Self-Control

Amen.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Galatians chapter 5, where we started a couple of months ago.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Galatians 5, and I need an outline, honey.

Right there, Darren's got a couple.

All right, here we go.

Everyone got a sheet?

Everyone got an outline?

All right, good, good.

Watching online, the outlines there for you.

Had a lot of compliments on this series on fruit that remains.

And boy, I'll tell you what, when I look at this, I can't help but think all the different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul has given us in these few verses.

And by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live an incredible life.

Can I get an amen?

And for most of us, now some of us reaching our fourth quarter of life, I kind of like to explain life in a football game, quarters, first quarter, second quarter, halftime, then third and fourth quarter.

And by the way, if you've never read Bob Buford's book on halftime, you need to read it.

You really need to read it.

Because it basically talks about us as individuals.

And it talks about most of us, you know, I come from a generation that we didn't swap jobs a whole lot.

Clay's been, he just retired, and how long were you with your company?

39 years.

Ivill's been in the meat business how many years?

45 years.

Now, for you millennials and under, you don't even know what that means.

Because most young people today, even after they graduate from college, they'll start a job, but then next thing you know, they're doing another job and they're doing this, and or they're going to the best offer.

Boom, boom, boom.

I mean, it's it's it's kind of like that.

And with pastors, wait, wait till you hear us.

Every three years, a pastor changes a church.

Youth pastors every two and a half years.

So Rick and I have already blown the numbers here.

Rick's been in youth ministry now 14?

Where's Rick?

Help me, Rick.

17 years.

I've been in, I've I quit counting that 40.

But what I'm saying is, folks, you and I have the privilege of living a fantastic life.

We really do.

I look out here, I've been to the third world countries, and many of our men and women have on mission trips.

I'm telling you, we are blessed.

And we never need to forget that.

But right here, I want you to realize what Paul does.

Paul ends with the greatest characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit of all the other eight.

There's nine of them.

There's nine characteristics of being filled with the Spirit of God.

And we've looked at each and every one, and we're going to close today with the last one.

But he contrasts at the very beginning, starting in verse 19, which we didn't look at.

We've only looked at verse 22.

But he starts at verse 19 and he contrasts those people who live a self-control, self-disciplined life with those who don't.

And he says, for those who don't, look at what he says.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these.

In other words, if you can't control your lust, you can't control yourself, you can't control those passionate desires that are bad for you, notice what you you control.

Here's what he said.

He says, now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, liceness, adultery, witchcraft, and drug use and drug abuse, hatred, variance.

That means just always in turmoil, humiliations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, relics, revelings, and such like of the world I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past.

Now they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

And let me read it to you in the New Living Testament.

People's desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, shameful deeds.

They worship idols, they practice witchcraft, they hate others, and are hard to get along with.

People become jealous, angry, and selfish.

They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are envious.

They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well.

I told you before, as I'm telling you right now, no one who does these things will share in the blessings of God's kingdom.

God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-control.

There is no law against behaving in any of these ways, and because we belong to Christ, now watch.

We have killed our selfish feelings and desires.

God's Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.

But don't be conceited or make others jealous by claiming to be more right than you are.

Wow.

Wow.

Folks, that's it.

The first victory that successful people ever achieve or win is the victory over themselves.

Amen.

If you don't win this victory, you'll never be successful.

You will be an uncontrolled person.

You'll be an undisciplined person.

And you're headed for one area, and that's destruction.

Now look at what he says in Proverbs 25, verse 28.

Proverbs 25:28

Powerful statement here.

He says, a man without self-control, now what's this, is as defenseless as a city with broken down walls.

Now that word in the Hebrew is mat shar.

And it literally means, and that the word for self-control is mat shar.

And here's what it means: it means to get a hold of or to get a grip on.

Kind of reminds me as I was training my flat coat retriever, Bear.

When I was starting out training him, I had a leash and a harness for him, and I had to put that on him, and I had to put the leash on him, and I'd hold it loose, but right here so that I could jerk him.

