How to Take Your Thoughts Captive | Mindset Week 1

We all have negative thoughts and emotions, but left unchecked, they will consume us. This week, we learn how to master these feelings, and how God can renew our minds daily.

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    You were made to be brave.
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    You were born to make a difference.
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    God designed you for heart-pumping, joy-filled adventure,
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    and we're here to guide you to that adventurous life.
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    Crossroads Church.
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    - Hi, I'm Chuck Mingo, one of the teaching pastors at Crossroads.
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    Thanks for joining us for a new series called Mindset
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    where we're looking at how to master our thoughts and our emotions.
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    Our emotions are a big part of how we're made as people,
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    but they can also get out of control.
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    And so in this series we're looking at
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    how to not let them control us, but also how not to avoid them.
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    I think we're all feeling some big emotions right now,
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    whether we are concerned about job security
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    or maybe our own health or the health of someone we care about.
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    We have our family at home more,
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    we're remote schooling our kids.
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    In fact, just the other day,
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    I totally lost it on one of my kids because of something
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    I saw them do to their sibling that was not OK.
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    But you know what? My response wasn't OK either.
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    And so in this series we're looking at
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    how to help our minds get to a better place.
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    How do we change our mindset so on the other side
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    we're healthier people.
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    - How do I feel about the pandemic and the quarantine?
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    - A mix of emotions.
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    - I don't want to get laid off work.
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    - Honestly, it changes every day.
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    - Overwhelmed and incredibly monotonous.
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    - If have to build one more pillow fort I could lose my mind.
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    - My favorite thing about the quarantine
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    is that I get to spend a lot of time with my sisters.
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    - Well, I'm doing college at home
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    so I haven't been late to a single 8 a.m. class.
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    - I've been talking with my family on the phone.
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    - I like sleeping in and my parents finally let me get Fortnite.
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    - I get to play in my back yard more.
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    - My dad had this idea to build a fort underneath the stairs
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    and he taught me how to rewire an electrical outlet.
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    - Well, I don't really like going places
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    so I get to stay home in my pajamas.
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    - I've been baking like a lot.
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    - We get to have dance parties
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    and we get to stay up a little later.
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    - If you control your thoughts,
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    you will control your future.
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    If you can control your emotions,
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    you will control your future.
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    Your future is dictated by what happens
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    between these ears right here.
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    The Bible says as a man or woman thinketh, so is he.
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    What we think, what we feel will tell us who we are.
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    And you control your life.
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    You control your life,
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    not the government controlling your life,
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    not coronavirus controlling your life,
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    not the economy controlling your life.
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    You control it.
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    Some people don't think this is possible.
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    Believe it or not, you can actually control your emotions.
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    Emotions are like fire.
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    Fire can be incredibly redemptive.
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    It can fire a steam-fired locomotive and take your life someplace
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    or it can destroy and devastate your life.
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    Proverbs 25:28:
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    A man without self-control
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    is like a city broken into and left without walls.
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    We just got done with a series on Jesus,
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    the myths surrounding Jesus.
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    We saw some of the classic places where He went in Israel
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    during the last series.
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    But if we're not careful,
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    we might forget that Jesus was actually human.
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    He was fully God, fully man at the same time.
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    And as human, He had emotions and He controlled them.
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    One of the things that I hate, I hate Bible trivia.
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    Can't stand it, can't stand it. I don't like Bible trivia.
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    If you ever get on Bible trivia, I'll tell you
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    one of the questions is going to be
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    what's the shortest verse in the Bible?
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    You say, "It's 'Jesus wept.'" Two words. Yeah, He wept.
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    Jesus had the emotions. He wept.
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    He went to a friend's house who was dead, and He wept.
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    The Bible says that Jesus was distressed.
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    It says in the Book of Isaiah, prophesies about Him
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    that he was a man of sorrows.
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    Two different times we see intensive anger with Jesus.
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    He comes into the temple
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    and there are money changers who have these tables.
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    And as people bring their foreign currency in,
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    they trade it for the temple's currency so they can make an offering.
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    No problem there, except they're doing it to make a profit.
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    Jesus sees this house of prayer being turned into a profit center
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    and He overturns the tables.
