WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.219 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:09.820 Elation Church. Week number five. Everybody say 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:13.119 week number five. Go ahead and say it. Week number 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:19.379 five in our series on self -control. Self -control. 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.120 Have you learned anything from the series on 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.719 self -control? You know, I didn't realize how 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:31.800 important self -control was. to every area of 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:35.759 my spiritual life. I mean, I knew it was important. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:38.219 Before this study, though, I didn't realize how 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:42.899 important it was. It's very important. Self -control 00:00:42.899 --> 00:00:48.200 is very important if you want to live a spiritual 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.740 life, a godly life. Self -control is going to 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:56.079 play a vital part. 2 Peter 1, verses 3 through 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:01.899 8. By his divine power, God has given us everything 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:07.579 we need for living a godly life. Do you know 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:11.560 that? It doesn't say by his divine power, God 00:01:11.560 --> 00:01:16.359 will give us everything we need, does it? Hello? 00:01:17.159 --> 00:01:22.040 Y 'all gonna have to wake up. I won't throw water 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.260 on you if you fall asleep. I'm just kidding. 00:01:25.420 --> 00:01:30.140 It doesn't say God will. Since God has already 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:32.900 given us everything we need for living a godly 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:37.959 life. Somebody say, it's already mine. Everything 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:40.540 you need for living a godly life, it's already 00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:44.560 yours. We have received all of this, how? By 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:49.980 coming to know him in salvation. By coming to 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:53.180 know him, the one who called us to himself by 00:01:53.180 --> 00:01:57.000 means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 00:01:58.859 --> 00:02:04.120 And because of his glory and excellence, he has 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:12.319 given us great and precious promises. Look at 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:13.960 the person beside you and say, I have some promises 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:19.479 from God. Come on, move your lips. Don't just 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:20.860 say it in your head, say it with your mouth. 00:02:20.919 --> 00:02:30.629 I have some promises from God. You do. Now, here's 00:02:30.629 --> 00:02:32.689 the deal. It's going to be up to you whether 00:02:32.689 --> 00:02:35.330 those promises are applied to your life or not. 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:39.889 He has given us great and precious promises. 00:02:41.150 --> 00:02:44.810 These promises that he's given us, these are 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:50.289 the promises that enable you to share his divine 00:02:50.289 --> 00:02:57.210 nature and escape the world's corruption caused 00:02:57.210 --> 00:03:03.620 by human. Who needs some escape every once in 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:09.199 a while? Right? I think we all do. But God's 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:15.280 promises enable us to share his divine nature 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.319 and escape the world's corruption caused by human 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:22.800 desires. That's why it's messed up the world 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:26.360 is human desires. It all started back in the 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:30.340 garden, right? That's when sin entered. It's 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:35.080 human desires. Not godly desires, but human desires 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:40.580 messed it all up. In view of all this, in view 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:45.659 of what? He's given us everything we need to 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:48.780 live a godly life. He's given us great and precious 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:53.000 promises, right? So in light of all that, in 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:56.900 view of all that, make every effort to respond. 00:03:57.949 --> 00:04:03.370 To God's promises. Everybody say, I have to respond. 00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:12.610 It's up to you whether you respond to God's promises 00:04:12.610 --> 00:04:22.029 or not. Respond to God's promises. Here's how 00:04:22.029 --> 00:04:26.019 you need to respond. Supplement your faith. Well, 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:28.519 it's by faith that we're going to take hold of 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:32.879 any and all of God's promises, right? So he expects 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.079 us to already know this by the time we get to 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.759 here. It's going to take faith. You're going 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:40.660 to have to hear it. You're going to have to believe 00:04:40.660 --> 00:04:43.339 it. You're going to have to act on it. You're 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:44.720 going to have to put your words in agreement 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.500 with it. That's faith. But supplement your faith 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:53.160 with a generous provision of moral excellence. 00:04:56.299 --> 00:04:59.199 supplement your faith with a generous provision 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:03.860 of moral excellence and moral excellence with 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:10.300 knowledge. You know what that means? We're going 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:14.660 to have to spend some time in the Word. Right? 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:20.360 We can't live sloppy lives, and we've got to 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:24.079 spend some time in the Word. We've got to add 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:28.370 that to our faith. And knowledge, here it is, 00:05:28.509 --> 00:05:31.949 with self -control. Everybody say self -control. 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:36.629 Y 'all need to smile. You need to have self -control 00:05:36.629 --> 00:05:40.449 to smile so that I can preach better today because 00:05:40.449 --> 00:05:45.670 you're smiling. Knowledge with self -control 00:05:45.670 --> 00:05:50.610 and self -control with patient endurance. How 00:05:50.610 --> 00:05:52.089 many of you know if you're going to live by faith, 00:05:52.170 --> 00:05:53.970 you're going to have to have some patient endurance? 