Theme: HELLO, SELF, GOODBYE

Text: Luke 9:23-24

23Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up
your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your
life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it…”
Luke 9:23-24

Hello, Self
Introductory Question:
1. Have I decided to follow Christ or not?
2. Do I want to follow Christ?
3. Am I willing to give up anything to follow Christ?
4. What must I need to give up?

In the matter of ourselves, we easily give up things that has no means to us. On the
other hand, we hardly give up things that brings great happiness. And most of it, we call
those things our PLEASURES.

Tell whether it is easy or hard to give up the following:

1. Hanging with Friends
2. Playing Mobile Legends
3. Meeting with your boyfriend or girlfriend
4. Following Jesus

Unless your mind is diverted to something higher than your pleasure, you will always be
SELF-INDULGENT.

Hello, Self? Are you self-indulgent?

We are all self-indulgers. The whole lot of us. But there are dangers awaiting us if we
keep on indulging ourselves to the worldly pleasures. And even if we want to follow
Jesus, we will only end up unable to.

What is SELF-INDULGENCE?
SELF-INDULGENCE means seeker of self-pleasure, luxury, or self-gratification. Biblical self-
indulgence is feeding “the passions of the flesh” (1 Peter 2:11). It’s indulging ourselves in
any pleasure that is harmful to our souls. To understand it even more, self-indulgence is a
form of IDOLATRY. It is something we turn to instead of God for happiness. It dulls our
spiritual tastes and curbs our spiritual appetites (Proverbs 27:7). It is what turns our hearts
away from God. It is what we need to fight.

How should we fight self-indulgence?

1. Recognize What Fuels Self-Indulgence
- To fight self-indulgence, we need to know that what fuels it is a PROMISE
WE BELIEVE.
- Often our governing beliefs are so much a part of us that we aren’t
consciously aware of them. They reside at a deeper heart level and it
can take some probing to bring them to light. You should know that
whatever you fill your heart with will be the matter of your life.

Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of
life.”
 Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?”

- Example Scenario: The Temptation in the Garden (Genesis)

2. Recognize the Weight of Self-Indulgence

- At the moment of indulging, it doesn’t feel like an enemy. It feels like a
reward that makes us happy. And it feels like a relief from a craving that
insistently begs for satisfaction. But after indulging, defeat hangs like a
heavy yoke around the neck of our souls.
- If an indulgence has become a habit, then we live with this heavy
weight of defeat.

Luke 21:34, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down
with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day
come upon you suddenly like a trap.”

3. Recognize the Matter of Your Belief

- From a persistent pattern of self-indulgence, it would be hard to let go
because of a promised happiness.
- Before you can claim a promise, you need to believe in it first. Believing
what is seen is easy. But believing what is unseen is difficult.

- Example Scenario: What enables a 25-year smoker to finally give up

smoking? Or what enables someone who has indulged bad eating
habits and has been overweight for 30 years to finally change those
habits and lose the weight? It isn’t that they finally found the magic
program (though some programs may be more effective than others).
What happened is that their beliefs finally changed. They went from
believing one promise of happiness to believing another.

4. Recognize that God has Greater in Store for You

- Jesus never requires us to deny ourselves happiness. He only requires us
to deny pursuing false happiness, idol pleasures in order that you may
have a better happiness. Only that God wants us to rid of our worldly
pleasure because it will only hinder us into following Him.
- As Galatians 5:17-21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,
fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,
and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who
do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
- In John 14:12-14, Jesus promised greater purpose for those who will
promise believe Him:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have
been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I
am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so
that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything
in my name, and I will do it.” – John 14:12-14

Fighting our own selves’ desire would be difficult. But greater promise is awaiting for those
who would trust Christ to follow Him. If you have set your mind to it, you shouldn’t worry.
Because God will sustain you. Self-indulgence takes as many forms as there are people
and pleasures. But there is a promise that will help you escape any temptation (1
Corinthians 10:13) and lay aside every sin-weight (Hebrews 12:1).