Training The Flesh
Foundation Statement: To dominate the soul and
body you (the spirit) is going to have to rise up and
be the personal trainer of your soul and body. You have to be on those two 24 hours a
day 7 days a week and when they get out of line you must bring them back into
line One of the main ways you begin to dominate your flesh is through training
it. In training you don’t give it
what it wants and you make it do things that it doesn’t want to do (1 Corinthians
9:24-27).
I.
1 Corinthians 9:24-Our
race or task or goal is to complete the divine plan for our lives
A. We run our race to obtain
and fulfill God’s destiny for our life
1.
Obtain-To
grab hold of, to seize, to wrestle, to pull down, and to finally make a desired
object your very own
2.
Run
– To exert one's self, strive hard, to spend one's strength in performing
or attaining something, to incur extreme peril, which it requires the exertion
of all one's effort to overcome, constant continuous pace
B. To run that race and
complete God’s plan for our lives it’s going to require power, prosperity, and
protection
1.
To
walk in those things we must walk in character
C. We need to be in
spiritual shape so that we can finish our race
1.
Spiritual
shape – A spirit is fed on the word and strong, controlling our minds and
bodies
2.
You
won’t fulfill God’s call on your life with a weak spirit dominated by your
unrenewed mind, poorly trained body
II. 1 Corinthians 9:25-The man that is competing to win that
prize disciplines himself; He’s temperate and self-controlled in all things
A. Strive for the mastery
– Endeavors with zeal to obtain/win something
1.
We
want to walk in character and in turn power, prosperity, and protection so that
we can fulfill the call of God on our lives
2.
We’re
striving towards master in character so that we can walk in prosperity,
protection, and power and fulfill God’s destiny for our lives
B. If you are striving
towards this with zeal and passion then it will lead to you being temperate in
all things
1.
Many
times the reason people aren’t temperate in all things is because their not
striving towards mastery or towards anything
a. When you’re not striving
towards anything there’s no purpose to be temperate
1)
EX:
What’s the purpose of an athlete being self-disciplined to train if he’s never
going to compete for a prize
b. It’s the prize that
motivates his discipline
2.
We
ought to be striving towards fulfilling God’s destiny for our lives, realizing
to reach that destiny will need maximum power, maximum prosperity, and maximum
protection which all three demand maximum character
a. That type of mindset will
lead to you being temperate
b. Without the reality of
the prize in sight you won’t be temperate
III. 1 Corinthians 9:25-Be temperate in all things
A. We need to be able to
tell our flesh no in every area of our lives; That’s being temperate in all
things
1.
If
I want to control self in a certain area, then I need to practice controlling
self in every area
2.
If
self gets out of control in one area, it will begin to spill over into other
areas
B. You live a life where
you’re practicing saying no to the flesh all the time training it to the place
where it’s not used to getting what it wants; you’re practicing controlling
self
1.
You
can’t feed your flesh and give it what it wants in what you eat, how long you
sleep, what you say, where you go, and then think that when it comes to doing
what the word says you’re just going to shut that off and do what the Word
says. If you practice giving into
the flesh in those areas you will give into the flesh in other areas.
a. You practice in little
things that might not appear to matter very much; what you practice in the
little you do in the much
1)
You’re
training yourself to the place that when it’s time to do what the Word says and
your flesh doesn’t want to you’re used to telling it no
b. You live a fasted
lifestyle; that is one in which the flesh is constantly not getting what it
wants
1)
What
you are doing right now to not give the flesh what it wants?
2)
There’s
a two letter word that you need to tell your flesh all the time --- “NO”
2.
Peter
didn’t control his flesh in a small thing like sleeping and the next thing you
know he denied Jesus (Matthew 26:31-35, 40-44, 69-74)
a. Peter couldn’t control
his flesh on the water
b. Peter couldn’t control
his mouth in disagreeing with Jesus
3.
Matthew
4:1 – Jesus had been telling his flesh no for 40 days and when he came
down off of that mountain and Satan tempted him he just did what he’d been
practicing
C. 25-AMP-We need to be
restricting what our flesh wants all the time
1.
If
you give in to the feed the flesh in a little area it will want more; You give
it an inch it’ll want a mile
2.
You
can’t satisfy the lust of the flesh. What satisfied you today won’t satisfy you
tomorrow; you’ll need more (Ezekiel 16:28-30)
a. The more you give it, the
more it wants
IV. 1 Corinthians 9:26-I therefore so run-What for?-Because every man that strives for mastery is temperate in
all things I exert myself with constant effort because I’m striving for mastery
A. If the world is going to
work that hard to receive some carnal prize, then I’m going to exert myself
even greater than that to reach a much greater prize; I’m not going to be out
worked by the world
B. Every man whether worldly
or spiritual that strives for mastery is temperate in all things
1.
If
we’re striving for mastery then we need to be temperate in all things
C. We need to see ourselves
as spiritual Olympic Competitors (1 Timothy 4:7).
1.
We
have to go into training the way an Olympic Athlete does
2.
We
have to discipline ourselves to the right diet – The Word of God
3.
We
have to train when we don’t want to – Meditate and Study and Do
4.
We
have to get up early and stay up late if it’s necessary
5.
There’s
a sense of urgency that an athlete has that they’ll do whatever is necessary in
training to win (2 Tim 4:2 AMP)
a. We need to have a sense
of urgency to develop in character and be controlled by our spirit so that we
can walk in power, prosperity, and protection and do what God’s called us to do
in the Earth
D. I don’t run uncertainly
or without purpose; there’s purpose in what I do
1.
I
have a specific purpose; I’m working on something and I’m going somewhere
2.
I’m
not just stumbling around the Word all the time and hearing some cute messages;
I got something I’m going for
V. 1 Corinthians 9:27-I his spirit is keeping his body under
A. Your spirit is the
personal trainer of your soul and body
1.
Your
spirit needs to train your soul and body based on what it gets from the Holy
Spirit
2.
I’m
going to train my soul and body to do what the word says automatically
3.
You’re
on your mind 24/7 (2 Corinthians 10:5)
B. I keep under my body
– Like a boxer one buffets his body, handle it roughly, discipline by
hardships, to strike with the fist, violently beat, beat black and blue,
intolerable annoyance
1.
I
(the spirit) handles my body roughly
a. I make it do things that
it doesn’t want to do
2.
I
(the spirit) discipline my body by hardships
a. I do things that are hard
on my body, but good for it
3.
My
spirit is an intolerable annoyance to my body
a. My spirit is constantly
on my body making sure it does what it’s supposed to do
4.
Keep
your body uncomfortable
a. My comfort doesn’t come
from the things my body gets; my source of comfort is the Holy Spirit
C. Bring it into subjection
– To lead away into slavery, claim as one's slave, to make a slave and to
treat as a slave i.e. with severity, subject to stern and rigid discipline
1.
My
body is slave to my spirit
a. I master my body, my body
and my flesh do not master me
2.
I
treat my body with severity in that I make it do things that are line with the
Word that it doesn’t want to do
VI. A person who can’t control their body is disqualified
A. Cast away –
Disapproved, discredited, or disqualified
1.
If
you don’t keep your body under you’re disqualified for power, prosperity, and
protections
B. If you can’t control your
body you’re not a spirit-led Son of God, you’re a child of God (Romans 8:14,19)
1.
Children
are disqualified from certain things