00:05:58.089 --> 00:06:02.850 And patient endurance with godliness. And godliness 00:06:02.850 --> 00:06:09.550 with brotherly affection. And brotherly affection 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:15.129 with love for everyone. Not just within the family 00:06:15.129 --> 00:06:21.029 of God. But we're called to even love the people 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:25.910 who are hard to love. Has anybody ever... ran 00:06:25.910 --> 00:06:28.889 into somebody that was hard to love before. I 00:06:28.889 --> 00:06:30.790 don't know if I have enough hands to hold up. 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:36.250 I mean, I don't have enough fingers to hold up 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:39.790 to tell you about the people that I've ran into 00:06:39.790 --> 00:06:41.870 that might be just a little bit hard to love. 00:06:46.930 --> 00:06:52.290 We have to add love to our faith because faith 00:06:52.290 --> 00:06:59.300 works. Through love. If we miss the love element, 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:03.579 then our faith is not going to work. Let's keep 00:07:03.579 --> 00:07:08.220 going. Verse 8. The more you grow like this, 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:14.600 the more productive and useful you will be in 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:19.060 your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:21.800 wants to be productive? Who wants to be useful? 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:26.720 I do. Well, supplement your faith with a generous 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:30.339 provision of all those things, and we're focusing 00:07:30.339 --> 00:07:35.860 in on self -control to be more productive and 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:41.480 useful. Now, self -control, that's a Greek word. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:48.220 New Testament was written in Greek. Enkrateia. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:54.029 Enkrateia. I think that's close. It's a compound 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:58.569 word. In means in the sphere of and kratos means 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:02.569 dominion or mastery. So this word self -control 00:08:02.569 --> 00:08:09.149 means dominion within or self -control. It means 00:08:09.149 --> 00:08:12.829 that we have self -control over what is in us. 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:17.910 Self -control over our thoughts. We talked a 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:21.470 week about that. Self -control over our feelings. 00:08:22.920 --> 00:08:29.399 Self -control over our actions. Self -control. 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:35.460 1 Corinthians 9 .24 says this, Don't you realize 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:39.419 that in a race everyone runs, but only one person 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:46.440 gets the prize? So run to win. The Holy Spirit 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:49.399 through Paul often talked about our Christian 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:56.470 life being like a race. It's not a sprint. It's 00:08:56.470 --> 00:09:02.830 a marathon. It's a marathon. Look to the person 00:09:02.830 --> 00:09:08.210 beside you and say, run to win. If you're not 00:09:08.210 --> 00:09:10.909 talking to the person beside you, say, I'm running 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:17.309 to win. So run to win. Listen, all athletes are 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:21.330 disciplined. Guess what? It doesn't say self 00:09:21.330 --> 00:09:24.149 -control here. But it's the exact same Greek 00:09:24.149 --> 00:09:30.090 word. All athletes are disciplined. They exercise 00:09:30.090 --> 00:09:33.909 self -control. Everybody say self -control. Self 00:09:33.909 --> 00:09:37.470 -control in their training. They do it to win 00:09:37.470 --> 00:09:40.750 a prize that will fade away. But we do it for 00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:46.669 an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every 00:09:46.669 --> 00:09:51.409 step. I'm just letting it sit there a minute. 00:09:53.870 --> 00:09:56.970 Everybody say, I run with purpose. See, we're 00:09:56.970 --> 00:09:59.529 not just running. We're running with purpose 00:09:59.529 --> 00:10:04.909 in our spiritual life. I run with purpose in 00:10:04.909 --> 00:10:13.970 every step. I'm not just shadowboxing. This isn't 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:21.110 practice. I'm not just shadowboxing. I discipline 00:10:21.110 --> 00:10:26.549 my body. like an athlete, training it to do what 00:10:26.549 --> 00:10:30.789 it should do. Everybody say self -control. Self 00:10:30.789 --> 00:10:33.769 -control is essential. In that verse, we see 00:10:33.769 --> 00:10:36.789 that self -control is essential to living with 00:10:36.789 --> 00:10:44.970 purpose and living in victory. Is there anybody 00:10:44.970 --> 00:10:47.769 in the room who's more than a conqueror? Through 00:10:47.769 --> 00:10:52.509 Christ who strengthens them. Somebody say, I 00:10:52.509 --> 00:10:58.830 am. Self -control is essential. And Galatians 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:02.870 5 .22 says this, but the Holy Spirit, God the 00:11:02.870 --> 00:11:07.070 Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our 00:11:07.070 --> 00:11:17.009 lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 00:11:17.409 --> 00:11:24.899 goodness. faithfulness, gentleness, and self 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:31.940 -control. This is good news. It's good news. 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:37.980 It's good news because the fruit of the Spirit 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:41.679 is all those things that I said, but it's also 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:46.220 self -control. That's good news because that 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:50.220 lets us know that we have a helper. We're not 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:55.279 on our own. People who are not in Christ, they're 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:59.519 just on their own. Trying to apply self -control 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:03.600 the best they can. But we have a helper. And 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:07.320 if we will acknowledge him, he will empower us 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:11.659 to have self -control. But we have to acknowledge 00:12:11.659 --> 00:12:18.379 him. Y 'all quit smiling on me. Gotta keep smiling. 00:12:20.330 --> 00:12:24.269 Self -control is, these are some word studies 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:29.610 that we found working on the introduction. Self 00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:32.570 -control means it's proceeding out from within 00:12:32.570 --> 00:12:36.669 oneself, but it's not by oneself when it's self 00:12:36.669 --> 00:12:40.789 -control according to the word of God. Self -control 00:12:40.789 --> 00:12:45.129 is true mastery from within, and it can only 00:12:45.129 --> 00:12:50.919 be accomplished by the power of the Lord. He's 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:57.100 living in us. He will empower us. Self -control 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:01.200 is not just about abstaining from something or 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.000 abstaining from excess. Sometimes we look at 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.159 self -control that way. Well, if I have self 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.200 -control, I won't do this and I won't do that 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.899 and I won't say this and I won't say that and 00:13:11.899 --> 00:13:16.220 I won't have this attitude. Hello? Sometimes 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:19.960 it's just about the negative. But self -control 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:25.519 is for the positive too. It's not just abstaining, 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:31.279 but it involves a positive mastery and direction 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:34.259 of one's energies and desires towards godly purposes. 