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    He takes off the sash from around His waist.
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    He starts swinging it around like a like a mad man.
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    But He was in control. He knew what He was doing.
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    I have three kids.
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    Every birth of my children was incredibly emotional for me
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    because I am adopted.
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    When I saw my kids, I saw the first person who shared my DNA.
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    I would get emotional.
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    I get emotional still when my wife does things that I don't like,
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    when I do things that she doesn't like.
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    We can make the choice: Do I get emotional
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    and do I just lash out?
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    Or maybe I do get emotional, but I control my emotions
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    and I try to harness them.
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    I try to let her see my intensity and my concern
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    instead of just brushing it under the rug.
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    I can have my emotions explode our marriage
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    or I can have my emotions be funneled to drive some things.
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    This is what I'm saying friends, here's the thing.
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    When I see person after person who's tanking their life,
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    who thinks that it's not possible
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    that I feel it, therefore I am
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    or as Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am."
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    I think he put the Descarte before de horse,
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    because I think you are first before you think.
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    But we think that if I'm feeling it's, the it's truth
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    No, you're -- I'm feeling it and it's emotion.
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    I now have to figure out how will I allow that emotion to come out
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    and how will I allow to drive my life?
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    You do that, friends, and you control your mind,
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    you start controlling your emotions,
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    you're going to start controlling your life,
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    and you're going to go someplace that other normal people
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    will not go under the direction of God.
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    Well, we're gonna take a little time out here.
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    We're going to get together with Amy Saxby.
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    She's a teacher, a parent of four, a wife, and an author.
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    And she's got a pretty fascinating term, I find.
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    She talks about capturing every feeling.
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    Amy, how are you? Tell us about capturing our feelings.
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    - A lot of times when I process, I have to do it on paper
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    because there's something about writing it down makes it real.
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    And so when I write down how I'm feeling,
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    I think I often can identify what is real behind my feeling
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    and what is a worldly expect --
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    like an expectation the world puts on me?
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    Once I can separate those things, I think I can take the next step.
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    I have to stop acting on my feelings if they're not real.
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    - So what would happen if we've got an emotion
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    that we're choosing not to examine?
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    - I think it can get the best of us
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    and it can become a stronghold.
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    So let me give a very tangible example.
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    Vanity, right? If I have an emotion that I,
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    "Gosh, I'm just never going to look that good
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    or I'm just never going to be able to exercise that way."
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    If I don't examine it and get to the bottom of
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    why do I feel this way really?
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    Then I'm going to go that day and I'm in the workout for two hours
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    and worry about what I'm eating.
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    And those things are going to become the focus of my day
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    and my activities vs. getting to the bottom of that emotion
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    and letting go of it.
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    I think after I go through this process
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    and I really take time to sift through and figure out what's real,
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    I can appreciate the emotions God has given me.
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    I just think it's important to always remember that
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    in emotion there's beauty and there's peace
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    when you identify what's from Him.
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    - Hey, Amy, thanks so much for being with us.
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    You've been real blessing and I appreciate it.
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    - Thanks, Brian.
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    - So the last time I did this, used straight gasoline.
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    I tell you what, I've been lighting fires for decades, decades.
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    Everyone's always going, "Oh, don't light it with gasoline."
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    I never had any problem.
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    Well, then again, I never use four gallons of gasoline before.
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    I won't be doing that again.
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    - Yeah. He's not kidding.
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    This is actually the second time this brush pile was set on fire.
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    Want to see what happened the first time?
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    - This is great.
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    - If you're ever doing this, boys and girls,
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    but you should not do this, boys and girls.
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    If you ever do something like this when you're older
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    and mature in your 50s, want to use diesel fuel.
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    December 1993 I had a house fire.
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    I woke up, took the kids next door,
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    and watched my house being engulfed in flame from room to room.
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    I slept at my in-laws that night
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    and I woke up in the morning utterly devastated,
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    feeling every emotion I could possibly imagine.
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    And it only got worse from there.
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    I had to go back over the charred remains of my house
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    and see what was left.
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    And what was left was my dog, who woke us up,
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    dead from smoke inhalation inside of the remains.
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    I still remember pulling him outside and burying him.
