WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.219 sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:10.320 Elation Church. There was a Facebook post that 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.599 I posted a couple weeks ago, and it was about 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:16.120 a saying. It was a very concise saying that I 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.079 had come up with for my boys, specifically my 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.239 oldest, Riley, who happens to not be here today. 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:26.600 He's playing baseball, conveniently. And Riley's 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:30.219 14, but about five, six years ago, we lived in 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:32.880 Colorado. And Riley had grown up when he was 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.799 a younger child dealing with a lot of sensory 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:39.320 challenges that he faced in his life. And this 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:40.920 started, I mean, when he was like two, three 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:43.520 years old, especially when he was four, five, 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:45.679 and six to the point where my wife, and you can 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.979 clarify all these details with her. She'll probably 00:00:47.979 --> 00:00:51.140 tell you I told it wrong and, you know, lambast 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:56.159 me later and that's okay. But she, to the point 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.000 where she didn't know if she was a good mother. 00:00:58.299 --> 00:01:00.880 because she was fighting with all of the stuff 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:02.899 that was going on with him not knowing how to 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:05.700 interact with people and exploding and blowing 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:09.640 up and having all of these emotional really breakdowns 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:11.579 because he didn't know how to regulate his system. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:14.400 And so we spent years going through occupational 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.680 therapy and going through once, twice a week, 00:01:17.819 --> 00:01:20.459 which really has brought him into the young man 00:01:20.459 --> 00:01:22.900 that he is today. And God has done a huge work 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:27.150 through all of that. But it started with everybody's 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:29.730 favorite subject in school How many of you guys 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:32.810 love math who loves math your favorite favorite 00:01:32.810 --> 00:01:35.170 subject in the whole wide world? So when Riley 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:37.969 was about seven years old he started math and 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:39.689 so seven would have put him in what second grade 00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:42.769 I guess something like that and Riley would sit 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.840 at the dinner table for an hour to two hours 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:49.120 to get like five problems done. I mean, it was 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.140 like he hated it. And I would be sitting there 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.120 with him and we'd go through it and we'd be like, 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:57.140 okay, so, you know, seven plus four is, and he'd 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:58.620 just sit there and didn't want to do it. And 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.280 so finally, I started telling him, I said, all 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.819 right, well, because he would start to say, I'm 00:02:03.819 --> 00:02:05.540 not good at this. I can't do it. I'm not good 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.560 at this. I can't do it. Repeat like over and 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.280 over, you know, the self -fulfilling prophecy. 00:02:09.379 --> 00:02:11.199 How many of you guys ever told yourself something 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:14.599 that, you know what, I can't do this. And sure 00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:18.280 enough, You can't, you don't do it because you 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.020 have literally talked yourself out of capability 00:02:21.020 --> 00:02:26.120 and capacity. And so I started telling him, I 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:28.539 want you to repeat after me. I am good at math. 00:02:29.180 --> 00:02:33.280 And the amount of hatred that I got from my son 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.120 for this, no, I am not doing it. Burying his 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:38.680 face in a pillow, like, you know, like hiding 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:41.419 under the table. You know, there might be some 00:02:41.419 --> 00:02:43.340 exaggeration here, but that's what it felt like 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:45.460 to me. So he'd be sitting there and, For about 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:47.300 a year or so, we'd go through this. I'm good 00:02:47.300 --> 00:02:48.939 at math. I'm good at math. I'm good at math. 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:52.460 Repeat it. We'd do it 10, 20, 30, 40 times. And 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:55.580 we got through it. And as he grew through that, 00:02:56.139 --> 00:02:58.120 you know, as he was getting older, we began to 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.500 see these explosions of emotion when he didn't 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:03.099 know what to do with his body. He didn't know 00:03:03.099 --> 00:03:04.979 what to do. So he would go, he'd run up into 00:03:04.979 --> 00:03:07.740 his room and throw himself on his bed. And sometimes 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:09.240 to the point where, like, I had to physically 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.479 restrain him from, like, going. going off in 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.620 wild, throwing tantrums, things like that. And 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:19.879 one day, and I don't remember exactly where it 00:03:19.879 --> 00:03:21.680 happened, but we were in his room upstairs. It 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:24.659 was probably about six years ago. He was nine 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:27.759 years old, maybe eight, nine years old. And I 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:31.060 was holding him in his room and he was trying 00:03:31.060 --> 00:03:32.960 to throw a tantrum and throw a fit and so on. 