"To Be Self Controlled By the Spirit Is To Be Self-Disciplined In The Body."

Greetings: “To the church of God” here at OSTBC, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”(1 Corinthians 1:2-3).

Sub-Introduction:

Quoting : “We have talked about the different aspects of the fruit of the spirit,” over the last several weeks in this Sermon Series, “The Fruit of the Spirit: takes time, work, change, and the power of the Holy Spirit for us to grow spiritually in Jesus Christ.” “Through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live an incredible life.” end quote(sermon central.com, John Maxwell).

Turn with me to Galatians, Chapter 5 beginning in verse 19 and we will read through verse 26 here this morning. I pray everyone has received from the Holy Spirit, new vibrant fruit and spiritual growth as we have walked with the Lord over these last several weeks through this series . Let us begin. If you are there with me at Galatians 5:19-26, say amen. “19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, things which I am telling you in advance, just as I said before, that the ones who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Now those ⌊who belong to Christ⌋  have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires. If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow thee Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Opening Prayer!

Introduction:

The Greek root for the word self-control means “to get a hold of” or “to get a grip on. It literally means to get your hands on something until you are in control of it. Today, we’re going to talk about getting our hands on and getting control of ourselves”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

Proverbs 25:28 states, “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” We should understand and come to “know that cities when this was written were safe only because of their walls. And the proverb writer says that the moment that we lose self-control and self-discipline, we are a city without any kind of protection”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

“Anything uncontrolled can harm your relationships: Things such as, Anger(Proverbs 29:11) says, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Drinking(Proverbs 29-35) declares to us the lack of self-control when someone indulges in excessive wine. Lust (Proverbs 6:26) testifies, “for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.” Ambition (Proverbs 23:4) states, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich, do not trust in your own cleverness.” Or, perhaps you may struggle with spending (Proverbs 21:20) shows us the wisdom of the self-disciplined versus the uncontrolled shopper. “Precious treasure and oil are in the house of the wise, but the foolish person will devour them.”

"To Be Self Controlled By the Spirit Is To Be Self-Disciplined In The Body."

The fourth-generation minister H.B. London once quoted: “What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend upon what we already are. And what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline”(H.B.London, fourth-generation minister).

Listen church, to grow in the self-control of the Holy Spirit, and to become self-disciplined it takes:

Time

Work

Change

and yes, the power of the Holy Spirit in us to receive the self-control we need to over come the desires of our flesh.

“I want to begin this message by giving you 5 very simple starters of living a self-controlled, self-disciplined life. I think many times we take a character trait such as self-discipline, and make it more difficult than it is. It’s very simple”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

The "starters" of self-discipline:

1. Start with yourself.

Jack Paar, who was the tonight Show host from 1957 to 1962, quotes: "Looking back, my life seems to be one long obstacle course ... with me as the chief obstacle” end quote.

Now, that’s a little disgusting, isn’t it? Would not we rather start with someone else? How many of you know somebody you really wish could hear this message? I am saying do not start with your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, your neighbor, your dad, your mom, your kids; start with yourself.

D. L. Moody, that great evangelist of the last century was asked, "Of all the people you come in contact with, who gives you the most trouble?" He said, "D. L. Moody. I have the most trouble with myself."

When it comes to self-control it is not that we struggle the most against each other. No, we struggle the most with ourselves. Do find your wanted to blame other people for your own inability to control yourself? Do not blame anybody else because you are lacking self-discipline in your life? I am powerless and cannot control anger myself. But that does not mean for myself or that anyone else can condemn for where I fall short. However, what we cannot change for ourselves God is Able. There is nothing impossible For Him. Furthermore, that is why He has sent to us the Holy Spirit, and it is through Him that we receive the power to overcome; greater is He that is in me. Than he that is in the world”(1 John 4:4).

The Lord God knows we are incapable of and have no control over what happens in this life or in our own lives. The thing is Beloved, that we must come to realize that we are unable to change ourselves before we are able to recognize that God is the only one capable of changing us from the inside out. Do not allow pride and stubbornness to keep you stuck in denial? Been there done that, and oh, by the way it never workout that way.

Every day, that the Lord, God blesses us with; is another blessed day that we are given to make an honest decision to die to self, take up our cross and follow Jesus. For Philippians 1:21-22 tells us, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.”

Self must be removed from the equation if we are to choose to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit.

2. Start early.

Self-discipline - The first lesson that ought to be learned, but usually the last.

In fact, the earlier the better. I consider self-discipline the most important part of a person’s character. It will give them the success and help them reach the highest potential that they can possibly reach. So I would encourage you to start early.

There is a phrase I once heard and it goes like this, “if you pay later in life, the price is greater." And I thought, how true that is. This is one thing I would say to those who are young. If you learn self-discipline early, it is amazing the dividends it will pay later in life”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

Or one can make the choice to make until later in life and pay dearly because they were to stubborn to let go of self and pay for it later. Choose each day to keep in step with the Spirit so you can receive the benefits of the blessings God has in store for you.

