Introduction:
How to Get Self-Controlled: (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
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You Must Give Maximum EFFORT. (1 Cor 9:24)
2 Peter 1:5-6 - For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control...
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You Must Be Motivated By the PRIZE. (1 Cor 9:25)
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You Must Have a PLAN. (1 Cor 9:26)
The Plan for Self-Control:
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AVOID Situations Where You'll Be Tempted.
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ACCOUNTABILITY.
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Put OFF / Put ON.
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You Must Have a Healthy Fear of Being DISQUALIFIED. (1 Cor 9:27)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:36-00:41
Open up those Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, in chapter 9.
00:43-00:55
After a little break from 1 Corinthians to go through our Easter series about the offices of Jesus, Prophet, Priest, and King, we are back in 1 Corinthians.
00:56-01:05
Let's get caught up, let's review, for those of us who have been part of it, and for those of you who are visiting with us, of 1 Corinthians so far.
01:05-01:11
The first four chapters are about the church being united.
01:13-01:15
Paul's like, "You guys have to get it together.
01:15-01:19
You've got to stop the faction, stop your little clique, stop the divisiveness.
01:20-01:32
You guys have got to get it together." And then, chapters 5 and 6, he talks about the church purified, dealing with sexual sin in the church.
01:33-01:34
you guys got to get it together.
01:35-01:42
All right, and then when you get to chapter seven and beyond, 1 Corinthians sort of turns into a Q&A session.
01:43-01:46
Paul's like, okay, you had some questions for me and I'm gonna answer them.
01:46-01:55
And the first issue was about marriage and the issues that go with that singleness, intimacy, all of those things.
01:55-02:06
And then this last stretch we've been on before our little break was the issue of Should Christians eat the meat that was sacrificed to idols?
02:08-02:23
And that turned into a whole discussion where Paul says the mature believer is willing to lay down his rights or her rights for the sake of winning the lost.
02:24-02:30
And that takes us to chapter nine, verse 24, picking up where we left off last time.
02:30-02:35
So, I'd like you to just bow your heads and just take a moment and please pray for me.
02:36-02:44
To be faithful to clearly communicate the word of God, I'll pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is.
02:46-02:49
The Lord has something for each of us in this passage today, all right?
02:50-02:50
Let's pray.
02:52-02:58
Father in heaven, as we turn to your word today, it's such an ironic concept because we think we're in control.
03:00-03:07
But when we insist on doing things our way, we actually aren't in control at all.
03:10-03:11
You've commanded us, Father.
03:11-03:15
You've empowered us to be self-controlled people.
03:17-03:40
And I pray for every single one of us in this room, everyone who's watching the stream, everyone who's going to be downloading the podcast later, everyone who encounters this teaching from your word, Father, every single one of us, please, by the wisdom of your word, by the power of your Spirit, make us different than the world.
03:43-03:50
Make us kingdom people who are self-controlled. To your glory and honor, We pray in Jesus' name.
03:52-03:56
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Amen.
03:59-04:03
When you drive home today, just be careful.
04:04-04:13
I'm not sure legally if I'm allowed to say anything, but I have a pastor friend who, driving home from Easter, was crashed into by a door dash driver.
04:15-04:17
And I was so confused when he told me.
04:17-04:25
I'm like, "I thought they just brought the food to your house." Like, "Ah." But there's a lot of maniacs on the road.
04:25-04:45
You're like, "Yeah, I'm one of them." But several years ago, Aaron bought me a tire cover for the back of my Jeep that says, "To God be the glory." And at first I thought, that's just a nice little witnessing tool or something, right?
04:45-04:49
but I found that it's had a much different effect than I was expecting.
04:50-05:18
That thing has given me a lot of self-control. Aaron's always reminding me in traffic, "Remember what the back of your Jeep says, remember what the back of your Jeep says, do not give that driver a thumbs down, remember what the back of your Jeep says." And the reality is we all need help with self-control, don't we? We You and I, we have an enemy.
05:20-05:22
And if you're not careful, this enemy is going to destroy you.
05:24-05:34
And your enemy is not some spiteful coworker, not some other student in your school, not some slanderous church member.