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:36.539 And it just, it dawned on me one day. I said, 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.620 Riley, do you understand that you are the only 00:03:39.620 --> 00:03:42.669 one that has control over what you do? And that 00:03:42.669 --> 00:03:45.490 you are the only one that controls how you act, 00:03:45.569 --> 00:03:50.610 how you respond, and how you think. And so I 00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:54.030 was just instantly came on and I said, Riley, 00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:55.449 I want you to say this after me. I want you to 00:03:55.449 --> 00:03:59.129 say, I control my body. I control my mind. I 00:03:59.129 --> 00:04:01.990 control my actions. And that covers all three 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:05.330 parts of our lives, everything that we do. Because 00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:07.330 it's what we do, it's what we say, and it's how 00:04:07.330 --> 00:04:11.919 we act. And so... Over the last five years, any 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:16.500 time that my boys have begun to act out, be upset, 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:19.759 get frustrated, they'll go into their room and 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.439 they'll throw themselves on the bed and they'll 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:24.399 be angry and they'll be upset. And I will come 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.920 in and I will remind them, say it after me, I 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.339 control my body, I control my mind, I control 00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:36.060 my actions. And I think that over time it has 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:39.129 begun to show. them that they actually have the 00:04:39.129 --> 00:04:43.149 capacity to create change and make change in 00:04:43.149 --> 00:04:44.930 their lives and lately what i've been telling 00:04:44.930 --> 00:04:48.370 them is you know where you are in your life right 00:04:48.370 --> 00:04:51.529 now is a result of every single choice that you 00:04:51.529 --> 00:04:53.949 have made up until this exact moment and the 00:04:53.949 --> 00:04:55.790 only way you are going to get a different result 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.290 after this is by making a different choice or 00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:01.850 a series of different choices that come from 00:05:01.850 --> 00:05:04.910 control and that is only through controlling 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:08.300 your body controlling your mind, and then controlling 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:12.480 your actions. Because when you start with your 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.300 mind, I control my mind, which then means I control 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:17.720 my body, which then means that each action that 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:21.240 I take after that is a direct result of controlling 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:25.779 my mind. And so as they've grown up, as Ethan 00:05:25.779 --> 00:05:27.740 and Riley have both grown up, and Addison will 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:29.720 get it soon, she's not old enough to understand 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:34.079 this yet, but continuing to remind them on a 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:37.689 daily basis. I control my actions. I control 00:05:37.689 --> 00:05:41.910 my body. I control my mind. And it's something 00:05:41.910 --> 00:05:43.889 that they have taken to heart. They don't always 00:05:43.889 --> 00:05:46.269 like it. They don't always like the fact that 00:05:46.269 --> 00:05:48.569 I remind them of this. Ethan was over there hiding 00:05:48.569 --> 00:05:50.990 his face a minute ago because he doesn't like 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:54.129 that I remind him of these things. But, you know, 00:05:54.149 --> 00:05:57.250 we create resiliency in our own lives through... 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:00.240 taking direct control of our bodies and who we 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.800 are. And we may not like the situation we're 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:04.279 in. This has nothing to do with the situation 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:06.899 we find ourselves in other than knowing that 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:09.740 every decision I made up until that moment landed 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:13.180 me in that exact spot where I am right there. 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:16.480 The only way to progress past that is by making 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.620 a different choice, controlling your body, controlling 00:06:19.620 --> 00:06:24.420 your mind, controlling your actions. And I could 00:06:24.420 --> 00:06:26.199 go on for another hour, but Dean probably has 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:29.540 more to say. So he's got to preach. But that's 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:31.279 where it came from. That's where my boys, that's 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:35.160 where I continually work to train them every 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:37.699 day. I mean, you see my shirt today, 1 % better 00:06:37.699 --> 00:06:40.540 every day. This comes from a book called Atomic 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.399 Habits. If you've never read it, I highly recommend 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.800 it. But if you make tiny incremental changes 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.759 each day, everyone thinks the movies show you 00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:54.240 that it has to be some big revelation, revelatory. 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:57.069 Idea change something that suddenly will make 00:06:57.069 --> 00:06:58.709 your life different and then that'll be amazing 00:06:58.709 --> 00:07:01.050 and it's like you won the lottery But in reality 00:07:01.050 --> 00:07:02.750 the way that our lives change when we control 00:07:02.750 --> 00:07:04.569 our body our mind and our actions the little 00:07:04.569 --> 00:07:06.810 changes the little Things that you do each day 00:07:06.810 --> 00:07:09.730 creating consistency and discipline self -control 00:07:09.730 --> 00:07:13.529 Will get you to where you want to go regardless 00:07:13.529 --> 00:07:17.029 of your age your status or what you've done in 00:07:17.029 --> 00:07:21.350 your life previously All right give Jordan a 00:07:21.350 --> 00:07:27.949 hand Now, we can look at this in a couple of 00:07:27.949 --> 00:07:29.889 ways. We can look at this as self -help. Everybody 00:07:29.889 --> 00:07:33.509 say self -help. Or we can look at it as a spiritual 00:07:33.509 --> 00:07:40.889 principle. Try to put both words together. You 00:07:40.889 --> 00:07:45.790 know the Bible speaks about self -control. It 00:07:45.790 --> 00:07:50.329 tells us how important self -control is. Now, 00:07:50.389 --> 00:07:54.750 other than just like a one -off message, I've... 