You are called to stop striving to fix your own brokenness and instead surrender your control to God. When you quit trying to suppress your struggles, you allow the life of Christ to be expressed through you. Trust that His victory is already yours, so you can walk in freedom today.
Welcome to the Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Reboot is the name of the new series. New year, new you. Right? A great time for a "fresh start". So what does reboot mean?
If you look up here, reboot means to shut down and to restart. Well, when you think about that, to shut down and restart, you think about maybe you you guys are you guys Mac users or are guys Windows users? Windows, Mac, both, either or. If you've ever if you ever if you're a Windows user, maybe you click around and and all of a sudden it gets frozen and you get the blue screen of death. Anybody experience that?
Yeah? Blue screen of death and you have no other option, you have to reboot it. You have to shut it down because it's frozen, shut it down and restart it, and hopefully it gets started back up right. Right? Or if you're a Mac user, maybe you've experienced this, you have the the the spinning beach ball of death.
Yeah. It it said the Mac, you know, it it fools you says it's thinking, but then the beach ball just kinda stays there forever. And it's frozen, it's stuck, it can't continue on with what it's supposed to do or what what it's it's being told to do. It's stuck in the moment there and you have to shut it down and reboot it. Right?
You have to shut it down and restart it and start fresh. Or maybe on, you know, your iPhone or your Android, the exact same thing. Know, you you think it's working well, and then they update it, and the update's supposed to help it. And when they update it, all of a sudden it gets slower and it starts freezing more and more frequently you have to because it's frozen and it's stuck in the moment, more frequently you have to reboot it. You have to shut it off and restart it and start fresh.
I think a lot of times I do the same thing in my life. I don't know about you, but I get stuck. I get frozen in a certain area of my life or a certain thing probably because I take my eyes off destination and I put my eyes on what's going on around me a lot of times. So I get frozen, I get stuck, and I need a reboot. Anybody have you guys ever experienced that in your life?
Is it just me? No? Okay. So so Peter, I I I think about when we're talking about that, I think about Peter. Peter, when he stepped out of the boat, you know the story, he had his eyes on the Messiah.
He had his "eyes on Jesus". And as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on water to the destination. But as soon as he took his eyes off of Jesus, he took his eyes off of of of the answer of that's the destination of us all, and he put his eyes on what was around him. He got stuck, he got frozen, he began to sink in that moment. Right?
And then Jesus pulled him forward. You guys remember that? It's a little foreshadowing of what's to come in the message. It's gonna be, I'm excited about it. So let's pray.
Father, I thank you for these amazing people who are sitting here today. I thank you for the people that are listening on the podcast. *God*, I thank you for what you're going to do. Lord, I pray for a reboot in all of our lives. Any areas of our life where we're frozen, where we're stuck.
Lord, I pray for a complete reboot so we have a fresh start in you. Any distractions just go away in Jesus name. And I pray that we're able to receive what what you want to say today. Father, get me out of the way. This isn't about saying something, you know, cool or making it sound good and people walking away saying, hey, that was a good message.
That's that's that's junk. Lord, I want people to walk away eternally changed because it was you that was speaking to them and and and through me. Lord, I thank you for what you're gonna do. In Jesus name. Amen.
So talking about a reboot, when you need a reboot, when you're frozen in a certain area of your life, what do we normally do when that happens? Exactly what we do this time of year, we make a resolution. Right? How many of you guys have made resolutions for 2019? Anybody?
A couple people? A lot of people not raising their hands, but they really did. A lot of resolutions, some resolutions, New Year's resolutions. We double down. We make a choice.
A resolution is like a, I guess the the definition is a is a solid, the the word is escaping me, but a a a choice, a serious, that's it, serious choice to do something with this new resolution in our life. So we're frozen in an area and we make a resolution, but the problem is a lot of times those resolutions don't work. Right? Now there are a list, don't put the list up yet, but there is a list of the top 10 resolutions for 2019. Just for a little fun, just because testing 1 2.
