Rule Over Your Spirit 4-17-96 WED

4-17-96 WED

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

1 Samuel chapter 16. Glad to have you in church. Good to see a good uh good number of adults out to church on Wednesday night. Always some sickness and different things going on. Please, 1 Samuel chapter 16. And uh I want you to hold your place there uh after we finish with reading the first part. We're gonna come back to this in just a little bit. In 1 Samuel uh 16, get everybody in. I want to wait just a couple of moments. Appreciate your good work on last Sunday. A lot of good results for the Lord, a lot of ministries doing some follow-ups and just had a good day. You could tell the Lord had just planned on some special things to go on. It's always good to see God's hand in what we were doing. Uh, Bill Longa was out preaching last uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in New York and had some tremendous meetings. So we appreciate God letting some of our men go out and preach. Charlie Keiterling preached at a church uh 40 miles outside of town on Sunday morning and uh heard some good results from that. So it's good to hear our men out preaching. Amen? It's good to train them. 1 Samuel 16, giving some people some time to get in. Look at verse uh 14, if you would. Verse 14. But the spirit of the Lord departed from who? Saul. And an evil spirit from the Lord did what? Troubled him. Now notice verse 15. And Saul's servants said unto him, that's to Saul, behold, now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. How did they know? How did Saul's spirit, Saul's servants, know that there was something going on inside of Saul? Let me just say this to you. Uh, what happened here was evidently Saul's mood, M-O-O-D, Saul's attitude changed, and his servants noticed it. Now I want to make a statement to you, brethren. Uh as we go through and we look at this a little bit, I understand it's talking about the spirit of the Lord and the evil spirit, and I understand that the servants and the evil spirit from the Lord troubled thee. I don't want to get into theological dissertation here. What I want you to see just for a moment here is Saul's mood changed, and his servants knew about it. Hold your place in 1 Samuel 16, if you would, and let me show you how moody, if you would, Saul was. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 19. 1 Samuel chapter 19. Stay with me now and don't get bogged down in deep theological dissertations in your own mind at this time. Lighten up a little bit. 1 Samuel 19. And look if you would at verse number 9. Verse number 9. And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon who? Saul. As he stood in his house with his what? Javelin in his hand. And David played with his hand, and Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin. But he slipped away out of Saul's presence and he smote the javelin into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. Let me make a statement to you. Saul really had no rule over his spirit. There was a moody situation here where his moods changed very quickly. He was soon angry. If you would look just a little bit further, and I believe the Old Testament is giving for an sample. Look at 1 Samuel 20. And you see Saul's anger again here kindled against his own son. 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse number 30. Would you look there? Then Saul's anger, verse 30 of 1 Samuel 20, then Saul's anger was kindled against who? Jonathan. And he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness, for as long as the son of Jesse, that's David, liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor the kingdom. Wherefore now sin and fetch him into me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? Verse 33, a mood swing. And Saul does what? Cast a javelet at him to smite him. The Bible is is clear, and I just used this as an example. There's so many examples that we could use. Saul was moody, if you would. His moods changed from time to time, and it had to do with the external influences upon him. I want to make a statement to you. We all have moods, don't we? You came in with a mood tonight. Amen. Someone say, is it a good mood or is it a bad mood? I don't know. If we really analyzed it, some around you may not know, but I'll guarantee you, if you drove over here with your spouse, your spouse knows whether you were in a good mood or a bad mood. Amen. Come on, talk to me. If you drove over here by yourself, you knew when you walked in whether you were in a good mood or a bad mood. Amen? Come on, talk to me. Some people, it's like, well, you can't never tell. Some people externalize it and you don't have to ask them. You can just read it on their face. Amen. It just shows. Amen? Come on, yes or no? Some people internalize it and they're able to keep it in, but may I say to you, even people who are kind of mellow and laid back, they still have moods on the inside. Come on, talk to me, yes or no? Amen? Some people they show it and it's like they're demonstrative, and you know exactly what they're feeling as far as whether they're in a good mood, a bad mood, a foul mood, a terrible mood, a great mood. It's just right there. Other people internalize it, but it's still there. We all have different moods and, if you would, different attitudes, and our moods do affect what we feel. For example, uh, our old natures, brother. If you're saved, you have a new nature and an old nature. Our old natures are very moody. Come on, talk to me. When we get carnal, we can get into a lot of different moods. Uh impatience. That's a mood, is that right? Uh, usually along with that comes irritation. And sometimes can come anger. And we say, oh, it's in it's in it's godly indignation. No, it's unrighteous indignation. Amen? Somebody said, I'm having a bad hair day. Yeah, right. The idea, though, is irritations and anger can come. Uh, there can be moods of just frustration. Uh, there can be moods of um of stress, if you would. Uh, there can be moods where we're demotivated and down and depressed. And may I say this to you? Our