Change Your Mind Into The Image Of Christ| Pastor Terrano Larkin

Welcome to our channel! In this powerful message, Pastor Terrano Larkin challenges us to examine our thought patterns and intentionally realign our minds with the character, heart, and image of Jesus Christ. True transformation doesn't just happen on the outside—it begins with the renewal of our minds.If you are ready to break free from old mindsets, overcome negative thought patterns, and step into the fullness of who God called you to be, this message is for you.🔔 Subscribe to our channel for weekly messages, and don't forget to like, comment, and share this video with someone who needs to hear it!#LightCityChurchNOLA #PastorTerranoLarkin #MindsetShift #Transformation #Faith #ChristianLiving

Connected Scriptures

Here are four scriptures you can include in the description or use as a reference during study to reinforce the message:

• Romans 12:2 > "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
  • Connection: This is the foundational verse for shifting our thinking away from worldly influences and letting God reshape our minds.
• Philippians 2:5 > "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus."
  • Connection: A direct call to action to adopt the humility, love, and perspective of Jesus in our daily lives.
• 2 Corinthians 10:5 > "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
  • Connection: Highlights the active, spiritual discipline required to filter out thoughts that do not align with Christ's image.
• Colossians 3:10 > "...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."
  • Connection: Perfectly mirrors the sermon title, emphasizing that our new identity is constantly being renewed to reflect the image of God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Seven o'clock.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Seven o'clock. Let's give God a hand. Let's give God a hand. Thank you, Father God, for this wonderful day, Father God. I thank you for this day that you have made. We shall rejoice and be glad in it. I thank you for everyone who came out tonight, Father God, and everyone who was watching, Father God. I thank you for your hedge of protection, Father God, that you have placed upon each and every one of us, Father God. I thank you for your grace, your mercy, Father God. I thank you for your continued love, Father God. Despite what we deserve or not, Father God, you have given us your love uh freely, given your love, Father God. And for that, I want to say thank you, Father God. I want to say thank you for this life that you have given us. You've given us one life to do your will, Father God, and to be obedient servants, sons and daughters to your will, Father God. Let us not help us not to miss the mark, Father God. Help us to do all that we need to do with the rest of our lives in obedience and of submission to you, Father God. Submission to your will, to your worth, and to the plan that you have for our lives. No matter what our age, as long as we have breath in our body, we have the time and an opportunity to be a blessing to the kingdom of God. We have the time and opportunity to be a blessing to our family and to implant into them, impart into them all that you have given us to do, Father God. I thank you, Lord. I thank you. We learned on last week that you will always leave a remnant, Father God. You will always leave a remnant in the earth realm to be a blessing to the next generation, Father God. Oh, thank you, Father God, for your grace, your love, your mercy. Thank you, Rod, in the name of Jesus. Thank you for Chief Apostle and all those who are out with them ministering in India, Father God. I thank you for the hedge of protectionism upon their life as they have been fulfilling the word, the call, the mandate. Thank you, Lord God. Thank you in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray. Amen. Amen. Good night, everybody. Good night. Oh my god. Uh this time last week, my nephew graduated from high school. I I couldn't go to it because we had Wednesday night service, but he graduated and Theophilus graduated on was that a Saturday? Was it Friday or Saturday? He had it Saturday. He had his graduation. You remember that youngster from here, now he's seven feet tall, great man of God. And on Monday, my daughter graduated, and it was a wonderful time to being able to experience that. To see my daughter, she was Sumakum Ladi. She was uh no, not valedictorian, she was a salutatorian. She was a salutatorian, she was right there, she was number two. My baby was number one, but we know she was number one. Yeah, she was number one. I heard that speech, but we'll take we'll we'll take two just just just because it was a young man who was the valid who was the valedictorian. Thank God for that young man. Just see a young man, a young man who got the number one place. I was like, Babe, if it had to be it, let it be a your little young man. Thank God for him, because we don't see that much in this time. We don't see that much because it's such an attack on young men these days. And when you walked in that audience, it was like 80 girls. It's like hardly any boys. But you know, our future, we have to have a balance of young men and young women. So every time you see a young man come up, you gotta give him praise and you gotta thank God that he that he committed and he didn't fall off. Yeah, it was a lot of years. I think we had a number two, but not