Hey, it works. Just because how many of you guys think or if you could, anybody in here, I have a couple of gift cards just because I think it'll be fun. But could anybody out of the top 10 list of resolutions for 2019, can you name 2? Who can name 2? If you can, raise your hand.
Yeah? Okay. That's the first hand that went up. Alright. Go ahead.
Exercise more. Alright. To exercise more. Is that on the survey says? Yep.
That's 1. What's the next 1? And, maybe stop smoking for some people. To stop smoking. Is that on the well, yep.
Good to go. Alright. Because you were first and you were bold, you're gonna get a $30 Starbucks gift card just because God loves you. God bless you, man. Alright.
So and I give Starbucks because that's where I've you'll find me on a Friday or a Saturday finishing up my message at Starbucks. So it was really convenient. Somebody else. Who can name another 2 of the top 10? Alright.
There was a hand go up way in the back, and I know her Dash, could you come here? She was first. Okay. It's her birthday. Oh, yeah.
It's it's Dash's birthday, by the way. Happy birthday. So can you name can you name 2 of the top 10? Not the 2 he named. Clearly.
Organize space. Is that on there? Oh, no. Alright. We'll give you another try another try.
Exercise more. Eat healthier? Eat healthier. Survey says, yes. You know what?
I'm gonna give you this for trying. There you go. She got a $10 gift card. Good job, guys. That's amazing.
So what do we do when we get frozen in a certain area of our life? I don't have to use this. I have to we we double down. We make a resolution to to do better. The problem is 92 of people fail at these New Year's resolution.
92 percent. That's crazy. 80 percent of people fail by the February. So the chances are you've probably already and this is gonna be encouraging. I know this is seems like Debbie Downer right now, but chances are you've already failed at your New Year's resolution.
Now what do we do every single year and all throughout the year? Because I find myself doing the exact same thing. Man, I wanna mine is a lot of times to run. I wanna run every single day, and I'll make a resolution multiple times throughout the year to run every single day. And before you know it, I'm not running, you know, 3 days in, 4 days in, 5 days in.
Trust me, I'm going somewhere guys. 6 days in, and I'm I'm just I seem to be stuck. 2 weeks, 3 weeks go by, I'll make another resolution. 2 weeks into my running resolution, I'm stuck. And we continue to do the same thing over and over.
Sounds like the definition of insanity. Right? What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. Right?
Now here's a thought with that in mind. What about spiritually? Ever made a spiritual resolution? Right? And and what I mean by, you know, maybe you're a Christian or or maybe maybe you're not you just wanna you you wanna follow *God* or just spiritual resolution in some way.
Right? And and you're like, man, I just wanna be better. I wanna do better. So you make a resolution. You notice maybe you tell white lies all the time.
So you make a resolution. I'm gonna stop telling white lies. Or you make a a resolution to be more generous. I'm gonna, no matter what, I'm gonna be more generous. When I see that person begging, I'm gonna give them $5 or whatever.
Or or you make a resolution that I'm gonna, maybe it's a good 1, not not to stop something, but I'm gonna read my bible every single day. I'm gonna go to church, you know, every time that the doors are open. I'm gonna I'm gonna start I'm gonna be in a small group, and I'm gonna be consistent in that small group. By the way, we're starting small groups January 27. It's gonna be amazing.
You wanna be a part of small groups. Yes. It's gonna be wonderful. So you make this resolution, this spiritual ish resolution or maybe it's to you know, maybe you lose your temper really bad when somebody says something or lose your temper at your kids or you get extremely frustrated or maybe you don't wanna be late. Whatever it is.
Right? You make this resolution, this spiritual resolution, and you notice that you always end up failing at this thing. And you wanna be better, you try to be better, and no matter how hard you try, you end up not being able to do it if we were honest with ourselves. Today, I have "good news", and I have bad news. Which 1 do you wanna hear first?
I'm sorry. In my notes, the good news are first. So I'm I'm a tell you the good news first. Alright? So the good news is today I will show you how to reboot your life in a way that will guarantee that you are living an overcoming life, a life of victory that will 100% now this is a crazy this is a crazy statement.
