(Om Orientation) Discipline - Part 2 — Jonathan McRostie

Discipline in Speech and Conversation

I can begin talking with someone else about this and saying, can you give me some help on this? I can't figure out just where to use so-and-so and bing bing bing bing bing. Here's so many things wrong with him.

This is how Satan gets in. Just with the tongue. Tearing us down, but I think there's another area that's even greater and that's foolish talking and worthless talking. Talking about so many things that that means so little in the light of eternity.

And I think every one of us Stand condemned this morning. I certainly do for the many times that I've said words that have had no problem. It hasn't edified someone else. It hasn't been a loving encouragement to another brother.

It hasn't been perhaps an exhortation or rebuke in the spirit of love to another person. But it's just been about nothing. We mention it and then we mention it 15 more times. When once would have been enough oh how easy it is just to get occupied with Trivialities while we can find ourselves talking all day long just about the food and planning menus.

Instead about the Lord and we get to mealtime and we joke and we banter and we do everything else. But really talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it? It's so difficult. Oh Yes in a service we talk about the Lord.

But why is it then when we eat it's so hard to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it when we're out working? We don't seem to want to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ so much and I knew this back in Bible school I've talked with some fellows and they said we're afraid to talk about spiritual things because they'll blame us as a Holy Joe and a hypocrite in a Bible school in the United States, I Heard them say this.

How tragic it is? When we as Christians can't get together and talk about the thing that is to mean the most in our lives. Oh Yes, we can get together and especially around here. We can talk to vehicles can't.

Why we can talk about vans and motors and problems that come up with vehicles. We can talk about that all day long. But it's another thing just to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of just vehicles.

Or we can talk about the tent and think of how we praise God for the way he supplied it. But then we can spend the next half hour Talking about this tent and just how it should be When it's already up and It should be done and over with.

In other words things which really don't count for eternity. Oh May God search our hearts. May God control our tongues. This is discipline a tongue that speaks to the praise of his glory a Tongue that edifies let your speech be seasoned with salt.

Does your speech edify one another. Tell me or rather. Let's tell God or ask ourselves. Has everything we've said in the last two days Really been to the glory of God every word. We've uttered has it really been for some real purpose or.

Has it been foolish talking? Or senseless chatter. James says that if you control the tongue you control the body. And if you can control your tongue by God's power, you're doing something that mankind cannot do.

You're doing something that's far greater because mankind can control in so many ways nature. Man has taken the powers of nature. They've taken the atomic power and they can they don't always do it but they can use it for good purposes and they can take it and harness it and Control it, but they can't control the tongue.

Discipline of the Body and Its Desires

Therefore. Let us yield our tongues as members of righteousness Unto God as we are commanded to do so in Romans 6. Well, there are other areas to talk about the body the natural desires of our body. In all how we need to have this under the control of the Spirit of God the desire for food.

It's a good one, isn't it? But how we need to have it controlled so that we try to eat what's good for us. So we try to drink what's good for us. So that we eat and drink to the glory of God so that our bodies might be the strongest possible.

Some of us especially those of us who sit behind a desk need to exercise. I'll be frank. I don't like doing push-ups. I don't like doing setups. But it's good for me in all how I need to discipline myself to exercise my body.

I Went out for a bicycle ride about a week ago. I came back pooped legs are weak. Of course, I was cycling with someone that used to be a cyclist that didn't help matters, but he said a pretty good pace.

Well, maybe it wasn't too fast. It was for me when I hadn't been on a bicycle for some time. But all how we let our bodies just get out of shape. We let our bodies just go to pot and yet they're the temple of the Holy Spirit of God.

And we are not our own this body isn't ours. That means my little finger is to be God. It means my hair is to be God and it's to be treated. Of course, we could talk about our sexual desires, too. And probably this is one of the realms where Satan hits Christians harder than the other.

We all know it don't we? The desire for a wife or the desire for a husband. It's in us all. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. I've said this sometimes in a joking way and yet I think there's a lot of truth in it.

Fellas are good and girls are good. But when you get them together. Unless they're brought together by God and only then. Does it become something that's really of glory to God when God brings two together and Unites them in Jesus Christ and they're meant for each other.

Then it becomes a great thing and a wonderful thing speaking not from personal experience but from observation of other Christians and I've lived in enough homes with married couples to know that unless God gives me a wife Who has only one passion and that's for Jesus Christ, well, I don't want to be married.

