to be willing to put forth that effort. And yet, just a few minutes that we spend planning, I believe it will reap amazing spiritual rewards as the weeks go on. And we can keep it simple, because when we try to accomplish too much, yeah, I can't do it. Forget it. But God can change us and promises to change us by the power of His Spirit. And so we've been called to this commitment to do that. And when we make a spiritual action plan, then we're that much closer to an intentional spiritual life. How many times have we heard that passage that is such a reminder that we can't do it on our own? We remember Jeremiah 10.23, it's not in man to direct his own steps. Yeah, we need God's help. We need God's guidance.

And it's like the climbers climbing up the mountain. How are they ever going to make it to the top?

One step at a time. One step at a time. Because if we count on our own strength, our own thinking, our own reasoning, our own logic, it's going to be trouble. Because these efforts, even though they're very sincere, fail because they leave out God. And so, on 11 bread is called us, I believe, to annihilate the formula of superficial analysis plus superficial focus yields short-term change. God's not after short-term change. He's after a new creation. And so, as God's people, we're not called to be misoneists. Can't be a misoneist. What is that?

That's somebody who doesn't like to change. Someone who doesn't like new, innovative things. God wants us to be new. He wants us to put on the mind of Christ. So, He's given us new ways to live, new ways to relate to others, new ways to serve, new ways to think. And so, as 11 bread ends, let's commit ourselves to rethink and repent and start with how we receive those messages that we're confronted with every single day and examine them. Take them to heart and replace the wrong thoughts with what's right and be renewed, be changed. And we can do that by instituting our spiritual action plan, have a game plan on how we can grow to be more Christ-like, to put on His character. And when we do, we move beyond a change of diet to a change of heart as we restock our spiritual shelves.

Thank you very much for that message. If everybody would take their hymnals and stand. I'll close this morning's service with a hymn and turn to page number 157. And we'll sing, By This Shall All Men Know. And after this hymn, I'd like to call on a deacon in the Cincinnati congregation, Mr. Dwayne Phelps. Page number 157.