So, tonight, if you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Romans chapter 8.
And I want to stir your faith just for a few minutes here tonight.
And praise God.
Y'all okay tonight?
Y'all still love Jesus in this house, amen?
All right.
That's great. Praise God.
So, book of Romans chapter 8.
I call this the most spiritual chapter of the entire Bible.
Because a couple of reasons.
Number one, well, what we're getting into here tonight,
but there's four words for the word sons of God or children of God.
How are you guys doing? Good to see you.
Bless you guys.
And so the word sons of God,
there's four different words in the Greek language.
Number one, there's a word paedion, and it just means infant.
And then paese, which means toddler.
And then there's a third one, which is tecon, which means adolescent or teenager.
And then the most advanced is adult, which is the word huios.
And the only two times it's ever used in the entire Bible are both in this chapter.
In Romans chapter 8.
So what that speaks to us is this is how you grow spiritually.
So it's only mentioned twice.
And the first time it's used is in Romans 8, 14.
And the second time it's used is in verse 19.
But neither of which are we going to get into tonight.
But I just tell you that for this reason is this is how you grow spiritually.
So grab the person next to you, shake the devil out of them, or whatever.
Shake some brains into them, whatever.
And just say, grow up, please grow up.
Would you please grow up?
Jeez.
Alright.
So Romans 8 says there is therefore now.
No condemnation.
Everyone say no condemnation.
So the first steps towards spiritual growth is learning to walk in no condemnation.
Right?
And so as to those who are in Christ Jesus, to those who do not walk according to the flesh,
but according to the spirit.
For the law, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
It says, for what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh,
God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
On account of sin, he condemns sin in the flesh.
That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh, what do they do?
Come on, everyone say it out loud?
No, it says right there.
For those who live according to the flesh, they... three words.
Set their mind.
You don't have to guess.
It's already up there for you, okay?
So if you didn't even bring a Bible, I mean just look up, okay?
Those who live according to the flesh, come on, what are those three words?
Set their mind.
Come on, look at your neighbor and say those three words to your neighbor.
Come on, set their minds, okay?
So back in the 70s, there was a famous comedian.
His name was Flip Wilson, and he used to say, the devil made me do it.
Is that right?
The devil made me do it, right?
And today, many people have that mindset, oh, the devil made me do it.
No, the devil didn't make you do nothing.
You set your mind.
You either set your mind on the things of the flesh,
or you set your mind on the things of the spirit.
Is that what it says?
Those who live according to the spirit, what do they do?
They set their mind.
So in other words, you can think your way into the flesh,
or you can think your way into the spirit.
Come on, is that what that word, that scripture is saying?
In other words, your thoughts make you spiritual,
or your thoughts make you carnal.
We'll just let that sit there for a minute.
Those who live according to the flesh,
it begins with the direction you point your thoughts.
Now, I was born in St. Paul,
but when my mother married a farmer,
when I was nine years old, we moved to western Minnesota,
and he was a gunsmith.
And when he taught me gun safety,
I mean, we had over 200 guns in the house,
and they never went on a school rampage shooting.
Isn't that amazing, huh?
But we had over 200 guns in the house,
and he began to teach me about healthy respect of guns,
and he began to teach me about gun safety,
and he began with the sight on the gun.
And he said,
Tom, you're never going to point the gun this way,
and the bullet shoots that way.
Is that right?
Because where the sight goes, the bullet follows.
Is that right?
So where you set your thoughts, according to this verse,
come on, somebody,
you set your thoughts, that's where you will go.
Is that right?
And so we'll come back to that in a second.
So verse six says,
for to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is what?
Life and peace.
Is that what it says?
Because the carnal mind is in enmity against God,
for it's not subject to the law of God.
So here he talks about, from verse one to verse eight,
he's talking about your thoughts,
your thoughts, your thoughts, your thoughts,
your thoughts, your thoughts.
Eight verses about your thoughts.
Verse 14 comes, and he says,
for as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the...
Huios, the mature sons of God.
That's what it says in the Greek.
The mature or the Huios,
the mature adult sons of God.
This is not a baby child of God.
You understand?
This is a mature son of God.
So what does that mean?
So the number one step towards your spiritual maturity
is not laying hands on you.
All those things are good and important,
but you grow spiritually
by you learning to grab a hold of your thoughts.
Come on, right?
So you grab a hold of your thoughts,
and you either think thoughts of the Spirit
or thoughts of the flesh.
Is that right?
So verse 14 begins to tell us,
listen, this is where you go
and this is where you'll end up.
What? You'll be led by the Spirit.
Is that right?
And then verse 19 comes along,
and verse 19 is the second time it uses that word,
and it says, the Spirit Himself,
verse 16 says, the Spirit Himself
bears witness with our Spirit
that we're the children of God.
If children or sons and heirs
and heirs of God,
you know, some of you ladies say,
I'm a daughter of God.
Now the word calls you a son.
Amen?
The word of God calls you a son.
If I got to be a bride, you got to be a son.
Suck it up, all right?
So, if I'm the bride of Christ,
you got to be a son.
I don't figure it out, whatever, all right?
All right.
And if children and heirs of God
and join heirs with Christ,
if indeed we suffer with them,
that we may also be glorified together.
