Skip to content Navigating Negativity Jul 28 · 47 min ...more
Navigating Negativity
July 28, 2025 · 47 min
Explore Christian strategies to secure your sails and steer your thoughts away from life’s storms.
Series Adam Mesa Sermons July 28, 2025 · 47 min · Adam Mesa Sermons
Explore Christian strategies to secure your sails and steer your thoughts away from life’s storms. ...more Show the full description Show less Explore Christian strategies to secure your sails and steer your thoughts away from life’s storms.
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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In this video 0:00 Navigating Negativity
Navigating Negativity 0:01 Welcome to the ALSC podcast. Here at ALSC, we seek the lost, teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by this week's message.0:13 I'm excited for the word tonight because, tonight I want to share with you, just 1 thought and 2 verses. 2 verses that hopefully when we radically see this, maybe we'll think a little bit differently. And so if0:25 you're taking notes, I just want you to write this thought down. Navigating Negativity. You know, First Chronicles talks about,0:37 a family of people known as the sons of Issachar. And the sons of Issachar, it was said that they understood the times0:52 times. And I think as believers, you and I are called to understand the times that we live in, what's happening in the world around us, and to be1:04 able to navigate people. You know, it says the sons of Issachar navigated Israel. It didn't say the sons of Issachar, navigated Persia. The sons of Issachar,1:16 navigated or understood the times for Babylon or or or Kanin. It said they understood the times to share with Israel. Their1:29 to this message today, we come together and we're all gathered under 1 umbrella and that's Jesus Christ. If we would understand the times we live in, hopefully we can navigate 11:41 another Thoughts, thinking that1:52 is negating and brings us down. You know, 1 time I was in, I was in San Diego and, they had a little bay and in the bay you can't you can't get any vehicles in the bay. And
2:04 so, what a lot of people would do is they would if they had if they lived anywhere on the bay, maybe they had a house or a condo there, they would pull their boat no matter what size it was. It wasn't massive, but it
2:16 was it was a relative size. I mean, so it wasn't and I'll come back to this. I mean, it wasn't a big boat like this. It was just kind of a small sailboat. And what they would do is they would pull the boats ashore.
2:32 Take the sail out of the boat and they would store the sail in their house. And so what the thinking was, because you couldn't get the boat between the homes, if
2:45 you wanted to, you'd have to drag it all the way to the water. But the problem is, if you didn't have the sale that was made for it, you're not going anywhere, anytime fast.
2:58 There was nothing to propel the boat. And so many people, they just bring their boat ashore and they store it and they take the sail out so the sail, the boat couldn't be taken away or even stolen.
3:10 And a lot of times for us what we do with our minds and what we do with our thoughts is we leave our sail pitched everywhere that we go. So as long as someone just blow a
3:22 little wind your way, they can navigate you where they want to go. And so this could be the enemy. This could be your neighbor. This could be your coworker. This could be
3:33 yourself. This could be your sin. As long as there's just a little bit of a fresh wind. A little bit of, oh, someone offered to get you coffee 1 day when you're going to work
3:45 and you asked for the new pumpkin spice mocha and they brought you a peppermint mocha. For some of y'all, that'll literally ruin your day.
3:57 It'll ruin your day. You see in a lot of times, we allow, especially as Christians, we turn on the news and we just allow a little bit of wind to blow our way.
4:10 Man, my mood is done. I'm not in the mood anymore. A lot of times, we'll let some negativity happening in our home or with our spouse just to blow our way. You see, what we're going to look at today is the
4:21 Apostle Paul teaches us how to bring our sales down when we don't want negative thoughts or negative things to affect our thinking. How to strengthen
4:33 our thought life, how to strengthen our mind because there's a reason why 1 of the armors of God is the helmet of Salvation. See the helmet of the Salvation is the knowledge of God's goodness, His
4:45 Salvation for your life. So if the enemy could penetrate your thoughts navigate your thoughts, well then everything else, the mind
4:57 leads the whole body. So if I'm walking and I'm thinking I want to go right, it starts in my mind. If I think I want to go left, it starts in my mind. If I want to go straight, it starts in my mind. And so if the enemy
5:07 can attack your mind, then he can direct you where to go. And so 1 of the things the Apostle Paul teaches that we're going to look at today is, how do I get to a place where just like
5:19 anyone would go to the gym and strengthen their muscles, just like anyone may read a book to strengthen their mind in terms of your your language, in terms of your intellect. In the same way, Paul
5:31 gives us some remedies to strengthen our Christian mind, our spiritual mind, so that we can navigate negativity.