we haven't had one number one in years. And um the ratio is very different. Now, two weeks ago, she had she had her her associate's degree, and she had the graduation for our associate's degree. I won't offend anybody, but just to let let you know, she's a part of this program, and it's something when you have now that I have my first daughter who's graduated, as exciting as it is to have your child go out and to be able to start to get a new experience and start on to take more of a load and become moving for into that young adulthood, it's exciting for them because I remember that. But as a parent, the rubber's about to meet the road, you're gonna see how well you did with your child, how much have what you instilled in them have they paid attention to, and this is the time where most of the mistakes that carry on are coming up in these next few years, so that's the terrifying part of it. But you can't allow yourself to be terrified. You trust in God and you put it in God's hands, and you just hope and believe and trust and pray and always stay faithful. And like Chief said, you better stay on your knees, you better stay on your knees and keep God in prayer and keep keep them in prayer lifted up because you know the enemy has an attack that he has set forth in this realm. And and I'm gonna talk about the United States, I'm gonna talk about the United States and even my culture. There's a such an attack that's kind of that's taking place on our young people, and it starts in the mind. We talked a little bit about this because if I were to titles this with the power of thought and the power of the word. The power of thought and the power of the word. Now, this program she in, she's in. I won't talk, I won't, I won't mention the program, but she was able to get her associate's degree. And I was like, what is this about this associate's degree? Getting liberal arts degree, what's the significance of it? Because I remember, and she worked hard, she studied hard, and they gave her all kinds of assignments. They were teaching her, and she it's a battery of assignments. She earned this degree, she earned this degree, and she's an excellent writer, excellent, she's excellent in a lot of different areas. But what I realized was they were teaching her, they were indoctrinating her, and teaching them not how to think, but what to think? I say this because she even she had a religion class, a Bible class, but the teacher is an atheist. So we have an atheist teaching a Bible class. So, what kind of lesson do you think she learned in a Bible class where she's being taught the word of God from one who doesn't even believe in the word of God? Indoctrination. They are being taught how to think politically, what to think politically, and not just the politically of what the climate is today, which you should and should not say, what you should and should not think, we must be politically correct, not godly correct correct, not word correct, but we have to be politically correct. This this this school, another one of our young people went to this school, and I'll just say, as great as that person is, that young person now from that school, from from this ministry now is doing plays in Jesus Christ Superstar. You know a little bit about Jesus Christ Superstar. You know, y'all know about that, right? Well, Jesus Christ Superstar, where they're saying Jesus is homosexual and and all this kind of stuff. That's the kind of stuff that they're doing, and that's the kind of stuff that's being pushed. So you're seeing a young person who is a belief who's a believer, and now from going through the indoctrination process, go so far away from what they ever believe, not to the point where they're just doing their own thing, but to the point that you're outwardly doing your own thing and outwardly doing something that is totally against the word of God. And and and a slap and slap in the face of what the word says, that's that indoctrination. The thing is, they used to wait till you were in college and waiting for you in college. And once you get in college, now we begin to we begin to teach you what to think, begin to teach you how to think. But now they're no longer waiting till your college, they've created college associates degree courses they're putting in high schools now. So now they're not, they're getting you as young teenagers, and they're beginning to train you and to believe and to think the way they tell you to think, not think critically. You can't question and think critically. You you the way you succeed is to think and give us what we want to hear. So that's that's there's something that the world understands about indoctrination, and they don't feel it's wrong, but we as believers don't indoctrinate our children with the word of God. We don't push or impress if we fail to, I should say, if we fail to impress on our children the word of God and get this like the word of God says, train up them, train them up as a child in the way that they should go. Because, like, okay, my child may have it, but what about all those other children who didn't have the foundation? What chance do they have of going out into that world and not being pulled in and seduced by the message of the day? Being pulled in and seduced by the world's, the world's the world's seductive seduction. That's a very important thing. And without God, and we're in trouble as men and women of God, and our children are in trouble. We