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.639 I've never even heard someone preach about self 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.019 -control unless they were going through the fruit 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:04.819 of the Spirit, like I've done before, and you 00:08:04.819 --> 00:08:07.279 preach every Sunday about a different fruit of 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:11.579 the Spirit. That's all I've ever heard from a 00:08:11.579 --> 00:08:13.819 pulpit or from the Bible on self -control. It's 00:08:13.819 --> 00:08:17.740 all that's ever come to me, but I want to give 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:21.019 some text to you. Now, we read this text a lot, 00:08:21.100 --> 00:08:24.860 right? 2 Peter 1, 3 through 8. Says this, by 00:08:24.860 --> 00:08:30.379 his divine power, God has given us everything 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:35.440 we need for living a godly life. Somebody say 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.240 thank you. Here's the deal. God's already given 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:43.179 you everything you need for living a godly life. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:49.139 We have received all of this by coming to know 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:55.509 him. It's part of the relationship. We've received 00:08:55.509 --> 00:08:58.370 all of this by coming to know him, the one who 00:08:58.370 --> 00:09:01.950 called us to himself by means of his marvelous 00:09:01.950 --> 00:09:07.990 glory and excellence. And because of his glory 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:14.009 and excellence, he has given us great and precious 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:21.090 promises. Thousands of promises in God's word. 00:09:22.830 --> 00:09:28.490 That God has made to you and to me. Now, until 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:32.009 we find out what those promises are, we're not 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:35.009 going to be able to receive them. Because all 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:38.629 of the promises of God are received by faith. 00:09:39.710 --> 00:09:44.529 Listen, they're grace gifts. We don't earn them 00:09:44.529 --> 00:09:50.639 or deserve them. So they're available. But the 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.600 only way we ever receive anything from God is 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:58.340 by faith. We got to hear it. We got to wholeheartedly 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:03.480 believe it. I'm going to throw this out there. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.100 We got to put our words in agreement with it. 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:11.480 Like Jordan was sharing, I'm terrible at math. 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:15.559 I hate math. I can't do math. Well, guess what? 00:10:16.259 --> 00:10:20.840 You're not going to be able to do math. Now, 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:23.120 we did a whole series on words in November and 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.240 December. I'm not going to do that again. But 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:27.639 the Bible says the power of life and death is 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:31.120 in your tongue. The Bible says some of the problems 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.879 that you face are a result of the words that 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:39.220 you have built. If you need those verses, I'll 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:40.860 find them and give them to you after we get done 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:45.580 if you don't believe me. But God has given us 00:10:45.580 --> 00:10:50.659 great and precious promises. These are the promises 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:54.519 that enable you to share his divine nature and 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:58.759 escape the world's corruption caused by human 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:02.100 desires. How many of you need some escape every 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:07.620 once in a while? God's promises. Is that what 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:11.100 it says? Is that what the Bible says? Hello? 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:16.399 It's what the Bible says. Sometimes we have to 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.299 make a choice to believe what the Bible says. 00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:25.480 instead of what sometimes our old religious mindset 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:33.299 says. All right. I'm preaching good. You're not 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:39.519 amening as good. In view of all this, in view 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:44.740 of God's glory and excellence and his promises, 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:51.769 in view of all this, Make every effort to respond 00:11:51.769 --> 00:12:00.509 to God's promises. Supplement your faith with 00:12:00.509 --> 00:12:07.370 a generous provision of moral excellence. And 00:12:07.370 --> 00:12:12.009 moral excellence with knowledge. I mean, I could 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:13.730 preach on every single one of these, but we're 00:12:13.730 --> 00:12:16.250 getting to this next one. And knowledge with 00:12:16.250 --> 00:12:22.299 self -control. Everybody say self -control. So 00:12:22.299 --> 00:12:26.919 in light of God's glory and his marvelous things 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:30.379 that he's doing and all the promises that he's 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:33.980 given us, we need to add to our faith some self 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:38.419 -control. With patient endurance and patient 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:41.519 endurance with godliness and godliness with brotherly 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.000 affection and brotherly affection with love for 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.669 everyone. Listen. The more you grow like this, 00:12:49.889 --> 00:12:54.110 and we're focusing in on one of many, but everybody 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:57.830 say self -control. So the more you grow in self 00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:03.269 -control, listen, the more productive and useful 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:07.230 you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus 00:13:07.230 --> 00:13:11.129 Christ. So how many of you see that it's going 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:14.769 to take some self -control for us to be useful 00:13:14.769 --> 00:13:19.620 in the kingdom of God? Because without some self 00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:23.860 -control, you might know a lot, but you won't 00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:27.940 be respected a lot. Come on, somebody. Don't 00:13:27.940 --> 00:13:32.159 shout me down while I'm preaching. Good. Supplement 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:35.500 your faith with a generous portion of self -control 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:40.759 to be more productive and useful in the kingdom 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:43.039 of God. Now, what's that word self -control mean? 