As we continue, we were doing a study through the book of Philippians, and we're in chapter four, Philippians chapter four, verses seven through nine. This is part three in this particular passage of scripture that we will be studying tonight. The Bible commands us to have control over our thoughts. Most of the time, we react to our thoughts and allow their thoughts to really dictate or orchestrate how we behave. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, the Bible says, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. This passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 10.5 is very clear. Bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Philippians 4.7, in the peace of God, which passeth unto all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. As we think on this idea, particularly verse 8, he says, think on these things. Christ as Savior brings peace. As one gentleman in this illustration, Christ's Savior brings peace with God. Christ's Lord brings the peace of God. The surest way to encourage violence is to give into it. The person who keeps clean, square, and cool within will never collapse when the world without falls in on him. Peace of mind depends upon strength of mind. What you eat doesn't give you ulcers, it's what's eating you. What we need is a peace of conference with the Prince of Peace. Several statements here. It seems that heads, hearts, and hands would settle the world's differences much better than arms. You cannot have the peace of God until you know the God of peace. How strange that men fight for peace and work for leisure when the Christian stays his mind upon Christ. He develops a wonderful calm plex. In this confused world, some people have peace while others go to pieces. The practice of peace is the practice of Christianity. Peace rules a day when Christ rules a mind. A person cannot be a peacemaker until he first finds peace for himself, and the care of God means to be in the peace of God. Only the living water can quench the driving thirst of the soul, and no peace, no God. Now to know God is to know peace. Several just little pithy statements here in regards to the peace of God, but as we think on this, every one of us is searching and seeking for peace, peace within. As we think on these truths tonight, let's ask the Lord for his help. Our Father, we thank you for your grace. Lord Jesus, we love you. God, I need your help tonight as I speak to your precious people. Lord, an opportunity to once again open the book to preach, to study, and Lord, to have our hearts calmed by you who can calm the greatest storms. Our Father, I need you tonight. Lord, I ask you to work in our hearts and minds. Help us to find answers for life. Help us to find encouragement. Lord, as we once again come to the cool waters of your precious word. We love you, we thank you for the work that you'll do, and should there be anyone watching that's never accepted Jesus as their Savior, that tonight would be the night of salvation. I love you, in Jesus' precious and holy name I pray, amen. The command that's given, as he gives here in Philippians chapter four, he says, think on these things. The manner upon which I am think is the first to be conditioned by virtue and praise. If I were to diagram the sentence, it would be, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, would reveal this idea of thinking. I'm always, as he goes on here, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue. So he starts off, really, if you want to put this whole thing together grammatically, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, and then he says what things to think on. This means I'm always to think from a virtuous mind and a praiseworthy mind. whose praises are to exalt God. I am to have a virtuous life in a praiseworthy life, a life that is focused on how can I make God? How can I bring my praises? How can I bring my thanks? How can I bring the very things upon which I am appreciative of God? The foundation of being virtuous and glorifying God, I'm to test what comes across my mind. I'm to test those things in my mind that are true, that are honest, things that are just, pure, lovely, of good report. As thoughts come into your mind, you're to filter through, is it true? Is it honest? Is it just? Is it pure? Is it lovely? They have a good report. If it doesn't meet that criteria, God is saying, don't dwell upon these thoughts. From the very foundation of being virtuous and glorifying God, He says, test your thoughts. When we have thoughts that are very overwhelming, that are just exciting us into a place of anxiety or a great discouragement, I am to take those thoughts captive. I mentioned a verse here, but I want you, I think this is such an important verse, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. The Bible wants us to have control of our thought life. Now, I can't control the thoughts that come into my mind, but I can control whether I dwell my mind upon those thoughts. Now, Satan can send thoughts. There are certain things that can come. Thoughts, just because a thought comes into your mind, doesn't mean I need to dwell upon it. What I mean by dwelling upon it is I can't allow it to bring me to the state of some sort of upset to my emotional state. Now, I know that as humans, that is our constant battle. I