There is a quiet ache beneath the noise of our age.

We are connected—but unguarded.
Busy—but undisciplined.
Influential—but internally unstable.

In this sermon, we open Proverbs 25:28 and 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 to confront a sobering truth:

Spiritual authority requires self-government.

Not charisma.
Not gifting.
Not platforms.

Self-government.

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” (Proverbs 25:28)

God never designed His people to live exposed to every impulse and vulnerable to every temptation. From Eden to the New Jerusalem, redemption restores order—God reigning again in the human heart.

If we want enduring influence, we must rebuild the walls.

Maybe you feel the breach.

The anger that flares too quickly.
The habit that quietly masters you.
The distraction that thins your prayer life.

You are not alone.

I’ve known seasons where I rebuked the enemy while neglecting my own gates—praying for deliverance when God was calling me to discipline. And by grace, He did not condemn me. He trained me.

Scripture says the grace of God trains us (Titus 2:11–12).
Grace does not excuse lack of discipline—it empowers transformation.

Self-control is not self-salvation.
It is Spirit-formed strength under the lordship of Christ.

The apostle Paul writes:

“I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)

Paul feared not losing salvation—but losing usefulness.

God does not entrust public authority to those who reject private obedience.

We cannot demand spiritual authority while neglecting spiritual governance.

So we must ask:

• Where are the walls broken?
• Where has indulgence replaced vigilance?
• Where has comfort displaced calling?

Collapse rarely comes from one dramatic decision.
It comes when discipline is postponed, repentance delayed, vigilance relaxed.

Beloved—rebuild the walls.

This message is not about perfection.
It is about submission.

Present your body as a living sacrifice.
Submit your will under Christ’s rule.
Train by grace for the long race.

Run—not aimlessly.
Fight—not shadowboxing.
Endure—for an imperishable crown.

Authority in the Kingdom flows from obedience under the King.

Let the Holy Spirit govern your desires.
Let Scripture order your appetites.
Let grace train your will.

Spiritual authority is sustained not by gifting, but by grace-trained self-government under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 25:28
1 Corinthians 9:24–27
Titus 2:11–12
Romans 12:1
1 Peter 5:8

Where has your life grown unguarded?

Ask the Spirit to search you—not to shame you, but to sanctify you. The same Christ who ruled His spirit in the wilderness and submitted His body to the cross now reigns to strengthen you.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus,
You endured for the joy set before You. Train us by grace.
Rebuild our walls. Govern our desires. Make us vessels fit for Your use.
Let our authority flow from obedience.
In Your mighty name, Amen.

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Work hard—but only under the weight of grace, not guilt.

Grace Trains Before It Sends

Titus 2:11–14

There are moments when help arrives just in time—a light in the dark, a voice before danger, a hand when strength is gone. We know the relief of rescue.
But Scripture presses us further: rescue alone is not enough.

A child saved from a fire must still learn to live safely.
A patient healed in surgery must still submit to rehabilitation.
A sinner forgiven must still be formed.

Grace that only pardons but never parents leaves us fragile.
Grace that only rescues but never remains leaves us undiscipled.

Into that tension, Titus 2 speaks with holy clarity:
Grace does not merely arrive as a moment—grace remains as a mentor.
Grace does not only save us from wrath; it trains us for life.
Grace does not end in private relief; it sends a purified people with purpose.

Grace trains before it sends.

We live in a culture of instant solutions. Download. Swipe. Click.
And salvation, in our imagination, becomes something we receive without something we enter.

Many want Christ as Savior but resist Him as Trainer.
Forgiveness without formation.
Heaven secured, habits unchanged.

But real change always requires training.
You can be pulled from the water—but you must still learn to swim.
You can be forgiven—but you must still learn to walk in freedom.

Titus 2 doesn’t scold weary believers; it shepherds them.
It doesn’t say, “Try harder.”
It says, “Grace has appeared—and grace is at work.”

Grace Appears to Save (v.11)
Grace didn’t evolve—it broke into history.
Grace has a face, and His name is Jesus Christ.
Salvation begins not with human effort but divine initiative.