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    I can still taste the salt in the tears
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    as they came down my cheeks and hit my mouth.
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    I can still remember not being able to focus and see
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    as I furiously tried to dig a grave and place him in it.
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    I knew then that my emotions were raging
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    and it wasn't a bad thing for them to be raging,
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    but I still wanted to take them captive
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    and get ready to build a new life.
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    Your emotions are like kids in a car.
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    You can't have them drive,
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    but you don't want them in the trunk either.
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    I'll tell you something, man.
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    Emotions will define your future.
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    We see this with person after person in the Bible.
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    The first king of Israel, his name was Saul,
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    his emotions ruled him. If he felt it, he did it.
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    And it caused him to be disqualified from being a king.
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    The second guy in line, David, was being chased around
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    by this guy who ruled with his emotions
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    and he just waited until it was his time.
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    He got his emotions in control.
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    He didn't even kill him when he could have killed him.
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    And as a result, he becomes a king and a great king.
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    But even as a great king,
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    David allowed his emotions to get the best of him sometimes.
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    It caused him to have an adulterous affair.
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    Friends, I'm telling you what, there is a fire
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    that wants to rage and ravage your life.
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    As a pastor I've interacted with hundreds,
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    thousands of people who have burnt lives, charred to the bone.
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    When we don't control our emotions,
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    we have kids and we shouldn't be having kids.
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    We make bad marriage choices.
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    We get ourselves in massive credit card debt.
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    We have bankruptcy.
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    We have torched friendships. We have divorces.
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    We have the wrong profession that we've chosen.
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    Thing after thing after thing.
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    And one of the things to look at
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    to know whether or not your emotions are ruling you are:
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    do you think that your emotion is the lead indicator
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    for the very words of God?
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    Emotions are not a word of God.
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    I know many people who think, "I'm feeling it, God must be speaking."
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    No, He's not. You're just getting emotional.
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    I know some people who they're not feeling any emotions at all
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    and they think, "Well, God doesn't talk to me."
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    No, you just don't have emotions right now.
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    Our emotions could be, but they are not necessarily,
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    the voice of God.
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    How do you know when your emotions are getting the best of you?
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    As soon as you instinctually do whatever you're feeling,
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    you may not be hearing from God.
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    As soon as you can look back and you see a history
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    of you doing something emotionally and you finding out later
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    that that was not the best thing for your life
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    and other people's lives,
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    you know that your emotions have the best of you.
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    As soon as your joy indicators, how you feel about
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    how well your life is going is based on purely how you feel,
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    you know you're putting way too much stock in your emotions.
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    And as soon as you start disqualifying your emotions,
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    as soon as you start trying to tamp it down,
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    "I don't -- I don't want to cry."
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    As soon as you start doing that, you know
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    you're not valuing the gift of emotions that God has given you.
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    Your emotions aren't God, but your emotions are good
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    and you've got to control it.
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    This thing wants to rage and take over your life.
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    You've got to control the fire instead of allowing the fire
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    and the heat to incinerate your life.
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    God wants your entire life.
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    He doesn't want your emotions to have your entire life.
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    He wants your emotions to be healthy and to be in check.
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    You do that, you learn how to harness this power,
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    you're going to have a full life like you can't imagine.
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    - I hope you're enjoying the episode so far.
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    If you would like someone to pray with you
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    or just talk with you about things that are going on in your life,
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    we'd love to talk with you.
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    You can go to Crossroads.net and you can chat
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    with a real life person who will pray with you
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    and offer encouragement.
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    And if this message of hope and promise is impacting you,
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    then consider partnering with us financially
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    to make this available to more of our friends and neighbors.
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    Crossroads is a tithing church.
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    That means we freely give 10% of all the God blesses us with
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    to further the work of the church
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    and to further the work of reaching people.
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    So if giving is a spiritual discipline in your life,
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    go to Crossroads.net/give.
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    Now, let's take a look at a story
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    from someone in our church who's having an impact.
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    - Sew Masks for Cincy started from our small group.
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    I called one of our friends that is a nurse at a local hospital.
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    I said, "I can get a couple of people to get together
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    to sew a couple of masks. What do you think?"
