There are only two operating systems for your life.

That's it. Not ten, not five. Two.

The first is the Earthly OS.

It comes pre-installed. It's the default setting for humanity.
It's optimized for one thing: the immediate.
Its dashboard tracks appetite, approval, and comfort.
Its currency is likes, promotions, and the applause of a dying system.

It feels productive, but it's just a hamster wheel. Paul calls it the path of the "enemies of the cross," and he weeps when he talks about it, because he knows its final destination is destruction.

Then there's the second system. The Heavenly OS.

This one requires a deliberate, conscious installation.
It operates from a different reality, a different physics, entirely.
Its focus isn't on improving the current hardware, but on the guaranteed revival of a total system upgrade.

The HeavenlyOS doesn't seek validation from the world, because its citizenship—its legal, permanent address—is already secured in another dimension.

This system isn't about incremental gains. It's about dramatic transformation. Impossible dreams. Maximum actualization. Abundance. A life worth living. An adventure worth dying for. A story worth telling the world.

"I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

The Apostle Paul, the ultimate spiritual operator, lays out the specs for these two systems in a single, brutal paragraph. He doesn't do it to make you feel comfortable. He does it to make you choose.

My goal today is simple. To invite you to choose the better OS. Because one is the path of the flesh, leading to a slow, respectable death. The other is the path of the Spirit, leading to a glorious, transformed life.

You will either leave here content with another week slipping by driven by the EarthlyOS, another average week in an average life in an average place, or you will blow it up and begin the work of installing the operating system God bequeathed you as a citizen of heaven.

My talk today is a part of a series. In this series, we have been going verse by verse through this book in the Bible called Philippians.

The title of the series is: Quit Telling Yourself I Can't.

This is talk number 18 in the series. If you missed some of the earlier messages in this series, I'll get you caught up as much as you need today. You can also find all the previous sermons on our website and our YouTube channel.

My talk today is called: Quit Optimizing for a Dying World.

Every single day, you are making small, calculated decisions to get a better return on your life—optimizing your career, your comfort, your reputation. The Apostle Paul is about to tell us that for many, this is the most strategic way to guarantee you waste your one and only life.

"Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." (Philippians 3:17-21)

This isn't just scripture; it's a field manual from a master operator named Paul. He has written this to keep you alive, thriving, and heading toward abundance, even in enemy territory.

Today's operational briefing will consist of four intelligence reports based on his intel.

So... Four Intel Briefs for Optimizing for your high calling in Christ Jesus.

 

Brief #1: The Pattern of The Upward Call (v. 17)
"Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern." (Philippians 3:17)

That word pattern is a Greek word for a template or a framework. It is this framework that I've been teaching in one way or another for 17 messages. Lean in and pay attention. Here it is.

The first intelligence brief is the most critical because it defines the entire operational mindset. The pattern we are commanded to follow is not a list of behaviors; it is the psychological architecture of a single person: Jesus Christ. Paul states it plainly in the previous chapter: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." That is the pattern. So what is that mind? It is the mindset of a King who operated from His future glory to execute His present mission.

A Future-Self Focus
The pattern begins with a vivid, unshakable vision of the future prize. Christ, "for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross." He was pulled forward by the gravity of a guaranteed future. This is not wishful thinking; it is operating in the present based on the certainty of a future reality.

Exercising Dominion & Agency
This future focus grants total dominion over your present life. Because you know your ultimate destination, you are no longer a victim of your past, a slave to your appetites, or a hostage to public opinion. You are an agent on a mission, exercising the authority Christ handed you to make royal decrees over your life and execute your calling with precision.

This dominion extends over all three aspects of yourself.

For your present self, you take the reins and make choices. You pursue your heart's desires.

For your past self, you can't change what happened in your past. You can't undo the losses and the traumas and the mistakes and the cruelties. But you can take dominion over its meaning to you. I preached a whole message on that.

For your future self, you use your power to send forward blessings: relationships, love, money, preparation, health, attitude, psychological health, mental health, emotional health. Every choice you make today is filtered by the goal of having an awesome future self in which you actualize your fullest potential as a glorious child of God.

Audacious Faith in Action:
This dominion fuels audacious, world-altering action. It frees you to set God-sized goals and pursue them relentlessly, because you have redefined victory. In the spiritual realm, victory isn't the victory. Faith is the victory. Therefore your job is faith; God's job is outcomes. And even the tiniest bit of faith in God's promises today will bless your future self massively tomorrow and win rewards for you in heaven that are going to blow you away.

This is the pattern of the upward call.