You know, I have to confess to you right at the outside that this is not one of the easiest messages for me to prepare.

As most of you know, that we've been going through the fruit of the spirit.

And this is the ninth one, and it's about self-control.

And the struggle I had to go through is how can I preach on self-control in a world that scorns self-control.

Everything else that is surrounding us, all of us, not just you or me, all of us,

scorning self-control.

Even those of us parents in bringing up our children, one of the greatest struggle in teaching our children,

the subject of self-control,

because they are surrounded with a sea of self-indulgence,

and then we have to train them in the area of self-control.

I mean, talking about self-control in a world that scorns it

is like swimming upstream, and I'm aware of that. And believe it or not,

I'm aware of it as I preach this message. Some of you are not going to like what I have to say,

but at least I want you to listen. In fact, I read this week in a Christian magazine, a pastor in the Midwest, who was bemoaning how terrible it is that the influence on television upon our children.

And he wrote in his letter, he said, I tried to teach my little girl to memorize the fruit of the spirit.

And finally she came and was very excitedly said, well, I now memorize the fruit of the spirit. And finally she came and was very excitedly said,

well, I now memorize the fruit of the spirit.

And the dad was very enthusiastic about it.

And she stood there and she started enumerating them.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and remote control.

That's not the fruit of the spirit, I can tell you that.

In fact, in many a university campus, the word self-control is a dirty word. It's a dirty word.

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