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:47.370 Here's the Greek word. I always butcher it even 00:13:47.370 --> 00:13:49.129 though I put it up phonetically how to say it. 00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:58.029 Enkrateia. Enkrateia. Is that close? It's a compound 00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:00.409 word. It's two Greek words put together. In the 00:14:00.409 --> 00:14:05.509 sphere of. Enkratos, which is dominion mastery. 00:14:07.509 --> 00:14:12.450 So that word is properly translated self -control. 00:14:13.259 --> 00:14:18.620 Self -control is dominion within. It means we're 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:21.980 going to control as you do word studies. I mean, 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:24.419 look it up on Interlinear. Look that verse up. 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:26.759 Look this word up. You can Google it, and you 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:29.139 can look in, what is it, the Bible Hub is what 00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:30.960 we look at. There's word studies and all that 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:36.039 kind of stuff. Look up this word, and a lot of 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:38.080 what I'm about to tell you came from that word 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.570 study. You can look it up. But we have self -control 00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:45.070 over our thoughts. We have self -control over 00:14:45.070 --> 00:14:47.730 our feelings. We have self -control over our 00:14:47.730 --> 00:14:51.169 actions. We can add some more things, but this 00:14:51.169 --> 00:14:56.889 was in that word study that I got. So, I'm going 00:14:56.889 --> 00:14:58.610 to say this again later, but we can't control 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:05.309 everything. Some of us would like to control 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:08.629 other people and control all the circumstances. 00:15:10.509 --> 00:15:13.330 But really, all we control, all we can control 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:20.210 is our sphere, us, right? We can control ourselves. 00:15:23.769 --> 00:15:26.450 How many of you would agree with me, you might 00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:29.789 could have a little bit more self -control than 00:15:29.789 --> 00:15:33.470 you have in some areas of your life? Wow, we're 00:15:33.470 --> 00:15:35.029 going up. There's like eight people raised their 00:15:35.029 --> 00:15:42.039 hand there. Here's some more. 1 Corinthians 9, 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:45.899 24. Don't you realize that in a race, everyone 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:51.799 runs? But only one person gets the prize. So 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:54.299 run to win. Look at the person beside you and 00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:56.539 say, run to win. If you're running, you need 00:15:56.539 --> 00:16:01.100 to run to win. And then in verse 25, it says, 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:06.080 all athletes are disciplined. Well, guess what? 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:10.779 Same word. Everybody say, same word. Same word. 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:16.539 All athletes exercise self -control. Everybody 00:16:16.539 --> 00:16:23.519 say self -control. In their training. They do 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:28.899 it to win, to win a prize. And earthly prizes, 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:32.159 you know, I've won some trophies and I have no 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:38.600 idea where they are. I've got a football trophy. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:44.159 I've got a medal for doing a 5K. I've got a letter 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.700 jacket with three different, I've lettered in 00:16:46.700 --> 00:16:49.320 three different sports. I have no idea where 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:51.899 that letter jacket is. I thought about it the 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:54.259 other day. Where's that thing at? I mean, I put 00:16:54.259 --> 00:16:58.919 in a lot of discipline and self -control to letter 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:02.340 and, let's see, football, tennis, and track. 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:07.420 I put in a lot. Don't even know where it is. 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:12.740 I think my football trophy broke. So it's in 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:16.579 a landfill somewhere, most likely. They do it 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:18.920 to win a prize. All this self -control, do it 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:23.880 to win a prize that will fade away. How many 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:27.319 trophies are in landfills? Has anybody ever watched 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.180 American Pickers? I mean, after your life is 00:17:30.180 --> 00:17:33.019 over, the trophies stay in here. Even if you 00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:36.940 still have it, it'll stay in here. Somebody will 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:42.890 buy it for $5. But that's not what our self -control 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:45.150 is about. Our self -control, we do it for an 00:17:45.150 --> 00:17:49.869 eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every 00:17:49.869 --> 00:17:57.069 step. I'm not just shadow boxing. I discipline 00:17:57.069 --> 00:18:01.829 my body like an athlete, training it to do what 00:18:01.829 --> 00:18:04.930 it should. It's talking about spiritual things. 00:18:05.529 --> 00:18:07.450 It's talking about self -control and spiritual 00:18:07.450 --> 00:18:10.920 things. It's giving us... this athlete as a earthly 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:15.000 picture, but God is telling us something spiritual. 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:20.980 We need self -control. Self -control is essential. 