old nature is very moody. Now, you know what? Don't take this wrong, ladies. A lot of times the men say, well, you know, the the women, they're very moody. Ladies, men are moody too. Say it, say it? Yeah. Wave a hanky or something, amen. Yeah, everybody's reaching for their hanky. It's true. Men are moody too. Men have mood swings. Men have uh you they can wake up feeling great and by three o'clock, there's just uh there's just you can just tell what happened to you today. I don't want to talk about it. Now, now why why is it important to this thing about mood? Because if we're not careful, the byproduct is we snap at those people that are around us. Or we close them off, or uh, and they don't know. And we've all been involved with that. For example, uh, I'll guarantee if you have children, sooner or later, you snapped at one of your children, they didn't really do anything wrong. I have too, amen? Sure. It was it was my mood about something else, and I had not let uh if you would, I had not gotten the rule over that. And what has happened is that when I don't get that rule, then I go out and I snap at someone else. Uh snap at my wife or or at uh my children or a co-worker or just uh somebody along the freeway or just whoever comes up, amen. You're laughing, but you know what I'm talking about. I was laughing this morning at a lady. I didn't know who the lady was. We were in a situation on Alcohol and Boulevard where it was coming into uh uh two coming into one, and I wasn't in no hurry. It was no big deal to me. And uh I waited and and she was honking her horn, honking her horn like everybody's supposed to move quickly, and and I looked over at her, and man, she's just with her mouth letting me have it. Did you ever have one of those? I looked right at her, and she just, I don't know what she said, but it it wasn't with a smile on her face. I haven't I didn't cut her off, I didn't do nothing, I wasn't even close to her. And I thought, okay, I'm just gonna let this lady go on. And I looked back at her and I laughed at her. I just smiled and laughed, and just laughed, and and I just let her move on. And all the way, you know, how the, you know, and I'm not- I wasn't trying to be facetious, but all the way as she pulled up like this, she kept looking at me and I'm just laughing and having a good time, you know, it's no big deal to me. Go on, move ahead. One car length is not gonna ruin my day. Do you know what I'm talking about? Very competitive out there sometimes, you know. It's like, now wait a minute. He goes, then you go, then he goes, then you go. Let anybody in. It was a mess, man. It was a mess. So, anyways, uh, and my children in the back, and I just started laughing, and they started laughing. She looked around, she's looking in the rearview mirror at us, and we were all laughing. It was funny. It was it was it was hilarious. Because I was thinking about this message, and I was thinking, man, this lady's in a bad mood already. I wasn't even started the day, and I wasn't gonna let her get to me. Was it worth it? I don't know what maybe I was the byproduct of something happening at home. What do you mean? Maybe she was mad at me because who knows, maybe she was late. So who got it? I didn't. Why? Because I wasn't a good driver. Didn't do what she wanted me to. Come on. Have you ever had that habit out there? Have you ever done it to someone? Oh, what'd you say? Never? You know what? That old nature never wants to admit it's it's their fault. You know what? You just you just talk to that old nature, and that old nature will justify the way it feels and the way it's responding to the circumstances and the situation. It will never take responsibility. It'll always say it's this fault or that person's fault or this situation's fault, or I have a reason to do this, and wipe its mouth and say, I've done no wrong. Proverbs, amen. That that the old nature is like that. It just won't take responsibility. But I want to say this. Maybe you have experienced this, maybe you haven't. When I received Christ as my Savior, the Holy Spirit came inside of me. And one of the things the Bible talks about that after you were illuminated, talking about the Word of God coming alive and the eyes of your understanding being open. But I want to say this, and this is my experience, but I believe I can back it up a lot of scripture. The Holy Spirit began to illuminate to me my old nature. Did you ever study yourself? The Holy Spirit began to show me some things about myself that, you know, it would have been easy to say, I don't want to look at that. And I'm sure at a certain points and times I didn't want to, but as the Holy Spirit's beginning to illuminate and shine the bright light on that old nature. Brethren, may I say this? If you haven't taken time to study yourself yet, then I'll guarantee you you don't have the rule over the spirit like you should. Let me give you some scripture. Stay with me. Look if you would, and I'm still working on it. Nobody's out of the woods yet. Look at Proverbs 25. You're holding your place in 1 Samuel 16. You see, Saul's servant knew that he was in a bad mood. Saul's servant knew when Saul was in a foul mood, wanted to stay out of his way. And Saul was very moody. Look at Proverbs 25, if you would. Proverbs chapter 25. And I would say this to you. I would rather have, if you would, what we're going to talk about tonight than a million dollars. And I mean that. Oh, you say, huh? You're just saying that. I would rather have, if you would, control and rule over the spirit that I have within me. And I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about my spirit, my personality, my attitude, my mood, than have a million bucks tucked away in the bank. Because a million bucks doesn't buy you sleep at night. A million dollars doesn't buy you peace of mind during the day. A million dollars doesn't allow you to look at a situation and find humor in it. A million dollars doesn't keep somebody from committing suicide. Amen. Proverbs 25, if you would look at it, verse 28. Verse 28. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down as without walls. Now I'm not going to comment so much about the idea of a city broken down and without walls. Obviously, when there's walls up, not only does it keep people in, but it keeps people out. So the idea is when someone doesn't have rule over their spirit, anybody can come in and do whatever they want within that city and leave again. Does that make sense? So if I don't have any rule over my spirit spirit, I'm like a city where the walls are broken down. People come, they go, they do whatever they want. In fact, if I don't have rule no rule over my spirit, other people affect me all day long in my mood and my attitude. Is that right? Why? Because I have new rule over my spirit. Now, let me make a statement. Rule. When we talk about rule, uh, would you agree with this? We're talking about control. If I can't control my own spirit, if I can't have control over my own spirit all day long, I'm in irritating mood, and I'm in impatient mood, and I'm in frustration mood, and I'm in happy mood. And then just after I was in happy mood, I get a phone call and I'm in angry mood. And just all day long, what a mess. That's no way to live life. Amen, amen, amen. Say it. But the idea behind rule also denotes leadership. Is that right? If I'm gonna have rule over my spirit, I need to know how to lead it. Now I know this about leadership. You have to know who you're leading. You have to know who the follower is and who the leader is. If I'm gonna lead you, I have to know something about you. Say amen. If I'm gonna lead you, I have to know something about you. I have to know something about those that I'm leading. Statement. I have to know something about the spirit I'm leading. Therefore, I must know something about myself. Therefore, I must study myself. You know what? A leadership is all about. I study a lot about leadership. Why? I want to be a good leader. I want to be a good pastor. Well, if I'm gonna have rule over my own spirit, I need to study the one who's supposed to be following. Amen? Why? I want to know his strengths, I want to know his weaknesses, I want to know what triggered his mindset to do this and do that. Please look up here. I want to know the stimulus that caused me when I have to take more rule. When I have to be a stronger leader. Hey, as leading this church, please look up here. As leading this church, uh, is it important to me to know the state of the flock and look well to the herd, is that right? Keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on in the church to know how to lead it, correct? Come on, yes or no? In order to lead my spirit, I've got to know what's going on in my spirit to know how to lead it. And I've got to know how it's affected. By what stimulus? Look at Proverbs 16. Stay with me. Let me bear this out. And you're still holding your place in 1 Samuel 16. In Proverbs 16, and this is not something to where we walk out of here and say we're perfect. It's something to where, let me ask you a question. Did you have rule over your spirit today? How about yesterday? Look at Proverbs 16. I notice another verse that kind of goes along this. Look at verse 32. He that is slow to what? Anger is better than the mighty. And he that ruleth his what? Spirit, than he that taketh a city. I just want you to see that God puts a high priority on being able to rule, control, or lead, if you would, our own spirit. Again, the byproduct of a spirit that's not being led, that's not being in control, if you would, the byproduct of that is those around us get snapped at, those around us uh get discouraged because of our bad spirit and our bad moods, and we just never know our moods are up and down. Now, I want to make a statement. I understand that uh bodies and uh metabolisms go through chemical changes. If you haven't studied that out, you ought to sometimes. Uh men go through some and women go through even more. There are chemical changes that go on in a body that God has set up. Uh, you ought to study sometimes. Look up what estrogen is and what happens to a woman's body and find out about it. Because some of you men will go, oh, you know, I don't believe in all that stuff. Find out. Find out before you throw that garbage out. I don't believe in all that stuff. You know, just be the same. Just be the same. Oh, grow up. Read something about, you know, what goes on in a woman's body. God set up, God set it up in a way, and there's some changes that happen. Do I have to explain it? If you do see me privately, I'll talk to you about it, alright? And by the way, I can talk to you about it. Amen? Hey, look up here. I'm leading a woman, my wife. I already know something about her. How can I nourish and cherish her if I don't know her? Come on. Amen? Some of you guys are just. But there's changes that go on. And what my job is, if you would, first of all, I ought to study myself and find out some things about myself so I know how to rule. Look at 1 Timothy 4 real quick. Stay with me now. 1 Timothy 4, setting something up here, setting it up, stay with me. 1 Timothy chapter 4. You say you're still defining the problem. That's correct. I'm still defining the problem. 1 Timothy 4. We'll define the solution in just a moment. 1 Timothy chapter 4. I want you to see four words in context with what we're talking about here. Knowing something about ourselves, studying ourselves, meditating on our on our old nature a little bit and finding out who it is and what's impact and the influence. 1 Timothy chapter 4. I want you to read, if you would, with me, verse 16. Verse 16. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. What are the first four words of that verse? Ready? Let's say it together. Ready? Go. Take heed unto thyself. One more time. Take heed unto thyself. You know what that tells me? It says, and unto the doctrine. I'm supposed to know something about myself. I'm supposed to study myself enough to where, you know what? When I get irritated at something that's not right to be irritated at, there ought to be something go off inside of me that says, wait a minute, you've lost control. You've lost rulership. You've lost leadership of your spirit. Something ought to go off inside of me quickly that tells me it's the wrong mood. It's the wrong attitude. It's the wrong spirit. Amen? Guarantee you, people that leave church, because they got hurt or offended, much of it is not because someone hurt them, which they did, or someone offended them, which they did. It's because they have no rule over their own spirit. Mark it down. Hey, you know what? I could have justified being hurt and quit along a long time ago. And so could have you. Amen. What has kept you in is the Holy Spirit of God teaching you how to have rule over your own spirit. Make a statement right here so you don't get this wrong. I'm not talking about self-control. I'm talking about God teaching us how to control self. Let me say it again. I'm not talking about Doug Fisher having this power of positive thinking and this self-control stuff that I've generated. I'm talking about God illuminating to me my own nature and then God giving me control over it. There's a big difference. There's a huge difference. Somebody says, Well, I read these self-help books. That's fine. It might help you just a little bit, but I'd rather read this book. This book will give us the ability, if you would, to realize it's not so much self-control, it's God giving Doug Fisher's new nature control of his old nature. Does that make sense to you? Yes, it does. God has to give our new nature control of our old nature. That way we take rule over that spirit, and the spirit, that old nature, gets angry at something, and the new nature says, Stop it. Let it lie, let it, let it, let it down, let it go. Husband and wife argues. Only by pride cometh what? You can't throw that scripture out of the book. So when they're a bummer, somebody said, Oh, bummer. We can't throw it out. So husband and wife is only by pride cometh contention. And if this argument goes on for an hour, that's too long. That's way too long. Somebody doesn't have rule over their spirit. Wow, you don't know what it's like. You're trying to tell me you and your wife never argued for an hour? If we were mad at each other for an hour, we didn't argue for an hour. We got away from each other. And got our spirits right. And came back. But we, I don't know if Patty and I have ever said words to us, or I don't know if Patty and I have ever said words to each other that could be brought up in remembrance. And say, well, you said this one time. I don't think she's ever said something to me in that way that I could ever bring up. If she did, it's not registered on this computer. It's not up there. I'm serious about that. I'm not just saying that. I've thought about that before I said that. I don't know if she's ever said anything to me in the years we've been married, that she said something that, you know, I could bring up again, or you said this one time, or I just can't forget that you said this or something. There's nothing up there. The banks are clear. Now I hope hers are too. I don't think. Wait, is Patty? Oh, she's not here. Perfect. She's nursery tonight. Obviously. Well, check with her later. Yeah, go get her. I don't mind. I don't think she's never said to me that I can remember. Well, you know what? You said this to me, and I just can't let that go, and she kept bringing it up, bringing it up. I can't remember doing it. If I did, she's either got it before the Lord and laid it down and given it over to him, or she's never mentioned it to me. You say, oh, you're just saying it. Ask my children how much we argue. I got seven of them. Go check it out. You can't hide argument from seven children. You say, have mom and dad ever been irritated at each other? Maybe. Nicole, have you ever seen us argue? I'm asking you, have you ever seen us argue for a long period of time? I'm asking you. I'm gonna have you up here in a minute if you don't answer. Hey, you you can't say this in front of children and get away with it. You know, if I were if our children were in here tonight and I'd say, hey children, what kind of mood was dad in last night? What kind of mood was he in the night before? What kind of mood is dad typically in? We'd find out whether he had rule over your spirit or not. We can sit on here with our halo on, but our children know. And our spouse knows too. How's it been recently? Sweet, loving, kindness in your home? How's the attitude been? I'll guarantee everything's okay with a miracle home. Or he would never say that and get away with it. Because I saw I saw her laugh too. You can't say next point and everything be okay. Or and everything be out of out of whack. She'd be going. Amen. Now some of you say, let's move on. We're not moving on. You came, you came tonight, led of the Lord. This is the message. You say why it's so is important? Because it grieves the Holy Spirit when we're not in one accord. You say, well, I live alone. Well, how do you do with people around you? How's your spirit? Brethren. Okay. Let me just, it's in my notes. I could hang around the leadership of Christianity, and there's so many different kinds of Christian circles out there. I mean, there's leaders of just uh I mean there's the this crowd and that crowd and this crowd and that crowd. If I wanted to, and I wanted to have a foul spirit, just uh, you know, an antagonistic, I could hang around the killer career crowd. Because there's the killer career queer crowd out there. They're they're they're negative against everything. Just oh, I just heard there's something new going on. Never been on it yet. Now, if you're not careful, even pastors and pastoral leaders. Now they got the computer nets set up. And they get on the thing and they talk and type. And they got little, you know, uh uh, talking about this guy, and they got a little thing that they punch in that means that guy said this. And, you know, I mean, and then they talk about that guy over there, and this guy means this. Somebody just told me about a pastor that's on that thing two and two and three hours a day. Just, you know, under the