5:41 Got to
5:41 navigate negativity. Famous poet once said this, and then we're gonna jump into the verse with the apostle Paul. A famous poet once said this, his name's Walt Whitman, and he said, I envy cattle that grays
5:53 contently in a meadow, eating grass. Dwell on troublesome thoughts. Have you ever just have you ever walked by a farm and and seen
6:04 cows in distress? Just like like how you and I do when we walk around like this like, like have you ever walked and seen a cow doing that in a farm?
6:17 You ever walked by and just seen a cow? It's it's got nothing going on up here, that cow. Cow
6:29 does the same thing every single day. It gets up, it grazes, it drinks water, it goes to sleep. That's what it does every single day. It's got no worries. Case, it's got no worries. It knows
6:41 it's it doesn't it's not worried where food's gonna come from. It's not worried where the water's gonna come from. It's not mentally exhausted. It's not going through any mental emotions. Why? Oh, because it's not
6:51 thinking about. Place where we don't think so much. It would actually benefit us if you stopped thinking so much. I know it's hard to
7:03 do. I know I know we like to feel like we're getting something done or we're accomplished something, but sometimes 1 of the best things you can do for your life is go take a nap.
7:17 It's in the Bible. It's in the Bible. Take a nap. 1 of the best things you could do when you're worrisome, Just do nothing. See the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, which we're gonna see in a second,
7:29 is known as, 1 of the most famous verses in all of the Bible, all of the Bible is written in Philippians chapter 4. Many of us know it. It is a statement by the Apostle Paul that says this,
7:45 who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And we use it all the time. If you're an athlete, you have it on your helmets, you have it on your backpack, you have it on your everything. If
7:55 you many of us will have it in our Instagram bios, our Tic Tac bios, Tic Tac. See that? I don't know if they're going to sue me if I say their real name, so I'm just going to, you
8:07 know. No, but we use it all the time. But what we have to understand is within its context in Philippians, the Apostle Paul was in prison, and
8:19 the prison system during Paul's day is not like the prison system of today's day. Even though today's day prison system is not so pretty, but it is prison. But in his day, the prison was
8:31 also not only a discipline, it's not only we call them rehabilitation centers, like we want to rehabilitate you, but in their day, they're rehabilitate you, but in their day, they're really punishment systems. They
8:41 weren't prison systems. And so you would be put in prison below ground in the sewage department, and so you would have urine coming and trailing down your feet. You would have feces coming down and
8:52 trailing your feet. You would have mice and other animals come and crawling on you at night. You would be malnourished the whole time. You would not get 3 square meals a day, and so
9:04 you are genuinely going through 1 of the worst times of your life if you're during an a Roman imprisonment time. And so Paul is actually in this time in prison for preaching
9:16 Jesus. And so when the Apostle Paul says, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me, what what he's not talking about is going pro in football. It's not what he's
9:28 talking about. He's not talking about that, oh, if you just set your mind to it and Jesus is the center, you could do it. Now there's some relative truths within some of these things of obedience in
9:40 God, but but that verse is not really stating that encouragement for us. It's actually someone that's in the lowest point of their life that they could be, both physically, emotionally, and
9:51 spiritually. And where he could throw in the towel, where he could give up, where he could commit suicide, where he can throw in the towel, he's in that place and he's saying, you know what guys? As hard as this
10:03 prison experience is, as hard as every single day I wake up and I have feces all over me, and I have mice all over me, as hard as those things are, because I came here with
10:15 Jesus, I can do all things through Jesus. I can get through this. Yeah. Says, I can do it in Jesus Christ. Amen. And so it's a moment where you
10:27 are in absolute mental abyss. He is mentally fighting for his life. It's not a moment of discipline. It's not, oh, I just gotta get up and hard work hard and God's gonna take care
10:39 of me. It's literally like I have to, in this moment, change my way of thinking because if I don't, I don't know that I'm gonna make it till tomorrow. And so that's where
10:51 Paul speaks to us. And then at the end of chapter 4, we're right at the beginning, rather going into the end, he begins to prescribe us some areas and some
11:03 things to think about when you are navigating negativity. So He literally, because people are People, you know, Apostle Paul, he's in prison in
