Living A Disciplined Life Towards God

I listened to a testimony yesterday of a woman named, her name is Darlene Diebler-Rose. I encourage you guys to listen to it, it's a testimony of a woman who was in, as a missionary into China and she said something that was very interesting. She said you would never have thought that it was actually three months after they had bombed Pearl Harbor and the Americans said, you know, it's just after that, but three months later that Japan, the small little country of Japan, had come and taken over China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, small little country of Japan took over all those countries and they became a prisoner of war and I encourage you to listen to her testimony because she was a young missionary that had been sent by the Lord to this nation when she was ten years old. She was sitting in the church pew in the back listening to the message of the gospel and she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around and nobody was there and she knew it was the Lord and the Lord spoke to her and said, are you willing to go where I send you no matter what the cost? At ten years old, she gave her life to Jesus and she said, I'm willing to go at whatever the cost and you know what, when the cost that she experienced and the suffering that she endured was very great, but you know, the Lord, what was so convicting about this sister's testimony was that, you know, when she was going to be tortured or she was going to go and go through the things that she would ask the Lord, Lord, why are you allowing me to go through this? Like, have I not been through enough and the Lord would always speak to her, my dear, the discipline of the Lord, he disciplines those whom he loves and it would give her courage and faith and I thought, man, what an encouraging verse or a difficult verse to hear at such a time when you're going to be tortured and she would hear that verse, the Lord disciplines his children and I thought, man, that's amazing that the Lord would take them through such difficult times and she didn't receive it as a frustrating word. Sometimes we don't like hearing the word, the Lord disciplines those that he loves. We don't like it. We don't like it when the Lord disciplines us and this woman cheerfully accepted the discipline of the Lord in that situation and the Lord sometimes, when he looks at his children, when I was a parent and I look at my children, I want them to have like discipline in their life, like not discipline like in a sense where I'm disciplining them, but them themselves to have discipline, where they can make good decisions, where they can actually be responsible for the things that I ask them to do, that when you ask them to do things, they would be obedient and in the same way, I think the Lord asks that for us. He wants us to be disciplined individuals. Some of us are very undisciplined. In fact, Paul warns Timothy to not hang out with certain brothers because of their undisciplined manner. They're not disciplined. They do whatever they want, however they want, they speak whatever they want, they just in their minds think that they're doing just fine, but they don't live a disciplined life. You meet a brother who leads, or a sister who leads a disciplined life, it's convicting. It's convicting watching them because they do the same thing, they do the same thing over and over and over again. It's routine, but they're thorough and they don't grumble about it. One of the greatest lessons we can learn of learning to have a disciplined life is to be a parent, whether you're a mother or a father, you have to get up, you have to raise your children, you have to take care of them. You have to make sure that they're doing the things that they're supposed to be doing and it doesn't ever end. It never stops. You have to continually do it, even with a joyful attitude, which is even more difficult. My wife, we had a baby boy this past week and a half, it was exciting, but I got to stay home during those days with our other four kids. And I tell you, it was a challenge. It was very difficult. You had to be up early and it never ended until you went to bed at night. It was nonstop. I grew to appreciate mothers very much, but it doesn't mean that we're doing a great job as a mother. It doesn't mean that we're being exceptional at the things that we're doing. Just because we have the task and the responsibility doesn't mean that we're being the best at it that we should be. There's always room to grow. We have to continually search ourselves and look inward. David shared about the marathon runner who runs and he wears as little as possible. But you know what also he does, which is even more nowadays that you would hear in athletics or professional sports, is they study the composition of the body. They change your diet. They want to eliminate as much muscle mass or fat off the body as possible. They want to make you as thin so that you are at your optimal performance. So not only are they wearing the thinnest clothes or the smallest shoes and they're running the race, we're supposed to cast off every external hindrance, but there's also internal hindrances that we need to cut off. For external marathon runner, they will change their diet where they will eat only enough that they need to be able to endure the amount of calories that they're going to burn for the entire race. A basketball player will do the exact same thing. A football player, they will eat what has been assigned by their professional cook who they've hired and they will eat the exact calories that they're supposed to eat. They will only eat chicken and vegetables. That's all they'll eat. They'll eat nothing else. No carbohydrates, nothing. But they will cast off every internal hindrance so that they can run that race that's before them. And we too have an internal hindrance. We have things in our lives that keep us from running that race. One of it is stubbornness. One of it is rebellion. One of this is not being submissive. Being submissive to the Lord, to a brother, to your husband, to your children, being submissive to your parents. These are all hindrances that keep us from doing the will of God. This was the number one sin, unsubmissiveness, it shows the pride that's in our heart. And pride only gets revealed when you get called out on something. Whenever somebody would call me out, I'm quick to defend myself, but this, but that, but