Disciplines | Downtown | July 26, 2026

Spring Lake Church – Downtown Campus

Sermon: Disciplines

Teacher: Jack Guerra

Passages: Proverbs, Luke 14, 1 Corinthians 9, Galatians 5, and 2 Timothy

In “Disciplines,” we explore how biblical discipline and faithful stewardship shape every area of life. Through passages including Proverbs, Luke 14, 1 Corinthians 9, Galatians 5, and 2 Timothy, this message challenges us to cultivate self-control, accountability, and perseverance as we steward our time, talents, resources, and faith. Discover how the HABIT model and the seven pillars of stewardship can help you grow into a life that honors God and bears lasting fruit. Join us as we pursue spiritual maturity together.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning. We are in week four of our uncomfortable series, and it's been a fun series for two reasons for me. First of all, is some of the topics we've touched on that have caused some people to dig deeper. It's led to some great conversations, in some cases, tearing some scabs off and dealing with some wounds. In other places, it's brought healing. That's been a win. The other fun thing for me is where people go, wait, you dealt with an uncomfortable subject, but you didn't say what I wanted you to say. Therefore, for you, it was uncomfortable. That's a win. So just a new way to look at things. Today I'm gonna be taking on subject four, and I want to start with a few questions, hopefully, to get our minds thinking. Here's the first question I want to ask you personally. It's this what owned you? What owned you? What is it that's obsessively on your mind? If you're not doing it, you're thinking about it. If you're not thinking about it, you're planning how to get back to it. What is it that if I told you you have to give this up for 21 days, you'd break out in a cold sweat? What owned you? Secondly, what can you not give up? Same idea. Maybe it's a food, maybe it's spending, maybe it's social media, maybe it's entertainment. What is it for you that you say it's not going anywhere? Like this is one thing that I cannot give up. And then the last question along that same line is can you fast it? Not that you have to say goodbye to it forever, but could you say for the next, they say it takes 21 days to make a habit, for the next 21 days? Yeah, I could say goodbye to McDonald's. I could say goodbye to a certain TV show or a certain podcast. I could let it go. I've said this before, for me, a certain sport. I can let it go for 21 days. And you may go through a little bit of withdrawals, but there's some freedom from it. Whatever it is, it can be a vice, it can be addiction, it can be a sin, as the Bible says, that easily entangles us. It can be something that's not a sin, but for us, it's become an idol. They're tripwires, they're hazards for us in life. And we are in a culture that feeds our obsessions with algorithms. Let me see your algorithm, what your YouTube page consistently brings up, and I'll show you what you tend to be obsessed with. We have companies that don't get paid unless they get you hooked on a product. At that point, you're no longer shopping for a product, you are the product. And that's the way social media and a lot of sales and that works. The Bible tells us to take every thought captive, including in these areas. We can discipline ourselves with our money and our eating, our habits, with our schedule, our time with God, our phone, our social media or screen time. And it's a must. But a lot of times what we do, instead of doing it with discipline, and that's going to be our topic today, we look for shortcuts. We look for how I can get there without having to put any work into it or find an excuse not to. And this becomes an infomercial. And some of you are listening to me already going, oh, it's an infomercial. You can have millions of dollars if you'll just do my plan for $99.95. You can be amazed at how you hear God's voice so clearly in the Bible if you'll wear these headphones from Ronco. Anybody remember Ronco? Everything ever sold on TV. You can have this amazing body if you'll sprinkle this magic fairy dust on your food and eat these meals with these special utensils. Like there's a shortcut to it. Do you know, speaking of food, just for a second, rabbit trail, do you know that the same diet to lower your blood pressure is the same diet to lower heart attacks? It's the same diet that lowers types of cancer, it's the same diet that lowers the risk of diabetes and lowers cholesterol. Almost all of these have the same base diet, and it does not include processed summer foods. Someone said to me, someone said to me the other a couple of days ago, uh, hot dogs are the particle board of the food world. Think about it for just a second, and that rings far too true. Many of us are looking for shortcuts to get to the top of the mountain, but it's not about having the biggest bank account or the best physique or showing off our talents or feeling superior because we've got this under control and they don't. It's about being the best steward of everything we have and we've been blessed with for God's kingdom. It is about being the best steward of everything