11:15 Rome. He's writing a letter to the Philippian church, people in Philippi, and he loved that church in Philippi. And so he's encouraging them about godly living. He's speaking life into
11:27 them about who Jesus is, but then he's also making them aware of the reality that he's in, the the tough part he's in. And then he begins to teach the church, you may
11:38 wonder how I can get up every day, and I can still live to fight on. And so he says, what I'm going to do right now is I'm going to give you some prescriptions on how to navigate
11:50 your thoughts. And that's exactly what it tells us, and he actually tells us it in 2 verses. Just a couple sentences. But they're powerful and that's all we're gonna spend today because it is enough
12:03 that actually some of this ought to be shrunken down just to be able to fit it for today. Believe it or not, these 2 verses we could talk about for 4 weeks if we wanted to. I want you to look at Philippians chapter 4
12:15 verses 8 to 9. Philippians chapter 4, and I want you to remember the predicament that Paul is in, the mental space that he's in, the anguish, the punishment, the
12:27 torment that he is in. And he says this starting in verse 8, it's his conclusion. It's the period to all the other 4 verses. He says, finally brothers,
12:40 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
12:52 if there's anything worthy of praise, think, think, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard, you've seen it in me.
13:04 So he's saying, look at my life. Look how I stay true to my faith. Look how I trust God in hard times. And then he says this, practice these things, and
13:16 the God of peace will be with you. You know, the greatest thing that we can have when we are mentally exhausted is peace from God. It's 1 of the greatest things that we could ever have.
13:28 And the Apostle Paul, this is all we're going to break down, is we're going to break down the whatevers that Paul just told us. Because it's the whatevers that not only is in a frame of thinking, he also tells us
13:40 to practice these things. See a lot of times we don't understand. We don't understand that thinking also means action, practicing. So sometimes we just think it's a thought of
13:51 something. Well, I'm just I'm just fighting this thought. I'm fighting this thing or I want to do this or I believe God is leading me here. And then when I respond or someone else in Brother Christ responds
14:03 and we say, Well, what are you doing about it? You say, I'm just waiting on a word from God. You're waiting too long. You've been waiting for 10 years.
14:15 And so what happens is, we have to get to a place where now not only is our thinking in a space that's submitted to God, but so is our practice. Like apostle Paul tells us. He says, think
14:27 on these things and then what? Practice these things. If you think on these things and you practice on these things, then what will happen is, is the God of peace will what? Be with you.
14:40 So it's an action. It's like an equation. And so he begins to give us what happened. So what Paul is referring to right now, and then we're gonna dig in right now, is he's talking about, yeah, I have a
14:52 lot of negative thoughts. I have a lot of bad stuff happening to me right now. I'm going through a hell of a time in my life. I feel like I'm in hell, but he goes, but
15:04 I have not let it swallow me. So that's what he tells us right now and then and then the question is, well how Paul? Why Paul? Why aren't you giving up? And he says this. He says, because and then he says the
15:15 whatevers. He says, whatever is honorable, whatever is just We're gonna break these down right now Because when he says whatever, what he's actually saying is he's saying, when there is a time to think
15:27 about what God has done, which is honorable in your life. You need to think on that, and you need to do that. So when he's saying whatever, he's talking about a thought, and then he's talking about an action. So
15:39 for us today, when we navigate negative thoughts, we have to think of the thought, then we have to put the action in the same regard. And so that's what we're going to be looking at and fighting today.
15:51 I want you to look at this for a moment, I want you to see the first statement that he says. He says, finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is true. So remember, whenever we see a
16:03 whatever, it's a thought followed by an action. So the first thing we have to ask ourselves is, what is truth? What is truth? Because he says,
16:15 whatever is true so he says, think about whatever is true because a lot of times you and I are in a circumstance that though it may seem bleak, though it may seem hard, it's actually a
16:27 falsehood of what we're experiencing about the truth and the reality of who God is. Have you ever asked the question before? Why is God allowing this to happen to me?
