All right, let's take our Bibles this evening. We'll look at two passages, actually three. Proverbs 16, Proverbs 23 and Daniel chapter one. Proverbs 16, Proverbs 23 and Daniel chapter one. After the week of weddings, There is an older couple getting up in their twilight of years. The man, he was 92. His name was Jacob. And his bride to be was 89. And they were excited about their decision to get married. And so they went for a stroll. to discuss some wedding plans and future plans that they had together. They passed a drugstore, so they decided to go in. Jacob addressed the man behind the counter, the pharmacist, and he said, are you the owner? He said, I sure am. He says, well, we're about to get married. You sell heart medication. Pharmacist said, well, of course we do. He said, good. What about medication for circulation? I said, oh yeah, all kinds of it. He said, well, what about medication for rheumatism and scoliosis? I said, well, definitely. He said, what about medicine for memory problems, arthritis, jaundice? Boy, this guy was getting exciting. He said, yeah, we sell large varieties. Man, we sell the works. I said, all right, what about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol, antidotes for Parkinson's disease? It's like, you know what, absolutely. What about wheelchairs, rollers, walkers? It's like we saw them all, all speeds, all sizes. Jacob looked at the pharmacist and he said, well, we'd like to register here for our wedding gifts. Thought it was appropriate seeing those weddings. There was, let's start with A couple of Proverbs. He's not here. Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16, verse 32. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he that ruleth his spirit, then he that taketh a city. Then in Proverbs 23. Verses 1-3, when thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee. Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Then we look at Daniel 1. We'll look at two verses. Daniel 1, looking at two verses. Verse 8, it says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Then we go down to verse 12, "'Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, and let them give us pulse to eat and water to drink.'" We look at that, and then we're going to come to some other passages in just a few moments. There was a 23-year-old lightweight wrestler from Waterloo, Iowa. And he developed a disciplined workout for himself in preparation for the 1972 Olympics in Munich. His name was Dan Gable. Those in the wrestling world know the name Dan Gable. And he was rewarded by winning the Olympic gold medal, but it was not cheap. For three years before that, he started practicing seven hours a day in the wrestling world, trying to win that gold medal. In fact, he grew accustomed to reaping rewards for his disciplined lifestyle, and in his whole career, he ended up 178 and 1. and wrestled all the way through college and in the Olympic world. And we could learn something from Dan Gable's discipline training. Often we fall short of the maturity that God wants us to have because we lack discipline. God's idea is that we be trained through adversity and exercised thereby so that we can have success. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, verse 11, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. The Bible shows us that we should be training in essence, that we should be maturing. And the only way that's going to happen is through discipline. And some of it is by outside and some of it is by inside. We accept trials and we get them. And God says when we are exercised by adversity, then we enjoy the fruit of the reward. Dan Gable disciplined himself, but he wasn't just doing it out of some weird asceticism. He wasn't wanting to go into the priesthood. No, he wanted to win something. The Bible instructs that to us. In Hebrews chapter 12, it says that we should go, and in 1 Corinthians 9, we're striving for something. We're trying to win a prize, win a crown. So when we think of the word discipline and self-discipline, what comes to our mind? Well, several different things may come to mind. To a child, what does the word discipline mean? Well, probably they have a picture of a big stick or of a belt coming after them. What does it mean to a soldier? To a soldier, discipline means conforming to regulations, obedience to orders, maybe doing some KP, duty and revelry on cold mornings. To a student, what does that mean? Discipline. It means a class with a lot of work and a lot of exams and a lot of tests. To a Christian, what does that mean? It usually brings to mind Discipline, normally we think of disfellowshipping with someone who has been unfaithful to the church or to the rules or to the regulations laid out by the Bible. And all of these are correct. All of these are aspects of discipline. But these are all imposed discipline in which one person or group forces discipline upon another. A parent disciplines his child to teach him obedience. The army disciplines a soldier to strict obedience. A school disciplines by making students do the work. A church disciplines in order to encourage members to remain faithful. It imposes discipline. It's like controlling your dog with a leash or a chain. You go for a walk and you put him on a leash. He's controlled. His freedom is restricted. No matter how much howling, how much barking, he is forced to obey you and stay put. Why? Because you've got a chain on you. And we could take the same effect or approach in dealing with things maybe in our life. You have a problem with eating? So put a chain around the fridge. Just doesn't always work that way, though, because, you know, the padlock or you have the key or the combination. Right. So you still sneak in or you get out your shotgun and shoot the shoot the chain off. But imposed discipline. Can't have