The title is A Prisoner of Appetite.
A Prisoner of Appetite.
And I'm going to talk about unhealthy eating
and not taking care of our bodies.
And is that a sin?
Now, the reason I didn't announce that prior
is we probably would have had a lot
less people here.
It's a topic that we don't want to
talk about.
It's difficult, but it's very, very important.
And what I mean by unhealthy is the
ability to take care of our body but
choose not to do so.
That's what unhealthy is, the ability to take
care of our body and we choose not
to do so.
And the irony in this whole sermon is
people, their misconception about me is laughable.
Like, oh, he eats perfect.
No, I don't.
You should have seen last week.
It's an area I struggle with.
And I'm just going to be honest with
you.
I'm not here to beat anybody up.
I want to encourage people because I see
a very close parallel with our physical health
and our spiritual health for those who can
do something about it.
Obviously, there's people out there who can do
nothing about it.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the 99% of us
who, and if this doesn't apply to you,
get the CD and give it to somebody
who does.
But for most of us, this is very
applicable.
And this is a struggle for me.
When I'm overweight, it's because I neglect this
area and it's hard to preach on what
you're not living out.
That's why many people won't preach on this.
And even just, I'm just going to open
up a little bit about myself.
Even many of you might know, but this
time last year, I was probably 240 pounds
and I've dropped about 15 pounds of that.
And it's always been a struggle since I
was a little boy growing up and trying
to stay.
And that's why I do it because I
know where it can lead in this area.
And a few things, I just, God brought
so many things to my memory this week,
but I had a nickname, Chubber Lane.
Remember with Mr. T when he fought Rocky
Balboa and he was called Clubber Lane?
They called me Chubber Lane.
And I still remember the person, Mike Mueller,
he's a fireman now, I think LA City,
used to call me that at the movies.
I still remember that.
I'm going to actually email him this sermon
to make him feel bad.
That was like 34 years ago, I think.
And also in the yearbook, if I go
back, I think it was at Bethel Baptist,
there's me sitting in a wagon with an
apple and there's Stuffed Pig underneath the heading
there.
And all these, I mean, they live with
you, right?
And just grow.
And so I remember that.
And I said, now what I'm going to
do when I get out, I'm going to
get big and strong and I'm going to
show up like that guy, little weak, wimpy
guy that gets real big and then puts
other people's face in the sand.
And that's what I set out to do.
And that's why I got into health and
fitness.
And I wasn't healthy, I wasn't fitness, too
fit, a lot of steroids.
I look like a lot of the wrestlers.
I have a before and after picture I
didn't want to show you guys, but if
you email me, I can share it with
you.
But when I got to my biggest at
270, 275 pounds, and looked like Brian Bosworth,
the Oklahoma Sooners was one of my heroes
and being big and strong, but that wasn't
healthy.
I was dying inside.
I was drinking and all kinds of the
party lifestyle.
But a lot of it stemmed from that
poor self image, very poor self image being
called chubby and lead pants.
I remember that and just being made fun
of.
We don't know how that affects growing up.
So I can relate.
I'm preaching to the choir and actually this
is pretty funny.
I don't know if this is true or
not.
I still need to research it.
But for my height, I should be 195
pounds.
So I'm still 30 pounds overweight.
What's going on here?
I mean, it doesn't make sense, but I
know muscle weighs more and what I'm trying
to do is I want to just trust
God.
Lord, let me take care of this and
you put me at the weight that I
should be at.
Because when you start eating right and taking
care of it, now here's the biggie.
This affects everything I do.
When I don't take care of this, I
don't want to go to the hospital homes.
I don't want to preach.
I don't want to witness.
My attitude stinks.
I'm moody.
I'm disgruntled and I'm angry.
Think this is an important topic?
And it doesn't affect you?
Well, it does affect you.
You just don't know how much it affects
you until you start to experience something called
withdrawals.
Have you ever withdrawn from sugar and caffeine?
The worst panic attacks I've ever had is
withdrawing from caffeine.
These things affect us in a very negative
way and we should talk about it.
And I'm reading a book.