Because it isn't too happy a scene in a lot of homes. It's just heartache and grief and I've met too many people that have come from broken homes or unhappy homes. And I see the problems it's caused and I tell you just to show you what it's like here in Britain of the 30 or so.

Who have been working here at Chigwell? I don't think there's more than three or four that have a full Christian home of both the mother and dad who are Christians. All the rest either one is dead or they're divorced or they don't even know where they are or they're not Christians or they hate them.

Chaos, we can't afford it. And if you read the history of missions and if you if you read about Christian workers, you know how many times whole works of God have just been plowed under. Because of sex because of lust and I'm speaking because I believe this is a real danger.

In each one of our lives take heed less ye fall. That's why God says not only pray but watch and pray. And I'd like to give an illustration from Scripture and the man is Joseph. I was really struck by this if you remember the story of Joseph when he was working for Potiphar.

You remember how he was tempted by Potiphar's wife? To commit immorality and you remember how he didn't fall but he fled from her presence but before that she had tried to tempt Joseph before and She had tried to rule him to commit fornication and He refused and we read a little phrase.

Over in let me read it for you. It's in Genesis Chapter 39 verse 10. Now notice this and it came to pass as she that's Potiphar's wife spake to Joseph day by day that he hearkened not unto her and to hearken means to hear and do he hearkened not unto her to lie by her or to be with her and he refused even to be in her presence and I believe that's the reason he had the victory of a while later.

When he was caught unawares and it was something he couldn't help. He was in her presence and he couldn't help it. But then was the time that he fled. But you see if you give in a little bit if you give in a little bit in the realm of thought.

You're gonna fall sooner or later in action, and that's the way it works. Satan gets you to do it first in your mind and then you do it in action. But you see Joseph took the steps before and he refused to be caught in her presence.

And then when the great crisis came he was able to get out of there. There are some times when the Bible says we're to stand and resist the devil. But boy, there's a lot of times when it says to just get running and get out of it.

And I don't mean as some people have said some men run from temptation hoping it's going to catch up with them. And you know that happens a lot we run but we still have that secret desire. Hurry up and catch up with me.

No, but to flee. Oh. If we would have that same zeal that Dave Prosser had for planting corn and in getting those crops if we'd have that same zeal for a holy life and for a pure mind and to be other utterly rid of Sin in our lives and to flee temptation.

We have the promise that no temptation has taken us but such as is common to everybody else. But God is faithful. He'll first not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation.

Also made make a way to escape. You know, I found that sometimes I just don't want to take the way of escape and That's why I may fall. Simply I know the way of escape is there. But it's because I don't want to take it.

You see we actually do like to sin. No. It's our nature to desire. That's why the mind and the attitude needs to be renewed in In change from ourselves to God from the world to Jesus Christ. And so we need to have bodies that are disciplined.

Discipline of Time, Study, Prayer, and Self-Denial

The other thing I found that Discipline in one area helps you discipline in another area. I Haven't talked much about time. This is probably the greatest killer disciplining our time using it redeeming the time for the days are evil.

We've heard a lot about it, but we do so little really. To put it into practice. But I've found that if I'm disciplined and do some exercises, it helps me discipline myself to use my time better. And if I discipline my time it helps me to be more disciplined in prayer more disciplined in the study of the word.

And if I discipline myself to study the word it helps me to be more disciplined in prayer. It helps me to be more disciplined in time more disciplined in my own Bodily desires in natural appetites. And I think we'll find that if we're disciplined in the realm of food.

It'll help us to be disciplined in the realm of sex and if we're disciplined in the realm of sex. It'll help us be disciplined in other realms. You see they all get tied in together. And so even if it's a little thing I suggested to our group here one day last week something that came to me that during this day.

Choose something that you know is good, but you don't want to do it and do it. Something that perhaps you don't ordinarily do but you know, it's a good thing. But do it just for the sake of discipline not something that's just kind of neutral with something that you know is good.

And on the other hand don't do something that you know really isn't the best for you. Even though you like to do it and I think it helps be disciplined our whole lives wholly disciplined or controlled by God himself then there's the discipline of actions.

And of course this could be amplified. I've mentioned so I mentioned study study to show thyself approved unto God give all diligence. We're to meditate upon the Word of God day and night. And it's a discipline if you wait until you have just a great Desire to go and study the Word of God.

