The Practice ofSelf-ControlGal 5:19-23

Nobody likes practice!

Phil 4:9 “The things you have learned, rec’d and heard from me, practice these thing…”

“My job as coach is to get men to do what they do not enjoy doing (Practice!) in order that they may achieve what they have always dreamed of.” (Tom Landry)

Rom 7:18&19 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.”

Pete Koeshall’s paraphrase…

Prov 25:28 “Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit.”

The “wall” missing in many of our lives is self-control. When there’s no wall, the flesh kicks in and breaks in and destroys us.

A catalog of the flesh…

Gal 16:21 “…and things like these…”

This is not a throw-away part of the verse:

All the theology will not dress up the flesh – it’s ugly – as ugly as sin.

BUT…

Gal 5:22 “But the fruit of the spirit…”

The Spirit should dominate the flesh:

Verbal restraint for a quick mouth; anger restraint for a quick temper; mental restraint for wandering thoughts; moral restraint for lusts of the flesh

The mastery of “self”

1 Cor 9:24-27 “Do you not know…”

How do we run a race in a depraved world, a race against all odds?

Knowing that none of the odds can overwhelm the power of the Spirit and the work of Christ in our hearts and minds.