This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

I waited 13 years to share this secret. I apologize for taking so long, but it seemed too good to be true. I kept thinking the other shoe was going to drop. I mean the secret seemed so simple and so obvious that at first I thought I was wrong. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it worked for me because my situation was unique maybe everything that happened was an accident and if I tried to teach someone else how to do it. It wouldn't help maybe if I shared it people would think I was weird. The neon green shoes are certainly unusual. The coin is a bit of a surprise. The Post-it notes are a thing better to keep it to myself. So I did this secret moved me to Nashville. It helped me hit the New York Times bestsellers list it sent me to Portugal and grease and even many parts of Canada. I can't tell you about because it would melt your face right off for 13 years. I kept this Secret in my back pocket using it to transform my career my relationships my health and every other part of my life event.

Late though. I got curious was was I the only one this secret could help I launched a survey with my researcher Mike Peasley PhD and asked 10,000 people if they struggle with the thing I figured out more than 99.5% of them said yes, okay. Okay, so I'm not the only one I still wasn't ready to share the secret though the whole secret so I cut off a sliver and tested it with thousands of people from around the world Mike and I analyze the results and we were both shocked at what happened. I mean generally surprised not BuzzFeed you'll be shocked at what this celebrities feet look like.

after 13 years Finally ready if you'll lean in close. I'll tell you what the secret is. I discovered how to turn overthinking from a super problem into a superpower. You see overthinking isn't a personality trait. It's the sneakiest form of fear.

It steals time creativity and goals. It's the most expensive least productive things that companies invest in without even knowing it and it's an epidemic but it doesn't have to be that way if the soundtrack she listened to a positive. Your thoughts can be your best friend propelling you on new adventures with creativity and hope if you can change your thoughts you can change your actions which will change your life. I'll teach you a proven plan to do exactly that in my brand new book soundtracks. If you want to tap into the surprising power of overthinking and give your dreams more time and creativity.

Learn how to DJ the soundtracks that Define you if you can worry you can wonder if you can doubt you can dominate if you can and you can soar all it takes is a new soundtrack.

Prairie Lakes. Hey welcome. Just a couple of weeks now into the new year three Sundays to be exact and so good job getting back into the swing of things especially if and even if this is like your your first week in Back in the New Year, we're really really glad that you're here. And now if that's you if you if this is your first week and back in the new year and you missed last week, and I know a number of us are in that camp.

Last week's message from Pastor John on the next chapter was a big one. Okay, so let me encourage you take some time this week hop on to our website. Greatly sure.org and listen to what he had to say last week. He just shared some pretty significant news about about him and where he's at and about what what he's wanting for Prairie Lakes. And so you'll you just don't want to be in the dark about it. Here is the cliff notes version for you though. So after after a lot of thought and reflection in prayer and even some discussions with his family Pastor John has decided that he will now be a Kansas City Chiefs fan.

So so If you could if you could share that hashtag across all your social media platforms, we can get the we can get the word out. That'd be great. You know 2022 was just a rough year for him as a Broncos fan and he felt like he should take an entire Sunday.

To to explain himself. Okay, obviously not it that was not the news. But but I think you should still use the hashtag. I think that would be great. Let's get that going again to see the real message that he delivered last week prelixtures.org and kind of hear from him personally. Okay. All right. Hey this weekend this weekend marks the beginning of our first kind of Series in 2023, and it's a series called mindset mindset. Okay, so let's jump into this.

Let's jump into it with this question over the holidays over the holidays. How many of you successfully avoided the dreaded trap? of discussing anything political How many of you avoided the political trap?

Okay, because there's no easier or quicker way to ruin a nice time together as a family over the holidays holidays then then bringing up politics. Okay, so and it's probably likely that some of us could tell some stories stories of our very conservative or very liberal and her uncle son or daughter grammar or grandpa that just couldn't help themselves. And before you knew it. All Christmas cheer was erased and replaced and it was replaced with let's call it.

A spirited discussion around something that you and everyone else in the room knew. would lead nowhere nowhere, right because those kind of discussions like always they just don't ever lead anywhere anywhere good at least.

so so Hopefully you avoided that now? Here's another question for you, though. Do you ever wonder? why that is Like we all know it works that way it means predictable but you ever wonder like why does it work that way? Well, why is it that those kinds of discussions always turn into arguments? Why is it that they only ever seem to serve to divide further or separate further?