But 100% will guarantee that you have the capacity you can and you do will overcome for the rest of your life. I know you don't believe me, but just trust me. It's gonna be amazing. So I guarantee that's the good news. Now for the bad news.
The bad news is *spiritual* resolutions, resolutions to do better for God or to not do bad because of God will never work. Let that sink in. You can try as hard as you can, but biblically, you are **guaranteed to fail**. Dramatic pause. *Romans-5:20*.
Romans-3:20. Let's start with with chapter 5. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. What was the purpose of the law? The purpose of the law was that your sin increases.
Wait. What? What is what is the law? Good way to think about it. Law is doing something for God.
Alright? *Law is doing something for God*. So in the Old Testament you have 613 laws. It's not just the 10 do nots, thou shalt nots, but you have a lot of thou shalt nots and thou shouts. Okay?
So you have don't do this and you have you better do this. Right? So it's doing not doing bad and it's also doing good for God. Right? The law is that.
So another way to phrase this is doing doing good or not doing bad for God was brought in so that the your sin, your inability to do that would show itself more. Let me let me repeat that. Let it sink in. You're trying to not do good or to not do bad for God, and you're trying to do good for God. This list was brought in to show you that the more that you try, the more that you're gonna fail.
You see that? *Romans-3:20. Through the law*, through trying to do good for God and trying to not do goods to be closer to God, we became conscious of sin, of our inability to follow him. So counterintuitive. Right?
Wait a second. We need a complete reboot. The only way, the only way, the Jesus way is to be completely shut down and restarted with operating system, a "new way of doing things" instead of by our own efforts, whether before Christ or after Christ. *Romans-12:2*. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be *transformed* by the renewing of your mind.
In that, I see 2 patterns. I see number 1, a pattern of this world, and number 2, a pattern that is not of this world. So we're either conforming to the pattern of the world's way of doing things, or we're conforming to the pattern of heaven's way of doing things. There's 2 ways there. 1 is doing things for *God* by the law.
Right? Doing things for God or not doing things for him. The other is grace. God doing things for us and us receiving it. 1 or the other.
Let me show you. Let me show you the world's way of doing things. Romans-7. Let's look at it. Stick with me here.
Promise this is gonna be encouraging. *Romans-7*. Maybe you've heard this before. Verse 15. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do, I do not do.
But what I hate, I do. That little tongue twister that Paul's talking about in there. What he's saying is, I wanna do things for God, but I find that the more that I try to do more and more good things, I put my mind to it, I try with all my might, and I end up failing at it over and over and over and over and over and over again. Or what I don't wanna do because I know I'm not supposed to do it because God said I'm not supposed to do it. I end up I try as hard as I can and I hate doing those things, but I always end up going back to it.
Losing my temper with my wife. Some people it's it's drugs. Some people it's addiction to alcohol. Some people it's people it's addiction to sex. Some people what but it whatever it is.
What the world would say is small or what the world would say is large. It's all sin and it's all based on your self effort and your inability in and of yourself to be perfect and holy before him. You guys follow me so far? Okay. Good.
So there's 2 ways of doing things. Listen in Romans-7:15. I do not understand what I do for I want to do what I do not, do not do, but what I hate, I do. And if I do it, what I do not want to do, I agree that the *laws* where's the focus? I do not conform to the pattern of this world.
What's the pattern of this world? I all focused on me. Right? So what's the pattern of heaven? What's the pattern that's not of this world?
Let's go to Revelations chapter 5. I'm gonna read it. It's awesome. Check this out. Revelations chapter 5 verse 11.
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10,000 times 10 thousands. That's like millions and millions. I know. Was I was a math guy. No.
They encircled That was supposed to be funny. They encircled the throne, so this is heaven, and the living creatures and the elders. And in a loud voice they were saying, so all of these heavenly beings are encircling the throne like the centerpiece of heaven. So you have the world's way of doing things which is about I and we're about to see heaven's way of doing things. They're saying "worthy is the lamb" who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.
