June 28, 2026 Bobby Dagnel - The Discipline of a Successful Faith

Bobby Dagnel — 2026-06-28

Transcript

Bobby Dagnel: 0:00

okay yeah it's like Mike seemed more pleased that Patty was here than I've been he was that I'm here this morning that's been kind of the norm for me the past 40 years of ministry I had a whenever I was being interviewed for churches that I served and near the end of that process you know they would always run references and one person they always called who was kind of my a mentor in ministry and had kind of a high profile personality through the state. So he was inevitably going to be called. He would always tell a pulpit committee, he said, you've got to call Bobby. He said, because your church will love Patty and they'll, and they will learn to tolerate Bobby. And so I think all the churches learned to tolerate me and they loved Patty. And, uh, so, Hey, but I was telling Patty this morning, I said, how lucky are we, you know, to think about We have opportunity. I hope this isn't something we ever take for granted, but the opportunity that we have to be in a setting like this, to be in a place like this to worship and to lift our hearts to the Lord. And it's just such a unique privilege. I hope that we never lose sight of that and the blessing of that. I want us this morning to look at over in Philippians chapter chapter 4. In verses 8 and 9, these verses probably are familiar to you, but I want to look at them in the light of the discipline. I'm going to talk this morning about the discipline of a successful faith. And of course, up front, I would say that there is no success in the life of faith apart from discipline. It's of absolute import that if we are going to experience the The fullness of our relationship with the Lord, the fullness of the salvation that God is accomplishing in us, that will not be realized apart from a disciplined approach to the life of faith in our lives. So let's look at Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. You can use your phone if you don't have a Bible, a smart device, whatever it is you have. I'll start out by telling you a story about this old boy. He was on his way to work one morning. he'd been on a diet for about six weeks seeing great results you know and but as oftentimes happens whenever you make a lifestyle change you decide that you're going to change how you eat nutritionally or you're gonna start exercising whatever it is you know you you come to a point where you start hearing two voices uh actually you hear it from the onset you know well I'm gonna wait till next Monday you know it's uh and I always tell my brother don't be the next Monday guy you know if something is worth doing it's worth doing right now but after you start something that is a lifestyle change you start hearing these two voices about and and one voice is telling you to keep grinding keep being disciplined the other voice says you know you've seen some success you're due a reward well that's what this guy was going through he'd been on a diet for about six weeks doing extremely well and was so proud of himself and on the way to work he started started hearing that voice about, you know, you really deserve a reward. And you know that donut shop is right there by your office. And why don't you go ahead and reward yourself with a donut to start your day. And of course, the other voice jumps in and says, no, don't do that. That's just caving in to the desires of the flesh. Don't listen to that voice. Anyway, this struggle, this battle is going on back and forth. And finally, what he decides to do, he's going to spiritualize the matter and he's going to make it a matter of prayer and so as he's driving he prays and says lord if it is your will for for me to have a donut this morning at the office let there be a parking place right in front he said sure enough the tenth time around the block there it was it opened up well obviously what this guy is trying to pass off as being the will of god is just what a lack of discipline uh you you look at any arena in life i don't care what it is you look in any arena of life whether it's business it's athletics it's music it's literature whatever it is, those that attain the highest place in that field, they've done it because of discipline. My background is in athletics. I've worked the past 15 years with Texas Tech football, and so I kind of gravitate to that arena. But when I think about discipline in athletics, I think of someone like a Mike Singletary. Mike Singeltary was a perennial All-Pro. He was two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He was part of the Super Bowl XXV Dream Team. He was an All-American at Baylor. And if you can remember Mike Singletary, if you ever saw him, they would do these freeze frames sometimes on Mike. And he had this wide-eyed intensity. I mean, just this very frightening, intense look on his face. And seeing those pictures, and if you've ever watched him play, you would probably think that mike singletary is a very imposing presence and personality but nothing could be further from the truth when you meet mike singleton in person he's barely six feet tall and weighed maybe when he was playing weighed maybe 220 225 pounds but he had this tremendous success and in his book calling the shots he says the reason i was more success i was so successful was because of my discipline. He said, I knew I was a better student of the game than my opponents. He talked about some of his practices, said he would watch a single play 50 to 60 times. Whenever they were getting to play an opponent, he would watched film all week of that opponent, and he would click back and forth 50 to60 times watching a single-play. It took him three hours to watch half of a football game, reviewing film. Three hours to watched half a football game, which was maybe 25 or 30 plays. 