Win the Day Habit #1: "Flip the Script" - Dr. Mark Batterson [FULL SERMON 1 of 7]

our job is to consecrate ourselves to god and if we do that day in and day out god is going to show up and show off flip the script if you want to change your life you have to change your story kiss the wave the obstacle is not the enemy the obstacle is the way eat the frog if you want god to do the super you have to do the natural fly the kite how you do anything is how you'll do everything cut the rope playing it safe is risky wind the clock you do not find time you have to make time seed the clouds you have to sew today what you want to see tomorrow yesterday is history tomorrow is mystery win the day on april 20 1913 sir william osler delivered a speech at yale university it was a simple message i'll give you the cliff notes live in daytime compartments now that is easier said than done but if you can pull it off if you can put it into practice it is the solution to a thousand problems according to psychologists matthew killingsworth and daniel gilbert the average person spends 46.9 percent of their time thinking about something other than what they're doing in the present moment in other words we're living in the wrong time zone we're depressed about the the past we're worried about the future we're distracted we're frustrated we're overwhelmed by this that and the other thing we're half present half the time which means we're half alive if you want to be fully alive you have to be fully present and the only way to be fully present is to live in daytime compartments this is not just a good idea this is a god idea give us this day our daily bread take up your cross daily this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it his mercies are new every morning don't let the sun go down on your anger don't worry about tomorrow the idea of living in daytime compartments is a thread that is woven all the way from genesis to revelation in fact i find it fascinating that in the genesis account of creation the day doesn't begin with sunrise there was evening and there was morning the first day there is a genius to this sacred sequence to this ancient algorithm here's the bottom line yesterday is history tomorrow is mystery our job is to win the day now i have no idea what goal you're going after what problem you're trying to solve what habit you're trying to break or build but i know the secret to your success it's gonna happen one day at a time you have to win the day then you have to get up the next day do it all over again and if you do i think that's called a winning streak i think it's also called sanctification here's what we're going to do over the next four weeks we're going to unpack seven habits that are going to help you stress less and accomplish more we're going to talk about flipping the script kiss the wave eat the frog fly the kite cut the rope wind the clock and seed the clouds let me plant a seed of faith right up front almost anyone can accomplish almost anything if they work at it long enough hard enough and smart enough you are capable of more than you can imagine why because god is able to do immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine that said 75 of new year's resolutions fail within the first month why when you think in one year timelines it's overwhelming you feel like quitting before you even get started here's the question that we're going to keep coming back to over and over again during this series can you do it for a day pick a habit any habit here's the good news the only ceiling on your intimacy with god and impact on the world is daily disciplines if you do the right thing day in and day out i believe god is going to show up and show off well welcome to 2021 it has been uh a year right but it is a new year a new series a new season and if you have a bible you can meet me in genesis chapter 50 verse 20. before we zoom in let me zoom out there are decades when nothing happens said vladimir lenin and then there are weeks when decades happen let me push that envelope a little bit i think there are days when decades happen and we had a few of those days a few of those weeks in 2020 the day we heard the news about this invisible virus called kobit 19. we didn't know it at the time but it was a day that decades happened the day we heard about ahmad arbury or george floyd or brianna taylor the day rgb died the day a woman of color was elected vice president listen regardless of race religion gender or politics those are days when decades happened now the same is true in each one of our lives i am believing that this is one of those series that has the potential to change the trajectory of your life destiny is not a mystery destiny is a decision and you are one decision away from a totally different life i don't know about you i am ready for a new year uh can i get an amen on the chat uh at our online campus i am ready to hit reset i'm ready to gather again as a church i'm ready for herd immunity ready for the kids to go back to school ready to go see a movie with my wife ready to grab dinner with friends i am ready for any semblance of normalcy even a new normal having said that let me say this you can't just flip the calendar you have to flip the script it is the first of seven habits that i write about that you can read about and win the day here's the big idea if you want to change your life you have to change your story in the science of cybernetics there are two kinds of change first order change is behavioral it's doing something more or less if you're trying to lose weight eating less exercising more is certainly a step in the right direction first order change can facilitate a quick fix but second order change passes the test of time second order change is conceptual it's mind over matter and that's where the magic happens everything is created twice the first creation is mental it's internal the second creation is physical it's external everything was once a thought and by the way that includes you you don't just bear his image you are his idea in fact you are his workmanship which means you are a unique expression of god's imagination we tend to think of habits as external exercises that increase proficiency or productivity it's practicing scales it's practicing skills and those external habits will pay dividends no doubt but the biggest return on investment are what i would call high leverage habits and their internal habits that no one else can see it's your internal monologue