think we are our worst enemies. Every one of us are our worst enemies. Your mind is our greatest battlefield. But in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 4, well, verse 3, it says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. When our mind is getting the best of us, the Bible's saying you have strongholds in your life. There are things that are creating barriers to advancing for Christ. There's strongholds spiritually in your life. And God's desire is to tear down those strongholds. And then he says, casting down imaginations. It is your imagination, your thought life. And then he says, at every high thing, that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Can I tell you the fearful state that we might be in that excites us, that agitates us, that irritates us. And as I dwell upon these thoughts, and if I'm not giving them to the Lord, I'm not allowing God to have my thought life, I'm not allowing God to have my emotional state. then I've got high places, high things. And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. What does this look like practically? Imagine you have a particular thought come into your mind. My thought life is my greatest battlefield. But imagine I have this thought. I'll give an example. Mr. Ron looks at me with a glare. Now he does maybe sometimes. And I'm thinking, man, Mr. Ron, he hates me. Maybe he does, no. And as I think that thought, man, I can get all, ah, ah. Or I have the opportunity to say, God, here's a thought. It's causing me a lot of unrest. Or is this a right thought? Or is this a true thought? Is it an honest thought? How about I come up to Mr. Ron and I say, Mr. Ron, are you mad at me? No. But you know how much a thought can interrupt your entire day? You know how much that just something we dwell upon, it can mess up our week. Why don't I say, God, here's a thought, and I don't know what to do with it. Man, it's really bothering me. Lord, is this an honest thought? Is it a true thought? Is it a just thought? Is it, God, I'm gonna take this thought, I'm gonna put it captive, and I'm gonna let you help me handle this thought. You know what happens? You're no longer alone with your thought life. As I think on these, virtue, and I'm going to talk about this, if there be any virtue in this thought here, virtue is an uncommon character worthy of praise, excellence of character, and exceptional civic virtue. Several quotes here. Virtue consists in doing our duty and the various relations we sustain to ourselves, to our fellow man, and to God. As it is made known by reason, revelation and providence, Archibald Alexander. An anonymous person says virtue flourishes in misfortune. Another one says virtue is the only true nobility. But Miguel de Cervantes, he says blood is an inheritance, virtue is an acquisition. In all of this, God is each virtue's goal, is I want to have an excellence of character so that my thought life doesn't consume and ruin me. Your thought life will either ruin or push you forward, progress you. For those who are struggling in various substance abuses, their thoughts, many times they seek to escape. There is no escape from our thoughts because all of those thoughts will come back. So I need to do something to get those thoughts out of my mind. I need God to hold those thoughts captive. And I'm gonna be obedient to Christ with those thoughts. You need to do what you ought to do even if you don't feel like doing it. Because sometimes there's a thought, I want to quit, I want to give up, I want to throw in the towel, and yet you have a responsibility. Obedience to Christ says, I don't feel like it, I don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it because I know that's what God wants me to do. You're taking your thoughts are not controlling your behavior. Proverbs 16 3 commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thought shall be established You do what you've committed to doing and God says I'll help establish your thoughts We find in several instances of Scripture a Virtuous woman is a crowned her husband Proverbs 12 for the first part of that or Proverbs turn with me to Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 We're gonna look at a virtuous woman. The Proverbs 31 woman is oftentimes highlighted as a woman of great character and she would be a great model. Now, in regards to this model or a template upon which to pattern ourselves, it would be, in this particular instance, the woman who's spoken of by Solomon, by inspiration of the Spirit of God, is his mother, Bathsheba. Obviously, she had kind of a tattered past. And yet, in Proverbs 31, she is highly praised. Now, God has called us some ideas about virtue. We notice something, look with me, verse 10. Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies? Someone who is virtuous has tremendous value. Someone who is true to their thought, true to their word. We notice something about someone who is virtuous. Verse 11, the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She's trustworthy. He says, I know that I can trust in her. She's not going to be flirting with other men. I have her heart. She's gonna be wise with the finances. She's not gonna be emotionally led. We look at something else in verses 13 through 15. She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. She's like the merchant ship, she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth all so wild as yet night, verse 15, and giveth meat to her house and a portion to her maidens. Verse 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Verse 22. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. She is diligent. She worketh willingly. She's hard work. Someone who's virtuous is a hard worker. Now, can I tell you, hard work is a choice of the will. There are times we need to rest, but I would say more often than not, there's also times we need to work. Someone who is virtuous shows a diligence. We also find in verse 16, she considereth a field and buyeth it with the fruit of her hand she planted the vineyard. Her thoughtfulness, she considers. She's very wise with her finances in this idea. Someone in virtuous is displaying a prudence or a discretion and wisdom with how you're dispensing of that with which you're responsible over. She's thoughtful. Verse 20, she stretched out her hand to the poor, yea, she reached forth her hands to the needy, her helpfulness. Verse 28, 29, her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Her influence, this would apply to both men and women, but she has an influence, she's a hard worker. I tell you sometimes, someone who's virtuous isn't always out in front, but they are dependable. And there's also a prospect about her. Notice with me verse 25. Someone, strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. Those who devote themselves for others' good show their devotion to the Lord. But her prospect is she's going to receive praises. We derive our concept of virtue from the scriptures and exemplify by this woman of a virtuous character. The only other greater example is the Lord Jesus Christ. But it also notes, as we look at this, and you can look more, there's a lot of stuff that's mentioned here. Verse 21, it says, she is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She's not afraid to get out when it's cold. Now, is it uncomfortable? Yes. Do we have cold here? Yes. God's saying in the virtue, you have responsibilities and I'm going to accomplish the responsibilities that I have to do irrespective of the discomfort I might face. And he's saying, if there be any virtue, God's calling us to listen. Being a principled, diligent individual. Moving forth here to praise. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise. The praise is to speak of the excellence of a person. And as we understand, in Romans 2, verse 29, would you look with me here? Romans 2, verse 29. It says, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. The heart determines the praises of God, not the outward religious rituals. So just because I'm going through a particular action, a religious ritual, doesn't mean I'm doing it ultimately to God's praise. The idea here is that keep your hands to the plow. Romans 13.3, let's look here. Romans 13.3, I went too far. There we go. It says, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do thou which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. Keep your hands doing what you know you ought to do. And our supreme source in cleansing and filtering out of the many thoughts of the day must come through the word of God. Ephesians 5.26 says that he, which is Jesus, might sanctify and cleanse it, our mind, with the washing of water by the word. A little illustration for you. Billy Bray of Cornwall, England was a coal miner who lived a very depraved life before his conversion in November of 1832. And after his remarkable salvation experience, Billy Bray was so happy he shouted all the time. It bothered some people that he had so much joy. One day, somebody said to him, Billy Bray, why don't you tone down some? You're just too happy. You've got too much joy all the time. Billy replied, I can't help it. God saved me and I can't help it. When I put down one foot, it says hallelujah. And when I put down the other foot, it says glory to God. Another said, Billy, suppose you're mistaken. Suppose when you die, you find out you're not going to heaven. After all, you're going to hell. Old Billy said, praise God, I've been having a wonderful time with the Lord all through the years. Jesus has been good to me. And if I die and go down to hell, then I'll be thankful for the joy Jesus brought me in life. I'll shout all over hell, and they'll have to send me up to heaven because they can't stand that kind of joy down there. End quotes. Christian, if there's anyone that ought to have a mindset of praise and joy, it ought to be the Christian. It ought to be you and I. We ought to be an individual that are not riddled with fear and intrepidation of life. It's the Christian that ought to have joy. Because my security, my eternity is settled. My relationship now is settled. I have the confidence, I have my position, I have my security in Christ. I'm loved, I'm adored, and I have purpose. And so do all of us, if you know Christ. And so what I must do as we think about this, going back to Philippians 4, verse 8, whatsoever things are true, he starts off with. Is what I'm thinking about or about ready to say, is it true? My honesty, is what I'm about to say honest? My justice, am I thinking on those things that are fair and just? Am I seeking to be reconciled to someone else or am I seeking the words