under the guise of theology. You know, the discussion theological issue. You know what it is? It's gossip. I'll make a statement to you. Now listen to me. It goes on the telephone, too. Don't you think pastors talk? I I'm not putting anybody down. I would just say this. Rather than being on a being on a computer for a couple hours and so-and-so said this, and so-and-so's position on this is this, and I think he's a reprobate, and you know, and all these little things that you can type in, nobody's, you know, all the terminology. Look up here. Or being on a telephone, I'd rather be alone. I'd rather be alone for those two hours. You say, what would you do alone? I wouldn't be getting in trouble. I'd rather be alone looking at the Bible, thinking about something, thinking about our church, praying, doing something just alone. I'd rather sleep for an hour than do with that. Why? Because it has a possibility of creating a foul spirit within me. Towards who? Towards Christians. Do you understand what I'm saying? I just don't want to be around that stuff. Now you say if there's an issue, don't you want to know about it? Yes, it's if it affects us, if it affects me, yeah, I want to know about it. I'm not going to put my head in the sand. But brother, I'd rather spend an hour alone sitting in my car with the with with classical music on, meditating on a chapter of God's word or something like that. I'll get more out of that than I will letting someone else affect my attitude. Amen? Well, who are you hanging around? You say, well, I have to go to work and I have to hang around certain people. And they're part of my job. Then let me ask you a question. Okay, you can't change them, but can we change the way we respond to them? I get this person I hang around, and man, if you knew them, you'd know why I come home and just I'm so upset and tense and d- Wait a minute now. You got rule over your own spirit. Well, I don't think it's possible. Jesus faced the Pharisees and kept rule over his mind. The Pharisees lied about him, cheated on him, made up tales about him, but the Bible says he was without what? Say it, sin. Therefore, in his mind he never sinned against him. Now I'm not saying walking perfect. And I'm not saying we don't come away from work sometimes irritated. Please look up here. It shouldn't be a way of life. And it shouldn't be justification. I mean, make a statement. You know what the world does? After they've had a long day, sometimes the world, what do they do? They go home and drink their wine. And sit in front of the television. To forget. To cope. You know how a Christian copes? At the end of a day? Well, what do you do? I hope you don't get your wine. Unless it's the fruit of the vine. Welches. That's not we shouldn't have to do that. Amen, amen, amen. We shouldn't be oh, oh, thank God it's Friday, so I can go out and get drunk. Forget about the week. That's not what we do. We left all that. Is it good to be saved? Look, if you would, go back to 1 Samuel 16. I'm not trying to put anybody down. 1 Samuel 16. And I want to show you something. 1 Samuel 16. I want to ask you a question now. We've defined some of the problems, the things that go on and affect our spirit, if you would. 1 Samuel 16. And verse 14 and 15 talks about the Spirit of the Lord departs, an evil spirit, and the Saul's servants knows about it. Verse 15. And notice now verse 16. Look at it, stay with me. And I'm going to give you a word that I want you to remember. Let our Lord now command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player in heart. And it shall come to pass, verse 16, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his head, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said to his servant, Provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethemite. By the way, this is an interesting scripture telling you about who David really is. Look at his characteristics. Just write it down, study it later. That he is cunning in play, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in manners, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. You know, that's quite a statement about a man who is near to God's heart. Is that right? Not only somebody says, Oh, you know, Siskies, those boys are Sisties that play an instrument, not David. He was a valiant man and a man of war. But he could still play the harp. Amen? He's a prudent man, is a coming man. Verse 19. Wherefore Saul sent message unto Jesse, instead, send me David thy son, which is with thy sheep. So Jesse sends him, and David comes. And look, if you would at verse 22. Stay with me. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. And it came to pass when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul. Now you understand Saul was in a bad mood. That David took in what? He took in what? Say it? And played with his hand. So Saul was say it. What does that mean? Well, it means his mood changed. And was well. And the evil spirit departed from him. Now I believe in principalities and powers, but let me ask you a question. When you're in a bad mood, when you've got a bad spirit about you, when I am in a bad mood, when I got a bad spirit about me, what's your heart? Let me say it again. What's your heart? What do you do to get out of it? Now I know what the world does. They mask it. They cover it. I did it for years. Drugs, alcohol, TV. You say, wait a minute, how does that fit? Well, people want to forget about what's going on in their life? Drugs. Alcohol. TV. Right. TV takes you out of and brings you into Never Never Land. What? You get involved in a show and you forget about what's going on your life. You say, is everything on TV wrong? I don't think everything is, but it's a false reality. You say, no, wait a minute, say it again. When the world wants to escape reality, drugs, alcohol, TV. That's not a good harp. Doesn't work. Doesn't play well. Doesn't work long term. What's a good harp? You say, now I don't understand the harp. David plays and Saul's mood changed. What changes your mood? What gets it back in line with God? Look if you would at uh 1 Samuel or 1 Corinthians 16. Stay with me. I said TV and it hurt some people. I didn't mean to hurt you. 1 Corinthians 16. But a Christian, really a solid Christian, their escape should not be TV. Come on now. I'm not saying you can't turn on and see something, but I'm just saying, if you're if you're so leaning on that thing that, oh, I just can't wait to get to the TV so I can escape the pressures of this world. Man, you got the wrong escape mechanism. 