7 Steps to Stand Strong and Serve: Part 2 with Randy Bell

Jesus gained self-control through devotion to God.

Devotion is a character that means being bound to something and following it to the death.

Jesus learned to be obedient through his sufferings and was able to pray to God for self-control.

Self-control is not just about human strength, but about God's control and power through the Holy Spirit.

Thank you. Secondly, how do we find Jesus gained self-control? Well, notice how it's worded here in Hebrews chapter 5. It says that during his life on earth, Jesus prayed to God who could save him from death. He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. Notice that key term, his devotion to God. The next idea of getting self-control is you have devotion. We kind of, again, we Americanize these things. We say, okay, I'm going to read my devotions today. That's so pathetic that if you don't understand, that's not what devotion is. Devotion is that you're so bound to something, you won't bend from turning from that, but you will follow it to the death. That's devotion. I'm going to marry you till death do us part. You know, that's devotion. In America, it's like, I'm devoted to you until you do something I don't like, and then we're divorcing. Well, that's not devotion. See, devotion is a character. Most Americans don't have character, so they do not follow in the concept of character, nor do they then walk in the ways of God. But see, this is the issue here. Jesus was so devoted to God that when he realized God's will for his life was for him to sacrifice himself, that scares a human. He wasn't asked to just obey by going and cleaning his room anymore when he was 12. Now he had to obey by giving up his life. Now remember, he's still a man. He's a person. That's a horrible, scary thing to give up your life by sacrificing your life. It says he was able to pray to God and say, save me from death. and he had to fight every ounce of his being to be in self-control and control the fact that he could have asked for deliverance and not died and instead put everything on the line to give his life to God. That's incredible. That's self-control. Now, also in verse 8 it says, although Jesus was the Son of God, he learned to be obedient through his sufferings. This is what I tried to talk to you in the last couple of weeks. Learning to be obedient is hard. It's easy to obey when you get everything your way. You know what I'm saying? If you say, kids, go have ice cream. Okay. That's really hard to obey that. Or go have some pizza. Okay. But when you're told to do something like Jesus was told, go die. That's a little different. Suddenly your obedience changes. oh hey I'm not going to get radical here you're telling me to do something I don't want to do the moment it goes against your will against what you desire now your test of obedience comes to bear upon you now self control is tested and also perseverance is going to start coming in here are you going to honestly go through the system and learn and this is why it says you have to give all diligence to make sure your self control is involved there because he learned to be obedient through the things his sufferings brought his way. You will only have true, strong character, perseverance when you're given something that's blowing against your will, against your life, against your desires, against what you don't want, against the grain of who you are and what you like, I guess you should say. When you have to start dealing with your likes and dislikes, with what you want and don't want, and start shoving them out of the path of what you have and start to do what God wants in spite of what you want, then you're starting to understand what self-control means. That's where obedience becomes real, right? It's one thing to get a job you really love, and I hear this a lot from guys I knew. Well, I got hired for this job, and then they told me I had to go clean the toilets, and I said, that's not my job description, I'm not doing it. You ever heard that? Not my job description, I don't want to do it. You know, if your job is to obey your boss, job descriptions can change business changes but if you're going to say no i'm not doing it because that's not my job description you can lose your job and that's fine but you didn't learn what god was trying to teach you the next job you get you might have to work for a sewer company you didn't want to clean the toilet now you got worse you know because the only job you can find is the sewer cleaner see what god was trying to teach you through your boss was to learn to be obedient through the things you suffer. Because that has to be taught to you. And people don't, in America, like that. We want to do what we want when we want and how we like it. We control everything. This is out of control. This is in God's control. See, self-control makes it sound like you're doing something. But self-control, really, in the biblical term, is God control. Right? If God tells you to go fly and you humanly can't do it, then the only way you could actually fly is God would have to do a miracle. Well, if God tells you to control yourself, and yet the humanity says, I can't stop from being angry, I can't stop from hating people, all these things you can't stop doing, well, you can, because in self-control, the Spirit of God enters into you and gives you God-like control. It's supernatural, but it is control, and it does control you, but it's actually not you and your strength doing it. It's being strong in the Lord and the power of His might, right? So that strength comes in. It's through the grace of God who gives you the desire and the power to do His will. See, it's