Having Power Over Yourself

Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints and impact our culture. Trials come from God. Temptation comes from this world or Satan or my flesh. So watch what he does. He monitors the situation. So are you going through something right now, believer? Just know this. God's watching. He's not watching to like, let's see what he does, Gabriel, Michael, soon as he slips that line, let's pop him one. No, he's making sure that the enemy doesn't go too far against you. You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to jackhibbs.com slash podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. But what we need to be careful, we need to be smart as believers regarding this, is the fact that if you're going to walk with Jesus, it's going to be exciting, there's no doubt about it. If you're not going to walk with him, then it's going to be a rough life. You're going to be a Christian. You could have him, but it's not a good trip. It's just tough. And some of the things, when I say that power over my demons, I'm talking about over me, the dumb things that I decide for me, okay, I'm not talking about fuzzy stuff. And so in life, you can leave a door open, listen, if you have been delivered by God from alcohol, and you know that you need to stay away from that. If you're thirsty, you don't stop at Joe's bar and grill to get a bottle of water. Are you hearing me? You're welcome. Thirsty. If you're walking with Jesus, Jesus is going to say suck it up, stop it. Go a few more miles, and there's going to be a water fountain right there. Are you hearing me? If you've got a problem with eyes, wandering, God says, stop it, and you turn your eyes away. Listen, I'm just talking to the guys, getting ready for this afternoon. Look, guys, we know that there's, when she's an eighth of a mile away, isn't it amazing the faithfulness of God, he'll say, Jack, look that way. And you have a choice, guys, right, I'm talking to you, and he's so silent, I know you, I know you, I am one of you. The Lord will say, look, oh well over here, and you go away. And then he'll tell you, clear, it's all clear. Every guy knows what I'm talking about. And so you listen to him, why? Because it's the little foxes that spill over the bridge, whoa, what's wrong with looking, oh, oh, what? It doesn't go well for us. Now that's a guys thing, and I don't know what is, I don't know what women have to deal with. Look at those curtains, oh my gosh. I don't know what you have to deal with, but is it the Nordstrom Spring catalogue, I don't know. But it's no sort of thing, well, that's nothing, no, it's something. The big stuff always starts out small stuff, and we need to be very careful. The word present right here in this verse, it's an amazing word. It means to stand beside or in front of, it's got, listen, it has a dual meaning, positive and negative. It means to stand beside or in front of, to be readily at hand. I would use the word usable. Think about that. To yield, to willing, place yourself under the authority of another in submission to. That's both positive, and it can be in the negative, but to present yourself. In this case, of course, watch, it's in the negative, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. So what does this mean? This brings us to this verse 13 that we have to have power over ourselves, or in this case myself, we're going to make a personal power over myself. This is all important. The Bible says, stop it again, stop presenting your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. So church, this is pretty vivid language he's using here. The word present is to bring yourself in front of, and it's to be used both ways. You can present yourself to be a slave of this world, or a slave of God, and he says the word members. Now I don't know what you think about when you hear the word members, but you probably already thought about it, but it's more than that. It's not just your private parts. Well, it's talking about your private parts. Present your private parts to God, not to things of sin, but to righteousness. It also means your hands, your eyes, as we mentioned earlier, your body, your Christian. You've been bought with a prize. That's what the Bible says, right? You don't belong to yourself. God owns your eyes, he owns your nose, he owns your feet, your hands, and he owns your private parts. And Paul is saying, conduct yourself in such a way that you've got yourself an order, man, that you're screaming demands that are in a second time, I want cheesecake, and I want it now. You need to say, stop it, that's how we live. The spirit of God in us uses the word of God to go to war against those temptations that would easily lead us astray. And so Paul is saying, one of the great victories of the believer's life is to present yourself, your members, everything, all of it, dedicated to God. I'm going to give you a series of verses and you guys, it's lengthy, but you guys, you guys, okay, right? You're going to do this, okay? So first Corinthians 10, 13, there's no strange verse to any of us. First Corinthians 10, verse 13, this is amazing, listen carefully, God is so good, watch this. No temptation has overtaken you except such as this comment to man. Number one, oh, Paul, you have no idea what I'm going through. Well, I may not have ever gone through what you're going through, but I know this that I've gone through something that's different, that has the exact same pressure upon my life as this issue you're going through on your life. See, you know what the temptation is from Satan to tell us is, you've knowns ever had it as rough as you, woe is me, right? And then the next step is, I'm the victim here. No, the Bible says, can you kind of put a sock on that? That's not true. Number one, no temptation has overtaken you except such as this comment to man. But don't freak out, number two, but God is faithful, somebody say man to that. God is faithful, watch this. Three, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. You want to know why that's important? God's not the one doing the tempting. He's doing the watching. Did you know that your life cannot be attacked by the enemy forces of hell without getting permission from God? Now that's not true for a non-believer. If you're not a Christian today, you're on your own. I mean, you're walking on a hair, a strand of hair over the pit of hell if you're not a Christian today. Think about that. Satan's just throwing everything at you. Most of it you'll try to do with subtle means. But God, listen, God cannot, there's something God can't do, there's a lot of stuff God can't do. He can't be stupid for one thing, right? He can't lie and he can't tempt you. He won't tempt you. Trials come from God. Temptation comes from this world or Satan or my flesh. So watch what he does. He monitors the situation. So are you going through something right now, believer? Just know this. God's watching. He's not watching to like, let's see what he does, Gabriel, Michael, so he just steps that line. Let's pop him one. No. He's making sure that the enemy doesn't go too far against you, because you and I live in a fallen world. If you haven't caught on, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able? But with temptation, we'll also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it. In other words, run. Get up and go. Don't do that. Don't go there. Don't listen to