[Steve Myers] I have a question to begin with this afternoon. Can you reset your brain? How do you reset your brain? I got to thinking about this a little bit when I heard a story. Okay. And initially, was a story about people with different color hair. One of them was maybe a blonde, I think. But you don't have to. It doesn't matter who it is, but it was a story these three people that went to an appointment. And it was taking forever. They're waiting, they're waiting, they're waiting. And they happen to notice, there's a fishbowl right in the middle of the room.

So the first person went over and looked at the fishbowl. And after about a minute, she's staring at this one little goldfish in there, tilted her head sideways. And sure enough, that goldfish didn't go to the left. She was looking at the fish and turned her head the other way, and sure enough, that goldfish went to the right. Now, one of the other people are looking at this and are, "Wow, that's phenomenal. How did you do that?" And the lady said, "Well, it's just mind over matter." She said, "Well, I'm going to try this." And so she sat down and she started staring at this little goldfish. After about a minute or so, tilted her head to the right, sure enough, if that goldfish didn't go over there to the right. Tilted her head to the left, sure enough, that little goldfish went over to the left.

Now third blonde… I mean, the third person that was there saw this and went, "Unbelievable. I want to try that. How did you do that?" And she said, "Well, it's mind over matter." And so this third lady stared down that goldfish. She was staring at it and staring at it. And after about a minute, the lady. See, it was mind over matter, right? Who is in charge Okay. I do a bad imitation of a fish. Okay, I get it. She began to blow bubbles, and close her mouth, and open her mouth instead of the fish going to the left and right. Okay. All right, bad joke.

But the question is, can you control the goal? No, that's not the question. The question is, can you reset your brain? Can you reset your brain?

And in fact, the answer is yes. The answer is yes. And it's actually surprising when you consider that because it fits in with the conditions that God lays down for baptism. It fits in with the conditions for coming to Passover. It fits into the conditions that we should be facing every day in our life. In fact, you know this but sometimes, I think we don't consider it in this way. When Jesus came preaching when His ministry first began, do you remember the first instructions that He talked about when He began to preach about the gospel? I mean, you might write down Mark 1:14, you know it, John had gotten put in prison. Jesus came to Galilee. What was He doing? It says right there, as His ministry began, “He came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." He came preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

What did He say? Well, mark 1:15, Christ says, "Repent and believe the gospel." Repent and believe the gospel. So we have these two conditions that are set up for baptism. You have to repent and you have to have faith, you have to believe. And, of course, that's not just a one-time thing. It's not just when I come to baptism and I repented once, and that was good enough, right? Or I just have a little faith when I start out, and that's good enough. It was not that at all. That same first condition Christ said, "Reset your brain." Reset your brain. It's a requirement. It's a requirement of God. And when we focus on this need to repent. It's not just critical as we come to baptism, but it's an ongoing way of life. It's an ongoing way of life.

So how would you define repentance? How would you define that word? Do we really grasp what repentance is all about? Well, it's critical when it comes to resetting your brain. So let's think about the definition of repentance. If you were to look up this Greek word that's recorded right here and throughout the New Testament for repentance, it's a combination of two Greek words, metanoeo. Metanoeo is the word. The meta, M-E-T-A, it can mean with, or afterwards, or among. That's what meta, M-E-T-A, is all about. And the noeo, the second word, is from other Greek word for nous. It sounds like a noose you might hang yourself with. It's not that kind of noose. That kind of nous is the mind, the mind, the thinking.

So metanoeo is to think about something afterwards. To perceive with the mind is the noea, I perceive this, I understand this, I think about this, and I do it afterwards. Or literally, to perceive with the mind afterwards. Or in other words, I change my mind. I change my mind from thinking what I was before. I used to think this way, but now that I've considered it, now that I recognize God's will and His way, I'm rethinking this. I'm thinking differently. I've changed my mind from where it used to be. And so when you really get down to what repentance is all about, it's about changing the way we think. It's about resetting our brain. It's about resetting our brain. It's like Christ said, repent and believe the gospel, rethink your life, change the way that you think.