16:39 You see that's giving to a falsehood that you think God is punishing you or you think that God is somehow eagerly an egomaniacal
16:51 king somewhere that's like, Oh, I'm just going to put you through this. I'm going to put you through that. And so therefore, we begin to lean into false statements, false thinking, start to live into things that aren't
17:02 even true to God's word, and then what? It begins to we begin to put it into practice, we begin to scorn doubt in our mind about who God is, about what God's word says. So he begins with first,
17:14 whatever is true. So we think about what is true and then we act on what is true. And so John chapter 17 verse 16 to 17 says this,
17:33 the world just as I am not of the world. So everyone in here, y'all are aliens. Not illegal aliens, but just aliens. You're not of this world.
17:45 Okay? And so what it is is and he says verse 17, sanctify them in truth. And then he says, your word is truth. And then he says, your word is truth. So he
17:57 says that you and I are sanctified. We're made pure. We're seen as approved by God. By what? God's word. His truth. So if God didn't say
18:08 it, then it's not true. A lot of us today, we live and and go by false truths. We act on false truths all the time. I just have a couple of on them. You could
18:20 go on your own and you could think about more. Here's some false truths that you and I have heard all the time or we've even caught ourselves saying false truths before. Here's a false truth we've said before. Good
18:32 things happen to those who wait. What does that even mean? Good things happen to those that wait. What does that mean? It's all we
18:44 always just say it when it comes to, Oh, you didn't get what you wanted, so be patient.
18:48 Good things will come to those who wait. Good things will come to those who wait. Good things will come to those who wait.
18:48 Good things will come to those who wait. Good things will come to those who wait. Good Good things will come to those who wait. No. Good things don't always come and good things don't always come to those who don't do
19:00 nothing. So it's a statement of laziness and it's a statement of false expectation. It doesn't say What it should
19:12 say is peace comes to those who wait on the Lord. That's what it should say. Not good things come to those who wait. Wait on what? Wait on who? And why is
19:23 good always coming my way? I don't know what that means. I live in a sinful world. Good is not always gonna happen in a sinful world. When I have to deal with human people
19:36 every single day, I am living in a falsehood to think that just because I'm a Christian, good is on my way. And the thing is, Christians just aren't the only ones saying
19:47 that. So when the non Christians say it good, we're giving you the good. It ain't God you don't know him. Where the good coming from? We say these false truth all the
19:59 time. Here's another 1. If you can't handle me on my worst, you don't deserve me at my best. What? Wait.
20:12 So I'm supposed to let you cuss me out, throw a jar at my head, kick me in the face, tell me I'm scum or whatever else, and if I am over
20:23 it, I can't handle you at your worst so I don't deserve you at your best. When is the best coming? Because I've only seen the worst. But we say that all the time.
20:36 These are false truths. Here's another false truth. It doesn't matter who started it. Parents, we ever said that before? It doesn't matter who started it. Actually, it does matter who started it
20:48 because the 1 who started it ought to be beat. The 1 who didn't should not be beat. But parents, you and I, we are equal
21:00 opportunity employers. If 1 child is getting a whoop, they all getting a whoop. But again, it's a false truth.
21:11 It's a
21:11 false truth. When I'm at work and 1 employee doesn't do something, we don't all get fired. The 1 employee gets fired. So it's not a matter of just equalness
21:24 in regard to mistakes. It's a falsehood. Here's another 1. You can achieve anything you set your mind to.
21:36 What? I'm going to tell you, guys, I know you may think, but I could never be an NBA player. Okay? I'm 5 8. I could never be an Olympic high jumper.
21:48 I can, regardless of what society says, I could not become a female high jumper. I could not become a female basketball player. I am limited.
22:01 So I cannot do anything I set my mind to. There are stipulations. So if I teach my son you can do anything you set your mind to, that's not the reality.
22:13 That's not the reality. There's not an ounce of Asian in my son's life, so he could not win a Korean acting award. He could not.