this, but that, it obviously reveals that there's something going on in your life that shows pride. If you truly were humble and submissive, you would gladly accept the instruction. Yesterday I had my teeth cleaned, and I thought I've been doing a great job. You know, the hygienist, well, he has this cool little potion that he puts on your teeth that shows you all the plaque and tartar that are there. Well, I'm sorry to say he showed me the mirror after he put it on my teeth, and just brushed my teeth. And he looked at it, and he showed me, and it was absolutely gross. And I thought, man, I brush my teeth all the time. He says, it's not about how you brush your teeth or how much you do it, it's how efficient are you at it? And you know what? At first I was defending myself, but then I realized I need to receive this instruction because clearly if I look in the mirror, if I look in the mirror, I can see that my life does not line up with the way that I'm supposed to be brushing my teeth. It was gross. It was absolutely disgusting. He cleaned my teeth. He showed me again. Man, I was so happy to see my teeth again. You know, but we do this, we are supposed to be looking at the Word of God as in a mirror. We are beholding the Lord as in a mirror. He's looking at our lives. We're looking at his life, and we're saying, does my life line up with him? I was thinking today, I said, Lord, how are you so submissive? And you know, you read about his disciples, and I'm like, how were your disciples submissive to you? Did they always do the things that you asked them to? He would. When they would ask him to do certain things, they would do it. They would go out and do it. But sometimes they wouldn't. He would say, you foolish, he wouldn't call them foolish, but he said, you hard-hearted disciples. Have I not shown you this already? How many times do I have to continually show you this exact same thing before you're going to learn the thing that I'm trying to teach you? Oh, foolish, you're slow of faith, or, you know, you have so much unbelief in your life. How do you not trust me in these situations? So many times the Lord brings them through those situations. We need to look inward and say to ourselves, Lord, how have I done this? I looked at Jesus' example. He worked for 30 years. I said, Lord, how are you submissive? He's submissive to his dad and his brothers. And you know what? I think when he worked, he worked hard. He didn't just stand around with the boys and chat. He worked for 30 years, so much that when he went to get baptized and he came out of the water, he said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. It says nothing of his life, but God was watching him in the way that he ran his life. He was a disciplined man. He would probably get up early. He would probably sweep the floor, clean the shop. He would probably do the work that needed to be done. He was a testimony, even to his brothers. He was a witness. He never got angry, never got upset, but he slowly, daily, daily, every single day, he never sinned. He didn't grumble and complain about the work. He probably didn't grumble and complain at his dad for the tasks that he probably did. And he probably got picked on by his brothers and said, hey, brothers, go do this measly task. Brother, go do this measly task. And every day he did that measly task and he didn't sin in the matter. He was thankful. He just did it as unto his Heavenly Father. I read a verse this morning that says, when you do your work, do your work heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men. And you know what? When you do your work as unto the Lord, the Lord is going to help you to do the right thing in every situation, especially even as a parent. Parents, do your work as unto the Lord and not unto men. I am raising these children as unto the Lord and not unto men. I'm not doing it to please men. I don't want to cause my kids to look so good outwardly, but inwardly, I shared this last week that inwardly they're missing something in their life spiritually, but it is my job as a parent to raise them in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. It's my job. That's what the Bible says. Fathers, train up your children in the way they should go. Raise them in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. Teach them the right thing to do in the same way the Lord is continually doing that with us. I remember when I first came here to the fellowship, I was a very undisciplined man. I had lots of jobs. I quit lots of jobs. I just went from job to job. You know what? I'd been at the church for a number of months and the Lord said, you need to work, Dan. You need to get a job. I owed $25,000. I said, okay, Lord, I pray that you will give me a job. You know what? The Lord, the next morning, I got a phone call from somebody. They found my resume in the back of their pile and they said, Dan, are you looking for work? It was at eight o'clock in the morning. I said, I am looking for work. He said, come in and I'll give you a job. I went in and I got that job. Every single day, I wanted to rebel against my boss. My boss was a hard man. He was this tall, super strong. He literally picked me up and pushed me up above his head. He was 62 years old. They called him Jack in the Back. He was a very angry man. He was, but he taught me one thing about discipline. I remember one day I was complaining to the Lord, Lord, the guy is so hard on me. He's always doing these things. Randy would encourage me and he would say, brother, you need to submit and yield yourself to that. You need to yield yourself. You need to meet the standard that he asks you to. Every single day, I would do the things that he asked me to do and it really bothered me. It was really hard on me. I remember I went home that night and I had a dream and in the dream, the Lord had showed me my land, my spiritual land, my heart, my heart that was not good. There were so many rough places and this man, his name was Jack, he was there and he was cleaning that whole land and the Lord showed me specifically, clearly says, Dan, I am trying to clean up your rough edges. I am trying to change you. You can either submit to it and allow yourself to be changed and molded in this area or, or you can continue to be the same person that you've always been. And I yielded myself to him and I just did the things that he asked me to. I didn't get caught up with all the chatter and