limited value. There's another kind of discipline that the Bible talks about, and that is self-discipline. The Bible uses the word self-control, uses the word temperance. In Galatians 5, the Bible says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Verse 23 continues, it says, meekness and temperance. Temperance. Temperance is the word self-control. It is one of the Christian graces, according to the Bible, that we are to possess or grow in. In fact, in 2 Peter 1, the Bible says, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance. Self-control. Self-control is extremely important, and the reason self-discipline is so important is that we don't, in the Christian life all the time, have people telling us what to do. Who tells us how much to read the Bible? Who tells us? I don't know. As children, maybe we can develop habits, but you become an adult, And in here, I would imagine that there was people this morning that did not read their Bible. But why? Why not? Is it important? We'd all I guarantee if we went through and we interviewed everybody in here, you'd say, oh, yes, it's very important to read a Bible. Why don't we do it? Well, because it's a lack of temperance. It's something that has to be added to our faith. It's something that has to be worked on. It's that self-control. It's that discipline that needs to be put into place. How many hours a week are we supposed to visit? How many hours? Well, you know, in the bus route, we've got to put in five. I'm not talking about the bus route. I'm just talking about how many hours am I supposed to pray? Or should it only be ten minutes? Should it be five minutes every morning? All these things. What about the internet? What about music? What about all these different things? I know we look at the Bible, but some of it comes down to some aspect of discipline and self-discipline in your life and my life. And it has to be worked on, and it can't just be let go. And we must develop some of this. And some, the reason you falter in a way and you're not maturing as a Christian is because you're not developing areas of temperance. And the Bible says that's a fruit of the Spirit. And you know what the fruit of the Spirit is? The fruit of the Spirit is evidence that the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding you. One aspect that you're filled with the Spirit is that You do have the power to say no to something. That is an evidence of the Holy Spirit working through your life. You can say no. Takes a lot more character to have the self-discipline to do something on your own than it does to be told what to do and when to do it and how to do it. We need self-discipline in every aspect of our Christian life. The Apostle Paul was very much concerned about this, and he said in 1 Corinthians 9, let's turn there, 1 Corinthians 9, we're going to start in verse 24, and we'll see that Paul was very concerned, and he helps us in understanding the definition of self-discipline here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, very familiar passage, I think, for most, It says, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery, that word striveth is an athletic term, for the mastery is temperate. There's a word again, that's self-control, in all things. Now, they do it. He's talking about the athletes. Alright, let's think about the time period. There was at least two types of games. There were the Olympian games, and that was found in Olympia, Rome, and there was the Isthmian games. Both games, and then there was a couple other games, and it kind of occurred that almost every year there was some type of Olympic or competitive event. OK, so this is what he's he's bringing to mind for here. The people of Corinth, they are very familiar with these games and an athlete that was recruited and was sponsored and was brought in to run a race or to fight or to wrestle. He would commit for 10 months prior to the events that he would exercise every day. All right. They knew this when they read it. Okay, so here they are. Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate. That means self-control. They're saying, you know what, yeah, ten months, I understand. They instituted self-control in their life, in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we an incorruptible. I, therefore, now he turns it to application. I, this is Paul, I, therefore, so run. What's he talking about? Did he sign up for the Olympics? No, he wasn't talking about... We all know what he's talking about. He's talking about a spiritual race now. I therefore so run. Not as uncertainly. He doesn't run as though he doesn't know what he's going after. He has a goal. So fight I. Not as one that beateth the air. fights with discipline, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. That idea of bringing under my body, that word actually was used for the boxers. That word under my body meant a knock out blow under the eye. So what was Paul saying? He knocked himself out every day. All right, some of you should try that. All right, knock yourself out every day. But I keep under my body. What was he saying? He's saying he's putting it in submission. It does what he tells it to do. Again, we're talking Paul's talking, he's trying to be practical for us. I keep under my body, bring it into subjection or submission. It bows to me. lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway, or I should be rejected, I should be a failure." Paul uses the idea of athletic contest, ruggedness, discipline. And I think through this we can understand it. These Corinthians knew that every athlete participated, who participated, committed to something. Paul uses this, and it is obvious you cannot do this race without self-discipline. There is something always in life that wants to distract you. There are temptations to turn aside