For I consider the sufferings
of this present time not to be worthy
to be compared to the glory
that shall be revealed in us
for the earnest expectation
of all of creation eagerly waits
for the revealing or unveiling
of the mature sons of God.
Second time in the whole Bible
it's ever used.
Amen.
So this is what God spoke to my heart
here today to share with you tonight.
Where are you fishing?
Where are you fishing?
Come on, prophesy to your neighbor.
Say, where are you fishing?
Okay.
So where are you fishing with your thoughts?
Where are your thoughts pointed?
Where is the direction of your thoughts?
Where are you fishing?
And so, you know,
when many people talk about repentance
and all of these different words,
they don't realize the majority of those words
in the Greek language that it was written
are all words about your thoughts.
The word repent means to change your...
Ah!
Isn't that where your thoughts are?
You know, the word devil...
excuse me, the word Satan means accuser.
But the word devil means
to throw an object at your mind.
I'll say that again.
The word devil just means...
all the word devil means is
one who throws an object at your mind.
Come on, right?
That's all the word devil means, right?
Many people think that the word devil is his name.
No, that's his job title.
His job title is to throw thoughts at your mind.
Come on, right?
So, in other words, the battle is in your thoughts.
Is that right?
Now, I've said this for years.
And more than 10 years...
the Lord showed me this more than 10 years ago.
The greatest battle in human history was
on Golgotha, there where Jesus died.
Is that right?
Is that true, right?
The greatest battle is on...
it was at the cross, right?
On Golgotha.
And the word Golgotha means
the place of the skull.
I'll just try this church over here.
Sorry.
You go back to sleep, alright?
The word Golgotha means the place of the...
Ah, so where is the battle?
Ah, so it's at the skull, amen?
That's where Jesus was crucified
at the place of the skull.
And he says, repent.
In other words, change your mind.
Everything is pointing at your thoughts,
your thoughts, your thoughts, your thoughts.
Amen?
Romans 8, God's talking about your spiritual maturity
and God is saying, come on, come on.
Stop fishing over there.
Because if you fish over in depression,
you're never going to catch joy.
You know, you're not going to go down.
You know, you're not going to go over here
in one of these little lakes
and be like, you know,
you got your little daredevil out there
that's about a half inch long
and you throw it out.
You're like, oh my gosh, I pulled out a marlin.
Why?
Because you're fishing in the wrong place
if you want to catch a marlin.
Is that right?
Is that true?
And many people,
they spend all of their effort
and all of their time
and they're fishing in a place
where they're only going to catch something bad.
Come on, amen.
When I was a kid, we had an old slew out.
I don't know if you guys even know it.
Everyone know what a slew is?
Okay, everyone knows.
So there's an old slew not too far from where I live.
And I remember saying to my stepdad,
man, we should go fishing out there.
He said, no, there's nothing out there
but a bunch of old bull heads.
And I thought about that one day.
I was thinking about that this morning.
I remember him saying that.
All there's out there,
you're not going to catch any walleye,
you're not going to catch any northern,
you're not going to catch any bass
or anything like that.
Why?
Because they're not in that lake.
So if you're going to fish in a lake
that's just nothing but a bunch of bull heads.
Come on, talk to me somebody.
Then you're not going to pull out something good.
Is that right?
So stop focusing your heart
in your heart's energy and your thoughts
while fishing in depression.
I'm going to just keep fishing in depression.
Maybe I'm going to catch something good out there.
Or I'm going to fish in anger.
That's what I'm going to do.
I'm just going to keep fishing out
in this pool of anger.
And it's never going to end up good.
You understand?
Why?
Because you're only going to catch one thing.
Is that right?
So the only thing you're going to catch
is more anger.
Is that right?
And so that's what God began
to start to speak to me about here
even this morning when I was praying
is about where are you fishing.
And part of revival is
it's a change of the way we think.
That's why I loved what
Pastor Vernon Mary we're talking about here tonight
about the changing of patterns.
Amen.
That's with that.
Guy at the beautiful gate.
The Bible says he was in that condition.
What does it say?
38 years it said?
Something like that.
So can you imagine?
38 years, one pattern.
Is that right?
And many people they have patterns in their lives.
They do the exact same thing.
You understand?
Even church people.
I said even church people
they get in those patterns.
You know, by God I go to the same place.
I park in the same spot.
We've got a relative that
he drives the same road
because there's only one way to get somewhere.
How many of you know someone like that?
Raise your hand, anybody?
And there's only one way to get there.
And what is it?
It's a mindset.
I said it's a mindset.
Amen.
And so many of these New Testament words
that we know of and we speak about
most of these words all have to do
with your thinking.
The word devil, the word Satan,
the word condemnation.
All of these different words
are talking about your thoughts, your thoughts,
your thoughts, and your thoughts. Come on, right?
So go over from there
from Romans 8.
Since you're in Romans, go over to Romans 12.
Hallelujah.
Forgive my voice here.
This happened in
Wisconsin, so I blame Wisconsin.
No, I'm just kidding.
I was in Wisconsin.
I kind of pushed it too much.
Romans 12
Romans 12
says this,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies
of what?
A living sacrifice, right?