God has blessed us with for his purpose and his kingdom. Things like the Bible says to honor God with our body. Healthy and not limited by what's going on in us. By giving the Lord the first fruits of our finances, giving towards what he's put on our heart, renewing our mind with the washing of the water of the word, Scripture says. A regular quiet time with him, preferring others over ourselves, keeping a short list of how we've been wrong, not being addicted to food or weed or porn or alcohol or anything that puts us under an influence, like it's the only way we can escape. Let's chase another side note. Anyone ever heard anyone say, Man, my marriage is better when I drink? Anyone? I am so much better on my job when I'm drinking. I'm a much better dad when I'm drinking. Anybody? Yeah. We're not better when something has us. In the Bible, self-discipline, often referred to as self-control, is a core virtue essential for spiritual maturity. Avoiding sin and resisting temptation. Rather than relying solely on human willpower, it's viewed as a fruit of the Holy Spirit and powered by God's grace. We're gonna see that in a little bit. In the Bible, discipline primarily means training, instruction, and even loving correction rather than just waiting for punishment. Correct ourselves now and save us the punishment later. The root meaning emphasizes learning and spiritual growth. Now, on the screen, there are seven areas that we find in Scripture where we are called to be stewards. There's an accountability on us for growth in these areas. Can we put them up on the screen? The first one is our time, honoring the hours God has given us and managing schedules with purpose and balance. Second is a temple. That's our bodies, caring for our physical bodies, treating them as sacred vessels for wellness and energy. Third is talents, discovering, developing, and sharing our unique abilities to help others and enrich the community, both the church and the city. Fourthly is our treasure, managing and sharing financial resources, income, and possessions generously. Number five, is trust, building unwavering faith and reliance on God's provision for our needs. Do you understand that we have a responsibility to learn to grow in our faith? Our understanding? The Bible says it's the Holy Spirit that gives us the faith, but are we leaning into what he gives us? Number six, our theology. It's our understanding and applying biblical principles and stewardship. Are we learning the Bible better? Are we reading it and letting it read us? Number seven, it's our testimony, sharing our personal stewardship journey, and inspiring others through our actions and experience. These are all on the app. We can put them out this week as well if you'd like to see them. Now, the convenient thing is very pastor thing to do. They all start with the letter T. So you can remember that. We go and we look at these and we say, Well, I don't know. Maybe I don't need all of these. Do you understand? Let's take treasure, for example. Some people are like, my money, my choice, I earned it. Do you know the Bible talks more about stewardship of your money for God than it does about hell or about anything sex or sexually? Money is viewed as that important of a reflection of our heart, our treasure. What I'd encourage you to do is don't try and take all of these on at once. You will overwhelm yourself, and it's very easy to be driven right to guilt and then just quit. Pick one or two, maybe three. And just look and say, Am I moving forward? God, am I surrendering this to you? Am I growing in these areas? The most important thing, and when we look at any of these, is to remember Jesus loves me, this I know. Thank you. The goal is not to try and be perfect, the goal is to remember, Lord, you love me. My desire is to show you my love for you and doing these well for you. It's an honor and a stewardship. Can I just do what I want? Can I just love Jesus and forget about the rest? Scripture reminds believers that everything belongs to God's. That's why we're not owners, we're stewards. We take care of what He's blessed us with. And you're saying, well, show me in the Bible. I'm glad you asked. Let's run through. We're gonna run through a list of scriptures once again. These are all on the app. Uh, so you can find these scriptures. And as a matter of fact, I put more on the app than we can cover this morning. But let's go ahead on the screens. There we are. Ready? We're gonna run through about 10 scriptures here. Whatever, uh, whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray. The next one, Proverbs 25, 28. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. Proverbs 6, 23 through 25. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way of life. Keeping you from your neighbor's wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty, or let her captivate you with her eyes. Proverbs 13, verse 11. Wealth gains hastily, will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little, it's a discipline process, will increase. Lotto is not in the Bible. Let's move on. Verse uh chapter six, verse six through eight. It says, Go to the ant, you slugger, consider its ways, and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer, or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. Proverbs 13, 11. Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little, I think we already did this one, will make it grow. Proverbs 21, verse 5. The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. Proverbs 16, verse 32. Make sure I'm on track. Yep, good. Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Self-control. Verse uh Proverbs 12, verse 1. Let's all read this one together. You can't, you gotta love this one. Ready? Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. But whoever correct hates correction is stupid. Doesn't that sound like a four-year-old giving you wisdom? Chapter 14, Luke chapter 14, verse 28. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Jesus is saying here, know what you're getting into ahead of time. Self-control. We're not going to read all of this one, but um 1 Corinthians 9, 24 through 27, Paul talks about the fact that we are all to discipline our bodies as one who runs a race. Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 through 23. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and out of control. Is that what it says? Self-control. You want to know if you're being spirit-led? Are these things guiding your life? Are these a fruit of your life? It is a fruit of the spirit. All of these are what we should be seeing going on in our life. Against such things, there are no laws. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Titus chapter 1, verse 8. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 2 Timothy 1, 7, for the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 2, 3 through 5. Join with me in suffering like a good soldier of Christ. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor's crown except competing according to the rules. We do things differently. Two more. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. So you can go through scripture, and like I said, that's just a handful. And you can see that being self-disciplined and stewards of what God has given us leads to a blessed life. And it's the life God has called us to. A good steward effectively manages resources, time, and responsibilities entrusted to them. Now I want to stay at 10,000 feet with this. This actually, my second or third year here, I did a series called The Great Investment, and we dug in every week on a different discipline of the Christian life. So we can't do that today. But if we stay at about 10,000 feet and give some feats, good, feet, and give thoughts to each of these, we'll see that these disciplines revolve around the realization and the areas of struggle in our lives that need accountability. Each of these areas are areas that if there is a struggle, the way that we move forward is with someone else. We move forward with accountability. If we could do it purely on our own, we would have. Plain and simple. Accountability is the vital mechanism that transforms stewardship from a passive belief to an active, responsible management. Have you ever known someone who always says, ah, I should do that? I should put this into my life. I should practice this. There's what we say, and there's what we do. Accountability helps us make that jump from what we say to what we do. By definition, a steward is not the ultimate owner of a resource. They're administrators acting on behalf of the actual owner. Who's the one who blesses us with the blessings in our life? Help me out. God, thank you. I got four of you with me. God. We've been blessed, and the goal is to be good stewards. I want to look at four truths that accountability clarifies. First of all, it clarifies the principle of non-ownership. The principle of non-ownership. It's not yours anyway. The finances we've been blessed with, we've been blessed with. The jobs we have, thank God for them. The blessings we have as a country, as a nation, thank God for them. The gifts, skills, and abilities you have, the time we have, thank God for it. And we're all in different stages of life. There are some of you right now, you constantly have a baby in one arm and a child in the other hand. This campus, more than any other campus, has the highest child to adult ratio. That's right. If I can say anything, y'all are prolific. Your season of life looks different than someone who may be empty ness or single and has more time on their hands. We're to be good stewards of all of all of it. It's the principle of non-ownership. Accountability requires acknowledging that you do not truly own your time, your body, your money. They belong to the Lord. Because they are external gifts. We cannot simply use them however we want. We are managing them under a set of rules established by the rightful owner. