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So I did have a title for the sermon and I think I'm going to change it right now. Alright, just there if you go back to 1st Corinthians chapter 9, 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse uh... Where was it? Let me get, just give me... Ah, there we go. Verse number 25, 1st Corinthians chapter 9 verse 25. The title now is temperate in all things. Okay, temperate in all things, temperate in all things. So we're actually doing the final fruit of the Spirit. And once again, I'll just read to you from Galatians 5 22, which says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We're up to temperance. Against such there is no law. Against such there is no law. Just a reminder what that means. Against such there is no law. If your life is made up of these virtues, if your life is made up of these qualities, if you're living by the fruits of the Spirit, there's no law that can be used against you. I mean, you're keeping the law of God perfectly. If you're walking in the Spirit, if you're conducting yourself through these fruits, so the Holy Spirit will work in your life. That's what it means that against such there is no law. Okay, this is walking in the new man. This is walking in the Spirit of God. And when you're walking in the Spirit of God, guess what? Well, you're not breaking any of God's laws. Okay, because the Spirit is without sin. All right, so let's understand what does it mean to be temperate? What does temperance mean, okay? So I did a quick, you know, as I usually do, I did a dictionary definition to have a look what it means. And by the definition, it means self-restraint, okay? Or self-control. I didn't want to say self-control first because when we discussed it the other week, someone said, oh, that's what the false Bible versions, you know, instead of saying temperance, they use self-control. But it does mean self-control. It does mean self-restraint. It means you are in control of yourself. You're in control in the way that you act and you behave, you know, to temper something. If you were to temper something, what you're doing is you're assessing it or you're measuring it, okay? When you're taking a temperature, you know, you're checking how hot or how cold that is, okay? You're taking a measurement. And another way you can apply this is, you know, are you a measured person? You know, are you measured in the way you conduct yourself with different people, you know, in different institutions, you know, in different environments? You know, are you measured in the way you conduct yourself? That's what it means to be temperate. That's what the fruit of temperance is. You know, to be a temperate person means that you are a measured person, a measured person. You go into something and you assess it, you measure it, and you put your best foot forward. You know, you behave in the right way. You behave in that right way, okay? And there are some other words in the Bible that are similar to temperate or temperance. And one word the Bible uses as well is moderation or moderate, okay? To be in moderation. And if you're doing something in moderation, okay, it means that you're avoiding from being extreme. You know, you're not being extremely hot. You're not being extremely cold. You're just being moderate, okay? Now, I don't want you to misunderstand this, okay? I don't want you to misunderstand because we serve an extreme God, okay? We serve a God of extreme love. We serve a God of extreme hatred, extreme, you know, anger. You know, His extreme love that He would even sacrifice His only begotten Son for us, for sinners. You know, the extreme hatred, you know, the fact that, you know, hell is eternal or the lake of fire is eternal, I should say. That He burns forever and those that reject Christ will be cast into the lake of fire and be in torture. That the smoke of the torment will ascend forever and ever, okay? That's an extreme, you know, from our perspective, we serve an extreme God. But you know, every action of God is measured. You know, the extreme, what we see as extreme love is a measured love. What we see as extreme hatred is measured, okay? So, when I say being moderate, the best way to know whether you're being moderate, the best way to know whether you're being temperate, the best way to know if you're being measured is to align yourself with the Word of God. You know, if you're getting angry about something that God is angry about, and someone comes up to you and says, hey, you know, calm down, cool down, no. You know, being moderate, being tempered, or temperate means you're aligned with God as to how he feels about that certain thing. And the ones that are saying to you, hey, calm down, they're not being temperate, okay? They might be temperate or moderate in their minds with a world standard, but they're not being temperate or moderate with God's standard, okay? So don't misunderstand when I say, hey, you know, avoid being extreme, avoid being extreme, I'm talking about, you know, avoid going beyond the boundaries that God gives us in his Word. If God is extreme in something that, you know, from our perspective, well, really from God's perspective, he's being moderate, okay? Because, or temperate, because temperance is a fruit of the Spirit, okay? And obviously the Holy Spirit is God. So everything God does is measured. Everything God does is within self-control, okay? He's got self-restraint, God does. So how God feels about things, as long as you're lined up with God, you're being moderate, okay? You're being temperate. So don't misunderstand what this means. Another word that the Bible uses probably more often than not is the word sober, okay? Now, I could have easily made this sermon all about being sober, but being sober does carry that meaning of being temperate, okay? It does carry that meaning, but it also includes some other things, such as being serious, you know, being someone very grave or serious or someone that's very focused. And so I personally believe, I do want to preach on soberness at some points, but I do believe that quality needs a sermon on its own, okay? So I just want to focus on being a temperate or a moderate person. All right, now take your Bibles and turn to Proverbs 25, please. Proverbs 25. Let's go to the Book of Wisdom, and let's see why is it important that we are self-controlled? Why is it important that we are temperate in the way we conduct ourselves? Proverbs chapter 25 verse 28. Proverbs chapter 25 verse 28. Proverbs 25, 28. It says, he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls, okay? So someone that does not have control or rule over their own spirit, they lack in self-control, okay? They go on a temper tantrum. They lose control. You know, they don't behave within the normal, you know, spectrum of what you think someone should behave about a certain situation. It says this person that does not rule their spirits has to compare it to a city that is broken down and without walls. I mean, this is a waste of a city. It's pointless to be a city that's broken down and without walls, of course, in the time of Christ or the time of the Bible, walls were there to protect the city. You know, walls were there to show the strength of the city. You know, so enemies would give a second thought before they go and attack that place. And if your walls are broken down, you know, your life will be broken down. You know, your walls in your life are there to protect you, to keep you safe, you know? If you can't be a person who's temperate, who