You probably won't get in it too much. Praise God He does give us that hunger and thirst doesn't it? But sometimes you know, we have to go because we know it's good for us and as we study then our thirst and our hunger is Built up.

It's that way with eating. Sometimes perhaps you don't feel like eating probably not very often. But yet you eat anyway, because you know, you need it. It's good for you. There's the discipline of prayer.

This is a lot of it a lot of times. We don't pray because of an undisciplined life. We know we should pray. We know we should get alone with God. But somehow well, there's people to see there's decisions to be made there's little items to take care of.

And people have told me that instead of staying in my office I should go off and feel where people can't reach me, but I insist on stay in the office and therefore I get a lot of interruptions. It's just this is not common sense.

It's not discipline. Sometimes you have to just walk out of everything and get clear way. Then people can't call you then if the phone rings and it's the Queen of England. You can't answer it because they don't know where you are.

And it's a help to get clear away from it, this is what I mean. This is perhaps what you need. You just have to walk completely out of it and discipline your life to get along with God. Denial of self.

This is another thing. We have some desire. We realize it's selfish deny it cut it out. Even though perhaps it's not really so bad after all. There's a lot of things that I wish I could get kind of a group of men together.

I'd like to call. I really would like to have tiny snow and Dave hunt come up here for all the drivers and boy I'd love to give them turn them loose for about two hours and tell you how you should be disciplined as a driver on OM.

I'd love For us to take a long time just to discuss how we can be practical after all. What good is a great time of worship with God if it isn't evidenced in our daily lives? What good is meeting together before God and having a great sense of his presence?

If it never makes any difference in the way we live. And so we need to be disciplined. We need to every morning before you go out and drive a van. You need to check the water in the oil and I'm so ignorant.

I don't I don't know what all you're supposed to check. That's why I need to be disciplined. That's why I get other people to drive because I know I'm not that good a driver myself how we need to to use our heads In these little things.

Let me just quote some examples. We have a car over in shot, too. We hope that it might be repaired. But somebody left the water in it over the winter. It's got a cracked block and needs a new engine now.

It's not another example here. There's a comer down there now. We're hoping that we can get it fixed, but somebody left water there and it cracked the block slightly. There are other times when engines get blown up because somebody doesn't think and they aren't disciplined in the way they drive.

Other times perhaps an accident occurs. No, I had one last summer. And it was simply because I was careless. I Came out of the road Avenue Dali good you that were in shot, too. And I thought the fellow was going to go straight, but he turned.

And I didn't wait to see far enough. And so I smacked up his front door. See, it's just a little thing like that. Another time I remember tell you all my accidents. You never want me to drive again. When I was out in Montana, well, I was on the way to Montana.

And I was driving is about midnight. I'd had about two hours sleep the night before about four the night before that. And I went to sleep cost me $100 about 30 pounds because I knocked the windshield out hit a mailbox.

Don't know where the mailbox went. If I had been sensible I would have turned it over a lot sooner than that to someone who was awake. And I remember driving up from Spain. You see God's been to teach me this lesson.

I don't drive when you're sleepy. It's worse than driving when you're drunk and I was sleepy. So I said I can't drive someone else drove a little bit and they were sleepy and all of us were sleepy. And so I went to sleep stayed by the side of the road and then when we were awake enough then we went on.

And it's a lot smarter than having about six dead bodies in the ditch. And I was telling some people just think just think of what people would think of OM and all our transport system. If one of those vans cracked up and you had about 15 people who are wounded and dying along the highway.

I Can't think of any faster way to see OM will right out the window. And to see a van crack up like that. Now fortunately if you hit a little car with a van the van doesn't get hurt quite so much. But you can get into real trouble with whoever's in the other little car, but it's actually just discipline.

Always obeying the orders given to you. If you're told not to drive over 40 miles per hour. Don't drive over 40 miles per hour and obeying the speed limits if it says 20 miles per hour. Then go 20 miles per hour.

If it says don't pass don't pass and if it's raining again extra precaution discipline in driving. Now for you that ride in the back of the van, of course, you need to be disciplined, too. And not always keep bothering the driver now.

It's good to have one person to keep the driver awake, but if everybody's chattering and you know another thing. It's good not to jump around in the back of the van. Somebody shared with me that one of the vans down there.