to, to give up to, to sit back and let life go. I can remember talking with a pastor one time a few years ago, and he was dealing with a church member who was being immoral. He was being unfaithful. And when he was dealing with him, he was acting as though it was just impossible. I just had to give in to it. And I can remember talking with the pastor and he said, I looked at him and said, do you think you're the only person in the world that has been tempted to be immoral and unfaithful? Some people just don't do it. And that is exactly true. Some of you sitting here say, it's just impossible. No, it's been possible for others to overcome temptation. You know why? Because they have accepted the Holy Spirit's power, and through His power, He says, guess what? You can be temperate in all things, because there hath no temptation taken you. But such as is common to man. But God is, what is He? Faithful, who will with the temptation also make a way of escape. You know what? You didn't find it. You skipped over. If you're saying it's impossible, then you're calling God a liar because God says, I'm faithful. And with every temptation, I offer you an escape route. You just decided not to take it. Discipline. And it's not saying that we won't fail. It's not saying that we won't fall down. We are human. We will fail. We will fall. But Proverbs 24. And verse 10 says, if you faint in the day of adversity. You know what it is, your strength is small. Adversity builds us. Adversity and struggle. We're talking about who we're talking some about temptation, but with them, sometimes we're talking to just about tough times and tough times make us stronger. As human beings. And we must remember that. There was a man that was trying to teach a lesson and he was applying it. trying to apply it as far as this idea of discipline. And he started thinking back to when he was nine years old and he was riding his bicycle. And he said about a mile from his house, there was a steep hill. And he would love to just take his bike and start heading towards that hill and going down, coasting down the hill. And he found one day that coasting down the hill, because normally he would just put on his brakes and put on his brakes. And he found as he started coasting down the hill that there was a thrill and an exhilaration in speed. And he just kept going, getting faster and faster and faster. And he thought, you know what? I could put on my brake. Oh, but this is so much And he didn't put on his brakes and he kept going faster and faster and faster until he was propelled a dozen feet off the road into the woods and Bradley. He was badly scratched and bleeding. The front wheel of his bike was twisted beyond use from its impact against the tree. And he said, I had been unwilling to suffer the pain of putting on the brakes. And instead, I suffered the pain of landing twisted and mutilated and bleeding. He said, I did not instill self-control. Heading down that hill, I should have. I should have stopped myself. But it was that thrill. Oh, this is so much fun. I've never felt this. Yes. And I think some of us have felt that way as a little kid, maybe. But we have to learn the idea of self-control. One man said only the disciplined ever really get good at anything. Everything in life requires some sort of discipline, whether it's hitting a baseball or climbing a mountain or playing a musical instrument or making good grades. What does it come down to? A matter of discipline. A matter of studying. You know, some people will get up here and maybe they will sing or they can play an instrument. And someone says, it's just so natural. I'm reading a book and the mom is talking about that because the daughter will get up and she'll play beautifully on her violin. And people come up. I've never heard it that way. It just seems to flow. She just has a gift. She said she wants to take the people and smack them. Because back home, hours and hours and hours and struggle and hours and struggling and hours. She said, that's not some gift. It's work. And some people aren't willing to put in the work. And then they look at everybody else and maybe they succeed. How come they just have the gift? Well, maybe they just work. It's the discipline. A young person wants to become a doctor or maybe a scientist, but he doesn't want to buckle down and study. Young people would like to achieve greatness maybe in music, but never want to put in the long hours of practice. They may have a natural talent, whether in studies, academics or athletics or with an instrument, but their dreams don't lie beyond their abilities, but beyond their discipline. The Christian life isn't much different. There are church members all across America and some sitting right here who would love to be mature Christians. but they're not willing to pay the price to achieve it. There was a Christian that asked a pastor once, came up to the pastor and said, man, I'd give my life to know the Bible like you. And the pastor turned around and said, that's exactly what it cost me, my life. See, a lifetime of study and a lifetime of dedication, and then guess what? You may know the Bible then. You have to put yourself into it. I read that John Wesley traveled an average of 20 miles a day for 40 years. He got up every morning at four o'clock. He preached 40,000 sermons. He produced 400 books and knew 10 languages. At the age of 83, he was annoyed because he couldn't write more than 12 hours a day without hurting his eyes. And at the age of 86, he was ashamed because he got up after, he said, in his diary, he said there was an increasing tendency to lie in bed until 5.30 in the morning. Now, I'm not saying that we have to be John Wesley, all right? But I'm just saying we look at John Wesley, we say, wow, he had a gift! No, guess what? He had a disciplined life. And