doesn't have temperance, not only will your walls be broken, but your family will be broken. You know, your relationships with your wife and your children or your husband will be broken. You know, your finances will be broken. If you can't be temperate with your finances, you're going to waste it all and that's going to be broken in your life. You know, your reputation can be broken. If you're of bad behavior and you can't control yourself, people will look at you and just, this guy's got a bad reputation about himself. You know, your productivity will be broken. Your productivity will be broken. In other words, by God's standard, you will be a failure in life. Now, you might not be a failure in life by the world's standard, but by God's standard as a broken down city, you will be a failure if you don't have temperance in your life. You know? And of course, the walls that we discussed, you know, if you have no walls, it means you have no strength. You know, you have no defense. It's going to be easy for you to cave into sins. You know, when temptation comes, you haven't got the defense barriers there. You know, when temptation comes, you're just going to be, oh, I'm just going to cave into sin. I'm just going to give into it. Okay, because you have no strength. You have no defense, and you'll be easily influenced by this wicked world. Okay, you will allow this wicked world to influence your life, to influence your family, influence your home. You're going to just, your family will just be influenced by the world rather than the word of God. Okay, so it's important that we temper. Now, let's compare this. Let's go to Proverbs 16, please. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 32, because we do have the comparison here in Proverbs chapter 16, verse 32. In Proverbs 16, verse 32, the Bible says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taker for city. So what we saw in Proverbs 25 was someone that did not have rule of his spirit, and what we see here in Proverbs 16 is someone that does have a rule of his spirit. He does have control over himself. Okay, does have self-control. It says he's better. The person that's temperate, that's moderate, he's better than someone that takes over a city. Hey, he's better than a mighty general of an army that goes in and conquers a city. Hey, we look at that mighty general, go wow, look at this man of war. Look at this man of power. Look at this man of might. Hey, if you're temperate, if you have control of your spirit, you're better than that person according to the word of God. Okay, you're greater than that person. In order for you to become a great warrior for God, you must be in control of your spirit. You must be someone that is temperate. Okay, and you know, it gives us an example of being someone that's in control of their spirit here in verse 32. Proverbs 16 verse 32 says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. Okay, he that is slow to anger. Is there anything wrong with getting angry? Is anything wrong with the emotion of anger? No, we should be people that are slow to anger. Why should we be slow to anger? I won't get you to turn there. Proverbs 145 verse 8, it says the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. Hey, one great attribute, one great quality of our Lord God is that he is slow to anger, which makes sense. You know, if he's slow to anger and he wants to create the fruits of the spirit in our lives, then he wants us to be slow to anger. Makes perfect sense. Okay, now getting into that, we're going to look at areas that we need to be temperate in. Okay, areas of our life. Now, I could go to like every area of our life and talk about how we need to be temperate in all these things. Okay, but I've decided to cover, what do I have here? I've decided to cover five areas of our life that we need to be temperate in. Okay, now because we left, you know, being slow to anger, let's start off with area number one and we need to be temperate in our emotions. Okay, we need to be temperate in our emotions. Now, I'm not against emotions. I love emotions. I'm glad God has given us emotions. You know, some people are more emotional than others. Okay, and that's perfectly fine. You know, some people have more control of their emotions. Here's the thing. Everyone feels the same emotions as another. Everyone's got the same emotions. Just some people are able to maybe, you know, not make it so obvious that they feel certain ways than others. Okay, but we should be temperate with our emotions. Please take your Bibles and turn to James chapter one, please. James chapter one, verse 19. James chapter one, verse 19. James chapter one, verse 19. So, we saw how God is slow to anger. Here in James chapter one, verse 19, it says, Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Same kind of idea, right? Slow to wrath is being someone that is slow to anger. Look at verse number 20. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Okay, so let's understand, you know, we've got many emotions that we can talk about, but I just wanted to cover the emotion of anger right now. Okay, that's the main one that I'm going to be looking at. And then you should take this and apply it to the other emotions that you experience in your life. Okay, but let's look at anger for a minute. Now, it says here in verse number 20, that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. You say, but hold on, if wrath then of man does not work the righteousness of God, then is wrath or anger right? Is it ever right to get angry? Well, you know, it just said there, be slow to wrath, right? Verse 19, it said to be slow to wrath, be slow to anger, okay? But the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. So here's the thing, is anger wrong? Is it sinful? Well, it can be. It can be if it's the wrath of man, okay? If it's the wrath of this flesh, if it's the wrath of man, and in comparison, the wrath of man is very quick to anger, okay? You have a very short temper. You don't have control. You're not temperate with your emotions. Something upsets you and you blow up, you know? Someone says something and you react without letting them explain because before it said, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak. Hey, be swift, be fast to hear. Listen, give people the opportunity to speak to you, understand what they're saying and be slow to speak. You know, make sure you fully understand what is being said, what is being communicated, what's going on before you say your words, okay? And that's why I love Peter in the Bible, right? Because Peter was very quick to speak. You know, sometimes I feel like he'd speak before he even thinks about things many times. I love Peter. He's very different to me, but I love his character. I love his character, but we see there is a proper place for your emotions and when it comes to anger, God says you need to be slow to anger. And if you're someone, you say to me, yeah, you know what? I get angry, I get upset about things, but I'm slow to get there. Hey, that's a positive attribute. That means that is being. That's the wrath of God, okay? It said there in verse 20, the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Then by comparison, the wrath of God worketh the righteousness of God, okay? It is righteous to be angry as long as it's the anger of the Lord, okay? If God is angry about something and you get angry about the same thing that God gets angry, it's the wrath of God, okay? It's the wrath of God and that's fine. That's righteous. That's good. But