Why is it that they usually don't bring people together but instead create a bigger Gap in the relationship and it's a gap that isn't filled with love or understanding but it's a gap that it's instead filled with usually anger and misunderstanding. Why is it worked that way?

Why is it work that way? I mean, I'm sure there's reasons that you and I could fire off pretty pretty rapidly. But but one of those reasons is the subject of our of our series and I think a lot of those conversations are often doomed to fail before they even start because of this thing called mindset.

So let's let's get a working definition here so that we're using the same language. Here's what we mean by mindset. Here's what we mean. A mindset is is how we weave our thoughts. Into attitudes into beliefs into stories even and we do this in order to make sense of ourselves and make sense of the world around us. It's how we ever thoughts and attitudes or beliefs restores in order to make sense of ourselves in the world around us. And this is I think why so often those those holiday political discussions just go nowhere they go nowhere because there's different mindsets people are making sense of the world and themselves in it very differently.

So let's just work backwards in our definition here for a little bit to see how this works all of us all of the time all of us all the time are doing this. We are all of us ultimate trying to make sense of ourselves in the world around us. I don't feel like I'm doing a great job of that all the time. I feel like I'm like I every time I do this I get like eight more questions, right but we're all doing it all the time. And if you're in an adult, here's kind of what it looks like. Okay, if you're an adult you have years of experience doing this.

years of experience Laying those tracks down into your mind as thoughts kind of come in and you experience things and you start trying to make sense of them and and you're parting it you've woven your thoughts and attitudes or beliefs or stories and and now a lot of us we've got these Frameworks these mindsets some of which are so deeply ingrained.

so much so that when we're presented with a like a different mindset a story that's different than ours and how we make sense of the world a story that makes perfect sense to us when we're presented with it with a different mindset that makes sense of the world differently than how our mind makes sense of it.

Here's what happens? And and psychologists even say like your brain. Is wired in such a way where you can almost perceive that as a threat. You can almost perceive it as a threat. We can easily interpret.

A different mindset not as just different. But as a threat to us and a threat to our own. I mean, that's why those political discussions can go so very quickly from a one to an 11. And the tone from conversational and volume to to shouting because on some level in our minds. We aren't just disagreeing with someone passionately on a deeper subconscious even biological level.

We're defending ourselves against the threat And chorus, you know this Dynamic isn't just limited to political discussions. I mean, you can see it play out in all kinds of ways. Why because we've we've developed mindsets on just about anything and everything in our lives relationships parenting marriage finances. We we have a whole host of things that we've developed mindsets around because why because that's just how we make sense of the world and that's how we make sense of us. Okay.

We just got through Christmas and there's some great examples in the Christmas story in the Bible of how this thing called mindsets plays out. So just take Joseph for example husband to Mary. Who's the mother of Jesus. This is from Matthew 1. Okay. This is how the birth of Jesus Messiah came about his mother. Mary was pleasure to be married to Joseph. But before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law yet did not want to expose her to Public Disgrace. He had in mind.

To divorce her quietly. Okay. Remember what's a mindset? It's how we weave our thoughts into attitudes and beliefs and stories in order to make sense of us in the world that we live in so Joseph comes out he comes to to find that his wife's pregnant. There. It is. Now he's got to think about that. He's got to make sense of it so that he understands what to do next to what's Joseph's mindset. Well, Joseph understands a few things Joseph understands how babies are made. He's got a framework to understand that and Matthew tells a little bit more about his mindset because he also has a mindset of integrity and compassion.

Which told him that the right move was to break off the engagement. But to do so quietly. So as to not add to the shame of her supposed infidelity.

But then Joseph's mindset gets interrupted pretty quickly the next couple of verses after you considered this an angel of the Lord appeared him in a dream and said Joseph son of David don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Because what's conceived in hers from the Holy Spirit.

so give birth to a son and you're to give the name Jesus because he will save his people from Their sins so so just think about this from a mindset standpoint. Thing that made sense to Joseph and literally every adult before him and every adult after him.

was this my fiance is pregnant and I know for a fact that I am not. That baby's father. Only one other explanation right? Until God sends an angel and says surprise you but notice notice the words the angel uses.

when the angel first comes To Joseph first thing after saying his name first thing. The angel says to Joseph is what? Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. It's almost as though he knew that when we're presented with a completely different mindset than ours. Then the one that makes sense to us.

