This week's focus is on the important biblical concept of temperance, or self-control, as highlighted by Pastor Josh. He emphasizes that true self-control is not merely a matter of personal strength but rather a manifestation of God's power working within us through the Holy Spirit. The discussion delves into how believers can yield to the Spirit's guidance, enabling them to resist fleshly desires and display moderation in all aspects of life. Pastor Josh also connects temperance to spiritual growth, noting that it leads to patience and a deeper understanding of God's will. By embracing self-control, Christians can live out their faith more effectively and serve as a testament to the transformative power of the gospel in their lives.

The podcast episode effectively unpacks the biblical principle of 'temperance,' or self-control, as a critical component of a Christian's walk with God. Pastor Josh articulates that temperance is more than personal discipline; it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit's work within believers, enabling them to resist sin and pursue righteousness. Drawing on Galatians 5:22, he discusses how temperance is the concluding trait in the list of the fruits of the Spirit, emphasizing its importance in the life of a believer. He further explains that true self-control is characterized by a reliance on God's power rather than human effort, creating a framework where believers can experience true freedom in Christ.

Throughout the episode, Pastor Josh addresses the transformative nature of self-control, highlighting its necessity in breaking the chains of sin that once bound believers. He references Philippians 2:13 to illustrate that God is actively working in the lives of Christians, cultivating a desire for holiness and empowering them to act according to His will. This empowering relationship with God is key to understanding how to live a life of temperance, which involves yielding to the Holy Spirit's guidance in day-to-day decisions. Pastor Josh encourages listeners to actively seek God’s strength in their pursuit of temperance, reminding them that exercising self-control is not simply about saying 'no' to temptation but also about saying 'yes' to a deeper relationship with God.

In the latter half of the podcast, the conversation shifts to the practical implications of temperance, challenging listeners to consider how they can exhibit self-control in various facets of life, including personal relationships and workplace dynamics. Pastor Josh draws connections between self-control and spiritual maturity, referencing 2 Peter 1:6, where self-control leads to patience and endurance. He stresses the importance of being intentional about adding temperance to one’s faith, indicating that this process is vital for spiritual growth and effective witness to the world. The episode serves as a poignant reminder that while believers may struggle with the flesh, the pursuit of temperance is a divine journey that not only enhances their spiritual lives but also reflects the character of Christ to others.

Takeaways:

• Temperance, or self-control, is a crucial character trait of the fruit of the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit empowers believers to exhibit self-control and resist fleshly desires in life.
• Self-control allows us to say no to temptations, leading to spiritual growth and maturity.
• As Christians, we are called to add temperance to our faith for fruitful living.
• Living a life of temperance is not about perfection but about consistent reliance on God.
• Self-control in our daily decisions reflects our submission to God's guidance and influence.

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Pastor Josh: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:06

In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:14

The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in scripture.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:25

So come along with me, let's study the Word of the week.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:30

Pastor Josh here the word of the week is temperance or self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:36

In the King James we see the word temperance, but a way that we could describe that word temperance is self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:42

And we know that in the list there of attributes of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five, the very last character trait that's listed is temperance or self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:55

Galatians 5.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:57

22.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:57

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:04

Against such there is no law.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:06

And so we know that as a believer, the Holy Spirit indwells us, which means he lives within us.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:13

And when we yield to him, when we submit to him and obey his guidance in our life, we will display these character traits.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:21

And so we know that the character of God is that he is temperate in all things.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:27

And so we grow in our understanding of who God is, and we grow in our understanding of God's guidance in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:33

And we're able to manifest that self control in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:37

So another way that we could describe it is God control.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:41

Instead of saying that, you know, I myself am creating this control in my life, it's allowing God to control my life.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:50

And so the Bible uses this word temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:53

And the understanding is for us to be able to stop those fleshly desires in our life by the power of God and yield to his work in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:05

So one of the things that we can see in Scripture is that In Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, it says, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:14

And so it's really allowing God to work in our lives, dying to our flesh, yielding to the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:21

And so everything that we do in our lives, when it comes to following God's word, anything we do in our lives that shows the fruit of the Spirit is really just God working through us.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:33

And so it's in definition self control or temperance is the ability to control oneself.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:40

It involves things like having moderation, being able to restrain those fleshly sensual desires.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:50

You could, you could put it even this way, the ability to say no to a temptation and so we know that before we were saved, the Bible says that we were in bondage to our sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:03

Basically, we couldn't do anything else but to feed our flesh.

