This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Daily Drive Time Devotions. We are in day three of our look at
Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9 today. We looked yesterday at worry and
anxiety.

The truth of the matter is when it comes to having joy in our thoughts where we
think you need a good defense and you need a good offense, you need a good
defense against worry in your life, against anxiety, you have to deal with the
negative thoughts that come in. But these verses, verses 8 and 9 remind us that
we need a good offense also. We need to attack anger, we talked about, we need
to arrest anxiety, but we also need to choose purity.

That's what verses 8 and 9 in Philippians chapter 4 are all about. Focus on the
positive. Let me read those verses to you.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you've learned or
received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace
will be with you. " If I want joy in my thoughts, I cannot, you cannot abuse
your mind with impure thoughts, words and images and expect somehow that peace
and security are going to flow out any more than you would believe that you'd
lose weight on a healthy diet of donuts and maple syrup.

It's just not going to work. So Paul says in these verses to experience joy in
your thoughts, you have to focus on the positive. He talks about that in verse
8.

Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 is a verse that I have run through my mind
literally thousands of times. When a negative thought attacks me, when a
negative situation comes upon me, this is the verse that I go to. "Whatever is
good and honorable, right and pure and lovely, anything excellent, anything
praiseworthy, think about those things.

" Truth is, you cannot make everything around you positive. You cannot make
everyone around you positive. Bad things happen in your life.

People are rude. There are negative images all around you in our society. So do
you have to become a hermit to accomplish these verses?

No. No. This isn't saying you push out of your life any person that's rude.

This is talking about how you think within when you're confronted by a rude
person, when you're confronted by an image that is impure in our society. Now
you don't choose impure images, but you know what I'm talking about. They're all
around us.

So what do you do? How do you handle this? Let's do this verse instead of
talking about it.

As I walk through these eight words in Philippians chapter 4 verse 8, let's,
instead of thinking about what we're talking about, let's do what we're talking
about and focus our heart and mind on the positive. Paul says, "Whatever is
true, think about that. " So let's do that right now.

Right now, as you're driving along, you're sitting at your desk or you're
running or whatever you happen to be doing, right now, think about that which is
true. This idea of true here has the idea of that which will not let you down.
Now let me just give you an illustration.

You're in a meeting with your boss and your boss is reacting with jealousy
towards another boss in your company and they're making your life miserable
because of it. What do you do? If you're going to focus on that which is true,
that which will not let you down, what do you do in that situation?

Do you have to quit your job? Say, "Oh, sorry, boss. I can only think about true
things.

You're being untruthful now. I'm leaving. " No.

No, this is about where you focus your mind. And even in the midst of this
jealousy of a boss, you can focus your mind on what's true. Jesus Christ, I pray
for them.

I see their jealousy. They can't see it yet. Help them to see it.

Help them to know you love them. Help them to know they have security. Help them
to know that they don't have to be threatened by things like this.

You can focus your mind on what is true, whatever is true, right now. Just take
a moment to focus on that which will not let you down, the love of God, the
power of God, the security you have in Jesus Christ, the hope of heaven. As a
believer in Christ, that will not let you down.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, the second word, this has the idea of that
which lifts your eyes up. It was a word that was used of gods and temples of
gods. And this has the idea of a person who moves about this world as if it were
a temple of God.

You see God's creation, God's opportunity to do something in everything. You see
the value in something and someone because you see what God could do in their
lives. That's just true of people.

This is also true of God's creation. I love to walk through the redwoods in
Northern California. They're incredible creations of God.

And as I walk through, I get this sense of this is God's temple. I believe in
obviously worshiping God with other believers in a church. I don't believe in
making nature your church.

But I do believe that as you see what God has made, there's an opportunity to
lift your head up and see that which is noble and recognize the greatness and
the grandeur of God. Do that right now. Some person, some thing.

Now you might be on the freeway right now looking around at other cars thinking
what's noble about this? Well what's noble is the fact that God made man with
enough creativity to make all of those cars. It's a pretty incredible thing.

God in his creation shows us his nobility. God in what he wants to do in our
lives shows us his power. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is
right.

The third word is things being done in God's way. Now right doesn't mean winning
the argument. It means rejoicing in God's will.

So do that right now. Rejoice in the fact that even though everything may not be
right in your world, God has a will for your life that is right. He has a plan
that is right and he has a future that is right.

Choose to think about what's right. Whatever is pure. Pure had the idea of that
which is so clean it's ready to be brought into God's presence and used in his
service.

Now as a believer in Christ, that's you. That's what Jesus Christ did for you on
the cross. Now you may think not me.

You may think I don't want to call myself pure. What if I sin again? How can I
call myself pure?

I mess up. What if I sin again? That's like saying you can't take a shower
because you might get dirty again.

The truth of the matter is Jesus Christ cleansed you by dying on the cross for
you and you accepted that gift. He cleansed your heart and yes you do have to
come to him again and again when you have sinned again and remind yourself of
the fact that he cleansed you on that cross. And the longer you wait the more
your attitude starts to stink just like the longer you wait to shower the more
you stink.