I'm actually going to recommend.
I ordered it and it's not here in
enough time.
But it's called Breaking the Stronghold of Food
by Dr. Michael Brown.
Breaking the Stronghold of Food by Michael Brown.
I built a relationship with him over the
last year.
You should see his before and after pictures.
It's like eighty or ninety pounds.
Just the energy he has and eating very
healthy.
This book is good and it's very convicting.
But something he said in there really set
well with me but didn't sit well in
this regard.
He asked the question, would Jesus be overweight?
And I thought would Paul lose credibility?
Would we take James less seriously?
If they were, I mean, I was carrying
around an extra thirty, forty pounds.
People might say, oh Shane, that's no big
deal.
And that's true.
You look fine.
That's true.
I understand that.
But I know that the appetite is there
ready to take me down.
It's something that we must talk about.
In Thomas Constine's history, The Three Edwards, he
describes the life of Reynald III, a fourth
century duke in what is now Belgium.
Grossly overweight, Reynald was commonly called by his
Latin name Crassus.
After a violent quarrel, Reynald's younger brother Edward
led a successful revolt against him.
Edward captured Reynald but did not kill him.
Instead, he built a room around Reynald in
the Newark castle and promised him he could
regain his title and property as soon as
he was able to leave the room.
This would not have been difficult for most
people since the room had several windows and
a door near normal size and none was
locked or barred.
The problem was Reynald's size.
To regain his freedom, he needed to lose
weight.
But Edward knew his older brother and each
day he sent in a variety of delicious
foods.
Instead of dieting his way out of prison,
Reynald grew bigger and bigger and bigger.
When Duke Edward was accused of cruelty, he
simply answered, my brother is not a prisoner,
he may leave when he so wills.
Reynald stayed in that room ten more years
and wasn't released until after Edward died in
battle.
By then his health was so ruined, he
died within a year a prisoner of his
own appetite.
And that's where this message really comes from,
is a difficult thing and actually why it's
a double edged sword is the more knowledge
you possess in this area, the more responsibility
you have.
The more we know how food and how
nutrition, how these things, the more we know,
and we know a lot in America, we
don't have a knowing problem, we have a
doing problem.
The more we know, we have a responsibility.
I know these things will hurt me.
I have a responsibility to do something about
it.
And it's interesting, a lot of people are
not aware and they might be upset that
I'm bringing this to the surface because now
they know.
But even the diagnostic and statistical manual on
mental disorders that psychologists use, lists caffeine induced
anxiety attacks and panic attacks, anything over 400
mg of caffeine sets you into a mental
disarray.
It's in their books and it's what we're
feeding our bodies, it's what we're using to
stimulate and often there are ramifications with what
we put in.
The physical affects the spiritual.
Here's the big deal, this is why this
is a big deal.
Shane, if I eat a donut, is that
a bad thing?
Well, no, you're not going to hell and
you're not caught in sin and now you're
not the prodigal son.
It's just not a good idea.
It's going to begin to make a certain
effect on your body.
The physical affects the spiritual.
Again, the physical affects the spiritual.
We've been talking about the filling of the
Holy Spirit for the last two months, haven't
we?
The filling of the Holy Spirit.
And what quenches and grieves the Holy Spirit
in our lives?
Disobedience.
Another book I want to recommend is the
School of Obedience by Andrew Murray.
The School of Obedience by Andrew Murray.
The one thing God asked of Adam in
paradise was obedience.
The one thing by which a creature can
glorify God or enjoy His favor and blessing
is obedience.
The one cause of the power sin has
got in the world and the ruin it
has brought is disobedience.
The secret of true obedience is the return
to close and continued fellowship with God.
I was just talking to Mike in the
back about this.
We think of this, I'm going to do
a sermon someday, hopefully soon, on obedience is
not a bad word.
It's not a bad word.
The difference between legalism and biblical obedience is
a relationship to the Father.
And I like what Andrew Murray said.
The secret of true obedience is the return
to close and continual fellowship with God.
God would say, just obey my voice.
Just obey my voice.
So we have to listen.