When he would start to take off or not mind me, I'd just jerk it.

Not hurting, but just jerk it.

Like that.

And you put a little loop in the leash so it makes a pop, pop.

But you don't pop him, but it makes a sound.

And it kind of gets his attention.

Boom, boom.

When you pull it.

But what that means is when Bear would start to get out of control, I had to get a grip on him.

Boom.

I had to hold him back.

I had to take control.

That's exactly what the Hebrew word here means for you and me when it comes to those desires that want to get out of control, we've got to bring them back in control.

We've got to get a hold on them.

We got to get a grip on them.

And that's exactly what this means.

Now I want you to look at five areas.

I mean, I could have given you a list of a hundred areas.

And we're going to be talking about this.

Is good.

I'm telling you, way to be a better way to wrap this whole series up.

Self-control.

Last week was gentleness.

How many of you, boy, that I still had to repent a bunch for not being as gentle as I ought to have been this last week, but that was that same thing.

Gentleness, be gentle, not judgmental.

That has really helped me.

But really, the foundation of all those other eight characteristics is this one self-control.

Listen to me.

Young people, listen to me.

If you, adults, listen to me.

Older folks, listen to me.

If we can grasp how to take a handle on controlling ourselves, you're going to be the most successful you could be in anything you choose to be.

Did you hear that?

That's very important.

In anything you choose to be.

Hopefully what God chooses for you, but that's the truth.

Hey, even a lost person can be very successful if he's self-controlled.

Hello?

But there's five areas that I think we as Christians have to be very aware of, and I've given the scriptures to you.

First of all, anger.

He says in Proverbs 29, 11, a fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds it back.

I've got a bad saying.

If I think it, I say it.

That's not always good, folks.

Because a fool vents everything, but a wise man holds it back.

You might be thinking something, but that doesn't mean you got to say it.

Can I get a no-me?

We've all been guilty of that.

Amen.

Me especially.

Oh, it's terrible.

And I've had to ask Susan to forgive me for almost 40 years, 39 years of sometimes shooting her when I ought not to be shooting.

She's gotten better at shooting back, so amen.

Secondly, not just anger.

We got to control that anger.

Can I get an amen?

Number two, we've got to control the lust.

He says in 1 John 2, 15 through 17, write those verses down.

I forgot to put that on the outline.

The Proverb verse talks about the harlot, and we all know about that.

But here's what I want you to realize.

1 John 2, 15 through 17.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And then he says in verse 17, and the world passes away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God, hey, pro hey, abides forever.

We got to get control of our lusts.

Can I get an amen?

We really do.

Number three, I know none of us are guilty here.

We got to get control of our spending.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Spending.

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend everything they have.

Did you hear that?

Let me give you that verse again.

Some of you need to memorize that.

Proverbs 21, 20.

The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend everything they have.

Now I like to spend money.

I'd be guilty if I didn't tell you.

I like it.

But I've learned I've have to control what I spend.

And you do that by easily.

I'm going to help you right now.

Here's how you control your spending.

One word.

This is worth you listening.

One word.

To help you keep from spending your money unwisely.

Are you ready?

Say, I'm ready, preacher.

Budget.

Budget.

How many of you have a budget?

Okay.

How many of you like a budget?

Two of you, three of you, four of you.

Good.

That's good.

Five.

That's good.

I don't like a budget.

I like to buy when I want to buy, what I want to buy, and I buy.

Very amen.

That's way, that's, if I did not self-control myself, we would probably be broke.

And I like to give money away.

I like to give to people.

I like to help people.

I like to buy things for people.

And don't line up outside and give me a list of what I can buy you.

That's not what I'm talking about.

But I do.

But a budget.

You gotta have self-control in spending money.

Can I show you?

I don't have my bill.

That's a good way not to spend money.

Don't have your bill.

But one of the greatest tools of the devil are credit cards.

I said a tool of the devil.

I didn't say the credit cards, the devil.

Did you get that right?

Don't walk out of here and say, oh, Pastor said the credit card are the devil's.

