Fruits of the Spirit - Self Control

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Mike check. Mike check. Mike check. Alright. This is episode sixteen. Spirit of self-control. Well, welcome everyone. Welcome back. We're listening to the bread of life with JJ. Today, this spiritual message will definitely fill your temple with godly satisfaction. Today, the Lord has prepared a small morsel from his bread and his bread of life with extreme passion and love on this day. We're going to do communion today, and we're going to uh embrace the Lord and the message that he has for us. Because this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. As a time that we have together, we will drink from the well, the living water that He provides, and the bread of life that He is given and that we have from Him. For once you drink and eat, you will not thirst anymore. You definitely will be filled. You'll be filled with more than what you can imagine. His word. And I pray that I'm a vessel. That's for His glory. And for those listening, remember it's about faith and God. Faith comes by hearing and reading the true Word of God. Remember this. The just shall live by faith. Those that are tuning in, thank you. Appreciate you. We love you here at our studio, and we're grateful for you. Before I get into sermon, let's bow our heads and before we get communion, we'll go from there. So, Heavenly Father, I just say thank you for this moment and thank you for those listening. I pray that their ears are open and their heart is receptive. I pray that they take heed to your word and that it grows them and helps them become more than what they can imagine. I pray that they just it just added on fruit to what you have for them already as just something extra from you to help it grow for your glory in Jesus' name. And remember, growth does take time, right? It can't be rushed. Transformation, all those things in life. That's definitely important to God, though, that formation that He provides. So understand that we need to treat people correctly when we're under pressure. Gotta surrender to God and wait. That definitely goes into what we're gonna be talking about today with the fruit. The fruit of self-control. It's the spirit. Fruits of the spirit, and that is gonna be self-control, right? But before we get going, let's let's take communion together, shall we? Those listening, I hope you have bread that you can pull off as a piece and partake with me, andor with others if you have that believe, and those that want to believe here, that they'll understand who Jesus is and what he's done for us as a symbolization. But we're gonna do that. I'm gonna read here from 1 Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 29. And we'll explain a little bit about that or do 28, but let's get started here. So as Paul was receiving this and breaking this down to the church in Corinth, we were going to partake and break bread together, and we're talking about what the Lord has done and what we received. So verse 23 says, I received from the Lord what also pass on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So we break bread here. As like he said, his disciples, they broke bread, but Jesus broke the bread and passed it down and took it and said, This is for you, this is what's going to happen to me. My bread, my body will be broken for you. Receive this and understand that. Take bread now. So, in the same way, in the same way, after supper, he took the cup that they had, saying, This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Now understand this too, the the symbolic meaning behind this, that when we take the drink, it's not blood, but it's a symbolization of that. And it's his juice, which I call Jesus juice. Yes, I'll take that from him and say thank you. And that's his blood. Meaning behind it. But as I go on to say further, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat the bread and drink the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. Judgment on yourself. So think about that. If I believe in Jesus Christ, it may not be perfect, of course, I do repent of my sins, you're right. But on top of that, I gotta make sure I don't have any anything against a brother or sister in Christ. Any kind of critical spirit, any kind of judgmental way. You know, like I pray my soul is clean. Lord, hey, cleanse me of all unrighteousness. You know, Psalm 51. Creating me a steadfast spirit, renewing me a clean heart. Create me a clean heart, Lord. Steadfast spirit. Right? And that's so important, man. You gotta be intimate to know that, intimate to know God. Where you can talk to him that way and pray that way and feel that way whenever you go through situations so that you are