And so when you consider the mind, this becomes pretty critical because it's not a word that refers to our actions. It's not a word that refers to our actions. It's about what's going on in our head. It's about what's going on in our head. So repenting doesn't address the things that we do. That might sound kind of odd. It's not about the things we do, it's about how we think. It's about how we think. So even if you were to look this up in the dictionary, if you went to the online dictionary or got out of Webster's, all of them are pretty much the same. They connect this concept of the Bible when they talk about repentance, turning from sin, dedicating yourself to change your life. Most of the dictionary definitions will refer to that. Most of them will say, you feel bad about what you did, you feel sorrow or regret at what I did.

And usually it includes the fact that I've got to change my mind. So those three aspects are in most dictionaries when it comes to the definition of repentance. And so when we put all those things together, whether we talk about the Greek, we talk about what the dictionary says, it has those facets of changing and rethinking, changing the way I look at life, my perceptions. I've got to change that. And it's oftentimes prompted by regret. “Yeah, I shouldn't have had that fourth piece of pie. And I'm feeling it. And I shouldn’t have done it.” Okay, that's silly. But when it comes to God's way, my past conduct, the sinful things I've done are unacceptable. And I've got to change my actions away from that kind of sinful behavior, got to, got to change that.

And so the implication here is what was happening before in my mind? That condition of my thought process has to be different now. My thought process was guided by a different way of thinking. It was guided by a different motivation than it is now. After coming to repentance, my thinking is different. And of course, then, if my thinking is different, what else is going to be different? Yeah, my actions are going to be different. So it's interesting when Christ came preaching the Kingdom of God, what did He focus on? He focused on the way our minds work, on the way our minds work. Changing our life from sin is not repentance. That sounds odd, doesn't it? Yeah, we have to do that. But changing our life from sin is not repentance. Changing from sin is a result, it's an effect of repentance.

But we don't want to confuse the difference between actions and the way our minds work. There is a little bit of a difference here because it points to a human problem that we all have. The human problem is how we perceive things. How do we perceive things? It's interesting when God was working with Samuel and they were going to appoint the next king, do you remember what God told Samuel? Saul had kind of had his problems, and now it was time for a new anointed king. When 1 Samuel 16:7, you know this passage. You don't even have to turn there. What does God say? What does He tell Samuel? He told him, "The Lord doesn't see as a man sees." He says that instead, “a man looks at the outward appearance." But what does God look at? “God looks at the heart.” God looks inwardly.

And so it's certainly a reminder for us that things can look okay. They can look good, but that doesn't necessarily reflect repentance. And so really what repentance is getting at is we're looking at the reason to turn away from sin, the cause from turning from sinful ways becomes critical. In fact, it shouldn't have second place. Don't just look at the actions. Remember, God looks at the heart first. God's looking at our thinking. He's looking at the fact that we've got to think differently. We have to repent. We have to reset. We have to reset our brain. And so that brings us to, I think, a critical step, is that outward actions are different than inner motivation. Outward actions are different or can be different than inner motivation.

Think about that for just a moment and maybe consider this, is it different or maybe it's possible, is it possible for two people to do exactly the same thing but to do it for different reasons? Can two people do exactly the same thing and do it for totally different reasons? Yeah, it is. Now, is it possible for two people to do exactly the same thing for different reasons and that thing be a good thing? Sure. I could hand out the songbooks on the Sabbath because I want to serve God. I love God and I love His people, and I want to serve them, and I want to help them, or I could hand out the songbooks which is a good thing to do. But I want to be seen. I want the credit. I want the pat on the back. I want everybody to notice I'm serving. You see, that's a whole different ballgame then.