22:25 There are stipulation. But you see, every single day, you and I, we tie our thoughts and our emotions to false truths and false statements that we just live by every
22:37 single day. And we treat these words and we apply them in our life blindly, and we don't think that part of the negative emotions that we're going through is because we have taken a false truth
22:50 and we've treated it as what? Truth. But if you really want to know what truth can be spoken over your life, you gotta go to the word. You gotta go to God's word.
23:02 And if you're making statements about God without ever cracking this thing open, then you're only sharing your opinion. So if you ever say God's doing this or God this, you should
23:13 first have gathered that statement by first cracking this open
23:27 place where our truth is informed by God's word. Then the next thing Paul says, so if I know that truth, now I act on it. So there's lies the enemy throws every day. False truths the enemy throws every day.
23:39 Like you'll never accomplish anything, you'll never do anything good, you're not smart enough, you'll never make it, God is mad at you, God hates you, he's angry at you, and You can never heal from this
23:50 situation from your childhood. You can never get over this past relationship. He says those things every single day. But God's word says otherwise. So we got to hold to what is true. So
24:02 the Apostle Paul, he's like, I'm in prison right now, but the devil is a liar. This prison is a lie. This prison is trying to take me down and pull me from my call. So therefore, he says, I can do all things through
24:13 Jesus Christ. In other words, I could be in this prison and I can still make Jesus famous even in this prison. That's true. Then he says this. He says,
24:25 whatever is honorable. So now he makes a statement and then now we have to think upon it, then we have to act upon it. So now we have to ask ourselves, well what is honor? What is honorable?
24:37 What does it mean to think upon honor? And what does it mean to act upon honor? Because the Apostle Paul says that's transformational thinking. So here's what it is. There's 3 other verses in the New Testament that use
24:49 the the same Greek word for honor that's used here in this statement. And it deals with church leaders every time. So the statement Paul just said isn't for church leaders, but all the other 3 verses do talk
25:01 about church leaders. Here's what first Timothy chapter 3 verse 8 says. It says, deacons, these are church leaders in the church. Deacons are people that help the work of the ministry. We have deacons in our church, that
25:13 aren't staff and that serve the church on a regular basis. Deacons likewise must be men of dignity. Men of dignity. It's the same word as honor. So in this case, they're we're using the word dignity
25:25 for honor. So they must be men of dignity, no double tongued, or addicted to much wine, or in other words, bonded to addictions. And he says this, or sordid gain, or
25:37 doing things for their own selfish gain. And then he says in first Timothy chapter 3 verse 11, this is still the Apostle Paul. He says, women must likewise be what? Dignified. So again,
25:49 honorable. And he says, not malicious gossips, but temperate faithful in all things. So he tells us to be honorable
26:01 is something to be dignified and for the men, it's not to be double the tongue. It's not to be liars. It's It's not to be back talkers. It's men not to be people who give our word and never
26:13 fulfill our word. Never to say, I'll always be there for my wife, and I'll always be there for my kids, and the first sign of trouble. It's difficult to stick around. Says we can't be double tongue men.
26:25 And then in the same way, he says, we're addicted to much wine. In other words, cannot let your addictions lead your life. It's in honorable, unhonorable to be addicted to something that
26:36 causes a schism between you and those around you. And then he says, or sordid game, looking for opportunistic gains on people. And then for the women, he says, not to be malicious gossips,
26:49 but temperate. Not angry fast. Not not driven by emotions fast. And then he says, and then faithful in all things. Being faithful to your family. Being faithful to your purpose. Be faithful to your calling. And
27:01 then Titus chapter 2 verse 2 says this, older men are to be temperate, dignified, again, honorable, sensible, sound in faith, and in love,
27:13 and in perseverance. You see what the Apostle Paul says is he says this, he says, even in this prison I will be dignified. I'll be
27:25 honorable. I won't be cussing the jailers out. I won't be making a file to get out of this prison. I won't be harming someone else to get ahead.
27:37 See, you see when he says honorable, he's saying, what it is is I'm not going to lose my character for the sake of my situation or my circumstance. And so if you want transformational thinking,
27:49 what you have to do is you have to think in a place that you are always acting in honor. Your statements are honorable.