all part of God's grace. It's all there. It's supernatural, but it's really there for a creature who's no longer the old guy, but he's a new creature in Christ. All things passed away All things became new So you can do it It can be real It can be definitely a participation in this Well the third point here is the victory over the evil one Jesus had victory over the evil one at a certain point when he was 30 years old. Notice in Luke chapter 2, listen to these words because they are very significant. When he was to be promoted, he was taken to a final exam. In the final exam for him to prove he passed the test to be able to go into ministry was this very thing here. Watch how it's worded. Luke 2.1. Then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. He didn't do it on his own, but filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And that word led is very interesting. It's actually the word being driven. It's like a cowboy driving the cattle. He wasn't led in what you think of saying, come on, Jesus. He was being pushed into the wilderness. How many of you volunteer to go into a starvation mode of fasting in the wilderness? No one. So, see, God even knows with our example for Jesus, it says He literally drove Him into the wilderness where there was no water, no food, or anything there. not a happy camper if you were not already self-controlled willing to do whatever god wanted you to do see before he could go there he had to be brought from the age of 12 to 30 to learn to be self-controlled and in obedience to his authorities that led the way for him so that he could face this now final exam in the final exam it says he was led by the spirit to the wilderness being tempted for 40 days by the devil. Now, would you say that this is where we get from Ephesians the idea to put on the whole armor of God that you may stand? Notice he is being in direct invasion by the evil one. He is now tested whether he can stand the attack. See, this is exactly, it's no different what Jesus went through. He laid it down for us. So you see, this is exactly where you have to head. It says he was tempted for 40 days by the devil, and the devil said to him, if you are the Son of God, command the stone to become bread. Well, obviously the test for him is real simple. Since he had the power to turn stones into bread, and since he was starving because he hadn't ate for 40 days, your body is really saying, good idea, good idea, we need bread. But the problem was, the Father didn't tell him to turn the stones into bread. the temptation was do your own thing don't follow your authority do what you think is right since you're hungry do it you need the food and he had to withstand and have self-control and say no why because i only do what the father tells me it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word from God. When God tells me to do it, I'll do it. But my Father hasn't said it, and I'll withstand. Now this takes strength. It takes perseverance. It takes self-control to pass this final exam. And it was a real exam for Him. You have a real exam in your life. If you haven't had it yet, you will. Because you need to pass this test before you're usable as a servant of God. You getting it? And so Jesus was faced with this strong test for perseverance. Remember, he had two other tests. And then he passed. Because each time, just like this says, I've written to you young people because you are strong. God's word lives in him. God's word lived in him. every response he had directly, he said, I will not disobey. I know what God's Word says. Here's God's will. Devil, here's God's Word. It doesn't match what you're ordering me to do. Therefore, no, I won't do it, even though I really want to. I'm really hungry. I'm really this or whatever. I'm not going to do it. It's not what God said. The test was clear. The Word of God was strong in Christ. He was strong. It lived in him, and he won the victory. After three, it says, the devil gave up and left him. Here's what it's worth. Now, in verse 13, now when the devil had ended... Actually, I need to move it to the next one so you can see it. It's too low. Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power. Notice now the difference. Before he was led by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, after the test, the final exam, he passed. he now received greater grace. Now he comes back. You'd think he was weaker because he hadn't eaten for 40 days. Instead it says he returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And news of him went out through all the surrounding region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. Now he started his service. Until he passed his final exam, proved his perseverance and his strength and these three items here, he was not allowed to serve or be a minister. Once he passed the test, he was moved up to phase three where he could serve God. Notice? Now look at Ephesians 6.13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Did Jesus stand? And what was the invasion for him to do? He tried to force him to disobey or sin. So what's God's will for your life? Not to disobey and to be so strong with it, so powerful with it, that even at the worst circumstances, you don't bend and disobey. No matter what. No matter what. You will stand alone in your obedience. Now that's your final exam. Until you get to there, you can't be trusted. Because what God asks you to do as a servant is so hard that unless you learned these lessons and passed your exam from Jesus school or whatever you want to call it here you can't be really trusted to be a good servant, a faithful servant. And this is what God's after. And remember, this is every believer, but the