Is He saying anything to us in this
area?
Well, here's the question.
Does the Bible say anything about addiction?
Why stewardship of our bodies?
Disciplining our bodies?
Or a word I'm going to throw out
there that we don't talk about, gluttony.
Does the Bible say anything about those areas?
If not, let's just close up and go
home.
But if it talks about these areas, I
think it's important to discuss.
So does the Bible say anything about addiction?
Why stewardship?
Disciplining our bodies?
And gluttony?
Yes, it does.
So that's why I recommended that book, Breaking
the Stronghold of Food by Dr. Michael Brown.
So let's talk about this for a minute.
I can take you to the early church
fathers, and this was a huge issue.
The early church talked about it.
Is it one of the five or seven
major sins out there, right?
Gluttony.
And what this is, let me just tell
you what it means.
The word means to gulp down.
If you look at the root word of
gluttony, it means to gulp down.
And what did you do at Christmas or
Thanksgiving dinner?
Little petite salad and come back to it
later?
That's why they call it a big gulp.
It comes from the word gluttony.
It's to gulp down.
And again, the whole point of this message
is to help.
The whole point.
That's why I even brought free copies.
The very first book I wrote was What
Works When Diets Don't, giving people a biblical
model to follow.
And I just want to help you on
this area because I helped over 20,000,
30,000 people through many years on this
area.
And in every case, once they improve this
area, other areas of life improve.
Physically, spiritually, mentally, energy, better parents, better spouse.
It's an all-consuming area we forget about.
Why do we forget about it?
Because we don't talk about it very often.
This is an important topic.
Gluttony means to gulp down.
And throughout the Bible, actually I had scriptures
on it and they would have took up
a whole page.
But basically it's the overindulgence and consumption of
food or drink.
And it's often tied to wealth, extravagance, and
waste.
Sounds like American lifestyle, doesn't it?
Extravagance, wealth and waste.
The modern American lifestyle promotes gluttony.
It actually, see, don't follow the world in
regard to the movies.
Don't follow the world in regard to television
or Facebook or how the world lives or
the world.
Don't handle the way the world handles all
this.
But when it comes to food, give me
everything.
I don't care what the world does.
Let me embrace.
No, you better be careful.
It's the same type of influence.
And it's funny this week, people always make
the comment, it bothers my wife but it
doesn't bother me.
When they say, I know Shane can't have
one cookie.
Here's the problem.
One cookie here.
In and out here.
Try tip here.
Sirloin here.
Lobster here.
Try this pumpkin pie and this cake and
these cookies and this treat and this.
And before the week's over, I just had
a plethora of junk.
Same with you.
So the responsibility, no, I'm not talking about
you have one cookie.
One cookie now and then.
Come on, folks.
We need to just grow up.
Of course, I'm not talking about that.
What I'm talking about is a consistent pattern
where it hurts the body.
And if we had time, again, this is
going to have to be condensed down, but
how food affects the body would probably shock
many of you.
How it actually affects the body.
Chemicals, nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, how it affects the
body.
Most of the anxiety attacks, panic attacks, depression
that people go through are a result of
what they're putting in their body.
Many times.
I'm not discounting mental disorder because it happens
with no fault of people.
It's not always the case.
You can't just say that.
But you look at the studies, all these
additives, all these fruit, the rise of attention
deficit disorders, the rise of this and all
these different things.
You have to look at what are we
putting in the body.
Let me just encapsulate all this and maybe
I'll get to it.
God gave life-giving good food for us
to consume that brings life to the body.
So you think fruits, vegetables, greens, this color,
yuck.
Well, that's life.
That's life.
So when we take in death, the food
that has no nutritional value, you can sit
a Twinkie or a Big Mac on the
shelf and come back and look and it's
not going to look any different a week
or two or three or a month later.
It's dead food.
It's dying.
It's gone.
So when we consume things that give us
no life but bring death, it amazes me.
Probably the thing that amazes me more than
anything is why aren't we dropping like flies?
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Because we are fearfully and masterfully and wonderfully
made.
God has made us but we dilute and
pollute that by putting in these things that
bring no benefit to the body.