28:03 Transformational thinking because we're not being dignified. We're undignified. We treat everyone else like the world treats everyone else. And so the Apostle Paul says
28:14 transformational thinking gets to a place where we are given to dignity and we treat people with dignity. And then he says this, then he says, whatever is
28:26 just. Whatever is just. What is justness? What it means is what we're talking about, Apostle Paul talks about, is he says, are your actions in alignment with God?
28:40 Are your actions God is just. God is a just God. God does not do things unjustly. Unjustly would be like some of the false truths that I said.
28:51 Unjustly would say, it didn't matter who did it, everyone. That's unjust. It's unjust. And we're human. We do unjust things all the time. But to be 1 that has
29:03 transformational thinking means what I have to do is before I make an action in my life, before I make a call, first I have to decide, God, are you paving this path for me? Am I in
29:15 alignment with you, with your word? Am I in alignment with who you are?
29:21 I
29:21 remember when I was much younger, my wife was much younger, she had an opportunity, to work for TMZ, the big gossip company. And, they scouted her and she did so
29:33 good, and she got 2 job offers at the same time. We were dating for about 2 weeks at that time. And she got a job offer for 1, with a company called Easterseals, which was her passion to work with kids with
29:45 autism. And then at the same time, she got a juicy job offer with great pay, with TMZ, and was going to move to LA and be in their offices and be in TV, and we'd be dating for 2 weeks.
29:57 And I remember I got the call from her and she said, I got the offer of 2 jobs, what should I do? And I was a young pastor, we were young dating, and my response to her was, I think you should make the decision that's in
30:08 alignment with God. And I said, think about it, What is in alignment with God to work with kids who have developmental disabilities,
30:21 or talk about where LeBron James had dinner last night, and was it with a girl that's his wife, or was it not with a girl that was his wife? And, at
30:33 the time she said, all all my friends and everyone's telling me to take the TMZ job and I think I'm gonna do it. And she knows. I prayed and contemplated to to to whether I should break up with her
30:45 in that moment. But ultimately, I chose other. I said I I said, I think I really like this girl. I said, God, will you fire her? Will you get her to lose her job?
30:58 And 2 months later with no rent no no reason, wrongful termination, she got fired on the spot. She's like, hey we don't have a place And I looked at her and I was like, hey
31:10 I gotta be honest. I was praying for that joint, and I'm a man of God, and so you bet you would have needed a lot of other prayer warriors to contend with that prayer right there.
31:22 But that was it. I mean, I cared outside of Yeah. We were both young. Of course, my natural instinct was like, Yeah. I want you to do that. I mean, that's cool. But then there's the But is this in alignment with God?
31:35 Is this just? Do. It wasn't I and literally within 3 days of her working, she knew it was the wrong fit. She knew
31:47 it was the wrong fit. And so what happens sometimes as a Christian, you're uncomfortable and you're going through a mental battle because you're in a space that's not just and not in alignment with God. And and you're
31:58 asking God to give you peace about something that isn't in alignment with God's character. And we're asking God to do a miracle in a space that we're not even supposed to be
32:10 in, in a decision that we shouldn't even have let ourselves to. Had Ashley got let go at that time and she said, that's just the enemy attacking me. I would have said, no. That's just God saving you.
32:23 It's God doing you a favor. It's God doing our relationship a favor. Sometimes we have to transform our thinking. Not everything is Satan. Not everything is the enemy. Sometimes it's us and sometimes
32:35 thankfully it is God. He intervened. You got people praying for you every single week, and you come to church and you lift up your arms to God and surrender. Don't be surprised when God moves on your behalf even when
32:46 it's not what you wanted God to do. Because he's gonna move on your behalf. And so we see the justice. The next moment is the Apostle Paul says in the next word, he says,
32:58 whatever and we're gonna shoot through these with the last couple minutes we have. He says, whatever is pure. Whatever is pure. What he's referencing is he's talking about a ceremonial purity.