worthy. Because all he cares about is righteousness and his love with you and obedience, right? The intimacy will cause us to be that way. You have to know that you're already known, loved, and wanted by God. His favor is a gift, it's not a reward. To see that, you've got to read Romans 8, 14 through 17. So, how would you characterize your relationship with God? Let me ask you that. What would you say he is like to you? Is he like a friend you meet occasionally for coffee, or would you say he's a valued member of your household who is included in your every aspect of your daily life? Well, most likely the nature of your bond falls somewhere in between. Whatever the state of your relationship with the Lord, be assured that he wants something closer and more meaningful. God desires a connection so deep and so strong that words like friendship and fellowship cannot fully describe it. Of all the creatures on earth, human beings are the only ones made in God's image. Like him, we can think, reason, feel, and make choices, though we do none of these things as fully or perfectly as he does. But we do, right? Jesus called his followers friends, John 15, 15. And Paul wrote that believers are sons of God and daughters, right? Galatians 4, 7. Those are not distant impersonal relationships. When we spend time with the Lord, we grow as close to him as a beloved child to a father. It's a beautiful thing. Well, some believers have the mistake, though, this idea that doing something Christian is a way to make God happy. But the way to please our father is by being Christian. He wants us to live in such a way that others see him as our father and best friend. They'll see him. That he is our father. God's purpose for intimacy, it doesn't want you to simply know about him. He wants a genuine relationship with you. You can see that in Psalm 103. In a true and loving relationship, each person wants to know more about the other. As believers, we are sometimes guilty of taking a more self-interested approach and forgetting that God is a rightful sinner. When that's the case, we may head to church or into a quiet time looking for something to inspire, motivate, or help us. But God's purpose for intimacy is to reveal Himself. Part of the problem is that we would like to practice our faith in the safest way possible. Bible study, prayer, and church are relatively easy compared to stepping out into faith or enduring hardship. To know God intimately is not purely intellectual pursuit. The truth about the Lord is not really ours until he works it into our life. Experience and lived experience. The only way to gain such knowledge is by choosing to trust and follow him daily. Jeremiah 17, 7. As we do, we learn more about who he is. Well, for example, when we read that the Spirit is a comforter, but we won't know this truth until we need and experience his comfort firsthand. The Christian life isn't about feeling good and deriving or doing things of the greatest personal benefit. Rather, God builds an intimate relationship with each Christian. In this way, he can reveal more about himself, truth by truth, as a believer needs that knowledge. Very important. Very important to live a godly life, godly living. It helps us even get close to that intimate experience, despite what we go through in this daily life, hustle and bustle. Because we have options, life has options, but it's wise, as the word says in Romans 12, it's wise to choose God's way. The Apostle Paul wrote letters urging Christians to pursue godliness instead of the ways of the world. We do that by presenting our body to God, our total being, mind, will, physical body, personality, and emotions. That's to be turned over to our Heavenly Father. James 4.7. Submitting ourselves to the Lord requires both a definite decision to give him control and a daily commitment to remain under his authority. By surrendering to him, we position ourselves for godly living. Becoming a living sacrifice. Think about this. Jesus left heaven to dwell among us so he might reconcile us to God. He offered up his life for our sake. And as believers, we are to follow his example. So Paul used that term living sacrifice because it's something that is ongoing and repeated daily. Ongoing and repeated daily. Life is full of options, and many decisions come down to a choice between God's way and ours. Since a righteous life is characterized by a focus on God, maturing Christians increasingly sacrifice their own desires and embrace his will. Though we won't live perfectly, our goal should be to obey the Lord. And when we do, we'll find that aiming to please him results in greater blessings than if we followed our own preferences. And I know that's hard with our own preferences. So