When we brush up against a way of seeing the world that does not make sense. What we feel usually is threatened and Afraid. That's just how this thing called mindset works. You can kind of see it even in scripture. Okay, so there's the setup to the whole series. That's what we mean by mindset and we're gonna tackle that in a few different ways throughout the series. So for the next three weeks, here's here's how we're going to explore this week one this week. We're gonna talk about something called like soundtrack and even like a fixed versus growth mindset.

next week Pastor Chip is going to talk about anxiety and how that kind of plays out in our mind what's like to navigate that and what it's like to be in relationship with other people who are navigating that so you want to make sure you you hit that one and then and the week three a couple weeks from this one Pastor John's gonna talk about how to understand someone else's mindset and so it should be should be pretty good but let's jump in this weekend. Okay, one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

Where this idea of mindset is front and center is the story of Moses. And I think I even talked about this just a couple of weeks ago, but I'm going back to it because Moses is the person that God uses to lead his people out Israel a lot of out of slavery in Egypt and all starts in Exodus 3, When God says this to Moses, okay nine and ten, here's what God says. Another Cry of the Israelites has reached me and I've seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go Moses I'm sending you to pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites.

Out of Egypt. Okay. Now this starts a dialogue between Moses and God that's pretty fascinating. But what I want to do is just show you some Snippets of Moses's side of the conversation. Because it's gonna reveal what his mindset was When God says system. So here's what Moses says over the course of this country and he has just God this talk against what's God verse 11 Moses says, who am I?

Okay, who am I that that? I should go to Fairwind bring the Israelites out of Egypt and then verse 13. He says well suppose I go to these lights and and say to them the god of your father sent me to you and they asked me what's his name then what? Then what shall I tell them and in chapter 4 verse 1 here's the most well, what if they don't believe me? What if they don't listen to me? And they say the Lord didn't appear to you you crazy person right and then in verse 10, here's the Moses says well part in your servant Lord. I've I've never been eloquent neither in the past nor nor since you've spoken to your servant like you just think about that for a second Moses is like hey, I've never been great with words as you can tell in this conversation.

We're currently having I'm slow of speech and tongue and then finally, he says this in verse 13. Pardon your servant once again, forgive me just send someone else, okay. So Moses had a mindset. He had a mindset just like you just like me just like all of us do he had a framework for how he thought of himself.

And and how he kind of thought of his place in the world. Get a mindset. How would you describe it? How would you describe Moses's mindset? Modern psychologists actually have a label for it. Here's the call. They call it a fixed mindset.

Okay, here's what a fixed mindset is fixed mindset is believing that my basic qualities like my talents my abilities my capacity whatever it is. It's believing that my basic qualities are simply fixed.

Traits, okay. Fixed traits either you got it. or you don't Either you were born with it. or you weren't and you can kind of see that how Moses responds to God because the first thing he says is what who am I?

right That's a that's a fixed mindset either. I am something or I am not that thing. And for Moses like it was our arm someone who can't speak very well. I'm someone who can't be speak very persuasively. It's just who I am God. I wasn't born with that trade or that ability and You know, you have all people should know that Mr. Creator of the world kind of awkward that I have to tell you, right? But here we are.

Like go find someone who was born with that trait because I I wasn't that was his fixed mindset. It's just how he saw himself. It's how he made sense of himself in the world that he was in. He developed that mindset over time. You can see that in his responses as well God in my past. Like I've just I've never been that guy.

At no point my pastor not now. His fixed mindset almost acted like it was a soundtrack if you think about it. Just playing on repeat in his mind when he was having this conversation. With God and that's kind of how fixed mindsets Works.

He fixed mindsets become soundtracks playing on repeat in our minds and it starts. I mean you it's like when our way of thinking gets in the way. And for Moses, it was getting in the way of of him taking a step into a mission that God was giving him which would not only change his future.

potentially thousands of people, you know. So just before that verse that we read about Moses's conversation with god what we learn. Is that Moses or God got Moses's attention first through a bush?

And it was a bush that was on fire, but it wasn't burning up for some reason and it's when Moses goes to to check it out and just figure what's going on that God begins to speak to him. And every time I read that part of the story and exodus, here's what I think I go like. Oh man, wouldn't it be great wouldn't it be so great if God spoke to us in that way today.