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:41.779 Everybody say focus. And we talked about this 00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:45.539 every week. And we need to know this. We can't 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:51.100 control everything around us. We can't. We can't 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:55.500 control everyone around us. How many of you have 00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.340 tried to control everything around you before 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:02.320 and you figured out you can't do that? Have you 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:06.279 tried to control everybody around you? Am I the 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:12.019 only one? Figured out you can't do that. Here's 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:20.019 the deal. Only you can control you. You can have 00:14:20.019 --> 00:14:25.940 self -control God wants you to have self -control 00:14:25.940 --> 00:14:32.340 he empowers you to have self -control Today we're 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:37.620 going to talk about controlling our words Controlling 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:41.379 our words How many of you know it takes a lot 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:44.639 of self -control to control what comes out of 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:52.049 your mouth James says this, James 3, 7, people 00:14:52.049 --> 00:14:57.350 can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:07.110 fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless 00:15:07.110 --> 00:15:17.360 and evil and full of deadly poison. Has anybody 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.200 ever said something before and you said, yeah, 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:20.940 that was pretty evil what came out of my mouth. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:25.919 That was like poison. I mean, you know. And you 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:30.179 wish. See, sometimes after we get those words 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:32.360 out there, we wish that we would have never got 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:34.519 them out there, but we can't pull them back in. 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:43.039 Because what has been said has been said. And 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.320 I just want to remind you. Everything that you 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:53.820 see in creation was created by words. Right? 00:15:55.320 --> 00:16:00.019 It's created by words. It's held together by 00:16:00.019 --> 00:16:09.460 God's word. Now, James said, you can't do it. 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:15.110 No one can tame the tongue. But what Jesus said 00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:20.870 was, humanly speaking, it's impossible. But with 00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:28.309 God, everything is possible. With God. Somebody 00:16:28.309 --> 00:16:31.590 say with God. With God. And we just looked at 00:16:31.590 --> 00:16:35.769 that. We're with God. If we're in Christ, we're 00:16:35.769 --> 00:16:38.889 with God. We have a helper who's going to help 00:16:38.889 --> 00:16:45.039 us. The way to have self -control over your words 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:50.299 is to acknowledge the Holy Spirit and partner 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:58.240 with Him. If we acknowledge God more than we 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.039 acknowledge God, I'm not talking about just at 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.860 church, because we all come to church and we 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:04.839 all acknowledge God while we're at church, right? 00:17:05.019 --> 00:17:06.599 I mean, that's why we're here. We're acknowledging 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:14.849 God. But what about after church is over? What 00:17:14.849 --> 00:17:18.890 about on Monday morning? What about on Saturday 00:17:18.890 --> 00:17:25.910 night? Are we acknowledging God? And if we were 00:17:25.910 --> 00:17:30.470 acknowledging Him like He wants us to, because 00:17:30.470 --> 00:17:33.390 we're supposed to live our lives walking in the 00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:35.769 Spirit. We're supposed to be led by the Spirit. 00:17:35.890 --> 00:17:39.569 We need to be acknowledging Him. And if we acknowledged 00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:45.109 him, we would have more power in our lives. I 00:17:45.109 --> 00:17:48.470 really wanted that amen right then. So I guess 00:17:48.470 --> 00:17:52.670 I'll just have to amen myself. James 3, let's 00:17:52.670 --> 00:17:56.109 continue reading. We can make a large horse go 00:17:56.109 --> 00:17:58.710 wherever we want by means of a small bit in his 00:17:58.710 --> 00:18:03.130 mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn 00:18:03.130 --> 00:18:06.960 wherever the pilot chooses to go. Even though 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:12.579 the winds are strong. In the same way, everybody 00:18:12.579 --> 00:18:16.079 say just like that. In the same way, because 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:21.119 James was not just talking about ships and horses. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:28.240 He was talking about tongues. In the same way, 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:36.609 the tongue is a small thing. So just like A rudder 00:18:36.609 --> 00:18:41.109 steers a ship and a bit in a horse's mouth steers 00:18:41.109 --> 00:18:46.930 the horse. Your words determine the direction 00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:54.269 and destination of your life. Does anybody remember 00:18:54.269 --> 00:18:56.890 hearing anything like this in like November and 00:18:56.890 --> 00:19:01.730 December? Has anybody mastered it since then? 00:19:02.890 --> 00:19:09.539 Still work on it just a little bit? Right? The 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:13.500 rudder on the ship determines the direction of 00:19:13.500 --> 00:19:17.839 the ship. The bit in the horse's mouth, it's 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:23.720 like a steering wheel for the horse. I'm going 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.160 to bring up an old illustration, a six -month 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.400 -old illustration, because some of you were not 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:34.839 here when I said it. If you want to go to New 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:44.259 York, You cannot drive south and get there. Somebody 00:19:44.259 --> 00:19:52.960 go, wow. That's wisdom. Right? If you want to 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.440 go to New York, you're not going to get there. 00:19:55.480 --> 00:20:01.099 You'll never get there if you drive south. Never. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.869 If you drive south, depending on the roads that 00:20:06.869 --> 00:20:09.490 you hit, you'll wind up in Key West. It's about 00:20:09.490 --> 00:20:12.329 as far south as you can get. Unless you're over 00:20:12.329 --> 00:20:16.150 above Texas and you can get, you know, maybe 00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:17.950 you can pick up a road and wind up in the bottom 00:20:17.950 --> 00:20:23.130 of South America. But you'll never get to New 00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:33.089 York. You're like, so? Listen, if your words 00:20:33.089 --> 00:20:40.640 steer your life, You'll never reach where God 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:44.240 wants you to be and where God's best. You'll 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:47.619 never reach God's best if your words are in the 00:20:47.619 --> 00:20:51.200 opposite direction of what God has said. You 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:53.740 got to get your words in agreement with his words 00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:58.720 to wind up with the life that you want to live. 00:21:02.519 --> 00:21:06.359 Because you'll never get there. without steering 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:10.920 in that direction. And how do you steer? Somebody 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:16.579 help me. How do you steer your life? How do you 00:21:16.579 --> 00:21:20.400 determine which direction you're going in? Thank 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.299 you. It's going to happen through your words. 00:21:26.299 --> 00:21:29.559 There are things that you should say, and there 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:37.859 are things that you shouldn't say. Right? The 00:21:37.859 --> 00:21:42.220 tongue, Proverbs 18, 21, the tongue can bring 00:21:42.220 --> 00:21:50.039 death or life. Those who love to talk will reap 00:21:50.039 --> 00:21:59.779 the consequences. As a response to that verse, 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:04.680 you can say, oh, no, or you can say, hallelujah. 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:15.140 Isn't that what it says? Your tongue can bring 00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:20.519 life or death. Those who love to talk will reap 00:22:20.519 --> 00:22:24.019 the consequences. So if my tongue is in agreement 00:22:24.019 --> 00:22:26.519 with God, if my words are in agreement with God, 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:31.119 God is life, right? And if my tongue is in agreement 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:36.359 with him, my tongue is going to bring me life, 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:42.680 the life of God. If my tongue is always speaking 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:45.619 death and my tongue is always negative, you know 00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:50.980 what? It's going to bring me death. The more 00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:55.200 we talk, the more we're going to reap. 1 Peter 00:22:55.200 --> 00:23:00.819 3 .10 Does anyone want to enjoy life? Four of 00:23:00.819 --> 00:23:06.940 us. If you want to enjoy life and see many happy 00:23:06.940 --> 00:23:15.150 days, keep your tongue From speaking evil. So 00:23:15.150 --> 00:23:18.390 your words have a lot to do with whether you 00:23:18.390 --> 00:23:21.410 enjoy your life and whether you have happy days. 00:23:22.569 --> 00:23:26.190 If you wake up dreading to go to work and dreading, 00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:28.410 just everything's just, oh, it's just terrible. 00:23:28.990 --> 00:23:31.789 People I work with are terrible. My boss is terrible. 00:23:31.910 --> 00:23:33.990 The hours are terrible. The work is terrible. 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:39.890 Guess what? You're not going to have happy days. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:58.839 didn't write this. I didn't write it. Seems like 00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:01.000 to me if you want to enjoy your life and have 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:06.039 happy days is up to self -control over your words. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:12.880 This is the day the Lord has made. I'm going 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:21.119 to rejoice. And be glad in it. Instead of bread 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:29.220 and Monday. Come on. Somebody say oh me or amen 00:24:29.220 --> 00:24:35.359 or something. Proverbs 21 verse 23. Watch your 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:41.359 tongue and keep your mouth shut and you will 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:52.140 stay out of trouble. I mean, do we want to rip 00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:53.839 this verse out of the Bible? Do we want to rip 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.720 this page out? Or do we want to look at it and 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.619 say, okay, God, you're talking to me. I'm going 00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:03.420 to respond to your promise. I'm going to respond 00:25:03.420 --> 00:25:10.319 to your word in a positive way. Because that 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:12.819 verse is telling me that most of the trouble 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:19.440 that I face began with my words. Hebrews 10, 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:24.849 23. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the 00:25:24.849 --> 00:25:29.549 hope we affirm. That phrase, hope we affirm, 00:25:29.690 --> 00:25:33.990 is homologia. And here's what it means. It means 00:25:33.990 --> 00:25:37.690 confession. It means profession. It means what's 00:25:37.690 --> 00:25:42.210 coming out of your mouth. Hold tightly without 00:25:42.210 --> 00:25:48.690 wavering to your words that are set with the 00:25:48.690 --> 00:25:51.619 hope of God's promise. We can word it that way. 00:25:53.059 --> 00:26:00.519 For God can be trusted to keep his promise. So 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.339 our words need to be in agreement with him. And 00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:07.839 that's part of taking hold of his promise. Hold 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:12.460 tight to the right kind of words. That's what 00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.779 this is telling us. Hold tightly. Don't waver. 