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20. You are not your own, you were bought with a price. So honor God with your bodies. Honor God with what you put in your bodies. Honor God with how you treat your bodies, how you care for your bodies. Paul says, I will make my body my slave. I won't be its slave. Move towards stewardship and health in these areas. Secondly, accountability helps in remembering our responsibility. Accountability helps in remembering our responsibility. While responsibility defines what you're supposed to take care of, accountability is a system that checks how well you're doing. It removes passive neglect. Once again, it goes from what I should be doing to what I'm doing, or at very least, going to do. Are we moving forward on what I would call the lowest staves in the barrel of those seven areas of discipline, of stewardship that we should have? Am I moving forward and growing in those areas? For example, Matthew 25, there is a master who gives talents to his servants and then goes away. When the master comes back, what does he do? He asks each servant, What did you do with what I gave you? And the ones who did well with what he gave them, they were blessed with more. The ones who hid it, the one who hid it and laid it away, he's like, you're not getting anything. As a matter of fact, what you have, you lose. We are responsible to be good stewards with what God has blessed us with. Accountability helps in remembering our responsibility. Responsible to use the tools God has blessed us with. Accountability dictates that we will eventually be called to give an audit or an account on how those resources were handled. Thirdly, accountability also brings in a transparent evaluation. It requires, I like found this quote, measurable honesty. Measurable honesty. Here's what I've learned about me. Maybe this isn't you. I can lie to myself with the best of them. I can lie to myself and convince myself, I'll do it later. I'll make up for this later. I'll spend this now, but then I won't eat for three weeks and I'll put all the money back. Am I the only one? Okay. Your giggles give you away. We can lie to ourselves on these things, but there needs to be a measurable honesty. Am I moving forward? Am I growing in this area of life? In practical terms, what does this look like? Am I tracking my finances? Do I wonder where my money went or do I know how I spent it? Did I tell it where to go or wonder where it went? As a church, and we're gonna have some more resource uh tools in the weeks to come, but as a church, we have a team of financial investors and coaches who will sit down with you one on one and walk you through either a budget or an investment plan with what you have coming in. And they get nothing for it, they will do it for free. That's accountability. If you're interested in that, Pastor Jack at springlakechurch.org, I'll make sure it gets to the right people. We'll get you set up. There's no need to struggle with this area other than you don't want to let it go. We're called to accountability with it. We're auditing how we spend our time. Do you know on your phone there's this little thing you can do that will show you how many minutes or hours a day you're on your phone? Very easy to track. I did it and I was unpleasantly surprised at first. I changed my practices. Do you know you can set this little thing up on your phone that'll turn the screen black and white? And they have shown that once you remove color from your phone, you are less likely to go to it as a source of dopamine. We're being bought. And these disciplines can be put in place. We have to admit when we're ignoring our physical health. For me, January through June 1 was a rough run getting the campus, the new campus ready, making some staff shifts that needed to be done, some things going on personally. And all of a sudden, I started finding myself skipping the habits that make me healthy. I know they do. My morning routine, my exercise routine, my eating routines, the things I need to do to keep myself healthy, until my blood pressure told me you better check in and get back on track. I have never in my life in 57 years had a sign of anything close to even normal blood pressure. I'm usually low. Until one day it read 180 over 120. We'll move on. Listen, all of us, there's not a person in the room. And I tell you that because don't think I'm up here going, you all need to be like me. No, I did it. I went back to salads and regular exercise and getting rid of fried foods and cheese curds and everything that tastes good. But what's the discipline? How am I to be the best steward of what God has given me? And the headaches and the lack of sleep and the physical problems that happen with the high blood pressure do not make me the best steward of what God has given me. I do not function at my best. Needed to get back on track. It means operating under the realization that your choices are constantly being weighed against your actual potential. Are you at your best for the Lord? Is our testimony at our best for the Lord? I've got to keep moving with this. This goes from talking about it once again to doing it, from complacency to course correcting. There's a statement I heard years ago that I love and I always go back to. Complacency resents discipline. Complacency resents discipline. You may not do it on the outside, but there is something in you that if I hit on a nerve or someone hits on a nerve of something you don't want to correct, on the outside you'll go, hmm, I should probably look into that. On the inside, you're