if you find yourself getting, look, here's a good test. We all get angry about things. We all get angry, okay? I'm not going to pretend. You know, here's the thing. A lot of church, a lot of Christians think that anger is like this. You can never be angry. It's like they want to make you this emotionless robot. You know, just go about life. And it's like, it's so weird because it's such a natural emotion. God experiences it. He's given us the ability to have that emotion in our lives, okay? But when you get angry about something, just ask yourself this. And it's hard because, you know, your temper can get up there. It's not as if, you know, you're not focused. But think about, just for a minute, think about, would God be angry at this? I've got an anger about this. Would God be angry at this? And if you can say God would be angry at this, then it's fine for you to be angry at it, okay? If you find yourself getting angry and then you say, well, would God get angry about this? And you say, well, actually, no, he wouldn't. He'd be saying to me, calm down, relax. Then that's the wrath of man, okay? That's the wrath of man. And the only way you're going to know what God gets angry about is if you pick up your Bible and read it. If you pick up your Bible and see when God gets angry, what he gets angry about, that's what's going to help direct your life as to what you should be angry about. That's what it means to be temperate, to know how God feels about things and making sure that you're in line with God's feelings. Hey, and that goes with every other emotion. You know, what are some of the other emotions? Fear, sorrow, joy, et cetera. Ask yourself these questions when you find yourself being, maybe feeling an emotion too strongly. You know, would God feel this way about it? You know, if you find joy in something, you know, there's nothing wrong with asking this question. Would God find joy in this? Would God find joy in this? The same thing that I'm finding joy in. If you're finding joy in something, you can ask yourself the question, would God find joy? Say, actually, no, God wouldn't find joy. In fact, God would be disgusted that I'm finding joy in this thing. Then you're not temperate. That's an emotion that you need to be temperate about, even joy, not just anger. But you can apply this to all the emotions that you feel, okay? So if you're struggling with an emotion, again, just ask yourself that question. Would God feel this way? Would God get emotional about this the same way that I got emotional about it, okay? So that's one area of life that we can be tempered in is in our emotions. I'll just say one more thing. This is parents because obviously I've got 10 kids, so maybe I can give you some wisdom here, right? When your kids disobey, when your kids need a spanking, when they need to get smacked and you need to get that rod of correction, the reason, what should drive you to do that is anger, okay? Your kids have been disobedient, so you're angry about the disobedience. That's fine. That's perfectly fine, okay? But be careful and don't react out of anger, okay? Well, in anger I should say, okay? Because I have seen people lose it and I can think of times in my life, you know, even as a father or sometimes even before I was married and had kids, where I've gotten angry about something, okay? And it was righteous anger, but I lost it. You know, I reacted in a way that I look back and go, I wish I didn't react that way. You know, I let my emotions, you know, take me too far and I reacted in a way that I regret, okay? And so, what I would encourage you because as parents, we also set an example to our children, right? So, when you get angry and you feel like you're about to blow your top, I'd really recommend before you discipline your kids, just go into a room, calm down, pray to the Lord about it. Lord, just help me calm down, help me distribute the right kind of discipline on my child that is fitting for what they did, okay? You don't wanna be too heavy handed, okay? The Lord, when he disciplines us, he'll discipline us justly, okay? He'll discipline us with the right kind of discipline in accordance to our disobedience, okay? So, we should be like that as parents, okay? It's good to get angry, but don't lose control of those emotions, okay? So, we need to be temperate in our emotions, all right? The second one I've got, the second point that we need to be temperate in is let's go to Proverbs once again. Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23, please. Proverbs chapter 23. And this might sound unusual. This might sound a little, you know, I don't know, what's the phrase? You know, is it something about digging at the bottom of the barrel or something, right? No, but this is a serious sin. This is a serious sin, you know? And look at Proverbs 23 verse 19. Proverbs 23 verse 19. The Bible says, Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among winebibbers, among righteous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Now, the second point that I have that we need to be temperate in is in our diet. You know, in how we look after this body, what we feed this physical body, we need to be temperate in our diet, okay? And we see here in Proverbs 23, you know, Solomon's been instructed, hey, don't be amongst winebibbers. You know, don't be an alcoholic. You know, don't drink the alcohol because it becomes an addiction, right? Alcohol is an addictive substance, becomes an addiction, you become a drunkard, right? If you hang around the wrong kind of people, they're going to influence you to be the same way, okay? And I know that. You know, I've been in business where, you know, you've had a hard day's job, and some, you know, manager, fellow co-worker comes up to you and says, hey, let's go to the pub and buy your drink. You know, let's just relax, you know? And I, no sir, you know, that's not for me. I don't do that, you know? If you want to hang out and kick a ball around a little bit, you know, I'm willing to do that, but going out and having a drink at the pub, that's not for me, okay? Because I know the kind of influence. I know how, you know, how tempting it is to do that just to, you know, keep up the appearances, just to make sure you maintain the relationships that you've formed. You know, you're afraid to offend people sometimes because in their mind, they're doing something nice for you. In their mind, they're trying to be a friend to you, right? And you've got to reject that kind of attention. But you know, even what we see here, it's not just alcohol that's addictive, but even just gluttony in general. Eating of the flesh is said there, right? In verse number 20, among righteous eaters of flesh. And then it says, for the drunken and the glutton shall come to poverty. You see, eating too much, you know, eating unhealthily, eating too much junk food, you know, finding satisfaction in flesh beyond what is necessary for your body is a sin. And we need to be temperate in how we eat, you know, be temperate in how much we eat, be temperate in, you know, the quality of food that you eat as well. And I don't think there's anything wrong with having a junk food every now and once in a while. You know, this body is the temple of the living God. This body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and God wants us to look up this temple, okay? And overeating will make you unhealthy. Overeating will cause a lot of illnesses and sicknesses and health problems in your life. You know, God wants to use your body while you've got it there, you know, and if you limit it, hey, you're limiting God's use in your life, okay? Gluttony is actually a major sin and it's something, the thing about that is, it's something you can't hide. Like a lot of other sins you can hide because a lot of them are internal in your mind or in your heart, but when it comes to gluttony, it's just, it's there for everyone to see. You know, if you overeat, it's pretty obvious, you know? So please be careful about that. We need to be temperate in our food. Now, keep your, oh, you don't need to keep your finger there. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 21, please. Deuteronomy chapter 21, because you may not realize just how serious this sin is, all right? In the eyes of God, okay? Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 19, 18, sorry. Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 18. And actually, before I go to Deuteronomy, I should just finish what it said there in Proverbs because it said, for the drunken and the gluttonous shall come to poverty, okay? Now, some people, you know, you know, you should be moderate with your finances, okay? But some people will spend all their money on their addictions, on their, you know, you guys know this, right? Drinking too much alcohol. I mean, how many poor people, you know, how many people in poverty are begging for a few dollars so they can just go to the pub and buy themselves some alcohol? It happens everywhere. It happens everywhere. And hey, it's the same problem with the gluttonous person. He will spend all his money on food, okay? He finds company in food, he's overeating, and he becomes poor. But not only that, it says, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. You see, when you don't take care of his body, you become drowsy. It's tiring. You know, if you're drinking alcohol, you know, your body's working hard trying to get rid of that toxin. You know, it'll throw up. You know, it'll do whatever it needs to do. The body's trying to get rid of those toxins. It's using a lot of energy and you'll become drowsy. You know, I'm sure you've all experienced after having a good meal, a big lunch or a big dinner, don't you just sort of feel drowsy afterwards? Why? Because your body's working hard to digest the foods, okay? And these people that are drunkards, habitual drunkards, you know, gluttonous people, they're wearing out their bodies. Their bodies are trying to work hard to function, but it becomes drowsy. And because it becomes drowsy, it becomes so tired, and they can't go to work, they become poor, okay? So that there is an association with overeating or overdrinking and poverty. Those two things go hand in hand. And so let's go to Jeremiah 21 now, verse 18. The Bible says, look at this. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that they have chastened him, will not hike and answer them. So we start off with a stubborn and rebellious son, okay? Then in 19, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gates of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard. All right, so we see here that, hey, this is considered a crime in the Old Testament. You know, a son that would not listen to their parents, that would be rebellious and stubborn, and you see what goes hand in hand with that kind of person, someone becomes a drunkard and a gluttonous person. He's a lazy, he's lazy, right? He just uses all the resources, abuses his parents, you know, does not obey them, and just fills himself with food, with wine, and you know, a drunkard and a glutton. We see just how serious it is, okay? And I'm ashamed for a lot of Baptist pastors. I mean, I know too many Baptist pastors that are huge, I mean, humongous, all right? And they, behind the pulpit, preaching the word of God, and everyone just looks at them, and man, you're gluttonous, okay? You know, you don't have self-control. And you know, one of the qualities of being a pastor is not self-willed, is not someone that's given to addictions, okay? It's a bad look on a pastor when he's massive, okay? And I did a, what is it, a weight, height check, what do they call him? I'm a little bit overweight according to that, so I've got to be careful, right? I've got to be careful not to get into the sin of gluttony and control myself, you know? Try not to get too big, because that's a bad look on a pastor. Like, I think it'd be hard to respect a pastor preaching behind a pulpit when he's huge, you know? So be careful. This is a major sin in the eyes of God. Now, if you guys, just one more place, one more place that I want to turn to. 1 Corinthians 11, please. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 21. And this isn't so much about gluttony or drunkenness, but it does, it's still in line with diet. It's still in line with food, okay? 1 Corinthians 11, verse 21, because there is another way that we need to be temperate when it comes to food. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 21, it says here, this is obviously a rebuke from Paul to the Corinthian church. It says, For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. So I wanted to bring this one up because we are a church that on Sundays we do have lunch together, okay? So we are a church that often eats together. And it says here, look, I want to be a church that is praised by God, okay? And we need to be temperate in the way we conduct ourselves when it comes to food, okay? And this church, hey, they were not in control. Certain people would come and eat all the food and would leave nothing for others, okay? Now I do my best when it comes to purchasing the food. I do my best to overpurchase. You know, I overestimate how many people there are. I try to think, well, people might want to have seconds. So I try to buy enough food as much as possible. But I'm just saying, you know, we need to be mindful about this. You know, we shouldn't be people. Like, what was the problem here? That some were going to eat and they weren't caring about the needs of others. They were more concerned about filling their own belly than they were, well, you know, there's so-and-so over there. Are they going to have enough food by the time I'm done? You know, so just a few key things there, guys. You know, when you get your plates, fill it up. You know, I don't want you to be stingy. Fill it up. But when you start seeing the supplies getting a bit low and there are other people in the church that haven't eaten, hey, be mindful. You know, be temperate. Be moderate. Say, hey, I need to make sure I need to take an amount to make sure that everyone else gets a plate before I, you know, gets a plate before I get my seconds or anything like that. You know, before you get your seconds, has everyone else had their firsts? You know, before I go back and get my seconds. So, there are other areas that we see in the Bible that we ought to be temperate with food, not just how much we eat, but also being mindful of other people. You know, making sure, you know, we don't go home full when other people might be hungry. All right. Now, you're still in 1 Corinthians. Oh no, this is a copy and paste mistake there. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23, please. I've taken down the wrong reference. But anyway, go to Proverbs chapter 23 verse 4. Proverbs chapter 23 verse 4. Where else should we be temperate in? What other places in our life should we be temperate in? And the third place that I've got here is in your workplace. Okay, when it comes to your employment, when it comes to your job, when it comes to your work, especially for men, you know, but not just men, you know, even for mothers, ladies, if you're homeschooling your kids, whatever activities you have to do around the house, this is also applicable to you. But your workplace, you need to be temperate with your workplace. And you know, your mindset when you go to work, when you go, you know that God's commanded you to work and provide for your home, provide for your family, make sure, you know, your kids don't go hungry. Okay, if you're not feeding your family, the Bible says you're worse than an infidel. Okay, you're worse than an unbeliever. So God has given us instruction to be hardworking people. And I've covered that in previous sermons. But there are some people that can work too much. Okay, can work too much. All right, workaholics. They work so much and then they neglect, you know, other areas of their life or neglect family or neglect things like that. Okay, now if you guys just look at Proverbs chapter 23 verse 4, Proverbs 23 verse 4, the Bible says, labour not to be rich, cease from thine own wisdom. All right, so there are people that labour, they go to work because they're trying to get rich. Say, well, that's what I'm working for. Then you got it wrong. It says here, cease from thine own wisdom. Look, when you go to work, it's to provide the needs of the house. When I go to work and make sure that there's enough so we can live happy, comfortable lives. You know, and I don't want to work so much that I neglect my own family. That I don't even see my kids grow up. I don't have an influence on my family. You know, my wife never sees me. Hey, that's not being temperate. You need to manage your affairs. You know, even God rested on the seventh day. You need to find time for rest. Okay, if you're labour, I know people that labour to be rich. They work hard, they get their second job. Nothing wrong if you need a second job to provide for your family. But I see people get other jobs working overtime because they're trying to get rich. Not just to provide for the needs, but they're trying to become wealthy. They're trying to have many possessions. They want to be someone in life, high status because of their wealth. I know a lot of people like that in life. And I come across a lot of people like that. But there's always an area of their life that fails and it's usually their family. Often it's their marriage. I've seen a lot of rich people, a lot of workers, people that work super hard. I've looked up to them for their work ethic. Okay, but then divorced. Then committed adultery. Okay, because they've not spent the time with their wife, with their family. They're not being temperate in their workplace. All right, so the opposite is true. Underworking or not working. All right, not providing for your family is not being temperate either. Okay, you need to find the balance. You need to make sure I'm working to provide for my family. I want to be temperate with my time. Do what I need to do. And I want to go home and spend time with my family or whatever other activities you have to do. You know, go to church, read my Bible. You know, pray to the Lord, spend time with the Lord. You need to make sure you take time for these things because you can overwork. There's been times that I've overworked. You know, I've worked some really long hours ongoing day after day after day. And you know, and it just wore me out. It's worn me out. And sometimes I had to because my workplace needed me to, okay. But I got to a point where I had to quit my job because I was just working too much. Just working too much. I was away from my family too much. And I was away from my church too much. And there was a time where I just had to say to myself, Lord, it's too much. And I'm not being temperate with the way I'm conducting myself in my life. It's not balanced anymore. It's out of whack. It's out of balance. I'm going to quit and start again. You know, be temperate in your workplace. Verse number five I should have read. You guys doing Proverbs 23? Look at verse number five, just regarding riches. Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. So if you're working toward riches, God says it's going to fly away like an eagle to heaven. In other words, you're never going to get rich. You're never going to be satisfied. You know, you'll make your riches. You will make some riches. But you're just never going to find satisfaction in working for that purpose. You're going to desire more and more. And it's going to be like that eagle that just flies away. You're just not going to be able to keep up with it, okay? And God, as children of God, He's going to make sure that your riches fly away from you if you're not temperate, okay? If you're not moderate in the way you conduct yourself, do your finances. And I'll just quickly say to mothers as well, you know, don't be workaholics around the house. There's a lot of things that need to get done, okay? But you're never going to have your house completely clean. You're never going to have necessarily all your children's homeschool work marked and checked off and food cooking on the stove. And as soon as your husband walks in, the plate's ready. Look, it's never going to be perfect like that, okay? Please, you know, don't stress yourself. Prioritize what needs to be done. Make sure the key things around the house are done. And if the toilet's not being cleaned that day, well, just relax a little bit, okay? They can be clean tomorrow, all right? Just, you know, be temperate in the way. Make sure you prioritize something. Prioritize some key things in your life. If you got your priorities in place, you take care of the priorities, you're going to live a happy life, okay? And when you have the time to do those other tasks that are not so important, then use your time there. If you have kids, even better, send your kids to do them. Okay, teach your kids to work hard. Teach your kids to be moderate. Next thing that I've got on the list, number four, is be moderate with your activities and your hobbies. Be moderate with your activities and your hobbies. And if you guys can go to, don't worry about going, I'll just read it to you. 1 Corinthians 6-12, you guys know this passage. It says, all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. Expedient means they're not profitable, okay, or profitable. So all things are lawful to me. There's a lot of things that we can do. You know, we have liberty in the Lord. We have freedom as long as it's not sinning, okay? As long as we're not breaking the commandments of God. There's a lot of things that we can do in our life. God gives us great freedom, okay? But all things are not expedient. All things are not profitable, all right? There's a lot of things that are not sinful, but they waste our time, you know, waste our time. And it says here, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. In other words, even though all things are lawful, He's not going to allow His activities or whatever it is that He wants to do to have power over Him. This is addictions, dealing with addictions. You know, when you're addicted to something, whatever it is, that object or that activity, that hobby has a power over you, okay? And, you know, I'll give you one example. There was a time in my life when I just really got into soccer. I loved soccer. You know, I was watching, you know, for the Australian A-League, they formed the Western Sydney Wanderers. And I went to their first game. And that season, I was really excited. I didn't want to miss a