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:26.079 If you want to live with purpose and if you want 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:32.359 to live in victory, self -control is essential. 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.849 I need amen or something on that. Because that's 00:18:37.849 --> 00:18:41.150 just putting the verses in direct talk with what 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:42.630 we're, right? They were talking about winning 00:18:42.630 --> 00:18:48.930 and a prize. And here's the one that I've heard 00:18:48.930 --> 00:18:51.809 sermons on before, Galatians 5 .22. But the Holy 00:18:51.809 --> 00:18:55.210 Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. 00:18:56.130 --> 00:19:03.650 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 00:19:04.029 --> 00:19:08.430 faithfulness. gentleness, and there's one more, 00:19:08.549 --> 00:19:16.650 self -control. Everybody say self -control. So 00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:18.509 how many of you think self -control might be 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:20.150 a little more important than you thought it was 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:22.589 before today? When you look at these verses, 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:27.490 this is a spiritual thing, not just an earthly 00:19:27.490 --> 00:19:31.789 thing, even though it works. But guess what? 00:19:31.869 --> 00:19:35.529 It can work a lot better. Because the fruit of 00:19:35.529 --> 00:19:38.309 the Spirit, fruit of the Holy Spirit is self 00:19:38.309 --> 00:19:43.589 -control. Self -control. Now what does that tell 00:19:43.589 --> 00:19:47.910 us? Those first two things it's saying to add 00:19:47.910 --> 00:19:52.029 to your faith, self -control. If you want to 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:54.529 live in victory and live with purpose, you're 00:19:54.529 --> 00:19:57.930 going to have to have some self -control. But 00:19:57.930 --> 00:20:01.869 what does this verse tell us? It tells us we're 00:20:01.869 --> 00:20:06.880 not alone. See, as far as self -help and motivation 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:13.039 goes, we're just on our own, right? But for spiritual 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:18.859 self -control, we've got a helper. Who needs 00:20:18.859 --> 00:20:23.859 a helper? Who has looked at your life and said, 00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:29.680 boy, I need more self -control? Well, the Holy 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:38.279 Spirit can help you. It isn't that he just can. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:42.960 He wants to. He wants to help you with this self 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.079 -control over spiritual things and over your 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:56.400 life. I mean, Gannon and I went to eat and I 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:03.799 just kept on eating. And I was miserable. I just 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:09.750 kept eating. And I'm like, why did I eat so much? 00:21:10.569 --> 00:21:15.410 See, I want to blame my mama. Because my mama 00:21:15.410 --> 00:21:21.309 said, you have to clean your plate. So I'm good 00:21:21.309 --> 00:21:25.109 at cleaning my plate. But if you go to Florida 00:21:25.109 --> 00:21:28.829 Homecoming Kitchen down at Disney Springs and 00:21:28.829 --> 00:21:32.109 you order a plate, it might be enough to feed 00:21:32.109 --> 00:21:36.400 a family of four. But that's the plate in front 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:42.720 of me. There wasn't a drop left on it. Because 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:46.140 that's the way I was trained. Clean your plate. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:49.640 We don't throw away food in our house because 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:52.640 there's starving children in Africa. And we're 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.380 not going to be throwing away any food. Hello? 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:03.839 But as I was miserably trying to breathe going 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:06.920 to bed on Thursday night or Friday night, Thursday 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:13.740 night, I'm laying there. I'll tell you what, 00:22:13.819 --> 00:22:17.480 I'm going to... And see, it's not just going 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:24.240 to happen. Look at me. If we ask the Holy Spirit 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:31.490 to help us, it's not going to happen. See, it's 00:22:31.490 --> 00:22:33.910 not going to happen if we just say, you know, 00:22:34.069 --> 00:22:37.470 Holy Spirit, here it is on Sunday morning. I 00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:41.490 need you to help me not to eat, not to clean 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:43.950 my plate. If it's more than I need to eat, or 00:22:43.950 --> 00:22:45.990 if it's something that I don't need to eat. And 00:22:45.990 --> 00:22:50.349 then yesterday, you know, Robert said, do you 00:22:50.349 --> 00:22:53.609 want sweet tea today? And I'm like, see, I've 00:22:53.609 --> 00:23:00.279 had a lot of self -control. But I gave in yesterday. 00:23:01.539 --> 00:23:03.740 And I didn't just drink one glass of sweet tea. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.099 I drank like three or four glasses of sweet tea. 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.519 And I think he makes it like my mama. I think 00:23:10.519 --> 00:23:13.700 he puts two full cups of sugar in one gallon 00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:17.839 of sweet tea. How many of you know that's probably 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.700 not good for you? See, I need some self -control, 00:23:20.740 --> 00:23:25.140 but I can't just say today, all right, Holy Spirit, 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.710 I want you to help me make... Better decisions 00:23:27.710 --> 00:23:30.309 when I'm sitting at the restaurant, you know, 00:23:30.329 --> 00:23:32.829 help me make better decisions. I can't just ask 00:23:32.829 --> 00:23:35.470 him to do it today and then not even acknowledge 00:23:35.470 --> 00:23:42.210 him when I go to the restaurant. It's not a one 00:23:42.210 --> 00:23:49.470 and done prayer. Hello? I can't say, I have no 00:23:49.470 --> 00:23:57.170 self -control, so I need you to control me. Take 00:23:57.170 --> 00:24:04.990 self -control. But the good news is, not just 00:24:04.990 --> 00:24:07.230 a one -time prayer asking Him to help you, but, 00:24:07.349 --> 00:24:11.390 and that's just one thing. I don't mean to get 00:24:11.390 --> 00:24:14.569 on you about eating because I'm the worst. That's 00:24:14.569 --> 00:24:16.650 a bad confession, isn't it? I'm the best. I make 00:24:16.650 --> 00:24:23.470 the best choices. But God will help us in every 00:24:23.470 --> 00:24:27.869 area. These are some things from the word study. 