Master Reset, Pt. 1
Tim Ross | November 1, 2020
“He makes everything work out according to His plan. Everything doesn’t mean some things. It means everything. Which means if everything’s good right now, it’s working for His plan. It means if everything’s bad right now, it’s working for His plans. All you have to do is be patient enough to know that all of these things are working together for His good and the good of those that are called according to his righteousness.”
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Transcription
What's up Embassy City family? I'm so grateful to be with you all. It's a new month, it's a new jacket. Let's go.
So excited that you all decided to join us today. I'm so excited because we are starting a new series for the month of November entitled, Master Reset. Before I get into anything else, I need you to write down that, for all of my note-takers, Master Reset. We're going to be talking about what it means between now and the end of the year before we all come back together on January 3rd. Who's excited to get everybody back in the house on January 3rd? It's going to be amazing. Until then, I have some stuff to tell you because God is completing a hard reset, or in the way that we've discussed it and described it, a master reset with Embassy City Church. I have a full expectation that when we come back in the month of January, we will not be the same people doing the same thing, the exact same way. Because God would have done something in our lives that we couldn't have done for ourselves, had we not had this season of his master reset.
If you're taking notes on this message, it's Master Reset Part 1, but the subtitle to this message is, Now, why would I ever do that? Now, why would I ever do that? Anybody beside me, ever had a moment when you heard somebody say something to you, ask something from you and your response was, "Now, why would I ever do that?"
"That does not sound like me, I don't feel like I would do that." This is how it is when it comes to a master reset. Bow your heads and just pray over the word I'm just providing, you all ready?
Holy Spirit, reset us. Amen.
Here we go. Let me give you the definition of a master reset, you all ready?
A hard reset, also known as a factory reset or the title of this series, Master Reset, is the restoration of a device to the state it was in when it left the factory. I'm going to just let that marinate real quick. A hard reset, also known as a factory reset or a master reset is the restoration of a device to the state it was in when it left the factory. Now, I want you imagine for a moment, if I did not read another sentence, if this definition had no other sentences, that when we come back together in the month of January, God is restoring us to who he had created us to be prior to anything else that had gone on in our lives.
Here's the next sentence. All settings, applications, and data added by the user are removed. Let me say that one again. All settings, applications, and data added by the user are removed. By a show of hands, how many people have a smartphone? You have a smartphone? Some of y'all are on your devices right now? Okay. You have a smartphone. How many people when you bought it, it was new?
Okay. You had to go in there, you had to check your preferences and do your settings and do all that kind of stuff. The manufacturer gave it to you the way they intended you to have it with everything they intended you to have on it when they gave it to you. At that point, you now have the option to download some other apps that you will think makes your life easier.
How many of us have done this in our own lives but could be honest enough to say that, "I've downloaded some stuff that is hard to get rid of"? How many people can say, "I've accidentally clicked on some stuff that gave me a virus?" No shots at COVID, I'm just saying.
How many people can say that, "There's some data that has been applied to my life that I now wish I did not know." You need to master reset. Here's the thing, nobody would ever voluntarily do it unless they hit an impasse in their life that caused them to need it. If I were to take any one of your phones right now and hard reset it, y'all would sperse.
Yes, we would.
"I didn't get to back it up to the cloud. Y'all should let me save that number first." Because why would I ever do that? Why would I want to erase everything that I've stored on the inside of my phone? Why would I want to do a hard reset to the point that what I already have has been erased now, can I just say? When it comes to living your life for Jesus, it should feel like a hard reset.
There's some things that you used to have that you don't want to have no more and you're like, "You know what, I would like to see this gone." Why would I ever do that? Let me give you the benefits of a hard reset. This is just the practical stuff, if you were dealing with your phone or dealing with your tablet, or your laptop computer. If you were to give your device a hard reset, it would actually perform better. You would get better performance out of it after the reset.
I took some pictures at my niece's birthday party on my wife's phone and for every picture I took, there was a reminder that you are near capacity on your storage. The phone is telling you, "You keep trying to take these pictures, but at some point, I'm gonna to quit on you." A hard reset will give you the opportunity to have better performance and not be slowing down.