No, I didn't say that.

It's a tool.

Okay?

Because you can buy stuff immediately that you really can't afford.

And then you have to pay double or triple if, hey, payments or interest.

It gets you every time.

Borrow or serve it to the lender.

Every time.

So, spending.

Let's go.

Here's the third one.

Drinking.

Now I'm going to tell you how bad drinking is.

Drinking and or drunkenness, let me put it another way.

I know one drink's not gonna hurt you.

Unless the potential of you to be an alcoholic.

One beer took my mother, turned her into an alcoholic, and killed her at 56 years of age.

Because her brain cells had deteriorated.

She was drinking so much.

So listen to what the Bible says about drunkenness and drinking.

Starting at verse 29 in Proverbs 23.

Who hath woe?

Who hath sorrow?

Who hath contentions?

Who hath babblings?

Who hath wounds without cause?

Who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it is given its color in the cup, when it has moved itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a snake, and stingeth like an adder.

Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.

In other words, it makes you do things that you normally would not do.

Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

They have stricken me.

Now what listen to this?

Shall thou say, and I was not sick, they have beaten me, and I felt it not.

When shall I awake?

I will seek it yet again.

In other words, you have no control, you've lost total control, you can't quit.

You just over and over again till like my mother, it destroys you.

And that's not just with alcohol, that's with prescription drugs or any kind of other drugs.

Can I get an amen?

So that drinking means drugs too, not just drinking.

Very, very.

It's an area that we got to control.

We've got to control it.

And then the last thing of the big five, ambition.

Proverbs 23, 4 says, Do not overwork to be rich, know when to quit.

Know when to quit.

There's a lot of millionaires that have made a lot of money, but they lost their family.

You've got to balance it out.

You've got to be self-controlled.

So, listen to what H.B.

London said.

As I was doing all my research, I found this statement.

I remember H.B.

London coming to seminary at Liberty where I was a student, and as the dean of the seminary had him back, he made this profound statement.

And I had it, I had it in big bold letters in my notes with pastoral theology.

Listen to what he said.

He taught pastoral theology at Dallas Theological Seminary.

What we do, now listen, to listen carefully, because you can't miss this.

I remember I'm saying that's the key to me being successful as a pastor.

What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend upon what we already are.

Wow.

Then notice the next sentence.

And what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.

Man, that's powerful.

Young people, if you can grasp what I'm teaching this morning.

Or parents, if you can grasp it, and hopefully many of you are already doing it, and I know a lot of you successful people are, but teach this to your children.

That's the greatest thing you could ever teach.

How to be successful in anything you do.

One word.

Well, it's actually two with a hyphen.

Self-discipline.

That's it.

Self-control.

That's it.

So with that said, let's look at five very simple starters of self-discipline.

Number one, start with yourself.

Huh.

That makes sense.

Look at Luke 9, 23.

Jesus said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Now look at this word.

Look at this verse.

Luke 9.23.

Is that up there?

There we go.

Now watch this.

Don't miss this.

First of all, there's got to be a desire if any man come after me.

You've got a desire to want to be all that God wants you to be.

So you've got a desire that you will have self-control over yourself.

Can I get an amen?

You've got to desire that.

Some of us just say, I don't care, I'll be what I'm.

I know.

But remember the saying?

What did he say?

It is what it is.

No, it's not.

It is not what it is.

Well, no, it is what it is.

It is not.

It is what you make it.

You can take control.

Can I get an amen?

Through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, there's nothing that you can't control.

Now, first of all, you've got to have the Holy Spirit.

Can I get an amen?

But then again, I know a lot of lost, very self-controlled, disciplined people.

They've learned how to control themselves in those areas that could destroy them.

Can I get an amen?

And they know that.

All the time.

So, D.L.

Moody, a lot of y'all don't know D.

L.

Moody, but back when I was a young preacher, he's one of the famous, great evangelists in Chicago, right after he was a shoe salesman.

But here's what they asked him.

They said, Dr.

Moody, what?

Who's your greatest enemy?