00:24:29.349 --> 00:24:32.329 When I read it, I was just like, wow. I've got 00:24:32.329 --> 00:24:35.630 to write that down and say it. I've got to copy 00:24:35.630 --> 00:24:39.589 and paste that. Here's the kind of self -control 00:24:39.589 --> 00:24:43.869 that God wants us to have because he wants to 00:24:43.869 --> 00:24:46.789 empower us. So it's self -control proceeding 00:24:46.789 --> 00:24:51.829 out from within oneself. It's self -control being 00:24:51.829 --> 00:24:55.880 displayed in me. but not by oneself. It's not 00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:58.799 that I have to have enough mental fortitude and 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.880 willpower to control myself because I have a 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:09.799 helper to control my thoughts, my words, my actions. 00:25:09.859 --> 00:25:20.180 I've got a helper. True mastery from within can 00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:22.539 really only be accomplished by the power of the 00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:27.769 Lord. For it to be the level that it needs to 00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:31.710 be, we've got to have some power and some strength 00:25:31.710 --> 00:25:39.269 from God. Here's another one. Self -control is 00:25:39.269 --> 00:25:46.730 not just about abstaining from excess, but involves 00:25:46.730 --> 00:25:50.569 a positive mastery and direction of one's energies 00:25:50.569 --> 00:25:56.069 and desires towards godly purposes. Because we 00:25:56.069 --> 00:25:58.190 can look at self -control and it can all be negative 00:25:58.190 --> 00:26:00.730 because I overate and I drank too much sweet 00:26:00.730 --> 00:26:03.250 tea. And that's kind of negative, right? But 00:26:03.250 --> 00:26:08.130 it works in a positive way too. Self -control 00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:14.089 does. Not just not doing the wrong thing, but 00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:18.829 doing the right thing. That's good preaching 00:26:18.829 --> 00:26:22.049 right there. Anyway, listen, like I said, we 00:26:22.049 --> 00:26:24.869 can't control. everything or everyone around 00:26:24.869 --> 00:26:31.329 us, but we can control ourselves. Now let me 00:26:31.329 --> 00:26:34.849 help you. You're going to have thoughts that 00:26:34.849 --> 00:26:40.750 pop in your mind that are negative, tearing down. 00:26:42.549 --> 00:26:45.190 Those thoughts are going to pop into your mind. 00:26:46.170 --> 00:26:50.289 Every single one of us have those thoughts. So 00:26:50.289 --> 00:26:52.329 don't sit here and think, well, Dean said I've 00:26:52.329 --> 00:26:54.279 got to... have self -control over my thoughts, 00:26:54.339 --> 00:26:56.480 so I should never have a bad thought. And if 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:59.299 I have a bad thought, then I'm defeated. That's 00:26:59.299 --> 00:27:02.480 not what I'm saying. When I'm saying you can 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.700 have self -control over your thoughts, I'm saying 00:27:05.700 --> 00:27:09.299 that you have self -control. You can have self 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:14.519 -control over what you dwell on, over what you 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:20.460 continue to think on. Hello? Because when we 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:25.220 have a thought of fear, I mean, it just applies 00:27:25.220 --> 00:27:27.000 to everything, though. I hate to just do one 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:29.279 thing. But when we have this negative thought 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:31.700 that comes into our minds, we've got to take 00:27:31.700 --> 00:27:33.900 that thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:38.460 We don't have to dwell on it. When that what 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:41.819 if thought comes, how many of you have some what 00:27:41.819 --> 00:27:44.900 if thoughts every once in a while? You know, 00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:46.839 you're driving here and you see a wreck and you're 00:27:46.839 --> 00:27:51.309 like, all of a sudden, what if you have it? What 00:27:51.309 --> 00:27:56.910 if you get rear -ended on I -4? Does anybody 00:27:56.910 --> 00:27:59.769 have some what -if thoughts? You never have what 00:27:59.769 --> 00:28:10.089 -if thoughts? What if? And then we wind up, you 00:28:10.089 --> 00:28:12.650 know, being overcome and overwhelmed with worry 00:28:12.650 --> 00:28:17.650 and fear over something that has never even happened. 00:28:18.809 --> 00:28:27.490 Hello? When that what if thought comes, you go, 00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:31.049 hey, nope, taking that one captive, that's just 00:28:31.049 --> 00:28:32.829 going to lead me to worry, and it's going to 00:28:32.829 --> 00:28:35.329 lead me to fear, and that's not what I'm going 00:28:35.329 --> 00:28:37.710 to think about. I'm going to think about how 00:28:37.710 --> 00:28:40.490 good God is. I'm going to think about how much 00:28:40.490 --> 00:28:43.910 God loves me. I'm going to think about the people 00:28:43.910 --> 00:28:48.609 that do love me. I'm going to set my mind on 00:28:48.609 --> 00:28:53.359 things that my mind needs to be set on. Things 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.240 that are of good report and lovely and pure. 00:28:55.859 --> 00:28:58.480 Those things that God tells us to set our minds 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:04.880 on. So we can't control everything or everyone 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.900 around us, but we can control what we set our 00:29:08.900 --> 00:29:15.700 mind on. We can control to stop feelings from 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:20.599 running away. We can control that. And we're 00:29:20.599 --> 00:29:22.339 really going to control that by controlling our 00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:26.740 thoughts. Because our thoughts are what? Our 00:29:26.740 --> 00:29:33.200 thoughts are the engine for our feelings. We 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:35.839 can control our actions. We can control our reactions. 00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:39.359 How many of you would say, I might need some 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:43.859 self -control on my reactions? Because I don't 00:29:43.859 --> 00:29:51.200 always react. Sometimes I react. A little too 00:29:51.200 --> 00:30:01.359 much. Here's what we need to know. Self -control 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:07.480 is a vital part of the spirit -filled life. Self 00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:11.440 -control spiritually will take us to where our 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:13.660 actions and our thoughts can be aligned with 00:30:13.660 --> 00:30:21.549 God's will and God's word. I've got to bust some 00:30:21.549 --> 00:30:24.230 song theology. How many of you know we get a 00:30:24.230 --> 00:30:29.210 lot of theology from songs? How many of you know 00:30:29.210 --> 00:30:32.690 that some people hold to the theology of a song 00:30:32.690 --> 00:30:37.950 more than they hold to the Word of God? I've 00:30:37.950 --> 00:30:41.170 had people come up and try to correct me something 00:30:41.170 --> 00:30:44.170 that I read out of the Bible because it didn't 00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:46.349 agree with some song that they thought that was 00:30:46.349 --> 00:30:52.230 good theology. Now, you might have never done 00:30:52.230 --> 00:30:56.369 that. But I've had people try to correct the 00:30:56.369 --> 00:31:04.730 Bible with a song. That's so funny. We sing about 00:31:04.730 --> 00:31:07.710 giving God control. I'm not picking on the artists 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:09.529 right now, but there's a big song on the radio. 