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    And she said, "It would be amazing if you could get
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    a couple people to sew some masks."
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    The gravity of what is going on with Sew Masks for Cincy
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    and Sew Masks for Humanity really hit me last night,
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    to be honest, because I never expected to be leading a group like this.
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    Like I thought it would be a dozen moms and sewers sewing these masks.
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    And the fact that it's turned into more of a movement
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    and getting contacts from now from cities all over America
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    and the world has been nothing short of astounding.
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    Look at all these people that came together out of love
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    and out of community because we want to protect
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    someone else's son or daughter or mother.
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    It's been -- it's been absolutely life changing.
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    - The key to controlling your mind and your emotions
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    is what the Bible calls taking every thought captive.
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    I want to teach you how to do that right now.
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    So when we have an emotion that comes out,
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    it's because we're feeling something.
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    It's coming into our brain.
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    It's causing us to have an emotional reaction.
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    What we do is I grab it. I grab it.
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    I take that thought captive.
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    I say "Why am I feeling this way?"
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    I grab it and I pull it away and I look at it
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    and I say, "Why am I feeling this way?
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    Am I feeling the way that I want to feel?
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    What is this stimuli that's causing this reaction?
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    Do I like this reaction or do I want to manage this reaction?"
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    How do you actually do that?
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    How do you take thoughts captive and control your thoughts
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    instead of them controlling you and then controlling your emotions?
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    One thing you do is you monitor what's coming into your mind
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    that's giving you thoughts and emotions to begin with.
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    You monitor your news feed.
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    You monitor your social media feeds.
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    You monitor who it is that's giving you information,
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    because if someone is always firing us up, pun intended,
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    if someone is always firing us up, we have to say, "Hold on.
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    Do I want to constantly be fired up?
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    Do I want to constantly feel indignation towards other people?
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    Do I want to constantly be on edge?"
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    I don't like that, I have to change my stimuli. Change it.
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    The second thing you do is you choose
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    to think about something other than yourself.
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    Some of the most depressed people you'll ever know
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    are those who think about themselves.
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    If you want to be more depressed, think about yourself.
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    I'm not talking about a kind of clinical depression
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    where you need medication.
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    I'm just saying, "I'm down. Woe is me."
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    The more we think about ourselves and about our situation,
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    the more our emotions are going to feed with on it.
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    It's going to be a fire.
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    It's like as we think about ourself,
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    we keep putting more wood on the fire.
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    We put more emotion that keeps bubbling us up.
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    I have a friend of mine, a pastor friend in another country.
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    His son got hit by a car.
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    The doctor said, "We're going to operate,
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    but it looks like your son's going to have permanent brain damage."
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    As they sat in that hospital room,
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    as any parent would, being devastated.
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    As they felt themselves getting lower and lower and lower,
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    they said each other, "Hey, we need to stop
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    thinking about ourselves for a moment.
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    We need to go around in this hospital
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    and see other people who are hurting and pray for them."
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    So that's what they did.
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    What do you know?
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    Was that the reason or was there some other reason,
  • 00:18:00
    but their child is 100% fine today.
  • 00:18:04
    And you can see the scar that comes all the way around him.
  • 00:18:09
    You control what you think about
  • 00:18:11
    and you can think about something else other than your problems.
  • 00:18:14
    Some of the problems that we have
  • 00:18:16
    are problems that may never come true.
  • 00:18:18
    And if we give our emotions over to them,
  • 00:18:21
    we're putting fuel on a fire that's never gonna cook any meat.
  • 00:18:25
    Don't prepay interest on a debt you may likely never have.
  • 00:18:29
    Jesus doesn't want my emotions getting out of control.
  • 00:18:33
    And right now, I can choose that
  • 00:18:35
    my emotions are not going to get out of control.
  • 00:18:40
    The third thing we do is we pray.
  • 00:18:43
    We invite God into it.
  • 00:18:44
    If I'm just staying with my own mental resources,
  • 00:18:47
    my own spiritual power, I'm going to get more and more stressed
  • 00:18:51
    because I don't have the power to overcome my problems.
