A Sound Mind | Awakened Worship Encounter

You know, in this season, in my journey, which, you know, season is a word that we can get tired of. You know, we have four seasons, and every season is only beautiful in its time. But in this faith walk, some seasons tend to be longer than others. And if I'm honest, I'm a little tired of speaking of it, and I'm sure many of you are tired of hearing about it. But in the spirit of authenticity, I don't know how not to mention these dark days, because I'm speaking to my soul like I never have before.

So I want to read Psalm 103, verses 1 through 5, over us in the Passion translation. Just listen. With my whole heart, with my whole life, and with my innermost being, I bow in wonder and love before you, the holy God Yahweh. You are my soul's celebration. How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness you've done for me?

You kissed my heart with forgiveness in spite of all I've done. You've healed me inside and out from every disease. You rescued me from hell and saved my life. You've crowned me with love and mercy. You satisfy my every desire with good things.

You've supercharged my life so that I can soar again like an eagle in the sky. So I come to you from that place, speaking to my own soul. I believe that when we allow God to bring to us the treasures stored in dark places, places, there's greater opportunity for people to be impacted. And while in my flesh, I don't necessarily want to give that away, the Lord has been so very kind to me. The last few messages I've preached, the Lord's kind of given me a style.

That is going to be the case again in this message, where I'm just going to talk to you. I'm going to bring seven takeaways. They're not going to be on the screen because the Lord used a text from Sam Riddle this morning to change the direction of my message. I'll tell you that text in a moment. Not all of it.

Not all the parts about how you can't live without me and all those. I'll leave all that out.

We're going to look at 2 Timothy 1. There's two scriptures that will be on the screen, 2 Timothy 1, and then we'll look in Second Corinthians a little bit later. All these messages end up on the app on our website under Women's Ministry. It's the podcast label. So if you're.

If the best way for you is to lean in and not get stressed out about the notes, forgetting what I said, starting to be angry at me for talking too fast. Do whatever's best for you and for me, that would be great. But in this letter, second Timothy, this is Paul's final letter of his life, and it's the most personal one. He's in a time of real trial. He's writing yet again from another prison there in Rome, and he's writing to his dear friend and protege, actually his spiritual son, young Timothy, who at the time is on assignment in Ephesus.

Paul is there in Rome, and he's really suffering. I find myself reading these writings so many throughout Scripture, in times of suffering. It's not going well for Paul. And he tells Timothy this, this is rough. This is the worst one, and I know I'm going to be executed.

And he ultimately was. He pleads with Timothy. He says, come to me here in prison so I can deposit things into you that you're going to need to carry out the mission. He's letting Timothy know and in so doing, letting us know even tonight, that hardship and suffering and sacrifice are inherent to the Christian life. It's part of it, and it's a bigger part of it than our flesh likes to admit.

So he's writing here in chapter one, starting with verse three. These are Paul's words from prison. Facing his death, I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing. I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, Timothy, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I'm persuaded is in you also. See, it's a heritage of faith.

Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you, through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Paul saying, I wish that you would come to me so I can lay my hands on you. And the gift of God inside of you would be stirred up so you can live out this mission. So here's takeaway number one.

There's going to be seven in all. God will give us what we need to endure.

This isn't just an idea or a poetic concept, but this is something that is life to me in this season of my life. He gives us what we need to endure. God has not given us A spirit of fear. That phrase spirit of fear comes from two words, pneuma and. And Delia.

Pneuma is the movement of air. It's wind, it's breath. It's a spirit. And spirits are just breaths. The word fear there is Delia.

It's cowardice. It's the lack of courage or the lack of firmness of purpose. It's the avoidance of danger. So the spirit of fear affects your breath.

The spirit of fear is when your predominant driving force is the avoidance of danger or suffering. The spirit of fear is when we do not operate in the firmness of purpose. We don't recognize God's purpose in things, and we believe we cannot trust his purpose. And somehow his purpose can be thwarted by. By these unavoidable things that will come upon us.

It's a spirit. And he said, I did not give you that spirit. That's not the breath I gave you to fill your lungs. But instead I gave you power and love and a sound mind. We're going to talk.

