Add Ons 2

Theme: The Ad On’s

Self Control and Perseverance

17 January 2021 - Notes Provided by Shona Smith

With regard to our theme and message title - I will get to this shortly.

To kick off today’s briefing I have a couple of questions.

Question: Are we happy with ourselves?
Question: If there was something you could change about yourself what would it be?

We know in teens there is a high % (some say up to 75%) of kids with low self-esteem,
There is another smaller subset of that % to the extreme of self-loathing. This shows itself in all kinds of symptoms, - the eating disorders, suicide rate, cutting themselves. And this is not just isolated to teens.
I checked out Plastic surgery trends since 2000 and was blown away by all the surgical lifts/ tucks, implants, removal choices that there are – some I didn’t know existed! For example
- Upper arm lifts have risen a whopping 5318%
- Lower body lifts – 4133%
- There are breast implants, b implant removals, B reductions in both women and men, Buttock implants weren’t even a thing in 2000. Trends continue to rise. With men pectoral implants weren’t a thing in 2000….
Then there are false nails, false eyelashes, hair implants, complete teeth reconstructions …. The list goes on.
It seems many of us think that if we can “just make changes to the way we look” we will be all good, we will be in the “in crowd” - as an example.

Here we go with the….

BAD NEWS!

We are not perfect – just ask my husband! I get angry and impatient quickly
We mess up sometimes and then we can’t forget. Things play over and over in our mind like a stuck record
We make stupid decisions that impact our lives and others and then have to live with those consequences.
Sound familiar?

Mark 7: 21 – 23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Jer 17: 9 The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

The Lord’s word is saying it is our heart that is the problem, it is the state of our Spirit that is the issue.

Ok, so do we just give up? Ever heard yourself say anything like this? –
“I was made this way”
“I can’t help the way I am”
“This is the way I am and have always been so I don’t think I can change now”?

Well, I have got some….

GOOD NEWS!

This “inner being” problem can be solved! What God wants us to come to terms with is what goes on on the inside is what determines our beauty. In your life you may come to the realization the real issue isn’t the outside – it is what is happening on the inside that is the problem.

Psalm 51; Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. AND GOD WILL DO THIS!!

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Matthew 7: 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

So, what are we talking about here is GOOD NEWS?

What are we talking about?

But hey that is just the beginning, it gets better than GOOD NEWS… Let’s move on to the GREAT NEWS!!

GREAT NEWS!

When we have come to Christ, acknowledged our sin, received the power of His Holy Spirit living with us, is just the beginning of a great journey with God, in Him, and through Him. God’s plan is for us to move onto even better and greater things. We get to tap into …

Joy such as we have never experienced before John 10:10 I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Peace that surpasses all understanding john 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

That is just the start ….

Now we have our foundations built on solid rock. We get to be like Jesus, we get to become more and more like Him. A keynote scripture of Megamorphic is:

1 Corinthians 3: 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So, tying this to the message title now – Self Control and Perseverance

What is so great is:

God wants us to grow in the Spirit, by His Spirit into the stature and the fullness of Christ!
That means it is possible… that we can go on to greater things…

Eph 4: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

What did that just say? Did that just say we can grow up into a perfect man? unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Galatians 5: 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Eph 5: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

Talking about fruit, anyone who has had a garden or observed the seed process will know how it goes.

Seed – root – plant – leaves – fruit. The fruit then has an abundance of seeds!

So, rocking back to today’s Title Self Control/temperance and Perseverance/patience

QUESTION? What is so cool about Self Control/temperance and Perseverance/patience

We get to be partakers of the divine nature of Christ!

2 Peter 1: 4 – 7 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

2. We get to grow in areas of our life end up with an increased capacity to love!! (as above)

3. We get to stand strong no matter what comes our way.

So these are the “Ad Ons”. Self Control and Perservance and the other things mentioned there, like Long Suffering are all “Ad ons” Things that can become a part of us. We can make a decision for Christ and stop there, or we can choose to go on in Christ and when we do that we become extraordinary, anointed, supernatural!!!!

Conversely, if we don’t grow in these areas the Bible says …

Proverbs 25:28: He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

Moses an Example of Meekness (self Control)

In Numbers 11 a young man ran to Moses to report that two men were prophesying in the camp (vv. 26, 27). A proud leader might have protested, “Who gave them permission?” Joshua said, “Moses, my lord, restrain them” (v. 28). Moses humbly replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (v. 29).
In chapter 12 (the chapter in which we read about Moses’ humility/meekness), Miriam and Aaron spoke harshly about their brother (vv. 1, 2). The Lord rebuked the two (vv. 4–9) and punished Miriam, who evidently had been the leader of the criticism15 (v. 10). If I had been Moses, I might have said, “It’s no more than she deserves.” Instead, he prayed for his sister:

Jesus our example

Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control. As the writer of Proverbs says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city" (16:32). In contrast, the individual who is not gentle is likened to "a city that is broken into and without walls" (Proverbs 25:28). Gentleness always uses its resources appropriately, unlike the out-of-control emotions that so often are destructive and have no place in your life as a believer.

Gentleness characterizes our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't lash back when criticized, slandered, or treated unjustly, but He did respond fittingly and firmly when God's honor was profaned or His truth was perverted or neglected. He twice cleansed the Temple by force (Matthew 21:12-17; John 2:14-15), and He repeatedly and fearlessly denounced the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders (Matthew 23:13-36; Mark 12:13-40; John 8:12-59; 9:39-41).

When His time of suffering came, however, Jesus submitted to the will of His Father and endured the abuse and murderous intentions of the hypocritical leaders. He demonstrated meekness to the very end. "While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23).

Meekness is a path worth following. Jesus promised, "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Jesus also admonishes us to exercise self-control and submission to God. Consider Luke 6:29, “And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taken away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.” Both of those situations would require some serious self-control. Though challenging for most, a response in meekness will come more easily if we recognize that God is in control of all things. When we have an attitude of humility toward God and gentleness toward people, He can direct our lives more fully, and this is pleasing to Him.

Perseverance/Patience

The fruit of the spirit

Eph 6: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Ephesians 4:2 - With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Psalm 86:15 - But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

2 Corinthians 6:6 - By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

2 Timothy 4:2 - Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

DICTIONARY MEANINGS

Long Suffering

adjective

enduring injury, trouble, or provocation long and patiently.

noun

long and patient endurance of injury, trouble, or provocation: years of long-suffering and illness.

Forbearance