how does that work? Well, we need to live like develop a godly lifestyle. We have to understand that following Christ is a journey of transformation. Remember, I was telling you that earlier, transformation, growth, where he reshapes our thinking to match his. Again, you'll find that in Romans 12. So the verse outlines the commitment and steps necessary in developing a godly lifestyle. As we talk about Paul, Paul was teaching believers not to be conformed to the patterns of this world. We're always being influenced, though, by people, some, or even social media, everything, right? Some of whom are not following God's ways either. Our society tells us to put self first, take what we want, promote our own interest above others. Well, in contrast, Scripture says that our Heavenly Father will provide what we truly need. Philippians 4 19. We are to deny ourselves and follow Jesus, Luke 9 23, and the humble, not the proud, shall receive honor. James 4.10. At the same time, Paul urged us to pursue godly transformation of our mind to set our thoughts on things above, Colossians 3.2, and to focus on what is true, right, pure, and lovely. Philippians 4.8. Adopting a Christian worldview requires making adjustments and how we look at life until our thoughts line up with Scripture. We must also protect our mind with biblical truth and surround ourselves with mature believers who can warn us when we start to stray. So you've got to ask yourself, Am I focusing on what is important to the Lord? Am I focusing on what is important to the Lord? And that is a a day by day. It almost seems like minute by minute, hour by hour, right? Like it really is, man. It's no joke. It's no joke. This walk is not easy. But anything in life worth having will not be. Will not be easy. I remember earning my way, earning the title as the United States Marine. I went to boot camp September of 1996, graduated, January of 1997. I was dropped a week before graduation. Back to a platoon where I had to rehabilitate my body because I had stress fractures in my legs where it would have made me permanently disabled, and I would not have been able to go to infantry school because all the running I did in boots in the Marine Corps. 90s are different compared to the nowadays, right? Yeah, they didn't care. They put their hands on me. They were hard. And it broke my body. But let me tell you, it was worth it. I had to spend time with the Lord. The Lord put me back. I had to relearn, do new things. I had to do the crucible, first platoon to do that. And that was something. But the Lord stretched me. And that's what He wants. So I have to understand that it was hard. I didn't have to, I couldn't give up. Don't give up. Don't quit. No matter what the odds are against you, oh well. He's with me. And he made me better. And that's the thing, what I'm trying to get at is that the hardships that we go through, the comforts that we wish to have, the Lord is more concerned, especially as I've noticed in my life, he's more concerned with my character than my comforts, so to speak, right? Like he's so good, or he's blessed me with a nice vehicle, two vehicles, right? Or a home and beautiful family, my beautiful wife and children, and just things I'm able to have, the income that I make or have every month, like the friends that I have in my life. Like he has done that. That's a blessing. That's goodness from God. It's a fruit. So I'm not saying that, but those are the rewards that I receive, right? But what matters to him is if one of those things go away, how is my character going to be? Are the fruits of my life still going to portray that? Am I still going to have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? Am I going to have those qualities in me that others can see? Am I grounded truly in the roots of the Lord and his word and his tree of life? I'm part, I'm like the Lord said, like I'm part of one of those branches. And one of those branches need to produce good fruit. If they don't produce good fruit, then those that branch is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. Yeah, so that tells uh that's no joke. So that tells me, hey, listen, if you're if you're not producing fruit day by day, as the Lord says, then that tells me then you're not walking his ways. And if you're not walking in his ways, that means you're not part of him, or you're not being obedient to him. That means unfortunately, as the word says, like, you know, the branch gets thrown into the fire. So purification can take place. That doesn't necessarily mean two, I can take it in two different ways or literal, but I'm taking it like this. Like, well, that means I'm gonna go through some purification and crucible feeling.

unknown 18:37

Right?