And I think it points to the fact that when we talk about right motivation, right motivation always leads to right actions. When we do things for the right reasons, the right actions automatically follow. They automatically follow. The challenge is wrong motivation can sometimes produce things that are right. Wrong motivation can produce good things. Good things could be a result of wrong motivation. That's the challenge. No wonder God says, "Just don't look at the outward appearance, what's going on on the inside?” What's going on in the inside? And it becomes pretty critical even when we look at, you know, this fact when Jesus came. Yes, He came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. And He said, "Reset your brain, repent."

And, of course, we could go back to Isaiah 42:21, you would have to turn there, but we know what that one says too. That one says that Christ was going to come to magnify the law, to magnify the law. Well, why would Christ have to come to magnify the law? What's interesting later on then if we fast-forward to the book of Matthew, when Christ was talking about the law in Matthew 5:17, He said, "Don't think that I came to destroy the law." But then He goes on and He said, "I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." So reflecting what Isaiah said, He came to magnify, He came to show the true meaning, to fill it up to the full, to show that true meaning of the law, it's one of the reasons that Christ came.

So what does that point to? You see, I think it points back to this concept that outward right actions don't necessarily mean we have the inward right motivation. Is that true? Well, not committing adultery. That's a good right outward appearance. But, boy, I could be lusting after everybody that walks by. So outwardly looks good, what's going on inwardly? Well, I haven't killed anybody lately, but, boy, do I harbor hate and anger within my mind? Christ said that's unacceptable. You see, He's concentrating on what's going on on the inside, not just that outside looks good, outside looks fine. So we got to be careful about that.

I think a great example of that is what happened when the Church began. If you remember Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, the Church was about to begin, Peter goes into, what we'd like to say is a sermon. And he recounts the history of Israel. He goes through all kinds of things. Who's he talking to? Well, he's talking to people that have all the right outward appearance. These are people that kept the Sabbath. These are people that tithe. These are people that kept the Holy Days. These are people that aren't the pork eaters. They had all the right outward appearance. Peter gets to the end, convicts them, and they say, "What should we do?" What does Peter say? "Reset your brain." He says, "Repent." Repent. That was the conclusion of the matter. So we see God was focusing on the way our minds work, on the way that our minds work.

Peter told them, they needed to change their thinking. So it wasn't just the outward requirements, he was focusing on the inward motivation. And that becomes critical. And it wasn't just a one-time thing. It was a way of life. This was something that was to become a true Christian's way of life. The book of Hebrews records that for us. I will turn over there. Hebrews 4:12, another very familiar passage. But notice it in this context of the concept of resetting our thinking, changing our thinking, true repentance. You know, as we come to baptism, this is certainly a requirement, one of two big ones. As we come to Passover, it's certainly something that we have to take into consideration. In fact, it's not just that, this is a whole new way of life. This is something that is an ongoing thing.

Notice how Hebrews records it for us in Hebrews 4:12, it says, "The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Says, "There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." And so it gets right down to our thinking, our thoughts, our intents, our inner motivation. And so we have to step back and say, "Well, it's my observance of the Sabbath, boy, that must give me lots of credit with God. God, I haven't touched a pork chop this whole year, so you got to know that I'm a good person." You see, we can't get caught up into thinking those kind of things.

Those things by themselves to God, they don't mean anything. They mean nothing. And we can put the Sabbath, we can put the Holy Days, we can put tithe, any of those things mean nothing to God if it's all just for a show. If it's all just for a show, it's meaningless. It's only when these right actions are an expression of what's going on inwardly. If there's an expression of a changed mind, a changed heart, that's what counts to God, that's when they take on significance, that's when they're really meaningful. Because absolutely, we have to do those things but they should be that expression of a repentant attitude, a repentant mind.

