Replacement principal.

Welcome: Bruce

Sings 2 songs prior to announcements:

Bruce announcements
a) Good morning! I am Pastor Bruce, Welcome to the Journey International
Church!
b) Thank you for coming and worshiping with us today. We want you to feel
welcome, please let us know if you have questions.
c) In the future please feel free to grab a bible to use as you enter the church.
They are by the Offering Box
d) In September we plan on having a baptism for those who wish to be baptized.
Let me know or fill out a connect card with information so I can contact you.
e) We now have an information a table in the children’s area. Please take the
time to check it out.
f) Find us on Facebook: the journey international church Dominican Republic
g) Today at 3:00 PM we will be watching Episode 2 of the movie series The
Chosen. We will watch in Spanish with English subtitles Watch this clip

Sings 2 songs

Prayer: Let me pray

1. PEOPLE who came
2. FOR those who need comfort and healing
3. TEACH us your word today

I. Body: Back ground history: OPEN Bibles to Philippians 4:8-9

ENG pg 804, SP pg 686
v Where are your thoughts taking you?
a. Our thoughts shape who we are.
b. Are your thoughts holding you back from trying something?
c. Are your thoughts causing you to be afraid of failure?
d. We are under constant attack from Satan and we need to fight
back and change the course of our thought process

Read aloud: Philippians 4:8-9

v The Apostle Paul knew the importance of the struggle that has
plagued mankind since the beginning of time.
1. This verse shows that Paul understood the importance of
having a clean mind and how helpful it is to think of
wholesome and good things.
2. Today’s message we will be looking at ways to confront the
battle we are in and to take control of our mind.
 3. We are going to have a short series of messages that discuss the
subject of “winning the war in our minds”

A. How our minds imprison us

v Story of man locked in the closet
1) There was a group of guys that played a game in their offices
where they played tricks on each other.
2) This game went on every day.
3) One day john went to his office and felt as though something was
wrong so he went and opened the closet in his office.
4) He was surprised to find another player hiding in the closet
because he had planned on attacking him by surprise.
5) John thought he must have spent the night there to be there so
early in the morning.
6) John quickly shut the door and kept his foot against it so the other
couldn’t get out.
7) John then thought he would put a chair against the door to keep
him in there all day while he worked.
8) The chair wouldn’t fit so he told the guy I placed a chair against
the door and now you are locked in there all day.
9) Truth is the chair wouldn’t fit and he lied to the guy to make him
think he was locked in.
10) The lie worked. The guy spent most of the day in the closed and
never checked the door to see if he could get out.
11) If he would have checked the door would have opened.

1. This story is an innocent way the mind can be deceived into

thinking you are trapped.
a) The truth is our mind is under attack on a daily basis and
the attacker is Satan.
b) The Bible says he prowls around like a lion waiting to
devour us.
c) We are constantly being attacked with thought of despair,
feelings of inadequacy or feelings of doubt
2. The Bible says our mind is in a war zone.
a) The battle is not flesh and blood it is in the spiritual realm.
b) This is why we struggle so much each day
c) Do you ever wonder why you can’t break a habit?
d) Or you feel like you can’t connect with God?
e) Why you make bad decisions.
f) Fight with your spouse or you always worry or fear?

3. If we don’t admit there is a war and engage in it you are going to

lose every time.
a) If you ignore it you don’t gain on the situation.
b) You must confront it.
 c) You can’t change what you don’t confront.

4. We too are letting lies control our life.

a) Maybe we don’t try to achieve something because we were
told we can’t
b) Maybe we look down on ourselves because someone has
told us we are not smart
c) We let these lies control us and prevent us from success.

B. What do we do? Identify the lies you believe Eph 6:12 For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms

1. Satan has been telling you lies. He leads the spiritual forces of evil.
2. He has convinced many of us lies and we have believed them
a) Many of us believe we are not loved. Not smart.
b) We can’t do certain things.
c) Many believe we are not attractive or are weak.
d) Maybe you believe you can’t do a certain job?
e) Many of us believe the lies that are being planted in our
mind.
3. What is the lie that has the strongest hold on you?
a) What lie, mistruth, wrong thought pattern has affected
your life the most.
b) Define what it is and next we will discover how to deal
with it.
c) In what ways do you feel defeated?
4. When I was a child we had very little money.
a) My father passed when I was 3 we lived on one income
b) My class mates had good clothes, nice homes,
c) They had all the nice things in their homes. Tv, games,
bikes, nice cars and they had a mother and father.
d) I would always feel as though they were better than me.
e) I also felt as though my family didn’t measure up to
theirs
f) This was a lie from Satan. He wanted me to doubt
myself and be defeated, not try to achieve anything.
g) This lie stuck with me as I grew older.

