Video Transcript: Letting Go of Controlling

So as we grow in developing a great attitude, we've noticed, we own things that  is we own the salvation it's ours, and we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we walk  in a new life, we are filled with the hope of the resurrection. And then it's about  losing things putting to death that the sinful nature. It's about losing grudges, you know, set people free, forgive them that lifestyle, but it's also about losing  control. That is the controlling nature of how we can live our lives in the flesh  that is in our own seeking our own destiny in our own way. So we read about  things in the Bible, such as the controlling nature of worry. So we read in Luke  12:22, than Jesus said to His disciples, therefore, I tell you do not worry about  your life, what you will eat or your body what you will wear, who of you by  worrying can add a single hour to your life, since you cannot do this very little  thing? Why do you worry about the rest. So losing that controlling nature now, I  want to win in English controlling, has sort of a has that idea where you have to  be in charge of everything. And if you're not in charge of everything, you feel  inadequate. The fact is, is you can't be in charge of everything. There's too  many variables, but know that the Lord is with you. So you don't have to control  everything. Worry about everything. Let the days come and go and know that  back to trust, the providence of God, that God has got this, but God is a shirt  and I have seen God has got this. But there's different forms of that controlling,  you have to take it to yourself nature that hurts a great attitude. Another is the  controlling nature of authority. We hear in the birth of Jesus, one of the stories  about King Herod, we can you heard heard this that is that there was going to  be a new king born and the Magi announced this. He was disturbed, and all of  Israel with him. I've read a lot about King Herod because Josephus writes about  King Herod is fascinating. How authority gripped his consciousness and his will.  And he had to control it to the point of putting his wife, Mariamne to death, and  even other sons and he had just this wicked authority complex. A lot of times  people call that today narcissism, I tell you that you can't have a great attitude  about things if you're a narcissist. If it's up to you all about you, you and you  alone. You will not have a great, great attitude, oh, you'll have a phony positive  attitude to some where we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that we're do that it  could be misinterpreted. But deep down, you won't have this winsome attitude  by which people want to get close to you as a friend and a brother and a  minister, an active Christian, because they will always know that you have an  angle. The controlling nature of envy James 4:5-6, or do you think Scripture  says about reason that the Spirit, he causes to live in us envies intensely, but he gives us more grace. That's why scripture says God opposes the proud, but  gives grace to the humble. If you're a person who is looking to others, and  comparing your life to their lives, so that you can get a better deal or it could be  money, it could be a family situation, you know, that parent favors that child over  me and it's always the way it is or that person got that privilege. And I didn't get  that privilege on we have so much right now with identity, politics and, you know,

the Marxist agenda that basically is trying to compare this situation to that  situation, when God gives us our situations in life, but all of a sudden, what we  see in the world today is this, this situation so that that group is disenfranchised,  so that group doesn't get this advantage, and so forth. So it's creating a lot of  unhappiness and, and rioting and stuff like that, in, in. I'm a philosopher. So I  understand what Marxism is about. It's it's an envy based philosophy. The  controlling nature of greed, in their greed, these teachers will exploit you with  stories they have made up, their condemnation has been long hanging over  them, and their destruction has not been sleeping, so in their greed. So I talked  about Marxism, but capital ism, will do the same thing. It will basically in some  who are in control of great wealth, and they exploit people. That too, is not  glorifying God. So as Christians, we're not like capitalists, or Marxist. We love  that we're image bearers of God and each image bearer is unique. And, you  know, a, a market that allows people to express themselves without having  control over someone's image bearing capabilities is desirable. But we must  always be careful, that our identity, our hope, our everything is in Jesus Christ,  and that there is no political system. There is no envy, greed is not going to  ultimately find us happiness, that our hope is in Jesus Christ. Now, I will tell you,  we live in a world where there's a lot of trouble. And we're called to be active  Christians and minister to the prayer of serenity is a beautiful prayer, written by  Reinhold Niebuhr. It talks about being used by God, to make a difference in the  world. God give me the grace. There's a mini course by Steve Elzinga on the  prayer of serenity. And I highly recommend that if you haven't taken it, to take it  to understand how to pray that prayer of serenity, even more meaningful as you  walk in the life of knowing what you can change and what you cannot change.  Give me the grace. Hebrews 13:5, keep me free from the love of money and be  content in what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you, and  never will I forsake you. Contentment is the worldview that glorifies God, he has  you in the place you are called to be, and do what you can to glorify God as an  image bearer. Don't compare yourself to others. That's a trap. And if God has  given you wealth, you are a steward. So to say that my wealth is mine, it's not  yours. Jesus once talked to someone who wanted to follow him, he was of great wealth and Jesus said, Sell all you have and give to the poor. It was not forced,  it was not a communist answer. To deal with class warfare and everything like  that, it was Jesus asking voluntarily, if you've been given much, give to the poor.  So when it comes to the truth of our lives, it comes to letting go of controlling but also live fully controlled by the Spirit. That Galatians 6, the fruit of the Spirit love  joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control becomes your  operating system. Then the fruit of that doesn't over control thing. In a lot of  ways I'm conclude by saying, maybe that's a better way to think over control,  where your identity is all about your control. Again, I'm not talking about  leadership, because leadership may have an aspect of, you know, you aren't 

controlling? Yes you are. You to take responsibility you are exerting influence  you are, but over control is that that's where it becomes a spiritual thing where it  affects your attitude, where it affects your life, where you start making choices  where you win you are the star of every story or the victim of every sad story,  you are the one that's the center of your world and you position yourself to be  the center of everybody else's world. That is what is meant by this over  controlling where you have elevated you're so entitled, that it affects your  attitude, instead of an Attitude of Gratitude is the attitude of comparison. So let  go of that over controlling and make God through the power of the Holy Spirit  and His Word. Shape your life as an image bearer. To see the wonder of it all to  see your role in that beautiful wonder