And so we must examine our minds. You know, am I in my thinking ready, eager, willing, in fact, joyfully striving to be submissive to God's way in His will? That's what my motivation should be. Am I readily, eagerly obedient to following God's instructions, and His guidance, and His commands? That's a whole another thing, rather than, "All right, God, what do I got to do now? What do I got to do? What do I have to do in order to be okay?" See, that doesn't count for much, that doesn’t... because that could produce right actions, but it's a wrong motivation. So right actions flowing from right motivation, from a pure heart, that's what God's interested in.

In fact, there's a beautiful Proverb that tells us that very thing, Proverbs 16:2. Here it kind of talks about both sides of the coin. It's kind of interesting the way the Proverb words this because it addresses both sides of motivation, right motivation, wrong motivation. Proverbs 16:2 brings both of those things to mind. It begins in the New King James in verse 2 of Proverbs 16 like this. It says, "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes." So we all have this tendency when we just look at things normally, it's like a regular old human being, “I'm doing okay. I'm pretty good. I'm not that bad.” And so we have that tendency to look at ourselves that, "All right." But on the other hand, the Proverb concludes, "The Lord weighs the spirits." Well, what is that getting at? Maybe not really clear in New King James.

If you read this in the Good News Translation. Here's what it says in verse 2, "You may think everything you do is right, but the Lord judges your motives." The Lord judges your motives. The Message says it a little differently. Verse 2, Proverbs 16, the message says, "Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good. God probes for what is good." I like the way that's worded. We have a tendency to notice what looks good. God notices what is good. That's such a critical difference there. That's such a critical thing. And so we really get to a new place that it's not about the have to do's, "Oh I have to do this," or "I have to do that.” When we have the right motivation and the right thinking, it actually takes us beyond what we have to do because remember what Christ said about the have to do's, well if that's how we're keeping score, we're in trouble.

Christ told us that when we say, "I've done everything you've commanded," remember what He says there in Luke 17? He says, "You know, you only did your duty. You only did your duty, what was your duty to do.” So outwardly, looked pretty good. But inwardly, He says, "We're still unprofitable. We're unprofitable servants if we only do our duty," Luke 17:10, we're unprofitable. Well, we want to be profitable in God's eyes. How can I be profitable? How can I truly be repentant? Especially when I have this difficult challenge because the outward appearance can look the same, and so what's the difference between someone who's repentant and someone who's not? Because if I'm going to reset my brain, I've got to have a different motivation, a different perspective. So are we resetting our brain?

I heard the story about a guy, he goes to the fair. He goes to the fair and he saw this sign. It said, "Become a mind reader, only $50." He thought about that, he said, "I've always wanted to read people's minds. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next." So he goes in. And there's this guy standing there and he says, "Oh, you must be here for the mind-reading lessons." He was reading his mind. So, "How did you know that?" "Well, the sign was out front." So he goes in, he's really skeptical, "I don't want to pay $50." He said, "Only $50, I guarantee you'll have special insight." He says, "Well, okay." So he gives him the $50 and the guy says to him, "Pick up the end of that hose." So the guy picks up the end of the hose. And then he says, "All right. Now, look deeply into the hose." So he picks up that hose and he's looking at this. He's looking at this. Sure enough, the teacher turns on the faucet, he gets hit with the water. And then he said, "Oh, what did you do that for? I had a feeling you were going to do that." The teacher says. "Aha, the lessons are already working." Yeah, he should have watched out.

All right, we're not talking about mind reading. Yeah, we're not talking about that. But if we're going to reset our brain, it's going to take more than $50. It's going to take a special commitment, the right commitment. We have to have the right commitment because you can't see this. This is something that can't be seen. And when things can't be seen, it always puts it into a more difficult framework. And since the repentant mind can produce the same results as an unrepentant mind, it's easy to feel, "Well, I must be okay because these actions look alright." But the challenge is, sometimes people that could give a hoot about God or His way or His commandments sometimes produce the same kinds of things, the same kinds of traits. And so we can't be fooled by that. And so how can you know, how can I know whether I'm repentant? The challenge is this isn't an option. God says, "We have to know. We must know." And so to begin with, it's not whether or not I'm doing everything perfect, it's not that I have a clear understanding of every single scripture here in the Bible, how committed am I to God's way? That is certainly a key.

