We Live Disciplined

• The difference between victory and defeat is usually just discipline and most people quit before they find out-I am disciplined in spirituality, health, fitness, money, relationships, parenting, and life. 
• Pro 25:28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.
• There’s a weird ethos in Christianity where people are almost apologetic about success
• In matters of victory, they defer to the “will of God” in regards to success in their life
• But often times, Its simply a cop out to not apply themselves. No discipline is true reason
• The Bible speaks of the victory and success of the believer through discipline. YOU CAN DO THIS
• 1 Corinthians 15:57 gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 8:37 in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. THIS IS SPIRITUALLY AND PRACTICALLY

• There’s the other side of the coin of not being worldly and loving the world

• 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.  James 4:4  Whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• But there’s a demand from scripture to be diligent workers. Producers. Gatherers. IN EVERYTHING
• 1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
• Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children
• Proverbs 10:4 He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
• Proverbs 14:23 In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.
• Colossians 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men
• Pro 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.
• Eph 4:28 let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 
• Pr 6:6-8 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
• The prosperity gospel says: ‘God made you to be rich just believe and receive.’
• That’s not this message. That’s not the Gospel. And it has nothing to do with your salvation.
• But here’s the truth: Christians can do more and be more by working harder and disciplining themselves and that’s not unbiblical. Its not unbiblical to succeed in your life and career. 
• It doesn’t cancel out grace. It doesn’t replace the cross. It’s simply walking in the power of the scriptures, not the path of least resistance. It’s working hard and producing a kingdom result
• Proverbs 6:9-11 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man
• We all want more for our families. Not excess or indulgence, but enough to provide robustly
• There are some people in our church who flourish and some who needlessly struggle. 
• You will have more than enough spiritual struggles in your life, you don’t need to exacerbate them by creating more struggle in your life in the practical areas you have control over.

• People will do nothing, apply nothing, have no plan and then blame God. YOU CAN DO IT

• Come the next few weeks. Apply what you learn. This is a path of success in life in many areas
• Today we’re talking about discipline. It’s the foundation of the entire series. Less fear w more disc. 

1. Discipline is the foundation for everything

• Pro 25:28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.
• This scripture is unbelievably simple: If you do not rule your own spirit you’re broken. 
• I say how you do anything is how you do everything and we as Christians should have discipline as a foundational ethos to who we are and how we live. You already have it in some areas
• We are going to be talking about some very practical things of this world in this series
• ALL of them are predicated on discipline and being disciplined. You MUST be this. 

• “I’m not disciplined, I never have been”it starts now. Start being disciplined now. Beat the world

• Proverbs 10:4 He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
• If you look at the poor areas of your life, they are poor because you have not been disciplined. 
• Your Finances are not flourishing because you are not disciplined in it. Inconsistent Your Health is up and down because you are not diligent in it.  Your Parenting produces disobedience and undisciplined children bc no discipline Your future security will experience calamity because you refuse to be disciplined You don’t get promoted at Work because you aren’t disciplined in all areas of your life. You will have less fear for the future if you apply discipline to all areas of your life
• So how can you have Hope for the Future if you have no discipline? You’re at the worlds whim
• How can we not be disciplined? We are called DISCIPLES. Disciples are DISCIPLINED
• John 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
• As his followers, we are to bear much fruit. You can’t bear fruit if your life is undisciplined. 
• This is the secret- The disciplined actually have more success and more TIME and the more TIME you have the MORE you can do for the Lord. There is not one of you who cant do this
• Undisciplined people never have time for anything because they are constantly trying to catch up on all of the things in their life that they ignore until they are overwhelming and need help
• They spend much of their life indulging their flesh, ignoring areas of importance, and then life happens, they attend to needs, but they keep coming, then they end up doing nothing because they are so emotionally overwhelmed, they do nothing and the necessities of their life tank
• Its like this: Your health and fitness are tanked after years of neglect, but now its become too much, so instead of working on it, you watch TV 3-4 hours a night or scroll on your phone
• Your finances are so in the tank, that the emotions of a budget turn into eating out all the time
• Marriage in the toilet, instead of fixing the relationship, you hide behind phones and eating out 
• 1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
• How did Jesus walk? Disciplined. He controlled his flesh and desires and walked with God
• You must be a person of discipline in every area of your life. Every part of your life. 
• Discipline is about  developing self-control and the ability to consistently follow the rules, principles, and guidelines for success, even when it’s challenging, boring or pointless

• Discipline is loving your future self. It’s providing for yourself and family current and future needs. 

• In a spiritual sense its showing everyone and yourself- I live by the precepts of God

• The World is outrageously undisciplined in most areas of life, Christians need not be. 
• over 70% of American adults are overweight or obese. 1 in 3 adults gets less than 6 hours of sleep per night. Americans spend an average of 7 hours a day staring at screens. Over $1 trillion in consumer credit card debt exists right now most of it unpaid monthly. 64% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. 56% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. The average worker is productive for only about 2 hours and 53 minutes of an 8-hour workday. Americans check their phones over 100 times per day on average. 