Mostly the majority of the message will be about the sound mind. But the word power there is the Greek word dunamis. It means the ability to perform form by the application of the Lord's inherent abilities. In other words, dunamis, power is ability through God's power. He said, that's what I've given you.

A spirit of power. Ability through my power. It's when our driving force is the recognition of the Lord's ability.

I gave you a spirit of that kind of power. And I gave you a spirit of love agape. It's a wholehearted love. It is a love without duplicity. Not a love when we're feeling romantic about our favorite worship song that's being sung.

It's not love when we've prayed that prayer on the run and things went our way. It is love without duplicity. You have my heart completely, Lord. I will not look anywhere else in the terrors of the night. I'm telling you, I have never been one that's understood the spirit of fear until this season where I will wake up and have to labor for my breath.

But I understand now that it's a spirit of fear. It has control of my breath. And I breathe that thing out and God comes time after time after time. We all have our stories. The details of mine right now don't matter.

But there are things it feels like on the daily today being a major part of that where I have to choose. No, it's love without duplicity. Sound mind. The way it's written in this place in scripture. It's the only time the word is used this way in all of scripture.

Sophronismos is the Greek word. It means safe minded. It means to aptly act out God's will by doing what he calls sound reasoning. See, those of you taking notes are already getting mad at me. It's aptly acting out God's will by doing what God calls sound reasoning, not what the world calls wisdom, but where he says, no, I'm telling you, I've got you, follow me.

That's what he calls a sound mind. Other translations call it sound judgment, self control, self discipline. And it encompasses all of that. It's when your driving force is the will of God and nothing else. Not our own will, not our circumstances, and certainly not our preferences.

This is hard fought what I'm bringing to you tonight. So if you feel led to come into agreement, that would be great. Don't fake it. But if you feel it, that would be awesome. It's the Psalm 19:14, reality.

It's when the meditations of our hearts are pleasing to God. What does that mean? It is actually better translated that which is set on repeat in your mind. May the words of my mouth and the meditations that which is set on repeat in my mind in be pleasing in your sight, O God.

So now I'm going to come to takeaway number two. And this is a direct quote from Sam Riddle's text and then an email that I got later from Tiffany Johnson. But this is takeaway number two. A sound mind is our inheritance.

Sound mind is our inheritance. I sent out an email to leaders asking for them to pray and Tiffany responded to me and said, may peace, strength and a sound mind be your portion. Well, it is our portion. It is our inheritance. We were singing it earlier.

Just give me Jesus. I don't need anyone else. I don't want anyone else. You are my one thing.

So we're going to talk now about the sound mind being our inheritance. And we're going to look in numbers 13. I think we might have that scripture for the screen as well. Numbers 13. We're going to start with verse 30, but before we get there, I'm going to kind of give you the backdrop.

It's a pretty familiar event in scripture. The Israelites have been delivered from their place of bondage there in Egypt. They've been journeying with women and children, over 2 million people. Moses has been leading.

And as they get closer to the place of promise, they have to cross the Red Sea. Their enemies are wiped out by the waters after they cross over. They've been fed in the wilderness, They've been provided for, and they're at the threshold of their place of promise. And Moses appoints 12, 12 spies, one from every tribe, and he says, go into the land and bring back a report of what the promise looks like. I felt like the Lord told me to do that tonight.

Terri, you've spied out some things, and I'm not claiming to have been through greater fire than others in the room. I'm just speaking from where I am right now. Like, going into that place that we're about to cross into, and the threat of the enemy being the sound that is attempting to take us out. That's where Israel is. All right, let's read the passage.

Then. Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, this is after he hears the report of the spies, which is, there's fruit, just like we were told. Here's some of the grapes that it took a couple men to carry. There's milk, there's honey. It's awesome.

But the enemies are not worth the promise. So Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, we should go up and take possession of that land, enemies and all, for we can certainly do it. But the men who had gone up with him said, we can't attack those people. They are stronger than we are. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.

They said, the land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there, the descendants of Anak that come from Nephilim. We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we look the same to them. So here are the Israelites on the threshold of their promise, the threshold of their inheritance.

The sound mind is our inheritance. And I'm here to announce to you this evening we're on the threshold of it. These 12 spies go out to scout the land. They're going to see it for themselves, but also to go back to the rest of the people and announce what the promise looks like. That is the call on leaders.

