Emotional Health: Cultivating Self-Control Through God's Love

Devotional

Sermon Summary

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Sermon Clips

"i want us to learn together what is it that sets our moods and how can we walk spiritually practically emotionally in such a way that our moods can enable us to bring goodness into the lives of others and enjoy god in the life he gives us a good mood is not the same thing as spiritual maturity but spiritual maturity and closeness to god will impact our moods" [00:37:36]

"ironically living in previous centuries was logistically more difficult but living in our day is emotionally more difficult and dallas wood writes about this in renovation of the heart we now live within the life form called modernity ever since the enlightenment where revered ritual and personal relations do not smoothly govern life because human solidarity in family neighborhood school workplace church that sense that we're part of a group together that understands that life is good that there's transcendent meaning to it" [01:09:84]

"feelings will come to exercise almost total mastery over the individual this is because people in that condition will have to constantly decide what they want to do and feeling will be all they have to go on here's a great paradox we think of ourselves living in the age of reason that faith is opposed to reason and now we've been liberated for just reason but reason cannot tell you what should you feel like doing and so you end up being governed by feelings" [02:06:79]

"leo tolstoy the great russian writer who is a wealthy aristocrat he could gratify any desire that he had but he came to realize it was meaningless and he looked at peasants whose lives were miserable in many ways certainly economically in terms of health but they had an understanding that life and death and meaning was available to them and their hours and years did not require them to constantly ask what do i feel like doing and they had a better life than he did" [02:56:64]

"self-control is the steady capacity to direct yourself to accomplish what you have chosen or decided to do even though you don't feel like it self-control means that with steady hand you do what you don't want to do or what you want not to do when that's needed and you do not do what you want to do what you feel like doing when that is needed" [04:40:72]

"i want to have a character that enables me to live with courageous authenticity not just in a reactive way as i deal with my anger other people fear communication what my values are sexuality how i talk with folks how i treat people i want to be a person of self-control you do too second observation well what we want i want to eat this i want to drink this i want to experience this i'm going to have this i want to not have to do that" [05:37:28]

"as i walk through the day just two days it's really helpful to me don't ask the question what do i feel like doing ask what is good for me to do doesn't have to be perfect don't be paralyzed by perfection and then today just do what you know to be good help somebody learn read have a good conversation with a friend disclose yourself write something organize clean up the office today do what is good to do" [06:12:00]

"the ideas images behaviors of our day foster and sustain moods now we've been talking about feelings moods are simply feeling qualities that pervade ourselves they last longer mostly we'll talk about being in a good mood or a bad mood if i'm in a down mood it colors my perceptions i look at events and they skew negative and make me think about my failures and i think that the future is going to be dismal and i look at myself as a loser" [06:51:44]

"there are feelings and moods associated with confidence worthiness of good being acceptable and belonging purposefulness love hope joy and peace being accepted in the beloved that's from paul's letter of the church at ephesus is the humanly indispensable foundation for the reconstruction of all positive feelings moods and their underlying conditions you are accepted in the beloved" [07:36:56]

"richard foster writes in one of his books about a dad being in a grocery store with a young infant that's just losing a little toddler that is just going nuts you know how it is guys going through the grocery store one time and the kid is just going ballistic and the dad keeps saying it's okay teddy you can handle this teddy i'm so proud of you teddy you're getting it right teddy and the woman says to him it's remarkable how patient you are with your son teddy" [08:28:79]

"as that father began to sing the boy got quiet and his eyes got real big and his body got real still hearing a song of love sung over him by his father and he was that way all the way out through the parking lot until his dad buckled him into his car seat and the boy looked up at his father and threw his arms up in the sky and said sing it again daddy sing it again god sings over us we are accepted in the beloved" [09:48:80]

"so you can walk through this day with a deep sense of belovedness and purposefulness and hope and meaning and joy for you have been accepted in the beloved let's live there and do what is good guard your heart" [10:30:39]

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