05:34-05:39
And I'm not even talking about the devil himself.
05:42-05:45
Your biggest enemy is you.
05:48-06:01
And if we're going to be honest with ourselves, which we certainly encourage, many of your problems ultimately find their root in a lack of self-control.
06:03-06:06
I mean, just think about the problems a person can have.
06:06-06:08
Think about the problems that you have.
06:08-06:13
How much of it comes from just a complete lack of self-control, right?
06:13-06:15
People dealing with issues of lust.
06:16-06:17
It's a lack of self-control.
06:18-06:21
People dealing with anger issues, fits of rage.
06:22-06:22
What do they say?
06:22-06:25
"I just lost control." Right.
06:26-06:28
People dealing with addiction issues.
06:29-06:33
Zero self-control, whether it's a chemical or a drink or food.
06:35-06:36
Lack of self-control.
06:36-06:37
For some people, it's spending.
06:39-06:40
They just spend out of control.
06:41-06:44
There's no budget, there's no discipline, there's no self-control.
06:47-06:49
For some of you, it's your words.
06:50-07:01
Like, man, I just, I say things and I joke about things, I'm determined I'm not gonna do that, and then I just kinda go with it and I don't have any self-control.
07:03-07:06
But church, God's word is absolutely clear on this.
07:07-07:13
Your walk with Christ is to be on a path of self-control.
07:15-07:19
Self-control is going to affect every single area of your life.
07:21-07:25
Do you want to feel like you're walking in victory with Christ?
07:28-07:30
It's a path of self-control.
07:32-07:34
Lack of self-control can affect your physical health.
07:36-07:39
Lack of self-control can affect your mental health.
07:40-07:46
How many people dealing with depression, at the very base of it is, they lack self-control.
07:50-07:54
Lack of self-control can affect your witness for Christ.
07:55-08:01
So in this passage we're looking at today, Paul is going to show us how to grow in spiritual self-control.
08:02-08:06
And Paul says you need to learn principles from an athlete.
08:07-08:17
And they tell you, you know, when you're in preaching class, you don't always want to go to a sports illustration in your sermon.
08:17-08:21
And Paul didn't get the memo about no sports illustrations because that's where he went.
08:22-08:28
So this illustration we're going to look at is a familiar analogy to the Corinthians.
08:29-08:32
They were a sports-dominated culture.
08:34-08:34
Sound familiar?
08:36-08:38
They had the It's Me In Games.
08:39-08:43
It was every two or three years, depending on who you read.
08:44-08:45
But they were like the Olympics.
08:47-08:49
And I found this fascinating.
08:49-09:01
The athletes in these games had to take an oath that they were going to train for ten months, including abstaining from eating anything unhealthy.
09:02-09:02
Okay?
09:03-09:35
Funyuns for 10 months. These people were dedicated. But it was even harder than that because the last 30 days before the event, they were required to be in the gym every single day. And the winner of the event got a pine wreath. Alright, with that as a background, let's look at what Paul says, we're going to read all of it and then go back, pick up some principles.
09:36-09:37
That is a background.
09:37-09:39
They knew what he was talking about here.
09:39-09:52
He says in verse 24, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?
09:53-09:55
So run that you may obtain it.
09:57-10:02
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
10:04-10:11
They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we, an imperishable.
10:13-10:15
So I do not run aimlessly.
10:15-10:26
I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.
10:28-10:30
It's obvious Paul's point here, right?
10:30-10:33
He says our life is like a race.
10:34-10:41
And we need to run our race in such a way that we are useful to God.
10:43-10:48
And to do that, Paul makes it very clear, we must be self-controlled.
10:48-10:53
We have to be willing to give up anything that's going to hinder our race.
10:55-11:03
So using this race metaphor, God gives us principles for self-control.
11:03-11:07
So if you're taking notes on your outline, I certainly encourage you to do that.
11:08-11:11
Just very simply, here's the point.
11:11-11:12
This is how to get self-controlled.
11:13-11:18
Number one, you must give maximum effort.
11:21-11:25
You must give maximum effort.
11:25-11:26
Look at verse 24 again.