If I'm really repentant, have I truly made a binding commitment with God? Have I made a holy contract? Have I made a covenant with God in my mind with Him? Do I constantly strive to please Him? Have I truly rejected the ways of the world that want to infect my way of thinking? Have I really committed myself to right values rather than these wrong concepts, wrong attitudes, wrong motivation that constantly bombard my thinking? Have I made this commitment to absolutely submit my will and my thoughts because we're told, "My thoughts aren't your thoughts," God says. But I want my thoughts to be God's thoughts. Am I totally committed to that? And am I striving in every way to submit my thinking in every situation, in every issue, to try to see things from His perspective, and never say, "Well, boy, this was an exception." You know, I had to do that. I had to act that way. You can't be doing those things, because if I firmly made that commitment, that's something I'm going to hold on to not just at baptism and not just at Passover, but that's going to be my framework for life always, every single day, because that commitment I made is not just a one-time thing.

And so if we've made an unconditional commitment to seek the will of God and submit our thoughts into His hand every single day, then I'm going to be that much more likely to choose His way. So how committed am I? Do I choose to submit my life and commit every choice, every right choice into His hands? We have to do that. In fact I was reminded about that about a play. It came to mind the other day. It was a Shakespearean play. You've probably heard of it. It's The Merchant of Venice. And it's interesting play that Shakespeare wrote. But one of the things that's kind of interesting that ties in with this is in this particular play. There's this young heiress, big bucks. She's going to inherit all this money. Well, her dad is going to die. And he wants to make sure she marries the right guy.

And so since he's on his deathbed, he's going to put the potential suitors, the potential husbands, a little bit through the mill, like, give him a couple of things to think about, give him a riddle that they have to solve in order to earn the right to marry the beautiful, the gorgeous, the rich Portia. So what does he do? He sets up three caskets. Of course, he's going to die so there's the significance with that. He makes these three little small caskets. He makes one out of gold, he makes one out of silver, and one out of lead. And he puts a little inscription on each one. The one on the gold casket says, "Who chooses me shall gain what many men desire." That's got to be Portia. She's beautiful, she's smart, she's rich, it must be. Well then on the silver casket, silver says a little bit differently. It says, "He who chooses me shall get as much as he deserves." Oh, that sounds pretty good too. The lead casket, it says, "He who chooses me must give and hazard all he has."

So the men go through the rigmarole of trying to pick the right casket. The first man up, what does he pick? Well, gold, of course, right? Gold, of course, the casket that says, "He who chooses me will gain what many men desires." They open up the casket, no portrait of Portia. That's what we're looking. If the portrait of Portia is in there, they win, they win. But instead, there's a scroll. And the scroll says, "All that glisters is not gold. Often, you've heard that told, gilded tombs do worms enfold." Yeah, you're a loser, right? Get the loser thing. You're out. Wrong choice. Next one up chooses silver. Silver casket said, "He who chooses me shall get as much as he deserved." “Well, I'm a great guy, just look at me, I'm wonderful. I deserve the beautiful, the smart, the talented, the rich Portia.” Well, open up the casket, no portrait of Portia. Instead, there's a scroll. Here's what the scroll says, "What's here, the portrait of a blinking idiot." That's the one he chose, right? "Some there be that shadows kiss, such have, but a shadows bliss." Shadow is not reality. It's not the real thing. The shadow is fleeting, goes away. And so we got our second loser.