I say to ruin someone else? And I tell you, in Galatians 6, verse 1, rather than seeking to destroy someone through our words, how about we seek to lift them up? Galatians 6, verse 1 says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. The justice, and the justice of our words. Am I the ruler over this person, or is God? Am I seeking to put a harsh penalty upon them? Because justice is ultimately the execution of broken laws. Particularly, in this idea, it would be they've broken my laws. They've broken things that are uncomfortable to me, and so I must execute a justice upon them. And the way that I can do that is through my words of condescension. So as we think on this, in my justice, we must be just in our judgment of others, considering ourselves, and where would you be if someone didn't help you? Moving forth as we think about these things, whatsoever things are pure, is your mind, is my mind, thinking upon the very things that are pure? The Bible says in Matthew 5.8, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Is your mind in the gutter? Can I tell you it is not right for any Christian, man or woman, to be looking upon pornography. It's not pure. It is not right. It is inappropriate. It debases another human to an object of your desires. Dehumanizes them. Christian, that is not pure. You and I can have the mind of Christ, though. And he says, if you're pure in heart, you see God. You get to know God when our heart is pure. The Bible says to be holy and pure, in Hebrews 12, 14, follow peace with all men in holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. This purity, this holiness, he says you can't see the Lord. It was through Christ I accepted my sinfulness, I accepted the rottenness of my heart, and I accepted by faith that Jesus died for me. And that allowed me to enter into that relationship because God died for me and I accepted the gift he gave to me. And he says, without which no man shall see the Lord. We cannot have that close relationship with God if we're existing in impurity. Now I understand we're growing, we're learning, but the desire is I want to get clean. The older we are, before we get saved, oftentimes a lot more of our mind God has to cleanse. Look with me at something else, 1 Timothy chapter five. I desire, and as we think about this here in the scriptures, to thinking upon, in this particular passage is alluding to and it's referencing women. Not to be in this church that the women that come in here, that the men are not looking upon the women with eyes of wandering eyes. Not to be. But that would apply to both men and women, 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2. Verse 5, verse 1, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren. The elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. A woman ought to be able to come into this church and not be, as the world might say, a meat to look upon. That ought not to be. Let's look at another passage of scripture. Now I understand we're learning, we're growing. It's not that we're perfect. This is not a level of, oh, you're not perfect. Oh, you're not welcome. No, no, no, no, no. But the desire and the standard is, listen, if thoughts come in, this is inappropriate, I don't wanna keep those thoughts, or if I've gazed too long, God, forgive me for that thought and help me to have appropriate thoughts. Because if we can regard each other as the dignity and the worth you have in Christ, In 1st Timothy, I mentioned 1st Timothy, but in James 3, verse 17. Notice with me something. Of thoughts. But the wisdom that is from above is first, what is that word there? Pure. Then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. He says have pure thoughts. The wisdom that God gives is pure. You see, purity, 1 John 3, 3, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Jesus Christ is pure. Now, I'm not pure. None of us are pure. But man, I wanna keep getting clean. You work in the day, or whenever you work, night shift, you're working, or you do things that get your hands dirty, and you wash them. It's not good if you're eating to have dirty hands. It's good if you use the washroom. That just grosses me out. I go into washrooms and I see people walk out and I'm just like, ugh, and they don't wash their hands. That's disgusting. But as I think about this, our purity is a continual process. But notice with me Psalm 15, verse one. You see, a truth in heart will lead to a purity of words. Psalm 15, verse one. In all of this, what he's trying to get at, the Lord is trying to pull out, is to say, listen, you can have right thoughts. Thoughts that are true and honest and just and pure. Now, you could have good days, and then there's other days you're like, I didn't quite do so well today. Let's try again tomorrow. But as we look at Psalm 15 verse 1, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, and whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. But we find in this aspect, but speaketh the truth in his heart. A truth in heart will lead to purity of words. See, I want the truth of God. I want to just speak the very things. So he deals with here in Philippians 4, verse 8, the truth of whatsoever things are true. And then we also deal with, at the end, whatsoever things are lovely. I've mentioned the other things in some previous messages. I'm