Latest / The Father's Business Podcast / Fruit of the Spirit-Self-Control

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Fruit of the Spirit-Self-Control · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, we are so excited because we are going to have our first in-person conference in several years, coming up in October.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: That's going to be October 16 to 18, and we are going to be at the Sandy Cove Retreat Center in Maryland.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It is a beautiful location.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It's on the Chesapeake Bay.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Both the nature around it and the accommodations are five star and we think you're really going to love it.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a great time to gather together with other people who have already been through the Ruach Journey study before.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: So this is a Ruach Journey level two conference.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: It's for anyone who either has attended one of our conferences in the past or you have gone through the Ruach Journey video study that is available for sale on our website.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to our podcast last fall and we did like a 13-week series on Ruach Journey, so anyone who has been through the basic material that is in the Ruach Journey study.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: This is for people who are looking for more.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: So there's still plenty of time.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: If you want to come and join us for this conference and you have not yet done the Ruach Journey Study, you can go on our website, wwwthefathersbusinesscom and purchase the study.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: There are videos you watch each week.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: You could do it on your own, you could gather some friends together and do it as a group, and you'll have plenty of time to get prepared for the fall when we're going to be together October 16 and 18.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: And one of the things I love most about this conference is it's not just about the teaching time from the front.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It's about meeting and gathering with and talking to other people who've also been through this study and learning from one another.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So, elizabeth, I am excited about this conference as well.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be great, I think the location is going to be beautiful.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: So can anyone attend this conference?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, this is open to both men and women.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Anyone who has been through the Rock Journey study, has attended a conference in the past or has been listening to the Rock Journey podcast.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: As long as you've done the work to get your heart prepared and understand the basic principles of living with our spirit, soul and body in alignment with Father, son and Holy Spirit, you are welcome to join us for this conference.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: So we hope that you enjoy today's podcast.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being with us.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth and I are here with you today and we are so happy to be wrapping up our Fruit of the Spirit series.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: The last fruit that we are talking about today is self-control.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody's favorite.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so it's interesting, as we think about this.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: In the Greek self-control is better translated as temperance or discipline, the virtue of one who masters his desires and his passions.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: But sometimes it's hard to think about self-control, because when we're talking about the Spirit I'm like why is it not God control?
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Why is it self-control?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: So, elizabeth, I find that a bit perplexing, Like it's all about let's rely on the Spirit to do these things and then we have self-control.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, I feel the same way.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You think.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Back to the beginning of this series we talked about as I've approached the fruit of the Spirit through the years, I've always felt like it was up to me to produce all these things, and it felt like a pretty heavy list of how am I supposed to be loving and joyful and patient and kind and gentle and all these other things, all the time out of my own strength.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: And so we've spent a lot of time talking about how this is fruit of this spirit, not fruit of ourselves.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: And so it does feel a little weird that all of a sudden it says self-control, because that sounds very much like it's up to me.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: But I think the way we've got to look at it is self-control is about our dependence upon God.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It's about choosing to allow ourselves to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, because I think it's about, I mean, with all the fruit we've talked about it in each of our episodes but it's about being in a relationship with God.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: It's about abiding with Him, being in alignment with Him, and then, out of the overflow of that relationship with Father, son and Holy Spirit, we see these fruits produced in us.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: So, because we want to follow Him.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: We're going to control ourselves.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: We're going to choose to submit our will to His will through the power of the Holy Spirit right.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so how do we choose to submit that?