11:27-11:39
He says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?" Here it is.
11:40-12:09
run, that you may obtain it." Now their race only had one winner. But this prize he's talking about in this passage is open to everyone because it's your own race. Listen, in this race you're not competing with anyone but yourselves. You're like, "What's this prize he's talking about? Only one receives a prize. I knew what it was for the athletes, but how How does this analogy translate spiritually?
12:10-12:12
What prize is he talking about here?
12:16-12:19
You know, when you read the Bible, you have to read it in context.
12:20-12:30
You know, too many people just pull a passage out and kind of run with it, but he's keeping the same train of thought going throughout this whole section.
12:32-12:33
What is the prize?
12:34-12:39
Well, in the previous section, he talked about being all things to all people.
12:41-12:43
Why? Why, Paul?
12:44-12:47
If you recall, he said he wants to win people.
12:48-12:49
Win people.
12:50-12:51
He said it five times.
12:52-12:54
Verse 19, verse 20, verse 21, verse 22.
12:54-12:58
Paul's like the Jews, those under the law, those outside the law, the weak.
12:58-13:00
I want to win lost people.
13:00-13:03
That's the prize in view here.
13:03-13:13
You see, the prize he's not talking specifically here about salvation, or heaven, or some believers' heavenly rewards specifically.
13:13-13:15
All of those are prizes for sure.
13:15-13:18
But specifically in this context, he's talking about people.
13:20-13:23
Specifically here, he's talking about winning lost people with the gospel.
13:24-13:34
You see, this flows from the thought of the previous passage where he says, "Holding on to your rights can make you lose your opportunity to share the gospel and win people.
13:38-13:41
So what's his point here with this analogy, with this illustration?
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This is the whole point.
13:46-13:52
If you're concerned about winning the lost, listen, church, you have lost your audience.
13:54-13:55
You have ruined your opportunity to share.
13:56-14:04
You have shot yourself in the foot when you're trying to win someone to Christ, but they don't see Christ in you.
14:10-14:15
You see, if somebody looks at your life, somebody that you're trying to win to Christ, they look at your life and they see sin.
14:16-14:18
They see hypocrisy.
14:18-14:22
And you're telling them that they need Jesus like you need Jesus.
14:22-14:26
They're thinking, well, Jesus didn't seem do you any good.
14:27-14:32
You know, all your church, and all your Bible studies, and all your Sunday school didn't seem to help you at all.
14:33-14:35
So why would I be interested in that?
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That's why Paul says, "Run that you may obtain the prize." Run that you may obtain the prize.
14:46-14:48
You're like, well, that's obvious, right?
14:49-14:51
I mean, you run like you're trying to win.
14:55-14:58
He's talking about putting forth the effort.
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Isn't this kind of a no-brainer?
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I mean, what athlete would show up and not try to win?
15:08-15:13
Who shows up to the event and puts no effort into it?
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a lot of people.
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Here's what I mean.
15:25-15:51
For example, Christian men say, "I'm struggling with looking at things on the computer that I shouldn't look at." And I've dealt with a lot of this over the years where men come to me and they're like, "I'm struggling with that!" And I'm like, "Okay, well, tell me about your struggle." Well, I do it every day.
15:52-15:53
Like, that's not a struggle.
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You know what struggle implies?
15:57-16:01
Struggle implies that there is some effort going on to deal with it.
16:01-16:07
But to just sort of roll over and give yourself to some besetting sin, and be like, well, it's a struggle.
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You're not struggling.
16:13-16:23
Just doing it in no way suggests there's any effort for self-control with any besetting sin.
16:24-16:24
Not just that one.
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And that's what Paul's saying here.
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This is where it has to start.
16:28-16:30
Look, church, you've got to make the effort.
16:33-16:37
You can't just go to bed and hope the self-control fairy shows up.
16:38-16:39
You have to make the effort.
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You have to get to the place where you're like, look, I am in a race, okay?
16:47-16:52
And maybe I haven't been putting the effort in, but that changes today.
16:52-16:53
I'm gonna win.
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Look, you're gonna get to the place in your life where you say, I'm not okay with living in defeat.