33:11 He's talking about a moment where you and I go to God in a point of confession, in a point of clarity, and a point of surrender. And so we have to ask
33:23 ourselves with our thoughts. Are my thoughts at a place that are defiling towards others and God? Do I have defiling thoughts? Will it corrupt my thinking? Will my thoughts corrupt
33:34 me and my heart if I give attention to it? And also, if God were to pull my life up right now and my thinking and my decisions, would he
33:46 find a place of honor, or would he find a place of disappointment? You see, when we're impure, we live in a space that constantly says, God, you can read my mail as much as
33:58 you want. And even in the bad stuff, will you purify me? Will you take me to a place of purity and ceremony where you will cleanse my heart even when I don't want you to look at those areas?
34:10 A lot of times, we just want to come on Sunday and Wednesday and we want to present to God our good half, and we want to let our bad half stay at home, or stay on the internet, or stay online. But thing is, we bring
34:22 everything when we come to God. Same thing Apostle Paul says, then he goes this with the last couple thoughts we have. He says, whatever is lovely. I like this statement. He says, whatever is
34:34 lovely. You see what this word he's talking about is he's talking about actions that call forth love. Whatever is lovely. He talks about the pursuit of
34:46 acting out of a place of love. Our decisions, our actions, our thoughts, even when we are angry. The Bible says to be angry and sin not. Well, how do
34:58 you do that? You could be angry and you could still act in love. You can be angry and you can act in hate, unloving. You you can actually make a decision
35:10 to cut someone out of your life in love, but you can also make a decision to cut someone out of your life out of hate. Someone gets the job you wanted. Cut them off.
35:22 Is that a decision of love? No. Someone continuously is harming your you left it in your life. They're hurting your marriage. They're hurting your family. They're consistently doing something that
35:34 you keep trying to talk about, and you say, you know what? This is not good for me and my family, and you cut them out. That is an action of love,
35:46 But you could still make that action and make it out of hate. It comes to a place of your thinking and your loving. Those go hand in hand. So we have to ask ourselves on a
35:58 constant basis, am I calling love or am I calling on vengeance? Do my actions call upon love or call upon vengeance? Do my actions call upon forgiveness
36:10 or does it call upon retaliation? I remember 1 time I was out in the foyer and someone who was very clearly mentally unstable but
36:22 still the threat was nonetheless and I was out by myself in in a foyer and someone came to me and they told me, find out, I'm gonna follow
36:34 your wife home 1 day and I'm gonna see how you live. Fellas, someone tells you that they're gonna follow your wife home.
36:46 In that moment, there was a side of me that wanted to not only hurt him really bad, but do a lot more than just hurting. And in that
36:57 moment, I had to recognize this person was not fully in their right mind, but at the same time, the threat was still there. And so I gave him a kind warning that should he
37:09 come to my house, he will he will be met with the wrath of God and the wrath of other things that are in safes.
37:22 But I also said, I love you enough, and I literally looked at him. I said, I love you enough that I'm going to forgive you that statement, and I said, get your butt into church. I literally said that, and I grabbed him
37:33 by his shirt and I pushed him into church Because there was a moment where I had to make a decision that what were my actions going to be out of. I understood it was a real threat. We have real threat mentally. People
37:44 come all the time who are hurting, who are broken, who have addictions, and they're real. So sometimes we gotta have rules in church that don't make sense, but we're using wisdom to keep people safe. But at the same
37:56 time, you have to exercise love. And so the question is because I can't really tell whether your action was done in love or hate because sometimes they really look the same.
38:08 So you only you know, you gotta check your heart. Only you know whether your action was done in love or done in vengeance. And only you can answer for that. And only you can speak to
38:20 God about that. The last 1 is this, and then there's 2 last thoughts and we're gonna close with this. If pastor Julio wants to come on out. He says, whatever is commendable. In other words, the Apostle Paul
38:33 says, you need to find the good in things and good in people. He says, whatever is commendable. If someone is given something and and and being commended of something,
38:45 it means that they are being appreciated for something. It means something good is seen. Hey, I commend you for that action. I commend you for helping me out at work when you didn't have to. Wife, I commend you for
38:55 helping me out at the around the house with the kids. Husband, I commend you for cleaning up after x y. It's a it's a commending. I see this in you. I see that in you. You cannot commend something in someone and also seeShow more
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