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Well, that is the daily battle and you know, that's where you know you think about Titus 2, 11 through 14, that says For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, jesus Christ, who gave himself up to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: So it's this process and I hate this.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: This is what I hate about the Christian life is everything is a journey or a process.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I want instant, I want microwave Christianity where you push a button and it's done, but it says that God's grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to live a life that is self-controlled.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: And so it is a day by day, abiding and coming back to him over and over again and saying, not my will, but your will be done.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: It also says it's the grace of God, Like it's not just this the rule of God.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yes, the demand of God.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, the demand of God.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: It's being spurred on at times, but it's His grace and the overflow of His grace that teaches us to do that.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: I don't ever think I've looked at that phrase quite that way before.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: And then I think about Jesus had to model self-control for us.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: In the New Testament we have examples of Him doing that a couple of times.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking of when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness in Matthew 4, the enemy said you're hungry, turn the stone into bread.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Satan challenges him and he's trying to prove his superiority by throwing Jesus off the high place saying hey, the angels will protect you.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Right, and in those Jesus had a choice.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: He had a choice to say you know, am I going to have self-control to not let the enemy beat me here and show me up Like I don't have to give into this, I can have self-control.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Then the third temptation, even Kimberly, where Satan, as the prince of this world, offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, which is a temptation to power and status and control.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: And so, as you're right, at every turn, Jesus had to choose to say no.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: And then I mean, I'm thinking about me.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I was just at the store and there's Cheetos in the checkout line, and do I even have the power to say no to a bag of Cheetos?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Well, today, no, I didn't.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I bought the Cheetos, I heard that bag rattling in the background there.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I bought the bag of Cheetos today.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So did I have self-control today?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: No, and yet I mean, he's been in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights fasting and praying, and then the enemy appears.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I mean I would be very tempted to turn the stone into bread at that point.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: But then you go forward in his life and even later in, you know, towards the end of his time here on earth, in Matthew 26, when he's in the garden of Gethsemane and you know it says that in Matthew 26, that he went a little farther and he fell on his face on the ground and he said if there's my father, if that's possible, may this cup be taken from me.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So he's like, is there any other way than what all he's going through and about to go through?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And then immediately goes that very famous phrase not my will but your will.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Be done that yet another time where he had to have self-control.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: And later, in that same chapter, as they're coming to arrest him, and he knows the torture, the mocking, the betrayal of his friends, like everything that's about to happen to him, he says in verses 53 and 54, do you think I can't call on my father and he at once will put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels, but how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: And so, at any moment, thinking of the excruciating pain that Jesus is going through, he could have said enough and it would have stopped.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: But he had the vision in front of him.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: He knew that he was here to fulfill a purpose, he was here so that we might have salvation through him, and so he had this perspective that allowed him to have self-control.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: And I think sometimes that's where I get in trouble is I am so looking for the instantaneous fix, the instantaneous feeling, the whatever I need in that moment to make myself feel better, instead of having that longer distance vision of there's a bigger prize awaiting me farther in the future.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Right, because it wasn't just self-control for the sake of self-control.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: It was self-control because of submitting to the Father's better plan, the perfect plan, the plan that he could trust, that we are encouraged to trust but that we doubt so easily, Right?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: And I think it's easy for some people to go well, he was Jesus, right, you know what I mean.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: But I think of another verse in Proverbs.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Proverbs 25, 28 says a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without its walls in one translation.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: But the actual translation of that is a man without rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And we talk about this concept a lot at our Ruach Journeys conferences that we do and in the study that we've put out.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: But it's not having control over your own spirit automatically makes me think of another verse where it talks about Jesus and as he was growing.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: It says in Luke 2, 40, that Jesus was a child and grew and became strong and spirit filled with wisdom.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: So, yes, he was God, but he was also fully man and had all the emotions and choices and temptations that we had.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: And just like we have to grow in strengthening our spirit to have control over our soul and body and allow our spirit to be submitted to God's spirit, jesus went through that same process while he was here.