Storyside Church

How healthy is my thought life?Do I let things get to me?Do I let them get in my head? Am I allowing (entertaining) too many toxic thoughts? Genesis 6:5 — The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. Proverbs 15:26 — The Lord hates evil thoughts, but he is pleased with kind words.Ecclesiastes 9:3 — Of all the things that happen in this life, the worst thing is that all people end life the same way. But it is also very bad that people always think evil and foolish thoughts. And those thoughts lead to death.Romans 121 People knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds.26 Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do. Women stopped having natural sex with men and started having sex with other women. 27 In the same way, men stopped having natural sex with women and began wanting each other all the time. Men did shameful things with other men, and in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.28 People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking. And so they do what they should not do. 29 They are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed, and hatred. They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other. They gossip 30 and say evil things about each other. They hate God. They are rude, proud, and brag about themselves. They invent ways of doing evil. They don’t obey their parents, 31 they are foolish, they don’t keep their promises, and they show no kindness or mercy to others. 32 They know God’s law says that anyone who lives like that should die. But they not only continue to do these things themselves, but they also encourage others who do them.Ecclesiastes 10:2 — The thoughts of the wise lead them the right way, but the thoughts of the foolish lead them the wrong way.Neurological Pathways If you allow anger and fear to dominate, you will lose the neurological ability to think logically and act compassionately toward others. It is nearly impossible to find peace and serenity if your mind is preoccupied by negative, anxious, or hateful thoughts.Your thoughts clearly affect the neurological functioning of your body.Optimism is essential for maintaining a healthy brain.Positive thoughts neurologically suppress negative thoughts.Watching violence on the news, or taking in a violent movie, will make you feel more angry, aggressive, negative, and powerless. The same thing happens in your brain when you listen to songs with hostile lyrics, even if they are presented in a humorous way. A meta-analytic view of video-game research found that “violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults.Our brains are designed to mimic the emotional expression of others. This is known as “emotional contagion”. When you see an angry expression, it takes less than one second for your brain to respond with fear.Negative remarks and memories are more strongly encoded in the brain, and they are the most difficult memories to eradicate. Simply being around negative people will make you more prejudiced, because listening to negative opinions can easily undermine your positive opinions about virtually anything. My two cents on Swift. Unsaved in college, I loved Taylor Swift. I knew every word to Red and all the other albums too. Her music is intoxicating bc she’s done a very good job capturing worldly relationships and hookup culture. Now, as a believer– I stay far away from it. Why? Because I will like some of it. It will take my mind places that it shouldn’t go. There will be new lyrics in my head with tunes I can’t shut off with unedifying words on my lips. Hebrews 3:12 — So, brothers and sisters, be careful that none of you has the evil thoughts that cause so much doubt that you stop following the living God.Poise in the noise!  Psalm 119:112 — I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what.(CEV)Psalm 119:112 — I have resolved to obey your laws forever, at every step.(CJB)Psalm 119:112 — I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.(KJV) 

Isaiah 53:6 — All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.1 Peter 224 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross. He did this so that we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And we are healed because of his wounds. 25 You were like sheep that went the wrong way. But now you have come back to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.John 1014 I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I give my life for the sheep. Psalm 23 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.Have I submitted my life to The Shepherd? Am I fully surrendered to The Shepherd? Sheep are often social animals. Sheep will settle for less. Sheep are not meant to carry weighty burdens or heavy loads. Sheep are not created to stay stationary for too long. Sheep are often reluctant to go where they can not clearly see. Sheep struggle with depth perception. Sheep are often uneasy and skittish in storms. Sheep do not typically like to drink from rapid or turbulent waters. Sheep are considered prey animals and cannot typically defend themselves from predators. Sheep can remember peoples faces and voices. Sheep have excellent hearing. The ShepherdThe Good Shepherd WATCHES over me. The Good Shepherd LEADS me. The Good Shepherd PROTECTS and PROVIDES for me. I am the Good Shepherd. — Jesus  

Why would I want the Holy Spirit?Do I need the Holy Spirit?Have I submitted my life to the Holy Spirit?Acts 14 Being assembled with them, He commanded them, “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, of which you have heard from Me.5 For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”9 When He had spoken these things, while they looked, He was taken up. And a cloud received Him from their sight.10 While they looked intently toward heaven as He ascended, suddenly two men stood by them in white garments. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why stand looking toward heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you to heaven, will come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from His fruit, and no effective witness without His power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.— John Stott The Holy Spirit TEACHES/COUNSELS us. John 14:26 — But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.The Holy Spirit HELPS us…Romans 8:26-2726 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.The Holy Spirit LEADS/GUIDES us. Galatians 516 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Is the Holy Spirit leading my life? The Holy Spirit BUILDS my faith. Jude 1:20 — But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit.Jude 1:20 — But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in union with the Ruach HaKodesh.

JudgesProphets Kings Ruth 1 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.1 Samuel 3:19-20 — As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 1 Samuel 84 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” 6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. 8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. 1 Samuel 9:2 — Kish had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man. There was no one more handsome than Saul. He stood a head taller than any other man in Israel.1 Samuel 15:11 — I regret that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and he has not carried out my words.” Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.1 Samuel 16:7 — But the Lord told him, “Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.2 Samuel 5:3-4 — So there at Hebron, King David made a covenant before the Lord with all the elders of Israel. And they anointed him king of Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in all.1 Kings 11:4 — In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God. 2 Kings 182 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began to rule. He ruled 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.3 Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as David his ancestor had done.5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah before him or after him.6 He was very faithful to the Lord and did not stop following him. He obeyed the commands that the Lord had given to Moses.7 The Lord was with Hezekiah, so he was successful in everything he did. Hezekiah broke away from the king of Assyria and stopped serving him.2 Kings 21:1-2 — Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.ABUNDANCEWhen riches increase, the essence of religion decreases in the same proportion. — John WesleyDISOBEDIENCE / PARTIAL OBEDIENCE 2 Kings 1713 Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”14 But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. ALLEGIANCE / ALIGNMENT Psalm 20:7 — Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. FORGETFULNESS Deuteronomy 5:15 — Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.Deuteronomy 6:12 — But be careful! Don’t forget the Lord. You were slaves in Egypt, but he brought you out of the land of Egypt.Deuteronomy 8:11 — Be careful. Don’t forget the Lord your God! Be careful to obey the commands, laws, and rules that I give you today.Deuteronomy 8:18 — Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.Judges 2:10 — After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.Judges 8:33-35 — No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.1 Chronicles 16:12 — Remember the wonders he has done, his signs and his spoken judgments.Luke 22:19 — Do this in remembrance of Me.Does your family and friends know your salvation story? Have you explained to them why __________________________?#MySalvationStory Psalm 103:2 — Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.