problem is many believers refuse to go through the final exam. and with that many are called but few are chosen he wants you all to go through but many just refuse because it's so hard and there's excuses for why we don't want to do this but is it God's will? yes it is it's God's will when we're done with this you should have not a question about what God's will is for your life this stuff spells it out exactly what God's will is for your life how to cooperate with him in his will for your life And all you have to do is follow the path. It's given in the Word. It's all there for you, clearly, to follow. Now, with those concepts, we have to see that phase three then, maturity, comes with two levels of what God wants you to then start incorporating into your life. Servanthood and kindness. Now that sounds like, well, everybody's supposed to be kind. That's true. But we're talking about such a development that these two things are who you are. It defines you. Right? It defines who you are. Servanthood has to become major in your life. That is what godliness is. Jesus said, I didn't come to be served, but to serve. That was his whole idea of being here on this earth, to serve. Therefore, to understand what that service means, we know it's developed in two words. Godliness is, first of all, kindness. The first issue of all this is to develop true, long-lasting, overwhelming reality that your life is developed of one thing, kindness. People know you and say, you are so kind. They know you by your kindness. They know you by your kind attitude, your kind words, your kind motives, your kind of actions. All that has to be developed into a thorough maturity. Because that's exactly what Jesus did when He walked this earth. He didn't come to condemn, but to serve and to save. Exactly, to save. He gave up His life to save and to help. He went around from town to town and He healed the sick and took care of the poor. And fed the ones He could feed. He showed, if you look at it, the ministry was always kindness. And it shows. If people come to him and say, I need help, it says he had compassion and showed kindness. If you really develop it, it's under that whole idea. His life was of kindness. And this is why he says that the greatest of you will be servant of all. Now, the key here, though, I want you to understand, is brotherly kindness. First of all, we're developing the idea of kindness when it's got to do with Christians. We're not saying that the world is all the same as the brothers. This first level of kindness deals with learning how to love your church family. Then phase four takes you to the level of loving your enemies, which is the world. Remember, the world says if they hate God, they're enemies of God. So until you can learn to be kind to your brothers, he can't train you to the next level to actually love your enemies. That's later. Jesus loved his enemies. He got there, right? He died for... We all were his enemies and he died for us. He proved agape love. But to get to agape love, you must begin to practice kindness and it is in the house. The house of God. So make sure you understand. It's not generalized kindness to everybody you run into. It's nice to be nice. I mean, I'm not saying don't stop being nice. But we're going to be very specific in the next few weeks of what it means to be brotherly loved. It's very specific. and in Romans chapter 12 and 13 it spells it out what brotherly kindness is when we get to a portion of Hebrews the end of Hebrews it spells it out exactly what brotherly kindness is it's very specific very clear and then it moves you on through to agape love which is the final phase so get it in your mind that kindness is more than just talking nice It's more than just being friendly. It goes way beyond those superficial levels. That's exactly what we're saying here. Jesus was not just superficial in his kindness. You know, I have seen people say they talk nice to you, but they don't show true kindness. There's a difference, isn't there? True kindness is going to develop into a deep level area. And that's what God's all about is the deeper level. So, first of all, if you really moved into maturity, you'll know it because here's what he tells you maturity is, right? First of all, that you have strength to be of character. Secondly, God's Word is just not something you know, but it actually is living and abiding alive into your character life. Thirdly, that you have won the victory over the temptations and you have walked in solid obedience to the living God, fulfilling His will in spite of what you would want and be tempted to do. Those areas have to be a path or a narrow way that has to be gone through. And then we begin to work on what we do as our true kindness for one another. And so over the next few weeks, we're going to start talking about kindness, kindness, kindness. kindness. And the word Philadelphia, the city of Philadelphia, just means the city of brotherly kindness. That's what it means. Now, I don't know if you go there, if you find that overwhelmingly true. I know when I went to Philadelphia, I wasn't overwhelmed by kindness. When I was on the sidewalk downtown, I asked somebody what time it was, they turned their face and walked the other way. They wouldn't even talk to me. I got a real quick understanding that they're not the people of brotherly kindness now maybe back 200 years ago when they started they were but they lost it well guess what Churches have lost it 2 years ago there was a lot of kindness If you go to Acts chapter 2 and different places we'll touch on, you'll find kindness prevailed with power. Kindness has been dropped quickly in our modern day. But we need to get back to that. If