16:58-17:00
I'm not okay with that anymore.
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This ends right now.
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You gotta put forth the effort.
17:07-17:08
How are you doing there?
17:11-17:14
As you know, I coach my son's deck hockey.
17:14-17:17
We, I've done it for years.
17:18-17:25
And several years ago, at the time, actually, the GOAT was coaching with me, we had a couple players on our team.
17:25-17:26
Don't say their name.
17:26-17:36
We had a couple, they're gonna be watching this, we're like, "Hey!" We had a couple players on the team a few years ago, extremely high-skilled players.
17:40-17:52
And during the game, we noticed - Sean and I did - we noticed that these two players in particular, any time we had a line change, they'd go out on the deck.
17:54-17:57
It was somewhere between a walk and a trot.
18:00-18:37
And I'm like, "Sean, what's going on there?" And he's like, "What are they doing?" we called them over like next line change and we're like what's going on out there why are you guys are like barely moving out there everybody else like running and they're just like and they said well we got a we got a big important game with another league this weekend we don't want to risk getting hurt so Sean and I were like hey that's great we'll help you with that you can and just sit the rest of the game.
18:38-18:41
Because we're not putting players out there that aren't putting forth any effort.
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We're not going to do that.
18:43-18:46
You're embarrassing yourselves and you're embarrassing the team.
18:49-18:54
But you know, those two young men had everything they needed to win.
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They had their equipment on.
18:57-19:00
They had a great knowledge of the game.
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They had a lot of experience.
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what they didn't have that day? Effort. So you see, it doesn't matter what else they had. When there was no effort, it was game over before it started. It's like, why did you guys even show up? Why did you put your gear on and go on the deck if you don't want You don't have to make any effort.
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And I think that describes a lot of Christians in their walk with Christ.
19:40-19:50
I mean, you come to church, you go to small group, you go to the men's conference, you go to the women's conference, and you show up.
19:50-19:57
You have everything you need to succeed, but there's just zero effort in the area of self-control.
20:00-20:00
It's a problem.
20:02-20:03
It's a problem.
20:06-20:10
Look what 2 Peter 1:5-6.
20:10-20:11
Same thing.
20:11-20:22
Look, "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with..." Oh, oh, there it is again.
20:24-20:25
Self-control.
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Yes, listen, I know.
20:29-20:35
Before you send me a text or an email, I know that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.
20:36-20:43
I know that the only way that happens is if the Lord empowers you to do that.
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I know that. Yes.
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That is 100% true, and that is also another sermon entirely.
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This is telling us right here.
20:52-20:56
This passage is telling us here, you and I are commanded to make every effort.
20:57-20:58
Are you doing that?
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You must give maximum effort.
21:04-21:07
If you're not willing to do that, none of the rest of this sermon is going to apply.
21:08-21:12
But if you are willing to do that, if you're willing to say, "I'm done.
21:12-21:16
I'm done living in defeat." If that's you, great, let's keep going.
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Number two, you must be motivated by the prize.
21:21-21:23
You must be motivated by the prize.
21:24-21:25
Look at verse 25 again.
21:28-21:29
Bless you.
21:31-21:36
"Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
21:39-21:53
They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable." First of all, note, "every athlete." This isn't a passage for preachers and missionaries alone.
21:54-21:55
This is for you too.
21:57-22:00
And then notice he says self-control in all things.
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All things.
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Every area.
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You have an area of your life right now where you're like, you know what, I think overall I'm doing good in my walk with Christ, but I do have this area where I'm not self-controlled.
22:14-22:14
Do you have that?
22:19-22:20
You need to stay motivated.
22:21-22:22
You've got to keep your eyes on the prize.
22:28-22:29
I like Paul's point here.
22:30-22:32
The comparison of the prizes.
22:33-22:37
Paul says here that these Greek athletes, all that training, right?
22:37-22:40
Ten months, 30 days, all that training.
22:40-22:41
And what do they win?
22:43-22:44
What do they win?
22:44-22:49
A Christmas decoration put on their head.
22:52-22:53
Hip, hip.
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No.
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No, not even close.
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That's Paul's point, right?