50 to 60 times back and forth and he said the result of that was was that most of the time he said over 90 percent of the times before our opponent ever snapped the ball he said I already knew where that ball was going to go given the hash mark where it was if it was on the field side the boundary side he said uh given the the down and the yardage 95 percent of time already knew where the ball was and I was already cheating towards that direction before the ball was ever set Mike Singletary was successful because he was disciplined in literature you think of somebody like Ernest Hemingway Heming way was a tortured soul to the point that he would ultimately take his life but but as a writer he demanded of himself literary perfectionism Paul Paul Johnson years ago wrote an interesting book entitled Intellectuals about different personalities. Hemingway was in this book. But he would talk about the discipline of Hemingways, said that because of his literary perfectionism, said he would just, he would haggle for hours over a single word and a single phrase in a paragraph. His novel A Farewell to Arms, he rewrote the conclusion 17 times. just looking for the right phraseology. Paul Johnson said in his book, said that it was the habit of Hemingway to, he would stand, he Would rise early, but he would be at his writing desk at 6 30 in the morning, and he would Stand there from 6 30 to noon, until noon, just planning what he was going to write that day. Not writing, planning what he Was going to to write that day. And a day's writing for Hemingway was maybe 500 words a day. That's a page and a half. Dylan Thomas, who wrote Fern Hill, the poem Fern Hill. He did 200 handwritten manuscripts of Fern Hill until it was just right. Incredible discipline. Music is an area where I have great appreciation all of my family i'm not i'm the only one that's not but all of my family is very immersed in into music but i've always had great regard and admiration for musicians and the discipline that it takes van cliburn was once asked how many hours a day he practiced without even blinking without any hesitation he said eight to ten hours a day he said the first two hours I do nothing but scales and fingering exercises just the basics Paderewski made an interesting statement about his own approach to discipline and practice he said if I miss one day of practice he said I notice it if I missed two days of practice the critics notice it If I miss three days of practice, the audience will notice it. When one particular woman, lady, was praising him for his genius, Paderewski said, man, before I was a genius, I was bored. Discipline. Now the difference, what I'm getting to this morning, morning is that whatever if there was ever for those individuals that I've alluded to if there was ever any type of predisposition towards being talented in those fields whatever natural talent they might have had in those arenas none of that applies to the life of faith there are none of us that have a natural bent towards the things of God there's none of Us who have a genetic predisposition towards the things of God Paul said in Romans he said there is none righteous no not one there is none who seeks for God there's no one in this room that has a bent and a predispositions towards the things of god in fact it's our nature it's our human nature to be opposed to the things God and so if we're going to be if we are going to a people who have any measure of success in the life of faith it's going to never be accomplished apart from discipline and these are very very challenging words that Paul is is offering but we also to have an appreciation for this what softens up the words of Paul somewhat in these in these verses is that this is a congregation that Paul loves deeply this is one of Paul's prison epistles this is an congregation a church that has has ministered to the Apostle Paul while he was under house arrest, and so it's someone that he has a great affinity for. This is a church that he loves deeply, and we know, in fact, you can go back to chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, we know that Paul wants only the best for this church. He says, in this I pray that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may discover the things that are excellent that you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ Paul wants them to experience the excellence of what God has to offer now you would think that if Paul had any shortcuts if Paul knew an easy way of getting this done that these would have been a these would've been a people in a congregation that he he would have offered it to and yet what we find throughout the passage and what we're going to see in our chosen select passage this morning is that Paul understands in his own life and what he's communicating to a people that he loves is that success in the life of faith will not be realized apart from discipline so what does that look like well look in our text notice here as we look at verses 8 and 9, the first thing that Paul will say regarding a successful faith and the discipline that is necessary to achieve a disciplined faith is that it is a mindful faith. You look at those that have success in the life of faith, that have incorporated the discipline that is necessary to be successful in the life of faith you will find that they are very mindful about their faith it's something they think about