Who is the lamb that was slain? That's Jesus Christ. The world's way do not conform to the pattern of this world. The world's way is all about I, and heaven's way is all about Jesus. The more that we focus on I, the more times we're going to fail.
But the more that we focus on Jesus, we're guaranteed victory, and I'll show you why. You guys are quiet. I'll just take it as you're listening. In Romans-7, he talks about I I I, and then he gets down to verse 24. He says, what a wretched man I am.
Who will rescue? So the purpose of the law or the purpose of of this list of things that we have to, you know, that that was instituted to to to do things for God and to not do things for God was to show us, as we said earlier, to show us that we can't do it in and of ourself. In verse 20, it says I mean, in verse 25, *Romans-7:25* 24, it says, what a wretched man that I am. You have to recognize that we can't in and of ourself. Who will rescue me from this body subject to death?
The focus, thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we take the focus off of I in Romans-7 there, and we put the focus on the who that will rescue me, we we have thanksgiving because it's Jesus. He can save us and therefore there's now no condemnation. Romans-8:1. It's amazing and it's wonderful.
Let's continue to unpack that. So you have the pattern of this world and you'd have the pattern of heaven. As Christians or people trying to live better lives we make a bunch of resolutions. I will stop with my temper or I will love my wife better or I will do this or I will do that and we always end up failing, and it's because we're focused on our effort in order to please God. We have to have a shift, and let me give you a personal or a couple personal examples of that shift.
For me, in my early twenties, I had a ridiculous problem with my temper. I'm talking it was terrible. It was bad. It was it was when a specific thing would happen. So if somebody would call me a liar, somebody would accuse me of lying, all of a sudden something in me would go off, you know, and especially if they did it twice.
The first time I could suppress it, I could hold it down. But the second time that they said that, all of sudden I'm like, you know, no I'm not blah blah blah. And I just, it's almost like something exploded in me. Right? And I just I just my temper would go off especially when my wife would say it.
Oh my gosh. Right? And this this is like the first 5 years of our marriage, which I've been married about 12 years. I was I got married young, 20 to to 25, and man, this this temper problem. Now I hated it.
I didn't like this temper problem, and I would try as hard as I can to suppress this thing and and and not be, you know, be the good husband and and the good man that I was supposed to be but no matter what, no matter how hard I tried to suppress this temper issue as long as somebody told me and called me a liar in that moment this thing would rise up and I would just all of a sudden get angry. Right? And that would I I it was it was bad. Now what did I do? Eventually, what I did was I went to God.
Watch this. I went to God and I said, God, I have a temper issue. I can't control it. I can't do this. "I give up".
I stop trying. Would you take this from me? You see the difference? Where'd the focus shift from? From I to *Jesus*.
I surrendered. Surrender simply means to let go of control. That's it. So before I was trying to suppress and I was trying to control it, but in that moment, I hit my knees proverbially, and I said, God, I can't anymore. I recognize the wretched man that I am.
I recognize that as many times as I try to be good, I hit a wall just like Paul did, and it showed me my need for a savior. So I can't I give up even trying to control my temper. I give this to you. You're gonna have to do it Jesus. A moment of surrender.
A moment of letting go of control. Now what did Paul say? Paul said, in my weakness, I boast in my weakness because in my weakness he is made strong. Until I recognize that I have a weakness that I can't do it in and of myself, he's not made strong because he's a gentleman. But as soon as I recognize that my effort doesn't get me anywhere and I let go completely and totally in that area of my life, all of his strength, all of his power, all of his victory takes control, changes me from the inside out, and all of a sudden miraculously, I'm healed of the temper issue.
What happened? How did that work itself out practically in my life? I went to God, and I said, God, would you take control of this? I can't do this anymore. A couple of days later, God revealed to me that and it doesn't happen like this all the time.
I'll I'll give you a second example. But God revealed to me, he he brought a memory back to my mind. Where I was like I was just a kid. I was like 8, 9 years old, and somebody accused me of lying and was screaming at me. You liar.