Because he was against, back then, alcohol was illegal.

I mean, he was fighting everything.

And they kept saying, Who's your worst enemy?

Instead of naming, you know, the alcohol folks or the mob or whatever.

He said, Uh oh, that's easy.

They said, Oh, who is it?

He said, Me.

No.

They're ready to write up articles.

No, he said, me.

It's me.

I am my greatest enemy.

I am my greatest enemy.

I read a sign the other day.

I thought to myself, is that not true?

They'd get sued if they did it today, but when I was playing football, if you really messed up after two or three times on a play.

Coach Parker, who just went to be with the Lord, who had a major influence on my life.

By the way, Alan Murphy, the pastor of North Shelby Baptist, passed away this week.

Uh suddenly.

And I'm I'm not sure.

I think it was a heart attack, but we don't know.

No, no, no, I know.

Alan been there for just a good time.

Yep.

Great man of God.

Sweet man.

Sweet man.

Loved him to death.

But but if we messed up two or three times, you know what he did?

Coach Parker?

He'd wait till you remember how you'd bend over to in your stance, and when you bend over, he'd go, bam! Boom, there you go.

Well, I saw this sign.

Now we had we had pads in our backside, okay?

So it really didn't hurt.

But I read this sign and it said, if you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week.

Is that not true?

If you could kick the person that's responsible, you couldn't sit down for a week.

I said, boy, is that not true?

And then I found this little poem.

Listen to this.

An enemy I had, whose face I stoutly strove to know.

For had he dogged my steps unseen wherever I did go, my plans he balked, my aims he foiled.

He blocked my onward way.

When for some lofty goal I toiled, he grimly said to me, Nay.

One night I seized him and held him fast.

From him the veil did draw.

I looked upon his face at last, and lo, I myself I saw.

Wow.

Wow.

Number two, start early.

Start with yourself, then start early.

2 Timothy 3.15, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are made are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

Hey, you gotta start teaching your children self-control.

And you do that by teaching them the word of God early and self-control early.

The first lesson that ought to be learned.

But usually it's the last.

Self-discipline.

The most important part of a person's character is self-discipline.

Can I get an amen?

It really is.

It's because if a person can learn to be self-disciplined, self-control, he has the highest potential of being successful in anything he does.

Anything he does.

Let me tell you right now, moms and dads, teach your children early to have chores and be responsible for those chores.

Can I get an amen?

I now I didn't have a choice.

Because when my mother, because she's an alcoholic, kicked me out at seven at the end of my sixth grade.

I moved in with you.

You've heard this story.

Some of you may have with my grandparents.

I had they had nothing.

One bedroom, little home.

But I had to go to work.

Let me tell you, early in my life, I learned something.

I like money.

I like, remember that guy a while ago likes to spend when he wants, when he wants, how he wants.

Started it first thing in the Bible.

God worked to make the earth, then he put Adam and Eve and put them to work.

It's a good word.

Works good, not bad.

I don't care what the government tells you.

Can I get an amen?

Works good.

You don't pay people not to work.

They think you do.

And our government, I think, sometimes thinks that.

But that's wrong.

That's not right.

You start, you start early.

All right.

I know you've heard this.

Pay me now.

Come on, say it with me, Church.

Pay me now?

Okay?

Here's the issue.

You gotta pay.

There's no such thing as a free life.

Well, I get a check.

Well, somebody's getting paying taxes to get that check.

And I'm all for writing.

And by the way, let me just say something.

A Social Security check is not the government's money coming to you.

It's the money that you've given to the government.

It's your money.

You ought to be getting it back.

Can't I get an Amen?

Amen.

It's your money.

37% average takeaway now.

Help us, Lord.

I gotta be gentle.

Not judgmental because I'm getting close.

And watch this.

Gentle, not judgmental.

Alright.

You can play in the front and pay at the end.

Or you can pay at the front and play at the end.

But the difference is if you play at the front, you pay greater by far at the end.

If you fell as a father, if you fell as a husband, if you fell in your job, if you fell in your relationships in the front, and all you do is play and party, in the end, it's destructive.

Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it, and it starts early.

Amen.

Early.

It really does.

You've got to start early, and then not only do you start early, you're ready for this, you gotta start small.

This is good.

You gotta start small.

What you are going to be tomorrow, now listen, you are becoming today.

Is that not good?

It is essential to begin developing self-discipline in a small way today, in order to be disciplined in a big way tomorrow.

Read that statement in my studies.

And then I thought for a minute, there's an old joke.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

So how do you tackle the big issues in life?

You start small.

Do what you can do today.

Don't worry about yesterday, it's gone.

Don't worry about tomorrow.

There's nothing you can do about tomorrow today.

But there's a lot you can do today.

So you start today.

Behold, now's the day of salvation.

But no, hey, behold, now's the day to take self-control.

Take, hey, grab hold of those areas and those issues that are hindering you from being all that you can be.

For example, you want to be a great Christian.

Well, you don't start out trying to read the Bible an hour and pray an hour, two hours a day.

No, you start out at five minutes reading the Bible or 10 minutes and five and ten minutes of praying.

Next thing you know, you got 15, 20 minutes first with the Lord.

Then you add.

That's the way you do it.

One day at a time.

This is a day the Lord has made.

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalms 118, 24.

You gotta start small.

David didn't become king overnight.

He started out as a shepherd.

Then he started out as a servant.

He was a servant to his daddy.

He was a servant to King Saul, the armor bearer.

And then he became an heir.

I was reading this.

Next week, man, it's uh Father's Day, and it's gonna be a great day.

We're gonna dedicate children and we're gonna do baptism.

But I'm bringing a message on, and I love this title, Eagle Christians.

How a dad can be an eagle Christian.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up wings, and zegle, run, and not be weary, walk and faint not.

Isaiah 40, 31.

It's gonna be awesome.

But I'm using David next next Sunday.

It's gonna be my main focus because he was such an eagle Christian.

And I don't want to start preaching that message in this one, but but remember, David started out as a lowly shepherd boy.

It didn't get any lower than that profession.

Can you imagine what an example?

He started at the very bottom.

I meant the lowest, the most despised job you could have.

He started at it and ended up being the king of the nation Israel.

How did that happen?

He started small, he started early, he's strategic, and that's gonna be our next one.

He was strategic in what he did.

And then when you get to, you remember the, everybody remembers him killing Goliath, but he didn't start there.

He started with him being a faithful servant of the sheep, practicing with that, slinging every day out there in the fields with the sheep, hitting rabbits and actually killing a bear and a lion.

And then one day he was a faithful servant.

His dad said, Hey, here, here's some bread, here's some cheese and meat.

Go take it to your brothers.

And he had already been on the battlefield and he had to leave, but he was obedient.

He didn't complain, he didn't gripe, he came back home, started tending his sheep, and then his dad called him and said, David, you're such a faithful servant.

I know I can count on you to get this to your brothers.

So now he gets an opportunity to go back to where he wanted to be.

Back with the battle with his brothers.

And you know the rest of the story, and I'll tell you a little bit more about that next week.

But the rest of the story is he went.

Are you ready?

He went, oh my goodness, he went from an errand boy to a hero, to the general of the army, to the king.

Wow.

Why?

He was self-disciplined, he was self-controlled.

Whoa! That's good, preacher.

You gotta start with yourself.

You gotta start early.

You gotta start small.

Then you gotta start strategically.

Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh.

How many of you like Winnie the Pooh?

My daughters love Winnie the Pooh.

I like the honey that Winnie the Pooh eats.

He made this statement.

Organizing is what you do before you do something.

So that when you do it, it's not all mixed up.

Is that not good?

And that's what we're gonna be doing here soon.

Susan's chairing the team that's fixing the start back meeting together.

We're having a meeting today to finalize some things.

The building's going up.

There's a lot of other stuff we got to get done now that we see in that.

So now what we're doing, we're starting strategically organizing what we need to get done.

And it's just the beginning.