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:20.680 Don't speak in accordance with the promise of 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:24.359 God and then say about how terrible it is. And 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.359 then, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't 00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:37.140 go back and forth all the time. Everybody say 00:26:37.140 --> 00:26:49.079 this. This will change my life. It will. Going 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:51.779 to look at a story. Familiar story, probably, 00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:56.539 to most of the people. Joshua 6, starting with 00:26:56.539 --> 00:27:02.940 verse 1. Now Jericho was securely shut up because 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:05.500 of the children of Israel. None went out, none 00:27:05.500 --> 00:27:08.579 came in. How many of you are familiar with the 00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:11.440 story of God's people coming out of slavery in 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:17.750 Egypt and they went to the promised land? Well, 00:27:17.809 --> 00:27:21.769 all the adults except two that came out of Egypt 00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:25.809 never made it to the promised land. They died 00:27:25.809 --> 00:27:28.849 in the wilderness. It was only their kids and 00:27:28.849 --> 00:27:31.309 the younger ones that actually made it to the 00:27:31.309 --> 00:27:33.329 promised land. And I'm going to go ahead and 00:27:33.329 --> 00:27:35.490 tell you the main reason they didn't make it 00:27:35.490 --> 00:27:37.690 was because of their words. They were always 00:27:37.690 --> 00:27:44.930 complaining. God was doing miracles and they 00:27:44.930 --> 00:27:49.680 were complaining. And then we looked at it in 00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:53.779 this series about controlling our thoughts. God 00:27:53.779 --> 00:27:55.720 had given them a promise, and when they got there, 00:27:55.759 --> 00:28:00.259 they sent in spies, and all 12 spies saw the 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:05.720 same thing with their eyes. But 10 of them came 00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:11.940 back with defeated thoughts and defeated words. 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:19.980 Two of them came. With thoughts and words that 00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:30.519 held tightly to the promise of God. Those are 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:35.279 the only two that made it into the promised land. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:42.400 The two, that their thoughts and their words, 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:45.359 they had self -control over their thoughts and 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:49.660 their words. They were the only two that made 00:28:49.660 --> 00:28:54.960 it to the land flowing with milk and honey. The 00:28:54.960 --> 00:29:01.220 only two. The other ten, along with most of the 00:29:01.220 --> 00:29:04.240 adults, Hey Moses, why did you bring us out here 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:06.039 so that we could just die in the wilderness? 00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:07.920 We're just going to die in the wilderness. We 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:10.400 might as well go back to Egypt and be slaves. 00:29:10.579 --> 00:29:13.220 At least we've got onions with our food in Egypt. 00:29:15.950 --> 00:29:17.970 I'd rather be a slave with onions than to be 00:29:17.970 --> 00:29:25.150 free. But their words, over and over and over 00:29:25.150 --> 00:29:27.069 and over and over again, they said, well, why'd 00:29:27.069 --> 00:29:29.309 you bring us out here just to die in the wilderness? 00:29:33.089 --> 00:29:40.569 Power of life and death is in your words. They 00:29:40.569 --> 00:29:46.190 got what they said. Caleb and Joshua, Got what 00:29:46.190 --> 00:29:50.369 they said. Because they said, you know what? 00:29:50.950 --> 00:29:55.009 God promised us this land. Yeah, there's some 00:29:55.009 --> 00:29:56.609 giants. Yeah, there's going to be some battles. 00:29:56.769 --> 00:30:00.210 But God's on our side. We've seen what God can 00:30:00.210 --> 00:30:04.509 do. Hello? Can anybody in the room say, I've 00:30:04.509 --> 00:30:09.069 seen what God can do. I look back over some situations 00:30:09.069 --> 00:30:12.069 in my life that it looked like I was, it was 00:30:12.069 --> 00:30:15.039 hopeless and helpless. But I've seen what God 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:26.720 can do. Now, Joshua is leading them into the 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.019 promised land. And the first city that they face 00:30:30.019 --> 00:30:34.759 is Jericho. It's a walled city. Now, it's not 00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:39.500 just a little cement block or stone wall around 00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:45.569 Jericho. They actually had chariot races on top 00:30:45.569 --> 00:30:49.269 of the wall around Jericho and people had houses. 00:30:49.609 --> 00:30:53.690 It was like apartments in the wall. That's where 00:30:53.690 --> 00:30:57.109 Rahab lived, in the wall. And they would have 00:30:57.109 --> 00:31:00.250 chariots around the outside of the city. It was 00:31:00.250 --> 00:31:03.809 a huge fortified city. Now Jericho was shut up 00:31:03.809 --> 00:31:07.180 because of the children of Israel. We find out 00:31:07.180 --> 00:31:09.119 from Rahab they've been shaking in their boots 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:12.220 for 40 years because they heard what God had 00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:17.200 done to the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. And 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:23.900 they're like, oh no. God's on their side. They 00:31:23.900 --> 00:31:28.500 have victory against every nation and people 00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:31.779 that they face. They had victory over and over 00:31:31.779 --> 00:31:35.119 and over again. And now they're here. So Joshua 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:37.000 was securely shut up because the children of 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:45.299 Israel, none went out, none came in. Here's the 00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:49.079 deal. Jericho stood between God's people and 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:56.680 God's promise. I want to ask you a question. 00:31:56.779 --> 00:32:03.069 What's standing today between you And God's promise 00:32:03.069 --> 00:32:05.170 that you've seen in the word. God's promise for 00:32:05.170 --> 00:32:07.490 you personally. God's promise for your family. 00:32:07.529 --> 00:32:11.430 God's promise. What is standing between you and 00:32:11.430 --> 00:32:18.910 God's promise? It was Jericho for God's people. 00:32:20.230 --> 00:32:23.650 Big, huge, fortified, walled city. It's on lockdown. 00:32:24.710 --> 00:32:27.910 We could call it a fortress or a stronghold. 00:32:30.380 --> 00:32:36.180 It's a fortified place. It's held safely. Everybody 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:39.660 say strongholds. Here's the deal. Strongholds 00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:44.000 can be good or bad. Most of the time when we 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:47.200 talk about strongholds, we talk about bad strongholds. 00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:50.519 But did you know that there could be some good 00:32:50.519 --> 00:33:03.900 strongholds? Good stronghold is a position that 00:33:03.900 --> 00:33:06.660 has been built up in your mind and in your heart 00:33:06.660 --> 00:33:11.880 that stands for God and God's promises and God's 00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:17.339 word. And you're just confident. Just like I've 00:33:17.339 --> 00:33:20.880 shared the story before. I'll never be at another 00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:22.960 place in my life. Now, I have been in places. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.559 I have been in this place before, but I will 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:28.359 never be at the point in my life. where I say, 00:33:28.420 --> 00:33:32.420 God, where are you? Why did you leave me here? 