Which is acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service,
and do not be conformed to this world,
but be what?
Transformed.
So underlining in your Bible
the word transformed, it's the Greek word
metamorphosis.
What do we know that's metamorphosis?
Anybody?
Ah, a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Ah, so
God says be
metamorphosed
by laying on of hands
and casting demons out of each other.
Is that what it says?
No, it says
be metamorphosed
by
getting in a prayer tunnel.
Is that what it says?
Oh man, I must have misread that.
Be metamorphosed,
be completely transformed
by what? What does it say?
Ah, wow.
Look at there.
I think God knows what he's talking about.
Look at that. Be completely transformed
by what?
The renewing of your mind.
That, what? You may prove.
Is that right?
That you may prove what is a good
good and acceptable
imperfect well of God. Is that what it says?
Right? So now go over
to Ephesians.
I know this church loves the word, so
Ephesians.
So Ephesians,
now you got to know this first, going
into Ephesians because
the book of Ephesians is the only
book of the New Testament that Paul doesn't
bring correction to.
So Paul writes all of these letters.
He writes a third of the New Testament.
Correction, correction, correction, correction.
He corrects the Romans. He corrects
the Corinthians twice. He corrects them.
And then he goes on. He corrects
the Thessalonians. He even
corrects Timothy. He corrects
all these different people except
for the
Ephesians. Ah, now going into
it, this is the most spiritual church
of the entire New Testament.
And in chapter 4, so
chapter 1, he starts to talk about
the identity in Christ. Chapter
2, he talks about their inheritance
in Christ. Chapter 3,
he prays. Chapter 4,
it goes on and it says this.
Oops, lost my
place.
Ephesians 4 says this
in our Bibles.
Verse 11,
And he himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists,
some pastors and teachers
for the equipping of the saints,
for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ
until...until what, Paul?
Until we all come
to the unity of the faith
and the knowledge of the Son of God unto
a...
a what? Now
underline that. That's an old
1600 11
English word. We don't use that
language anymore. A perfect man.
We say a mature
man.
So that's how it would read in
2025. It would say
until we would all come to the knowledge
of the Son of God to a mature
man. Ah, here we all, all the way
back again at Huios. Amen.
And he says this and
he says to the measure
of the stature of the fullness
of...ah,
so he's talking about getting to the place
of fullness. That we should no longer
be children. Look at your neighbor and say
stop being a child. Okay?
Alright?
No longer be children. Now how do children
act, Paul? He says they're tossed
to and fro, carried about
by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery
and cunning craftiness
of deceitful plotting.
Is that right? And then Paul
says these words, but speaking the truth
in...love
may what?
Look at your neighbor just kind of whisper
please grow up today. Okay?
Alright?
And he says grow up
right? So he says
grow up in all things into him
who is the head, even Christ.
Is that right? Verse 16
from whom the whole body joined together
and every joint supplies into the effectual
working of every part
does it share causes growth
to the body. Ah,
for the edifying of itself in love.
Now watch this.
This I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that
you should no longer walk as the rest
of the Gentiles or the nations
walk and the futility of
their thinking
or their mind, right?
Having their understanding darkened
and they're alienated from the life
of God because the ignorance
that's in them because the blindness of their heart
being past feeling
had given themselves over
to lewdness to work all uncleanness
and greediness, but you've not so
learned Christ if indeed
you have heard him and been
taught by him as the truth is in Jesus
that you would
what?
Put off your former conduct
the old man. Now who's the old man?
Is that your father?
No, it's your old thinking.
It's that old stinking thinking.
Is that right? That you
would put off what? Your
stinking old thinking.
Come on, right? Which grows
what?
Corrupt according to his deceitful lust
verse 23
and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, right?
And then he says these last words
and that you would put on
the new man that was created according
to God in true righteousness and holiness.
So go back one verse
my friend if you could
be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
I remember many, many years ago
I was praying in the spirit one time
and I said, Lord, what does that mean?
What do those words mean?
And the spirit of God spoke to me
and he said these words. It means
the direction you
point your thoughts.
You got to get this. If you forget everything
else I say tonight, don't miss this.
Okay, alright?
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind
is the direction you point
your thoughts.
It is the sight of your gun.
Come on, right?
It is the direction
you point your thoughts. Now, years
later, almost 20 years later
I was
read this Greek theologian said
he got to this verse and he said
exactly what the spirit of God
spoke to me. He said this is actually
talking about the direction you are
pointing your thinking.
Come on. So where
are you fishing?
Where
are you fishing?
Where are you fishing
on thoughts about yourself?
Where are you fishing on thoughts
about other people?
Are you with me? Amen?
Because many times people
they have a skewed mentality of themselves.
You know, because
we've studied so much on Christian
dream interpretation and what is God
saying in a dream. Many people don't know
your own dreams will speak
about your thinking.
You know, if you ever had a dream
how many of you ever had a dream
that you lost your teeth?
Okay, look around the room. It's one of the
most common dreams you have
and one of the dreams that people
have is they lost their front teeth.
So what does that mean to lose your
front teeth? Your front teeth have no
purpose other than how you see
yourself.
That's the only purpose is your
front teeth. You understand? It's
your perception of how
you see yourself. Amen?