And now that third casket, the lead casket, "He who chooses me must give and hazard all he has” is the inscription. Opened up the casket, what's there? The beautiful portrait of Portia. There it is. And there's a scroll, a scroll that says, "You that choose not by the view, chances fair, and choose as true. And hold your fortune for your bliss, turn you where your lady is, and claim her with a loving kiss." The challenge for all of us, even back in Shakespeare's day, was that we do have a tendency to judge by appearance. We want the gold, we want the silver. Who wants to give and hazard everything we have? But the appearance was good, it looked great, it looked right. But we can't have that motivation, that can't be our purpose. And so we must reset our thinking because that's normal, that's normal. That's the way every human being has a tendency to think. But that's something we can't think. That's a Romans 8 kind of thinking.

Remember Romans 8? Paul talked about the normal every day, carnal mind, our carnal thinking, the way we normally think, how do we normally think? Normally, our thinking is enmity against God. We are absolutely completely opposed to God's way of thinking. And so we've got to have a reset. We have to reset our brain. How do you reset your brain? Well, there's a keyword, I think, that comes into play. And the word is neuroplasticity. Oh, boy, there's a big word. I just learned about this more recently. It has to do with resetting your brain. Now, what does neuroplasticity have to do with anything? Well, it's a description of what's going on inside your head. I've been fascinated by it recently a while back, I was able to interview Kayleen Shreiber about the brain. And she had some amazing things to say. I got into it a little bit more and I was reading some different things.

And neuroplasticity is one of those things that goes on in your head, in your brain, that helps you develop, and this is my simple way of non-scientifically describing these things, that changes pathways in the way that your mind works. Because when we do something, especially when we do something by rote, okay, I take out the trash, I get out the bag, I do this, I could do it in my sleep, walk out to the garbage bin, throw it in. On garbage day, I haul it up. I can just do it, you know, in my sleep, because my brain is wired that way. It just does it. But neuroplasticity has been discovered to point out the fact that those processes that go on between those pathways, the glia, and the synapses, and all that scientific stuff that's in there, that can be changed, that can be altered.

And so your brains makeup can change when we're exposed to new information. Those pathways don't have to go the way that they've gone, let's say for the last 30 years of my life. You can reset your brain. You can rethink things because of this brain plasticity that we have. It’s another way to talk about neuroplasticity, brain, it's flexible. And so this process doesn't have to be locked in, which to me, begins to get back to Romans 8, we don't have to be locked into enmity against God. Yeah, that's our natural tendency as human beings. But God gave us a brain that's flexible, that can change. And I was reading a little bit about this from an author. His name is Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz. He wrote a book called, Brain Lock. And he's a neuropsychologist or no, let's say it again, neuropsychiatrist. And he's kind of associated with UCLA. So he writes his book, Brain Lock.

And what he does is he treats his patients to rewire their brains. That sounds really weird, doesn't it? That you can actually rewire your brain. And you do that by changing the way you think. By changing the way you think, it changes those pathways that we normally go down inside of our brain, and then we do these things the way we always have done them. And so he created a four-step approach. And in this four-step approach, it just really struck me. The first step was to relabel these things. And we've got to recognize our mind wants to glitch to the normal things it always does. So we have our natural human tendencies to do what we always have done. And so we're always sinners, we ended up always continuing down that path. A second step he leads to is to reattribute. We got to change our thinking. He talks about refocusing and revaluing.

Now, I was reading about these different things and it just struck me. All of these had a connection to a different kind of read. Instead of relabeling, and reattributing, and refocusing, and revaluing, it kept hitting my mind, repent, repent, change the way you think because these glitches in my brain that always want to go to the wrong way, that's a false message, that's a wrong way to think. And boy, we know there's a prince out here, I mean, no wonder he's described as the prince of the power of the air because he broadcasts attitudes, and moods, and wants to infect where it all begins in our thinking. But I can't glitch that way. That's my normal way, but I can't go that way. And I've got to tell myself, “I'm not walking down that path anymore.” And when I choose to go a different direction, it begins to recircuit my brain.