  • 00:18:55
    There's a power that's outside of me,
  • 00:18:58
    a power that can come inside of me
  • 00:19:00
    when God fills me with his Holy Spirit,
  • 00:19:02
    that gives me something that I couldn't have.
  • 00:19:04
    So what I do is I pray about that.
  • 00:19:06
    I say, "God, I'm feeling this way.
  • 00:19:09
    How do you feel about that, God?
  • 00:19:11
    God, I am stressed. I am hurting.
  • 00:19:14
    Would you please comfort me?"
  • 00:19:16
    There's entire Psalms, in fact,
  • 00:19:18
    there's a whole book in the Bible called Lamentations,
  • 00:19:20
    where people are just allowing their emotions to be processed
  • 00:19:24
    and they're saying how they feel to God.
  • 00:19:26
    It's OK. You can tell God that you are afraid.
  • 00:19:30
    You can tell God that you're stressed.
  • 00:19:32
    You can tell God that things are not going well.
  • 00:19:34
    Tell Him. Talk to Him about that. Be silent before Him.
  • 00:19:39
    You might just find that He comforts you.
  • 00:19:42
    He gives you, as the Bible says, a peace that passes all understanding.
  • 00:19:49
    I want to make sure you hear me really clearly.
  • 00:19:51
    Emotions are really good. Emotions are great.
  • 00:19:53
    They make us feel alive.
  • 00:19:55
    They they bring spice to our life.
  • 00:19:57
    It's just that we have to channel them.
  • 00:20:00
    We have to take control of them.
  • 00:20:01
    And you can take control of them.
  • 00:20:02
    So many times there's things in the physical world
  • 00:20:05
    that represent the spiritual world.
  • 00:20:07
    Right here I have a fire that represents emotions.
  • 00:20:11
    And I've been managing this fire.
  • 00:20:14
    I've been controlling this fire to do something really good.
  • 00:20:17
    I placed my wood in the right place.
  • 00:20:19
    I want to get a little going a little bit more.
  • 00:20:28
    What I'm doing here is I'm taking the energy
  • 00:20:31
    that I am controlling, that I am bringing around
  • 00:20:34
    to do something really, really good.
  • 00:20:37
    Like what would that be good?
  • 00:20:40
    That would be a venison backstrap, that's what that would be.
  • 00:20:45
    That would be a backstrap that I have prepared
  • 00:20:49
    to have an amazing meal.
  • 00:20:52
    Had I had no fire, were I not controlling this fire,
  • 00:21:01
    I would not be able to eat.
  • 00:21:04
    I've got to get all that -- got to get all that goo out of there.
  • 00:21:09
    That's what my dad used to call it, all the goo.
  • 00:21:12
    Get that goo out of there. Yeah, right there.
  • 00:21:20
    See how I just controlled that?
  • 00:21:23
    Now, because I have been taking this energy
  • 00:21:28
    and I've been controlling it, I'm going to have great meal.
  • 00:21:34
    And had I not had this energy, I would have an awful meal.
  • 00:21:36
    You need the energy of emotions in your life.
  • 00:21:39
    If you don't have the energy of emotional life,
  • 00:21:40
    you're not going to have good meals, but you have to control it
  • 00:21:43
    because you don't want to burn your life.
  • 00:21:46
    You don't want to crush your life.
  • 00:21:48
    You can control your life. You can control your mind.
  • 00:21:51
    You can control your emotions.
  • 00:21:54
    Your emotions are a blessing from God.
  • 00:21:56
    Use your emotions, don't let them use you.
  • 00:22:06
    That's good.
  • 00:22:08
    I have the emotional happiness right now.
  • 00:22:11
    I get to have this because I controlled that fire.
  • 00:22:21
    God is able to overcome our emotions.
  • 00:22:24
    He cares about our feelings
  • 00:22:25
    and He can turn them into something to be used for good.
  • 00:22:29
    We're going to sing a song that helps me remember
  • 00:22:31
    that God is an overcomer and He can handle all my thoughts
  • 00:22:35
    and feelings even when they seem overwhelming.
  • 00:22:39
    And while we see thoughts from real people in our community,
  • 00:22:43
    this is a moment to turn over our feelings and emotions to our God.