cannot hold them once they've gotten to them if we've not trained them on how to think, how to use their thought, their mind, and how to use their word to fight against what's pulling on them from the enemy. And that is a daily challenge. I remember my daughter found it very difficult in some of these programs being a Christian. I remember one time she came home crying because they can live their life outwardly. But when you try to live your life as a believer, it's it's the ridicule there. One time she didn't speak up, and it hurt her that she didn't speak up. Now, when she was on that stage, she was creeped, she's she she she quoted her word. I was like, Look at my vein. She she was in those scriptures, she she did it boldly, thank God for her. So I'm just gonna give you some words on the power of thought. Uh-huh. Wait, hold on. Give her wait, give her. Let me get a mic. Let me get a mic right quick. Let's see. All right, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

In 1965, when I started high school the year of Hurricane Bessie, and we uh they they they taught us about where we came from, apes, but we were so rooted and grounded in the word of God, and not that we were born again and saved, but my mama bought what brought us a train. Who made you? God made you. It's never what we came from an ape. Who made you? We always knew that God made us, so that that part of school it went over our head. You know, my my my my siblings, a lot of people, because their foundation was Jesus, and they know we didn't come from no ape.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

That was a foundation that the foundation that we were speaking of, but these kids today don't even have that foundation. So many uh have lost that foundation. One thing about black people in America, we were always known for being believers, for being Christians, but that day has switched. Now we're spiritual, which means I don't believe in Jesus, I don't believe in God, I believe in the spirit of the earth and things. So we have gotten into some weird things now that we've lost a relationship with God because of the loss of the foundation. So it's something that we have to not just train ourselves to understand, but also train up our children in the way they should go. And I'm gonna give us some scriptures, and I'm gonna start with 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 5, and that has to do with submitting your thoughts to Jesus. And it says, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself against the knowledge of God. He uses powerful word, he says to demolish, that means to destroy it, to tear down, to make it to a point where it does not exist anymore. You demolish it, every pretense that sets itself against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought that makes it makes it um obedient, every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So we have to make sure that that is what we're doing each day. I I looked up the word pretension on chat. This is the chat definition. It says pretension means an attempt to appear more important, more intelligent, more wealthy, more cultured, more or talented than someone really is. So we would use our culture and our intelligence against the word of God. We would use our wealth and our cult and our talent against the word of God. We we in this day, and you can see it, where we'll put that above the word of God, above what we our foundations, to the point where your children begin to question with not a godly questioning of the word, but an ungodly questioning of the word of God. Whereas not just to get an understanding, but to quote but it more in an antagonistic type of situation, because of what is being taught in schools. Because they're taught in schools that the word of God is not real, they're being taught in school that we came from mates, we came from a big bang, that that the earth, that the creation was not real. That's the things, and and the world is to the point where they'll they'll make it difficult if you don't conform to the world. They want these children of the day to conform to the world, and that's what our young people, as they begin to go to college, that's what they have to make sure that they're armed with the true living word that they do not submit to the to the wiles of the enemy. So we have to teach them and we have to teach ourselves because not just them, because the world has an effect on us as believers as well. This is not a message for unbelievers, but a message for believers. Even in the very house, we have people who suffer on how to think, on how to how to reason and how to make an understanding of the word of God, and we cannot allow that to happen. Next scripture is 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 16. Because we have to remember that we have the mind of Christ. We have to remember that we have the mind of Christ. For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? Who's so big and bold that they can instruct God? Who's so big and bold that they can tell God what to do? I'll be the instructor to our heavenly father. You can't do that. Our father God is the creator of all. We can go to Siri, we can go to our phone, we can get the information. We don't need God now. So we think because we get so engrossed in the information and the information overload of the day. But that's not so. Our dependence has to be on God because knowledge just puffs up, and knowledge