it's nothing that they dwell upon now notice paul says it this way in verse 8 he says finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise he says think on these things think on things logizimized the word in the Greek that is translated think on the things it's a deliver it's it's the same word from which we got our word logarithm if you need a reference point and so he's he's using a mathematical expression to talk about the mindset that is necessary in pursuing the life of faith this is a deliberate prolonged contemplation this isn't a passing thought but the beauty of this is paul says let your mind dwell upon these things reflect upon these things contemplate these things uh what he's what it's what he says what he does is doing for us is think about it in real terms in real life most of the time the circumstances of life dictate what we think about right the things we pray about we allow circumstances to dictate our our prayer life we allow the circumstances in which we find ourselves good or bad to to determine our sense of well-being when circumstances are favorable when life's hitting on all cylinders i have a sense of wellbeing but when the wheels fall off when life hits you in the mouth well then it skews your perspective and you start thinking negatively about life Paul says listen the life that we're chasing as a faith community what we're holding forth and what we believe in what we're advocating for what we are to be a testimony of and a witness to is something that transcends the circumstances of life so when negative thoughts start to creep in he says let your mind in contrast dwell upon these things now unfortunately unfortunately you and I find ourselves living in a day and time and culture always influences shamefully that the culture always influence is the church and tragically we're in one of those seasons in in church history where we are allowing the the the emotional and the experiential to replace the formative and the substantive. And that means how we think, our thinking about the life of faith, our desire to understand the life of faith and to rightly understand the Word of God, that that has somehow been put on the back burner that to somehow have an intellectual faith, to have a thinking faith and a pondering faith is somehow considered to be less spiritual. Whereas what Paul would say is that this is foundational to the life of faith this is of absolute import to the life of Faith that we have to think rightly if we are going to produce rightly in the life that we're living now this isn't anything new to Paul this is this is as old as ancient literature the wisdom writer Solomon would say in Proverbs chapter 23 and in verse 7 for as a man for as a man thinks in his heart so is he the things we think about the things we dwell upon the argument is is that that our thoughts become the that which produces action in our lives so thoughts lead to action action leads to consequences for as a man thanks in his hearts so we see the wisdom writer would say in chapter 4 and verse 23 three of proverbs guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life so where we would make choices and decisions and determinations about our life on a daily basis these choices i where i make choices and decisions in my life i've got to protect that i can't allow the world to creep in i can allow the 24 7 news to to influence my my thought processes i've Got to guard my heart where I make choices and decisions now David would say it this way regarding the righteous he would say that in his word does he meditate day and night Psalm 1 regarding the righteous man David says in his in his law does he meditate day a night uses a somewhat gross word there actually and if you did the etymology on this uh on this particular word and meditation it's a it's a word that originally referenced a ruminating animal kind of like you've heard the term chewing the cud well that's that's what david is saying said the righteous man he's like a rumanating animal when it comes to the law of god the word of god he's he's chewing it up he's swallowing it he's regurgitating it again and again and again dwellings keeping at the forefront of his mind the law and the word of god and he understands the importance of that because that's what evokes the life that we live the life we make manifest on a daily basis paul would say it this way in romans chapter 12 in verse 2 he says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed how by the renewing of your mind paul said to the church in first in corinthians first corin thians 2 16 he said we have the mind of christ a mind which is being constantly renewed and we just came through first peter peter said gird up the loins of your mind prepare your minds for action to be proactive in the life of faith it means i've got to gird up my the lo ins of my mind i've got to stay in a in a state of mental preparedness so that when the circumstances of life come against me and they will it's only as my mind is right it's only as if I have the right processes in place it's Only as I'm grounded in the word that I can respond in a way that is appropriate to my circumstances this what what is being described here by Paul and in the Philippian letter it's always you and I have these kind of discipline thought processes that we can stand and stave off the anti-gospel virtues of our culture like hedonism individualism materialism nationalism it's only as we have the right right processes in place. It's only as we have a disciplined, mindful faith that we can respond appropriately in life. The second thing that Paul, this is what I find, you're