The second thing a hard reset will give you the benefit of having is that it will free up space. I would imagine that many people during this time where we've been out of fellowship with each other on a weekly basis, have found that they've had some time be freed up to do some stuff that they didn't get to do at any other time. Time to reflect internally, externally, see some things a little bit differently, have a different perspective on their life and go "You know what, I'm going to do some things differently. Now that I've had this time, I don't want to go back to the way that I was moving or operating or working before." You can free up some space with the hard reset.
The third thing that happens with a hard reset, after better performance and freeing up space is that it can be done remotely, preach Jesus. If you've got the setup right, if you lose your phone, you can go to another device and make sure you shut that thing down before any sensitive data is out in the internet, [chuckles] out in the free world. It can be done remotely. This is one of the things that as I was going through this study, and I was like "God, this is preaching." Because you from heaven spoke us into existence on earth. When you want to do a hard reset in our life, you do it remotely. You never have to leave your throne to reset us, to the path that you want us on, so that we can live your life for your glory, and not our own story.
The fourth one is this, the benefit of a hard reset, it's useful when it's been lost or stolen. Now we as believers know that we were lost but now we're found, the enemy has tried to rob some things from us, God wants to be the one to restore those things to us, but the benefits of these hard resets are very practical. Again, this is just with your phone, it's just with your device, whatever it is, hard resets are good.
I just do not believe that God has given us nine months away from each other to punish us. I believe he did it for our own benefit. 9 to 10 months is enough time for you to have given up some stuff, dropped some stuff, lost some stuff, and at the same time, given birth to some things that God wants to do from here on out. I want to give you the benefits of a master reset.
Three points to this. The benefits of a master reset. Point number one, new life. The benefit of a master reset is new life. Here's what it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "This means that anyone-", somebody say, anyone.
Little bit louder, say anyone.
Real loud, say anyone.
"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun." The wonderful thing about a master reset, is that you get all things new. The old life has become new, and it might seem like the same life, but it's a different life because of whose hands your life is in. For 20 years, I had an old life, I had an old sinful life, but January 14th of 1996, the Master gave me a reset and a new life began for me.
This is the good news that we give to unbelievers, is that you can have a master reset in your life right now, that no matter what you have been through, no matter what you are currently going through, that if you give your life to Jesus Christ, He will reset your life right now. He won't take into consideration the stuff that's going on in the past, because He writes a new present and a new future over your past so that you can live the life that He has called you to live. He's the one that created you, so He knows exactly the life you should be living. A master reset gives us new life.
Point number two, please write this down. The masters of a-- The masters of a benefit reset. That’s what happens when you’re too excited. The benefits of a master reset, point number two, you get new settings. Now I'm excited about this point. I'm so excited about this point because remember in the definition, all settings applications and data that were downloaded by the user, they are erased. Is there anybody beside me that wants some stuff erased that you put there yourself?
I love this church because it's so honest. We just had in here and I didn't make that up, God made that up. If we had in here, honest, open and transparent, that took like four of you all back. [chuckles] Okay, but listen, a new life needs new settings, because your old life had settings. I'm going to say it again, your new life comes with new settings because your old life had settings.
You remember the old life. The old life had you set to do some things. You were set to have sex when married, you were set to medicate your pain with cigarettes and weed and alcohol and clubbing and whatever. You were set to hold that grudge because you came from a family that was always angry and petty. You were set to fear rejection and have to live a life of self preservation and not know if anybody was going to be open and trustworthy with you, so you protected yourself because you knew that if you were to open up, somebody would hurt you. You had some old settings, but this master reset comes with new settings.
Here's what it says in Romans 6:7. Romans 6:7 says this, "For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin." When we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. Here's the next verse, I want you to write this one down as well, Galatians 5:1, "Christ has truly set us free." He's changed the settings from bondage to freedom. Christ has changed the settings. Christ has truly sets us free. Now make sure that you stay free. [laughs]
The settings have been switched. Now, make sure you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Here's the last one, Colossians 2:20 says this, "You have died with Christ and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world." That first sentence is all I need. We have died with Christ and He has set you free. Anybody have a setting on your phone that you control? Sometimes you want the setting on that, sometimes you don't want the setting on that.