the reason many of us are failures and we flop in our Christian, our spiritual life, All right, you will go at it for money or you will go at it for things. But when it comes to godly things, you have no discipline. And then you say, what's what's wrong with me? You know what the Holy Spirit wants to give you temperance and that is self-control. So what is what is some things or where are some areas that we can direct some discipline, whether self-discipline, discipline in our lives, where are some areas? Think of three areas that I think are very vital to our lives. One is in the area of finances. This would be pretty practical, this area here in the area of finances. There are some in here you cannot control what you buy. You better put some restrictions on. If you have a credit card and you do not pay it every month, then cut it up. It is out of control. It's not temperate. And the Bible says, what is it saying? Put a knife to your throat. It's saying we need to have control of it. And in the area of finances, sometimes we just spend and we spend and we say, well, how come everybody else has all these things? Maybe everybody else doesn't have all these things. And it's covetousness that has got a hold of your heart and covetousness says, I've got to have and I've got to have and I've got to have. And sometimes you've got to put the brakes on and say, no, we don't have. If we don't have it. We don't do it. We don't have to, if you don't have it in the and you've heard us teach it. You've heard us teach on envelopes and on organizing the money. And if it's not in the envelope, then you don't spend it. You don't go out and get it. If you can't do it, then you need to cut it up or you need to get some help. You need to stop it. You need to have some discipline in the area of finances. What else? We need to have some discipline in our families. And this includes dads. Dads, that means that we need to control ourselves. We have to control our temper. We have to control our appetites. We have to control our spiritual walk with God. And I know we can say, just a couple of weeks ago on Thursday night, a preacher talked about it, that, Dad, we want our kids to go beyond us. We want our kids, if we're having these problems, stop them from having those problems. But also, they need to see Dad actively involved in self-discipline in his own life. They need to see him cutting some weight every once in a while. They need to see him say, I'm going to exercise, or I'm taking on a challenge. They need to see you, Dad, do it. And I think God enjoys seeing us take something active, actively taking part in some discipline. I remember getting into an argument with a famous evangelist, sat and argued for about an hour on the way to the airport and on the hour taking him back to the airport. And he looked at me, he says, you're a kidnapped. You think that rugged character really transfers over to spiritual character. And I looked at him and I said, are you serious? I said, are you serious? I said, all your friends a bunch of twinks and wusses? Are you saying that you actually can't see it? And you know what? Most of the people he hung out with were wusses and twinks. Because rugged character, I'm saying that sometimes we need that. We need something hard and rugged on our lives. Because that does transfer to the spiritual. And dads, that's for us sometimes. And in our homes, we need to have a disciplined home. That means they get up at a certain time, and they have chores to do, and it's organized, and it's thought out. And so that, guess what? The kids learn that a disciplined life, as they go on their own, they learn to impose self-discipline in their life. Because guess what? They learned it in their own home. Discipline in our families is so important. And self-discipline, it starts, I believe, in the home. And we are teaching these ideas. And they see Dad do it, and they see Mom do it, and they see them disciplined in their devotions. They see them disciplined in their, maybe in their physical life. They see them disciplined in how they run the home. And guess what? They understand then what discipline means. It's not chaotic in the home. It's not yelling and screaming. It's not threats. As a family, there's goals. As a family, there's things set up and you achieve them as a family. It's discipline. But I think there also needs to be discipline in our faith. Now, what does that mean? I think sometimes, and you know it and I know it, A few weeks ago, I was sitting and I was praying, and God just laid on my heart that, you know what? You are getting weak in the area of Bible. So, when I was riding in the car, or if I downloaded a Bible onto an MP3 player, and I just started listening to books of the Bible, and books of the Bible, and books of the Bible, because I needed it! Say, weren't you having devotions? Yes, I was having devotions. But God said you need more. Sometimes God does the same to you. Do you follow it? Are you open to the Holy Spirit so that when he says, hey, there's something in your life, get rid of it. Discipline in our faith. I can remember in college. Getting a CD. And it was fine. But I noticed that I was listening to it over and over and over and over and over. It must be a college thing. You know what I mean? Those that live in the dorm, you probably experienced that, right? You got the dork roommate that hasn't figured out there's other music in the world besides that one CD. Well, I was that dork roommate. And I had the one CD and just listened to it over and over and over. And God convicted me. It says what? Does some stupid CD control you? Is there nothing else in your life? I can remember taking the CD and just snapping it and crushing it and throwing it in the garbage and saying, no CD is going to bring me under subjection. You know what? There's