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: So I like the idea of talking more about this rule of over your own spirit rather than calling it self-control, because self-control just sounds like discipline, like I need to eat right, I need to exercise, I need to have good financial habits, and there's a lot of people in non-Christian worlds that are very disciplined.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I think of some professional athletes I could throw their names out Like they monitor every gram of food that goes in their body, they exercise, they do all these types of things, and when I see those people I kind of have the same reaction that I think some of us are having about Jesus.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, yeah, if I was a multimillionaire and could have a private chef and a personal trainer and a da-da-da and a da-da-da, I'd do all those things.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: And I know that's not true.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: I mean it would help.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: But I still have the choice that I don't feel like getting up today and exercising or I feel like stopping by and getting myself a hamburger, even though I've got a personal chef at home who's cooking me a delicious meal.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: So in all of our lives we've got to choose.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Am I going to keep my spirit, soul and body in alignment with Father, son and Holy Spirit and be led by them, or am I going to keep my spirit, soul and body in alignment with Father, son and Holy Spirit and be led by them, or am I going to go my own way and, kimberly, this kind of circles us back around to this whole concept of broken cisterns, right, that we've talked about before on other podcasts, where we're offered living water and yet we choose to run to broken cisterns.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's an issue of self-control.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's that, the idea that we can choose to drink of the living water or we can be, as Jeremiah says, a she-camel in heat which is foaming at the mouth, if you have seen a picture of that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: So, depending on the day, depends on the choices that we make, and so it's.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: It's hard, like the reality is.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: It's really hard because gratifying the flesh right now getting the bag of Cheetos, getting the ice cream, going for whatever, whatever fancies you, right, like having that in the immediate moment makes me feel like I'm in control, but that's an illusion.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: At the same time, like control is an illusion.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Just go think about that for a little while.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Like we're not really in control, right, but we feel like we are, and so we become.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Then, by doing this, we become a slave to what we're turning to and in the moment we think we're doing something that's releasing the fun chemical in our brain, and if we don't run to the broken cisterns, you know, then then it'll, we'll be left wanting, right, like we'll be missing out, but it's harder to have self-control.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: It's easier to react than to respond to something like reacting is just a frantic oh my gosh.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Like, here we are and I want that and I want this, I want that and I want that and I want to go here and I want to do this, I want to go there, I want to spend money here and travel there and I want to do whatever.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Right, like right.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Sometimes we're reacting, even by choosing healthy things, but that still doesn't mean that we're actually needing to run to that.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Like, we have a lot of friends who like to literally run, literally exercise, but even sometimes that is just a way that they're puffing up their body or the way they're trying to discipline themselves, but it can still be a broken cistern.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So, again, we're not just trying to label things that are definitely not good for us, but it's what it's, again why we run to those things.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Right, and so it can be easier to say something cruel or to say something I don't need to say than to hold my tongue.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Self-control is holding my tongue, self-control is resisting rather than giving in, and in the long run it's hard to do that.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: But do we want to be a slave to that?
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: Do I want to be a slave to just what I think is control.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: But it's not really control, it's just a constant reaction and running.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, if we're honest, those are things that are luring us in, that are tempting us to turn away from what God has said, when he was like turn to me, lay all your cares, cast all your cares upon me, bring things to me.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: And in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, we see this.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: That scripture says no temptation has overtaken you.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: But such is common to man, god's faithful.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation he will provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: So again, it's like you said a minute ago.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: It's having that like the perspective that Jesus had of the long-term vision, the long-term perspective of the will of our Father.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: The long-term vision, the long-term perspective of the will of our Father, the plan of our Father, the walking in the Spirit and the abundance that John 10.10 offers.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Right that the thing has come to still kill and destroy, but he has come that we may have a life to the fullest.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: And having life is actually choosing self-control to walk in the Spirit.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I think it can be long-term vision about a lot of things, like I'm even thinking about.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: It's easier in the moment, if I'm angry, just to let my anger blow up on the person in front of me, right, because in some ways it gives me some relief to just let it out, right?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Sure relationship and maybe even a whole family system that's just gotten blasted by my actions and words that now I have to take time to repair, and while I can do my best to repair it, once you said something to someone you can't fully take it back.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: There's forgiveness, there's reconciliation, we move on, but there's a weight to our words and the damage has kind of been done, and so it's again long distance vision about a lot of things.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: What do I want?