SPEAKER_00 18:37

He's gonna get the impurities out of me, so I'm gonna go through some things. He's gonna allow some things to change my character and who I am so I could be more like what he's created me to be. We can't, we have, we can't get hung up on this thing in the world because I love pleasures, I love things, love having things, but that is not forever. I get so frustrated because I have a vehicle, right? And I like my vehicle and take care of it, but then I'm like, oh, that's breaking. Oh, I can replace this, oop, that has to be done. It's never perfect. It's always something, right? And that's what this life is, but it I don't need to live for those things. I don't need to stress myself out about the temporal. When it says I talk about think about good things, and then you think about the things that are to come or the things I would hope for future. Things, of course, the success of my family and prosperity, but also my eternal life and what heaven may be like. And I hope that I'm doing the Lord's will and I'm walking it out. And I'm not worrying about listening to some other preacher tell me how I need to live. I'm literally being intimate with the Lord, finding how I can live by spending quiet time and asking him, because he will reveal himself. He's not afraid of that. He loves you enough, more than enough. So those that just need to ask with sincere heart and genuality, say, Hey Lord, I need you to show me and help me. And he will. And he'll take those desires that you used to have that are of the world, and he'll reverse them and change them out and put desires that he has that he's created for you. Not to say those things won't come up, but you have strength to say, yeah, I don't need it. And when he provides something greater, you're like, wow, I'm glad I waited it. And that's learning, it's a process. It's a process. So I want you to again hear this title, this message. This title of the message is the fruit of self-control. Self-control. I have a lot of questions to ask you. Is there any area of your life that you consider being out of control? What about your finances? Are they out of control? Your moral life? Would you say that's out of control? What about your relationship with other people? Is that out of control? Your attitude towards people, like jealousy. When you think about your life, is there any area of your life that you'd say, well, I think that's out of control? For example, you drink, take drugs, gamble. What about gossiping? Having a critical spirit? What about being lazy? None of those things, as I'm mentioning to you today, fit who we are, people of God. So again, we're talking about Paul. That's why Paul said in Galatians, the fruit of the spirit, again, as I say, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. We're talking about self-control. So when you think about your life, would you say that your life is in control? Or would you say that there's some areas of your life that it certainly are not? And it's a battle. We all want to be in control of our lives. And also, it means that I want to have a relationship with the Lord by which I'm supposed to be submitted to Him, to the point where I'm not battling because of things, but it's unbattling like it's a thing that's between me and God. It's like a tug of war. That's what I battle with, was self. I know God wants me to always do the right thing. And there's times I don't. So there's tension and stress, uneasiness, and sometimes unhappiness, lack of peace, lack of joy, lack of the things that I just mentioned. So you see, you cannot be living a life of disobedience to God and have joy and peace, goodness, and all the rest. You can't say, you know, I'm sort of happy, I'm sort of happy here or that, on and off. If I'm living a bad life, I cannot have real happiness, real joy and peace, real love. Especially when me and the Lord Jesus Christ are not in agreement in my life. So think about the whole issue. The whole issue is the battle of self-control in our lives. Because either of us will have a battle or had a battle or we're having a battle right now, this present moment. So you got to think again about this and this question. Would you say that your life is under control? That you have sort of a healthy attitude about all things, a desire of acceptance by others? How strong is that desire that you have that you want to be accepted by everybody else? A desire to be loved by others, the people to love you, to have a close relationship. What about desires for all types of pleasure? Does that characterize you? Is it just whatever is fun, whatever makes you feel good at the moment? Is that what you're looking for? Well, Paul lived in a society similar to ours where there was a cesspool immorality. Right? Over 2,000 years ago. And so he knew about it. What about desires for wealth and security? Well, where does that rate on your list of important things? Wealth and security. What about the desire to achieve and excel? Is that our health? Is to have that? Or to excel above other people to be better than others? The desire to have the right of fame. You gotta understand there's in this life there's so many reasons, and they get filled with demonic ways, and people do such atrocious things as murdering people so they can get their name on television or picture or the newspaper. Look what it costs them. It's not worth it. So would you say that you have a strong desire for happiness? What are you going to do? What are you doing to be happy? What are you being to be happy? What are your desires for personal attractiveness? Is that wrong? Well, no, it's not wrong. But does that demand a lot of your