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:41.599 I'll never do that again. Because of my experience 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:45.819 and encounter with God, I know because of his 00:33:45.819 --> 00:33:48.619 promise and because of that experience that I 00:33:48.619 --> 00:33:52.839 had with, I know that he will never leave me 00:33:52.839 --> 00:33:55.359 or forsake me. He's not going to turn his back 00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:59.440 on me. He's always here. I mean, that's his name. 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:02.680 We talked about the names of God. One of God's 00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:10.739 names is I am here. Yahweh Shammah. I am here. 00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:17.679 So that's a positive stronghold in my life. So 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:21.699 you can have some fortresses and some strongholds 00:34:21.699 --> 00:34:25.500 of faith in your life. As a matter of fact, every 00:34:25.500 --> 00:34:30.360 single one of us need to develop some faith strongholds 00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:34.019 in our lives. No matter what we see, no matter 00:34:34.019 --> 00:34:36.820 what we think, no matter what we feel, we stand 00:34:36.820 --> 00:34:44.300 in agreement with God. Strongholds could be good 00:34:44.300 --> 00:34:49.179 or bad. Strongholds can be on the outside like 00:34:49.179 --> 00:34:55.769 Jericho or they can be on the inside. Every single 00:34:55.769 --> 00:35:01.269 one of us, I believe, deal with this. I haven't 00:35:01.269 --> 00:35:03.730 arrived in every area of my life. I'm still in 00:35:03.730 --> 00:35:06.090 the process. Yeah, I'm the preacher, and I'm 00:35:06.090 --> 00:35:12.730 still in the process just like you. Okay? There 00:35:12.730 --> 00:35:16.789 may be some things that I am victorious in. There 00:35:16.789 --> 00:35:18.809 may be some different things that you're victorious 00:35:18.809 --> 00:35:24.179 in, but we're all in the process. Strongholds 00:35:24.179 --> 00:35:26.559 can be on the outside or the inside. Here's some 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:29.360 bad ones that we all have to deal with. You're 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.599 not alone. Bad thought patterns. Negative emotions. 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:47.500 Bitterness. Sometimes rage. Fear. Worry. That 00:35:47.500 --> 00:35:54.559 even builds to anxiety. Those are strongholds 00:35:54.559 --> 00:36:01.760 that we all deal with on the inside. I want you 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:08.659 to smile. And I want you to say, I can have victory. 00:36:11.099 --> 00:36:16.159 Victory is mine in Christ. I can be victorious. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.469 The Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho 00:36:24.469 --> 00:36:31.429 into your hand. You see a big walled city. You 00:36:31.429 --> 00:36:33.789 see soldiers all the way around the top of it, 00:36:33.789 --> 00:36:36.849 holding their spears and their shields. And God 00:36:36.849 --> 00:36:41.429 says, hey, Joshua, look, I've given it to you. 00:36:41.650 --> 00:36:46.170 I've given it into your hand. It's king, the 00:36:46.170 --> 00:36:52.750 mighty men of valor. I've given it to you. Joshua 00:36:52.750 --> 00:37:00.550 could have said, but God, I don't see it. I see 00:37:00.550 --> 00:37:05.570 soldiers. I see strongholds. I see fortification. 00:37:05.570 --> 00:37:14.610 I don't see it being mine. See, I have given 00:37:14.610 --> 00:37:19.050 Jericho into your hand. That Hebrew word in the 00:37:19.050 --> 00:37:22.340 Old Testament, see. means to advise yourself. 00:37:26.940 --> 00:37:30.300 Don't just say, look with your eyes. See, when 00:37:30.300 --> 00:37:33.179 we read the word see, we say, oh, God just wants 00:37:33.179 --> 00:37:37.539 him to look at it. Just look at the walls of 00:37:37.539 --> 00:37:43.019 Jericho. That's not what God said. God said, 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:49.559 hey, Joshua, advise yourself. I've given you, 00:37:49.619 --> 00:37:54.340 Jericho. You need to advise yourself that I have 00:37:54.340 --> 00:37:57.239 given it to you. Thank you for getting excited. 00:38:00.980 --> 00:38:02.960 There's some things in your life that God is 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.599 saying, hey, advise yourself. I've given you 00:38:06.599 --> 00:38:11.460 this promise. Go ahead and advise yourself that 00:38:11.460 --> 00:38:16.440 it's yours. Just go ahead and get happy about 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:21.139 it. Hey, Joshua, advise yourself that I've given 00:38:21.139 --> 00:38:24.199 Jericho into your hand, their kings, all their 00:38:24.199 --> 00:38:27.099 army. I've given them into your hands. You need 00:38:27.099 --> 00:38:29.780 to start saying that. Talk to yourself. Hey, 00:38:29.940 --> 00:38:33.460 I've given it to you. God's given it to me, and 00:38:33.460 --> 00:38:36.900 I'm going to get happy about it. I'm going to 00:38:36.900 --> 00:38:40.519 joyfully look on it. That's the definition of 00:38:40.519 --> 00:38:43.280 the word. God is saying, go ahead and get happy 00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:50.619 about it because I've given it to you. many of 00:38:50.619 --> 00:38:53.179 us look at a promise in the word of God and we 00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:58.219 say, well, I wish I could have that. I'm miserable. 00:38:59.900 --> 00:39:06.420 I don't see how, I can't even see a life without 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:13.179 fear. I can't see a life without worry. I can't 00:39:13.179 --> 00:39:17.519 see a life without anxiety. I can't see a life 00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:27.070 of victory. And God is saying, advise yourself 00:39:27.070 --> 00:39:31.090 and go ahead and get happy about it. Because 00:39:31.090 --> 00:39:34.550 I'm faithful and I made you a promise. And if 00:39:34.550 --> 00:39:38.070 you'll take hold of my promise, hey, you might 00:39:38.070 --> 00:39:40.050 need some patient endurance. Remember we talked 00:39:40.050 --> 00:39:41.769 about patient endurance. You might need some 00:39:41.769 --> 00:39:44.090 patient endurance, but go ahead and get happy 00:39:44.090 --> 00:39:50.510 about it. Advise yourself. Speak positively about 00:39:50.510 --> 00:39:53.539 it. Look joyfully on the promise. Before you 00:39:53.539 --> 00:39:59.139 have the promise. Verse 3. You shall march around 00:39:59.139 --> 00:40:04.400 the city. All you men of war. You shall go all 00:40:04.400 --> 00:40:09.619 around the city at once. Or once. This you shall 00:40:09.619 --> 00:40:15.820 do for six days. And seven priests shall bear 00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:19.579 seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. 00:40:21.670 --> 00:40:26.170 But the seventh day, you shall march around the 00:40:26.170 --> 00:40:34.690 city seven times. And then we had some instructions. 00:40:37.010 --> 00:40:40.369 That was God telling Joshua what to do and how 00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:43.510 to lead the people. And then when Joshua is telling 00:40:43.510 --> 00:40:49.809 the people, he says this, you shall not shout. 00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:55.599 or make any noise with your voice, nor shall 00:40:55.599 --> 00:41:04.980 a word proceed out of your mouth. Six days. Over 00:41:04.980 --> 00:41:13.340 a million people. Hello? How many of you think 00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:20.550 a million people could walk around a city, and 00:41:20.550 --> 00:41:25.530 never say a word. No noises, no shouts, no words. 00:41:30.550 --> 00:41:36.949 Would that be difficult for you to do? That's 00:41:36.949 --> 00:41:41.349 what God told them. That's what He told them. 00:41:44.130 --> 00:41:49.610 Why do you think He told them that? Just use 00:41:49.610 --> 00:41:55.820 your, Glorified imagination. Does anybody have 00:41:55.820 --> 00:41:59.840 a glorified imagination? Use your glorified imagination. 