it's the way that you explain experiences to yourself it's the stories that you tell yourself day in and day out in the words of john quincy adams whoever tells the best story wins on average about 60 000 thoughts fire across our synapses every single day according to a study done by the cleveland clinic about 80 of those thoughts are negative okay houston we have a problem our problem is stinking thinking right as a man thinketh in his heart said the writer of proverbs so is he your thoughts have a a psychological and physiological effect your thoughts have the power to lower blood pressure slow your pulse boost immunity or do the exact opposite right the battle is won or lost in the mind either way it's the stories you tell yourself that are more important than the situations you find yourself in that's when and where and how we flip the script with that as a backdrop genesis 50 20. let me set the scene when joseph was a teenager he has a dream a dream of his brothers bowing down to him he makes a mistake of sharing this dream with his brothers who don't take kindly to it sell them into slavery and things go from bad to worse he ends up in prison for a crime he did not commit then something happens joseph interprets a dream for pharaoh next thing you know pharaoh puts a signet ring on joseph's finger ends up second in command and 13 years long years after selling him into slavery his brothers come knocking in fact they come begging for food because of a famine genesis 43 28 says that in that moment his brothers bow down i can only imagine the thoughts and the feelings the vision he had at 17. the vision that went off the rails that took a wrong turn that seems so far away that ain't never gonna happen that vision in a moment becomes reality it's the day that decades happen do not give up on the dream that god has put in your heart i might make one observation right here a god ordained dream does not mean a boat cruise up the nile river in fact the bigger the dream the more risks you're gonna have to take the more sacrifices you're gonna have to make i say so be it god give us a dream that's going to keep us on our knees all right chapter 50 verse 20. it's like a time lapse video joseph looks back on the ups and the downs the twists and the turns and this is what he says you intended to harm me but god come on but god but god but god intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives may god give us a 50 20 vision let me make this as simple as one two three if you want to flip the script three things one you have to know your name two you have to fix your focus and three you have to change your story more than a century ago charles horton cooley founder of the american sociological association said i am not what i think i am and i am not what you think i am i am what i think you think i am well how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood it's a little bit of a tongue twister a little bit of a mind bender but it might sound vaguely familiar because you probably heard it in a class cooley called it the looking glass cell and it's basing our sense of self on how we believe others see us our sense of self it comes from a lot of different sources and here's the irony sometimes it's something as simple as someone saying you're good at that or you're you're bad at that and we buy into it and it becomes this script for our life well either way it's letting people narrate your story it's living your life according to their expectations it is so critical that we take our cues from scripture why scripture is our script and our script cure the book of james likens the bible to a mirror this is where we discover who we are in the eyes of god this is how we know our name this is how we flip our script it's it's right here you got to take a long hard look in the mirror let me dive back into this story now joseph he plays a few mind games with his brothers which i think is absolutely justified but he finally reveals his identity genesis 45 verse 3 he says i am joseph now when i read that for some reason i hear guardians of the galaxy i am groot welcome to my world not sure why but i love this moment joseph uh reveals his identity and we read right past it but joseph knows his name well of course he knows his name it's his name well not so fast fun fact daily double if you know this when pharaoh makes joseph second in command he doesn't just give him a signet ring he gives him an egyptian name anyone anyone survey says zaphanath panea a lot of hieroglyphics in that alter ego much harder to spell but there's something bigger at play here i think it would have been so easy for joseph to forget who he was when tough time hit sometimes we forget who we are but that's the moment that you've got to remember your name listen the same thing happens with daniel do you remember this nebuchadnezzar calls him belchazar but that's not his name listen if you let it culture will try to name you and tame you it will label you it will define you cancel culture will chew you up and spit you out you have to know who you are you have to know who you are you have to know your name and this brings us all the way back to ephesians 1. do you remember this from our heaven on earth series you are blessed you are chosen you are blameless adopted redeemed you are sealed you are stamped that is who you are you have to know your name number two you have to fix your focus now we have a saying in our family uh your focus determines your reality it's what qui-gon said to luke skywalker but it's not just a jedi mind trick right this is philippians 4. if anything is good or right pure or just or admirable think about such things why because it will fix your if you're looking for an excuse you will always find one if you're looking for something to be grateful for you will always find something there's a concept in psychology called cognitive reappraisal it's telling yourself a different story about what's happening and i think joseph is exhibit a he could have so easily played the victim card right in fact he could have played god and even the score with his brothers but he doesn't do that why he's got a god's eye view dr martin seligman the former president of the apa said that all of us have what he calls an explanatory style oh man if we could x-ray if we could mri i'm telling you this is one of the most important things about your explanations are more important than your experiences here's what he said explanatory style is the manner