we're ever going to be a church that has power with God, we have to move into the true level of kindness. Now, we can get idealistic ideas. When you start thinking about it, you think, oh, well, we need to feed all the poor. Well, that's great, except for we're a little church with no money. We can't feed all the poor. We only can bite off what we can chew. So we've got to look at the level of what we can to do. And kindness isn't always measured by how much of it you do. It's just that you do it. So we've got to be careful that we don't turn into thinking, oh, we can't be kind because there's only a handful of us. Well, you can be kind. And we can definitely take steps of being kind. But we have to understand, you know, God will give us provision to what level he wants us to do and how to accomplish it. But remember, kindness isn't just feeding all the poor in the community. Remember, kindness is... Brotherly. Exactly. Brotherly kindness begins here. After we do all that, we can start agape. That's the level. But if you're not doing brotherly kindness, we don't have to worry about the hungry out there until we worry about the hungry here. We've got to deal with it all here first. And it also takes time. You have to break down and be there enough to communicate. I mean, I remember one time a person got mad at me because I didn't go visit them because they were sick. Well, the problem was I didn't even know they were sick. I didn't call them because I didn't know anything about them sick. James says, if anyone's sick among you, It says, call the elders. Now, I know they didn't have phones back then, but they had a way to give messages. They said, call the elders, and they'll be happy to come and pray for you. If you want me to pray for you, tell me. Communication of kindness means you've got to tell me what you want me to do for you and let me know. If you don't, I can't do it, and neither can you. If you're afraid to tell each other what's wrong, then nobody can show you kindness because they don't even know anything's going on in your life. You have to be open. and that's why we've been teaching so many months now about fellowship. When you're here, open your mouth, ask for prayer, share testimonies, express testimonies of what's going on, because we don't know each other. Of course we can't be kind. How do you be kind to a stranger when you didn't even know they had an issue? But if you share issues and you start asking for help, guess what happens? Floods of kindness come out. It's like even in our country now. When people find out there's something that happened, you watch it even on the news. Floods of kindness happen. Even from the unbelievers, once they know there's an issue. But of course nothing happens when they don't even know what's going on. When you hear about a tornado tearing up, you know, like in Kansas. Seventy tornadoes just blew away towns there last night. Seventy tornadoes throughout the state. That's an incredible amount of tornadoes just out of nowhere, just blowing things to shreds. Well, you know what? Kindness, you watch. Kindness will be pouring there because people now know there's an issue that needs to be helped. America's good at that. What happened when the tsunami happened? Floods of kindness came from our country to our sworn enemies who hate us. And they couldn't believe that we Christians loved them because they always were told we were wicked. And we were the only ones that helped them. Even the other Muslims didn't help them. We went there and sacrificed and sent help with those who could go to love them. That blew them away. That's kindness. but it takes communication. That's what a local church is. You're not going to get a whole lot of help from a guy on television when you watch a sermon. He doesn't know you from Adam. He's just talking into the camera. But you come to a church, you get to know each other for the purpose of loving one another. That's what it's for. So we can't just sit here in seats and not take those actions. Share. Care. Be the people of God. that moves you to a level of true maturity. But remember, you can't honestly care unless you pass phase two, you know, whatever. There are a lot of steps here. But one, you can tell a church is mature when that floods out of a church. You know the people have mature, or at least a lot of them have. Obviously, they're always going to be immature, but if a whole bunch of them, you start to feel a flow of kindness pouring out of a church when there's so many that are matured to that level. It comes out naturally. When they're immature, what happens? When your church is full of people that says, feed me, feed me, give me, give me, help me, help me, pray for me, pray for me. There's not a lot of people saying, I'm praying for you, I'm praying for you. Everybody's saying, give me, give me, help me, help me. That's all immaturity, isn't it? But when the church moves from that and says, we want to give, we want to give, we want to care, we want to care. Find us a place where we can help people. Then you know maturity is happening. You see it in the lives of the people you know. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. It becomes clearer and clearer and more powerful as I see this. I hope it's helping my friends to see it. To be able to actually see without doubt and know Your will. Clear as anything, as it is written in the Word. It gives us strength, stability, and the path You want us to take. Jesus showed us that it's written here in the Word, Your will. I pray that we have eyes that are open and ears that hear your teaching. For your glory we pray this, Lord. Stand up and shout it if you love my Lord.

Playlist coming soon.