Grace Trains Us to Renounce and to Live (v.12)
Grace becomes a teacher—a parent shaping a child.
It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions,
and yes to self-controlled, upright, godly lives now.

Grace does not excuse sin—it evicts it.
If grace never challenges your habits, it has not yet trained your heart.

Grace Fixes Our Hope on Christ’s Appearing (v.13)
The Christian life is lived between two appearings:
Grace came in humility. Glory will come in majesty.
Clear hope produces clean living.

Grace Sends a Redeemed People (v.14)
Christ gave Himself to redeem, purify, and claim a people—
zealous for good works.
Grace doesn’t end with forgiveness; it ignites mission.

Grace does not rush you to the mission—
Grace prepares you for it.

Lord Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior,
Thank You for grace that came near, stayed present, and keeps working.
Train what resists.
Purify what compromises.
Send us into the good works You have prepared.
Until the day of Your appearing, keep us faithful—
not earning grace,
but living as those whom grace has claimed.
Amen.

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Grace doesn’t rush the sending—grace perfects the training.

There are seasons when God’s hand feels heavy—when conviction sharpens, comforts are removed, and the soul quietly wonders, “Did I do something wrong?” Hebrews 12 confronts that fear with gospel clarity. God’s discipline is not rejection; it is relationship. Correction is not condemnation; it is confirmation that you belong. This teaching reframes hardship not as divine displeasure, but as loving formation from a faithful Father.

If you’ve ever mistaken pressure for punishment, you’re not alone. Many believers carry shame into seasons meant for growth. Scripture gently reminds us: “The Lord disciplines the one He loves.” God is not distant in correction—He is near, invested, and committed to your becoming. Discipline is love in work clothes, shaping what grace has already claimed.

Hebrews 12 presses a sobering truth: the absence of discipline is not safety but distance. God refines what He values. Correction presupposes connection. If He is training you, pruning you, or pressing you, it is because you are His. Sons submit; slaves resist. How we receive correction reveals what we believe about God’s heart.

What if this season isn’t rejection but proof? What if the pressure is not God’s anger, but His affection at work? Submit to the Father of spirits and live. Trust His hand—even when the process is painful—because His purpose is holiness, not shame; maturity, not fear. Yield to correction as an act of faith.

God’s discipline is not evidence of His displeasure—it is proof of your belonging. He corrects what He claims, trains whom He loves, and completes what He begins.

Father, thank You that You do not abandon what You adopt. Teach us to see Your correction as care, Your discipline as love, and Your training as grace. Give us hearts that trust You—even when the process hurts. Form us into sons and daughters who reflect Your holiness. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Work hard—but only under the weight of grace, not guilt.

There is a quiet resistance in the human heart.
When correction comes close, we step back.
When exposure threatens, we hide.
When discipline presses in, we explain, excuse, and delay.

Hebrews 12 confronts that reflex with holy clarity. What we refuse to discipline does not disappear—it is eventually exposed. Not because God delights in shame, but because He is a Father who refuses to let destruction grow unchecked in His children. Discipline is not God turning away; it is God drawing near with intent to save.

Many of us were taught—directly or indirectly—that love avoids discomfort. So when conviction arises, we scroll past it. When God presses on a habit, an attitude, or a hidden compromise, we call it “grace” and move on. But Scripture offers a gentler, truer comfort: God corrects because He loves. Exposure is not cruelty; it is mercy intensified. The Father exposes what He intends to heal.

Hebrews 12 makes an uncomfortable but freeing declaration:
“If you are left without discipline… you are not sons.”

Absence of discipline is not grace—it is abandonment. God’s correction is proof of belonging. What we ignore privately, God may reveal publicly—not to humiliate us, but to rescue us. He whispers before He shouts. He convicts before He exposes. Discipline rejected today often becomes exposure tomorrow.

What conviction have you been dismissing?
What obedience have you been delaying?
What sin have you been managing instead of surrendering?

Discipline now prevents greater judgment later. Repentance now is always gentler than exposure later. Today, choose surrender over secrecy. Yield to the Father’s hand and let Him train you for holiness—the peaceful fruit that only comes through loving correction.