23:01-23:05
He says, "They do all that for a lame prize." Talk about lame prizes.
23:05-23:09
In these past Olympics, didn't those medals like fall apart or something?
23:09-23:15
Wasn't there a whole thing like, "Hey, I've traded my whole life for this medal." Oh, and a stuffed animal, yay.
23:16-23:16
(audience laughing)
23:19-23:30
He goes, "It's a lame prize." It's like, you know, that's like several years ago, a bunch of guys from church, we went to, do you ever see those indoor places where you can throw the ax at the wood,
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(imitates ax thudding)
23:31-23:32
when you're into the bulls eye,
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(imitates ax thudding)
23:33-23:34
do you ever see these?
23:34-23:40
What's it called, the lumber jacks or something, or you know what I'm talking about?
23:40-23:41
The old ax throwing thing?
23:42-23:48
Well, a bunch of us went there, And there might've been some ladies there too, I don't remember, but here's what I do remember.
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I won.
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I won.
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Yeah, thank you, the one person that's proud of me.
23:58-24:02
No, Tristan, just Tristan, just Tristan.
24:03-24:05
The rest of you, too late, thank you, Tristan.
24:07-24:07
I won.
24:08-24:09
Do you know what I won?
24:11-24:11
A sticker.
24:11-24:12
(Laughter)
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I'm not even joking.
24:16-24:19
It's on my wastebasket in my office, the sticker.
24:20-24:22
That's what I want. And that's Paul's point here.
24:22-24:36
He goes, "They did all that training, all that competing, and all they got was a stupid wreath for their head." Paul's point here is, shouldn't we be more motivated?
24:37-24:39
Because our prize is winning people to Jesus.
24:39-24:50
We're talking about eternity, and we're talking about lost people who are going to suffer apart from the presence of God forever, and we have the opportunity to change that.
24:54-25:00
And look, if you've ever won someone to Christ, you know the humble joy that that brings.
25:03-25:05
And if you haven't, go do it.
25:09-25:10
And if you have, go do it again.
25:12-25:14
It's about winning people to Christ.
25:14-25:15
That's the prize.
25:15-25:16
That's the prize.
25:17-25:28
I know there are some people that are hearing this, and they're like, "Oh, that's the prize." Yet people aren't excited about the gospel because they aren't doing what makes the gospel exciting.
25:29-25:31
That's the problem in the church.
25:31-25:33
They're not living it, and they're not sharing it.
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That's what makes the gospel exciting.
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That's the prize.
25:41-25:56
I promise you, someday, someday, Christian, when you stand before the Lord, you're going to realize it was worth it.
25:58-26:12
You're going to stand before the Lord, you're going to say, "Jesus, You were worth it." You're going to say, "Jesus, every time I used the self-control you gave Me by the power of Your Spirit for the sake of imitating You, it was all worth it.
26:12-26:22
Every person that you reached, Jesus, through Me, that is now beholding Your glory and worshiping You for all of eternity, it's worth it.
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There's a glorious victory celebration that's coming soon.
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And Paul reminds us, keep your eyes on the prize.
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Not some stupid wreath.
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Perfecting eternity.
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So keep control of yourself.
26:42-26:44
How to get self-control.
26:44-26:45
Maximum efforts.
26:46-26:47
Motivated by the prize.
26:48-26:52
Number three, you must have a plan.
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You must have a plan.
26:56-26:57
Luke 26.
26:59-27:04
Paul says, "So, I do not run aimlessly.
27:06-27:10
I do not box as one beating the air.
27:12-27:13
I do not run aimlessly.
27:15-27:18
Track and field people, you know this, right?
27:19-27:26
When you show up for a meet, when you show up for a race, there has to be a track and a finish line, right?
27:26-27:34
You don't show up to the event, you're like, "I'm ready to run." They're just like, "Run wherever you want." Well, how do I know if I win?
27:34-27:35
That's his point.
27:35-27:36
I don't run aimlessly.
27:37-27:39
You got to stay on track.
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You don't show up at the track meet and you just start running through the bleachers, running by the concession stand.
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Well, this is my race.
27:48-27:49
No, no, no.