1 Corinthians 16. What are you going to do if there's a power outage? Come on, I'm not trying to put anybody down. I'm trying to help you. 1 Corinthians 16. Here's one way. Look if you would at verse 17. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 17. I'm glad of the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Archaicus. For that which was locking on your part, they have supply. For they have what? Say it. Refresh my what? Spirit. And would you agree that certain people in our lives refresh our spirit? Hey, if you're married, please look up here. If you're married, your spouse should be looked upon as someone that refreshes your spirit. I must say it. Listen to me. I'd rather go to my wife and get my spirit refreshed than go to the TV. We don't have a TV to go to, but I'd rather go to my wife. Amen? Uh, sir, if your spirit is bad and you come home, and the first thing you've got to do is turn on that TV, or whatever it is, I'm not harping on the TV, I'm just using that as an example tonight. And the way you get refreshed is by that, and you say a few words to your wife once in a while, you're missing out on marriage. And she, as much as she doesn't want to say it, is not happy about it. Sir, sir, brother, and brother, ESPN is not your wife. Come on. It's not. That's not what we do to refresh our spirit. You say, well, I like a little bit, but okay, a little bit's fine. I'm not doubting you. But that's what God gave your spouse for. Well, I can tell we're gonna have this gonna be a church split night at home or something. I can just tell some people's spirits are getting bad right now. Hey, Brother Peace, look at it. It shouldn't be. I'm just trying to help you. Don't we go to a friend when we've got a bad spirit? Someone we trust that know us at our worst and know what to say to help us? You say, well, man, oh that's supposed to be my husband. Yeah. So it says that they all refreshed my spirit. And by the way, when David played his harp, the Bible says it refreshed Saul's what? Say it. Spirit. People sometimes can be refreshing. Look, if you would it uh stay with me a little bit more. Look at 2 Corinthians 7. 2 Corinthians 7. I'm not trying to hurt anybody tonight. Come on. This is I'm not even yelling. 2 Corinthians 7. I'm for you tonight. I want to help you. Or you say, well, you got your way and I got my way, and that's the way we do it. Well, I just want to show you God's way. Come on, I just want to show you the book, and then we'll leave that between you and God how you do it. 2 Corinthians 7. And notice if you would uh verse 13. Verse 13. Therefore, we were comforted in your comfort. Yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of who? Titus. Why? Because his spirit was what? Say it. Refresh by, you know, down south they say y'all. His spirit was refreshed by you all. And who is he talking to here is the Corinthians. So it was a large group of people. I want to make this statement, I want you to listen. Church ought to be a place where we get refleshed. Hey, if you come in with a bad spirit and a bad mood and a bad attitude, I'm not saying by the time you go out, you know, that you just have a great spirit, a great attitude, but it ought to be a place where we come and get refreshed. The singing, the fellowship, the communion one with the other, the talking, the smiles, the handshake, uh, the preaching. You say, well, preacher, I was in a good mood when I came in. And now my mood is getting worse and worse. In fact, I'm not feeling very good about this message at all, and about you tonight, I'm getting kind of angry about this whole thing. And I was in a good mood when I walked in. You know what? Sometimes we need to be challenged just a little bit and see a blind spot, if you would, in our personalities that needs to be dealt with by the Lord. Now, there's no reason to get mad at me tonight because everything I've said, I think, except maybe the comments on the TV, well, even those, I think I could bear witness in here. So the idea is there ought to be refreshment going on when we come to church. But wait a minute, I want once I see it. What do I do then when I'm out of town for three or four days, and I'm not around my wife? I know I can pick up the telephone, and I'm not around you all, the church, my my local church, you know, what do I do? What do you do when there's people not around, maybe? Or you have to deal with it right there. Let me show you something, please. Look if you would at Galatians 5 and 2 Corinthians chapter 10. You're doing well now. Galatians 5 and 2 Corinthians 10. Listen, if the statement about the TV offended you, throw that out. Just forget I ever said anything about it. Okay. All right. So be that way. Brother offended. But great peace. Who said that? Great peace. Who was it? Marcelo? You still mouthing off of. I thought you got married, Marcelo, didn't I? We thought that would help you. Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them, Marcelo. 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. Now. What we're dealing tonight with is this. 2 Corinthians 10, please look up here. We all have moods. We all need to have more rule of our spirits, if you would. Our old natures don't want to take responsibility for the mood swings. They want to blame it on other things. Our new nature wants to have control, more steady, more stable, more stability. 2 Corinthians 10, I've used it before in the church, and I want to use it with this idea of attitudes and moods. And I'm working on this too, so don't think that I'm telling you I walk on water on this thing. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And we're talking about specifically now the harp. What refreshes us. Oh, by the way, good music is refreshing. Absolutely. Good music is certainly refreshing. And there's so many other things we could talk about. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And notice, if you would, verse 5. Casting down imaginations, every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. The second part of this verse is what I want to focus on. And bringing into what? Captivity every what? Thought to the obedience of Christ. Brethren, if somehow we get in a bad mood, if somehow we can bring those thoughts that create that bad mood into captivity and back into the obedience of Christ, please look up here. That bad mood will leave us. And the harp will have played. Is that right? Please look up here. When we get irritated somewhere along the way in the day, and maybe a result of fatigue, or, you know, maybe we had a failure, or uh, you know, maybe some I was thinking about Elijah had fear going on back there when uh Jezebel said she was going to get him. I mean, all kinds of things created moods in the Old Testament. But if when we get in one of those moods where we have a foul spirit about us and a bad attitude, and and you know, uh, I don't want to talk to anybody or whatever it is, if we could just bring those thoughts that's creating that mood into captivity, into the obedience of Christ, please look up here. Our mood would not be foul. We'd have a good attitude and a good mood. Would you agree with that? Now, somebody says, what do you mean, a good mood? All around like this? No, I don't think a good mood means we all walk around. Hi, how are you doing today? Hi, Bill. Good to see you. I'm just so good today. Because that's not my personality. I mean the visitor comes in. That's not that's not me. But I mean I guess it would be a bad mood if if I walk by stand up, Brother Bill, real quick. If I walked by, Bill shut took out his hand and went to shake it out. Now you would know something's wrong. Amen? You'd say, oh no, that's normal, preacher. That's normal. No, that's not normal. I'd shake his hand, say a couple words. So it doesn't mean that we're just full of this. But you know after you get to know a person for a while whether they're in their good mood and whether they're walking in the spirit or where they're in a bad mood and the spirit's not in control. And we ought to know ourselves. Look at Galatians 5. Stay with me. Galatians 5. Almost finished. Watching your time so you don't get in a bad mood. I want you in a good mood tonight, leaving Galatians 5. And now I want you to see something, please. Galatians 5. Look if you would at verse 22. You know this, but not in relationship to this message. But, well, now if you know the word but is there, you know it's contrasting something that it just talked about. But leaves you on the other side, uh, if if this is the pro, but the fruit of spirit, that's the pro, just before that is the negative. Because it says in verse 19, the works of the what? Flesh are manifest, which are these. And it lists all these things that are negative. Then verse 22 says, but the fruit of the spirit, we can either walk after the flesh or after the spirit. So the contrast is there is the flesh versus the spirit. But the fruit of the spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. I want to make a statement to you. Some people say that, you know, I just, I just, I can't wait to get to peace. Brethren, peace is not something we wait to get to, it's something we do along the way. I I can't wait to get to get to joy. Joy is something we do along the way. Joy isn't just heaven, joy is now. Peace is not just heaven, peace is now. All these things we've got to look at and say, you know what? I'd have a pretty good spirit about me. If I was, if the fruit of the spirit was evident, love, joy, peace, long suffering. I think that is the opposite of impatience. Uh gentleness, goodness, faith, uh, meekness. You know what meekness does? Meekness just turns away from something and lets it go. As no big deal. Somebody gets irritated at you or angry. You know what meekness does? Meekness just turns away. Is that right? Come on, meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength. Uh temperance. Uh I would have to say, if you understand the word temperance, it would be not soon angry. Against such, there's no law. The idea then, if the fruit of the spirit is evident, I'm going to have a pretty good spirit about me. Now, how's the fruit of the spirit become evident? I'd have to be filled with his Holy Spirit and walk in the Spirit, and then what I would do is I'd have an attitude of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, generous, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such. There's no law. I want to ask you a question. In meditating on yourself and thinking of yourself and who you are and what you are, and I'm almost finished. Stay with me. What's the harp you can go to when you find yourself at 10 o'clock in the morning in a bad mood with a bad spirit? What's the harp that can play? Maybe you can't get to music, maybe you can't get to people, maybe you can't get to church right away, maybe you can't get to preaching. Maybe you're in the middle of a meeting and you just feel this bad mood coming on. What can you do? Pray. Absolutely. Pray. What do you mean, pray? Pray. God, there's a bad mood coming on me. It's foul. I know it's coming. And you know what the Holy Spirit will do? Chances are he'll give you a scripture. That's why memorization of scripture and spending time in this word is so important. How many times have you read your morning proverbs? And sometime during the day the Holy Spirit said, Remember? How many times did you have a morning devotion? As short or as long as it may be, and during the middle of the day, somewhere, when this thing was creeping on you, the Holy Spirit said, Don't you remember what you read this morning? Have you ever had that? That's why it's so important we're in this word in the morning. At