You know. Like how great would it be? If God did something crazy that you had to go check out and then like an audible voice his Audible Voice spoke to you telling you exactly what he wanted you to do and also exactly how it's all gonna work out.

You know how great would that be like how many of us would change our minds about God in and us if he spoke to us today? Like he like he did to Moses back then but What I think what we kind of learn from this story if you just kind of taking it face value.

It is a lesson in how mindsets really work. Because think about this how God spoke to Moses. This Burning Bush Audible Voice. How God did that? Did not change Moses's mind.

Right. It didn't change his mind. Over the course of the conversation not that guy. I've never been that guy. Find someone else. How God spoke to Moses didn't change his mind what God spoke to Moses.

Revealed Moses's mindset. Okay. The burning bush and Audible Voice not enough change Moses's mind. Think about that just for a second the bush that defied the laws of physics and the Audible Voice that Moses recognized and attributed to God.

Did not change his mind did not change his mindset did not change the framework of understanding that he had about who he was and what he was capable of. But what it did what it did. Was it made that soundtrack that was in Moses's mind playing on repeat?

Go from background noise. to like lyrics on the screen and there's some real value in that. because since whatever soundtrack we play Can make or break us? It's critical to become aware of them.

Since whatever soundtrack is playing in our mind in the background can actually either make or break us. It's critical that we start to become aware of what those soundtracks are. You can't change what you don't know. You know. Or what you're not aware of. I mean it's called a blind spot for a reason right but there's real value in becoming aware of those because once you do you might be able to change it.

now for some of us to become aware of those soundtracks. I mean, here's really what we've got to start doing. Okay, we have to start taking some time. to think about how we think we have to start thinking about how we're thinking.

right for example When you think about your boss? What do you think? Right. What's the soundtrack? Do you have a soundtrack? Don't you your boss think about the person the name?

Who are they what's playing in your mind? When you think about if you have kids, how are you doing as a parent? What's the soundtrack? What do you start thinking? Are you aware of how you're thinking? I'm not. President enough. I wish I Man, I I regret that I hope to you have a soundtrack there. Do you know what it is?

When you think about your future? When you think about your own capability? When you think about God? What do you think when you think about when you think about? What God thinks? When he thinks about you.

When you think about what God thinks when he thinks about you? What's the what's the soundtrack? What do you think he's thinking about? When he thinks about you. See we've got soundtracks for all these things.

But if we never take time to think about them, okay what they're saying? how they're informing what steps we take or don't take what's going to happen is they'll just simply stay in the background. And they're gonna get in our way.

of moving in any kind of different or potentially positive direction Okay. Hey, let's wrap up this part of our weekend by asking and answering just one more question. And that's this. Can we change? our mindset Can we change our mindset?

Now this is gonna sound a little meta. Okay, A little Larry. But here's the ironic part about that question. Your mindset determines how you would answer that question?

right your mindset about whether or not you can change your mindset. Determines what you think about it? I mean if you saw the movie Inception, you're probably envisioning a top spinning around on the table right now. Okay, but let's make this more simple. If you start with the mindset that's kind of default a little bit more positive.

Then your answer to that question is very likely. Yeah. Yeah because here's what that soundtrack is like people grow, you know. People can change everyone deserves a second chance. That's kind of starts spinning around in your mind.

But if you start the different kind of mindset say like a negative mindset, then you've got some different soundtracks playing in your mind right now. Sounds like hey once a fill in the blank always fill in the blank. People are who they are.

You know people don't change, right? I mean we have different soundtracks playing in our minds right now about whether or not our mindsets can be changed and whatever your mindset is on it you've developed that mindset because it makes sense to you. I mean you feel like you've proven that time and time again.

And you rely upon that because it makes sense. It helps you figure out who you are in the world and how the world works and perhaps even as we ask this question of whether or not you can change your mindset you might even be You might feel threatened by even asking the question. Seriously, you might have a little things about why because if we all you know, you're worried about us going all negative Nelly or rose-colored Rosie, you know, I don't know if that's a real thing.

But whatever it is, you're kind of like. bracing for whether or not we're going to mess with the way that you feel like the world works. So you're almost some of us even as we're thinking about it or getting ready to fend off an attack.

but let's put what we've learned into practice maybe in a real time. So right now what is your mindset? When it comes to this question of can we change our mindset? What are you already telling yourself about that? What's playing out in your mind? Think about that? Just think about how you're thinking is how you're thinking?