  • 00:23:02
    When I’m overwhelmed and shadowed with doubt
  • 00:23:08
    You make a way
  • 00:23:15
    In my brokenness where peace can’t be found
  • 00:23:20
    You make a way
  • 00:23:29
    You lift my head up
  • 00:23:35
    You heal my soul
  • 00:23:42
    I’m made new because of You
  • 00:23:48
    Because of what You’ve done
  • 00:23:53
    You’re the God who overcomes
  • 00:23:57
    Painting grace upon my canvas of fears
  • 00:24:02
    You make a way
  • 00:24:10
    Draw me closer so you’re all that I hear
  • 00:24:15
    You make a way, make a way
  • 00:24:24
    You lift my head up
  • 00:24:29
    You heal my soul
  • 00:24:37
    I’m made new because of You
  • 00:24:43
    Because of what You’ve done
  • 00:24:47
    You’re the God who overcomes
  • 00:24:54
    You’re the God who overcomes
  • 00:25:03
    All my worries, all my doubts [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:10
    I shake ‘em off and they’re falling down [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:17
    All my fears, all my shame [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:23
    I lay 'em down in Jesus’ name [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:30
    All my worries, all my doubts [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:36
    I shake ‘em off and they’re falling down [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:42
    All my fears, all my shame [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:49
    I lay 'em down in Jesus’ name [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:25:55
    All my worries, all my doubts [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:26:02
    I shake ‘em off and they’re falling down [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:26:08
    All my fears, all my shame [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:26:15
    I lay 'em down in Jesus’ name [You're the God who overcomes]
  • 00:26:28
    You lift my head up
  • 00:26:33
    You heal my soul
  • 00:26:41
    I’m made new because of You
  • 00:26:46
    Because of what You’ve done You’re the God who overcomes
  • 00:26:54
    You lift my head up
  • 00:27:00
    You heal my soul
  • 00:27:07
    I’m made new because of You
  • 00:27:13
    Because of what You’ve done You’re the God who overcomes
  • 00:27:23
    You're the God who overcomes
  • 00:27:30
    You're the God who overcomes
  • 00:32:12
    - God, I thank you because just like we're singing
  • 00:32:17
    when we're alone, when we're on our own, we're not alone.
  • 00:32:21
    God, I ask that I'm even in the midst of our times
  • 00:32:23
    of gathering like this that You would send Your Spirit,
  • 00:32:28
    You would send the Comforter to meet us in the midst of these times.
  • 00:32:34
    That even right now that we would find comfort,
  • 00:32:37
    comfort in Your presence,
  • 00:32:39
    comfort in the gathering of the body right now.
  • 00:32:49
    Guys, it's so good worshiping with you.
  • 00:32:52
    I love getting to do this.
  • 00:32:53
    We do this actually not quite like this,
  • 00:32:56
    but we still gather twice a day
  • 00:32:58
    in the morning at 8:30 on Facebook
  • 00:33:01
    you can go to Crossroads Church and at 7 p.m.
  • 00:33:05
    So if you want to join us and thousands of other folks
  • 00:33:08
    who are coming together, we'd love to have. Love to have you.
  • 00:33:17
    - I love that we can still worship together at a time like this.
  • 00:33:20
    And if you want to follow Crossroads music or hear more of it,
  • 00:33:23
    it's available on every streaming platform:
  • 00:33:25
    Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your music.
  • 00:33:28
    Hey, if you heard something today and want some prayer
  • 00:33:30
    or want to talk with someone, don't forget,
  • 00:33:31
    you can do that at Crossroads.net.
  • 00:33:34
    We also want to invite you to partner with us financially
  • 00:33:37
    or practice the spiritual discipline of giving.
  • 00:33:38
    You can do that at Crossroads.net/give.
  • 00:33:41
    Join us next week where we're going to continue
  • 00:33:43
    in our Mindset series.
  • 00:33:45
    We're gonna be talking about the importance of community
  • 00:33:47
    for processing our thoughts and emotions.
  • 00:33:49
    We're all disconnected right now, but we're going to talk
  • 00:33:51
    about the power of connecting with other people.
  • 00:33:54
    And I promise I will not set myself on fire.

May 2, 2020 • 34 mins 20 sec

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