in which you habitually explain to yourself why events happen okay so what was joseph's explanatory style i think we have it right here it's genesis 50 20. listen you intended to harm me okay you were gonna tell a story but but there is a meta-narrative at play you intended to harm me but god but god intended it for good god is writing a different story in and through these circumstances now i know that there's a meme circulating right now it is the 2020 dumpster fire and yeah i mean it's funny it's the wrong explanation listen to me 2020 was not a dumpster fire 2020 was a refiner's fire listen what comes out of a refiner's fire something that is more pure and more precious and more valuable god is doing a refining work in his church in his people and if we would allow him to refine us what would come out of it would be so much better and so much bigger and we would look a lot more like him the prophet malachi said who is able to endure who is able to stand it's the one who allows god to do his refining work in their life how do we fix our focus listen the short answer is fix your eyes on jesus the author and perfecter of your faith i love this moment when peter gets out of the boat in the middle of the sea of galilee in the middle of the night that takes some serious faith but here's the deal if you want to walk on water you have got to get out of the boat and as long as he is focused on jesus he walks on water what happens he loses focus he starts focusing on the wind and the waves it's so easy for us to focus on the circumstance or even what's going wrong and that's when we start to sink because we start to second guess well let me give a couple of practical applications and i'll keep it short and sweet three things you can do to fix your focus and i might ask you to just pick one of these for 2021 and put it into practice one keep a gratitude journal here's what it will do it will sanctify your reticular activating system the part of the brain that determines what gets noticed and what goes unnoticed and it will enable you it will create a category for the things that you can praise god about i'm telling you it will fix your focus two change a pace plus change of place equals change of perspective now the key to spiritual growth is routine but once a routine becomes routine you have to change your routine and so one of my routines is to download a bible reading plan at the beginning of the year and and i do something a little different i change translations why because it makes my synapses fire in a little different way i loved the amplified bible last year one of my favorite versions but i'm going back to the new living translation why because i need just a little change of pace now there are different ways that you can put this into practice but nothing will shift your pr your uh perspective like prayer do a silent retreat 24 days not 24 days good luck with that 24 days yes that would be awesome uh overachievers 24 days the rest of us 24 hours okay 24 hours try doing a silent retreat just you your bible and the still small voice of the holy spirit and you see what happens january 11 through 17 we'll do a week of prayer and fasting another great way listen fasting is a phenomenal way to flip the script one more idea and this one's kind of unique read old books if you want new ideas said ivan pavlov read old books now i've read thousands of books but one of my favorite genres is biography and so i'm going to kind of let you into my world a little bit i love biographies because they help me see things from a slightly different perspective it was a biography on dl moody that led to some of my early morning routines uh it was i've read six or seven biographies on teddy roosevelt and those biographies resulted in a few of my life goals uh it was a biography about emile zadapec that inspired me as i ran the chicago marathon in fact inspired me so much turn it into a movie script and i'm still shopping it okay i love biographies that said there is no book that is older or better than the bible the jewish theologian abraham herschel said prophecy is exegesis of existence from a divine perspective that is so good and so critical he also said this in decisive hours of history those weeks that become decades right in decisive hours of history it dawns upon us that we would rather that we would not trade certain lines in the book of isaiah for the seven wonders of the world i don't know if he's talking about the seven ancient wonders of the world natural wonders of the world doesn't really matter what he's saying is during times of crisis we need a word from god we need a word from god we need a place to stand and we stand on his promises and that brings us to number three you have to change your story now according to a study done by emory university the best predictor of a child's emotional well-being is not getting into a great school it's not giving them lots of hugs and kisses it's not that obligatory pilgrimage to disney world it's not pixar films okay according to these researchers at emory university number one indicator of a child's emotional well-being drum roll is a child knowing their family history what okay stick with me everyone is born into someone else's story our kids were born into our story laura and i for better or for worse i was born into my parents story my parents were born into my grandparents story we all have a family of origin and that includes an origin story but here's what happens when we get grafted into god's family we get grafted into god's story this is huge scripture becomes our script this is this is not just our mirror it now becomes our script this book it's our backstory this is our backstory and your life is the rest of the story you are the only bible that some people will ever read the question is this is your life a good translation you are the fifth gospel you are acts 29 you are revelation 23. your life is a to be continued and so here's how it works it starts by surrendering your life to the lordship of jesus christ by giving the author and perfecter of your faith complete editorial control and here's what happens god begins writing his story history with a hyphen in and through your life let me close with this i have a simple theory of spiritual maturity when you encounter a verse of scripture you open this book pick a verse any verse at first it's a theory why because you haven't experienced it yet but you put it into practice you exercise faith hope and love you obey