just kind of doing a review. But whatsoever things are lovely, and we learn in 1 Corinthians 13, it talks about charity. But you see, in James 4, verse 6, your thoughts, lovely thoughts, are distorted by your own pride, or my pride. Because I focus on me over God. James 4, 6, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. It was the pride that defiled Satan. It was the pride of Adam and Eve of an unthankfulness to believe that they could be like God. I want you to notice with me, in Proverbs 8, 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogancy in the evil way and the fraud mouth do I hate. The fear of the Lord is lovely. It's not proud or arrogant. Are your words and thoughts or my words about someone else's actions established to help reconcile them to Christ or to tear them down? God's given to you and I the ministry of reconciliation. Loveliness is putting others first. Matthew 5, 44, but I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Loveliness is putting others first. And last of all, in this thing here, we find whatsoever things are of good report. Are your words going to help or hurt the report of someone else? Acts 10.22, and they said, Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nations of the Jews. As the apostle Peter is told, Peter, go to Cornelius. There's a man of good report. He's got a good testimony. He has a good reputation in society. Realize this, are your thoughts going to lead to Godly actions? It says in 1 Ananias, the devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews. There's several parts where it talks about an individual having a good report. 1 Timothy 3, verse 7 talks about a young man, Timothy, or a pastor in his qualifications, he must have a good report. And then the thoughts that I'm thinking of, is it going to help the character of that particular individual? Paul would correct the church of Galatia, the believers there, for subscribing to mandatory circumcision for salvation. And then look with me at Galatians chapter 4 verse 15. The Apostle Paul, he had to speak some hard words. He actually, in fact, he would withstand, he would stand against the Apostle Peter. I mean, this is like an ultimate duo. There's a battle here raging. Peter ended up sidelined into adhering to the very thoughts of the Judaizers, those who would add on to salvation, saying, well, you need to accept Christ and you need to be circumcised. So in Galatians chapter 4, verse 15 and 16, He says something here. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Paul had, he handled this correctly. The good report is, he said, listen, so the thoughts he was gonna say, they were difficult, but he says, am I become your enemy because I'm telling you some things that are difficult? Maybe they're correcting, they're corrective of you. Now, is it of a good report? How do you handle being told you're wrong? How do you handle being told you're going in a wrong direction? Paul approaches this church gently, but the good report that the things he had to speak, they were difficult, but the words he was speaking was so that that church would have a good testimony, have a good reputation in the community. An individual that might become very violent or isolate from you because maybe you've said something that is aimed at correcting some behavior that is less than helpful, or becoming bitter is demonstrating an individual who's existing, not in good rapport, but existing in a state of pride. I remember a particular time in my own personal life. I was a night manager at Chick-fil-A, and I was a manager there, but we did a survey one time of all the employees. And I got a report back and my boss, he came to me and he wanted to tell me something. And I was the least liked boss at that particular time. When I got the news, I mean, I worked my tail off for that place. And I gave a lot. I tried to help the employees as much as I could. But there were some things I didn't see in my life at that particular time. The boss was a believer, and I'm thankful for that. But he noted some things about my attitude, resulting in being the least ranked boss. I was angry. I was not very happy. But then the Lord got a hold of my heart as I began to spend time in the Word. And I would end up writing an apology to all of my members, because I realized that the report that came back was a true indicator of my life, and this report was showing me I had room for improvement. You see, we all have seasons of life where we struggle, but God uses these seasons of life to reprove us, to help us to become better. Now, if you think about this, instead of snooping into everyone else's business, look with me at 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9. I'm coming to the conclusion. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 9. The Bible says, but as touching brotherly love, You need not that I write unto you, for ye ourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed, ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more. And that ye study to be quiet, and do your own business, and work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. But God's saying, listen, don't mosey yourself into everyone else's business. Do your job, do what you're supposed to do. I don't need to know all the problems in your life, unless you tell me, and you ask for help. But I don't need to know that. He says, the brotherly love I'm desiring, and this thoughts of good report. Man, I want people, I want to hear great things of what God's doing in your life. That you're living in such a way that you have a reputation that God is pleased with it. If someone's unethical, they're not truthful, If I'm going to say something of good report and I'm thinking on it, I want to say something that's going to help that individual to say, listen, there's some errors in your life. Now, how you approach it is obviously a great deal in importance. The religious crowd with whom Jesus would rebuke, they weren't of God. They accused Jesus of having a devil at one time. They obviously weren't concerned that Jesus would have a good reputation. They wanted to do anything they could to tear down that reputation. So as I draw this to a close tonight, over the last several weeks when I was dealing with this particular passage of Scripture, we looked at truths of how to have a peace-filled mind. It is imperative, I would say very important, that you think about, and I would say even memorize, Philippians 4.8. Finally, brethren, Whatsoever things are true. Whatsoever things are honest. Whatsoever things are just. Whatsoever things are pure. Whatsoever things are lovely. Whatsoever things are of good report. Is it going to help the reputation of that individual? If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. If our thoughts are not this way, God calls us to continue to fill our hearts and minds with the word of God. We all have room for improvement. None of us have arrived. None of us are perfect. But I would encourage you, would you memorize this passage of Scripture, Philippians 4.8? Would you make it a priority to spend time meditating on the truths of Scripture? The Bible says in Psalm 34.14, depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. You see, you seek peace, Christian, by letting God control your life and yielding to his will. Seek peace, desperate wanderer. Seek peace by knowing the God of peace. And first of all, the only way to know the God of peace is if you're born again. How do I know if I die where I'm going to be? The Bible lets us know, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Is there a period, is there a time in your life you ask Jesus Christ, forgive me of my sins and be my savior? Trusting that Jesus alone was completely and all sufficient. And in your request, you receive the gift of eternal life. You depart from evil. My friend, you can have a peace-filled mind, If we'll continue to take our thoughts captive, 2 Corinthians 10 5, cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring you to captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ. That idea of captivity is a surrender. It's a submission. It's an obedience to say, God, I know my thoughts are not right, but I want to do right. It doesn't involve church membership, but being a good person or anything else, being a Christian starts with realizing I'm a sinner. And as a Christian, your thought life is a key to being spiritually victorious or spiritually defeated. And God says, deal with these things. As those thoughts come into your mind, ask yourself, is it true? Well, of course it's true. I wouldn't be thinking it. Okay. Is it an honest thought? Is it just? Is it dealing appropriately with this particular person? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it a good report? I'm so thankful that God gives us a very, a metric, a filter to say, listen, my thoughts can go through this and I can have peace. I can be virtuous and I can have a praise of God. It is an incredible thing. God gives us the command, the truth, the honesty, the justice, the purity, the loveliness, and good report. The truth for you and the challenge to every one of us, to you and to me, is am I willing to submit my spirit to God saying, God, my thoughts are troubling me and I need your help. I need you to encourage and help me with my thought life because I struggle with it. I would say every one of us, we struggle in our thought life to some degree or other. But God says, I want to give you some information, I want to give you some wisdom to help you deal with those thoughts that are troubling you. So that the God of peace would be the God that you know. And so in an invitation period tonight, as we'll think on these things tonight, as we look at all of this, we'll sing a song number 470 in your blue hymn book. But I want to give you some time. I'm going to have the music playing. And just give you some time to pray and talk with the Lord and say, God, I pray that you'd help me to think on these things. We are not of our own selves. God's not going to force you to think on these things. God will not push his will on you. It is your choice. Will I ask God for help? And maybe tonight you've never been saved. Maybe you're fearful of where am I going to be? I don't want to go to hell when I die. I'd love to show you after the service how you could know for sure that Jesus is your savior, that you've been born again. If the song is Jesus is all the world to me, that song's gonna play. I'm gonna give you some time to pray and talk with the Lord. As this music plays, would you take some time to pray as God has worked in your heart this evening?