match, okay? And I had other important things to do, but I just, I couldn't miss a match, all right? I had brought my, you know, is it sinful to watch a game of sport? It's lawful to me. It's like I'm not breaking God's laws. But I allowed myself to be under the power of that, okay? So instead of using my time wisely, instead of maybe using my time to read more Bible or whatever, you know, being a better husband, a better father or whatever, my mind was, like, my life started to be centered around when is this team playing, you know? And then they went to the, they played the Asian Champions League. So they're playing against Asian teams. They're playing later times because of the time changes, and I'd have to stay up to watch those games. Instead of getting a good night's sleep, you know, or the World Cup rolls around and it's usually in Europe, and they're playing games like at midnight or early morning, and I've got to get up at 2 a.m. to watch this game, right? You had power over me, okay? You had power over me and it affects my life. You know, you've got to make sure with your activities and your hobbies that you're temperate in all these things, all right? Now, let me give you a way to know whether you're being temperate with your hobbies and activities. Let me give you a way to do this. And I found this useful in my life, and this is just to make a list. Make a list of the things that are important to you, okay? Make a list. And right at the top should be God, all right? And near there should be church, probably second one down the list from God, okay? Your time, your Bible reading, your prayer life, all those kinds of things. The things you need to do as a believer, they're the key things, really. I mean, really, actually, maybe I shouldn't say, make a list of the things that are important to you. Make a list of things that are important to God for you, okay? And then, you know, up that list should be your family, you know? Should be, you know, your marriage, should be your children, you know? Up there will be your work because, you know, you've got to work a good eight hours or whatever it is that you work, you know, a day to make a living. It'll be up there by default because you need to work, you know? You know, start making a list and then start putting your hobbies, you know? What kind of hobbies, activities, other things that you do, extracurricular things that you do, you know? Put them in your list, you know, and put them in a priority list, okay? Then, just estimate, just do a rough estimation of your life. Look at your past week and say, well, how much time have I spent on these activities, okay? How much time, you probably, it works eight hours, that's an easy one or whatever, you know? How much time did I spend, you know, listening to online preaching? You put it in there, how much time did I spend, you know, going to church? How much time did I spend going soul-winning? How much time did I spend with my wife? How many times, how much time did I spend with my kids? You know, how much time did I spend, you know, on Facebook? Whatever, whatever your activity, whatever it is, just make a list of it and then you'll know whether you've been temperate or not. Because the things that are the highest priority, if there's like five minutes there and the things that are the lowest priority, it's like five hours there, you're not being temperate, okay? The things that are the most important for you, as far as God is concerned in your life that's what you should be spending most of your time on, okay? And if your activities are down at the bottom and you're finding, hold on, this activity, I have no time for this once I've prioritized everything else, then get rid of it, it's not profitable, okay? It's not expedient for you, it might be lawful for you, but it's not expedient, get rid of it. Make sure you prioritize the things that are most important, you give it the most time, you know? Your relationship with God, your work with God is super important. It's going to be so important that without it, you're not going to develop these fruits of the Spirit in your life. Your relationship, your marriage, your children, so important, you should have time. You know, how much time did I spend with my wife? Did I take her out this week? Did I take her out this month? Did I take her out for my wedding anniversary? You know, you know, that's important and if you find, man, this thing is not profitable for me It's got no eternal value and I'm spending hours on this? Whatever. YouTube, you know, random videos, recommendations, what's this one about? It's only five minutes, I watched that. Five minutes done, oh, another one. That's ten minutes, I can watch ten minutes. Hey, it starts to build up. It all starts to build up, hours and hours of nonsense, of things that are not profitable. Use your time wisely, alright? Be temperate in your activities and your hobbies. And the last one I've got here, guys, is be temperate with your beliefs and your opinions. Alright? Be temperate with your beliefs and your opinions. Now, there's one verse I'd really like you to turn to. I think you guys are in Proverbs. So, go to Proverbs 25, please. Proverbs chapter 25 verse 17. Proverbs chapter 25 verse 17. Have you ever invited a guest and they never leave and you drop all the hints as much as possible and they start, it's getting late here, you know, getting tired, got to get the kids in bed and they just won't go. Have you ever had that guest? I know I have, alright. And I think actually, I think there's been times where I've been that guest, you know, and I might have overstayed my welcome. But look at Proverbs chapter 25 verse 17. Proverbs chapter 25 verse 17, it says, Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest be weary of thee, and so hate thee. So, be careful about how much time or influence you try to have on other people. Now, obviously, this is a very practical sense being invited as a guest. But I want to expand on this. I want to take the principle here and apply it to other areas of your life. Because, you know, as Bible-believing Christians, when we find stuff in the Bible, we get excited, don't we? I mean, I'm sure when you got saved, you got excited, you know, when you found out the truth. And what are you dying to do once you find out something new, true, it's in the Bible? Aren't you just dying to get it out there? You're dying to let people know. Now, that excitement might die away after a while, but as soon as you find something out, I want to tell people, you know. And this is one reason that I find really fun preparing sermons like a few days before preaching, is because I've learned some new things, just studying, just preparing, I've learned some new things. And then I'm excited to tell you guys, right? So I've got that excitement there. But if I prepare a sermon like a week ago or two weeks ago, maybe by the time I preach, I'm not so excited to preach it, okay? But anyway, so that's why, you know, when you get excited, you hear the gospel, you get saved, you want to tell other people, let's be excited, okay? And that's what you should do. You should be going around telling people about the gospel. But then as a believer, you know, you're going to find things, you're going to learn things. There's so many things that, you know, just growing up in the Lord, reading my Bible, I just discovered new things that I never knew before. And I'm dying to tell people, you know, tattoos. You know, when I found out, wow, my Bible has tattoos in there. You know, God's