You look at a Coke, caramel coloring, aspartame
if it's a diet Coke, caffeine.
Why do they need caffeine in Coke?
Have you ever thought of that?
It's called addiction.
So we want more Coke.
And you look at these ingredients that we're
consuming, there's nothing life-giving in it.
And what I found is there's not a
problem.
I said this before, I ate too many
apples and broccoli yesterday.
Have you ever said that?
No.
Why?
Because unhealthy food is tied with gluttony.
Think about this, gorging on unhealthy food.
But I ate too much of that salad.
Why?
Because it's healthy life-giving food that satisfies
the body.
And I'm convinced that Starbucks puts a little
bit something else in their coffee to keep
you coming back.
Because that line from five in the morning
till ten at night is just round the
clock all the time.
And you know what their little logo means,
the siren?
Enticing wayward sailors to their death through seduction.
That's a good logo to choose.
But that's how it works, folks.
If you don't take my word for it,
take it to the Lord.
Take it to the Lord and ask Him
to show you in this area.
Now, with that as the backdrop, here's the
hope.
Submit to God rather than the God of
our bellies.
The Bible verse, it talks explicitly about this
as in Philippians 3.
Their God is their stomach.
Their God is their belly and their mind
is set on earthly things.
Paul, to the church in Philippi, is contrasting
these evildoers, these wicked people, these false teachers,
their God is their belly.
Everything is surrounded by, and what he means
is everything is surrounded by their appetites.
I've joked about this but it's true.
When I get up in the morning, would
I run for my green smoothie or my
coffee and donut?
And then a couple hours later I need
my this, and then a couple hours later
I need this, and a couple hours later
I need this, and then I have to
stop and get my dryer's ice cream or
my Cold Stone or my yogurt and I
can't go to bed without this Frappuccino and
I have to have this and I'm addicted
all day long and my appetites are controlling
where I go.
Their God is their belly.
That's who's controlling them.
That's why fasting, I talk about often, breaks
the addiction.
It breaks the bondage.
And you can change your appetite.
You can change your palate.
You can crave.
You can begin to crave good life-giving
food just like you can crave more of
the spiritual things of God.
The parallels are amazing.
The more I get into God's Word and
submit and surrender and read the Bible and
pray and come to church, I'm hungry for
those very things.
So once I begin to feed on life
-giving, life-sustaining food, I feed on those
very things.
And if you don't think this is a
big deal, look at the obesity rate in
our nation.
Look at where the health care is going.
You think the health care is messed up?
You ain't seen nothing yet, as my daddy
used to say.
Right?
Is that okay to say that from the
pulpit?
Some of the old timers are going to
say, no, you can't say that.
Okay, let me back up a little bit.
This is not going in a good direction.
Something has to change.
We have to make a difference somehow.
There is hope.
You can change your appetite and your palate.
Greg Laurie, I don't know if you've been
hearing him on the radio, has given a
wonderful example.
He's been talking about a trainer in one
of the gyms who wanted to take on
70 pounds just to see what it felt
like.
And he said it was heaven.
Captain Crunch Donuts the first few days.
The first few days.
But then everything started to come undone.
And he said, I wonder if I'll ever
get my desire back for the healthy things.
And his analogy was a course of sin
or falling away from God.
But it's the same thing here.
What we start to feed on, we crave.
And what we crave, we want more of.
And that's why it's hard to break this
cycle of addiction on food.
I mean, this week, just praying, Lord, please,
I know this is going to offend people,
please help me with this sermon.
I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm praying,
Lord, help me.
And I just, so many things.
One of the confirmations was I saw an
email thread on Facebook about somebody named Eric,
I think it was through Dr. Michael Brown's
ministry, who's very overweight.
He said coming out of the homosexual lifestyle
was easier than controlling this area and breaking
food addiction.
What?
Let me read that.
But then you start to think it's bondage.
Have you ever been bound by something?
You just don't, it just doesn't, you don't
say, okay, devil, that's enough.
Tomorrow morning, you wake up and you make
some grapefruit juice and you love organic smoothies.