And so that's
where God is beginning to speak to you
about how do you see yourself?
And so that's where, how do you fish
and how do you see yourself?
I saw a funny
a funny picture
someone put on
a meme on Facebook
and it was a picture of
this overweight guy, right?
And this underweight woman
and this overweight guy
he looks in the mirror and he kind of
sucks his gut in and he pulls his arm up
and the mirror reflecting on him
showed like this adonis
he looked like a bodybuilder
so that's how he was seeing himself
and the woman who was already thin
she looked at herself in the mirror
and she saw herself as overweight
and I began to think wow, it's how
we perceive ourselves
come on, right?
And that's just like a micro
of how we perceive ourselves
how do you perceive yourself
in the world
how you perceive yourself is how you
will begin to speak and minister
to other people
is that right?
And so that's where we have to change
where we're fishing even with thoughts
about ourselves. Number two
we have to change with our thoughts
of where we're fishing
regarding God
come on, amen?
And so if you've
maybe you've had a toxic relationship
with your natural father
and all of a sudden you hear the word father
and it brings a toxicity
in your thinking, you have to change that
and say no
he's a good, good father
like the song, amen?
And so you have to change that thinking process
why because you're not fishing
out of that toxicity pool anymore
is that right?
And so where do we begin to see it?
We begin to see it in the word
we begin to see it in the word
we let Jesus come alive
in the scriptures to us, amen?
And so when we let Jesus come alive
to us out of the scriptures
it transforms everything
we've seen out here
everything we've experienced
out here in relationships
whether it's in a relationship you've had
maybe you've been in a toxic marriage
maybe it's a toxic relationship
with family members whatever it might be
you have to begin
to fish out of a different pool
now I didn't know it
but I grew up
in some of a toxic
relationship with my father
and I didn't know that
because when that's all you know
that's all you know
anybody in the house had the same thing
come on raise your hand
don't look so holy at me, alright?
and so I had to change that
and so I remember
when I was first saved
one of the first things God began to speak to me about
is you cannot
look at your natural father
as an example of who I am
and so I had to let
the father of the scriptures
come alive to me and that's how God
relates to me
it's not out of performance
but it's instead out of belief
and response to him as well
is that right?
so I had to change the way I thought
so everyone say change the way you think
amen
so we have to let the word of God
get in us. Now 120 years ago
John G. Lake said these words
he said the word of God goes into the
vortex of our brain
and even changes the actual brain cell
itself. Now I thought this was interesting
I saw this of
Dr. Carolyn Leif. I was reading something of hers
and she said each morning when
you wake up you have new baby nerve cells
that are born inside your brain
that
we have to use wisely as
it removes bad thoughts
and wires in good ones
it's called neurogenesis
research shows at 75
that 98% of mental
physical and behavioral
illnesses all comes
from your thought life
this staggering
eye open statistic means
only 2-25%
2% of mental or physical illnesses comes from the environment or genes.
2 to 25% are real. The other 75 plus percent is all your perception.
Where you've been fishing. Where you've been fishing.
Come on, everyone say, where have you been fishing?
Right? So we have to change the way we think.
So there's something about the way that we... we have to stop perceiving things that way.
Like, for example, some people have a poverty mindset.
Nobody in Minnesota does, but just other places, right?
But some people have a constant victim mindset.
Come on, talk to me, right?
That's why you can... you can throw billions of dollars at poverty.
And guess what? It's still poverty.
Jesus even said it. The poor you have with you always. Is that right?
So it doesn't matter how much government throw at it, it still doesn't help.
Why? Because it's a mindset.
I said it's a mindset. Amen.
And it takes a word of God that has to break that mindset.
That was one of the mindsets I had to break.
Even as Pastor Eatwear was talking about the offering and stuff.
And so as he was talking about the offering, I was thinking about that.
I thought, yeah, I remember a day when I had a poverty mentality.
Come on, right? I even went to Bible school and got an A in the class on prosperity.
And I still got a big F spiritually.
You understand? You can get an A in the class and still get an F in real life.
Isn't that something, right?
And because I had a poverty mentality. You understand?
And I had a constant victim mentality.
And so I had to change that thinking into an abundance mentality.
That's why I love hearing stories of different people and different times.
I just heard another story of a young woman. She's in her mid-twenties.
And in 2020, during the lockdowns and stuff, she just went scouring through YouTube.
And she just said, I'm just going to start a business.
And she made like, I think it was like $13 million in three years in digital products.
Come on, somebody. Is that awesome, huh?
But here she was. You know, she had to break a mindset.
She talked about it. She said, all I grew up around was poverty.
Everyone had nice shoes and a nice shirt and they didn't have two nickels to rub together in their pocket.
Right? What was it? It was a mindset.
See how quiet I got in here when I said all of this, right?
It's a mindset, right?
And so I grew up in a home of sickness and my wife knows that.
And my family would talk constantly about sickness, constantly.
I mean, that's all they lived on in every conversation, every meal, every day.
What do you have? Well, don't get too close to me.
You know, I don't want to get it and, you know, you know, all of this different stuff.
And it's this mindset of sickness. You understand?