some sitting here. I've dealt with young people. You know, I've had young people say, I can't give up rock music. Wimp? Yeah, that's what I said, you're a wimp. Do you know what? There have been other people that listened to it, too, sitting here, including me! And we gave it up! You're saying God isn't faithful! You're saying God isn't strong enough! God is strong enough! It's just you aren't, and you're weak, and you love it! Get some discipline in your faith and trust in God. The reason you don't have any strength is because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Because you don't love the Word of God and you don't put the Word of God in you, it means that when you show your spiritual muscles, you look like a little baby. Because all you're feeding is your flesh. We need to have discipline in our faith and that means if something, and it could be something good, It could be something that seems alright. It could be something, it could be our car. I can remember talking to a preacher years ago and I put an addition onto my house. And I started loving, I can remember God dealing with my heart. I started loving the addition to my house more than anything else. It sounds stupid, but God dealt with me and said, no, you need to give more. And he dealt with me about giving. And upping my tithing and upping my giving, upping my offering and saying, give and give and give. And you know what? That's not worth anything. And sometimes something that is good. Can take over our life and the discipline in our face sometimes has to step back and the Holy Spirit comes in and says, hey. I want control again. You've let that, and I can't imagine. I can't imagine a wallet or a credit card. I can't imagine a CD. I can't imagine a car telling me what to do or telling you what to do. But you know what? For some of you, that's what happens. You let a credit card tell you what to do. Why? Because you can't say no to anything. And you charge it, and charge it, and charge it. You are brought under the power. That's what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians. He says, I will not be brought under the power of any. What's controlling you? What has control of your heart and life? One man wrote it this way. He said, God hath not promised skies always blue, flowers strewn pathways all our lives through. God hath not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. God hath not promised we shall not know toil and temptation, trouble and woe. He hath not told us we should not bear many a burden, many a care. God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, swift, easy travel, needing no guide, never a mountain rocky and steep, never a river turbid and deep. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the labor, Light for the way. Grace for the trials. Help from above. Unfailing sympathy. Undying love. God has promised that to us. But in closing, I want to mention we talk we've been talking about discipline and I think all of this is very important. But I want us to notice that there are a couple of dangers. that come with discipline. Discipline is a good thing. And some people get the idea that achieving discipline is the greatest thing that we can strive for as a Christian. But that's not true. A right relationship with God is the most important thing. Self-discipline by itself doesn't make us right with God. You know, there are people that are very self-disciplined, but they're not good Christians. Did you know that? Oh, yeah. Oh, they're disciplined. They're up at five in the morning. Boy, they work. They do all kinds of things. I know some good Catholics that are disciplined. But they're not good Christians, they're not like Christ. See, in Colossians 2, Paul rebukes the Christians and Colossi because some of them were laying down all kinds of strict rules. He was they were saying, don't touch this, don't taste this, don't handle this. And they thought that their rules were making them right with God. But the rules were. The Pharisees were highly disciplined people. But their hearts weren't right. We always need to remember that discipline is only a servant. And that servant is used to help us glorify God. But we also need to be careful that discipline doesn't fill us with pride. You know, I see that with teenagers. I would think that growing up here, that is probably one of the number one problems with teenagers growing up here. Why? Because we have a disciplined church. You know that. We have a disciplined school. We have a disciplined sports program. We have a disciplined music program. And so they're made to practice, they're made to do this, and then Well, I just I just gifted. I don't know why people don't appreciate me or they don't appreciate me. I am gifted. I am gifted. I'm going to go somewhere we've heard where they appreciate me. You know, I've had people I remember talking with the dead ones. I remember talking with the dead. And his son was, I forgot, I mean, the police were after him. I mean, there was all kinds of junk. And I'm sitting there trying to deal with the dad and the dad would look at me and he said, it just seems like everything is negative. Now, one, I wanted to back up and I said, well, could you repeat that and just put your hand on your hip? All right, please. All right. Like something isn't right here. All right. All right, you missed out on something. One of the sides here, you're touching base with it, but it's not masculine here, all right? I thought, well, what do you mean all negative? All negative, that's because he's negative. All right? And actually, if you went to math class, a negative and a negative is a positive. All right, that's anyways, that's getting way out there. But we went into math here. Well, what are we trying to do? We're trying to have discipline. Why are we trying to