So I don't get to be silent in a more painful season, because as I face my enemies, I look at what God has prepared, and it's my job and your job to come back and announce that. So their possession of the land is only preceded by the report of the spies. And the spies were responsible to give an accurate picture of the promise of God and an accurate picture of the promise of God. Is not happiness all the time. An accurate picture of the promise of God?

Is not everything going according to our preferences? An accurate representation of the promise of God is not the American dream or the labels that I would prefer to wear.

There are labels on my life now, at age 53, that I never thought would be my life. But that's not an accurate picture of the promise of God. Caleb brings an accurate report, and if we keep reading, we learn that it was Joshua bringing the accurate report as well, while the spies bring a different report. The spies said we seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes when we looked at the enemy. And we looked like that to them, too.

This is funny. Was there a conversation between the giants and the spies? No, there was no conversation. The report didn't come from what they heard. The report came from what they thought.

And the Lord's after it. I want you to hear me tonight. Their greatest hindrance to the promise, Our greatest hindrance to the promise was not the giants. It was not the enemy's, but it was their thoughts.

You know, obey the Lord when he tells you to speak a word of life to someone. Because had Sam not sent me that text, I wouldn't have discovered these things. Maybe one day I'll give Sound Mind Part 2 from my original message.

Especially if you don't like this one, I'll give it a second try.

So now their thoughts are not only affecting the possession of their future and promise, but it's affecting those that they've been set to lead. In numbers 13, 3, it says that all the spies were leaders in Israel. So there were people coming behind them. Their thoughts, their bad report, was the thing that was spreading all throughout Israel. Take away number three.

The inheritance is not just for us, but for our children. I'm going to expound it now. The inheritance of a sound mind is not just for us, but for those coming behind us.

The land, the promise, was already theirs. The enemy cannot take anything away that's already been given to us. But the enemy can attack our faith, and he tries to weaken our immune system. The enemy's doorway is the spirit of fear. And the enemy's offered inheritance is also the spirit of fear.

But our inheritance is power. This isn't something. We're just saying our inheritance is power. It's love, and it's a sound mind.

Caleb makes the declaration, and most likely Joshua. We should go up and possess the land. We can do it. But that's not the report that spread. The report that spread was by the other 10 spies that said we can't do it.

Our enemies are stronger than us.

Some of you have been saying, I can't do it. I cannot do it. Because here's the reality takeaway number four. The war against the mind always has two sides. The war against the mind always has two sides.

I'm intentionally. I'm not trying to go too fast where you can't stay with me, but I am intentionally moving at a pace where we can pray for everyone that wants to step into new freedom and to really apprehend their promise. Tonight, there were two sides to the report of the spies. Ten spoke death and two spoke life. Have you ever noticed there seems to be more voices of death than divinely inspired ones?

Even inside ourselves, there tend to be more voices of death than divinely inspired ones. The two sides can look like this.

A few little inserts from my journal. Not really, but kind of. One side says your greatest days are ahead of you.

The other side says your best days are behind you and you have nothing to live for.

One side says, keep reaching higher. Keep stepping higher into greater levels of transformation and glory. Keep going. Keep reaching. The other side says if you reach for higher ground, people will accuse you, pull you down, humiliate you, and define you by your past.

One side says nothing's wasted. Every yes matters and is seen by God, as Pastor Steph was encouraging us in earlier. The other side says your righteous choices don't matter. They're going to lead you nowhere and people will dismiss them and only look at your past failures.

One side says, his grace is sufficient for me and he makes me enough. And the other side says, I'm not enough. I'll never be enough. I think you get the point. I have about 10 more I could do, but I think that's more personal therapy, so I'll move on.

The Israel's wandered around and around in the wilderness. They actually did not enter into the promise at this juncture. And the thing that kept them from their promise was not their enemy. And the thing that kept them from their promise was not what people had done against them. Listen, I'm preaching to my soul tonight.

But the thing that kept them from their promise was their thoughts. A sound mind is our inheritance. Second Corinthians 10, verses 4 and 5. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Takeaway number five. We will never demolish arguments until we take our thoughts captive. I'll expand it the way I have it written. We will never demolish arguments against the knowledge of God until we take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

That was Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth. In his first letter, 1 Corinthians 1, he was telling the church there he was instructing them, do not be deceived. He said, like Eve was deceived by the serpent. I fear you've been deceived and led away from your devotion, from your pure devotion to Christ. He was saying, just like with Eve, couldn't recognize the goodness of God.