And so in 1982, I was, excuse me, 1980, I was in a wrestling accident in Western Minnesota
and I broke my neck and all my mom was talking about, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
And then she and the doctors too got into agreement and they were all talking about how this could, you know,
incapacitate you and you're going to have lifelong arthritis and all of this stuff.
But then in 1982, two years later, here I was in excruciating pain
going to chiropractors all over the Twin Cities, different parts of Western Minnesota
in pain all the time and I got radically saved.
And when I got radically saved, this was the first thing that came alive to me as a revelation.
And my spiritual mom gave me a book called Healing the Sick from T.L. Osborn
and that book just came alive to me.
And what was happening? Ah, the Word of God, just like Lake said,
went into the very vortex of my mind and it had to, like Pastor Mary said,
it had to change the pattern.
Now I had had up until then 16 years of one pattern.
Every year we get sick.
Every wintertime you get sick, you get, you know, whatever it is, you get pneumonia,
whatever it is, every single year.
Get two flu shots.
Then you got to get a shot for the flu shot, you know what I mean?
But it was this mindset in my home and the moment that my spiritual mom gave me that book,
it was like it just broke that thinking over my knee.
Come on somebody, hallelujah. Amen.
And that's where I believe that the Spirit of God wants to do in these revival meanings.
He wants to break over your knee that old fishing pole that you've been fishing on that wrong pond
that's full of bull heads.
Come on somebody, whether it's sickness, whether it's poverty, whether it's victim,
you're a victim all the time. Here a victim, there a victim.
Old McDonald was a victim, E-I-E-I-O.
And a victim, victim here and a victim, victim there.
Here's a victim, vote for a victim, everybody's a victim.
Bad joke.
Amen. What is that?
It's a mindset.
Come on, talk to me somebody.
How many of you know somebody that's always a victim mindset?
I mean they can't go to Chick-fil-A and not be a victim.
They go into Chick-fil-A and they're already a victim.
You understand? What is it? It's a mindset.
I said it's a mindset.
Come on, look at your neighbor, say stop fishing in that pond, okay?
Praise God.
So go over to 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians.
Hallelujah.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Hallelujah.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
Oh man, I was going to share something.
I got to find this, hang on one second.
Oh yeah.
I'm going to rattle some religious cages if I find this thing.
Just tell your neighbor, just say, you know,
he'll shoot your religious cow if he'll shoot mine, alright?
Oh yeah.
You know, there's mindsets that we get in the church
because of people make up religious crap.
You understand?
And some people get these stupid mindsets and stuff,
and they say, I've been to some churches,
Susie and I have ministered in some churches,
and they've said, well, you know, I want to do this,
but I only want to do what God wants to do.
You know, I want to buy this new car
only if God wants me to buy it.
You know, I like this, you know, this red car.
We had this one lady come up to us in California,
she went and she said, you know, I want to,
I want to, you know, buy this new car
only if the Lord wants me to buy it.
And I said, what does it look like?
And she tells us the name of the color
and everything of the car.
And I said, okay, let's ask this next.
Who's driving it? You or God?
Come on, who's driving the car?
And she's like, well, I am.
I go, oh, okay, then God doesn't care what color.
But if he's driving it, he's going to pick the color.
Okay, you understand? Come on, somebody.
Some people have got this weird mindset.
Come on, somebody, get delivered of that thing.
Okay, I don't even know if it's time
we have to lay hands on people.
I think we got to slap it out of their head, all right?
Excuse me, brother, this is from heaven.
Second Corinthians 10 says this.
Now I, Paul, myself, I'm pleading with you
with the meekness and gentleness of Christ,
who in the presence and the lowly among you
and being absent and bold toward you.
But I beg you that I am present,
that when I am present,
not only be bold in the confidence
by which I intend to be bold against some
who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh.
Okay, now watch this.
For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal or natural,
but they're mighty in God for the pulling down of.
Okay, now wait a second, now wait a second.
So strongholds.
The word stronghold in the Greek,
what it means is this,
is it's a prison that keeps people
behind bars in their thoughts.
That's what a stronghold is.
It's somebody who's kept behind bars
in their thinking, amen.
So here he goes on to say for
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
They're not natural.
And he says casting down arguments
and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God
and bringing every demon, right?
Is that what it says up there?
Let's see that.
And bringing every demon to the captivity.
Is that what it says?
Come on, help me.
Every what?
So the pulling down of strongholds,
is it up there?
Ah, so the pulling down of strongholds
is where's your thoughts again?
Ah, it's in your thinking.
Bringing every thought
to the obedience of Christ.
Is that right?
So he goes on to say,
bringing every thought to the obedience
of Christ, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, amen.
So this is all about our thoughts,
our thinking.
What are we thinking?
So we can choose to be spiritual
or we can choose to be carnal.
Amen.
We can choose.
We can change everything.
This is another thing
the Lord began to show me was
years ago I had read this
that your tongue
is attached to the middle of your brain.
So where the tongue goes in,
basically am I butchering that,
am I pretty close?
Yeah.
So the tongue is attached
to the middle of the brain.
So the tongue is like the keyboard
of a computer.
Okay.
How many of you got a computer?
Okay.
How many of you ever heard of a computer?
Okay.
Okay.
This is new thing.
Okay.
All right.
So your tongue is your keyboard
to your computer.