How many Apple people do we have in the house? Please be everybody. Please be-- Oh Lord Jesus.
We got two holdouts, Lord Jesus. I rebuke that green robot and all this open source data and it's crashes and viruses and its flimsy infrastructure. We pray for Apples to come in Jesus name. We pray for La manzanas to come in Jesus name. I'm learning Spanish. I'm going to hit you all. I'm going to preach the whole sermon in Spanish one day, you all going to be blown away, but He set you free.
On my iPhone from 9:00 PM to 9:00 AM, I have the, do not disturb button. I hit that setting and it's set on my phone at 9:00 PM, the phone doesn't ring anymore, except for five people, obviously one of them being my wife and it goes off at 9:00 AM. The setting is there to benefit me. The setting is there to bring some boundaries to me. Here's what scripture is saying, "Hey, you get this master reset with God and He puts some new settings in you. These new settings are going to start giving you some boundaries, so you can enjoy the freedom that He's given you." Thank you, Holy Spirit.
These settings come with conviction. I feel this. These settings come with convictions that you didn't give yourself. These settings come with convictions that you didn't use to have. Lord, I feel this. I remember when I gave my life to Christ-- You got to remember before I gave my life to Christ, I was highly promiscuous, I had low self-esteem, I was out there acting a fool. Then when I gave my life to Christ, I all of a sudden started getting convicted about stuff I never used to be convicted about.
I knew this wasn't me. I didn't all of a sudden get no morals. I didn’t all of a sudden get character. Another person came and started living on the inside of me, started switching stuff. Switch, switch, switch, you've never turned these settings on, I'm turning all these settings on. Now when you try to do it, you're going to feel a different way because you've been switched to new settings. Whether you ask for them or not. Now you got convictions, you didn't have.
You used to go off on people, go home feel good about it. Tell all your friends, "I curse them out. Yes, they should have saw this face, started crying, sure did." God came into your life, all the setting switch and all of a sudden you curse them out and then five minutes later, you called them back, "I didn't mean what I said. Sometimes, I just-- I'm still working on me. You know what I'm saying, and I got some pain and hurt and I took it out on you and I shouldn't did it my mama cursed me out so I just thought I would curse everybody out. I don't even know why I'm apologizing, but I think my settings got switched."
Right? Call your boyfriend or your girlfriend over, about ten o'clock settings have switched, you got to go home. Why is that? "I didn't use to go home. I know you started going to church, but why do I got to go home now?" You got to go home. Can’t have you in here. Holy Spirit's got me under heavy conviction, I won't sleep tonight, if you staying here. Go home. The settings have switched. Now with that new setting, comes new rules, comes a new life, a new governance of that life.
Point number three, please write this down. The benefit of a master reset, get a new plan. You get a new life, you get a new setting, you get new plans. Now, I love the Holy spirit because He's the best preacher I've ever heard in my head. When He started talking about the plans, I started thinking about data plans. Everybody that has a phone has some level of data plan.
You either got some unlimited this, you got a family plan of that, and you got four people on your line and then you got a business phone and then you got a little package because you… Whatever it is, they've given you plans to choose from because they want to make sure that everything that pertains to your lifestyle has a plan to go with it. The phone companies didn't make that up, God did. Ephesians 1:9 says this, "God has now revealed to us His mysterious plan regarding Christ. A plan to fulfill His own good pleasure." Can I just stop right there? A plan to fulfill His own good pleasure. Do you know that in the plans that God has for your life is actually the fulfillment of His own good pleasure?
Now what's amazing is you get to enjoy the plan He wrote for your life and at the same time fulfill what was already in His heart from the foundations of the world. A plan to fulfill His own good pleasure. Verse 10 says, "And this is the plan. At the right time, He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven, and on earth."