You'll be hearing it as we know it.

But I'm telling you, this fall is gonna be one of the most exciting places to be.

As we the builders build the wall.

Can I get an amen?

You're gonna be a builder.

That's exciting.

Oh, is that exciting?

So, things that you need to control, have control over.

Is there anybody in here that doesn't need any control over some area in their life?

Anybody?

Because if you did, I was gonna ask you to come up here and finish the message.

Because I'm not qualified.

Amen.

I got a bunch of areas that I need to deal with.

All of us.

Anybody with me?

Everybody raise your hand.

Everybody raise your hand.

All right, that's better.

We all have problems that we need to deal with.

So how do we do it?

Can't do them all at one time, can we?

Take the top three.

Take the top three that defeat you the worst.

Is that right?

Or defeat you the most.

Whichever way that's right.

I gave you both, so you choose.

But hey, now think.

Think.

Think about that.

I know my three.

I can tell them right now.

But it's none of your business.

Number one, I diet.

I have to watch what I eat.

Because I could eat sweets in the morning, sweets at noon, sweets at air supper time.

I love my sweets, so come on, enjoy my supper time.

No, I could do that.

I could eat sweets every meal.

Oh, she and Heather are killing me.

And all you other folks that bring my sweets.

And Donald back there brought me some reels.

Oh my goodness.

I'm gonna go back visit.

I told him he said, I'm the best reel maker around.

And I did this.

I said, Donald, talk's cheap.

Next thing I know, he called me up and said, preach.

I know.

That was an intentional question.

I meant, but but but anyway, but what I'm saying is that's one of my problems.

You know the second problem I have?

My attitude.

I fight this bad attitude.

She says that's how she fixes my attitude.

She gives me something sweet.

Don't you laugh, Paul.

You like that sweets too.

She's got you that.

Hey, that's why she does keep me with honey, and you do too.

There and brings me some honey every so often.

But now listen, watch this.

You know what my third one is?

What I say and how I say it.

I have to fight that every day.

I have to self-control that every day.

So we gotta do it.

And then number five, start now.

Start now, right now.

The world's full of people that had ideas and dreams, and they were gonna do it tomorrow.

But they never got around to it.

Is that not right?

Amen.

All right.

Get your pencil ready.

This is awesome.

Characteristics of self-disciplined people.

Here they are.

We got three, but they're powerful.

They're powerful.

Number one, they accept responsibility.

They understand that they are the greatest problem to their success.

And they accept that responsibility.

Remember David in 2 Samuel 17?

Hey, when his dad told him to go take the food, the cheese, and all to his brothers.

You know what he did?

The first thing he did?

He left his sheep.

He went and found, and it might have been someone working with, we don't know, but he made sure that the sheep were taken care of before he left to go back to the battle.

He was a responsible person.

Can I get an amen?

You don't leave a job halfway done.

I'll get back.

No, don't get back.

Finish it.

Now, every once in a while there's exceptions.

Finish the job.

Take responsibility.

I love.

Moreover, it is required in a steward that a man be found faithful, 2 Corinthians 4.2.

Every man bear his own burden.

Galatians 6, 5.

It's you.

We've got to take responsibility.

You can't get saved if you don't take responsibility.

Amen?

For who they are.

We got to take responsibility for who we are.

We live in a victim society.

Nobody wants to take blame for what they do anymore.

That's what's wrong in America right now.

No one's taking responsibility.

Amen?

We're not a victim.

Well, we can be a victim, but ourselves, what I mean by that, we can be a victim of crime and other people.

And we've seen some horrible stuff going on in our country.

From the murder now to the rioting and killing.

It's horrible.

But you yourself, at age 40, can't keep blaming your parents for what you're doing.

You can't do that, folks.

You can't.

That's not right.

You might you say this with me, church.

We have a choice.

We have a choice.

You have a choice.

You can break that cycle.

I broke that cycle in my family.

I was the first to go to college.

I was the first to graduate.

I mean, I've been the first in a lot of things to break the cycle in our family.