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I want a loving relationship with my husband where we are life giving to one another.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, so in the moment I've got to, even if I have to bite down hard.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I need to bite that tongue and not say what I want to let fly out of my mouth, because in some way it will make me feel better, because my goal is I want to be life-giving and enjoy a life-giving relationship with my husband and have a mutual respect and a mutual love for one another.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: But so easy to talk about, so much harder to do.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: In the moment it's like when you kick your toe up against a door jam.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: You don't sit there and process how you should properly respond in that moment, just something comes blurting out and a lot of times that also helps in our relationships with other people.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that reminds me of a song that used to really speak to me, called the Blessing, and it would say with our words we can choose life or we can choose death.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: And I don't think we recognize the power that our tongue holds and the power that our choices hold.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: And so it does require discipline, it does require self-control.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: You know, 1 Corinthians 9 talks about runners receiving a prize.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Right, it says do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: So run that you may obtain it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So I do not run aimlessly, 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.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: So I know, elizabeth, I like the Olympics, you love the Olympics.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I love the Olympics and they're coming to Paris soon.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Are coming soon, and it's all about people who are like they're sacrificing right now.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they are, and I mean and, but they've been a lot of them because and that's what I love most about it and I actually have a friend who's working on some behind the scenes stuff doing stories of athletes headed towards the Olympics, and I can't wait to hear more about that Because I love the.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: You know, since I was four years old and figured out that I could, you know, tumble, I've been training at the gym to become a gymnast, to compete in the Olympics, like this has been their life obsession and they have sacrificed a lot and they've trained hard to pursue excellence and pursue a dream and I just there's something about that story that is so captivating and that's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 9.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: And yet that's, at the same time, so convicting that do I live my Christian walk at that level of passion?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: No, not really.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, we all have given up a lot and done a lot in order to serve God at different points in our life, but that day in, day out, forget all other dreams just to pursue this one dream thing.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know that I have Olympic-sized passion when it comes to the day in and day out of my walk with God, which is the challenge of what we're being called to live to, and that does feel impossible.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: And so that's where I was like well, okay, that is why self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, because on my own I can't produce that.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: On my own I'll be the she-camel in the heap, sniffing the wind and going after my own selfish desires.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: But it's God who's constantly wooing us back to him and saying I have something so much better for you than this.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: So self-control is the last in the list of the fruit of the Spirit and never really thought about it before, until we've started having this conversation.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: So I'm wondering, elizabeth, why do you think self-control is the last?
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, do I know the mind of God?
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Completely?
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: No, but I can see, as we spent time looking at it, that it takes self-control to have all the other ones.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if I'm really going to show love to someone, I have to control my own desires, because that means putting someone else ahead of me and it also means, once I'm in a committed marriage, turning my eye away from temptations of any other relationship.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: There is a level of self-control that is required to love another person.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: It takes self-control to have joy, because when I'm in a hard place, I get to choose to celebrate the goodness of God rather than focus in on the circumstances that I'm in.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: So I get to choose joy.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: But that is me overcoming my own emotions, right, and you know, kimberly and I, you and I can keep walking through all of these.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: If we're going to have peace, then what level of self-control do you have to have to have the fruit of peace?
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: You got to choose to make peace instead of making conflict, which is difficult.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I laugh at that.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I'm like it's really hard right.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It is really hard.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: You wouldn't have a job.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: I know If peace was easy because you do mediation all the time right, right, right.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: So we've got peace, we've got patience.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, how much self-control does it take for me to be patient, because I have very little patience on my own, but just having to choose to take that deep breath and not condemn someone else who's not getting it as fast as I am or moving as fast as I think they should, or you know, I think it should take less time than it's taking All of those emotions that well up in me so often, and how I need to have the self-control to take a deep breath, and even I mean I get impatient with God.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: I've got several things in my life right now that I'm like God, I think you're behind schedule.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: If you just want my honest opinion, you should have moved in this area of my life before now and you're not.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: And that's where I have to have the controlling of a rule over my own spirit and the self-control to go.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, but not my will, but your will be done.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: You are always on time.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: You do know what's best for me, and so I'm gonna patiently wait for you.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: It takes self-control to live out kindness, because kindness is looking out for others, which is not our first mode of operation.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: It's our first mode of operation is look out for number one, right?
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: That's what the world teaches us.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: And so it takes self-control to be able to look kindly, to kindly look out for other people and to treat them with kindness, the same with goodness.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: To do good, to love justice, to love mercy that Micah calling there.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: It takes self-control to fight for those good things, to choose good over evil and to be faithful man, to remain faithful amidst mockery and amidst betrayal and all those things like.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: It takes self-control.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: It's hard, like when someone's not faithful.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: You want to be not faithful, right, absolutely.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: And then you know, gentleness is the last one before you get to self-control.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: And we even talked about last week the whole idea that gentleness is the idea of a strong horse but with a bridle in its mouth so that it can't.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: It is under the submission of the one who is leading it.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And I mean, how much self-control does it take?
