Control Thyself: The How and the Why

Click/tap to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. Over the past year, we’ve been learning what it means to cultivate lives that bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and finally,...

An episode of the HPUMC - Cornerstone Sermons (Contemporary Worship) podcast, hosted by Highland Park United Methodist Church - Dallas, Texas, titled "Control Thyself: The How and the Why" was published on April 28, 2025 and runs 33 minutes.

April 28, 2025 ·33m · HPUMC - Cornerstone Sermons (Contemporary Worship)

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Summary

Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. Over the past year, we’ve been learning what it means to cultivate lives that bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and finally, self-control. Self-control is about mastery over our own desires. It’s the strength to say “yes” when everything in us wants to say “no” and to say “no” when our impulses push us toward “yes.” In Romans 7, Paul describes the tension between his intentions and his actions—he wants to do what is right but often ends up doing what he hates. That struggle is one we all know. The irony is that we cannot truly develop self-control by relying on ourselves. Only God can put to death those desires that have the potential to enslave us and help us cultivate lives in which we grow in the fruit of the Spirit.

Episode Description

Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide.

Over the past year, we’ve been learning what it means to cultivate lives that bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and finally, self-control.

Self-control is about mastery over our own desires. It’s the strength to say “yes” when everything in us wants to say “no” and to say “no” when our impulses push us toward “yes.” In Romans 7, Paul describes the tension between his intentions and his actions—he wants to do what is right but often ends up doing what he hates. That struggle is one we all know. The irony is that we cannot truly develop self-control by relying on ourselves. Only God can put to death those desires that have the potential to enslave us and help us cultivate lives in which we grow in the fruit of the Spirit.