You liar. You liar. You liar. And I was like, no. Because I didn't do anything.
But that thing that happened, I allowed it to affect me on the inside. And because of that, from then on out, when somebody called me a liar, I reproduced what I saw. They were screaming at me. I'll start screaming at them subconsciously. That's what happened.
So God took control in that moment when I released it to him. He showed me what the issue was and I said, God, I forgive that person. I let that go. I don't want that to affect me anymore, and I'm healed instantly. So now you can call me you can all scream at me loud, loud, if you want.
It's not gonna affect me in any way because I'm completely made whole because his power took control. Does that make sense? So that's scenario 1. K? It doesn't have to be something that happened 20 years ago or whatever.
You know? Sometimes, but it doesn't have to be like that. Scenario 2, very practical, very very simple. Towards the end of 2018, which is just a couple weeks ago. Right?
Or a week ago. I began to notice in my life that I was being selfish in my marriage. K. Now what is the opposite of love? You would say hate.
Right? But if love is not a feeling and "love is an action", so love is identifying the desire, the want, and the need of someone else and then not caring about your own desire, wants, and needs, and fulfilling their desires, wants, and needs. Right? That's love. You're you're you're doing your this the act of love.
And as you love someone, the feeling follows. Now I was being selfish. So if that is love, if that's loving someone, then selfishness is the opposite of it. So I was I was more and more last month, month and a half of 2018 being selfish in my marriage. I noticed I would want to do things for my wife, but I just I would get so busy or so focused on other things that I would end up, you know, doing other things and not doing what I knew I should be doing for my wife.
Just being transparent and honest, guys. So I doubled down. I made some resolutions. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna try as hard as I can to love my wife, and and and I'm gonna I know she likes me wash the dishes.
I'm gonna try to wash the dishes, towards the end of the day, I'd just be too tired, and I just wouldn't do it. You know, I'm I'm gonna take her on a date, and then I just schedule too much stuff and not take her on a date. I would not do the things that she loves for me to do. I was being super selfish, and I noticed it. The the harder that I tried, the more that I realized that I failed.
*Romans-5:20*. Now this is spiritual. Love is spiritual. *God* is love. There's no fear in love.
If he is love, our inability to love is a spiritual issue. Right? So what'd I do? It's about the time God was reminding me of this, showing me this. I said, God, I've been trying to love my wife, and I stink at it.
I can't I can't love my wife the way that you want her to be loved. I give up. I want the focus I'm taking the focus off of me here. Listen. I quit trying.
Father, would would you would you love my wife through me? You do it, father. And in that moment, something happened. Now, a couple days later, I have the idea, and I and my heart is shifted and changed. I have the idea.
I make I follow through. Next thing you know, my wife feels really loved. A couple days later, I call my wife out of the blue. Why? Because I had this this random thought.
It's God showing me what to do to love my wife in the way that she needs to be loved. Why? Because I let go of control and allowed him to do it. So I call her and, hey, baby. Man, what would make you feel the most loved right now?
Told me a couple of things. Later that evening, I took her to to do those couple of things. I wouldn't have done that before that prayer. I was too tired. I was I was all focused on me.
But when I took the focus off of me and I put it on a g on Jesus, everything changed. Let me show you in the Bible. Galatians-2:20. I no longer live, but who? **Christ lives in me**.
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. We have to recognize see, before that that phrase there, I no longer live, there's a very important sentence. Go to pull up the the bigger version. All of Galatians-2:20. I have been crucified with Christ.
You see that? And I no longer live. So I have been crucified with Christ. The God's evaluation of us. Because because *Jesus* died for us, you're "worth the very life of God".
Right? You're you're you're worth his life. He paid the price of his life. With regards to you trying to be good enough for him, useless. We can't be good enough for him.
We deserve to be crucified. So when we surrender our life to him, we're saying that we recognize that we can't follow you in and of our self. So I'm gonna quit trying. I'm gonna surrender to you. It's no longer I who live.