without wisdom is garbage. You have to have the wisdom to go along with the knowledge, or you just become a smart fool. And a smart fool is you can you can be in just as much trouble as a dumb fool, and you can just be a smart fool. Chief always talked about being up and out and down and out, you're still out. If you're still out, you're out. And what good is it to be a smart fool and you end up going to hell? That's that that's that's no way. So we have to begin to we we have to begin to allow God, we have to begin to get so connected with God. Let me read that again. But we have the mind of Christ, so we have to take to get rid of our own mind, this chat mind, the internet mind, the world mind, and take on the mind of Christ and let him be first and foremost in every thought and decision that we make. Go to him on every thought before we make the choice. And we were talking about it uh in prayer today. You know, God does things that don't make sense to our own natural mind. But if you watch and watch it to the end, what he made and gave you that didn't seem to make sense in that day, when it comes to fruition, you're like, I did not see that, I didn't see that, and I didn't realize how what you had in store for me if I would have just followed. But how can you follow if you're so engrossed in the world that you don't take time and submit your life to our true and living God? Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. Philippians chapter 4, verse 6. We know this scripture. Do not be anxious about anything. We suffer a lot right there, being anxious, and we know that you have a problem, a situation, you're rehearsing in your mind on a daily basis. I gotta get this bill paid, I gotta get this taken care of, I gotta, and you just rehearse it in your mind, and you're like, what to do? I'm so anxious about it, to the point where you can't eat, you can't think, you can't sleep, you can't operate properly because you're so worried and so anxious about something, and you you make something that's a small situation, even far greater than it really is, because you've dwelled on and you were so anxious about it that you didn't give God the time to work it out for you. But in every situation, by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, how do you give thanks when you're going through? That's counter counteractive to what your body wants to do. Your body wants to stress, your body wants to freak out, your body wants to to to to be just dismayed. But now he's telling you to be thankful in Thanksgiving. He ain't say before he worked it out, he's saying that in the midst of in the midst of turn turn turmoil, in the midst of trials, in the midst of problems, he said come out with with prayer and petition and thanksgiving. He said to present your request to God, but he'll give you something, and the peace of God, which train which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. So he's giving you the answer to the problem. Sometimes we just don't like the answer. Sometimes we want to just put our hands to it because we feel like God is moving too slow. He's not moving at the speed that I need him to work this out, he's not doing it. At the pace that I want. He's not fulfilling it the way I want. I want it done the way I want it done, not the way he wants it done. But we have to come up mid our ways to Christ and we have to do it the way he says it. Because we have to begin to do what? Change the way we think. It's the power of the thought that we have in us that we can put on his mind and operate with his thoughts, his motive, his function. And as a young person going into college, you need to know this because they're going to make you very anxious in college. They're going to make you anxious about questioning do I stand on what I believe or do I conform to what the teacher is telling me so I can get this grade? So you said so the Linda said it's more who believe the teacher than the word of God. Yes, there's always there's a lot more, it's only a small remnant of us. Excuse me. There's a remnant of us, so it's always more of them. But we already know that that's the way God likes it. He don't want the numbers in our favor. Because if the numbers are in our favor, then we can trust the numbers. He always likes it where we have to depend on him so he can show his self strong, so we can show that our God is greater than the God of this world that you're putting up, whatever it be, whether it be homosexuality, God of God of information, the God of all these isms. That is not the true and living God. Our God is greater than all that. And our children have to know and understand that He is greater than any friendships, relationships, and approval that the world can ever give you. Put God first, focus on heavenly things. Colossians chapter 3, verse 2. Focus on heavenly things. If we just begin to focus on that and leave and not so focus on the world, which is hard to do because the world is very seductive, it's very it's enjoyable. The God gave us this world, and it is exciting, but he never gave us that to put above him. It was here for our enjoyment, but not for us to put it over him. We are not to make this God, God, this world our God. We have to submit to the true and living God, and we can dominate in the world that he has given us. Be yeah we're in the world, but we're not of it. Set your mind on things above. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. There's a lot of earthly things. There's a lot of earthly things. Today, kids are traveling like never before. They're going, they got their passports and they're going from coast to coast, country to country like that. I'm from the 90s and we ain't travel like that. Yeah, from the y'all from the 70s. Yeah, I didn't travel like that. But in this day, these young people are traveling. They're going out to see the world, they want to experience the world, they want to experience people, they want to experience culture, they want to experience new foods, new technologies, they want to experience the world. And it's not wrong. If we understand and put God first, we can experience those things because, like we said, he teaches us how to think, how to make decisions, how to how to keep safe as we move about and as our young people move about in the world. Something we don't have to fear what our kids are gonna do and where they go, if we make sure that this is instilled in them and they know how to make decisions. Because no matter what, you're like, oh, what it wouldn't they get out there and they do this, they can do stuff and go crazy in your house. So in your house, out the house, if a kid wants to go crazy, just like if we want to go crazy, nobody can stop you. But if you're armed with the way to think, just like they indoctrinate our children, if we indoctrinate our children and indoctrinate ourselves with the word of God and become kingdom believers, then there's nothing that the world can do, nothing the world can say that'll move us from the position that God has rightfully put us in because we serve the true and living God. Romans chapter 8, verse 6. Romans chapter 8, verse 6. Because we want to allow God's God's spirit to govern our minds. The mind governed by the flesh is death. I'm gonna say that one more time. That's a lot to say. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. It's simple, it's simple. We were talking to the young lady in prayer this morning, this afternoon. She said that we have to develop a closer relationship with God. What's the young lady's name? I Delisha. Delisha, I you know me and names. Delisha said it. She's not here tonight. Delisha said that we have that God wants to develop a closer relationship with him. And that is very important because how do you make decisions without going to the one who knows the route, without the one who knows the plan for your life, the one who can see those attacks and where they're coming, so he can tell you, I remember when I was at Bell School and I was walking down the street, and I'm on one side of the street and I heard the voice, go to the other side of the street. So I go to the other side of the street and I keep walking. This is one of those times I listened, and all of a sudden I see all these guys running and jumping. This other guy, they were just looking for somebody from Bell School that they could jump. Now I could have just didn't listen and just walk myself right there. It was like six or seven of them. I wasn't winning that fight. Sometimes God don't need, oh yeah, he could give me the strength like he did David and just take them all out, or be obedient like he said, and move, and you don't even have to deal with that situation. A lot of times God has moved us away from decisions that can bring trauma to our lives, but before because we failed to listen and be obedient because with a lack of connection, we didn't hear to the point where we responded properly, and the chaos came in and attacked came to our lives. That's why it's so important that we allow him to govern our lives, to govern our lives and not to let the world govern our lives, not to submit to the world and all its fruits that it has, not to submit to the world and all the beauty that it has to the point where we all allow that to supersede our great and mighty God. How to think, how to think. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, y'all can take all these good old scriptures on how to think, 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear. As parents, we don't have to fear what's gonna happen to our children as they go out and begin their lives. We don't have to fear, we trust God, we put it in God's hands. That's why we've dedicated them as young to God. God's gonna work it out, he'll never put more on them that they can bear. And whatever the decisions they make, it's decisions that have been earned. Whatever decisions we've made, it's the decisions we've earned. But God is a good God, and sometimes when he chastises us, he only chastises the one he loves. So as we went through chastisement, they may have to go through chastisement, or they may be the obedient one and eat the fruit of the land, and they don't have to go quite as much. They are everybody gonna get something because no one's perfect. But our God is perfect and he is in control and he knows what to do, so we don't have to fear, and neither do we have to teach our children to fear, but have a godly fear and a reverence for the one who created it all. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, power, of love, and a sound judgment, a sound mind. I I think about my cousin, she was here a couple of weeks ago and I brought up a prayer because she was struggling, she was struggling, she was struggling. Yet she's still struggling. I was just talking this today, she's still struggling, but she won't let go of the fear that has her so captive. It's something to the point where she's double-minded, she questions, she'll do something, then she questions the decision, which I and it's just she's so frazzled because she won't let go and allow God's peace to just to just consume her. To the point where she went out of out of town, I was like, Look, it doesn't matter where you go, you're just gonna bring the problem with you. You you cannot change your location and change the situation. Because the location is not the problem, it's it's going on in her mind that has got her wrapped up. And if she cannot allow God to to work that part up, she can't fix the situation. So we're still working with her. Gotta do more, but she has to let that go and she has to thank God she found the word. But now it's not just about seeing it, but you have to begin to consume it, you have to allow that to take root in you, and you to the point where it begins to make the necessary change in your life. It's not just about seeing the word or knowing the word, but you gotta apply that word. So next one is did we uh Romans chapter 12? Yes, Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Did we do that one already? I don't think so. We did Romans 8 and 6. Okay. Oh, you know this one, everyone knows this one. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and that's not a one-day situation. Your mind is not renewed after one day. You can't read today, get a word, and then be good for the rest of the year. That's not how it works, that's not how transformation works, that's not how renewing works. Because renewing is like your skin, you know, your skin renews every day. Your body is healing and transforming every day to give you new life. Just as your body knows what to do to continue to renew itself, we have to do that with our spirit. We have to renew our mind because we're having attacks on our mind daily, physical attacks, mental attacks, emotional attacks, environmental attacks. There's attacks that come against our mind and body every day. So there needs to be the corresponding renewal of our mind that takes place each and every day. That's why God finds a time to wake us up, to spend time with him, because that's part of the renewal process. That he begins to speak to us and he begins to impart word wisdom for the day and what we're gonna need for the day, where to go, what, when to go, what not to go, what to say, who to say it to. These are the rejuvenation that God has given to each and every one of us to build us up, to build our mind up, to build us sometimes to help ourselves, it needs to be we need to be blessing them to others. Sometimes I've had situations where I was going through, I talked to someone and I've tell I'm giving them my answer. How many times have you had that? You just I'm telling you, and I'm telling you, and all of a sudden I gave myself the answer to the own problem. But if I would not have spoken, then I wouldn't have gotten the answer for my own situation. That's the time that that he's given us to impart. That's the time he's given us to renewal, that's the time that he's given us to be a blessing. Isaiah 55 verse 8. Isaiah 55 verse 8. It's actually um verse 8 and 9. Because sometimes things, life doesn't make sense to us, but God understands and he knows because he knows the end of the thing, though we don't know it. He knows the end of the thing, he knows where this life is going. I hope I didn't just change something because I know I just hit a button just now. We'll see later on. So Isaiah 55, verse 8 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. How many times have we wanted to do God to do it our way? How many times have we wanted God to do what we wanted Him to do? Somebody cussed me out, they talked about me, they did me bad. Do them something bad, God. But then God might tell you to bless him. That's not my thought. That's not the way I want you to do this, Lord. That's not what I want to do. I don't want to be a blessing to my enemy, I want to destroy my enemy. I don't want to be by, I don't want to destroy him. I just don't want to be bothered with him no more. I don't ever want to see him again. But now you're carrying and festering hurting your life based upon what they did you, and you can't get beyond that because you haven't dealt with it. Because you're trying to think and not let God think. So he says his thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens and as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now, why would you ever want to think when you have a God who can think like that? Why would you ever want to take on this life by yourself when you have a God whose ways are higher than your ways? And we've all allowed our way ourselves to be so so in our own mind, superior that we think we can do it better than God. I got this God, I can handle this. Let me take it. You move too slow. You ain't doing this right, you ain't moving at my pace. I can do this better than you. So high-minded and self-right righteous that we've allowed ourselves to miss it or uh create all kinds of issues in our lives because we didn't know who we served and we didn't know how great he was and what he had in store for us. But he's such a wonderful guy that he still has more to do in our lives. And if you think the blessings have stopped, that's just your mind telling you a lie from the pits of hell. If you think it's over, that's your mind that's telling you and to to try to rob you