night, midday, wherever. How many times after coming into preaching, you'll have that foul mood, that spirit coming on you that you just know is the wrong spirit, and you're losing control of your own good spirit, the way it should be, and the Holy Spirit will say, Don't you remember what was preached? And it brings it back under control. You know, this Bible says we're supposed to meditate on the word, chew on it, hear it preached, meditate on it, be around it. I'm going to say to you that this word and what it says and the edification of the Holy Spirit giving us understanding within is probably the most important thing that comes along in the day when there's nobody around, there's nothing around, there's a negative thing going on. I mean, I'll be out witnessing. And somebody will kind of be unkind to me or something like that. And you know what? If if we're not careful, that next door you knock on, you got a foul spirit. I mean, the one just before, I mean, they were just unkind to you and this and that and everything. And between that door and the next door, if you're not, you're kind of going, the whole the whole nature says, What are you doing out here? You don't have to subject yourself to this. Did you ever go into one of those deals? And you're going up to the next door, and by the time you get up there, you knock on it, and maybe you hit two in a row. I mean, have you ever had this? Hello? What are you doing here? Can't you read? You know, something like that. Thank you. God bless you. And by the time you go that for a while, you're getting this negative spirit going on. Foul spirit. I had that last week going on. I hit two or three in a row. I had that foul spirit starting to come up a little bit. And after about, I got up to the third or fourth door, and just before I was walking up the lane, I stopped for a moment. And when I stopped, marvel not if the world hates you. Hated me. It's don't take it personal. They're not mad at you. They're mad at what you represent. Don't take it personal. They're not mad at you. They're still mad at me. You just represent me. You know what that did for me? They're not mad at me. They're mad at him. I can go up there, no big deal. It changed my attitude. Changed my mood, changed my spirit. That's scriptural. Marvel not the world hates you. What does a backslidden person do? Where do they go? What do they do? Persons not in the word, not in church, not around Christians.

SPEAKER_01 52:25

Let's see, what was that scripture again? Oh man, what was that scripture? I knew it one time. Oh man, it was for God so loved the world. What was that thing, man? I knew it what it was. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

There's more to this Bible than just a couple of scriptures. It's the meditations of our heart. It can purify our heart. It can discern between thoughts and intents of the heart. Is that right? It can separate out our thoughts and our intents, and it can filter them and purify them in the middle of the day. It can filter out our attitudes and it can filter out our bad attitudes and our foul tempers and our impatience. I mean, you can have a terrible day at work, get in your car, meditate on some things, put some Christian music on, and by the time you get home, nobody knows. You hug your children. You hug your wife. You hug your dog. You kick your cat. I'm just kidding. Just kidding, just kidding. Don't say anything. You're gonna make it worse. What I'm trying to point out is this tonight, brother. We need to have a rule of our spirit, and we need to study ourselves, and then we need to find out what plays the harp. I know what it does. I know how to do. I know for me. That's a no-doubter for me. I know what works for me. If in the middle of the day I'm having a rough time, I know what works for me. About 20 minutes alone. 25 minutes alone. And I can get back where God can speak to me again and have rule over me again. I tell you what time that I have to be careful of though. Fatigue? Stress. Backslidden. That's what I have to be careful about. Better for me. Don't don't uh walk in the council of the ungodly. Don't stand in the way of sinners. Don't sit in the seat of the scorn. Stay away from it. Stay away from those things that are gonna create this bad spirit. Stay with those things that are gonna keep a good spirit. Stay in that personal devotion. Make a statement to you. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, if I spent two to three hours in the television set for three nights in a row, I already know, without a shadow of a doubt, that my spirit has a chance to go foul and go amiss. And have the wrong spirit, have the wrong attitude, because I'm listening to the wrong stuff. I already know that. What we need to do is find out what brings about and comes on us and causes us to lose our thoughts to where they're not in captivity, stay with me anymore. And they're not under the obedience of Christ anymore. And a result of that is a bad mood and a bad spirit and a bad attitude. Whether we demonstratively let it out, please look up here, or whether we internalize it, it's still there. And I don't believe God wants us to walk through life that way. And I don't believe all these self-help gurus are all the answer. I believe the answer's right in here. With the Holy Spirit's leading and his meditations and his discerning of our thoughts and our intents, I believe that he can shine a light on it. And I believe we can keep a better spirit. Perfect all the time? Let me say this and I finish. I'm not talking about being perfect all the time. But why be under the circumstances all the time? Why be set up for offense when we come to church? I'd rather come in and say, probably something will happen while I'm here that could potentially offend me, so I'm already ready for it. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness. Hey, you could just go down that list and say if I'm in that way and with that mood, temperance, faith, meekness, man, I'm about ready for anything. And I can have a good spirit about coming to church and being at home.