00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:03.440 Why did God tell them to be quiet, not say a 00:42:03.440 --> 00:42:10.460 word? Because they're walking around Jericho, 00:42:10.539 --> 00:42:14.079 they see the soldiers. How many of you think 00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:17.659 it would be easy to say, why are we walking around 00:42:17.659 --> 00:42:23.639 it? It's kind of stupid. You know, just walking. 00:42:25.260 --> 00:42:28.159 I mean, they're looking at us like we're crazy. 00:42:28.179 --> 00:42:32.239 We're just marching around the city. Six days? 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.159 Why would we walk around? Why are we doing this 00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:42.980 for six days? This don't make any sense. This 00:42:42.980 --> 00:42:47.300 isn't going to accomplish anything. Walking around? 00:42:49.800 --> 00:42:51.559 And then on the seventh day, they said, okay, 00:42:51.579 --> 00:42:54.079 guys, we're going to walk around it seven times 00:42:54.079 --> 00:43:02.940 today, not just one. Don't say a word. Walking 00:43:02.940 --> 00:43:19.119 around. I want to tell you something. Maybe you're... 00:43:19.079 --> 00:43:21.559 You're not at the point to speak the promises 00:43:21.559 --> 00:43:29.800 of God before you see them. But that doesn't 00:43:29.800 --> 00:43:35.880 mean that you can quit speaking death. You got 00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:41.039 to quit speaking death. You got to quit complaining. 00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:48.429 You got to quit dreading. You got to quit. Just 00:43:48.429 --> 00:43:54.730 talking words of worry and lack and anger and 00:43:54.730 --> 00:43:59.369 fear. Because all you're doing is you're fortifying 00:43:59.369 --> 00:44:09.489 the negative stronghold in your life. Take self 00:44:09.489 --> 00:44:16.650 -control to keep your mouth shut sometimes. Thank 00:44:16.650 --> 00:44:23.289 you for laughing. Three people laughed. How many 00:44:23.289 --> 00:44:25.250 of you would say, I just don't have a filter. 00:44:25.690 --> 00:44:30.409 I just don't have a filter. And just whatever 00:44:30.409 --> 00:44:40.030 pops in your brain comes out your mouth. Here's 00:44:40.030 --> 00:44:42.409 the deal. That's simply just a lack of self -control. 00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:50.360 I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to help 00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:56.340 you. Now, you can get mad or you can get glad. 00:44:57.880 --> 00:45:06.800 Glad that somebody wants to help you. It's time 00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:08.460 for us to get to the point where we don't say, 00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:12.679 oh, I just don't have a filter. No, what you 00:45:12.679 --> 00:45:14.380 don't have is self -control. That's what you 00:45:14.380 --> 00:45:21.139 don't have. You have a helper. Here's the deal. 00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:23.820 You need self -control to keep from fortifying 00:45:23.820 --> 00:45:27.739 your negative inner strongholds with your words. 00:45:29.099 --> 00:45:36.579 You need self -control. I see people writing, 00:45:36.719 --> 00:45:43.400 so I'm leaving it up here. I saw you go. Last 00:45:43.400 --> 00:45:45.360 time because I switched it too fast. You didn't 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.960 get to write it. I didn't talk about it. It's 00:45:47.960 --> 00:45:50.019 all good. It's all good. I'll show it to you 00:45:50.019 --> 00:45:56.980 after you're done if you miss them. We need self 00:45:56.980 --> 00:46:02.719 -control. Self -control to keep from fortifying 00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:06.059 our negative inner strongholds with our words. 00:46:10.239 --> 00:46:17.980 If we want to enjoy our life. And have some happy 00:46:17.980 --> 00:46:35.679 days. Still people writing. Got to go. I'll show 00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:42.219 it to you after we're done. Here's why. Because 00:46:42.219 --> 00:46:45.989 most of us, when we... face a challenging situation 00:46:45.989 --> 00:46:48.289 in our lives, we start going, this is crazy. 00:46:49.989 --> 00:46:52.869 Look at this problem that's right here in front 00:46:52.869 --> 00:46:56.949 of me. Just take a look. If we talk to somebody 00:46:56.949 --> 00:47:00.469 else, we say, look at this problem. Look at my 00:47:00.469 --> 00:47:08.590 problem. Let me tell you about my problem. This 00:47:08.590 --> 00:47:18.179 is crazy. I can't handle it. I can't do it. I 00:47:18.179 --> 00:47:25.460 just can't. I'll never be able to do this. You 00:47:25.460 --> 00:47:27.440 fill in the blank. You fill in the dot, dot, 00:47:27.440 --> 00:47:42.119 dot. This is impossible. Has anybody said these 00:47:42.119 --> 00:47:45.480 phrases before? Has anybody said any of them 00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:50.559 this past week? Anybody say any of these before 00:47:50.559 --> 00:48:00.400 you even came to church today? Yeah. Filter. 00:48:04.500 --> 00:48:08.340 That's what they did. Six times around Jericho 00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:10.280 on the seventh day, they're marching the seventh 00:48:10.280 --> 00:48:14.389 time, and then here's what happened. The seventh 00:48:14.389 --> 00:48:17.190 day you shall march around the city seven times 00:48:17.190 --> 00:48:22.809 and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall 00:48:22.809 --> 00:48:27.590 come to pass when they make a long blast with 00:48:27.590 --> 00:48:31.449 the ram's horn. What's going to come to pass? 00:48:33.989 --> 00:48:39.369 When you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the 00:48:39.369 --> 00:48:41.889 people, you've been quiet now for seven days. 00:48:43.980 --> 00:48:48.760 All the people shall shout with a great shout. 00:48:53.239 --> 00:49:00.019 Here's the deal. They had to shout when nothing 00:49:00.019 --> 00:49:05.519 looked different than it had for seven days. 00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:18.679 Same city. same fortress, same walls, same guards, 00:49:18.800 --> 00:49:25.699 army on the top. Same thing. They're seeing the 00:49:25.699 --> 00:49:27.460 same thing that they've seen the whole time. 00:49:27.619 --> 00:49:30.119 They hadn't been able to say anything. Now they're 00:49:30.119 --> 00:49:38.900 going to shout. Nothing has changed. Here's the 00:49:38.900 --> 00:49:42.710 deal. It's so easy. Everybody say so easy. It's 00:49:42.710 --> 00:49:46.690 so easy to shout and praise God after the promise 00:49:46.690 --> 00:49:51.250 is fulfilled. So easy. Oh, God's a good God. 00:49:51.429 --> 00:49:54.489 Let me tell you about what God did. Oh, I was 00:49:54.489 --> 00:49:57.429 in this shape, and then now look and see what 00:49:57.429 --> 00:50:01.269 God did. We can get happy, and we want to testify, 00:50:01.409 --> 00:50:07.750 and we're like, yeah. But when we're staring 00:50:07.750 --> 00:50:16.650 at the stronghold, We want to say, I'll never 00:50:16.650 --> 00:50:24.610 make it. Look to the person beside you and say, 00:50:24.690 --> 00:50:26.190 he's preaching good, whether you're getting it 00:50:26.190 --> 00:50:28.210 or not. He's preaching pretty good. He's preaching 00:50:28.210 --> 00:50:34.809 pretty good. Shout with a great shout. After 00:50:34.809 --> 00:50:37.829 you shout, then the wall of the city will fall 00:50:37.829 --> 00:50:40.929 down flat and the people shall go up, every man 00:50:40.929 --> 00:50:45.650 straight before him. They were instructed to 00:50:45.650 --> 00:50:48.369 shout before anything happened. Now get this, 00:50:48.369 --> 00:50:54.909 that word shout is ruah in Hebrew. It's the same 00:50:54.909 --> 00:51:01.710 word that is used to shout praise and thanksgiving 00:51:01.710 --> 00:51:06.050 to God. That's a way that we praise God is by 00:51:06.050 --> 00:51:11.309 shouting. It's a shout of war. It's a shout of 00:51:11.309 --> 00:51:17.539 victory. It's a shout of joy. Same word. It's 00:51:17.539 --> 00:51:19.780 not a different word for praise. Sometimes in 00:51:19.780 --> 00:51:22.219 your English Bible, it'll just say the word praise, 00:51:22.280 --> 00:51:26.460 but it's actually this same word. It was just 00:51:26.460 --> 00:51:29.159 translated in our English Bible as praise instead 00:51:29.159 --> 00:51:35.380 of shout, sometimes when you read it. Like in 00:51:35.380 --> 00:51:39.480 Psalm 47 .1. Clap your hands, all you peoples. 