27:50-27:51
No track.
27:54-27:55
No finish line.
27:57-27:58
Likely, no effort.
28:00-28:01
Definitely no victory.
28:04-28:05
You have to have a plan to win.
28:10-28:10
Please hear me.
28:12-28:14
This is why many of you struggle with self-control.
28:16-28:19
Many of you struggle with self-control because you do not have a plan.
28:21-28:21
Here's what I mean.
28:21-28:26
You'll walk out of church today, and this is your big takeaway.
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You'll say, "You know what?
28:29-28:30
He's right.
28:31-28:33
From now on I'm going to have self-control.
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And you're going to leave it that vague, you're going to leave it that non-specific, and you're going to fail again.
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Because you don't have a plan.
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You're not being intentional.
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You're running in a concession stand.
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You have to have a plan.
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So very quickly here, you're like, "Well, I don't know what the plan is." tells you what the plan is.
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I'm going to give you the plan for self-control.
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Start here, okay?
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Three things, again, quickly.
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We could spend a whole lot of time on these, but if you want to dig deeper, come and meet with one of our pastors.
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We will be glad to walk through this with you.
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But letter A, the plan for self-control.
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Avoid situations where you'll be tempted.
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We just talked about this recently in a message.
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You know, I'd like to remind you, as I do often, I've never ever ever lost a fight to Mike Tyson.
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Not once ever.
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I have a perfect record against Mike Tyson.
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Zero losses, thank you, thank you Tristan.
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Tristan is the only person in this church that's proud of me.
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I've never lost a fight to Mike Tyson, why?
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Because I've never showed up.
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Right, you have to avoid situations where you'll be tempted because I guarantee you if I would have showed up to fight Mike Tyson, my teeth would have been in the fourth row, okay?
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you won't lose the fight if you don't show up.
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So avoid situations where you'll be tempted.
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Put up fences for yourself.
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You're like, "Well, that sounds like legalism." Listen, it's okay to be a personal legalist.
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It's okay.
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Legalism is a problem when I start enforcing my convictions on you.
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That's when it's a problem.
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But when I have convictions and fences that I enforce on myself, that is healthy.
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That is self-control.
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You can be a personal legalist.
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It's okay.
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But avoid situations where you'll be tempted.
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Letter B, how about accountability?
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Accountability.
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You should be in a small group.
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You should have a trusted brother or sister in Christ.
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Somebody that you can be open with.
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Somebody that you can share your heart.
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Where you're really struggling.
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Where you really need prayer.
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Where you really need them to check up on you.
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You should have a two-way street with someone that way.
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Someone that's not going to judge you or look down on you or be harsh with you, but somebody who's going to love you through it and encourage you.
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And you do that for them.
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Accountability.
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The third plan for self-control.
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Put off, put on.
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Put off, put on.
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This is all through the Bible, by the way.
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This is a key piece in your personal discipleship.
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This is a key piece in your walk with Christ.
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Here's the short version.
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The Bible doesn't tell you to just stop sinning.
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The Bible tells us that you need to replace sinning with something good.
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That's over and over and over in Scripture.
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It's like, "Okay, stop sinning." No, no, no. Don't stop sinning.
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Replace sinning.
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Take the sin off and then replace it with something else.
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If you've ever come to one of us for counseling, especially if you're dealing with a besetting sin, this is what we do, because this is what the Bible commands.
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That besetting sin, okay, here's what we're going to do.
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We're going to look at it the way God looks at it, and we're going to replace that sin with something else, with something that honors and glorifies God.
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It's like the old story.
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I've shared this with you before.
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I didn't make this up.
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This is ancient, but I love it because it's effective and I like dogs.
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But this guy had two dogs.
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He had a white dog and a gray dog.
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And every time he let him off the leash to eat, that old gray dog, he just beat that white dog up and the gray dog got all the food. So over time the gray dog was getting stronger and stronger and the white dog not getting to eat was getting weaker and weaker and the guy's like this isn't working. So here's what he did he he leashed both dogs and for a season he gave the white dog all the best most Awesome dog food kibbles and bits and bits and bits and and the gray dog He barely gave enough food to keep it alive. It's just an illustration. It's made up. Do not call PETA But the guy says no for a season I'm only feeding the white dog So, you know what happened the white dog got bigger and stronger in the gray dog at that And that season got weaker and weaker. So when he let him off the leash guess which dog was stronger, right?