time out of your thinking? Do you just want to look good or do you want to look good better than somebody else? So you gotta see the friction of that. If I could fix my hair like this, or if she fixes her hair like this, or if I could dress like that, or she dresses like that, or he dresses like that. A desire to control. Let me ask you this other question. Do you have a desire to control other people? Somehow you just gotta be number one in your business, number one in everything you do. Desire for self-acceptance. I just want to be able to accept myself the way I am, and I will never be anyone else. So think about that. No matter who you are, how you see yourself, what you're intended for your life, you will never be. You will never be like someone else. God made you just the way you are. Now, whether we distort that by our actions and our attitudes, that's another question. But as you think about these things, would you say your life is under control? That you have some sort of healthy attitude about all these things. We've got to talk about self-control. Because self-control is basically thinking before you act in a long, in the short, right? Which a lot of people don't do. Sometimes I haven't, especially young age. And even now, you know, you've got to struggle with certain decisions. So thinking before you act and considering seriously the possibilities of the result that you have. Self-control is also defined as the ability to control one's emotions and desires, especially in difficult situations. It's about having self-restraint, willpower, composure, temperance, self-discipline. Would you say that's true of your life? That your life is under control. You think before you act. So, the battle for self-control, the fruit of that spirit. It's beginning here in the verse of Galatians 5, 19, as we read through. Paul sets us up for the fruits of the Spirit by saying the deeds and the deeds of the flesh, and the fruits of the Spirit. But these things are mentioned as he starts off. He says, you know, love, peace, joy, these attitudes come from the Word of the Holy Spirit within us. But notice how he contrasts that in verse 19 in chapter 5. The deeds of our action, the flesh, the way we live are evident. Which are these? In this verse, they have to deal with sexuality. He says, immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carosing, carousing, orgies. Things like these, some which I have forewarned you, just I have now forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Kingdom of God. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Well, right. So those listening with me, saying, probably yourself, I guess I am not going to heaven because I have done maybe one or of all those things, maybe, right? Hear me out on this, as I have to search myself and the Lord, right? The key word in this passage, I have warned you with those who practice such things. There is a verb there. Okay. Umerstand that what that means. It means it's a way of life. Not that it's not happened in your life. Because likely, when I look at the list, I'm like, we have some degree of that. One or not all, but maybe we've practiced something in a little bit in our lives. But it's not a way of life for us, right? The practice is not a way of life. Like we have fallen short. There's times we have slipped, but man, I realize, hey, those things, no, no, no, no. That's not okay. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta slow it down, say no. It says practice such things. People that practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. That means that their lifestyle. It's like a person who drinks all the time. It's their lifestyle. A person who's always into something sexual. It's their lifestyle. Going that way and that way, and it's a way of life. If you do that, you cannot please God. So let's think about this society in which we live in. Think about the fruits of the Spirit. We live around those types of things. You got to ask yourself, would you consider yourself a follower of Jesus with your conduct? You see these playing, these things that go on in life. You gotta also think, how would you spend your money? What things do you consider important? Where do they fit to you and who you are? When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you turned your back on sin. Doesn't mean that you'll never sin again, but you turn your back on it. You're committed to the Lord by being obedient to Him, to walk in His ways because you want the fruit of the Spirit in your life. You want love, joy, and peace, goodness and gentleness and all these good fruits. You're going to be more satisfied. You're going to be more secure. You're going to be able to relate to other people totally and different, different than what you used to. So as you look at your life, would you say that this point where you're walking in the spirit, those who know you, would they say that they know you as a person who walks in the spirit? There's something different about you? Or would they say you're a person who always has tension and stress and anxiety? It's like a tug-of-war thing. And how do you break that tension and stress? Well, you do that by surrendering to the Lord, by turning your life over to Him, by saying, God, the way I've been living doesn't work. That's not the way I want to live anymore in my life. I think about people, and it's been my life too, who live their life, sometimes some people live their whole life captured by sin, like living in slavery in their hearts and minds. Many people will live and never and die, and they'll never experience the love of God, the goodness of God, the freedom of God, the