Here is the teaching outline for tonight's RICH THOUGHTS TV. Join us at 6 PM EST
Roy L. Smith, a renowned Methodist writer of Sunday School literature, once said:
“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”
Here’s our list of the seven things better than any electronic toy.
1. iThink.
Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Here are seven keys to thinking.
First, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8 MSG
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized.”
Second, think before you speak.
Napoleon Hill, the speechwriter for President Franklin Roosevelt and the author of Think And Grow Rich, once said:
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
What we speak determines our destiny.
When President John F. Kennedy said: “We will place a man on the moon in this decade” . . .he set the stage for the event to take place.
John 18:14 says:
“Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.”
Third, think before you act.
Proverbs 13:16 NLT
“Wise people think before they act; fools don’t—and even brag about their foolishness.”
William Arthur Ward once said:
“Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.”
Fourth, think about possibilities instead of impossibilities.
Mark 9:23 GWT
“Jesus said to him, “As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes.’”
Fifth, think about your future. . .your destiny.
Psalm 32:8 in AMPC
“I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”
John 10:10 NLT
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
Sixth, think before saying yes or no
Here are seven questions to think about before you answer yes or no.
First, Why are you saying yes or no?
Second, Explain why you are really saying yes or no.
Third, What are the benefits or drawbacks of your saying yes?
Fourth, What are the benefits or drawbacks of your saying no?
Fifth, Does saying yes or no affect the fulfillment of your goals?
Sixth, If you say yes or no. . .who will be impacted by your response and does it matter?
Seventh, Will your saying yes or no matter in a week, month or year?
Matthew 5:37 AMPC
“Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.”
Seventh, think about who you’re hanging with.
Psalm 1:1 AMPC
“Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.”
1 Kings 19:12 AMPC
“And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice.”
2. iThank.
Colossians 4:2 NIV
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Colossians 2:7 NIV
“. . . rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 3:15 MSG
“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
3. iLearn
Proverbs 1:5 AMPC
“The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly].”
“<<YourName>> also will hear and increase in learning, and <<YourName> as a person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that <<he/she>> may be able to steer <<his/her>> course rightly].”
Proverbs 8:35-36 AMPC
35 “For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord. 36 “But he who misses me or sins against me wrongs and injures himself; all who hate me love and court death.”
Matthew 7:16 NLT
“You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”
4. iGrow
John 15:5 NLT
“`Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.’”
John 15:2 AMPC
“Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.”
John 15:8 AMPC
“When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.”
Colossians 1:10 AMPC
“That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition].”
5. iLove
First, Jesus.
John 14:15 AMPC
“If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands.”
John 14:23 AMPC
“Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.”
Second, love yourself.
Romans 7:19-25 NLT
“I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[a] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord….”
Third, everybody else.
Matthew 19:19 AMPC
“Honor your father and your mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.”
Matthew 22:39 AMPC
“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.”
Mark 12:31 AMPC
“The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Luke 10:27 AMPC
“And he replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Galatians 5:14 AMPC
“For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.”
James 2:8 AMPC
“If indeed you [really] fulfill the royal Law in accordance with the Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself, you do well.”
6. iPraise
Psalm 34:1 TLB
“I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace.”
Psalm 34:2 NLT
“I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.”
Psalm 35:28 KJV
“And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.”
7. iPray
2 Timothy 1:3 AMPC
“I thank God Whom I worship with a pure conscience, in the spirit of my fathers, when without ceasing I remember you night and day in my prayers.”
James 5:16 KJV
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
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Harold Herring