going, I'm not touching it. You will throw the fit to protect what you don't want to deal with. Complacency resents discipline. What don't you want to give up? That may be the area we need to start. Want to see someone get mad? Hold them accountable to the words of these areas of discipline in their life. Number four, accountability leads to the path of reward or correction. Actions have consequences. Faithful management leads to greater trust, increased opportunity, and personal growth. Conversely, zero accountability breeds reckones, leads to wasted talent, and diminished resources. Discipline yourself, or you may suffer the consequences of destructive health, finances, relationships, career, feeling spiritually empty, and can even lead to being disciplined by others. If you look at scripture, sometimes it's God who steps in and says, this needs to change. Evaluate how you're doing now is easier than ever. The question is, do we want to? And it's uncomfortable because the areas we probably need to evaluate are the areas we don't want to touch. They're our sacred cows. I'm going to close with a very simple model. You're going to see on the screen. This isn't original with me. I completely stole it. You can look it up online if you want to see all the things that go behind it. But it takes a habit. A habit. First of all, it's hard work, physical and mental effort required to start. Secondly, accountability, taking responsibility for your actions and results really quickly right now. If there's an area of your life that's popping up already, if there's something that jumps out that says, I know I need to tighten this up. I know this is a hindrance to my walk with Christ. This is a hindrance to my testimony. Can you just jot it down? Put a note in your phone, text it to yourself. Whatever you need to do to say, I know what this area is, and I know I need the accountability. Belief. Have confidence in the process and the end goal that it matters. Remember all those scriptures we read up front? Go back online. You can look at these and look at how many of them, especially in Proverbs, say it leads to a blessing. It leads to prosperity in an area of life, to being prosperous. It leads to moving forward. You have to believe that what you're willing to leave behind will lead to something better. I, intention. Be deliberate with your time and your choices. That's what self-discipline is. Once again, a fruit of the spirit. This is an area. Some people are saying, I just want more of the spirit. Here it is. It's the discipline of surrendering whatever it is that has you to him. And then T, tenacity, the persistence to keep going when motivation fades. You may not see the number on the scale move, but you're getting healthier. Stay persistent. You may not see millions show up in your bank account right away. Or the minute you save, anybody have this happen? Something at home will break. But guess what? You had the money to pay for the repair. Stay tenacious with it. And once again, not just so that you look better than anyone else, but for the glory and honor of God. Would you bow your heads with me, please? As you're jotting down, hopefully one, maybe two, maybe there's more, but grab a hold of at least one or two that you say, I know from me, I need to surrender these to the Lord. I need the help of self-discipline. This is an uncomfortable move in my life. First of all, we have groups and resources as a church. God has blessed us with many skilled people in the area of finance, of health. If you're constantly having health issues, keep your eyes out. We're going to be having some classes that are going to deal with this, of relationships, even of social media, of anxiety. Like what is running you? As I mentioned, if you want to write me directly, I can help point you to the right direction, or just keep an eye out for our G4 groups and some of the groups we're going to have starting in the fall. Because our goal is to see you better stewards, all of us better stewards of what God has blessed us with for our testimony for Him. And in closing, I just want to pray that we not only are we aware of what these hindrances are, but God would give us the habits, the tenaciousness, the intentionality to go after and see these areas change in our lives. Father, we thank you. God, first of all, we thank you for our blessings. And I pray that we don't take them for granted. And at the same time, I pray they are not an idolatry in which we lay our lives before. That those things come first before anything else. God, I pray for those things that may have us. May nothing own us. May the fruit of the Spirit, the sign of the Spirit in our life, may the self-control you've given us, God, be what steps up and takes over and makes us the master over those things instead of those the master over us. We thank you, Lord, for your love for us. We thank you, God, for the blessing of a church. We thank you, Lord, for the blessing of the freedoms we have in this country. We thank you, Lord, for the provisions we have, the relationships we have. And may we use them and show them all for your glory and honor. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.