That's what happens when you give your life to Jesus. *Crucified* with Christ. Second part of it, but Christ lives in me. Either he doesn't or he he does. 1 or the other.
Now what is was Christ's life victorious? Did he overcome? Yes or no? Absolutely. Did he overcome everything?
He even overcame death. Did he struggle? No. He overcame everything. Did was he tempted?
Yes. He was tempted in every way. He he experienced suffering, but he overcame all of that for you and for us. That is his life, an *overcoming* 100% *victorious* life. Who lives?
Christ. Who's in you? So what happens when you surrender your life to him? You get all of his life. Is it a gradual thing?
Is it a little bit here and a little no. We we don't conform any longer to the pattern of the world's way of thinking that we have to attain something. No. We don't have to to attain the life of Christ. We have all of him in us.
We've obtained it. We've received it because we gave him ours instantaneously. We have all of that. We have to renew our mind to the reality of what we have in him. That's amazing.
It's not religion. Religion is trying to make it. It's relationship with what he's already given you, who he is in you. Oh, but I don't feel like I have victory. Check this out.
"Christ lives in you". Right? You you gave your life to Christ? Christ lives in you? I don't feel like it.
The life I now live, I live in the the life I now live in the body, I live by by what? In *faith* not by sight. Right? Faith not by feeling. So either his word is true and your feelings are alive, or your feelings are true and his word's alive.
Which 1? His word's true. All of Christ is in you. You have his victory right now. You put your faith in what he says and your feelings will follow that eventually.
What you need to do is quit trying and surrender. Let go of control and let God work through you. Because until you do, you're working through you and you will always fail. But Christ will always win every time. Every single time.
When we fail, it's because we took control. We need to reboot. We need to shut down and restart, reboot our mind, get around some Christian brothers and sisters who will remind us of who Christ is in us and who we are in him so that we can reboot our life to live as Christ does. What kind of life is it? It's a changed life.
It's not an exchanged life. I mean, it's not a changed life. It's an exchanged life. What does that mean? Christians for so long, I'm changing.
No. No. Either you have Christ or you don't. Either you gave your life to him or you didn't. You're a "new creation" from day 1.
You're not just changing. No. No. You you've exchanged it. You've you've given your life to him with the beautiful exchange of him giving you you his life now.
Christ didn't die to get you to heaven. He died and rose again to "get heaven into you" now. Next. It's a it's not a suppressed life. It's an expressed life.
What do I mean? Remember when I was talking about I tried to suppress that temper down, and I tried to push it down. You know, every a lot of other religions, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, you know, even Scientology, It's it's you know, you're you're doing away with the desires. You're doing away with all this stuff, and you're you're pushing it down and and getting rid of all of that. Right?
Wrong. It's just burying deep inside of you to 1 day explode all over everyone. The more you suppress you're not you're not when when you suppress something you're not changing it. It's it would be like this table. If this table was dirty and and you were coming, I didn't want you to see a dirty table so I'm just gonna throw a tablecloth over it.
Now the table looks clean because it has a table cloth. But is it still dirty? I didn't change anything. I just kind of suppressed kinda works there. But I pushed it down.
Suppressed life doesn't work. So what do we do? We say, God, I can't. I I can't do it. I'm gonna give up trying.
I give up. I surrender. I let go of control. Can't love my my wife like you tell me to. I can't if maybe it's drugs.
I can't stop drugs because it's wrecking my family. I maybe maybe it's lying. Maybe it's gossip. Maybe it's overeating. Maybe I don't know what's what it is that you're addicted to or that you're trying to do good.
I can't read my Bible every day. I don't have a passion for you like I want to. So I give up. Would you give me Lord, no. You've given me your life.
I see that you've I receive that. Help me to walk like that. I put my I take my focus off of me and I put it onto you. Now what happens there is you realize you have the life of Christ inside of you so instead of trying to suppress who you used to be, you realize he's already taken all of and you begin to live an expressed life. You're expressing Jesus everywhere you go.
It's free. It's freedom. It's the gospel. It's good news. It's amazing.
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