2. Discipline is biblical

• Discipline is about developing self-control and the ability to consistently follow the rules, principles, and guidelines for success, even when it’s challenging, boring or pointless. You keep showing up. 
• Paul, one of the most diligent disciplined people of the new testament went before a governor in the Book of Acts 24. He’s brought before the governor in a trial and he defends himself by showing his disciplines he lives by as a man of Faith–  Paul shows discipline in his: Integrity (no riots, no wrongdoing) Doctrine (faithful to scripture) Conscience (striving to live clean) Generosity (bringing alms) Emotions (calm defense under trial)
• The governor adjourns the trial- but eventually he sends for Paul for a one on one w wife
• Paul comes to him and it says this Acts 24:24-25 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”
• When Paul shared about the faith to this Governor, he talked about righteousness– a right relationship with God a future hope in judgement and Self control: How we live as Christians, 
• Self control was part of Paul sharing how Christians live. Paul says: We are people of discipline. 
• Joseph Resisted Potiphar’s Wife in Genesis 39. Said no to sexual temptation. Killed impulse
• Daniel had a Prayer Life and Food Discipline Paul’s  disciplining his body like an athlete training for a race. Nehemiah refused to come down off the wall when enemies try to stop him. Jesus disciplines Himself by fasting for 40 days and resisting Satan’s temptations.  David  shows emotional discipline and self-control by refusing to kill King Saul when he has the chance. Noah works with consistent obedience for decades, despite ridicule. BIBLE MEN WERE DISCIPLINED
• Those aren’t stories of God’s supernatural provision in spite of laziness, they are stories of real men who showed real discipline to honor God with their lives and produces examples for us
• We need sexual discipline, a prayer life, food discipline, to discipline our body like an athlete, to stay on the wall when opposition comes, to fast and resist Satan, to be disciplined to not kill those who seek us harm. To work like Noah, building what God commanded even when no rain! 
• Heb 12:11 Now no chastening (Discipline)seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.w
• It’s biblical for us to have discipline. To restrict. Plan. Build. Work. Control. Focus. Produce
• This isn’t working for our salvation. 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
• How you do anything is how you do anything. There’s no provision for Christians to be a unproductive, lackluster, do nothing, group of losers who walk depend on everyone else because they refuse to walk in the power of God and the scriptures to make them hard workers for Him. We all can and should be discipline through the power of the one who saved us
• Paul knew, displayed and preached this- to the church in corinth
• 1 Cor 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
• This is a life that disp `lays to a lost and dying world- I have been changed by the Gospel. 
• There is not one area of my life that shouldn’t be redeemed by God.  
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. How to have discipline: Start with the why Do you have reason to be disciplined? A family to provide for? A life to live? Children to motivate?  to fund the gospel? Make an impact? Have more time for ministry?

• You have to have a reason for why discipline matters and keep revisiting it. WHY?
• 1 Cor 9:24-25 READ they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
• Why can the people of the world be disciplined and Christians cant?
• People should look at us and see victory over the world’s systems. It should confound them
• They shouldn’t see poor unhealthy broken marriages disobedient children fearful people
• We get an assurance of salvation and peace, but live lackluster defeated lives?
• We all know our failures don’t glorify God but the good news is, you can start changing that today by choosing discipline to the Glory of God- You have it in some areas- apply to all
• God’s glory should be enough. It motivates me! I want to motivate you! For myself aint enough
• Why does this matter? Because your life matters. Your family matters. Your witness matters. Your calling matters. You are not saved just to survive you are saved to glorify God, bear fruit, and live a life that shows victory over this world. That’s why discipline is non-negotiable.
• Make it non-negotiable. You already have areas like this- make it all non-negotiable
• I’m never getting divorced. Never smoking meth. Robbing a bank. Murdering. Adultery etc. 
• I have non-negotiables in my life. Lines I will never cross. So why not have habits the same?
• You have non-negotiables- I know you do. You have discipline in some areas. Apply to ALL
• I devo every day. I work out 6 days a week. I don’t add debt. I don’t blow up on my wife. I don’t live in squalor. I am not buying new pants. I save. I invest. I work hard. Sleep schedule. Eating etc
• Hebrews 12:8 Says if I don’t have discipline I’m an illegitimate son. I am a strong Christian man
• Build a schedule Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.
• Discipline requires a plan. You must have a written plan for everything you hope to succeed
• We are going to give you pointers over the next few weeks on how to have a plan for it all
• Every day I am asleep by 11 and up by 6 even on vacation. Short variations, but I keep it
• If you do not have a schedule for your habits you have no discipline and you will fail
• Success isn’t by accident. You see successful people who don’t have to keep a schedule
• Their schedule is what gave them the success to be able to variate on their schedule. 
• Pr13:4The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.
• Kill the lazy man. Destroy the flesh. How bad do you want it? Remove and destroy all distractions
• Stay motivated. Discipline is easy once you walk in it- You can do it. 
• Gal6:9let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. The neglect of your disciplines produces a lackluster life with little success. 
• The sad part is destruction is swift. Rebuilding always takes time. Kingdome gone in seconds
• You can gain 10lb in a week and it takes 3 months to lose it. Spend all your money in one day
• But if you go back to small deposits you shall REAP in due season. I PROMISE. 
• Jesus- for the JOY set before him- there is JOY later on the other side of discipline
• You’re loving your future self. HE’s thanking you for your diligence. Life will be BETTER
• Decide today: Will you keep living reactionary and undisciplined, or will you build the kind of life that says to the world I belong to Jesus, and it shows in everything I do?