going to find a balance here that to me is so common sense because when Paul is describing this discipline that is necessary to be successful in the life of faith, he says not only is it mindful, it not only thinks way. It has not only a certain mindset, but he says it's also practical. It's mindful. It is practical. There is always that application side to Paul's theology. Now notice that first clause in verse 9. He says,"...as for the things you have learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me." Practice, here is the practical side of this. The things I am teaching you, the things that you have observed in my life, the things that he says now then practice these things in other words the life of faith isn't just knowing it's not just learning not just understanding he's saying there that there must be an application there must not just be an understanding of the right things but there must a doing of the the right thing. And Paul offers himself as exhibit A. I mean, I love that. I mean, how many of us would actually be that bold to say to a group of young believers, most of us, would think, well, that's awfully presumptuous to say something like that. You know, I say to young believers, listen, you want to know how to live the Christian life, you just watch me. I mean, most us wouldn't hold ourselves out there like that, but Paul wants the the people that he loves to see the practical side of this, he wants to offer himself as an exhibit of a Christian life. In fact, in chapter 3 and verse 17, we see the same thing, this admonition that he makes to join me in following my example. Brothers and sisters, join in following my examples to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11. He says, be imitators of me. me. Imitate me. What you're going to see in my life is a consistency. When I stand before you, Paul says, teaching, when you receive letters from me, what Paul says is going to be true is that you will see no difference. There's going to быть no difference between the things that I'm teaching you and the things I'm seeking to live out in my own life. And that's what the world desperately needs are these flesh-and-blood demonstrations from us of what the life of faith looks like that's what it means for the church to be on mission you know the mission of the church isn't accomplished inside these walls it's whatever church you attend in other places in your homes if you if you have a home somewhere else you know that the kingdom of God is not manifesting itself the mission of the church is not being accomplished inside those walls the mission the church has accomplished as you and I dispersed from these places we go out into our respective worlds our respective vocations that God has entrusted to us and in those stations in life we are making evident the in breaking of the kingdom of God in our own life the things that we learn in a church on Sunday making those manifest making those flesh-and-blood demonstrations in real time that's when the church is accomplishing its mission on a confessional side I never used this line I was always I was a bit stumped by this line but I'm probably harder on clergy and ministers than I am any other people group and one of the things that always bothered me was to hear my peers and colleagues who who would say things like, you know, they would complain and whine. And there's a tendency of a lot of ministers to be whiny anyway, you know, this hard life. But they would whine about living in a fishbowl. Oh, it's just so hard living in an fishbowel. Oh, It's just hard. It's so hard to live in a glass house, everybody watching. Well, my first thought is, what are you hiding? What are you doing that you don't want me to see? the second thought is isn't that what we want people to see you know if we're going to stand up and proclaim the gospel if we'RE going to be a minister of youth minister of college students if if you have some ministerial role do you not want to be an example for those that that you're leading it's what the world needs we need we need doctors who are flesh and blood demonstrations of the life of Christ we need lawyers who are fleshing blood demonstrations in the life of Christ when he'd gas well we don't have gas pump attendants anymore but you know what I mean in education we need flesh and Blood demonstrate and whatever station in life wherever our feet are. The practical side of the life of faith is that there must be these flesh and blood demonstrations of what the in-breaking of God's kingdom looks like. This was portrayed in a humorous way years ago. The late George Foreman, as you know, was former heavyweight champ of the world in boxing, was defeated by Muhammad Ali, I think it was 1974 in Zaire. And it was soon after After that, in fact, I think it was in the training room after he had been knocked out that he had a vision of God. You know, concussions will do that sometime. But he had this dramatic conversion experience, and God called him to preach. He decided he was going to be an evangelist, boxing and doing evangelism. It was just a profound transformation in his life. Well, jump ahead a few years later, he was on Late Night with David Letterman, and he was telling Letterman about his conversion experience. What had happened after Zaire, what happened in the locker room. and all this, and how God called him to be an evangelist, and he's preaching all the time now. And Letterman was kind of perplexed, and he asked George, he said, George, I don't understand how you can be a Christian. How can you be a preacher and a boxer at the same time? Well, George Foreman feigned