gentleness of God, the rewards of God. Their whole life, they'll never experience that. Here today, you've got to think, and as you're listening, at some point in your life, whatever age you are, would you say to yourself, you're that person who's experienced that love of God? A person who recognizes that he is a source of everything? Would you say that you're a person who loves other people? That you're happy when you see other people being blessed and you're happy when they're saved? Listening to the word of God? Could that be said about you? Or is it different? Understand this, there's things in my life I know I need to get rid of. But there's some things in life we all need to, right? I know there's something you can give up. Especially when it comes to sin. If you're willing to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and tell him you made a blunder of your life, I know that he will change you. I've heard of people sinned against you, sinned against you, and me and life. Like people just do things coming in and out of my life, right? Like, and I've sinned against things, and I've sinned against truly only God when I come to that realization I've done wrong, Lord. Like, literally, my attitude, my way of being, whether someone comes against me or I've been to someone against some, I've been against someone else. Like, it's wrong. And honestly, who am I sinning against? Truly, my life is under control of God. And the only way I'm going to be happy is I if I come to that realization and understand that. But are you happy? Are you satisfied to know who you are and what you're about, who you say you are, who God says you are. Because you can't be living outside of God's will and plan and purpose for your life and be unhappy, right? And be happy like you truly can't be. You will be unhappy. If you're living outside the will of God and his plan for your life, truly, truly inside, there's no peace for you. I know you're not happy. You cannot. There's not real joy, there's not real peace. None of those fruits that you're they're gonna have that we talked about are gonna be in your life. It's gonna it's not gonna be the fruits of the spirit, it's gonna be the fruit of the flesh. And that brings rotten and death. Think about how you live your life. Think about what's gonna happen to you. Think about why you weren't you blessed? Was it not because you didn't listen to God? And if you didn't, you live disobediently before God. And if you do so, you will suffer the consequences. In other words, all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus, there's no acceptable excuse for us not attempting to live a godly life. Especially if the Holy Spirit's in control. And if we believe that the Holy Spirit's in control, then there'll be control of our thinking and of our actions. And when he's in control, the Holy Spirit, you will think before you act. And you will strive to follow his purpose and plan and the will that he has for your life. So the key to our self-control. That's that brief passage of scripture Paul has a way of giving us an opportunity to examine ourselves, to see where we're at in the relationship with the Lord. Self-control requires that we think before we act. We think before we act. And unfortunately, that's a problem. People act before they think. And then they say, sorry. You must have a strong desire to obey God. If you don't have a strong desire to obey God, you're not going to live a godly life. You're not going to overcome most anything without the strong desire for Him in your life to enable you. So you got to believe that in your heart. Holy Spirit lives in you, believers, within you. He's going to enable you. He's going to warn you. You're going to know. Things aren't going to be like desirable to you like they used to be. You've got to make it desirable. You literally have to like choose that to bring that into your life to try to take you over again. And then you still won't be happy. It doesn't feel right. He's changed you. He promised the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, He lives in you. And you know Jesus knew about all the temptations and trials and everything else. And he promised His Holy Spirit, as He did. And he knew how awful society was in those days. And we had to trust Him as our Savior, right? And the Spirit of God came into the life to enable you to live in whatever society you live in to overcome all types of sin. So it's not just against you, it's your environment. It's you and the Holy Spirit who promised to give you life. So when you think about it, you think about have someone helped you through this? Think about that for a moment before you do anything, ask yourself these questions. Before you do anything in this life, ask yourself these questions. Ask yourself these questions. How will this affect me spiritually? Secondly, like how will it affect me financially? Or these decisions that I'm making, is it going to affect my health? Many people today are where they're at physically because they have violated the physical laws of God and what he's given. And then they wonder why they are where they are. So oftentimes it's a violation of principle that God has given you. So think about how it's going to affect you spiritually, financially, how it's going to affect your health. How it's going to affect others and how others see you and their commitment. I know we're not perfect. None of us are. None of us are. But when you have Christ in you, people will see a difference in you. They will see that you're different. Your attitude is different. You don't want others to see you as somebody who's reckless. You're reckless of