But the truth of the matter is Jesus gave you a purity because of what he did
for you that cannot be taken away by anything anyone in this world. So right now
remind yourself of that. Remind yourself of God's cleansing in Jesus Christ.

Feel the crystal clear stream of his love. Focus on that which is pure. Satan
wants you to focus on that which is dirty.

Focus on that which is pure. As we continue to walk through these words whatever
is lovely. That doesn't just mean pretty.

Isn't that a lovely flower? That's not what this means. It means that which
motivates love.

What is it that motivates love in your life and other people's lives? It's a
mentally healthy thing sometimes to sit down if you're married and look through
your wedding pictures if you have them and remind yourself of the love that
motivated you to make a commitment for a lifetime toward one another. That is a
lovely thing.

That motivates love in your life. Whatever is admirable. Admirable, the
definition of that word, one definition is the things that are fit for God to
hear.

What is it admirable that you've heard today? That you're going to hear today?
Things that lift up the mind and heart because you've heard them.

How can you look for what's best in the words of people today? What's best in
the people that are around you? That's an admirable quality.

That's an admirable quality. And it doesn't have to be just quote unquote
Christian spiritual Bible things. You can admire the way that somebody does
their work.

You can admire the diligence in their work. You can admire the fact that they're
good with people. There's a lot of ways you can look at admirable things in our
world.

And God says focus on that. Whatever is excellent. Any mental excellence or
moral quality or physical power.

The creativity you see in a great movie. The sacrifice of a great leader. Seeing
your kid make a perfect dive if you're watching him at a sports event.

Whatever is excellent, let your mind go to that. Your mind, my mind so easily
goes to the lower and the base things of life. If you just let it run naturally,
that's where it'll go.

But choose, Paul says, by God's strength and through God's spirit and you choose
to think about that which is excellent. And then he says think about the things
that are praiseworthy, the eighth word. Anything that calls down the approval of
God, think about that.

Remember, that is good. Think about what God is doing in this world. Now it's
interesting.

All eight of these, they describe God's character and God's purpose in this
world. And the question I have behind this is where does my mind live? Question
for you is where does your mind live?

Does it live in the dark and dirty slums of this world or does it live in the
bright temples of God? He's reminding us here we have a choice. Isaiah 26, 3
says, "He will keep in perfect peace those who trust in him, whose thoughts turn
often to the Lord.

" We often live without peace and security and joy in our lives because of what
we choose to think about. And these verses remind us that we are responsible for
our thoughts. We're sort of like a radio.

We are bombarded all day long every day by different frequencies. Selfish
thoughts and kind thoughts and lustful thoughts and loving thoughts and joyful
thoughts and depressing thoughts, they're all there. And these verses remind us
we are responsible for what we choose to tune into.

Becoming a believer in Christ gives you control over what station you tune into,
the power of God to tune in a different way. And someone has said that these
verses are saying to us that we need to let the mind of the master become the
master of our mind. That is a choice.

That is a choice. And once I've made that choice, then I can begin to do verse
9. Verse 9 says, "Whatever you've learned or received or heard from me or seen
in me, put into practice and the God of peace will be with you.

" There it is again, God's peace. Now the interesting thing about this verse to
me is once I've got my mind focused on the truth, then I need to follow the
truth. Not just do the truth.

It's interesting. It says here, Paul says, "What you've seen in me, follow that.
" Paul saw it in Jesus and now he says, "I want you to take what you see in me
and follow that.

" That reminds me that in order to live the truth, I need a model. Truth is not
something you just know in order to do. It's not even something that you just
choose in order to do.

Truth is something that you must follow. Jesus said, "Follow me. " The only
perfect example.

But now Paul is saying, "Follow me. " Not a perfect example, but he was living
his life trying to follow Jesus, the perfect example. So whatever you see me
doing that's following Christ, follow me in that.

And the promise in all of this is that the God of peace will be with you. As I
focus on the positive and then out of the strength that comes from that I choose
to follow the truth, God's peace will be with me. Oswald Chambers once said, "If
in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door back and let
God in, every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.

" He's right there to hear me when I need him, to help me when I call upon him,
to direct me as I look to him. And that's how I attack anger and reject anxiety.
And it's how I choose purity that we've talked about today.

It all begins right in my own thoughts, right in your own thoughts. I encourage
you this week to do something that maybe you've never done before. Memorize a
verse of the Bible.

Memorize Philippians 4-8 so that whenever an ugly thought attacks you, whenever
an unclean thought attacks you, you can bring this verse to mind. Whatever is
true and noble and right and pure and lovely, whenever is admirable, whenever is
excellent, whatever is worthy of praise, think about those things. Let's do that
once more in prayer as we close this look at Philippians 4.

Jesus Christ, if I don't know you yet, I invite you to pray. I want to get to
know you now. And I begin by committing my heart and life to you.

I invite you in. I don't even understand all that that means, but I want to get
to know you. I know I need forgiveness for the wrong things I've done.

And I know I need your daily leadership in life, so I ask for it. Help me to see
in a new and fresh way what only you can do. I pray this in your name.

Amen. Make sure you join us tomorrow. We're going to be looking at Philippians 4
verses 10 to 13.