Okay.
So help me here tonight.
So when you sit down,
how many of you ever sat down on God on the computer?
Raise your hand.
Anybody?
Okay.
So many of you have.
All right.
Praise the Lord.
We're doing good here.
All right.
And you get on the keyboard
and you write something down.
Does it stop and say,
do you mean this?
Or does it give you a response back and say,
are you positive you mean this?
Come on.
Raise your hand.
Oh, it never says that.
It just enters it into the computer.
Is that right?
Guess what?
What your tongue says,
your brain just believes.
I'll say it to this church over here.
What your tongue says,
your brain just believes.
So you are like the greatest prophet of your own life.
Right?
Is that right?
So how do we renew our minds?
How do I put on the new man?
One of the best ways you can do it is get on the keyboard.
In other words,
put God's word in your mouth.
When you put God's word,
God's words in your speech,
come on somebody,
it begins to change the way you think.
Is that right?
And I didn't know any of this stuff.
When I got saved,
I didn't have a good Holy Ghost church like this.
There was nothing out in western Minnesota.
And my parents, for sure,
my parents were like Shiite Lutheran.
They had underwear that were Lutheran.
So that's how Lutheran they are.
So on the Lutheran scale,
they're in the 10.0 Richter scale.
So for sure,
my parents weren't letting me go to the Holy Ghost church.
So here I am trying to grow spiritually,
and I was getting no help at home.
So I had to dig down deep
into God's word by myself.
And eventually I ended up
going to Moorhead State my first year,
and went to a great church there,
and all of that stuff.
And so that stuff helped me.
But even before that,
God began to show me
how I had to change the way I thought,
began with my mouth.
It began with my own words.
And I began to start to have to change things.
And I remember,
when I went to North Central Bible College,
we used to call it North Central Bridal College,
but that's a story for another time.
And so when I went to North Central Bible College,
I went and I was in a class.
It was the first semester,
and I didn't know what I was doing,
and I was amongst all these preacher's kids.
And I'm like,
God, you just got to help me here.
And I was in this class,
and the teacher went and said,
we're going to do a fake service.
We're going to do like a mock church service.
Somebody's got to sing a song.
Somebody's got to take an offering.
Somebody's got to do a special song.
Somebody's got to read announcements.
And somebody's got to preach.
And so everybody's heads goes down, right?
Like, oh, God, don't let them look up at me, right?
And so the teacher said,
listen, if you don't volunteer,
I have to, you know, start to elect you.
And so it's not by choice.
You understand?
And so, man,
my knees were having fellowship with each other.
I'll tell you what right now.
My heart is beating out of my chest.
And I just raised my hand.
I'll never forget that day.
And I raised my hand and I said, I'll preach.
And my head is like, are you nuts?
And in my best friend next to me,
he goes, oh, thank you, Jesus.
He goes, thank you, God.
Thank you, brother.
He's like, I'll buy pizza tonight for us all.
Thank you, man.
And so all my friends around me are like,
aren't you nervous to preach?
And I said, I knew it was a defining moment of my life.
And I said, no, I never get afraid.
And my head is thinking, you've never preached before.
How could you never get afraid?
You understand?
But what was I doing?
I was keying in what I wanted to see.
I was picking up my fishing rod from fishing in sickness,
disease, poverty, victim, anger, depression.
Come on, talk to me somebody.
And I just said, listen, there's nothing,
but bull heads over here.
I'm on a fish where I want to catch something.
Come on, amen.
And the moment I made that change,
everything changed in my life spiritually.
But it began when I had to put the word in my mouth.
Everyone say, put the word in your mouth.
Amen.
So it's really connected to your thoughts.
Can I get your keyboardist?
I forget his name.
Sorry, there you are.
Thank you, brother.
And so it's really connected to our thinking.
How do we think?
Where are we fishing?
And that's where I believe many times we've seen people
even get healed that way.
I remember we were ministering up in Browerville.
Susie and I were ministering in Browerville.
We rented a building up there.
And there was some churches in the area
that didn't want revival, so we said,
we're bringing it, whether you want it or not.
We're going to have a riot or a revival.
One of the two, right?
And so we went and so Susie and I rented this facility
and we brought a worship team with us and all of this.
And so we just began to advertise.
God was going to move.
And so we had a young man that called the office
and Susie answered.
And this young man said,
I saw one of your videos on YouTube.
And he said, I want to tell you,
if nobody gets healed tonight, I'm getting healed tonight.
That's what he told my wife on the phone.
He said, if nobody gets healed, I'm getting healed tonight.
I just want to let you know that.
And so we thought that was awesome, right?
We were like, man, that's great, you know?
And so we get there to the service
and people came from everywhere and stuff.
And this young man had been in a car accident
or something.
He had gone through the windshield of the car
at like 60 miles an hour.
Horrible situation.
And he had broken his back
and he was confined to a wheelchair
and he was just in a horrible place.
It just really, really a lot of pain.
And we went in the middle of the message.
He come wheeling down the front.
And we just grabbed his hand
and we just lifted this man up.
Just like you read.
Silver and gold have I none.
Rise and walk in the name of Jesus.
And we lifted him up.
And the power of God hit that young man.