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The point of the story is this, the dog that you feed is going to be the stronger dog.
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And if you find in your life that you're constantly feeding your sin, whatever your sin, your besetting sin is, your sin tendency, if you're constantly feeding that, it's a lot harder if you don't want to do the right thing when you're constantly feeding doing the sinful thing.
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Self-control is feeding the white dog.
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I'm only going after the things that honor the Lord.
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That's what I'm going after.
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I'm not feeding my sin.
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I'm feeding righteousness, so to speak.
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That's the plan.
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I want to remind you that self-control has to happen before you encounter temptation.
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Self-control isn't, well, I hope if I encounter a temptation today, I hope I stand strong.
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It's usually too late by then.
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The work has to be done beforehand.
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Decisions have to be made beforehand.
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That's why Paul here says in the second part of the verse, "I do not box as one beating the air." Same principle, right?
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Paul says I have a plan.
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I stick to the plan.
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I stay focused on the plan.
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Like wait, wait, wait, wait.
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Boxing? I thought we were talking about racing.
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I thought we were talking about running.
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boxing thing. You know that'd be a great new sport. Wouldn't that make the Olympics so much more interesting if the people that were running were also allowed to punch each other? Wouldn't that be awesome? You know, because you, right, as one person pointed out, you would have one guy that's like really fast and like he's not getting punched and he's probably gonna win but I think that everybody faster. And I think it would really make those middle-of-the-pack people... I think we need to get on this. So what's he talking about here? Well, Paul says, "Yeah, I'm still talking about racing, but while I'm running my race, I have an opponent who wants to knock me off track. I have this opponent that I I have to knock him out.
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Like, who is that opponent, Paul?
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And he's like, it's me.
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I'm the biggest problem in my race.
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My flesh is my biggest enemy.
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Which is why number four leads us to this, you must have a healthy fear of being disqualified.
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You must have a healthy fear of being disqualified.
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Look at verse 27.
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He says, "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified." I was like, hey, hey, I control my body, not vice versa.
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My body doesn't control me.
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I tell my body what we're doing.
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Paul, why are you so adamant about that?
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Why are you coming in hot about self-control here?
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What's your issue, Paul?" He tells us right here, he says, "Because I don't want to be disqualified." That's why.
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You know, it's interesting, in these It's Me and Games, their Olympic Games, the whole The whole thing began with a herald.
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They would have a guy who got up, he announced the contest.
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He announced the games.
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He announced the rules.
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He announced the contestants.
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And anyone who broke the rules was disqualified.
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You're out.
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We don't tolerate that.
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And here's the point, church.
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Paul here is telling us that the Christian is the herald and an athlete in the race at the same time.
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Do you see why that's such an important point to make?
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Paul is saying here, how embarrassing would it be You stood up and told everybody the rules, and then you got disqualified because you broke the rules.
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How embarrassing would that be?
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Oh, it's worse than embarrassing.
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Because a ruined testimony discredits the gospel in the eyes of the unsaved.
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It's Paul's point here.
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He goes, "Look, you're no longer effective.
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You're worthless when it comes to witnessing.
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You've discredited yourself.
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It's happened to too many.
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It's happened to too many Christians.
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It's happened to too many preachers.
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You stand up and announce, and then you break the rules yourself.
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Like, dude, shouldn't you have known more than anyone?
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So you need another motivation for self-control?
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You should have a healthy fear of failure.
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And please, let's be clear, he is not, when he's talking about disqualification, he's not talking about your salvation.
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Understand that.
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You cannot lose your salvation.
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If you are truly born again, I mean, if you are truly born again, you believe in Christ, you receive Christ, you believe in His death on the cross to take away your sins, If you believe He rose from the dead, He gave you the promise of eternal life, if you truly believe that, you are an adopted child of God.
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You are sealed in the Holy Spirit and nothing can change that.