Getting in the way of you even asking this question. There's a passage in Romans that I want to dive into. Let's get on the screen and you can follow me along and in your own Bible if you would it's Romans 12 1 through 2. And as you navigate to that.

Let me just set a couple of things up when the Bible talks about the mind it does. We've already seen it in several different places. It talks about it not in quite in the same way that you and I would talk about it normally. There's some overlap and how the Bible what the Bible means by it and what we normally mean by it, but they're not a hundred percent the same either.

When we talk about minds or mindsets, we talk about it like biologically, you know, like how our neural Pathways work or we talk about it rationally. How we think what our logic is what our thoughts are our worldview our philosophy even?

But when the Bible talks about the mind, it means some of those things but it also includes other things that we may not include when the Bible talks about it. It's going to use this word. We're going to counter it in Romans mind. It's a word that includes not just thinking but also feeling it includes our disposition. It includes our our values or our metaphorical heart.

It really means all of who we are in the inside. Okay. So with that in mind, let's just kind of take a look at Romans 12:1 through two. Here's what it says. This is therefore. I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy.

To offer your bodies as a Living Sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Don't conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. by the renewing of your mind then you'll be able to test and approve. What God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will okay.

So there's the verses. the man who wrote as the men and Paul and that's Romans 12. So he's this is over halfway into Romans. He's spent the the vast majority of the first part of this letter that he wrote 11 chapters in our Bibles the whole first part laying out what he meant by that first yellow phrase in view of God's mercy. We've got 11 chapters of material and what he meant by that phrase.

And I'm just summarize it for you. Okay in view of God's mercy. What's God's mercy he's talking about well in Jesus God made a way for us to be in relationship with him in Jesus. God made a way for us to be relationship with him that the god placed everything that you and I have done all of the sin that gets in the way of us having a relationship with God.

God placed all of that on Jesus and literally nailed it to him on a cross. So that when Jesus goes into the literal grave all of our sin went into the grave and died there with him. Okay.

Which means that no longer has any influence over how God sees us. That's the first part of God's mercy that Paul talks about but he also talks about in Jesus. God made a way for us to be different from the inside out. That in Jesus. We don't just have a model for how we ought to live. Okay, even though he is that's not really what he is. He he in Jesus.

Jesus actually lives the life that you and I should live but never do And never really could even in Jesus God takes the perfect life that he lived and the right standing that Jesus has with God because of that life.

And he places that right standing on us. So that what so that in Christ, we not only stand forgiven for all the crap that we've done. But we stand in right standing righteous with him like like we're in a good place with them.

And so we get to this verse and in Romans 12 where Paul says in view of all of that right in believing believing that what Jesus did can do all of that for you keeping all of that in your mind. This will change you from the inside out.

So here's here's the principle for us. Okay, you can change your mindset when you shift your focus. You can change your mindset when you shift your focus and we use Romans language. Your mindset can be changed.

when you change what you're focusing on see if you focus on Jesus and believe. That what he did he did for you. You're gonna start to see yourself differently. when when you focus on Jesus you shift your focus and you like what did you actually do? What does that really mean for me? And you start to believe that you start to see yourself differently because it's not about how you fell short. It's about how Jesus fell for you. It's not about what you need to do differently. It's about what Jesus already did for you and when you start to see that you see yourself differently because you start to believe that the god of the universe sees you differently.

I mean when God sees you focusing on Jesus and standing on what he did for you. You're gonna see. That when God sees you. When God thinks about you. What he has in his mind.

is love it's love. You and I are objects of his Mercy. adopted Sons and Daughters when we believe not by Blood, but by jesus' Blood not by our Merit, but by Jesus's Merit when you shift your focus.

You'll change your mind. Okay. Let's do this. We're going to pray here in a little bit and then do a couple things before we we take off, but let me just pray for us and then over us Father in Heaven. Thanks for a chance that we get.

It's just kind of reflect on this. God you know, you know what's in our minds, you know, all the stories we're telling ourselves about ourselves about others about the world around us. God you can change your mindsets. Thank you for your son Jesus and what he did and how he can do that and God I just pray.

That we might shift our Focus. So that we can kind of be changed not just in our mind but gosh from the inside out. Jesus prayed this all in your name. Amen.