And you're going to make organic pancakes with
wheat germ and cut out dairy now and
then and watch the meat.
It's not going to happen.
It's a fight.
But there's hope.
Submit to God, submit to God in this
area.
You will not find freedom until you submit
this area to God.
Until I finally said, yeah, I know a
lot about fitness, but God, I have a
problem.
Guess what?
Out of nowhere, I want to stop and
get a huge coffee and donut this morning.
And I get home, I open up the
church early, turn on the heaters, and I
say, okay, Lord, I'm starved.
I've got to do this 40 days.
I've got to get rid of all this
junk.
I keep compromising.
For me, it's dairy, meat, I'll explain.
I just want to do a Daniel fast.
And I walk in and there's, ah, I
smell eggs and toast.
And I'm like, oh, I can't have this.
I got mad.
I got irritated.
I'm like in a bad mood because I
couldn't have eggs?
What's wrong with me?
But see how it works.
Is it a big shame you couldn't have?
Yes, I could have.
But I want to be filled with the
Spirit of God.
I want to make a commitment to God.
I want to fulfill it.
I want to starve the flesh.
I got out the orange juice, organic for
those who care, and I put some plant
-based organic protein powder with frozen bananas and
then got it going and then put in
some big dinosaur kale, that big green stuff.
You can't even taste the kale.
I made my kids drink it and they
loved it.
But then I felt better after I over,
but that addiction didn't want to go out
easy, did it?
Because our bodies, our cravings begin to pull
us away.
That's why, why did Paul say I discipline
my body and I bring it into subjection?
What for?
To be a good example, to be a
good testimony.
Now, here's the excuse verse that somebody's going
to pull on me after the service, so
I'm going to throw it out there right
now.
First Corinthians 6.12, Shane, haven't you read?
I have the right to do anything.
Yeah, I did, but you got to keep
reading.
I have the right to do anything, you
say, but not everything is beneficial.
I have the right to do anything, but
I will not be mastered by anything.
So people actually use this excuse to just
eat all types of garbage and not take
care of their body.
I can do anything.
I have a right and a privilege.
Well, actually the context is do not be
deceived, do not use your liberty as an
opportunity for the flesh.
Because see, they were bound in the Old
Testament, they were bound by the law, they
were bound, so Paul comes saying, freedom in
Christ.
And people are saying, I have freedom in
Christ, I can do everything.
Paul says, hold on, some things aren't beneficial,
don't be mastered by anything.
So we have to look at scriptures in
context, in this area.
Another point, appetite is a very strong pull.
Proverbs 23, I'm going to paraphrase.
When eating with a ruler, pay attention to
what is being served.
If you are a big eater, put a
knife to your throat.
Don't desire all the delicacies, for he might
be trying to trick you.
Giving up to those delicacies.
What this really is talking about is this
appetite of ours is a very strong pull.
Now resolutions are good, New Year's resolutions.
What do we do?
We re-evaluate, we re-examine, and we
change.
Why do they fail in this area?
Very easy scripture, remember.
The flesh is, the spirit is willing, but
the flesh is weak.
So the spirit is willing.
How many people are willing, saying that makes
sense, I want to do this, guess what?
You don't know a battle until you leave
these doors.
When you battle for that appetite, that's why.
So you have to feed the spirit.
There are spiritual disciplines you have to put
in place that will help you in this
area, and here they are.
First, you have to find the motivation.
Find the motivation, ask God for help.
And what I mean about motivation, what helps
me stay motivated, is I'll pick up a
book by Jenson Franklin on fasting.
I'll read Andrew Murray, oh my Lord, have
mercy on my soul, when you pick up
the old time authors that talk about obedience
and crucifying the flesh, and I'll get up,
like the book I recommended, Dr. Brown's book,
and I'll read these and I'll bring in
the motivation, I'll look to the word of
God and what God's word says about gluttony
and addiction and not being overcome, and I'll
pray and I'll ask God, and I'll stay
motivated by that.
That's why I have free books you can
pick up on your way out.
Because you need that motivation.
