Peeled - Week 10

Introduction

Review

If you’ve been with us the last 10 weeks or so, you know we’ve been in a series called, “Peeled.” We’ve been talking about the fruit of the Spirit.

We said that this is fruit that the spirit produces in our lives.

Our job is to create an environment where the Spirit can work.

We do this through the spiritual disciplines - Prayer, reading our Bible, attending Church, spending time alone with God, etc.

We want to create space in our life for God to work and move. As we do this, he begins to grow fruit in our lives that begins to make us more “appealing.”

Anyone remember what fruit we’ve been talking about?

Opening Story/Illustration

Tonight we are getting ready to wrap up with the very last fruit of the Spirit.

Text

Let’s read our text tonight:

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

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Transition to Points

Tonight I want to talk for just a few moments about how to ruin your life.

Let’s look at

Proverbs 25:28 NLT

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

Picture for me if you will a City and back in the day it needed walls to protect themselves. If a city didn’t have a wall it was open to all sorts of raiding and crime and problems. The writer of this proverb says that when you lack self-control, you’re like a city who is open to all sorts of problems.

When you lack self-control, your life is open to all sorts of problems and issues. Your life is open to be ruined. So let’s look at a few ways we can ruin our lives tonight.

Points

Let your emotions and feelings control you

This is the way your culture tells you to live your life.

Follow your heart

Do what makes you feel good

Here are some quotes

I get what these guys are trying to say..but the problem is if we follow that -

My heart didn’t want me to get out of bed this morning.

My heart wants that extra cheeseburger

My heart doesn’t feel like working tomorrow

What happens if my heart doesn’t feel like loving my wife and kids anymore?

Movies are famous for this right - Like boy meets girl, they are meant to be together, but something happens and then they can’t together. So they marry other people, but they are supposed to be together. So they meet again and then they “follow their heart” and leave their current husband/wife so they can be happy. The movies don’t tell you about the heartache and heartbreak following your emotions and your heart will get you into.

Culture doesn’t tell you about the mess you get into when you simply let your feelings, emotion, and “heart” lead your life.

Here’s what I’m not saying tonight - I’m not saying your feelings don’t matter. I’m not saying don’t follow your dreams, etc. But your feelings and emotions are bad leaders. Don’t let them lead you or control you. Don’t let them be the primary force in directing your life.

Your feelings will lie and deceive you

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Discuss: Talk about a time when you followed your feelings and it ended badly.

Let the opinions of other people control you

Peer pressure is real

How many of you know people who do things just because they want to be liked by other people?

How many of you know people who do stupid things just because they want to be liked by other people?

Illustration: I remember when I was in youth group we would do Bible Quiz. For us this meant we had to travel to Nashville once a month and we got to stay in a hotel on a Friday night. It was lots of fun. But my buddies and I got into the habit of staying up late on Friday night and several times they decided it would be cool for us to like sneak out of the hotel at 2AM. Now, I was smart, I didn’t do it..but I stayed and covered for them if the youth pastor came in the room. But we were stupid. You know how many bad things could have happened to us? This was a bad part of Nashville at 2AM in the morning. Everybody got on board with the plan to sneak out - even me - I just trying to cover my tail a bit more. Pressure to conform will make us do some dumb things.

We do some dumb things to please other people

How many people are addicted to stuff today because the first time they did it, they did it to please others.

Don’t let other people’s opinion of you push you to do things that are dumb!

Discuss: Talk about a time when you let what other people thought of you drive you to do something that was wrong.

Think only about the moment

A sure way to mess up life is to be the type of person who just acts without thinking about the consequences of your actions.

Illustration: My Go-kart catastrophe

Discuss: Talk about a time when you did something because you were only thinking in the heat of the moment.

So what’s the alternative? Spirit empowered self-control

So what’s the alternative? Spirit empowered self-control

Self-Control is doing what you know is right, even when you don’t feel like it.

Truth is, this is hard! Self-control is like a muscle. It gets tired. It gets worn out. This is why when you’re tired or it’s towards the end of the day, you tend to give in more to things you know are wrong.

So what can you do?

You can’t do this on your own, you’re going to need some help. This help comes from the Holy Spirit

Self-Control is

Spirit empowered self-control

Illustration: Lifting weights with a spotter

Gym trainer: Let the Holy Spirit be your work out partner, your gym trainer. You’re going to need to exercise your self-control to get it stronger.

Instead of following your heart, pray “Lord, lead my heart to do your will.”

You can’t do this on your own, you’re going to need some help.

Instead of blindly following the opinions of others, pray, “Lord, let me learn how to take good criticism”

Illustration: Lifting weights with a spotter

Instead of thinking only about the moment, calm down and think - How will I feel about this decision in 10 seconds? In 10 minutes? In 10 days? In 10 Month? In 10 years?

As you begin to exercise self-control and do what is right, even when it’s hard, it gets easier and easier to make the right decisions.

How does the Holy Spirit Grow Self-Control in your life? One decision at a time. One right decision at a time.

One decision to keep your mouth shut when you want to scream in anger.

One decision to get up and work hard on that project even though you feel like binging on netflix.

One decision to control yourself instead of sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend

One decision at a time you create an environment where the Holy Spirit who lives in you can help you.

What’s an area where you need some self-control? Take a moment and think about that.

Pray - Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for help in those areas.

Plan - what are you going to do when temptation comes?

Conclusion