WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church Podcast. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:13.039 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.399 To find out more, go to awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.879 Well, happy new year. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:27.039 It is absolutely hard to believe that we're already in 2021. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:28.559 And isn't it true? 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:32.640 It's hard to even know how to feel about 2021. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:40.719 Whether we can plan or not plan, dream or not dream as we step into this new year. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:53.119 But there's one thing I know for sure is after the year we just went through, we all need to hit the reset button in our lives in some way. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:01.039 Maybe for you, 2020 was a year of drifting spiritually, and you need to hit the reset button spiritually. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.079 And you feel disconnected, you feel far from God. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:10.879 Maybe because we weren't able to be in person together, you drifted uh through the church online. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:14.560 And as you begin this year, you're like, okay, God, I want to reconnect. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:16.640 I need you this year. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:21.680 Or maybe you feel like you need to hit the reset button relationally. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:29.519 I mean, last year for many relationships was just so hard and difficult, wasn't it? 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:42.000 And maybe it's your marriage, or maybe with your kids, and you just need to hit that button, or maybe it's a friendship that it just fell apart, and you're going, I need to hit that reset button relationally. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.200 I'd really love for that, or maybe directionally. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:56.959 When COVID hit, it gave us all a lot of time to reflect and think about where we're at and what we're doing, and asking questions like, where am I headed in life? 00:01:57.120 --> 00:01:58.719 And where do I want to be? 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:06.400 And you're wrestling directionally with your future in the season, or or personally, you're wrestling personally. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:25.599 And it was a season where anxiety or depression or feeling overwhelmed or uh just all the swirling around you, and and maybe even you had some decisions personally that you just feel like, oh God, I I have some unhealthy coping that just to get through this. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.520 But the problem is it's following me into this new year. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:33.360 And today we're beginning a new series called Reset. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:40.080 And I want to ask this question: How do you hit the reset button in your life? 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:44.479 Like, how do you actually have a fresh start to a new year? 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:49.439 We need way more than just a nice cliche of a new you and a new year, right? 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.159 We need an absolute fresh start. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:56.319 How do you hit the reset button in your life? 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:07.520 For the next three weeks, we're gonna spend time talking very specific and practically about how to hit the reset button in your life. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:14.800 Uh, I want you and I want us as a church to be able to do this, to have this fresh start to a new year. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:20.960 And here's the good news is you don't have to wish or hope for this to happen. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:29.360 In fact, God's word tells us exactly how to do this, how we can experience this in our lives. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:36.639 And this series has the potential to be life-changing and powerful for you if. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:38.400 It's a big if. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:48.479 If you apply God's word to your life, you if you apply this series and what he wants to say to you to your life. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:52.319 We're gonna spend the next few weeks in Colossians chapter three. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.479 It's an incredible passage. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:04:00.479 Uh, and we're in fact gonna be reading it and praying through it in our 21 days of prayer. 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:12.400 It begins this way: It says, since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated, at the right hand of God. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:19.600 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:27.199 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.160 How do you hit the reset button in your life? 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.759 I got some incredibly good news as we begin. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.839 First, is that reset is actually possible. 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.079 It's not impossible, it's not improbable, it's not a hopeful, it's possible. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:42.480 Why? 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:46.079 Because in Christ, you have a brand new starting point. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.160 Did you notice how it began? 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.759 It said, since then, you have been raised with Christ. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:53.120 Like that's your position. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:54.240 You have been raised. 00:04:54.399 --> 00:05:00.959 Just as Christ was resurrected from the grave, he's saying, spiritually, you have been raised. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:09.519 And so your starting point is not dead, it's not broken, it's not tired or worn out or just hoping and wishing. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:15.839 Your starting point is raised, resurrected with Christ. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.240 You know, uh, my boys and I love to play football. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:34.720 In fact, if you come by our house many afternoons in the front yard, literally in the street, we're playing street football and uh, you know, we're throwing back and forth, and brothers, you can only imagine how intense it gets as they're competing. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:52.079 Now, if you're not familiar with the game of football, uh it's one in which uh you're trying to take this ball and you're trying to take it from your side of the field over here and travel the hundred yards to the opponent's end zone right here. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:53.920 This thing's called the end zone. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:55.360 This is the goal line. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:06:00.720 And you're you score or win the game as you cross this line. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:17.920 Now, you know, you can only imagine when I'm doing it with my boys, one brother's rushing down the field or the street to stop the other in his tracks, to keep them from crossing into the end zone, keep them from crossing so uh and scoring a goal. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:20.160 Now, the game starts this way. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:24.240 And some of you are like, I get it, Ryan, but some people don't know about this, okay? 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:29.680 Uh, and so maybe for the first time you'll understand a little bit about the Super Bowl, too, this year. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:34.079 But you go, the game begins where the opposing team kicks off. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:45.759 They have this set on the ground, the kicker kicks it in the air, and it flies to the other side, the team catches the ball, and they start to run out from their side of the field to cross this way. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:57.439 The opposing team comes rushing down the field, and wherever the person, wow, that was loud, wherever the person got tackled is their starting point. 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:05.279 Now, I think for many, 2020, you felt like you got tackled and you got hit. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.240 Many of us felt like we got blindsided in it. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:22.319 And the truth is you have a spiritual opponent known as a spiritual enemy that is seeking to take you out and tackle you on the field of life. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:39.199 And if we're honest, when we're thinking about our starting points this year, our starting point to 2021, you might feel like you're on the 10-yard line right here, meaning you have 90 yards to go. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.160 You're on the 10-yard line of just not good enough. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.319 Man, I know how that feels. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.879 I felt that most of my life. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:54.079 That I've just never measured up, I'm not good enough, I'm not able to make it. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:59.759 And as you start this new year, you're just like, oh man, I'm just not good enough. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:07.279 I'm just not, I'm not worthy, I'm not smart enough, I'm not, I'm not pretty enough, I I don't have all the right things. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:12.319 And maybe this is where you feel like you're starting in 2021. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.720 And for others, maybe the last year especially felt like you lost ground. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:31.199 You went backwards, and you're maybe on the one-yard line, and you're backed up, and you're feeling like you have 99 yards to go, and it's the feeling of never going to change. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:34.320 This is just the way it is. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.799 I'll never make it down here. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.559 I'm just a failure. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.840 I'm worthless, I'm no good. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:53.679 This is just the way it is, and that is what feels like is your starting point this year. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.039 And others, you're going, Ryan, that's not where I'm at at all. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:11.360 Maybe you feel like you're right here, you're right in the middle, you're on the 50-yard line where you're you're kind of halfway midway, but maybe you've been stuck there for almost your entire life because it is the 50-yard line of just do better. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.440 I if I just do better, then I'll be able to move forward. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:20.799 It's it's your performance, it's it's you know, I have to perform at a certain level. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:22.159 I I have to be perfect. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:29.440 Maybe it was drilled into you as a child that that you have to be perfect, or you you're you're only as good as your next performance. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:39.759 And this is often where we feel like we're starting in life and trying to navigate the obstacles and the opponents to move forward. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:50.720 And the good news and the gospel is this is that your new starting point is raised with Christ. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:10:04.960 Your new starting point is that you're not on the 50-yard line or the one-yard line because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, you're in the end zone positionally. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.919 You're not working to get there, you're not earning, you're not any of those sort of things. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:15.120 All of those are lies from the enemy, from your spiritual opponent. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:23.759 You're standing in the end zone of victory, not because of what you accomplished, but because what Christ has accomplished. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:31.759 Let me tell you just a little bit about what it means to be raised with Christ, so you can begin to understand that because you're like, raised, I don't even get that. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:36.080 If you flip back in Colossians, go to Colossians 1:13. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:46.720 Notice it says, For he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:48.799 What does it mean to be raised in Christ? 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:51.360 First, that you're rescued from darkness. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.919 You're rescued from the dominion of darkness. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:54.720 Now notice this. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:00.080 It was also, you've been redeemed, you've been bought back, you are so valuable. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.840 God says, I want you. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.159 You're fully forgiven, meaning there is nothing on your account in the negative balance. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.240 It is wiped clean. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.320 That's what it means to be raised with Christ. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.240 Go down then to verse 21. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:19.759 It says, Once you were alienated or separated from God, that was your starting point. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:21.440 You were separated from God. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:25.360 Uh were enemies in your minds because of the your evil behavior. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:29.360 That once before we were in Christ was our starting point. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:42.480 But now He has reconciled, brought you in and restored relationship with by Christ's physical body through death to present you. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.559 Now notice this: your starting point, holy. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:46.240 Holy. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.240 That you are covered in him. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:09.519 Your starting point is holy, set apart, pure in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:12.080 What does it mean to be raised with Christ? 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:16.159 That you're rescued, that you're reconciled. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:19.120 Go on then to chapter two, verse eight. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:30.080 It says, For in Christ all the fullness and deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:34.960 He is the head over every power and authority. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.480 Maybe for some, you're on the field and you're like, my starting point's empty. 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.360 2021, I'm empty, I'm empty, I got nothing. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.960 And in Christ, he says, You've been brought to fullness in him. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:47.360 That's what it means to be raised with him. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:57.840 Verse 13 says, When you were dead in your sins, that's your old starting point, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:16.480 He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us, he's taken it away, nailing it to the cross, having disarmed the powers and authorities, our spiritual opponent that is the accuser and wants to take you out. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:25.279 He disarmed them on the cross, he made a public spectacle of them, triumph over them by the cross. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.279 Your starting point is made alive. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:39.440 Friends, reset is possible because you have a brand new starting point in Christ. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:52.960 In fact, in Ephesians, if you flip over just a couple pages, the apostle Paul will say it this way to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 4, verse uh Ephesians 2, verse 6. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:59.679 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him, like right now. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:14.399 He says, Spiritually, you are seated next to Christ in the heavenly realms, in order that in the coming ages he might show his incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.519 For it is by grace you have been saved. 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:22.960 It is a work, the unearned, undeserved favor of God in our lives. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:26.000 We can't do anything to earn it through faith. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:32.320 When we just trust the finished work of Jesus on the cross, this is our new starting point. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:36.559 And it says, not by works, so that no one can boast. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:50.399 See, no matter where you're at, where you've been, what 2020 threw at you, or even perhaps what you did in 2020. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:15:10.159 The invitation is to reset, to respond to the truth and the reality of God's word, to the finished work of Jesus, that you indeed aren't on the 10 line or the 50 line, you're in the end zone of victory with Christ. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.840 You have, I have been raised with him. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.639 See, reset's possible because in Christ you have a new starting point. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:24.080 And you're going, like, okay, that's wonderful, but the reality is, is I'm not experiencing that. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:30.879 Why, why, if that's true, why am I not experiencing this new starting point, this new reality? 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:39.840 Is because many people live in the lies that the enemy, the spiritual opponent keeps on telling them. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:44.720 And so you're on the field of um failure, trying to work your way. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:47.440 You're constantly thinking, I'm just trying to do better. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:50.639 I'm trying to, you know, you know, move ahead. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:53.440 I'm never gonna make it, never good enough. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.639 So, how do we experience this new starting point? 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.080 Reset requires a rhythm. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:05.600 A rhythm, a rhythm of consistently setting your mind on things above. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:06.799 Did you notice what it said? 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:17.360 What Paul said after he said, Therefore, since you've been seated with Christ or raised with Christ, it goes on to say this: set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:20.000 Ephesians told us that's where we're seated. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:30.399 So when we set our mind on things above where Christ is seated, it's actually setting our minds on what's actually already true of us as well at the right hand of God. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:35.679 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:38.320 Reset requires something. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.600 It's not just being raised with Christ. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:55.039 Reset requires a rhythm of constantly setting our minds on things above, setting our minds on Jesus, setting our minds on what's true in God's word and what he says about us. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:07.279 We've spent, isn't it true, our entire lives being bombarded by all this information, all these things that told us who we are, how we are, what we should be, what we can't be. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.839 And we have to reset our minds. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:13.680 That word set means a continuous, ongoing effort. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.599 It literally means to direct one's attention and thought to something. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:22.559 Did you know you can direct your attention and your thoughts? 