He was just instantaneously healed.
And it was the first time he walked
in something like 10 or 12 years.
Come on somebody, give the Lord a hand. Amen.
Amen.
The devil is not as powerful as he's been telling you.
I said, the devil is not as powerful
as he's been talking to you about.
He can't stop you. Amen.
He can't defeat you.
He can't stop your prosperity.
He can't stop your healing.
If he could have, he would have already done it.
Come on talk to me somebody.
The devil cannot do what he's been talking
to your head about.
You only have one way to go
and that's the place of victory.
I said, there's only one way for you to go
and that's the place of victory.
to victory.
Come on somebody. Amen.
Victory is your destination.
Amen.
And that's the mindset that the Lord
wants you to have. Amen.
Instead of, well, let's just, you know,
kind of see what happens. Let's just throw the bones
and hopefully something good comes out.
You understand?
Instead of, we're not playing
Christian, you know, roulette here.
You understand?
But instead, it's a mindset.
It's a mindset.
I said it's a mindset.
I remember we were ministering in Florida.
We were ministering in central Florida
in a place called Aubrandale.
Aubrandale. And we went and we
we did an event with a large ministry,
another large ministry.
And God TV called us
and asked to come and put the whole thing
on God TV. And so we said, sure.
And
and they're like, we'll put you
on God TV and we won't charge you.
I said, good, you can come to our conference
and I won't charge you.
How's that?
I thought it was kind of rude, but anyways.
So,
they went and they came and
and so this one night
there was a
woman that was dying of cancer
and
she called the ministry and
she was in the hospital. The doctor said
you will not see Monday morning.
You'll be dead before Monday.
Say your goodbyes to everybody.
And here she was, full of cancer.
I mean, full of cancer.
She was not even gray.
She was like a brownish gray
colored all over.
And she smelled so bad
it would almost made
you throw up. That's how bad.
And she smelled like rotten meat. I don't know how to describe it.
So
she told her doctor, I'm going to have my son
bring me to that revival meeting
and I'm going to be healed.
And so the doctor said
you may be dead trying to get to the church.
She goes, what's the difference if I die here
or die there?
I'm dead either way.
So I'd rather die trying to get to church.
Come on, amen.
And so she gets her son to take her
and
they put her like kind of in the
section behind Susie and I
and I'm not exaggerating. Susie will
verify this. I'm not being evangelistically
speaking here, alright?
But about 75 people
literally got up and moved
when she sat down
because the smell was so bad.
She smelled like death.
So it came time for
ministry time and it was the night
that we weren't preaching
this other evangelist was.
So
this woman comes down
to the front and
in the confusion of everything
she got bumped and she fell
and usher
Mr. on top of it and so
crap, she hits the ground and I'm like
oh god
just take us out
of here right now Lord, you know.
And so the evangelist
kept on ministering to other
different people
and he looks at Susie and I and he says
will you minister to her? And so we're like, yeah cool.
So we go over to her and the cameras
were following this other evangelist
and so Susie
and I go over to this woman
God's honest truth
and the son is not a Christian
and so the son is cussing at her ushers
and it was a lovely sight
all right.
And it was really, really toxic
the whole situation and so I said
to the young man, the son
I said you go sit down
because I remembered in the scriptures
when Jesus put them out. Is that right?
Of their own house by the way
is that right?
So the young man said this is my mother
and I said I don't care this is my meeting
you go sit down.
And so we grabbed that woman
by the hand we lifted her up
and she was screaming and crying
in total pain full of cancer
I said lady
we came to bring you healing tonight
we came to bring you healing
tonight I said look at me
take a deep breath
relax and let it go
and she took a step up
and she went
and she took one step forward
and color came back
into her face
and she was healed
and she took off shouting and praising God
and the Lord healed her come on give Jesus
a great big hand
but
I believe it was because
of her mindset that she came
It's time to get healed. Instead of like, well, we'll just kind of see what happens, you know.
Okay, sara, sara, whatever will be, will be. You understand?
But what if we said, I'm going to change that. I'm going to just make an attitude adjustment.
You know, many people, when it comes Sunday morning church, we see it all the time.
Doesn't matter if we're in Minnesota, Michigan, we are just in Michigan, Indiana, Florida, Oregon, or even Canada.
It doesn't matter. Many people, they kind of come with that tire kicking.
Well, let's just see if anything happens. You understand?
Almost like God is their little performer boy. You understand?
But what if God was trying to say, I'm just wanting to see faith inside you to grab a hold of something.
I want you to fish in a pool of expectation.
What if that's what God was looking for? Just what if?
What if he was looking for us to fish in a different place?
So Father, tonight in the name of Jesus, we thank you, Lord, that you are good and your mercies endure forever.
Lord, we just want to say thank you tonight that you're speaking to us about spiritual growth.
You're speaking to us about change. You're speaking to us about breaking patterns.
And so Lord, tonight in the name of Jesus, we want to pull those strongholds out of our thinking down.
Those prisons that we have erected inside of our own thinking.
And Lord, tonight we just change those thought processes now by faith.
And so Lord, we make that adjustment on the inside and we say, Lord, we believe.
Lord, we believe in the name of Jesus.
God, we give you thanks for it tonight, for all that you're going to do in the name of Jesus.
