Hello and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.

Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you. That's why today we continue with a series

called Rethinking Your Life. In these lessons, Rick shares nine biblical pillars we need to reshape our minds so that we can

become more like Jesus Christ. Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part two of a message called

How to Win over persistent temptations. The Bible says in Proverbs 4, verse 26 and 27, plan carefully what you do. Avoid evil. Okay? How do you avoid evil? By doing the first thing. Plan carefully what you do. Avoid evil. Walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off to the right, off the right way.

You know, I actually memorized this verse when I was a teenager living in Nagasaki,

Japan, helping plant a brand new church. And I was 18 years old, and the home that I was

staying at was the missionary's home up on the hill. And the only way to get to it is you had to walk I had every day walk through the red light district of Nagasaki Japan where prostitutes were out on the street and pornography and posters of nudity literally everywhere.

And I literally walked down through that area

and back through that area twice a day.

And I had to remember this verse,

avoid evil, walk straight ahead.

Don't get your eyes one way or the other,

just keep walking forward because I didn't want to be

distracted by all of that there.

Now, this thing of plan ahead is just common sense.

If you're serious like about dieting, you need to take healthy snacks with you during the day.

Because if you don't have healthy snacks with you during the day. Because if you don't have healthy snacks

with you during the day, you're gonna pick up the donut that's there.

And if you're gonna take your kids, you're on a diet

and you're gonna go to the county fair, you need to take snacks.

Because they got deep fried everything there.

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