00:31:09.650 --> 00:31:14.750 I give you control. Whoa. I give you control. 00:31:16.829 --> 00:31:19.970 And I know you've heard the classic. Jesus, take 00:31:19.970 --> 00:31:30.190 the wheel. Take it from my hands. And we think 00:31:30.190 --> 00:31:32.109 because the song's on Christian radio, it's got 00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:41.710 to be good theology. I actually do that. When 00:31:41.710 --> 00:31:43.549 I hear a song on the radio and I'm like, that's 00:31:43.549 --> 00:31:45.789 terrible theology, I just hit the button and 00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:48.480 cut the radio off. Until another song comes on. 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:51.799 Because I don't want to feed all that in my spirit. 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:56.059 And you might be saying, well, what's wrong with 00:31:56.059 --> 00:32:08.119 giving God control? Who has a Tesla? There's 00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:13.579 a thing in a Tesla. It don't work? You might 00:32:13.579 --> 00:32:17.380 have a contradicting. statement over here because 00:32:17.380 --> 00:32:20.539 my friend drove all the way from Philadelphia 00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:22.619 and didn't even touch the steering wheel, I think. 00:32:26.619 --> 00:32:31.259 Tesla autopilot. Here's what it's called, advanced 00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:34.400 driver assistance system. And they have a full 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:37.579 self -driving mode, but you got to be supervised. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:40.779 So here's your video. Watch the dude's hands 00:32:40.779 --> 00:32:44.579 on his legs. Can you see it? Is it coming up 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:48.069 on me? See, his hands are on his legs, and the 00:32:48.069 --> 00:32:49.950 car's just navigating. He told the car where 00:32:49.950 --> 00:32:54.509 he wanted it to go. It's changing lanes. It's 00:32:54.509 --> 00:32:58.430 turning left. His hands are on his legs, waiting 00:32:58.430 --> 00:33:00.390 on traffic, turning left in front of traffic. 00:33:01.789 --> 00:33:07.210 Look, it's construction. Tight gaps in the neighborhood. 00:33:10.529 --> 00:33:13.809 Curvy roads. Wow. I think they sped up the video. 00:33:13.829 --> 00:33:16.940 I don't think it's going that fast. Merges in 00:33:16.940 --> 00:33:21.700 traffic. Forks in the road. Hey, chose to go 00:33:21.700 --> 00:33:29.920 left and stuff. Roundabouts. Stop signs. Hands 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:35.759 on his legs the whole time. Car pulled out and 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:37.900 did a U -turn right in front of him. It braked 00:33:37.900 --> 00:33:42.680 itself. Didn't run over that kid running in front 00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:46.960 of him. Then it's going to park right back where 00:33:46.960 --> 00:33:49.400 he left. Hands stayed on his legs the whole time. 00:33:50.519 --> 00:33:55.299 Now, look to the person beside you and say, God's 00:33:55.299 --> 00:34:03.920 not a Tesla. Here's the deal. Even before Tesla 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:07.559 was invented, even before this automatic driving 00:34:07.559 --> 00:34:12.000 fool thing, even before all that, I've got to 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.670 be honest with you. I've prayed. Multiple times. 00:34:18.769 --> 00:34:23.650 Wanting God to take control. Because, here's 00:34:23.650 --> 00:34:28.130 why. Because I didn't have the self -control 00:34:28.130 --> 00:34:31.690 to take care of it myself. And I wanted God to 00:34:31.690 --> 00:34:44.949 do it. Here's the deal. God doesn't ever say 00:34:44.949 --> 00:34:51.090 that He's going to take the wheel or be in control, 00:34:51.329 --> 00:34:54.809 meticulous control of your life, of your thoughts, 00:34:54.889 --> 00:35:00.730 of your decisions. Find it in the Bible and let 00:35:00.730 --> 00:35:04.969 me know, because I've been looking. It doesn't 00:35:04.969 --> 00:35:07.309 say that, but we want God. You know why? Because 00:35:07.309 --> 00:35:09.369 we don't want any responsibility. We don't want 00:35:09.369 --> 00:35:11.750 to do the hard things. We want God to take control. 00:35:11.809 --> 00:35:14.030 We want God to control us. We want to give up 00:35:14.030 --> 00:35:16.670 control with Him. See, it sounds very spiritual 00:35:16.670 --> 00:35:23.690 in those songs, but as far as I can find, it's 00:35:23.690 --> 00:35:28.230 not biblical. I mean, we just read those verses, 00:35:28.349 --> 00:35:35.449 right? Now, two weeks ago, I preached on Jesus 00:35:35.449 --> 00:35:40.030 being Lord, and we looked at Hebrew and Greek 00:35:40.030 --> 00:35:43.769 words. How many words was it? Three or four different 00:35:43.769 --> 00:35:48.269 words that are translated Lord in your Bible. 00:35:49.010 --> 00:35:52.929 And we talked about, you know, Jesus is going 00:35:52.929 --> 00:35:55.949 to be Lord over whatever we allow him to be Lord 00:35:55.949 --> 00:36:02.570 over. Now, some people get mad and they say, 00:36:02.590 --> 00:36:04.429 well, Jesus is Lord whether you allow him to 00:36:04.429 --> 00:36:06.849 be Lord or not. Well, he is Lord, but he's not 00:36:06.849 --> 00:36:09.389 your Lord until you allow him to be your Lord. 00:36:13.289 --> 00:36:17.869 What does Lord mean? Lord doesn't mean that he's 00:36:17.869 --> 00:36:21.989 in meticulous control of my life. I can make 00:36:21.989 --> 00:36:24.750 a bad decision to do something bad even before 00:36:24.750 --> 00:36:28.389 I leave this room. He's not going to control 00:36:28.389 --> 00:36:32.789 me and stop me from doing that. But for him to 00:36:32.789 --> 00:36:34.889 be Lord means that he is our respected authority. 00:36:36.329 --> 00:36:38.710 And those words were that he's our ruler, he's 00:36:38.710 --> 00:36:41.809 our owner, he's our master. It doesn't mean that 00:36:41.809 --> 00:36:47.949 he's our controller. Now, you might say, but 00:36:47.949 --> 00:36:50.309 I thought, yeah, I've read this verse in a sermon 00:36:50.309 --> 00:36:54.989 before. Some English versions use the word control 00:36:54.989 --> 00:37:01.670 to communicate the idea of being in or being 00:37:01.670 --> 00:37:06.130 submitted to. But just because the English version 00:37:06.130 --> 00:37:11.010 has control in the word doesn't necessarily mean 00:37:11.010 --> 00:37:14.840 the same word that we looked at. self -mastery, 00:37:14.840 --> 00:37:18.360 self -control in the sphere that we have control 00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:22.139 of, which is ourselves. So, I'm going to give 00:37:22.139 --> 00:37:31.039 you an instance. Romans 8, 9. But you are not 00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:34.119 controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled 00:37:34.119 --> 00:37:37.199 by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living 00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:43.280 in you. That's not the same word, controlled. 