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But the Bible says that when the Holy Spirit indwells us, we now have the capabilities of doing something different than that.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:11

So we are no longer under the bondage of sin, but we are now servants to the Lord.

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And so we are saved by what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:20

And so he's given us that freedom, he's given us that ability, he's given us that path for living that righteous life.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:28

And so I think it's Romans chapter six that speaks of that idea of being in bondage to sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:33

And now we have been given liberty, we have given that liberation of sin.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:39

And now we are now in the freedom to live our lives for Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:43

And so a lot of times one might think that, well, you, now that I'm saved, I'm not going to struggle with the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:49

But we know that even in Romans chapter 7 that there are still the forces of evil that are manifesting themselves in our lives through outside stimuli.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:00

And our flesh, right, our flesh still battles with the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:04

And the Bible puts it this way, the old man and the new man.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:07

The old man is the old ways, the old man is our flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:10

The new man is the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:12

The new man is the new path that we take as believers and we go through that sanctification process.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:18

And so if we are not exhibiting self control in our lives, we are living in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:27

And it's very easy to fall into that trap.

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That's our default.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:30

And so the Bible speaks over and over again about dying to the flesh, putting on the new man, mortifying your members, as the King James says.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:40

And so I would encourage you to think about how you can display that self control in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:45

And it's not about necessarily just working harder or removing yourself from certain situations, though those things can help.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:53

It's completely relying on God to give you the power and the wisdom and the ability to live this out in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:03

So it's the ability to say no.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:05

It's the ability through the power of God as He empowers us to restrain ourselves from just feeding what our body wants, feeding what the lust of our eyes, the lust of our flesh and the pride of life wants.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:19

And so this manifests itself in many different ways.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:22

I mean, manifests itself in our relationships, in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:26

It manifests ourselves in the way that we deal with conflict, manifests itself in the way that we deal with just the day to day affairs of our life, whether it be our workplace or our family or just even within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:42

And so the Bible says, even in Philippians, let your moderation be known unto all men.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:49

And so I think that's an important verse to think about in Philippians chapter 4.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:52

Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 reminds us that there is this need.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:57

I think it's verse five actually.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:59

Let your moderation be known unto all men.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:02

The Lord is at hand.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:03

So the way that we understand that verse is that we display that moderation, we display that proper lifestyle, we display that, that self control, that temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:16

And then doing so, that's a testimony that the Lord is at work.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:20

That's a testimony that the Lord is coming, a testimony that the gospel message is true.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:24

And then we know of course, right after that verse, in verse 6, it talks about the way that we should be confident in the Lord through our prayer lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:33

Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:38

And then of course we know that the next verse tells us then the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:46

So it's a wonderful thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:48

When we live out these character traits that God has gifted us with, we then are able to rely on him more and we are then able to be better testimonies for him and we are able to walk in the peace of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:02

And so a lot of times we think that, you know, if I don't do something, I'm missing out.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:06

But actually what God is saying is that when we restrain ourselves with the power of God to, to be yielded to the spirit and not the flesh, then we then gain something and we gain the peace of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:17

We gain a testimony, we gain further blessings in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:21

And certainly we're doing it because God commands us to do it.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:24

But we know that God doesn't leave us alone.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:26

We know that God gives us blessings when we serve him and live this lifestyle of temperance and self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:33

So I think that that's one of those passages of scripture that we could go to when it comes to this understanding of, of temperance, of self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:41

Another passage of scripture that I think would be appropriate to look at would be Second Peter chapter one, verse six.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:49

So what's the outcome of this self control?

Pastor Josh: 00:07:53

Well, self control leads to something and the Bible calls it here patience or endurance.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:01

So self control naturally, or we could even say supernaturally, leads to a place of patience in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:09

So two Peter chapter one, verse six.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:11

And to knowledge, temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:12

And this is that passage of Scripture that's talking about adding things to our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:15

So yes, salvation is an amazing thing that happens in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:20

It's a miracle of the moment we're justified.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:23

And when we are justified, we are immediately put into a place of being, a child of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:28

And so positionally we are changed from a path to destruction to a path of everlasting life.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:34

So that is the start, but not the end.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:37

And so we know that as a Christian we are called in that sanctification, spiritual growth process to add things to our faith and our spiritual maturity.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:46

And so in that passage in second Peter chapter one, it's talking about adding things to our faith, it's talking about growing, maturing in our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:56

And so we get to verse five, we let's go back a little bit for context and you can follow along with me here if you're, if you're listening and following along with scripture or your phone.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:07