conversation with the people. No, I didn't do that. I just did the things that he asked me to do and so much over time, he actually put me in charge of the warehouse. He put me in charge of the back. He put me in charge of everything and I asked him why at the end of the year and I said, sir, why have you done this? He says, because you always do the things that I ask. And I thought, man, that's, that's amazing. And I wept and I said, Lord, thank you that you're doing something in my life. All those difficult things that was teaching me to lead a disciplined life, all those things that were leading me to teach me to lead a disciplined life, he was using it for my good. He was using it to train me in righteousness, to teach me to walk in a manner that's pleasing to him. I want to read this one verse in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 14. The title of the section to me says an unashamed workman. This can be spiritual. We have to be an unashamed workman where we cast off the external hindrances, the things that distract us from the Lord, but also the internal things. Our spiritual diet, our spiritual diet, what comes out of the heart is revealed in the things that we're chasing. It says this, that if you love money, you're going to constantly be thinking about money. If you love anything else, you're going to constantly be thinking about, you can ask yourself this question. How do I measure my spiritual diet? What's the number one thing that I think of during the day? Am I thinking about the Lord? That should be our number one thing. It says this, verse 14, remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God, not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of hearers. We can argue about words and things like that. You know what guys, stay out of those arguments, stay out of those conversations. It's not going to lead to anything. Look what happens. It says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. This is a spiritual diet in a sense here where we do not sit, we have gossip, we have chatter, we have these things. We sit nicely, we do these things and we avoid, verse 16, avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness. Worldly and empty chatter will lead to ungodliness in our lives. We want to engage in those things. Those things are not going to produce life in our hearts. We need to produce and lead a disciplined life. I want to read one more verse here. Verse 22, it says, flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, and love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. This is how we can cleanse and change our spiritual diet. We can flee from youthful lusts. We can pursue righteousness, faith, love. You would think that he would say pursue love first, then pursue faith. No, he says first pursue righteousness. That should lead to true love. We know the progression in 2 Peter 2, it says, add to your faith virtue. You know that the end of all of those things that they add to their life, the end of it is true godly love. Some of us say, I need to show love to people, I need to show love to people, but true love does not come unless you have a godly life. Unless you have a life that's pleasing to the Lord, then you will have godly love. I remember in the times past, I would show love to people, but it wasn't godly love because it brought no conviction. No, when I set myself apart and I said, you know what Lord, I'm going to do the things that you asked me to do, I'm going to be diligent to present myself as a workman unto God, you know what would happen? The people who actually were very curious about the way that I was living would come to me and ask me those questions. You didn't have to conform to the world, no, you had to be separate to the world and those people who wanted to be changed, they would come out from the world and they would want to ask you, why? What is the hope that you have? Why are you a Christian? Why do you do and act the way that you do? Let your light shine before men that they may see your good what? Your good speech? Your good faith? No, your good works that they might see and glorify God and say, man, that guy continually day in and day out is a faithful brother. That mother is a faithful sister. I was at work yesterday, I went in to clean up a little bit, you know what, there's a sister in the back, her name is Tamara, she's been running the front counter for me while I've been away. I went into that front counter area, I'm telling you, I was so happy. It was so clean, it was so organized, I'm not trying to puff you up, I'm just trying to say that I was grateful for what I saw. That's a testimony of faithfulness. When we see that, when you see that, that's a good testimony, that's the testimony that we want to have with people, guys. We want to have a disciplined life. People look at us and say, there is a testimony of that man. You know, there's a testimony, I'll talk about the teeth cleaner one last time. I asked him, can you book me another appointment, please? He said, sure. The next available appointment for you is on July 14th. I said, July 14th? I said, it's December 11th. Like, I don't understand, you're six months out. Yes, unfortunately. Why do you think people want to go and see that teeth cleaner? Why? Because he's faithful. He does a good job. After I leave there, I feel like my mouth has experienced the greatest massage ever. I was like, man, I'm so happy. I just want to smile. It's true. This is how we want to be a testimony, guys. Whether it be in the workplace, whether it be our spiritual life, whether you're at home with your kids, people can look at you and say, man, that sister, she continually, day in, day out, lays down her life for her children and for those around her. That's just how you build a godly life. That is how you cast off every weight and hindrance, and that is how we grow spiritually and be a witness and a testimony to those around us. And then people will ask us, what makes you different than them? And I'm going to ask you to leave this question with you. You ask yourself, what makes you any different from the unbeliever? I want you to ask yourself that. Are you the exact same than them, or are you different? If there's something different about you, then know for certain that the world will not accept you. The world will not accept you. If the world accepts you, then you need to ask yourself, man, am I really different than the world?