What you refuse to discipline, God will expose—not to shame you, but to share His holiness with you.

Father of spirits,
Train us as sons and daughters.
Expose what we have hidden.
Heal what we have avoided.
Form in us the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
We surrender our pride, our secrecy, and our resistance.
We trust that Your discipline is love—
strong enough to save,
gentle enough to restore,
faithful enough to finish what You began.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.

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📬 Mailing Address:
The Hustle Is Holy
1341 W Mockingbird Ln
600 West 689
Dallas, TX 75247

What God exposes, He intends to redeem. Work hard—but only under the weight of grace, not guilt.

Some questions pierce so deeply they feel dangerous to say aloud.
Why was I ever born?

This is not the voice of rebellion—it is the sound of a soul in pain. Scripture does not silence this question. God sanctifies it. From Jeremiah’s tears to Job’s ashes, the Bible preserves honest lament as holy ground. In this message, we follow the cry of despair through Scripture and discover that the God who formed us in the womb is not threatened by our anguish—He meets it with mercy.

This teaching walks with those who feel weary of life, burdened by loss, or haunted by the question of purpose, and it points us to the God who raises the dead.

If you’ve ever whispered this question through tears, you are not alone—and you are not faithless.
Jeremiah cried, “Cursed be the day on which I was born”—and God did not reject him.
Job lamented his birth—and heaven recorded his words.

God prefers honest prayer over polished silence. Lament is not unbelief; it is faith stretched thin yet still reaching upward. This message is an invitation to bring your pain to God without pretense, knowing He can bear the weight of your sorrow.

Before Jeremiah ever questioned his existence, God had already spoken purpose over his life:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”

You are not an accident. You are not a cosmic mistake.
You were known, woven, and appointed by God before your first breath.

Even when despair clouds your vision, Scripture reminds us that God’s design precedes our pain. The same Lord who allowed lament also declared purpose. This is where sorrow meets sovereignty.

Hope is not denial—it is defiance.
When Paul despaired of life itself, he learned to rely “not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”

Jesus Himself entered our deepest lament on the cross so that our despair would not have the final word. The question “Why was I ever born?” finds its answer at Calvary and the empty tomb. Christ bore our anguish so that our lives—even our suffering—might be gathered into resurrection glory.

Bring your pain to God.
Remember your divine origin.
Call His mercies to mind each morning.
Rely on resurrection power—not your own strength.

God welcomes honest lament, affirms His purpose from the womb, and meets despair with steadfast mercy—so we learn to rely on Him who raises the dead.

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Beloved, your birth was not a mistake—it was intention.
The God who welcomed lament then welcomes you now. Bring Him your questions. Lay down your despair. And trust this truth: He who raises the dead will also raise you.

“Great is Your faithfulness.”

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Work hard—but only under the weight of grace, not guilt.

Summary

This conversation explores the themes of divine obedience, the urgency of God's commands, and the nature of faith in the face of hardship. It emphasizes that true obedience often requires surrender and trust, even when circumstances are uncomfortable or unclear. The speaker reflects on biblical examples, particularly the life of Jesus, to illustrate that faith is not about seeking comfort but about responding to God's call with immediacy and trust.

Takeaways

God's commands often come without explanation or reassurance.

Obedience that waits for safety is self-preservation, not submission.

Faith does not demand comfort; it demands surrender.

God's will is not validated by safety but by His voice.

Hardship may be evidence of divine assignment, not abandonment.

Knowledge of God's word does not equate to obedience.

Jesus' life exemplified obedience without visible safety.

True faith responds to God's call, regardless of comfort.

Delay in obedience is a form of resistance.

The essence of faith is moving when God commands.

Sound Bites

"Knowledge does not equal obedience"

"Faith obeys because God has spoken"

"This is the Hustle is Holy"

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thehustleisholy.substack.com

Most believers do not fail because of sin alone, they fail because of drift.

This message confronts the quiet compromises, lazy patterns, and unintentional choices that pull us away from God. Living intentionally for Christ is about clarity, discipline, alignment, and the courage to face the truth about ourselves so God can mature us

.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thehustleisholy.substack.com