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There is not a force in the universe that can change that.
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And I see no language in the Bible that talks about being unadopted.
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That talks about the seal of the Spirit being removed from you.
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I don't see any language in the Bible about that.
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He is not talking about losing your salvation.
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You can't.
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But, you can lose your ministry.
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And if you're a believer, you know, that's one of the greatest losses that you can experience in this life.
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Any ministry, however you serve God, Whatever you're doing for the king, you lose that.
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You're like, "You know, I was partnering with the living God.
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I was doing things that matter for eternity and it's over.
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And I have no one to blame but myself because I just couldn't control myself.
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And I got myself disqualified." on the outside looking in.
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Watching other people do what used to give you so much purpose and joy.
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You're disqualified.
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You ruined your testimony.
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You shattered people's trust in you.
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You're no longer useful for ministry.
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You're disqualified.
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You should have a healthy fear of that.
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You should always have it in the back of your mind what's at stake if you fail to be self-controlled.
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If our worship team would come back up, I'd like you to just bow your heads, please.
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I just want us to take a couple of moments.
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I want us to take a couple of moments for prayer, self-evaluation.
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You know, sometimes we get together and go to little groups and pray.
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That's wonderful, but we're not doing that today.
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Today, this is between you and the Lord.
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Just you and the Lord.
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Right now.
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Is there any area of your life right now where you are not exercising self-control?
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We talked about this not too long ago.
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Confession.
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Agreeing with God.
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Do you need to do that today?
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Agree with God.
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Yeah, God, you know what?
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This is an area, Father, where I have completely neglected to exercise any kind of self-control.
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I just want to ask you today - your head's bowed - how much effort are you putting into this?
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Can you honestly say you've been struggling with sin?
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Or have you just been sort of letting sin walk all over you?
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Are you putting forth any effort?
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Do you realize the prize?
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Oh, there are so many prizes.
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Eternal life in the presence of our Lord, the rewards that come through faithful service, all of that, but specifically again, here he's talking about winning the lost in this whole section. He's talking about winning the lost. That's the prize. Changing eternity for people, winning people to Christ, should motivate us to repent of our hypocrisy. So Again, my friends, you don't want to walk out of here with some generic, "I'm going to try to be self-controlled." It's just not going to work.
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You've got to have a plan.
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Are you willing to put up fences for yourself to stay out of places where you know you're going to lose that fight if you walk in there?
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Are you willing to get accountability?
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Are you willing to replace that sin, that time, that energy, that effort you're putting into sin, will you put that into something that honors the Lord instead?
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You're going to start feeding the white dog and stop feeding the gray dog.
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What's your plan?
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Remember what's at stake.
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Oh yes, there's always shame and embarrassment in being found out that you've been living in some kind of unrepentant, besetting sin.
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There's also forfeiting your ministry, disqualifying yourself, being completely ineffective for the kingdom because you were so unwilling to get with God.
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Today's the day to put the flag in the ground, draw the line in the sand, whatever other metaphor you want to use, but today's the day.
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We're changing things today.
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Father in heaven, I pray for every single one of us who are called by Your name.
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Father, we all have areas of our lives where we just have let it go.
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We've made excuses.
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We've not exercised any control.
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Today, Father, let us be done with the excuses.
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Give us a reality check on what's at stake.
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The main thing, Father, is Your glory and honor.
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So I pray today, Father, that we leave here recommitted that the light of Your Word, the and the light that comes from Your Holy Spirit would shine in all of the dark places in our hearts and minds and show us where we are not honoring You.
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Father, let today be a day of confession and repentance.
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Let us be people who actually show up to the race to win.
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We thank You, Father, for the power that You give us to do that through Your Holy Spirit.
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Give us the want to by that same power.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What strategies have you found effective to be self-controlled?
Why do you think many Christians put little (or no) effort in self-control?
The “prize” in this context is winning lost people. How is that a motivation to self-control?
NO NAMES! – but do you know someone who disqualified themselves from ministry due to lack of self-control? How did you react to that news? How does this make an unbeliever think about the Gospel?
Breakout
Pray for one another. In what area are you struggling with self-control? What is your plan for change?