anger, and He said, well, you hold my Bible, and I'll show you. But you know, when I saw that on Letterman, I thought, man, man that's it right there that's what we need are people that in every station of life saying watch me let me show you how Christ has impacted my life the life that is disciplined and it's successful in the life of faith you will find that it's that it is not only a mindful faith but it's a practical faith now there's one final thing I'll share with you about this kind of successful faith that's discipline not only is it mindful not only as a practical but you also see here in the text that it is causation all it causes something you'll pick up on this notice as we continue on in verse 9 I'll just review this as for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things. And here it is. And the God of peace will be with you. Paul's saying this is what it causes. When you have a faith that is mindful, when you have faith that's practical, the causational result of those two together together is that you experience the peace of God. It's the same word Paul uses over in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22 the fruit of the spirit that catalog of qualities the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace patience kindness that fruit of the Spirit is born out of God's people as we understand our faith as we think the right things but also it's necessary that we practice the right thing that we We do something with what we know. Because what I've noticed through the years of pastoring and 40, 37 and a half years of pastoring, 41 years of ministry total serving on church staffs, is that in the Western church there is this tendency towards, you know, this, well, it's a cult of personality. You know, if I could just get in front of the right person, if i can get to the right podcast if I can get to the right conference if I can get the right seminar that I'm going to sit under someone's teaching and there's going to be this aha moment that if I can just get the write teaching if I consider the right pastor the right teacher that somehow I'm to experience this aha moment and the life of faith is all sudden going to become easy that in that moment I'm going to discover the secret to the life of success in living for Christ Paul makes it abundantly clear that the aha moment that peace with God the peace that God offers to us rather the peace of God that comes from living in relationship with him is not realized apart from the application of what we know not just learning but the doing the pursuit of it and the application of it in our daily lives james says for him who knows to do good again doing for him who knows to do good but doesn't do it to him it is sin you know sins of Commission confessionally my experience has been in my faith journey is that I soon get over the sins of Commission the things that I did wrong the sins that I did I find that when I do sins of commission I soon get get over those things. But what haunts me are sins of omission. When I had opportunity to do things, to correct, to intervene, to advocate, and I did nothing. Those are the things that haunt you forever. Sam Jones was an old fiery evangelist back 20th century, early 20th century early 1900s and sam jones was known for in his crusades in his revival events he he had as a part of his services on the last night they always had at the end that after the sermon what they called a quitting service and what it was was they'd had this invitation and uh people would come down and during the quitting service they would they would come downstream standing standing there and they would confess to him the things that that they're going to quit and so he'd have this big rousing sermon you know and uh and so start the quitting service and here come people coming down the aisle and you know one man might say uh well pastor i you know i've been unethical in my business dealings and i'm going to stop it pastor i've been uh i've been unfaithful to my spouse and i've i'm gonna stop it you know it's things like that just add You know, one after the other. But Sam Jones said the most unusual one he ever had was a gentleman, an older gentleman, who came down and he said, Pastor, I ain't been doing nothing, and I'm going to quit it. We are not a people saved by God to do nothing. we are a people saved and being saved and being redeemed to do something to bear the fruit of the Spirit to be a flesh and blood demonstration in our respective worlds of the in breaking of the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ through our hearts and through our lives and when we are pursuing that and chasing that it's then that we know and we experience the peace of god to its fullest let's pray together our father how grateful we are of these these simple kind of reminders of what is necessary in the life of faith for us to experience our relationship with you in its fullest expression that lord that along with knowing the right things and understanding the right thing comes the application of those things in real time in the arenas of our lives and so father i pray that as we go from this place that we would be mindful of your presence abiding and dwelling in us the power of your spirit desiring to make evident to the world around us the fruit of your spirit so that others might be drawn to you in jesus name i pray amen and as we stand i want to leave us with this blessing this final blessing this benediction paul's charge the church at romans in chapter 15 in verse 13 paul writes now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit you're dismissed thank you