And now watch my children that what we everything I'm preaching you, we taught to our children.

Because I learned it.

I learned it.

I had to learn it.

My grandparents instilled the work ethic in me and the godliness in me.

But I still had to work at it when I got to college, and I learned a lot of this in seminary.

I had to, but I still had to choose to do it.

I had to do it.

Me, not anybody else, not my daddy, not my mama, not my teachers, not my coaches, me.

Me.

I had to take the responsibility that I was a lost sinner headed to hell without Jesus.

Thank God.

You gotta accept the responsibility.

Here, hey, be responsible for who you are.

Choose you this day whom you're gonna serve for me and my house.

We're gonna serve God.

Can I get an amen?

You can be a victim or a victor.

You can be a casualty or a conqueror.

You can be a loser or a winner.

It's your choice.

And with God helped, hey, who can be against us?

The unwillingness of people to just grow up.

Take responsibility for who you are.

Or if you got a bad attitude, just don't say that's the way I am.

Change it.

I'm talking to me.

Be responsible for who you are.

B.

Be responsible for what you can do.

Reach your potential.

Woo! Reach your potential.

You can do it.

Press toward the mark, Paul said.

You can do it.

See.

Be responsible for what you have received.

Oh man, let me just watch this.

Be responsible for who you are and what you can do.

There's nothing you can't do with God's help.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Philippians 4, 13.

You can do it.

You can do it.

And then when God blesses you, don't forget where you came from.

Woo! Can I get an amen?

Give back.

Give back.

Give back.

And I promise you, God will bless you like you've never seen before.

Always give back.

Give and it shall be given unto you.

Good measure.

Pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

Oh.

He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, but he that soweth boundfully shall reap boundfully.

2 Corinthians 9, 6.

Well, that's good.

So, accept the responsibility for who you are, what you can do, and what you have received, give back.

Number two, welcome the accountability.

Welcome the accountability.

You need someone to be accountable to.

Now, Susan and I both have accountability.

But beyond that, do you have someone that you could have as an accountability partner?

Do you have someone?

Proverbs 27 17, iron sharpens iron.

So what?

Iron sharpens, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

You know what that means?

Have you ever thought about that word countenance?

I just did a word sharpenance.

I mean I've quoted that verse a thousand times, but I looked at the word counsel.

You know what that means?

Come here, honey.

Come here.

That means getting.

No, no, stay right there.

That means if I'm her accountability partner sometimes.

Iron sharpens iron.

When that happens, their sparks flies.

Don't forget that.

That means it can get heated sometimes.

In a good way.

That means I get right in front of her face and we talk a serious situation out.

I had never thought about that before.

That's what the countenance means.

And then when you finish, you go.

Face to face to face.

That's what that means.

But it always ends good, not that.

Amen?

But it means face to face.

Now, real quick.

Real quick.

Three questions.

I grew up, well, I grew up.

After I got in seminary, all my preacher friends, here's three questions you need to ask in accountability.

Number one, what temptations have you faced this week?

Two, how are you delivered from them temptations?

There hath no temptation taken you, but such as common to man.

God is faithful and just, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but with the way, make a way to escape.

And then three, what have you thought this week, said this week, done this week, which you are ashamed of?

1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Those three questions will help you immensely.

What temptations had you faced?

How did you overcome them?

And what did you think, say, or do this week that you're ashamed of?

And then number three, here's the third characteristic.

They developed integrity.

They were, hey, they accepted responsibility, they welcomed accountability, and then they developed integrity.

Fill them in.

Here it is.

This is simple.

I will live what I teach.

That's number one.

That's developing integrity.

What you tell your children, you're doing.

Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.

You tell your children, you tell your people you work with, follow me as I follow Christ.

Number two, I will do what I say I will do.

James 1.22, be doers of the word, not hearers only.

Number three, I will be honest with others.

Speak the truth in love, Ephesians 4.15.

Number four, I will put what is best for others ahead of what is best for me.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others.

Now this is developing integrity.

And number five, I will be transparent and vulnerable.

Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.