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:28.400 Many of us just allow our thoughts to come and go and to take uh on their own lives. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:31.359 And it says, no, no, no, you direct your thoughts. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.359 This soul setting is this keep on keeping on. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:44.240 See what the apostle Paul is telling us when resetting says, Would you address the source, not just merely the symptoms? 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:50.880 When we look for change, when we want to see transformation in our life, we often look at our activity, don't we? 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:57.359 You know, start a new year, you want to get in shape, and so you're gonna go, like, okay, I'm gonna work out, gonna do those, those are fine. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:00.319 And we'll actually talk more about that next week. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:10.400 But if you want to experience true change, it's not fundamentally in what you're doing, it's in how you're thinking. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:14.640 See, if you change your thinking, you will change your life. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:20.880 The in the Proverbs it says, as a person thinks, so they become. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:27.039 Like your thought life ultimately becomes the product of your life. 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:40.960 Uh the apostle Paul in Romans 12, too, would say it this way: don't conform to the pattern of this world, don't be molded into the pressures and the realities of the world, but be transformed, literally, allow yourself to be changed and transformed. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:41.519 How? 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.400 By the renewing of your mind. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:50.240 Reset requires consistently setting our minds on things above. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:58.000 If you want to experience life change, it's primarily about thinking differently, not doing something differently. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:18:59.279 It's training your brain. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.680 And so, how do you set your mind on things above? 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:12.720 How do we begin to move and have this retraining, this thinking, this realization we're standing in the end zone of victory with Christ? 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:20.079 And yet we've trained our brain to say, you got to do better, you got to do better, you're not good enough, you're not smart enough, and we're bombarded. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.400 Well, let me give you a few ways to do that. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:26.400 First, we have to be aware of our thoughts. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:29.200 We have to be aware of our thoughts. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:33.440 Most of us don't even know the thoughts that are coming in into our brain. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.519 We just allow them to enter. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.200 We just take it in. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:39.599 Someone says something and it just catches us. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:46.160 Maybe it's a parent, maybe it's a coach, maybe it was a friend, maybe it's on social media and we take in things. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:53.680 Have you paid attention to what you're thinking and then where your thoughts are leading? 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:59.440 Like, ask this question where did that thought come from? 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.880 Like maybe kind of interrogate your thoughts just a little bit. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:05.359 Like, where, okay, you're worthless. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:07.279 Where did that thought come from? 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:19.759 I'll tell you one that I've wrestled with for many years is growing up, um, I wasn't the best student, and um, I heard you're lazy a lot. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:23.519 And it began to become part of who I thought I was. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:24.480 I'm lazy. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:29.359 And I began to overcompensate, and so I was back to that never good enough. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:38.960 And I always felt like I had to work harder and harder to offset that lie that I believed is that you are fundamentally, it's an identity thing, you're lazy. 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:40.319 Where did that thought come from? 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:57.519 It didn't come from God or what's true, and the enemy used that to bring just such heartache and pain and keep me captive and always striving and never feeling good enough, and always wanting to like prove to people that I'm working hard. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:01.200 And then it just sounds like you're boasting at that point. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:02.640 Be aware of your thoughts. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:03.680 Where did that thought come from? 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.920 And then ask this question does it align with God's word? 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:12.000 Like, is it true of what God says of you? 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:15.519 Like, what does God's word say of you? 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:31.680 And friends, if you can't answer that, some of the best energy this year will be spend in God's word understanding what he says of you, because what he says of you is actually true, not what the world, not what you're thinking, and especially not what the enemy's saying. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:39.839 See, what's true of you is you're forgiven fully, you're loved completely, like beloved, object of his affection. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:43.039 You're redeemed, bought back, you're not worthless, you're worthy. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:46.799 He says, You're adopted son, daughter of the most high. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.720 Like this is what God's word says to be true of you. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:52.160 You are so valuable. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:54.799 Don't you ever devalue who you are. 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:01.839 You're gifted by God to make a mark and an impact in this world, to bring Bring life to others around you. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:05.200 You have so much that God has placed in you. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:11.200 Would you make sure that what you're thinking aligns with God's word? 