Healthy Thinking

This is a 5 sermon series based on What Would Jesus Think?, a book by Mary Whelchel. The entire series is designed to help people fully integrate Philippians 4.8-9 into their everyday thought-life by "fixing our thoughts on what is true, honorable, and right, and pure and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are worthy of praise... Then the God of peace will be with you. "The series uses the metaphor of an ice-skating pond, noting that so long as we remain on the ice we can skate in freedom. But when we jump off the ice to explore the land beyond we find ourselves mired in snowbanks. The peace of Healthy Thinking comes from bounding our thought-life by Philippians 4.8-9. These sermons encourage this sort of thinking and explore the difficulties that come when we decide to leave the ice and explore the snowbanks.

This series fits nearly anywhere in the preaching calendar. If you are looking for a good place in the lectionary, Philippians 4.8 falls on Year C, Thanksgiving. In my case, I preached this series to end of that Sunday. Then on the following Sunday, the last one of the year, I preached a stand-alone sermon for Christ the King Sunday.

Blessings, Tim

Philippians 4.8

Thesis: We will experience God’s freedom as we bound our thought life according to Philippians 4.8.


Philippians 4.8

Thesis: God calls his people to use their minds to think about things that are TRUE and HONORABLE.


Philippians 4.8

Thesis: God calls his people to use their minds to think about things that are RIGHT and PURE.


Philippians 4.8

Thesis: God calls his people to use their minds to think about things that are LOVELY and ADMIRABLE.


Philippians 4.8

Thesis: Healthy Thinking is not simply the product of our will to fix our thoughts on Philippians 4.8, it is also crucially dependent on the work of the Spirit of Jesus in the life of his fully devoted followers.