that. Every time I listen to that, I get angry. They don't listen to that, right? Colossians, chapter 3, verse 1, Colossians 3, 1, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. This is awesome. Set your mind on things above white, because we have a tendency to set our minds on things below. Not on the things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. This is so beautiful. Listen, the day that Jesus died on the cross, he died for my sins, but I didn't know that till 2000 years later. When I woke up to that realization of what the Bible says, God took me and stuffed me inside the righteousness of his son, Jesus, and then so to speak, put Jesus next to him. That's how safe you are. It's like, yeah, have you ever seen those Russian nesting dolls? Are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? You keep taking apart like a small girl? Are you in Christ? It's awesome. It's beautiful. He goes on to say, and this is a powerhouse statement. Verse 4 of Colossians 3 says, when Christ who is our life appears, then you will appear with Him and glory. This is an amazing verse, church, verse 4 is so cool because number 1, when Christ who is our life appears, it has nothing to do with His coming. Listen carefully. This is nothing second coming to Christ. This is the appearance of Christ. It's a big difference. Are you with me? John chapter 14 verses 1, 2, and 3, Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also on me, for in my Father's house are many mansions. Watch my finger. And if it were not so, I would have told you, I go now to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also. That's what He told them in John 14. I'm leaving. I'm going to prepare a place, I'm going to come, pick you up, take you there. Paul elaborates on that in 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, where the Lord Himself would descend from Him and with the shout with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead and Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up into the air and meet Him. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. What an amazing thing. It's His appearance, not His coming. His first coming was physical to this earth, and He stayed. His second coming is physical to this earth, and He stays. In the middle of that is His appearing. We referred to the Latin word rapture, the Greek word harpazo. The English word is caught up or the catching up. So we are to present ourselves. If today you can say, I'm a believer, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, then you should expect God to be radical in your life. I say that over and over again, sounds like I repeat myself constantly on this. But you know what it's precious because of when God uses you, it's a whole different world compared to when the world uses us. In 2 Peter 1 verses 4-9, this is a big chunk, but watch how this is so such a commentary to what we're studying, by which have been given, that is to us, exceedingly great and precious promises, that's found in the Bible, and through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. That doesn't mean you become a little God. It means that you begin to reflect Jesus as you follow His Word, okay? Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, but also for this very reason. Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, gosh, imagine church of verse 5 was posted on every school wall, or how about this? Imagine a verse 5. In 2 Peter 1 verse 5, what if there was a, wouldn't it be great to be able to like throw switch and commandeer all television broadcasting and have this pop-up on the screen? Imagine if this would happen like maybe like for a month, just pops up, watch. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine if the world saw that for a moment, just saw it, they didn't have to believe it, they just saw it. Do you know what the Holy Spirit would do? He would start bugging them in their head about. You need to be kindly affectionate and tender to other people. You need to be gentle, you need to be persevering, you need to be, imagine that, our culture would never allow such a thing, you know, think of that though, because those words are powered by the Holy Spirit. Verse 9 says for who, for he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness. He's describing a backslid and believer, and he has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins, that's amazing. So the power over myself, so I present myself, the word instruments here is a tool or implement of war. I like this kind of thinking, a weapon of destruction, the word means or implies that it's a soldier that it's been fitted up for armor to be placed in the battle. Listen, this word right here is that in God's family we are challenged, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. We are either engaged for the kingdom of God to advance his righteousness or we are in the enemy's camp and we are endorsing and pushing unrighteousness. One or the other, and if God turned us inside out, the answer would be displayed right here. Whose kingdom are you fighting for? What kingdom matters to you? Are we dedicated to him? Listen, growing up my dad, my dad was a collector of tools and his garage you could eat off the floor. It was amazing. I didn't learn one bit on how to use one of those things. I wasn't allowed to touch him. You guys know this stuff. There were things like snap on, it was snap on everything, every where craftsmen, I've read all this stuff. And my dad could fix anything because he had every tool for the job. But you know what, those tools, they were sparkling bright and I saw them for 20 years and they never seemed to change but he used them all the time. He always used them to get the job done but they looked beautiful all the time no matter how old they were. And when the Bible here says the word members, we're talking about our body parts, when God uses us, it reminds me of my dad using his tools. He would use his tools for the job that needed to be done and when it was put back on the shelf, it was just as shiny taken off as it was putting it back up. When the world, listen, when the world uses us, the tools are broken. They're left on the floor, they're crushed, they're snapped, they're destroyed. When the world uses us, we are absolutely broken and left alongside for nothing. The world, the world will entice you, get you and use you and then leave you broken and convince you, you're hopeless. When God uses us, and this is what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to make you jealous in a godly way to come on over to our side. And it's this, that when God uses you, I don't know how he does it, he'll use his tool, the more the tool wants to be used, the more he'll use the tool, the shinier it gets. When God uses you in life, even in this body at the end of the day, woof, I'm tired, can't wait to do it again tomorrow. Serving God is absolutely awesome, I'm going to ask you, I don't care about your poverty or your wealth, are you serving God? He'll accept no excuses, what you have, are you using for his glory? And you'll know it, those who do are thrilled about it, are you thrilled about serving God? There's nothing like it. This Jack Kemp's podcast, as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities, are listening or supporting. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to jackhids.com to learn more and stay connected.