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.359 How do you set your mind on things above? 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:16.640 First, you have to be aware of what your thoughts are. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.640 Pay attention to what you're thinking. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:23.440 Secondly, treat negative thoughts as an enemy. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:27.279 Treat negative thoughts as an enemy. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.200 Well, what is negative thoughts? 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:31.279 Let me just make it real simple. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:34.240 Anything that doesn't align with God's word. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:42.240 You're like, because I think there's a lot of thoughts we think that aren't quite all that negative, but it doesn't align with God's word. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.599 I'll give you one that we allow into our life and it creates all sorts of heartache and pain. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:57.519 And I've watched it this year, especially in relationships, a lot of people allow this thought to sow into their mind, and then it reaps all sorts of destruction. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:04.240 I've seen the enemy on the spiritual field take out relationship after relationship this year. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.400 And here's that little seed. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.960 Doesn't make me happy. 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:11.359 Doesn't make me happy. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.079 See, you got to go, where did that thought come from? 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:16.319 Does it align with God's word? 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:26.720 Well, God longs for you to flourish and enjoy, but He doesn't design you to make every decision about making you happy. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:34.319 See, do whatever makes you happy actually causes incredible destruction and pain. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:45.359 And I've watched people do what makes them happy and divorce and heartache and kids that are just going through so much pain. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:50.480 And you treat that thought like an enemy because it is. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:49.519 I'm a treasure to be protected. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:56.240 And you speak God's word and you declare your victory in Jesus. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:09.839 See, if we do not take captive our thoughts, our thoughts or that thought will ultimately take us captive. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:17.839 If we don't direct our thoughts, then ultimately our thoughts are going to direct us. 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:22.400 And so we declare victory. 00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:27.920 See, I'm not fighting from the 10-yard line, the 50-yard line. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.440 I'm not trying to make my way. 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.759 I'm standing in the end zone. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:38.400 I'm not facing the battle of this thought in my mind, fighting for victory. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:41.839 I'm fighting from victory in Christ Jesus. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:42.160 Why? 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:46.960 Because I've been raised with Christ and seated at the right hand with him. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:56.559 I am adopted son or daughter of the King Most High, and I have every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ Jesus. 00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:02.240 And you speak and declare your victory in Christ. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:04.720 How do you set your mind on things above? 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.640 First, we have to be aware of our thoughts. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:14.240 We have to then take negative thoughts as an enemy. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:20.160 And then finally, change the playlist of your thought life. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.000 You got to change it. 00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:28.240 Maybe you've never thought about it this way, but what's on your playlist? 00:28:29.680 --> 00:28:33.839 What are the thoughts that are on repeat in your life? 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:42.160 And for some, those thoughts have been with you maybe since you were a little girl or a little boy. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:57.279 Maybe your teenage years or your college years, as a young professional, or maybe those thoughts have been on repeat since the divorce, or since that big mistake that you've never been able to get beyond. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:02.559 Or maybe the secret that you've been holding and hiding. 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:07.279 And remember what I said, it's the word set. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:16.319 The word set means to continuously engage an ongoing effort to direct one's intention. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.079 You have to change that playlist. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:23.119 Once you're aware of it, okay, I'm going to change the playlist of my thought life. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:27.519 And to do that, you have to take responsibility for your thought life. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.680 You're not passive in this. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:30.640 Okay. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:33.519 I've been thinking this. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:35.599 They are not true thoughts. 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:38.880 I'm going to change those and direct my thoughts. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:44.559 In Philippians chapter 4, verse 8, the apostle Paul tells us this is what should be on your playlist. 00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:46.799 This should be on your Spotify channel. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:58.240 You know, the other day uh we were talking with um, call them a young one, but someone who's younger than us, Jenny and I, and uh they're asking what your different channels you've been listening to. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:05.200 And I'm like, well, I don't listen to Spotify, I listen to Pandora, and she said, like, well, hello, 2014. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.880 I didn't know that I was so out of touch. 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:14.720 So um, not your Pandora channel, your Spotify playlist. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.039 What's on your Spotify playlist? 