Verse 11, "Furthermore, because we are United with Christ. We have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance." Somebody say, "In advance."
Anybody ever done something in advance?
I don't know about you, but I put out my clothes in advance. Even though I've got a limited wardrobe is still out in advance. I chose this jacket last month in advance. When you do something in advance, it means it's intentional. It's proactive. It's not reactive. I didn't find out you were coming and then all of a sudden scrambled to see if I have something for you to eat.
I knew you were coming, so I prepared a meal. He says, "We have received an inheritance from God for He chose us in advance and he makes everything work out according to his plan." He makes everything. Everybody say, everything.
He makes everything work out according to His plan. Everything doesn't mean some things. It means everything. Which means if everything's good right now, it's working for His plan. It means if everything's bad right now, it's working for His plans. All you have to do is be patient enough to know that all of these things are working together for His good and the good of those that are called according to his righteousness.
My question to you, as we close, is are you open to His plan? We all say, "God has a plan for my life and God's working out His plan in my life for the good." Depending on where we find our lives in the moment, we complain about that very plan that we testified about. The plan never said you wouldn't go through a tough season, but the plan has always promised that he'll be with you in those seasons. It's a new life. There are new settings and there's a new plan. It's a new life. There are new settings and there's a new plan.
Our church is in a master reset. I mean, as of the month of November, this is our eighth month where we haven't been in fellowship regularly. It's not punishment. It's for our benefit because He's writing new lives. He's writing new settings and writing new plans, not just for the church as a whole, but for you as individuals. It would behoove you between now and the end of the year not to just let it go by thinking, "Man, I can't wait for this to pass, and we get back to normal." Part of a hard reset is making sure you don't get back to the old stuff you used to do. We're not biding time to get back to normal. We're biding time to get back to His new plan.
For many of you all is time for an upgrade. You've been on the old settings long enough. Those old settings have given you the same result. Just time for an upgrade. It's just like the two people that still have Androids. They literally have no idea how good it is on the other side. When that blue bubble pops up in the text message, as opposed to that green bubble, they have no idea what they're missing. Until they switch, they're going to contain and live a life of bondage.
We're just looking for their freedom right now. It's a joke, I'm not mad at Android users. Just don't call my phone. What is you trying to reset in you? Do you honestly think this whole year has gone by and it's been the way it's been? We've through quarantine, we've through COVID, we've through racism, we've through an election. Do you honestly think all this has happened for you to come out and be the same way?
No, we're being tested to see if the new life, new settings, and new plans are something that we want to permanently be switched to or a place we want to temporarily visit before we get back to our old ways. I'm telling you as the lead pastor of Embassy City, I'm not going back to anything that we used to do. I'm ready for the new plan that God has for us in this season.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? My hope and my prayer is that this month, as we unpack what it means to have a master reset, although some of them might be hard, that we would be open to God setting us up for the new life, the new settings and the new plans.
We wouldn't close off our hearts to what he wants to do in this season, but with open arms and with a open heart. Full of faith, we say, God, I'm stepping out of faith in this season, and believe that what you want to do for me is better than the stuff I've planned for myself. You may already be in a relationship with Jesus Christ and my prayer is that through these series of teachings, your relationship gets closer.
You may be somebody that's watching right now, you've never given your life to Jesus Christ. I'm telling you today would be the greatest day for you to have a master reset. Right now, today would be the best day for you to say, "God, I open up for your new life, new settings, and a new plan." The only thing you need to do to make that response in your heart active is to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and God raised him from the dead. If you make that statement in your heart and confess it with your mouth, angels are having a party in heaven on your behalf, and so are we. Welcome to the kingdom of God. We're grateful to have you in the family.
Listen, I'm coming back next week to go deeper into this word, but let me say a prayer over you. God, I love you. I love your people. Both near and far, you are giving us the opportunity that's absolutely extravagant to receive a new life, new settings and a new plan at our house before we come back to your house. God I pray that you will complete in each and every one of us the reset that you've mastered. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
I love you guys so much. I'll see you next week. Peace.