3. Start small.

“What you are going to be tomorrow, you are becoming today. It is essential to begin developing self-discipline in a small way today in order to be disciplined in a big way tomorrow.

I think so often when we look at life we think we’ve got to do something big. No, do not do something big. There’s an old joke, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." How do you tackle the big issues in your life? Start small. Do what you can do today. How do you become a great spiritual giant? You do not by starting out praying an hour a day. You do it by spending a little time with God every day. Maybe it’s 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 10 minutes.” Whatever works for you. Start small.

How do you build a great marriage? You do not by coming upon great discoveries the first year that you’re married. Good night, you’re lucky to keep your marriage together. But you do the small things and you do not despise them and you do them well. And you pay the price. And you make those building blocks until some day you’re able to tackle the big things in life. But start small. Do not try to do everything. Just do some things exceedingly well”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

4. Start strategically.

Christopher Robin, in Winnie the Pooh once said; "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up."

“Look at the things that you need to get control over. I am assuming that all of us have areas that we need to get control over, that we’re not disciplined in all areas. Am I assuming correctly? How many of you probably need discipline in at least one area of your life where you don’t exercise it much now? Those who didn’t raise their hands are lying. You can’t tackle them all or knock them all out in one day. So what you have to do is just list your three weakest areas. And if you’re not sure what they are, ask your spouse. Three, only three.”

“And of those areas that are weak, which one hurts you the most? Well, which is really the one that’s defeating you the most, keeps you from living that triumphant life” that we sing about during the worship part of service? “Once you decide, then you begin to work daily in that area. Just a step at a time and have someone hold you accountable in that area. Begin to chart your progress. Just get organized and get control of certain things in your life, and then begin to do them a step at a time.”

Baby Steps Everyone! Start small.

5. Start now.

John Hancock Field says, "All worthwhile men have good thought, good ideas, and good intentions, but precious few of them ever translate those into action."

“I encourage you that the best time to get self-control of your life is today. Not tomorrow. I’m amazed at people who are always going to do something someday. Most of the time, those people have dreams, but they’re never going to accomplish them. Every one of us knows what it’s like to procrastinate with things that we need to be doing right now. Start now.”

How many of you have ever sung in the shower, and have had your spouse yelling from the bedroom telling you to shut up? In the shower, we all get good ideas, don’t we? You start off in the morning just rubbing the body down and you’re starting to smell pretty good. And you’re starting to sing a little bit. You get a good idea. How many of you have ever had a good idea in the shower? For those of you who didn’t raise your hand, how many of you have ever had a good idea? Now, can I tell you the difference between a person who’s successful and one who’s unsuccessful in this area of self-discipline? It’s very simple. We’ve all had good ideas. The question is, when you dry off, do you implement them or do you leave them where the shower is? And the next day you get back under the shower and say, "Oh, that’s a good idea." Start now”(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

What are the characteristics of self-disciplined people:

1. They accept responsibility.

“Show me a person who has the ability to discipline their life, and I will show you a person who has already understood that they are the greatest problem they have in life, and they accept responsibility.”

2. They welcome accountability.

Plato once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

“You show me a person that is self-disciplined and I will show you a person that welcomes accountability, welcomes others coming in and examining their life"(sermon central.com, J. Maxwell).

For those of you who have never heard of John Wesley, he was song writer of hymns, teacher, and minister. He penned many hymns, of which a handful remain in modern day worship”(bbc,co,uk). John taught a weekly Bible study class, and there were four questions he would ask the at the start of each class.

John Wesley’s "Four Questions"

A. What known sins have you committed since we last met? If there is such, what shall we do about it?

B. What temptations have you faced?

C. How were you delivered from these temptations?

D. What have you thought, said, or done, of which you are uncertain whether it was sin or not?

You see church: even the late John Wesley, although he did many great works for the Kingdom of God. He to had to keep in step with the Spirit of God. He to had to make a daily decision to get a handle on himself. How?

Listen church, to grow in the self-control of the Holy Spirit, and to become self-disciplined it takes:

Time

Work

Change

and yes, the power of the Holy Spirit in us to receive the self-control we need to over come the desires of our flesh.

3. They develop integrity.

How do we develop spiritual integrity?

The Integrity that we, as followers of Jesus Christ should demonstrate daily are as follows:

1. "I will live what I teach."

2. "I will do what I say."

3. "I will be honest with others."

4. "I will put what is best for others ahead what is best for me."

5. "I will be transparent and vulnerable."

“Basically that means that when I’m wrong I’ll ask forgiveness. You don’t have a perfect pastor. That bothered me once until I realized I don’t have a perfect congregation. I looked around at the lives of those I lead and got greatly encouraged.”

“We’re all trying to serve Jesus. Love him, live up to the potential he created for us. And be the best person we possibly can be.” Amen?

Let Us Pray!