You guys are reaching for a different self made doctrine. He said, don't be deceived like Eve was deceived. I have a fear that you're being deceived like Eve. Eve. Like Eve was deceived.

Eve had a word from God. Remember the story in the garden? She had a word from God, but she didn't listen to the word from God. She listened to the serpent. I want you to really hear me tonight.

She allowed something that was beneath her to speak to her.

Stop letting the things that are beneath you to speak to you. Did God really say, and then we move around like puppets. The enemy introduced a doubt into the possibility and potential of faith, causing Eve and causing you and I to focus on what's not available to us rather than everything that is. And it's a stronghold. And a stronghold will ensnare us.

We need to dwell in the uncontaminated place, viewing God rightly, refusing the thoughts that oppose the knowledge of God.

Listen, one thought of Jesus can lift you above any wave of worry.

Sometimes you'll worry again three seconds later. Another thought of Jesus will lift you above any wave of worry. Have you had trouble breathing this week? Spirit of fear, Put a thought in your mind about the goodness of God and I'm telling you your flesh will fight it. The Lord told me today, he's like you.

Put it in your mind. Put the goodness of my hand and my feet face in your life on display.

I'm going to resolve to look at the battle he brought me through rather than the one I'm facing. I'm going to resolve to look at the way he made for me rather than the obstacle I'm now facing. Just one thought of Jesus can lift you out of the pit. The enemy is a thief and he sets up strongholds. And I've been thinking much about this lately.

He's such a thief. Like, even strange noises in the night, feeling afraid in my new normal, in my house. And I just say it out loud like, the enemy is such a thief.

The Lord brought me to Proverbs 6. I knew about this verse. I was kind of trying to remember it. This is kind of odd, because this doesn't help me. You'll understand in a minute.

I'll read Proverbs 6. 30. Proverbs 6, verse 30. First, people do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he's starving. Why am I thinking about this?

Like, people don't despise a thief. A thief is just a thief. We can't be. We can't despise the thief for stealing, for trying to steal what he doesn't want us to have. He's a thief.

So, like, what does that mean? Why am I thinking about this? And the Lord works this way with me. Often he tells me, often, you stop too short. I feel like that's the story of my life and that's not on anyone but me.

Like, you stop too short. One more verse. Listen to verse 31. Yet if he the thief is caught, I feel the Holy Ghost, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house. Takeaway number six.

We need to catch the thief.

We're here tonight to catch the thief. We're here to catch the thief and tell him, give me back my joy, give me back my peace. Give me back my wisdom, give me back my hope for a future. Give me back the laughter, the expression on my face that reflects who he is. Restore, Restore to me the joy of my salvation.

And when we catch the thief, God restores it sevenfold. Which brings me to takeaway number seven. And I speak it in Jesus name. Strongholds are coming down.

It's time to magnify the Lord in our minds.

Psalm 34, verse 3. Come magnify the Lord with me. The team can come back up. I'm sure they're like, oh, God, on the night that half our band is missing, you're gonna make us be up here forever. We'll just see how it goes.

Because we want to minister to you guys.

Come magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.

Some of you, your first step needs to be to increase your knowledge of Jesus. Because we have to have tools and weapons, like, for strongholds to come down, we have to exalt well. We have to cast down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Well, we have to know who he is. There's all kinds of resources online.

But just start to Google the attributes of Jesus. There are even. We don't listen to CDs anymore. Downloads. I don't even know how you say it.

There are instrumental offerings with people speaking just the qualities and names of God and just begin to think on it. No, you're. You're the one with eyes of fire. And those eyes of fire are love for your bride. And it's a vengeance towards my enemy.

Your hair is like wool. I know it because you are pure. You still have scars in your feet and hands because you did it for me. And you want to. You want a place for me to put my fingers when I doubt.

You're beautiful in every way. Jesus. You don't forsake the righteous. You are with us like we have to have knowledge of him. And that's how strongholds come down.

Man. My soul, awake. Arise. Use each breath to prophesy.