against tattoos. So I'd go to my best friends that had tattoos and say, man, did you know the Bible says this about, look, I'm not trying to be, you know, rude or being arrogant. I'm just saying, did you know this was in the Bible, you know, about tattoos? And, you know, you're excited, you want to tell people, okay? And what I found was they get offended, they get angry, they hate you, okay? You've overstayed your welcome, okay? They never asked for your opinion. And I was wondering, man, I thought these friends were believers. Then I find out later on, they're not even believers, okay? And this is just a lesson I want to tell you guys. I've gone through this. I'm sure you've all experienced this to some extent, is when you find things in the Bible, or you've got a family, let's say you've got a friend or family member that's not even saved. You know, they go by Christian, but they're not even saved. They don't believe the gospel, okay? And you find something in the Bible, and you're like, man, did you know this? Look, they're not going to take it in. They're not going, look, don't waste your time on things with non-believers, you know, that are secondary issues in the Bible. You know, I've done that. I've made the mistake of having a work colleague that was, because they see me read my Bible and stuff and go, hey, you know, tell me about things. And I, you know, we had some similar interests, things that tie into the end times. And I would sit there, you know, after work for like two or three hours, talking to my work colleague about the Antichrist, about, you know, the tribulation. And they were really interested in all that stuff. And I'm like, cool, I'm going to be able to get to the gospel. You know, but whenever I try to get to the gospel, it's like we're stuck in that end time stuff, right? And then I find out later on, I'm thinking, man, this is going to be profitable. This is going to be awesome. And then it's like everything I just said just goes over their heads. And then they have some other end times, you know, idea. And then I realized, man, I should have just had three hours with this person. Why didn't I give them the gospel? If I gave them the gospel, they could have believed, they could have been saved. And then I could have told them about the end times, and then they would understand it. Look, don't waste your time arguing about things with non-believers that are secondary issues in the Bible. The only thing you should be focused on with a non-believer is giving them the gospel. All right, don't overstay your welcome. And even with a believer, sometimes you can butt heads about something. Okay, you have a belief this, I believe that, you know. Hey, be slow to speak. Make sure you fully understand what someone has said first, okay? And then if they're willing to sit down with you and give you the time, then tell them about your opinion, tell them your belief. Now, look, when I prepare a sermon, I'm preaching the Word of God, I'm not asking you, do you want to hear this today? I just assume you've come to church because you want to hear the Word of God, okay? So you coming in here just says, we're ready to hear whatever you have to say, as long as it's from the Word of God. That's fine. I'm just talking about, you know, going about your business day to day with other believers. You know, you don't have to, or you find something in their life and go, yeah, you know what, the Bible has something to say about that. Hey, Brother So-and-so, or Sister So-and-so, did you know what God says this? It's like, I didn't ask for your opinion, right? Maybe they know that's what God says. Maybe that's an area they're asking the Lord to help them in, in life. You know, and you're there making them feel, you know, horrible about it. And then look, if a brother or sister comes up to you and says, hey, I've got this issue, you know, do you know something in the Bible that talks about that issue, how I can overcome this issue? That's different, that's different, you know. Or, you go in on the internet and you see something wrong on the internet, right? Some random person you don't even know, you know, and people are having an argument on Facebook, and I've got to give my opinion. You get in there and you're arguing, and I've been there, I've done that, you know. I've seen some of you guys do that, I've done that, okay. We've all done that, okay. And then you wait, you know, you're there for hours, you're responding, you're like, oh man. Here's the thing about Facebook, everyone else sees it. So, everyone knows, when you respond to them, everyone knows that everyone on my Facebook list sees this comment. And if, you know, you're saying I'm wrong, so I've got to defend myself publicly, okay. But it's totally different if you just sat down with someone and said, hey, can I open the word of God to you and just show you these things? And that, you know, interaction happens. That's being temperate. You know, managing situations well. I've never seen anyone win a Facebook argument. I've seen people give opinions and then their echo chamber, yeah, go brother, yeah. And then the other person has their opinion and their echo chambers, yeah, yeah. And it's like, you won it, you won it. No, no one won it. You only win if you convince the other person that they were wrong, all right. That's the only way you can win. And so, just be, look, be temperate with your beliefs and your opinions. We all have beliefs, we all have opinions, you know. Do your best to align yourself to the word of God. And be careful with how you approach people. You know, I've convinced some hardcore pre-Trib believers that were my friends. I've convinced them to be post-Trib, pre-rap believers. You know, I can think of a lot of doctrines that I believe that I've been able to convince people that prior did not believe those things. But did I do it in an argument? Did I do it just trying to shove it down their face, shove it down their throat? I was temperate about it. I was slow about it. And I took my time. They'd ask questions. I'd do my best to answer it. Sometimes they'd be critical. Sometimes they would hurt my feelings by the way they spoke. But I did my best just to maintain my emotions and do my best to answer the word of God. And then in due process, their study, they've come to realize, hey, what Kevin's saying is true. You know, that's how you convince people. That's how you convince people. You need to be temperate with your beliefs and your opinions. Alright, in conclusion, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24. I have two conclusions. I'll try to get through the two conclusions quickly. Conclusions on the temperance. We're going through temperance. In conclusion, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24. 