00:37:46.019 --> 00:37:50.599 Right? New King James is a better translation 00:37:50.599 --> 00:37:53.960 here, looking at the Greek words. But you're 00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:58.860 not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed 00:37:58.860 --> 00:38:04.079 the Spirit of God dwells in you. So when we're 00:38:04.079 --> 00:38:07.980 born again, we're in the Spirit, we're in Christ. 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:11.539 But that doesn't mean that we're controlled. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:16.679 Are you with me? Some of you are looking at me 00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:21.820 a little funny. Jesus doesn't take the will. 00:38:24.659 --> 00:38:28.280 Here's what God does. He empowers you to take 00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:39.989 the will while He guides you. See? We got to 00:38:39.989 --> 00:38:45.929 live spirit -led lives. He's going to tell us 00:38:45.929 --> 00:38:49.070 when to turn. He's going to tell us when to hit 00:38:49.070 --> 00:38:51.630 the brakes. He's going to tell us when to hit 00:38:51.630 --> 00:38:54.510 the gas. And I'm not just talking about cars. 00:38:54.610 --> 00:39:00.090 I'm talking about life. He wants to guide us. 00:39:01.409 --> 00:39:03.449 But we have to take the wheel. And he's going 00:39:03.449 --> 00:39:06.889 to empower us to have that self -control. God 00:39:06.889 --> 00:39:11.400 wants to take you somewhere. That he's not going 00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:15.219 to control you. I'm going to say that again. 00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:22.619 God wants to take you somewhere. He wants to 00:39:22.619 --> 00:39:27.039 take you somewhere. But he's not going to control 00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:34.480 you. We have to submit. And that's part of self 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:38.440 -control too. Submitting our will, our desires, 00:39:38.699 --> 00:39:43.860 our... Our wants, submitting to the Lord, submitting 00:39:43.860 --> 00:39:46.219 to the Holy Spirit, being led by the Spirit. 00:39:48.280 --> 00:39:52.440 So many times we just go through life all in 00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:57.420 our head with no spirit connection. So many times 00:39:57.420 --> 00:40:01.059 we only think spiritual when we come to church 00:40:01.059 --> 00:40:03.059 on Sunday morning, and then everything else is 00:40:03.059 --> 00:40:06.880 just me. I mean, I lived a lot of years like 00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:15.349 that. I'm submitted on Sunday, but everything 00:40:15.349 --> 00:40:19.949 else is just me. And I'll go visit God again 00:40:19.949 --> 00:40:26.809 next week. I don't know if I've hammered this 00:40:26.809 --> 00:40:28.869 enough, but here it is. I'm hammering it again. 00:40:29.829 --> 00:40:33.829 We pray and desire for God to control us. That 00:40:33.829 --> 00:40:37.289 He tells us that He will empower us to control 00:40:37.289 --> 00:40:43.019 ourselves. He empowers, He guides, He directs, 00:40:43.019 --> 00:40:48.000 but we control. That's why self -control is so 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:52.980 important. Here's just a few areas. God desires 00:40:52.980 --> 00:40:59.679 to renew your mind. Hello? That's a good thing, 00:40:59.699 --> 00:41:02.820 right? We need our minds renewed. God desires 00:41:02.820 --> 00:41:07.579 to renew your mind through His Word, but not 00:41:07.579 --> 00:41:11.429 to control your mind. God desires to inspire 00:41:11.429 --> 00:41:15.869 your words. But He's not going to control your 00:41:15.869 --> 00:41:19.170 words. How many of you heard yourself say something 00:41:19.170 --> 00:41:21.010 this week and you say, well, God definitely won't 00:41:21.010 --> 00:41:26.070 control the net. Especially driving in this traffic 00:41:26.070 --> 00:41:33.949 around here. You might need to say, bless your 00:41:33.949 --> 00:41:35.849 heart a whole lot more when you're driving in 00:41:35.849 --> 00:41:42.960 traffic. Bless your heart. God desires to direct 00:41:42.960 --> 00:41:50.619 your actions, not control them. Here we go. This 00:41:50.619 --> 00:41:55.400 is the wrap. From the scripture that we looked 00:41:55.400 --> 00:41:58.179 at, this is the wrap. This very short version 00:41:58.179 --> 00:42:01.639 of this will be before our stories and our applications 00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:04.820 in the coming weeks. I think we have at least, 00:42:04.820 --> 00:42:08.059 what, at least four more messages. Might be more 00:42:08.059 --> 00:42:12.460 than that. God instructs us to supplement our 00:42:12.460 --> 00:42:16.320 faith with a generous provision of self -control 00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:19.679 so that we can be more productive and useful. 00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:23.840 God tells us that self -control is essential 00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:28.400 for us to live with purpose and live in victory. 00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:33.099 God desires to empower us to have self -control. 00:42:33.639 --> 00:42:39.239 So our actions, thoughts, and desires. can align 00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:46.659 with his will. Self -control is important. How 00:42:46.659 --> 00:42:50.340 many of you want to live a victorious life? Right? 00:42:50.900 --> 00:42:54.039 It's going to take some self -control. And you 00:42:54.039 --> 00:42:57.719 know that. See, this is common sense knowledge, 00:42:57.840 --> 00:42:59.460 what we're talking about. When we really look 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:02.480 at our lives, we know that so much of it comes 00:43:02.480 --> 00:43:04.780 down to self -control. Maybe you didn't realize 00:43:04.780 --> 00:43:09.730 that you had to help her. To help you with that 00:43:09.730 --> 00:43:12.769 self -control. God wants to be a part of that. 00:43:14.389 --> 00:43:17.789 We have to submit to him. Let's pray together. 00:43:17.949 --> 00:43:20.929 God, thank you for today. Thank you for your 00:43:20.929 --> 00:43:24.849 goodness. Thank you for your word. God, I pray 00:43:24.849 --> 00:43:28.190 that your word would be planted into good soil 00:43:28.190 --> 00:43:33.530 in our hearts. So that it will spring up and 00:43:33.530 --> 00:43:37.929 grow and produce a harvest of self -control. 00:43:38.329 --> 00:43:49.510 in our lives. Thank you for working in us. Thank 00:43:49.510 --> 00:43:56.010 you for working through us. In Jesus' name, amen. 00:43:57.030 --> 00:43:59.849 This online worship experience was brought to 00:43:59.849 --> 00:44:02.630 you by the friends and partners of Eulation Church.