Abundant Life Episode 29 In this episode Saso and Ben discuss the topic of self-control. RESTRA'INT, noun “The act or operation of holding back or hindering from motion, in any manner; hinderance of the will, or of any action, physical, moral or mental.”- Websters 1828 Freedom That Lasts definition of self-control: “Adding self-control means instantly obeying God’s Word in the power of God’s spirit.” II Peter 1:6 We say this verse every Friday night in Freedom That Lasts and it is important in dealing with any type of sin that we show temperance or to say another way, self-control.  Self-control is so difficult. But why? It’s simple, we like to indulge ourselves and pleasure ourselves because we are selfish. The problem with this is that the things we want to do often times are things that we ought not to do because they are sinful in nature. It’s like the diet thing, we all love to eat tacos, burgers and pizza, because they taste good but unfortunately those things are unhealthy when consumed without restrain and can lead to not only obesity but can cause serious health issues like heart disease, high blood pressure and so on. How do we discipline ourselves to be obedient to God? The first step to self-control is to be a born again believer. When you are born again the scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Ephesians 1:13 Since the Holy Spirit dwells within you, the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians is the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence in a believers life. Therefore if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for you to exercise self-control because you are a slave to sin. Obedience requires that a believer to deny himself which isn’t always easy, but in reality to deny oneself is to be obedient to God. Luke 9:23-24 Practicing instant obedience Matthew 7:24-25 It takes self-control to not only hear the words of Jesus Christ but to do them and live them out in your own life. We all know how to lose weight and get in shape, but to live it out and do it is another issue altogether. Be in our spiritual lives what will we build our house on? Will we be foolish or wise in our obedience to the Word.  Romans 6:19 Prior to salvation, we always obeyed and yielded to our flesh showing no self- control. Now that we have been redeemed, we should yield our bodies to purity and holiness.  Psalms 119:33-34 David was asking God to give him understanding, so that he might exhibit self-control in obeying God’s Word. Delayed obedience is disobedience, and we can often reason within ourselves and rationalize sin if we choose not to obey immediately. Examples of no self-control Adam and Eve We see Eve as she thought the fruit was nice looking and good for food. She also was tempted by the serpent to be like God knowing good and evil.  This one act of disobedience and lack of self-control has lead to the fall of mankind. Because of this we are born sinners and condemned because of of the sin nature we inherit going all the way back to Adam and Eve. Samson Married a philistine woman which was prohibited by his parents, he broke his nazarite vow  ate honey from a dead carcass, and divulged the secret to his strength to Delilah to his detriment. It’s as if Samson acted on impulse, and did whatever pleased himself with no regard for God. David and Bathsheba David was king, already had 6 wives, which was prohibited according to Deuteronomy 17:17, and by lack of self-control, he allowed his lust to take over and committed adultery with Bathsheba which eventually lead to the murder Uriah. His lack of self-control had repercussions for generations to come. King Solomon According to 1 Kings 11, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Ecclesiastes 2:10 At the root of all these examples we see a disregard for self-control, and a regard for selfishness and pleasing ones self. In contrast we see direct disobedience to God which has u...