of more time. If you think that he's done it all he's gonna do in your life, you've done too much that he can't forgive you. That's just your mind trying to slow you up. Because God is not like us, he is a forgiving God. You don't have to pay, he'll make you pay, but even in the midst of your paying, he's still a loving God, he'll still have something for you, he'll still have something for us if we just trust him and just do it the way he says. Because everybody, if you have a child, I don't care how disgusting your child is, you still love your children. And if they change, you you can't wait to make to bring that coat of many colors out and and to put it or wrap it around them. When that child comes home, you want to you just you forget all the pain. We know, like a mother, all the pain you go through in childbirth, and y'all want to do it again as a father. I'm like, how do you do that again? I I saw the birth process with the first one. I'd have been I'd have been done. I didn't do that no more. But with me, y'all do it again because you just forget all that once you see it, the pain just goes away. It's God, God'll forgive us. So we don't have to worry, don't get caught up in the lies that your mind would tell you that you've been a failure or that you missed your opportunity because you have not, because God does not work in our his our time frame, he works in his time frame. It doesn't make sense to me that Moses would have to wait till he's over a hundred years old to have a child. That it's like, well, you all your best years are gone. No, he got far more years, far more years than and he was able to raise his child, his wife, huh? Abraham, what did I say? Moses, no, no, no, no, not Moses, Abraham. Thank you for catching Abraham. I was just checking, see if y'all was paying attention. So y'all got an A on that because y'all was paying attention. A hundred years old. So he could do that, then undoubtedly. I what we say as far as how time works does not matter to God. Does not matter. We have done more in this ministry in the last couple of years, and Chief feels more excited than he did in the last 20 years. It's like, wow, he's more excited now. He's more excited now. It's something. Did I give you Philippians chapter 4, verse 8? Philippians chapter 4, verse 8. Because we have to train our mind to be focused on God and what he has to do. It says, Finally, brothers and sisters, what's whatever is true, whatever's noble, whatever's right, whatever's pure, and whatever's lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything, if any is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Don't focus on the negative. Don't focus on the problem. Don't focus on the situation to the point where you have made those a mountain in your life that's greater than your God. Don't focus on those things that would that would move God from the state that he should be, or to see yourself lower than what he created you to be. Focus on what God sees in you and how God sees you through his word and not through you what your past may tell you, or what your mistakes or your problems may tell you, or what your enemies may tell you. It's not what your enemies say, it's not what the enemy within your mind says. You have to cast them out. Remember, we said we have to cast that out. You have to destroy those and take on the mind of Christ and see it the way he sees it and focus on whatsoever is noble, whatsoever is right, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely. Admirable. Those are what we focus on because we're cleaning and purifying our mind, and we're making it a place where the Holy Spirit can do things and operate and begin to talk. That still small voice that begins to lead us and guide us. He's a powerful guy. He's a powerful spirit that can keep us from a lot of dismay in our life, a lot of problems in our lives, if we begin to make it a palatable place for him to reside and a place where we can hear and be obedient. The last one on how to think is John 16 and 33. I'm gonna say it like Phi and M, my first closing. John 16 and 33. I mean, Minister Theophilus, I apologize. Minister Theophilus. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have you will have suffering in the world. You can't get around that. You will have the suffering in the world because we're in this world, and the root purpose of this word is to take care of you in the midst of your trials, in the midst of your desert situation or or in the midst of what you're going through, the wilderness experience. You're gonna have that. But in the midst of it, he wants you to be courageous. I have conquered the world, it's already done. Our God has already conquered the world, he has conquered the situation in your life. If you just be obedient and trust God and focus on God, He's got everything you need, He's got everything you need to make sure that we have a good and wonderful and successful life in Christ Jesus. Now, just a couple of more scriptures. Because after you begin to train your mind on how to think, now we have to train your mind on how to speak. What's coming from in the deposit God he's giving, we have to be careful with the words that come out of our mouth, and we have to learn how to speak. Chief was telling us he's he tells his body he's healed every day. He said he talks to every part from his eyes, his ears, his nose, his respiratory system, all his vital organs. He tells his body that he