3ABN Spring Camp Meeting 2013: Showers of Blessings

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Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Magna Parks

Self Control

Father, we thank you so much for who you are and for what you seek to do through mere vessels such as myself and others.

And Father, as I stand before you people, I ask for your Holy Spirit to give me wisdom and direction, and I pray that you may be with everyone listening, that they may be able to take 1 nugget from this that will draw them closer to you.

We thank you for this privilege of being able to come before you.

Turn with me in your Bibles, it'll also be on the screen, but turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9, verses 25 through 27.

And it reads, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperant in how many things?

Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as 1 that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." Paul is using the analogy of training and athletics to help us understand part of the dynamics of the Christian life.

In particular, he focuses on an ingredient that we're going to talk about today.

He doesn't say the word, but when he talks about running, not as uncertainly, fighting, keeping his body under subjection.

I believe when Paul came up with this through the Holy Spirit, he thought about not only what we need to do in terms of gaining eternal life, but Paul was also looking at what we can do as we live on this earth.

Now, I believe if I went through this audience and talked to each 1 of you, you can tell me 1 area that you have problems with self-controlling.

I myself am speaking to you about this, but there are areas in which I have self-control.

So each time I preach this, I'm also preaching to myself.

We live in a world today that tells us, if you want it, get it.

Things about resisting unhealthy desires, emotions, habits, that's not encouraged.

And the idea of self-control is foreign to many people.

We sometimes desire it, but rarely are we successful with it.

God in his word admonishes us about self-control.

The word self-control is not used in the Bible, but God admonishes us in different ways.

In Proverbs 25, 28, you could read it with me.

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down without walls.

When you can't rule your emotions, when you can't rule your thoughts, your spirit, it's like you have no defense, lack of self-control.

Another verse that we often talk about, the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5.22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.

Some people use the word temperance and self-control synonymously.

They're a little different, but they're kind of the same.

We're told by the servant of the Lord that temperance is abstaining from things that are harmful and using judiciously those things that are good for us.

Now, interestingly, when you look at this verse, if you go to the verse before the works of the flesh, they all show a lack of self-control.

Adultery, fornication, idolatry, wrath, strife, murder, drunkenness, all of these works of the flesh show a lack of self-control.

And then in Titus 2, I'm not going to read all the verses, but in Titus, when Titus gives the admonition to the different age groups and to the different gender, if you know that verse, he talks to aged men, he talks to aged women, young men, young women.

We won't take the time to look at it today.

But if you look at that verse, there's a word that he constantly uses for his admonition to each group, and that's the word sober.

Now in order to be sober, sober refers to clear thinking.

And in order to exercise self-control, we must be thinkers.

Our desires, our urges, our tendencies must be approached with careful, rational, clear thinking.

So when Titus is giving this admonition, he's saying, older men, I want you to be sober.

That whole, he doesn't leave anybody out when he talks about the idea of sobering themselves and exercising clear thinking.

Now, if we look at the Bible, and I wish we had time, we can look at the biographies of many people in the Bible and see that most of them sadly did not exercise self-control.

Remember Esau came in from working as what was very hungry?

He exercised a lack of self-control when he said to, I believe it was Jacob, he said, please give me that pot of lentils.

I'll give up these blessings for you to give me the pot of lentils.

Another person who showed some self-control, and this is 1 of my favorite characters in the Bible, is Joseph.

When Potiphar's wife came at him, he fled.

1 of the best ways to deal with self-control is to flee.

Remember when Moses was ruling in Egypt and he saw the Egyptian man doing something to the Hebrew slave?

He showed a lack of self-control because he instantly went out and killed that man, didn't he?

Then he was sent to 40 years in the wilderness to learn you need to control yourself, because you're going to be dealing with some hardheaded people.

And then for 40 years he dealt with Israel and showed a lot of control until the very end when he struck that rock instead of speaking to it.

So Moses had an up and down history, but God is so merciful in spite of that, he still took him to heaven.

And then with David, the history with Bathsheba, surely showing a lack of self-control.

Then we have Samson, the strongest man in the world, but also the weakest.

He showed a lack of self-control in choosing women.

I believe there was a riddle that he gave them to solve 1 day, and he thought that he was going to trip them up, and they deceived his maid at that time and they were able to get the answer, remember?

He killed several animals and did several things showing his lack of self-control so he could get the gift, the garments that he offered to them.

And Daniel, another favorite of my characters, purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.

And I could go on and on about the different characters in the Bible, but you see, you get the idea.

Many of them suffered and struggled with self-control, but we can also look through history.

Alexander the Great conquered all these nations, but I believe if history tells me correctly, he died in a drunken stupor.

And then we have, coming up to more contemporary times, we hear of leaders falling because of different problems with affairs.

We hear people having problems with drinking.

And then when we come closer to home and look at our own lives, some of us have problems with appetite.

Some of us have problems with this thing that I'm using right now, the tongue.

Some of us have problems controlling our emotions.

And there are 3 main areas that are prominent for looking at self-control.

The main areas are behaviors and activities, our words, and our thinking.

But today I'll be focusing more on behavior and activity.

Now there was a study, excuse me, done by the Barna Group.

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Self Control

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