If you're here tonight as a guest, a visitor, whatever, and you've never been born again,
you've never made Jesus, Lord, of your life, and tonight God's tugging at your heart.
If that's you, and maybe you've been backslidden, maybe you've been away from God.
You once knew the Lord, but the fire went out of your heart and you want to come back to Jesus.
If that's you, whether for the first time or rededicate your life, I want you to quickly raise your hand.
If you want to give your life back to Christ and receive that free gift of eternal life.
Thank you. Anyone else? Quickly, if that's you. Anyone else tonight? Quickly.
If God's tugging your heart. If that's you. This is your chance. Praise God.
Just stand up, sweetheart. Yeah, just stand up. Come. Come.
The Lord wants to minister to you. I want to pray for you. Is that all right? Yeah, come.
Yeah, come right here. Just stand right here. Just lift your hands.
Lord, tonight. Anyone else do you want to join her? This is your chance.
Don't miss your opportunity. Hallelujah. Come on, everybody.
Pray with us and agree. Pray this out loud and meet it with all your heart.
Pray this, say, Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus, I receive forgiveness of sin.
Cleansing of the past. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, I'm saved.
Born again. On my way to heaven. Because Jesus is in my heart. Amen.
Thank you, Father, tonight. Amen. Come on, give the Lord a hand. Amen.
Praise you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
So, He explained to us tonight how our tongue or our mouth is the keyboard to our brain, right?
It attaches right to the middle of the brain, okay?
So, He started in on things He does every day, maybe numerous times a day,
depending upon what pond He's trying to get His fishing rod out of.
And there was a lot of amens. But as I'm sitting there, the Holy Spirit said to me,
but they're not using their keyboard. They're agreeing with you, but they're not using their keyboard.
Can you do something for us here? Let's do it together.
In the world of declaration, when you're saying, okay, I am going to call where I'm going.
You do it all day long. Can you lead us in so that they get an idea of,
okay, what do I put on the keyboard of my mouth to determine the direction I go?
Yes, yes. You know, just like I prophesied to my sister over here,
you know, part of the prophetic word the Lord gave me up was to love the process.
You know, many times we don't embrace the process of change.
How many of you know, how many of you have ever...
If you didn't feel growing pains as a kid, how many of you have seen people with literal growing pains?
Anyone seen that? You see a teenager and they're like,
Mom, my legs hurt or my, you know, my arms hurt. Why?
Because they're growing faster into their physical body. Guess what?
The same thing is happening spiritually. So I'm going to do this.
Everyone just stand your feet. Just give me a little more juice just because of my voice.
Thank you, my sis. Hallelujah.
So I'm just going to lead you in a few that will help you and bless you.
And so just stretch your hands toward heaven. Come on, pray this out.
Say this out loud. Say, in the name of Jesus, I embrace change.
I love it. I love it when God stretches me.
I love it when God changes me into the image of Christ.
I can do this. There's nothing wrong with me that the word of God cannot change.
There's nothing wrong with me that the power of the Holy Spirit cannot transform.
So from this night, I'm going to grow. I'm going to grow in the likeness of Jesus.
I'm going to see healing in my body. I'm going to see miracles in my life.
I'm going to see miracles in my finances. This month, I'm going to see my finances change.
Come on, say it out loud. I'm going to see miracles this month in my finances.
In the name of Jesus, I am going to be used this month by the Holy Spirit in spiritual gifts.
And my flesh, I refuse to listen to it. I'm going to be bold and I'm going to see God move.
I'm going to see God use me in evangelism. I welcome it. I'm not afraid of it.
I'm called to do this. I can share Jesus. I can tell my story.
And God is going to bring me this week one person I can tell my story and it's going to touch their lives.
In the name of Jesus, I'm bold in the Lord and in the power of his might.
I refuse to walk in fear. I refuse to walk in depression.
I choose to laugh in the joy of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.
God is working in my family. Come on, say it with faith.
God is working in my family. In the name of Jesus, all my family is coming into the kingdom.
Every devil in Minnesota is not going to be able to stop it.
Because all the angels in Minnesota are ministering to them now and even as they sleep in the name of Jesus.
Angels are ministering to me now and when I sleep tonight, they will minister to me all night long in Jesus' name. Amen.
Come on, give the Lord a hand clap if you believe it.
Alright, so he just gave you the keys to direct your future.
In Jesus' name, whatever the situation is, you must declare it.
The word of faith is in your mouth. Call those things as are not as though they were or as though they're done.
So, whether you're having a good day tomorrow or not, you call the direction your future must go.
You don't go, oh, that was nice yesterday, but today really sucks.
No, today in Jesus' name, I'm calling where I'm going to go.
And depression leaves me. I'm not going to be afraid. Whatever the situation is, you call it and speak to it.
And then you do it on Monday and then you do it on Tuesday and then you do it on Wednesday.
And I always have people ask this question, well, how long do I have to do this? Until it changes.
Why would you quit early? You just keep speaking to it until it obeys you.
Sometimes things go quick, sometimes I've had to speak to things for over a year.
And all of a sudden the old mule started to turn.
And other things go quick. He just gave you the keys to direct your future in Jesus' name, Declaret.