Have you ever risked vulnerability with a spouse or a close friend or a coworker by telling them about some strange thought you were having? You go out on a limb to tell them. You start the sentence with, “I know this makes no sense but I was thinking that ____________.”

And they responded to you by saying, “Don’t worry about it. It’s just all in your head.” And you’re like, “That’s the problem – it’s all in my head and it’s affecting my whole life.” The issue isn’t always what is true in the world. Sometimes, it’s just about what is true in the world that exists in our minds. And I don’t know about you, but I have things that enter my mind and I have no idea where these thoughts come from. I’m like, “How in the world did that just get into my head?”

Have you ever wondered how your thoughts make their way into your mind? Do you ever find yourself overthinking? Has your mind ever convinced you that something was absolutely true, only to learn that it wasn’t true at all? Whatever is in our mind will determine the course of our lives. Knowing the mind is powerful, are you convinced that your thoughts control you or is it possible that you can control your thoughts? In this series, It’s All in Your Head, we’re going to discover the power of the mind, how we get to choose the leader for our mind, we’ll understand that our mind has an enemy, and we’ll learn how to create the menu that our mind feeds on.

“Wherever your mind goes, the rest of your life goes with it.” Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack

The mind is THAT powerful. Think about the people who have created the most beautiful things throughout history. Where did those things originate? In their minds. Think about the people who have caused the most damage and destruction throughout history. Where did those things get their start? In their minds.

But let’s not just think about famous people who have created great beauty and great evil with their minds. When you think about the most beautiful things you’ve created in your life, where did those things originate? When you think about the things you’ve done that you most regret, where did those moments begin? You’re right – the best things you’ve produced and the worst things you’ve done – all have their genesis in your mind.

If your mind is the steering wheel for your entire life, wouldn’t you like to know how to steer your mind?

I’m calling this first message in the series, “Your Mind has the Steering Wheel”.

Ephesians 4:17-24 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

This passage is telling us two connected truths: It really matters how we live AND how we live starts in our minds. We’re told to not live in the same way the Gentiles do, because they live in the futility of their thinking. This literally means that they are wasting their rational powers on worthless objects.

Ephesus was full of brilliant people. But they gave their time, energy, and attention to things that have no value. The most valuable offer we’ve ever received is a life with God and they turned their backs on the God who wanted to give them life. The futility of their thinking led to nothing of value.

What kind of life are you thinking your way into?

Are your strongest thoughts creating the life you were made for?

It’s so easy for us to feel enslaved to our minds or controlled by our thoughts. But the command and invitation is this – “Don’t live like that any longer.”

What comes out in your life starts in your mind.

In verse 19, we see where these individuals have lost all sensitivity, they have indulged in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. How do we get to the point where we’ve lost all sensitivity and we’re indulging in every kind of impurity? The text tells us. They hardened their hearts, meaning they built a stone fortress around their hearts so that God could not come in. They are separated from the life of God. This is what happens when you reject God and turn your life and mind away from Him. And they are darkened in their understanding.

If you are darkened in your understanding, you will build your entire life around your “truth”, but it will actually be a lie.

Their truth was that if they pursued their lusts, they would find long-term satisfaction. Whatever desire they gave into; it never satisfied them. They always wanted more.

What we end up doing with our body always starts in our mind.

You never enjoy food with your body before you consider it in your mind.

You never go to the gym with your body before you go there in your mind.

You never step into sexually immoral activity with your body before you entertain it in your mind.

I was with some pastor friends about a month ago. One of the guys told us about a close friend of his that went to Vegas one weekend and completely blew his life up. And he said this to us, “He didn’t get to that place overnight. It started long before that weekend.”

“Christ gives us a way of life” and “the truth that is in Jesus”

The vision of Epic Church is to see an increasing number of people in San Francisco orient their entire lives around Jesus.

This means that we orient our way of life around the way of Jesus and we orient our lives around the truth that is in Jesus. How do you put off your old self and put on your new self? What does this have to do with our minds?

Let’s first understand how identity works.

You cannot put on a new self if you do not have a new self.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!

Are you in Christ? Have you received Jesus as He is? Have you placed your faith in Him? If so, you have a new self, a new identity. We receive this, not achieve this. It is God-given to us as we put our faith in Jesus. And yet, we are told to put it on.

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

What are you consistently setting your mind on? Our attention matters. Our ability to give our attention to what matters is under attack. Everything and everyone seems to be coming after our attention. But we are not helpless when it comes to our attention. The mind that gets distracted and is prone to give its attention to the wrong things is the same mind that can help us live the life God intends for us.

“Maybe that’s what God requires most from us: our attention.” – Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God

Where are we told to be made new??? In the attitude of our MINDS.

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.

TRANSFORMATION is what we’re after. And that’s a good thing because this is what God is after too. How do we renew our mind? Detachment and Attachment.

What do you think about constantly that doesn’t serve your new life in Christ well?

How do you remove those thoughts? You replace them. This is where the spiritual disciplines or practices come into play. There are practices of abstinence and practices of engagement.

Abstinence: What should you stop giving your attention to? Worthless objects. Sinful things. What should you give less of your attention to? How much news you read. How much time you spend on social media. How much time you spend around toxic people.

Engagement: Scripture. Solitude. Prayer. Meditation. Memorization. Worship.

While your mind has the steering wheel for your entire life, you have the steering wheel for your mind.

Sustain your attention on God and the things of God. Wherever your mind goes, the rest of your life goes with it.

Would you like a new self? Jesus, you came to make me new. I cannot do this on my own. I receive who you are and what you have done for me. Thank you for a new identity.

Would you like to start living out of your new self? What will you put off? What will you put on?

“Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.” Craig Groeschel, Winning the War in Your Mind

If you want your life to move in a new direction, you’ll need to engage in practices that daily re-NEW your mind. Will you? What will they be? Because wherever your mind goes, the rest of your life goes with it.