Now, imagine just a physical approach to a bad habit, and I want to change this bad habit, so I don't do that bad thing. Okay, that's one thing. But put that in the spiritual realm. God's blessed us with neuroplasticity, but that's only a start. You know what the ultimate blessing is? God's Spirit. When you connect your human spirit with God's Holy Spirit, now, we really have power. We have the power to overcome sin through the Spirit of God. Can we reconnect those synapses in a different way so my normally sinful way of thinking can be redirected through the power of God's Spirit? By my submission to His will, it changes the way I think. Now, what happens when that begins to occur? Well, because my thinking is rewired, because I've submitted to God's Holy Spirit, now, my actions are going to be different. My actions will change because I'm refusing to go to that normal way of thinking. I'm refusing to walk down that normal thinking path that I've been attracted to my whole life.

And with the power of God's Spirit, I don't have to go that way, I'm recognizing. That's a glitch, that's a sin, and I'm not going that way. It's not just a bad habit that I'm trying to change, I'm going to change my thinking so those sinful thoughts are gone. That glitch is not going to happen in my brain, because I'm going to submit to God's Spirit, because that message that's being sent to me otherwise, that's a powerfully evil message that wants to lure me down the wrong path. And I'm going a different way. I'm fully committed to doing God's will. And I'm refusing to be misled by those old paths, those old ways because that's not real, that's not where life is. Real-life is changing those paths with the power of God's Holy Spirit. And so it's no wonder that there should be a reflection of that.

Jesus Christ talked about this, Matthew 3:8. Matthew 3:8, Christ certainly knew the way our brains work and He was certainly concerned about what's going on inside of us, inside of our brains, and our thinking. He gave us that neuroplasticity so we don't have to be locked into what we always were. You add the power of God's Spirit, and we can be a new creation in Christ. And so no wonder in Matthew 3:8, Christ said at the end of that verse, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance." So if we reset our thinking, we reset our brain, what's going to be the result? There's going to be good fruit. Yeah, we're going to be doing the things that are right and good. We're going to be keeping the commandments. We are going to be following God.

In fact, if you read this in God's Word Translation, look at verse 8 again at the end, here's what it says in God's Word, "Do those things that prove you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act." I like the way that's worded because it does get down to our thinking. It begins here. And then it's reflected in what we do. Do the things that prove you've turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. We're proving that repentant attitude. In fact, Dr. Schwartz puts it in an interesting way. He says, "Your automatic transmission shouldn't be working." Now, he's talking about changing bad habits and some of that sort of thing. Think about that spiritually. You see, as a human being, we have this tendency of human nature to go the wrong way, put it in automatic. And if you put it in automatic, well, drive your car, it's in automatic. I don't have to think about whether I'm going up a hill, whether I'm going downhill, whether I need to go faster this thing, I just step on the gas and it goes. That's automatic.

You see, what we do when we submit to God's Spirit, we override automatic. We put it into manual transmission, manual transmission. We got to think of stick shift, all right? Anybody know how to drive a stick shift? Okay, you guys are good. You remember the first, if you've ever tried to drive a stick shift, remember the first time you tried what normally happens that very first time you're trying to put it, “What gear is where and what is that all?” Well, normally, you're trying to find that gear and you're already taking your foot off the clutch, and grinding in those gears, trying to find the right one. Well, I got it at first finally, let's go. PEW! Killed it, right? What a hassle. Wouldn't automatic be that much easier? Well, maybe in cars, it is. But you think about your brain, you're thinking you've got to repair the gearbox, right? You’ve got to repair the gearbox, which means, it's hard to figure out manual transmission. Doesn't seem to come to me naturally.

But, you know, after the first grinding, "I finally got going." Second time I had to drive it, not much better but slightly, "Okay, dad, I know, I know. I'm trying not to grind the gears." But what happens after a while? And if you've got a stick shift car now, wow, just seems to come naturally. It's gotten smoother, shifting comes easier, I hit it at just the right moment, I go in a second right when I need to, and I don't miss a bit. There it is. I know. And so the more we practice it, the more we do it, the more natural it becomes. Yeah, just naturally, I'm going up a hill, I'm going to have to downshift. And I just do it and going. I don't have to think about it. I'm not going to kill it because I know. Now, I need to pass. I'm going to shift and get more power. It just seems to come naturally. We've overrides our default.