money, reckless of morals, reckless attitude. The fruit of the Spirit is definitely evident in our lives each and every day. Gotta think about this. I want them to see me different than that. And I realize this, I didn't say that God's best is gonna be easy either. I know God has provided his very best in a way for us, and he has a plan. But it's not easy. And I never said it's easy, it's difficult. Sometimes God's best is difficult. But let me ask you a question, like I was saying earlier, about the best and about difficulty. Is it worth having going through? What's better than God's best? Ask yourself that question. What's better than God's best? Nothing. Nothing. So when Paul wrote this whole chapter of this letter of the book of Galatians, he wants you to understand this. He said too, that you're not to be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever man sows, he reaps. All through this. He's through these six chapters, he's encouraging all of us to live a godly life. But he also says, don't be deceived. That means don't believe the devil's lies. You can't mock God. So I you gotta believe in God. You gotta understand that God says this no matter what, if you don't believe it or not, whatever a man sows, he will reap. God is not mocked. That's what he says. And it's true. And you can't say God lies because that's not true. Everybody in this world wants to call it karma. It's not karma, it's called biblical scripture, what I just said to you. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he shall reap. Period. Whatever we sow, we reap. If you're reaping a harvest of good, you're gonna reap, you're gonna sow that. If you're sowing a harvest of good, you're gonna reap the benefits from it. These are the laws that God has established. You cannot change these laws. God does not miss anything. Just because we think he's not watching, he is watching. You have to understand that. It's very dangerous, too, to disobey God knowingly. You truly have to at that point come to that place of repentance because whatever a man sows, he will reap. No matter what in life, you will sow that, you will reap it. It's important to understand this. We have to surrender and walk in his ways. He has the best for us. Do not compare yourself with others or somebody else. God has a plan for your life. He has a best plan for your life. Ask you again, ask yourself these questions. What am I doing in my life? What am I doing that's out of the will of God? Or am I doing with God's best? Am I going to that point? Am I cheating myself? Creating stress and tension and strife? What can I let go of? What do I need to let go of? What do I want in this life? God is awesome. Listen to God and not the devil. The devil doesn't want you to believe these things. Wants you to think that it's okay to do these things and don't worry about what you're going to reap and oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it. God won't know. He doesn't care. No, he does care. He wants you to have the best. What's the best choice? You have a best choice, make a good choice. Again, it's a dangerous thing to hear the gospel, to listen to the gospel and turn it off, to walk away. Because then you're responsible for knowing the truth and denying the truth and saying no to God. Hope those are listening. It's a dangerous thing to hear the gospel, but it's also a wonderful thing, awesome thing to hear the gospel. It depends upon how you respond and how you act. The truth is, the more you become godly, the more desire you have to live a godly life and to be the person that God wants you to be, the stronger that desire, the more Satan is going to work against you. That's why you have to build up a wall of defense. Because he's there just doing what everybody else is doing and trying to kill and destroy what God's best is for your life. He knows how to get to you when you decide, especially when you decide to live a sanctified life. But that doesn't mean you're going to be sinless. It doesn't mean that you're going to live an honorable life, you know, always for God. But obediently, it means you have to be obedient and honorable. Work to that, walking before God, trusting in him, relying upon him. Quick to discern in your mind and heart what is dangerous and what are what's a dangerous place for you to be. You've got to live a life of honor and strive to that. If you make mistakes, pick yourself back up, get back up. Lord, give me strength, forgive me, move on. Work towards that. Intentionality. Very important, everyone that's listening. And I'm glad that those are listening. Please hear me out on this. This is your life and your soul. You gotta go through these fruits of things of life, and we'll we'll do more in our next episode with the next fruit. But true on this, work on this. And if those are listening that need to know the Lord, I pray right now. Lord Jesus, I say this with me, those that are listening. Like, Lord Jesus, come into my heart, into my life, forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness according to your word. Renew in me a steadfast spirit. I pray to follow you. I pray for your strength. Amen. For those that need prayer again, reach out. Reach out. Bread of life with JJ at gmail.com. The bread of life with JJ at gmail.com. We'll be more than happy to pray or to send resources your way if that's need. So as we journey into our next episode, next time together, I want to say this to you. Go in peace. Walk in the fruits of the Spirit. Strive for that. Know that God loves you. God is for you. He's not against you. Obey Him. He loves you. Have a good day. Until next time. God bless. Jesus loves you.