what the words that you you live this spirit-led life you put it into practice and what happens the theory becomes your testimony and i'll give you an example matthew 16 19 whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven listen that was a theory to me 25 years ago what does that mean and then one day i felt the prompting to pray a perimeter around capitol hill i wasn't praying for property it was praying for people was just obeying a prompting of the holy spirit ended up being a 4.7 mile prayer walk fast forward 25 years we own half a dozen properties right on that per circle i have no explanation for it other than what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven listen the city block that we have turned into our capitol hill campus the turnaround we may have bought it in 2014 oh no no no no no god put a contract on it in 1996. what you bind on earth now i want to be careful right here every prayer has to pass a twofold litmus test got to be in the will of god for the glory of god prayer is not outlining your agenda to god it's getting into god's word into god's presence and letting god outline his agenda to you but you have no idea how much authority you have if you're operating in the will of god come on exercise your faith exercise that authority and what happens the theory becomes your testimony you know what one of the best things you could do this year is to choose a verse of the year choose a verse of the year pick a verse any verse and then start to just put it into practice now i did this years ago with proverbs 19 11. uh it is to the glory of man to overlook an offense oh man choose your verse of the year wisely because god will give you an opportunity to put it into practice okay and uh but i i tell you what that needed to be my script that year i'd written a book called the circle maker and listen it's impacted a lot of lives and uh but some of those early reviews whoo i had to check my ego i had to calm my inner man okay i had to overlook an offense or two there are some reviews you can go read them there were some reviews oh man oh man whoo but i made a decision i will be unoffendable why because i'm not above or beyond rebuke because i'm human because i'm not perfect i'm going to put my pride and my prejudice on the altar and i'm going to try to live in unoffendable life pick a verse any verse start to put it into practice make it the script of your life and then you see what god does well it wouldn't be the first sermon of the year if there weren't two conclusions so let me just share what i feel like god has put in my heart for us and i'm holding on to it i believe that we are coming into a season of acceleration now here's the irony that really is the subplot of this story right i mean for 13 years things go from bad to worse and then in one day in one day god can do more in one day than you can accomplish in a thousand lifetimes god was working his plan god was writing his story now for 13 years it sure didn't seem like it was going to play out but in a season of acceleration joseph goes from prison to pharaoh's palace in physics velocity is a change in position over time while acceleration is a change in velocity over time there will not be a quiz at the end of this message a change in acceleration over time is called a jerk that that is the technical term a jerk is the first derivative of acceleration the second derivative of velocity in the third derivative of the position i'm not even sure exactly what that means okay but it's not just a concept in physics it is a promise in scripture the days are coming declares the lord when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowmen and the planter by the one treading grapes the new living translation says it this way the grape the grain and grapes come on are you ready for this we'll grow faster than they can be harvested isn't that what happened seven years of plenty there's so much we don't even know what to do they would have wasted it but for a word from god but for a dream that was interpreted and joseph wisely stored for seven years the plenty so that it would provide saved two nations with an act of courage with an act of wisdom i believe that we are coming into a season of supernatural acceleration do you feel it do you sense it well not if you're looking at the circumstances around us oh i feel it i sense it god is activating the gifts of his spirit in an unprecedented way we're going to see supernatural demonstrations of love and power we're going to see god's kingdom advance and it's going to seem like a jerk okay it's not gonna be linear that's that's never how it works joseph's story is not if you're looking for linear you came to the wrong place but i have some good news when you have a setback you do not take a step back because god is already preparing your comeback that's what god was doing in joseph life i believe that that's what god is doing in your life listen you have to flip the script how you got to know your name you got to fix your focus right you got to do it you got to change your story and if you do that you better buckle your seatbelt because you're going to see god's kingdom come in a powerful way in your life in your marriage in your family in your job believe it why because god is writing his story in and through you let me pray for you god i pray oh god i pray at the beginning of a new year god i pray that we would have the courage to submit to your will and your way lord there are so many things we cannot control we have been reminded this year of how mortal we are but god we have also been reminded that you are bigger and longer and stronger that there is a story that you are writing and the administrations may come and go but your kingdom does not end and so lord we put our faith in the end of the story and not just the end of the story but the story that you're writing in and through each one of us and so lord i pray that you would activate faith in our hearts that you would give us the right explanation for the experiences that are happening around us lord help us see things the way that you do and lord those that find themselves in circumstances where lots of people intending to harm them god you are intending it for good you're going to work your plans and purposes in us and through us we believe it in jesus name amen

Channel: Mark Batterson

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Length: 37min 2sec (2222 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021