00:51:40.429 --> 00:51:43.429 Shout to God with a voice of triumph. For the 00:51:43.429 --> 00:51:47.250 Lord Most High is awesome. He's the great king 00:51:47.250 --> 00:51:54.809 over all the earth. Same word. Same word. Shout 00:51:54.809 --> 00:52:02.550 to God with a voice of triumph. It takes self 00:52:02.550 --> 00:52:07.130 -control to shout and rejoice when you don't 00:52:07.130 --> 00:52:12.820 feel like shouting and rejoicing. I'm going to 00:52:12.820 --> 00:52:16.960 say it again. It takes self -control to shout 00:52:16.960 --> 00:52:22.139 and rejoice when you don't feel like it. You 00:52:22.139 --> 00:52:28.780 just say, listen here. Go stand in front of a 00:52:28.780 --> 00:52:30.960 mirror and grab yourself by the ear and say, 00:52:31.039 --> 00:52:41.869 listen here. We have a promise from God. And 00:52:41.869 --> 00:52:45.449 we're going to shout and rejoice even while we're 00:52:45.449 --> 00:52:53.210 staring at the... That might be hard for me sometimes. 00:52:54.630 --> 00:52:58.150 Even though we're staring at the problem, we're 00:52:58.150 --> 00:52:59.989 going to shout and rejoice because we have a 00:52:59.989 --> 00:53:06.630 promise. Take self -control to shout and rejoice 00:53:06.630 --> 00:53:10.510 as if you already have victory before you have 00:53:10.510 --> 00:53:13.000 victory. And that's what God said his people 00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:20.380 had to do in Jericho. And the Old Testament is 00:53:20.380 --> 00:53:24.139 written for you. It's not just a history book. 00:53:26.039 --> 00:53:30.519 It's written for us to see how we can interact 00:53:30.519 --> 00:53:34.280 with God and how we can know him, how we can 00:53:34.280 --> 00:53:37.000 take hold of his promise, the promised land. 00:53:37.219 --> 00:53:44.360 I mean, it's like we learn things. how spiritual 00:53:44.360 --> 00:53:51.320 things work. We learn things. I'm about done. 00:53:53.599 --> 00:53:59.039 I want to ask you a question. Does anybody in 00:53:59.039 --> 00:54:03.000 the room have a promise from God based on His 00:54:03.000 --> 00:54:05.940 Word, not just some imagination in your mind, 00:54:06.019 --> 00:54:08.860 but you have a promise from God based on His 00:54:08.860 --> 00:54:15.800 Word and you're patiently Waiting to see it fulfilled. 00:54:16.980 --> 00:54:26.440 Is anybody? If not, you need to go get one. Everybody 00:54:26.440 --> 00:54:31.659 in the room should be holding on to a promise 00:54:31.659 --> 00:54:34.559 from God that he has made. You haven't seen it 00:54:34.559 --> 00:54:36.780 manifest in your life yet, but you're holding 00:54:36.780 --> 00:54:46.079 on to it. Here's the deal. How would you celebrate? 00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:52.280 How would you rejoice? How would you shout? How 00:54:52.280 --> 00:55:00.699 would you praise God? If that promise was fulfilled 00:55:00.699 --> 00:55:11.659 in your life right now. How would you respond? 00:55:14.599 --> 00:55:19.679 Would anybody get happy? Would anybody start 00:55:19.679 --> 00:55:24.679 praising God? Would anybody get excited? Might 00:55:24.679 --> 00:55:26.980 even jump up and down a little bit and shout 00:55:26.980 --> 00:55:40.000 a little bit. Would anybody get happy? This is 00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.719 only one of many patterns, but... We see this 00:55:44.719 --> 00:55:55.539 pattern at Jericho. Get this, maybe, maybe, if 00:55:55.539 --> 00:55:58.320 you would celebrate and rejoice and shout and 00:55:58.320 --> 00:56:02.320 praise God as if it's already happened in your 00:56:02.320 --> 00:56:07.860 life, maybe that's what's holding it back. I'm 00:56:07.860 --> 00:56:14.829 just saying. There's more than one pattern. But 00:56:14.829 --> 00:56:19.389 this is definitely one of them. Could this be 00:56:19.389 --> 00:56:33.510 what's holding you back? Look at me. How are 00:56:33.510 --> 00:56:43.409 you going to respond to God's Word? Every week, 00:56:44.170 --> 00:56:51.309 We receive God's word. Here's the question. How 00:56:51.309 --> 00:56:59.929 will we respond to it? Because if we don't respond 00:56:59.929 --> 00:57:05.130 to it, listen, if you don't respond to God's 00:57:05.130 --> 00:57:11.250 word, it's not going to make a difference in 00:57:11.250 --> 00:57:22.739 your life. But if you will respond to God's word, 00:57:22.880 --> 00:57:32.719 it'll make a difference in your life. So many 00:57:32.719 --> 00:57:37.179 times God is waiting on our response and our 00:57:37.179 --> 00:57:41.760 response never comes. Because we're just like, 00:57:41.860 --> 00:57:45.159 well, I was a good person. I went to church this 00:57:45.159 --> 00:57:47.639 week. I'll go back next week and I'll get me 00:57:47.639 --> 00:57:56.969 something else. To not respond to. Wow. I responded 00:57:56.969 --> 00:57:59.110 to God's word last week and I can't wait to get 00:57:59.110 --> 00:58:02.570 back next week to dig in and get a word from 00:58:02.570 --> 00:58:15.010 God and respond again. Instead of. How do you 00:58:15.010 --> 00:58:17.610 want your life to be? You want your life like 00:58:17.610 --> 00:58:26.250 this? Or do you want your life like this? It 00:58:26.250 --> 00:58:34.250 has everything to do with your response. Here 00:58:34.250 --> 00:58:37.309 we go. Let's wrap it up. I think this is it for 00:58:37.309 --> 00:58:39.489 self -control. We could keep preaching on self 00:58:39.489 --> 00:58:41.969 -control, but some of you are already like, hmm, 00:58:42.190 --> 00:58:46.269 not self -control again. My toes are still hurting 00:58:46.269 --> 00:58:51.239 from last week. supplement your faith with a 00:58:51.239 --> 00:58:55.420 generous provision of self -control to be productive 00:58:55.420 --> 00:59:01.639 and useful. Self -control is essential for you 00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:09.320 to live with purpose and live in victory. Listen, 00:59:09.599 --> 00:59:16.199 we have a helper. If you acknowledge him, the 00:59:16.199 --> 00:59:18.659 Holy Spirit will empower you to have self -control. 00:59:20.429 --> 00:59:22.610 Over every area of your life, he will empower 00:59:22.610 --> 00:59:24.730 you to have self -control. If you will acknowledge 00:59:24.730 --> 00:59:28.809 him, when you come up to that point where you're 00:59:28.809 --> 00:59:33.630 seeing the stronghold or the fortress or you're 00:59:33.630 --> 00:59:38.429 seeing the problem, if you'll acknowledge the 00:59:38.429 --> 00:59:44.610 Holy Spirit and listen to him, he'll empower 00:59:44.610 --> 00:59:50.340 you to have self -control. So that your actions, 00:59:50.539 --> 00:59:56.599 your thoughts, your words, your desires will 00:59:56.599 --> 01:00:02.119 align with him. He'll help you. He'll help you. 01:00:02.820 --> 01:00:05.619 This online worship experience was brought to 01:00:05.619 --> 01:00:08.340 you by the friends and partners of Elation Church.