have discipline? So that we can serve God more. What's the purpose? What's the purpose of having a child learn an instrument? So that they can be the next Andre Roux? If you don't know who that is, he's a violin player. And he's weird. Very weird. Oh, wait, I want my child to be the next Placido Domingo. If you're not sure of who he is, he's a singer, too. All right. Classical opera. And I think almost dead. All right. And it shows because many of you don't even have a clue. And he's very famous. You know what I mean? So it shows how famous he is. Well, is that what we're wanting? Are we wanting some academic? No, what we are wanting is people disciplined so that God can take them and say, hey, here is a disciplined servant that can be used more for God. They can accomplish more for God. They can preach more. They can teach more. They can win more souls. They can accomplish more souls. They can touch more lives. It's not so that we can be lifted up and we say, oh, well, look at me. No, that's not, because then what are we like? We're like the Pharisee. Father, I thank thee that I'm not like this. Remember that one in Luke 18. And we're not we're not looking at being we're not looking at being absurd with discipline. I, for instance, I wearing a pebble in my shoe. doesn't accomplish anything except hurt my foot. But remember, that's what, you know, monks and all that, they started going out and they would sit up in a cave for years on end, drinking water or whatever. Well, guess what? We're not saying be odd. We're saying that the reason that we have discipline, for instance, setting aside 20 minutes or a half hour every day to study my Bible is discipline and it's profitable. That's what we're trying to accomplish. In discipline, the idea, the danger sometimes of discipline, the danger of setting up discipline in our lives is that we start believing in the discipline in that we did it all and I'm a self-made man, when the idea is that it is a fruit of the Spirit. It is God that worketh in us. It is the Holy Spirit that comes in and He says, I will give you power. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. The idea of discipline and imposing self-discipline is that we then can accomplish something for God and Him alone. And then when somebody comes up to us, we can't honestly say, you don't know me. Because it only could be done because of God. And it can be true. And yet the person is very disciplined. Why? Because they do know. It's not about them. It's not some ego trip. It's not lifting yourself up. No, it's lifting God up. It's accomplishing something for Him. And in our lives, we must develop discipline. Discipline in our families. Discipline in our finances. Discipline in our faith. And we let the Holy Spirit work through us and in us. And then all of a sudden, He can use us! And then we can look back I'm going to say, man, God, why? I can't believe what you did. And, you know, when you look at everybody, that it's not because of you. It's because the Holy Spirit made you more like his son. That is the purpose of discipline. Discipline in our lives accomplishes a great thing. It brings us closer and closer in our relationship to His Son, Jesus Christ. The Chinese have a plant. It's a bamboo tree. The Chinese plant the seeds. They water and fertilize it. And the first year, nothing happens. The second year, they water and fertilize it. Nothing happens. The third year. The fourth year. they water and fertilize it, and nothing happens. The fifth year, they water and fertilize it, and sometime during the course of that fifth year, in a period of six weeks, the Chinese bamboo tree grows 90 feet. Now, is it six weeks that it grows? No, we all know it takes five years for it to grow. But without the five years of patience and discipline and not saying, this is a waste. No, then it finally grows. And all of us, I think, have had some non-Chinese bamboo experiences. where we started something, and we say, man, this takes forever. I can remember parents, I've had some parents come to me, and their kid gets in trouble, and then a week or two later, they're like, man, when is this ever going to end? I don't know, maybe in 24 years. I don't know. Because guess what? You're not perfect yet either. God's still working in your heart and life, and this is what we have to understand. In the area of our families, it may take a long time to accomplish something a long time. I'm saying it may take one year. It may take two years. It may take 18 years, but keep at it. Be disciplined in your Christian walk. Are you are you what you should be now? Most of us would say no way. No, I have so much more. Well, then are you just going to quit and stop? No. No, we got to keep at it. And we got to keep disciplined in our reading of the Bible. And you say, well, does it matter? You know, does it matter? I'm just going to miss this week. Well, one man put it this way. Why don't you skip dinner this week then? Why don't you just not eat this week? Will it matter? Oh, yeah. It'll matter. May make you healthy. We're talking about our Bible here. What about that? Just skipping it? No. What do we have to do? We need to be disciplined. And keep at it. And we may not see all the growth, but God does. And trust. Because what does the verse say? God is faithful. He is faithful. He won't let you down. And I know some of your parents, it seems like, man, it's not working. Keep at it. Don't give up. Don't quit. Keep at it. Keep trusting in God. Keep going to His Word. And have that discipline. And you know what will happen? You'll have that beautiful fruit of righteousness that Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 11 is talking about. But it only comes to those who are exercised thereby. Adversity brings a good fruit. Let's stand with our heads bowed, our eyes closed.