Self Control Series

Do you have everything under control? I mean everything within you – do you all of you in control? Let me just get real serious, real quick here: what is the one item in your life you have trouble controlling? Do you have total self-control in the area of food? Drink? Sex? Your tongue? Today, I want to talk about the last of the fruit of the Spirit – self control. You’ll need more power than just willpower in your life to control you. You’ll need God’s power.

These nine virtues are the real signs the Spirit is in and with you. This is a series devoted to advocating living life with the fruit of the Spirit. Think of the fruit of the Spirit as signs to tell outsiders that you are followers of Christ.

You can either turn in Scripture or “turn on” Scripture (if you have your Bible on your device) to Galatians 5:

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:16-26)

I want to show you one of the truly one of the most potent things to Christianity is that the ability to control your addictions. Person after person tells us that coming to know Christ was the moment when they were at peace with themselves. There are really two halves to today’s message. First, I want to speak on the importance and need for growth in a believer’s life, and second is the importance of self-control. Knowing that this is the last in message in this series, I want to impress upon you the importance and need for spiritual growth in your life.

Fruit of the Spirit…

Here are three quick hitters on the importance of you growing in the fruit of the Spirit…

1.1 You’re Saved to Produce Fruit

“filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11).

Your goodness comes through Jesus Christ. Say this with me: Any goodness in me comes through Jesus. Fruit is the Evidence You’re a Disciple “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Fruit is the evidence that you are one of Jesus’ disciples. “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16a).

The Parable of the Four Soils is a story told by Jesus about four types of hearts. The first three soils or hearts present obstacles to the gospel’s growth. The seed of the gospel is hurt or hampered in numerous ways in the first three soils. It’s only the fourth soil that produces a crop: “Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8). The fourth soil or the fourth heart is the only one that accepts and receives the gospel. And how do we know this? Because it produces where the other three do not. You’re to even grow in your production of fruit: “so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).

Shallow vs. Deep Soil

If you are frustrated with your lack of personal growth, are you living in shallow soil? In order to grow, you must develop deep roots in the Word of God: “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away” (Luke 8:13). There’s two ways to develop spiritual roots: a daily and personal time with God and a weekly small group time with other believers.

1.1 You’re Saved to Produce Fruit