Think Happy Thoughts | Pastor Tom Golden

admin May 27, 2024 In today’s heartfelt sermon titled “Think Happy Thoughts,” Pastor Tom Golden guides us through the importance of positive thinking rooted in biblical teachings. Using scriptures such as 2 Corinthians 10:5, Psalm 118:24, and Acts 26, Pastor Tom emphasizes the need to align our thoughts with God’s truth and to seek joy and gratitude even in challenging circumstances. Read More … Pastor Tom begins by discussing 2 Corinthians 10:5, urging believers to demolish every bad thought and take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. He explains that negative thoughts are like arguing with God and should be stamped out as they do not honor Jesus. By praying for Jesus’s help, we can overcome these destructive thoughts and focus on the positive. He then reflects on Psalm 118:24, highlighting King David’s ability to rejoice despite his many adversities. Even on the day he lost his son to sin, David honored God, acknowledging that it was still the day the Lord had made. This powerful example shows us that gratitude and joy can prevail even in our darkest times. Pastor Tom shares a personal story about his wife, Krista, who needs surgery on her neck. Initially, he struggled with negative thoughts, questioning if such a challenging day could truly be the day the Lord had made. However, he overcame these thoughts by focusing on Jesus’s eternal presence and unchanging nature, remembering that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This shift in perspective allowed him to think about victory and salvation instead of despair. The sermon continues with a discussion of Acts 26, where Paul, imprisoned and standing before a king, expresses his happiness to be there because he knows his suffering is temporary. Paul’s joyful outlook, despite his circumstances, serves as a profound reminder that our hope and joy lie in our future with Jesus. In conclusion, Pastor Tom emphasizes that bad thoughts are a choice and encourages us to take those negative thoughts and stomp them out. By focusing on good thoughts—Christ’s power, salvation, and victory over our situations—we can cultivate a mindset of joy and gratitude. “Think Happy Thoughts” is a powerful call to renew our minds with God’s truth and to embrace each day with a heart full of faith and thankfulness. Bible Verses 2 Corinthians 10:55 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Psalms 118:25The Lord has done it this very day;let us rejoice today and be glad. Acts 2626 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.4 “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. 6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. 7 This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. 8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I