What all's wrong with it Lou? Give us the word. This is important. It's inside. In other words the whole inside is is quite a quite a quite a mess. And I think it's not only on the seats that we put in not only the top part.

Not only the top boards are broken. But some of the the two by two inch beams that we put in to hold up the seats were broken. I don't know what somebody was doing. I Haven't seen any people that heavy here yet, but discipline.

It's so easy to treat God's property as nobody's property and so we don't take care of it. Oh that's an OM van so far and So we we don't take care of it and we waste God's money. We probably spend more money in OM on Correcting mistakes that have been made then we do feeding the whole lot.

Sometimes I wonder I think we pay more money on vans. Just correcting careless mistakes that have been made then we paid for the vans to begin with. Because we're not disciplined and we don't know what how to do as we're told.

There's so many little things. I would say this learn to be neat learn to pick up after yourself. And learn to pick up after other people too. You know if everybody took it upon their responsibility to pick up stray paper that was around you'd have a clean campground.

Instead of walking down and seeing everything in a big mess. If everybody took it upon themselves not only take their own plates, but any other plates they saw laying around. You wouldn't see anything around the campground.

But you go in the registration office and see three cups of coffee. You can go another place and you see a plate. You can see rubbish here and rubbish there now, fortunately most people putting in the boxes now.

But it's so easy just to think well, it doesn't matter these things aren't important. But it is. I tell you you live in a van for a month and you live sloppily and you just see what it's like to live in that.

Some of these vans after one night. It's like a pig pen. Now we're trying to take some steps to correct this and some good healthy reminders. But all how we need to be disciplined just in the everyday realm of these things.

Little things well, there's other things that we'll be learning as we go along. But if we've been told once let's learn it. Let's not have to learn the same lesson 50 dozen times. That's the tragedy. If you make one mistake and confess it and learn from it that shows wisdom the boy if you make it the same mistake another.

Five times then we begin to wonder what's happened. You begin to wonder what's happened to us either the teachers bad or the pupils bad one of the two. Speaking about the mind. Maybe we should say it's good to have a mind to work.

Hard Work, Perseverance, and Purpose in Ministry

You know, the scripture is full of this this discipline of working. Some of you have never done door-to-door work. I Want to tell you it's hard. I have to confess that it it wasn't much fun going door-to-door in Mexico with only 20 phrases.

And in my broken Spanish, you know, they gave me some argument. All I could do was come out and was repeat my little my few phrases again, and it was hard. It got hot and the book bag got heavy as George mentioned yesterday.

Very heavy and a lot of times people didn't sell didn't didn't buy and many times. Oh, they just weren't too friendly. Sometimes they tore a track right up in your face. It wasn't it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Wasn't pleasant at all is just plain old hard work boy. I tell you that's when you begin to find out if you're steadfast or not. Then you find out whether you've been blessed with the perseverance or not.

After 50 doors turn you down to go to the 51st one. And keep going we read about the people the children of Israel in Moses day when they built the tabernacle that they had a mind to work and in Nehemiah's day, the people had a mind to work and Tremendous things were accomplished.

They had more than enough. It's the first time I've ever heard of an offering being given where they had to give it back to the people. But when the people gave for the tabernacle because they had such a mind to work in a mind to give they had too much.

And they had to give it back. You ever heard of that today. No a mind to work this is what we need. God says let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. Working with his hands why that he may give to those that don't have and this is the whole purpose of working.

Whether it's in a secular job or a so-called sacred job. Is that we might give to others either? Maybe we're giving directly of our work or we work and we give directly of what we make from our work.

But that's how we need to do. It's for a purpose. You see this brings me to another point that I feel is so important is discipline in purpose. Because if there's no overall purpose, how can you have discipline?

If we have this great purpose of glorifying Christ, then this affects everything we do and we can be disciplined. But but why be disciplined if life doesn't matter if I have nothing to live for well. Why should I mess around exercising my body?

Let me sit in the chair and die there. It doesn't make any difference unless there's a real purpose there's no point for discipline. But when we've got a purpose such as we have in Jesus Christ. There's all Every reason in eternity to live discipline.

And this is what we need. Discipline of purpose think of Jesus Christ. We read in Isaiah that he set his face like a pin. We read that he set his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. Now don't tell me that he really felt like going to the cross.

We don't go by feelings. But he went because he loved because he knew this was right. And he had this great purpose and he accomplished it. We too have a great purpose. And how we need to discipline our bodies our minds our thoughts.