is healed every day, his heart, liver. Every part talks to his members and tells them, speaking what this day is going to be like, how great and wonderful this day is going to be. The connections, the connections, and the people that he is going to see. We have to begin to speak positive words. And like Pastor Walker would always tell him, be careful about the words you speak, for your words have power. His words have power. Our words have power. His words have life. Ours have life because we serve the same God. We have power of death in our words. We have to be careful of what we say, how we say it, when we say it, and are we authorized to say what we say? We have we all have a prophetic voice, an apostolic voice, where we can prophesy and we can decree because of the type of man of God that we serve. We have very powerful voices. So we have to be very responsible with the voice and the word that is coming out. Amen. I got two scriptures. I want to make sure I'm saying the right one. Read the first word, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29. Read the whole thing for me.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Let no corrupt communication see out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of the edifying.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Okay, I see. Okay. Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth, but but only such as good for building up as fitting the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. That's Ephesians chat. I see the way it was written out, I see it. That's Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29. So we can't let corrupt what? Communication come out of our mouth. That's how I like to talk a lot. You gotta be very careful when you like to talk a lot because you can let all kind of conversation come in out, and it can go all kinds of ways. That's why you have to be careful of the company you keep. If you Sister Linda said if you talk too much, you can talk yourself into sin. You can you have to be very po um careful, and the company you keep can start to pull out certain things that that shouldn't even be. Yeah, you gotta be careful about and what you consume. What you allow to consume, your mind begins to come out. So you have to be very careful because that because I'm gonna read it again. Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth, but only such as good for building up. I must be building up, not playing the dozens, not fussing, not arguing, not argumentative, not trying to use my words to hurt, not trying to use my words to tear down or to bring offense, but to build up even to those you can't, even those who are an enemy. Don't even allow them to be your enemy. That's your brother and sister in Christ. Don't even allow them to be your enemy. If they see you as an enemy, fine. But they're not even worth being an enemy. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I think that's gonna be my last scripture because my my iPad just died. It just died. I guess that was it for me. It's like, doggone. I had like three other scriptures, so we have to be careful about the communication. What we speak, what would the words that we allow to come out of our mouth? Because we have to be accountable to God for the communication, we have to be accountable to God for what we said, for what we did. We have that, and not only do we have to be accountable to God, which is first and foremost, people are watching and looking and listening to see how you operate as men and women of God. You sound just like the world. What's the difference? You do just like the world does. What's the difference? I don't see the favor on your life. What's the difference? Because the communication doesn't line up with the word. The communication doesn't line up with which what the word says we should do and be and operate. Amen. Thank you for everybody who came on tonight. Now we're gonna take an offering. Brother Mike is gonna come and get the tithes. He's gonna get the offering. Anyone has building money? Sheetrock money. Anybody has the sheetrock money, I'll collect it because Elder Christopher is not here. So I'll collect it. Minister Lee will be they'll be back on Friday, I believe, from the trip to India. They will be back on Friday from the trip to India, and I know they're gonna have a lot to talk about. I don't know. We will begin to see. We've seen a little bit of it here there on Facebook. So if all everybody bring your tithes and your offering and your bill and your sheetrock, because we're believing that very soon that she rock is going up next week or the weeks to come. And uh one step closer to getting that building completed. One step closer to getting that building completed. And you know, once that building is completed, then we have another one to do. Amen. Thank you. So I'll close out, Father God. I thank you, Lord God, for the word that went forth. I thank you for each and every person as they travel home this evening, Father God. Thank you for what you're doing in our lives, Father God. Help us as we begin to train our mind and meditate on your word on how to think, Father God, and how to speak, Father God. And let your word and your communication change situations in our lives, Father God. Change situations, problems that we may be going through, Father God. Your word will give us the grace we need and the change we need. In the mighty name of Jesus, I thank you. Amen. Amen.