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: It takes me a lot, I'll tell you to be to show compassion and mercy and real love to people that and here's the key that I don't think deserve it, and that's where my own heart has to be made right before God, that I'm not the judge and I'm not the ruler and I don't get to choose who gets mercy and gentleness for me.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: That's God's choice, and so choosing to be gentle I mean all of them require such control of our spirit, saying, okay, I'm going to go against all my natural tendencies.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Because I was joking with my mom before we were recording this.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: She was asking me what are you up to today?
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: And I was like well, it's the last of our Fruit of the Spirit series.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: And I was like you know, the Fruit of Elizabeth would be a very different list than the Fruit of the Spirit.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: She's like, oh yeah, that she's like no one wants that tree and I was like you got that right.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: And so it takes so much of us submitting our spirit of having that self-control of giving of ourselves over to God so that we can live a life that has the fruit of the Holy Spirit in it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, self-control is indeed a challenging aspect of our faith, elizabeth, but it's also a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit within us.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: My goodness Sorry, yeah, it's no, but it's also a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit within us.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: My goodness Sorry, yeah, it's no, it's true.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I know, I know, and no need to apologize for laughing for it, because it's true, because I think all of us know our own hearts and how wicked and deceitful our own hearts can be.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the fact that any of the fruit of the Spirit show up in our life is a testament that there is a Holy Spirit and he is alive and working in each of our lives, because on our own we would not live this kind of life.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: So, once again, as we close today, I think it is critical that we bless our spirits to be able to exercise the fruit of the Spirit self-control.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Spirit.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Hear God's word for you in Galatians 5.22.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: The fruit of the Spirit self-control Spirit.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Hear God's word for you in Galatians 5.22.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, and in Ephesians 5.18, be filled with the Spirit.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: And in Romans 8.5,.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: And Galatians 5.16 and 25, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Since we live by the Spirit.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Let us keep in step with the Spirit.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Spirit, ponder the immense self-control of Jesus.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Isaiah 53, 7 says he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open His mouth.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: So he did not open His mouth.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: When he was abused, whipped and crucified, he uttered only forgiveness.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: He was taunted and insulted and did not retaliate, not one word of bitterness.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: When he suffered, he made no threats.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Instead, he entrusted himself to him.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Who judges justly?
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Spirit, hear the word of God in Hebrews 12, 1-3.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Consider him, who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Your suffering, jesus, is the model of biblical self-control.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: The daily cross you take up is your opportunity to let your silent lamb live through you the joy set before him in all circumstances of opposition, criticism and shame.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Jesus was fully God and completely a man, and he learned obedience by what he suffered.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: He had to train his will to do his Father's will so that he could be the source of your resistance to every temptation to surrender to sinful words and actions.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Spirit.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with your greatest weapon, the presence of the Spirit of God in you to do his will.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with victory that comes from having the nature of Christ in your heart and spirit.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with His correction and training in righteousness, which yields peace for those who are conformed to it.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Be blessed to apply the same determination of an athlete for physical exercise to spiritual disciplines, for training in godliness.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with control in your spirit and dominion over your soul and body.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with being in control of your flesh and your mind and being free of the control of the appetites of the world, the flesh and the devil.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Be blessed with a disposition that is even-tempered, tranquil and balanced in spirit, that does not react to the self indulgence, selfishness and selfishness.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Be blessed with Proverbs 16.32.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Be blessed with transformation of your present and future by His Spirit in all circumstances.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: Be blessed to rise above circumstances and your history to be all.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: God created you to be neither trying to control nor enabling those around you, but calling them, as well as yourself, to a higher standard in the Spirit of liberty.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Be blessed with the fruit of the Spirit's control that he produces in you your response, because he lives in you, I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: To donate, go to wwwthefathersbusinesscom.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: Be sure to follow us at the Father's Biz on Instagram and Facebook.