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:18.720 This is what the Apostle Paul says. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:20.799 This should be your Spotify playlist. 00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:26.799 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever's true, is what uh what's on your playlist true? 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:31.519 Whatever's noble or morally excellent, is what that means. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:39.279 See, I think so often the playlist we allow by the things we consume, is it morally excellent? 00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:42.079 And it just begins to play on repeat. 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:47.119 Is what I'm digesting on Netflix or on social media morally excellent? 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:52.319 Whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:56.319 Like lovely thoughts about yourself. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:00.319 We can be such harsh people to ourselves, can't we? 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:05.039 Whatever's admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, notice what he says. 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:06.559 Think about such things. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:10.319 That's what it means to set your mind on things above where Christ is seated. 00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.240 This is the playlist. 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:17.200 Let me ask you what's on the playlist of your mind. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.079 What are those things that keep going over and over? 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:27.119 You're worthless, you're no good, you're a failure. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:29.519 You'll never change. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:33.759 You're pathetic. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.880 And what we do is go, yeah, no, you're right. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:37.599 Actually, I am. 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:38.640 And like, no, no, no. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:45.839 God says you're not, and He came for you, He died for you, He said you're so valuable, you're you're loved, you're not worthless. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:48.559 And you begin to change the playlist. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:49.759 Well, how do we do that? 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:55.440 One way I've done it is just by simple three by five cards. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:02.480 See, a rhythm of consistently setting your mind on things above means you have to do it daily, not sporadically. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:08.559 So often you want to experience the life change, but you don't do it daily. 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:11.039 You're like, I got into God's word once. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.839 Get into God's word daily. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:20.079 Write down some things from his word that are true about you, and you just review it in the morning. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:21.440 Say, this is the playlist. 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:22.720 This is the playlist, God. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:28.000 I'm gonna, and when that other playlist comes in, I'm going to treat it as an enemy. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:29.119 This is the playlist. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:30.240 I'm just gonna review it. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:31.359 I'm gonna keep it with me. 00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:32.640 I'm gonna keep it in my journal. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:33.759 I'm gonna keep it in my car. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:36.960 I'm gonna keep it wherever you're working these days. 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:38.640 Change the playlist. 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:46.240 One real specific way you can start off 2021 and changing the playlist is we're doing 21 days of prayer. 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:59.039 We created a booklet just for you to be able to engage in this way where you would say every single day, it's very simple, it's all laid out, and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna renew my mind and I'm gonna seek you. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:00.960 And would you join us? 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:07.279 One of the most important decisions you'll make this year is what you put into your mind. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:09.680 Would you change the playlist? 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:13.599 How do you hit the reset button in your life? 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:18.240 Well, you have to realize it's possible. 00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:24.880 Resets possible because you have a new starting point in Christ. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:32.240 But it requires this rhythm of consistently setting your mind on things above. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:51.359 We're worn out and exhausted and that running back and forth and feeling like we make three yards forward, two yards backward, and we're just ready for something to change. 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:54.480 And if that's where you're at, would you decide today? 00:33:54.720 --> 00:34:01.680 I'm gonna hit reset, which means daily I'm gonna begin to renew my mind on God's word. 00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:05.359 And what will happen is your thoughts will begin to change. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:16.719 And as your thoughts begin to change, your life begins to change, and the Spirit of God cooperates in those moments to bring transformation of your heart and your life. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:24.719 And you'll look up a year from now and be, wow, I look a little bit more like Jesus as a result. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:36.480 God, I pray for my friends as we start a new year filled with hopes and hurts, excitement, and anxiety. 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:44.159 God, I ask that this would be a defining, marking moment to hit reset. 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:57.119 After a crazy, chaotic year, 2020, you would do this in this moment just the things in us deeply that we desperately need. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:03.280 And you would give us the courage to go, okay, we're gonna be consistent with you this year. 00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:19.440 God, may we be a church that extends your hope, your grace, your love to those around us because we've experienced we're sitting in victory with you in Jesus' name. 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:20.719 Amen.