And you think about that spiritually, normal, everyday ways of thinking lead us to sin. That's our default. I've got to override that, go into manual and it's going to become easy. It's going to become more natural as I continue to override that default. What am I doing? I'm retraining my thinking. “Now, I got to shift gears. Now, I've got to downshift. Now, I've got to go up. Now, I got to go in reverse.” I've got to override the default. And what it points out the fact is that God helps us to reset our brain. He brings us to repentance, right? He wants us to repent. He's actually giving us a brain that has that capability. You know, He hasn't just given us a rock and we're locked in and can never change. No. He gave us neuroplasticity so we can change. And then not only that but added His Spirit so that spiritual change is not only possible, it can be accomplished. And so with God's help, we can reset our brain. And then the results of that reset, the results of repentance will be there. And they'll be there for all the right reasons, for all the right motivations.

And so will we keep God's commandments? Of course. Will we tithe? Absolutely. Will we forget those unclean meats? Well, of course, we will, because that's a natural consequence of godly thinking. And that godly thinking will help me then because I not only have to do those things, I got to control my thoughts. I got to control my thinking. I got to control my feelings, my anger, my patience, my temper, all of those kinds of things. Means I got to control my finances because I've got to be able to tithe. I've got to be able to tithe. And so it resets the standard. It resets the standard so that it's not just God's standard, it's my standard. God's standard is my standard. And so the results are genuine. The results are real. The results are godly, repentance is spiritual growth.

And so what an amazing process that God has given us. In fact, when Paul wrote to Ephesus, I wonder if he had neuroplasticity and the Spirit of God in mind. Okay, he probably didn't. But if you look over at Ephesians 4:23, see if this comes to mind as we think about what the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Ephesians 4:23, another familiar passage. But when we consider it in this context of resetting our brain and repentance, notice what Paul says. In fact, if we back up just a little bit in Ephesians 4, he says, to “put off your former conduct,” so I can't think like that any longer. My thinking's got to change. I've got to continue to get rid of that “old man, that's growing old and corrupt.” In order to do that, what do I have to do? Well, he says in verse 23, "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

You see, God's Spirit joins with our human spirit. And we can be renewed. We can be recircuited, we can change the old pathways, the old synapses, and they can go in a spiritual direction. So he says, "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." The Common English version says this in verse 23, "Let the Spirit change your way of thinking. Submit to God's Spirit and you can't help but change the way you think." In fact, if you look at verse 24, it goes on and says, "Be," or it says, "Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." See, it's a new way of thinking. It's a new creation in Christ. It's a new man. He says that's “created according…” not to my regular ways of thinking, not to my normal everyday wrong paths, but now, it says, it's “according to God, true righteousness and holiness.” In fact, The Message puts it in an interesting way.

Look at verse 24 again. Here's what the message says. “Take on an entirely new way of life— a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you.” That's an amazing version. “Take on an entirely new way of life— a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you.” You see, when we stare at this life, yeah, it's like that little fish, it wants to get a control of us so that we're following it instead of us controlling it. But the lesson is, we can control our thinking. With God's Spirit, we can have an unwavering faith in our great God. We can have the eyes to thoroughly see from God's perspective, from His point of view. Our brains can absolutely be rewired.

Yeah, neuroplasticity is a start but you add God's Spirit on top of that, and we have the power to overcome sin. That's what God's given us, the power to rewire our thinking, to recognize those old ways, those old glitches, they have got to go. And now, I'm going to be reset, renewed, refocused, repentant. And so let's be dedicated. Let's be rededicated to reset our thinking, and be committed to repentance because when we are, we most certainly then will change the way that we think.