Live Free with Josh Howerton - Shuffle Your Life’s Playlist | Ep. 6 | Monday February 13, 2023

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

Your playlist can dictate your whole life. What you download into your mind greatly influences your decisions. If you’re going to walk in a new direction, you need to change the way you think! Today’s episode talks about how allowing God to transform your mind will change the path you take. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to The Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a perfect way to point your day. Our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional and that you'll be equipped, empowered, and encouraged as a follower of Jesus to deepen your relationship with God. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit.ch slash daily drive. And now let's dive into today's devotional with one of our teaching pastors, Mike Bro. Hey, hope you're having a great day. like bro and just hanging out for a few minutes every day. We're starting out this new year talking about walking a new way. And all last week we talked about mapping our route.

And we learned this principle together. Your direction determines your destination and your decisions determine your direction. And the verse of scripture we broke down and tried to stick in our hearts last week was from Jeremiah 616. This is what the Lord says. Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old godly way and walk in it. Travel its path. and you will find rest for your souls.

And I've been praying that you might be choosing to walk that road this year. We began the year talking about how if you want to walk a new direction, you've got to first map your route, then download a new playlist, then find a partner someone or a group of someone's to walk with you, and then just keep a steady pace. So this week, I just want to spend a few minutes every day

talking about the value of downloading a new playlist. You know, I walk a lot, and when I do, I love to listen to music, podcast, sermons, how-to, segment. And when I walk, I listen to mostly music. I'm singing out loud. Yeah, I'm that guy walking down the street singing out loud. Anybody else work out or walk or jog the music?

You know, studies have shown that listening to music during exercise not only serves as a motivational tool and a distraction from fatigue, it can help improve your lung and brain function. And I love to listen to the old Motown station. I grew up a huge Motown fan. I love the variety when I'm walking. If I want to keep a fast pace, it's like, ain't no mountain. high enough.

Then when I get tired, is just my imagination. I love that channel because it's great to walk with that channel. And there are apps that you can download to give you a playlist based upon whether you want to walk at a three miles an hour, you want to run a seven-minute mile.

There are songs who's beat and tempo have been calculated to match your desired pace. They'll even help you pre-select songs that can help you reach your targeted heart rate. I mean, it's pretty cool. Back in my old high school days, I ran track, and I ran a half mile in a mile. And I would sing, actually, as I ran,

to keep pace and to keep my mind off of the pain. I mean, it's crazy how the playlist in your head affects you. In fact, your playlist can dictate your whole life. So here's the deal. Your direction determines your destination. Your decisions determine your direction. And what you download determines your decisions. So let me just ask you, what are you currently downloading into your mind?

Now, we're a week into this together, so hopefully you're sensing that I love you. and I'm grateful you'd even give me a few minutes every day. So let me just get this out of the way and say with as much grace as I know that I personally need. You just can't keep feeding your mind junk this year. It's got to stop. The blunt and honest truth is if you're going to walk a new direction this year, you can't continue to fill your mind with pornographic images and fantasies from romance novels and movies,

explicit like music videos and violent video games and cynical political crap and deep dives to the comment section on social media and thoughts of revenge and comparison with other people. And please know that I am not just some preacher who's railing against the evils of this culture. I'm just an ordinary guy who loves you enough to be honest with you. What you choose to put into your mind will greatly influence the direction you're going to walk this year. I mean, I know from personal experience that to walk a new life, you have to have a new mindset. You have to change the way you think. In order to change the way you think,

you have to ditch the old playlist and download a brand new one. So this is going to be our Change the Playlist verse for this week. Romans 12, verse 2, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So you map your route. You say, I'm going to travel the ancient path. I want to invite God to walk this new direction with me.

He gets super excited and says, I cannot wait to walk this new direction with you. I've been waiting for you to ask. And I want you to know it's God's part and our part in this journey. According to those verses, God's part is the transformation. It said, let God transform you into a new person. Only he has the power to change you and me from the inside out. The Greek word for transform there is metamorpho. Is that word stirring, high school biology, class,

lessons in you? Yeah, it comes from the world of caterpillars. Can you imagine a fuzzy caterpillar saying, okay, I can do this this year. I can do this on my own. If I try really, really hard, I know that I can change. I believe I can fly. I mean, that caterpillar on his own strength and willpower cannot change himself. And man, I've been there. I'm sure you have too. But if he will surrender to the transforming power of metamorphosis, God will turn him into this beautiful multicolored high. fly and phenom known as a butterfly. And as you and I surrender, God's power goes to work in us too. He will change us.

That's his part. My part, your part in this transformation process, is renewing our minds to a whole new way of thinking. It says, let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. And to change the way I think, I have to download a new playlist. So that's what we're going to talk about. this week. So I hope that you will tune in every day as together we start to renew our minds. Praying for you today. Love you. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical

teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Thank you.