Do you feel like your life is out of control? Like you can barely control yourself let alone your circumstances. While we all want to say that we are patient, kind, selfless people, our lack of self control is often what is displayed. It’s displayed in our diets, in our spending, and in our decisions that we make. God knew that self control would be an area where we would struggle. It’s a war between what our physical bodies want and what our mind and hearts are telling us we should want. Pastor Brian wraps up our series Fruitology by showing us what Biblical self control looks like and gives us 3 simple ways that we can start to strengthen our self control muscle.

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MESSAGE NOTES

The way the world looks at self control is always self motivated.

The Biblical source of self control is the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.

 

Galatians 5:22-23

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

The motivation for Biblical self control is spiritual, not physical.

Matthew 16:23-24

Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

Biblical Self Control is physical pain or discomfort in order to get a spiritual reward.

 

1 Corinthians 10:3-4

All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.

 

Proverbs 25:28

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

God has given us everything we need for living a Godly life.

3 Ways We Can Exercise Biblical Self Control

Fasting – Saying no to food or sex and replacing that urge with prayer

Tithing – Giving your first 10% of income to God so that He also has your heart.

Sabbath – To cease, and stop working for one day a week.