It says, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:16

And then verse six, and to knowledge, temperance, there's that word.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:20

And then to temperance, patience.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:22

And to patience, godliness.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:23

And to godliness, brotherly kindness.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:25

And brotherly kindness, charity, that's love.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:27

For these things being you and abound, they shall make you, make you, that ye shall neither be barren nor fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:39

And so the Bible says that when we exemplify Christ attributes in our life, we will be fruitful, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:09:47

Instead of being ineffective, unfruitful Christians, we can have the knowledge of God in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:52

Specifically here it says the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:55

So it says his attributes in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:56

And as we live those out, we're able to see effective fruit for the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:02

And then he says, but he that lacketh these things is blind.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:05

So when we miss the opportunity to add these things to our life, we're living as blind Christians.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:11

We're near sighted to the fact that we cannot see the bigger picture.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:18

And he says, even and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:22

And so essentially what we're seeing here is that, you know, we're living like we're not saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:26

We're living like we are still in bondage to sin if we're not adding these things to our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:32

And so we ask the Lord to give us these things specifically, in this case, self control, temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:39

And then when we ask him in faith, we then are Open to what God does and works in our life, and we're submissive to his will.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:48

And therefore we are able to add to our faith temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:52

And as we add to our faith temperance, as it says in verse six, then we can then build upon that in patience.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:59

And so, you know, a lot of times that word patience is not a word that we want to talk about very often, but it is a necessity in the Christian life.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:06

Patience, endurance, pushing forward, not being short sighted.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:10

And so part of having self control in our life, part of having temperance in our life is seeing the bigger picture, playing the long game, so to speak, the eternal perspective in our lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:22

And so I would ask the Lord if that's something that you're struggling with, ask the Lord to give you the power to live out that moderation, that temperance, that self control in your life, that God control in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:34

But then what I would say is this, after you ask him, be open and willing to submit to him when he brings you those opportunities.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:43

Because we can sit here all day and say, lord, give me the strength, but then, yet we still choose the flesh when that choice comes.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:50

And so it's over and over again, making these daily, sometimes hourly decisions, even sometimes, in most cases, minute to minute, Am I going to make a decision of the flesh and yield to that, or am I going to make a decision according to the Spirit and yield to that and therefore live that life of temperance and self control?

Pastor Josh: 00:12:09

That's how we should be known.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:11

Our testimony should be, wow, that person is able to restrain his or her desires because of the bigger picture in the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:20

Now we're not going to be perfect on this.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:21

And that's why these attributes, yes, are communicable from God to us, but we are never going to be perfect in that.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:28

But the whole decision making process should be that we want to be more and more characterized by our temperance and our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:37

So I hope that this has been a help to you.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:39

Obviously you could go through all of the character traits listed there in the Fruit of the Spirit in the book of Galatians and emphasize the need for the Lord's power in them.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:49

But I thought it would be important to look into that character trait of temperance or self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:55

And so let's ask the Lord to give us strength.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:57

Let's ask the Lord to give us the opportunity to exercise our self control today and to model that before the world so that they can see that the Lord is at work, so that they can see that the Lord has a plan, so that they can see that the Lord can change lives and influence his people and transform his people for the cause of the kingdom of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:19

And so let's pray and ask the Lord to give us strength to live that life of temperance, to live that life of self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:26

Well, again, we're going to continue on in our sermon series, well, sermon series, podcast series, so to speak, when it comes to the attributes of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:36

Next week will be in the week of Thanksgiving.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:38

And so we're going to talk about giving thanks.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:41

But I would encourage you to continue on listening to these Word of the Week episodes so that we can grow in our understanding of what the Word of God has to say for us here in this, in this time that we have for the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:53

If you have any questions or suggestions about what we should be studying or what we could be studying when it comes to different words, I'd love for you to let us know.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:00

You can email me @ Josh, that's Josh Massaromas, a R O@middletownbaptistchurch.org well, we look forward to hearing from you.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:10

Love for you to leave a review on either whatever platform you're listening to this on and that would help us out greatly.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:18

And I would encourage you to, hey, maybe share it with a friend.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:21

The more folks that are able to listen, the more folks are able to share the truth of the Word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:27

And we would love that.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:28

So we hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:30

Looking forward to talking to you next week when it comes to the Word of the Week.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:34

Well, God bless you.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:35

Take care.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:36

We will talk to you soon.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:37

Hey, I really appreciate that you listened to the Word of the Week podcast.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:41

If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:08

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:09

God bless.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:09

We'll talk to you soon.