Every imagination all that we have we need to discipline. Towards this great purpose of first knowing Christ himself in our own lives. Pleasing him and making him known to the ends of the earth as he's commanded us.

You see there's a purpose for discipline. It's not just to go out saying I'm a disciplined one. No. But is that we might accomplish the purpose and if we aren't disciplined. We're not going to see the purpose accomplished this summer.

If we aren't disciplined in the back of vans. We're gonna have chaos and you won't get the job done. Instead of seeing 250 tons of literature be given forth. You'll see a hundred tons of it wrecked in the back of vans.

Tramped on and torn up and getting dirty and thrown in mud puddles and hundreds of pounds worth of literature just thrown down the drain. Because we don't know how to take care of literature. It wasn't quite so bad last year was just tracks, but when you come with two books they cost a little more money.

Or how we need to be disciplined in the way we treat literature. Instead of taking a book and just dumping it up like this on a table. We fold it and take good care of it. Now you're looking at my Bible.

It's a poor binding and used for two or three years now. So it's beginning to wear out but how we need to treat with respect books. In my family, I was brought up right from the ground up to to treat a book with great respect not to worship it.

But to treat it as something valuable. My parents didn't have enough money just go out and buy me a new copy of the book every time. And we were to take care of it and take good care. And oh, I pray that God will give you a real vision for learning how to take care of literature this summer.

Because it's the Word of God. It's the message of God and it needs to be treated right and preserved so that might reach hungry hearts. We have a real discipline and purpose will have a discipline and perseverance then that we might reach that purpose.

Therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast Unmovable always Abounding in the work of the Lord. Why. Because you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. See there's your purpose. Therefore be steadfast unmovable always about Discipline and perseverance.

All this is so important I tell you this is I think of all the truth. Maybe I shouldn't say of all but one of the greatest truths that keeps me going is This matter of don't give up. Don't be a quitter put your hand to the plow and don't look back.

But keep on whether you feel like it or not. When the problems come and you wonder well how everything's gonna work out don't give up but keep going on and I believe That God wants us to be persevering saints.

Five Vows for Practical Spiritual Discipline

Yes, we have all the promises of God at our disposal. But we need to act upon them and trust them, but we need to take heed and watch at the same time lest we fall. I'd like to close with five vows that Were written by a W toes it.

I Don't know if they tie in exactly with discipline, but I think they do. He says these are five vows that will really Make your spiritual life something in the practical realm. I Like to read them. The first one he says is deal thoroughly with sin for undisciplined.

It's sin deal thoroughly with sin Confess it. The next one is never own anything. If all that we have is God and we don't own it and if something happens to it, how can we get upset? It's not ours. It's God.

And how can we take care of what we wear better than we take care of someone else's because it's not ours. Never own anything number three never Defend yourself. Never Defend yourself. Oh Never depend you defend yourself really help a lot with the fourth one.

Never pass anything on about anybody else that would hurt them. Never pass anything on about anybody else That would hurt and the last one. Never accept any glory it all belongs to God. Never accept one ounce.

It belongs only to God and if we take it, we're robbing God. If we take too much time, we're robbing God if we misuse what God has given us. We're robbing God. And one of the great commandments is thou shalt not steal and so it really boils down again.

Discipline is simply obedience to the Word of God. Yes, we need the faith. Oh How we need it. We need believing hearts and at the same time we need hearts that will obey. They go together trust and obey.

You've got to have both. Discipline is simply obedience to the Word of God. Oh God will enable us for it's not by might. It's not by power. It's not by our feeling. It's not by our emotion. It's not just by our desires.

It's not by our striving. But it's by my spirit sayeth the Lord. God is the one who has to discipline our lives. It may take rebuking it may take chastising. But oh, I pray that in my own life. God will bring whatever it takes to make me discipline for him.

That the world might hear oh father we have to confess our undisciplined lives. Lord we lay them before thee and we realize that we cannot. We cannot remember what you've taught us. We cannot do the things you've told us to do.

But we're glad that you've said it's not by might or by power. But it's by thy Holy Spirit who indwells us. And so Lord we believe thee. That you'll enable us to obey thee in everything you tell us to do.

Oh God discipline our lives. Not for our sake but for your sake because you died that we might be disciplined for Jesus Christ. We ask it in your name.