1 Corinthians 9, 24. Know ye not that they which run are race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. See Paul here, or the Lord through Paul, of course, is asking us to run the race of faith, to run the race for Christ. To look at Christ as that prize and be aiming to live a Christian life worthy of the calling of Jesus Christ. And we're all called to run that race. But look, how are we going to win it? Verse number 25. And every man that striver for a mastery is temperate in all things. Temperate in all things. All things. All things. We've covered five things today. I'm sure there are other areas of your life you can go, am I being temperate in these other things? In order for you to be successful as a Christian, and this is why I think it's the last fruit of the Spirit, okay? Because it does a good job of rounding it all up. We need to be temperate in all things. If you want to strive to be a master, you know, being a pastor in a sense is being a master because you have rule over people. If you want to strive in positions of authority, you want success in your life or in other areas of your life, you need to be temperate in all things. You're trying to get that promotion in your job because it's going to serve you better for your life. You need to be temperate in all things. You know, whatever it is that you want to be successful in, whatever prize it is that you're aiming, and all of us are aiming for the prize of Jesus Christ, we're trying to be like Christ, we need to be temperate in all things. Now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we are incorruptible. You want rewards in heaven, you want the incorruptible crown. You must be temperate in all things. That's my conclusion with the fruit of temperance, but I do want to conclude on the series as a whole, okay? The series as a whole on the fruits of the Spirit. I'll get you guys to turn to Ephesians chapter 4, please. Ephesians chapter 4, because it's called the fruit of the Spirit, and I know I've said this over and over again, but I really want to drive this home, okay? The only way you can have these fruits in your life to the right measure, the way God wants it to be, is if you're walking in the Spirit. As long as you allow the Holy Spirit to work these things in your life, okay? We need to be people that, and Brother Jason covered this on Sunday a little bit, we need to be people that walk in the Spirit, not people that walk after the flesh, okay? But you know what? You might say, and this is what I don't want you to fall into this trap. Say what's called the fruit of the Spirit. It's the fruit of the Holy Spirit, therefore it's not up to me. I have no influence about this. You know, it's up to the Holy Spirit to work this through in my life. That's true. That's part of it. But remember, what was the fruit of a Christian? To save souls, to preach the gospel, to be fruitful, you know, to win souls, right? But if you knock on a door and you give someone, you know, it is your job to produce fruit, but doesn't the person on the other side of the door have to participate? You know, someone just opens the door, and then they say, I'm not interested, they close the door, and you just preach the gospel to the door. Is that person going to get saved? No. The person needs to interact. The person needs to say, hey, I'm willing to hear the gospel. Hey, I'm willing to understand. I'm going to ask you questions. You know, if I don't understand something, you know, the person that wants to become that fruit or have that fruit must also participate in the growth of that fruit. My point is, yes, it is the task of the Holy Spirit to produce this fruit in your life, but you need to participate. You need to tell God, you need to tell the Holy Spirit, God, please produce this fruit in my life. Help me produce this fruit in my life. Help me find the places that I'm lacking in so I can be more fruitful for you. All right? You've got to participate. You've got to be willing to hear and understand and seek the Lord to guide you. You need to be able to walk in the Spirit. And I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians 5, 19. It says, quench not the Spirit. You know, you can quench the Spirit. You have the ability to say, you know what, Holy Spirit, I'm going to quench the work that you want in my life. I'm going to stop it. I'm going to quench it. That's why we get the instruction, quench not the Spirit, okay, because we can quench the Spirit. How do we quench the Spirit? By walking after the flesh. You know, by filling our minds with worldliness, by filling our minds with things that are carnal, things that are not profitable, things that are not eternal. You know, if we live our lives after the lust of this flesh, we're going to quench the Spirit. We're not going to allow the whole Spirit to work in our lives. You guys are in Ephesians 4, 22. Ephesians 4, 22. The Bible says that ye put off concern in the form of conversation, the old man. Look, that ye, you, you, okay, you put off concern in the form of conversation or the form of lifestyle, the form of behaviors of the old man. You need to make the decision, Lord, I'm going to put aside that old man so I can allow you to work in me, so I can allow you to produce this fruit and I can walk in the Spirit. I can walk in the new man. It says here in verse 22, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts. Your flesh, your old man, is corrupt, verse 23, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. You see, this is where it all works, guys. This is where it all is, in your mind. What are you spending your mind on? Again, again, you know, when you talk about the priorities, what's important to you? What's eternal? What's important? You know, what are you spending your mind on? You find things that are carnal, not profitable, not eternal. You're spending hours on that thing. What are you filling your mind with? Corruptible things. You're going to be walking after the flesh like that, okay? You're not going to allow, you know, yourself to have the ability to walk in the Spirit. Just be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The Bible has a lot to say, and the New Testament has a lot to say about renewing our minds. Because we've been corrupted. We've been brainwashed by this world. You know, I'm sure I still have things in my mind that are worldly, you know, and I need to cleanse of those things. I need to cleanse myself of those things. Verse 24, and that ye, look at this again, that ye, you, ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now we're not going to read all of it. Let's just drop down to verse number 30. Verse number 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. You see, when you walk after the flesh, you walk after corruptible things, you live a corruptible life, you fill your mind with corruptible things, you're grieving the Holy Spirit. You're grieving God. You grieve God when you go about your carnal life, okay? How am I going to develop these fruits? How am I going to have these fruits? By walking in the Spirit. How am I going to walk in the Spirit? By condemning that old man, getting rid of that old man, you know? And how do I do that? Your mind. What are you filling your mind with? This is why it's important to be in church. It's why it's important to read your Bible. Now these basic things we always talk about. Reading your Bible, praying, confessing your sins to the Lord, coming to church, listening to preaching, studying the Word of God, you know? Fellowshiping with fellow believers. You know, with other spiritual people. All these things will help nourish your mind, renew your mind, get rid of this world out of your mind. And when you can do that, you'll be able to be more effective in your spiritual walk. Look, you're going to fail. We all fail. Every time we sin, we fail. Every time we sin, it's done in the flesh, okay? But in order for you to produce these fruits, you must walk in the Spirit. And you need to ask the Lord. Say, Lord, I'm willing to participate, Lord. I want you to help me get rid of this old man. You commanded me to do it. I've got to do it, but I need your help, Lord. I need your help to do that so I can walk in the Spirit. And I think that's all I have yet. That's all I have today. Let's pray.