C. The best way to handle this is to Replace the lies with the Truth.

1. If we accept these lies that are being told to us we will be crippled

just as the man who never tried to open the door of the closet.

2. We need to replace the lies with the truth

 a) The things we are being fed through our doubts and
fears are not at all what God tells us.
b) The closer we get to God the more the evil one wants to
tear us down and he does so by making us doubt
ourselves.
3. Satan has been spreading lies since the beginning of time.
a) It started with Adam and eve in the garden of Edan.
b) He convinced them that God wouldn’t punish them and that
they could be like God.

4. Satan tried to get Jesus to sin and failed. How did Jesus handle it
a) Satan tried three times to get Jesus to disobey God. But Jesus
used the word of God to combat the lies he was told
b) Every time Satan tried to tempt Jesus he combated it with the
Word of God.
c) The final time Satan tried to tempt Jesus he too quoted
scripture. He said to Jesus: For It Is Written.

II. Conclusion: How do we change this pattern of abuse?

v The only weapon Satan has is his lies. And the only way to combat it is
with the truth. And that is God’s word
v The apostle Paul spoke much about the importance of the word of
God.
1. Heb 4:12 the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any
double-edged sword, able to cut and judges the thoughts of the
heart.
2. Eph 6:17 take the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.
3. John 8:32 Jesus said if we obey what he taught you will know the
truth and the truth will set you free.

v Paul also wrote: 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.
1. Don’t conform to the patterns of this world means? Don’t give
into the things people say in this world. “don’t believe the lies.
2. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind means? Let
God’s word reshape “change your thinking.” “And to make it
new” “replace the lies with the truth”

For example:
v What are some things we tend to believe
1. Lie: I am a victim, nothing good ever happens to me
a) Truth: if God is for us who can be against us… we are
conquerors through him who loved us. Rom 8:31, 37
 b) Make it personal: God says I am not a victim but a
victor in Christ. Phil 4:13
2. Lie: God can’t be trusted, I need to take control of my own life.
a) Truth: God demonstrates his own love for us in this.
While we were still sinners Christ died for us. Rom 5:8
b) Make it personal: God loves me and knows me more
than I love and know myself. He can be trusted Rom
8:32

v It is one thing to know these verses and another thing to believe and
hold true to them. This will take time and much work to retrain our
minds.
v This is what we will be talking about next week.

v Bruce personal lie I struggle with.

1. Going back to my dilemma.
2. The lie I was being told about not being of value is something I
struggled with for many years and a little still today.
3. No matter what we do in life or where we live there is always
different classes of people.
4. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
5. The lie is I don’t measure up and others are better than me.
6. It wasn’t until I became a believer and started reading the
Bible that I found the truth in God’s word to combat this lie.
7. The truth is:
a) John 1:12 to those who receive Him, to those who
believe in His name he gave the right to be children of
God
b) I am now a child of the perfect family.
c) Luke 12:15 I learned to guard my heart against
coveting. Because my life doesn’t consist in the
abondance of my possessions.
d) Matt 6:33 I learned he provides my needs. Seek ye first
the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
things will be added to you.

v What lie are you struggling with?

1. Don’t believe the lies that people tell you or that are planted in
your mind by the evil one. Don’t conform to what they say.
2. But let God’s word reshape you and renew you. Make you
new.
3. Replace the lies with the truth….

Closing Prayer:

1. God’s blessings, protection, provision and healing on all here today

 2. Pray that you will help us to reach others for the Kingdom.
3. Give us the words to say and boldness to speak.

If you would like to pray, please repeat after me or get with me after the service.

Please pray with me if you want to receive him:

Dear God, please forgive me, I am a sinner.

I confess Jesus is lord and that he died on the cross for my sins.
I believe that you raised him from the dead.
By faith I ask Jesus to be my personal savior. Amen!
I turn from my sins to you.
, 2023

Communion: 1 Corinthians 11:24. The lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took
bread and when he had given thanks said: This is my body which is for you; do this
in remembrance of me. And in the same way after supper he took the cup saying:
this cup is a new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it in
remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you
proclaim the lords death until he comes.