Because you're very motivated right now, but when
you head out of here, what's going to
happen to that motivation?
Christ talked about the abundant life.
And many times we hear that word abundance
and we think of more.
And no doubt it carries that meaning, but
abundant life is an energetic life, a life
where you're even tempered, you're not moody and
angry with these mood swings and all these
things.
It's an abundant life, a life flourishing because
you're doing it spiritually and physically.
I want to throw this out there as
well.
Have you ever thought about the example we're
leaving to our kids?
I mean, the childhood obesity rate is alarming.
It's absolutely alarming.
And what is the example we are leaving
for our children in this area?
That should be motivation enough.
I don't know about you, but that takes
care of half my motivation.
I don't need the Captain Crunch and the
garbage in the pantry.
Because out of sight, out of mind, what
little kids, what's in the house, they'll eat.
Now they're wanting to cut up oranges and
apples and celery with peanut butter and all
these things because they can't get anything else.
If I put that in the pantry along
with Big League Chew, what are they going
to grab?
You guys know, come on.
There's a lot of upset faces in here.
I better hurry up and get through this
thing.
God's grace is divine empowerment.
You have to ask for God's grace in
this area.
Now here's an interesting concept.
God's grace.
God, give me the grace.
And I joke about this, but it's true.
It's like the person who said, God, help
me with gambling as I head to Vegas.
That's how we abuse his grace.
God, help me with drinking as you stop
by the liquor store.
Let me just look at it.
See what it looks like this year.
And we fall in these areas, but God's
grace works with us.
Noah had to do something.
Abraham had to do something.
Moses had to do something.
So God empowers as we submit and obey.
Because I talk to people, God, why won't
they take away this addiction?
I just talked to somebody recently.
Why am I addicted?
God won't take it away.
No, he might not.
He might not just take it away.
You have to fight sometimes.
You have to apply biblical principles in your
life.
And I don't like that any more than
you do.
Lord, would you please take away the desire
for caffeine and sugar right now?
Take it away.
Is that going to happen?
And sometimes it does.
Praise God for those times.
There's times where he'll take something away immediately
and people will never go back to it.
But many times we have to fight.
So you have to find the motivation.
You have to ask God for help.
That's the key.
Because if you keep feeding on the Carl's
Jr. commercials every day and not something to
balance it out, what are you going to
drive to?
But Shane, In-N-Out has scriptures on
their cups and they're a Christian.
If I hear that, if I hear that
one more time.
And they're a Christian company.
That's your excuse.
Actually, I had a good excuse and Dr.
Michael Brown called me on it this week
and I was thankful he did.
I said, you know, it's a lot harder
for me though.
I have kids under 11.
He says, that's just an excuse, Shane.
That's true.
Isn't it?
I mean, we find excuses.
Now it might be a Christian company.
There might be good things.
If anybody there works there, then get them
to them.
They need to get organic meat, not processed
meat and not processed bread and not vegetables
that came over from Canada in a freight
train that have tons of pesticides, herbicides and
fungicides on them.
And nothing is healthy in that.
So send that to them.
Have their upper manager make the changes.
And now I've been there before.
I've been there recently, probably a few months
ago and it sounds good right now, but
we can't, we have to find the motivation.
I'm going to get back on track here.
It's a lifestyle.
Number two, this is a biggie.
This will help a lot of people.
It's a lifestyle.
There are no shortcuts.
Don't just throw away all the advertisements on
TV.
Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.
Exercise for just eight minutes.
Wear this belt.
All garbage.
They sell, the whole industry, fitness industry is
based on creating this emotional eight minutes a
day.
That's all I need to exercise.
No, no.
You need to move a lot.
You can't just wear a belt.
I did.
Last time I spoke on this a few
years ago, I had a corporate executive from
Pepsi got mad at me.
We make good drinks too.
Gatorade or whatever.
Well, there's Gatorade.
The same stuff in Gatorade is an antifreeze.
Come on, folks.
Wake up.
I mean, let's honestly, the garbage that we
are consuming would alarm you.
It's amazing what we're allowing into our body,
especially it's really hard for me at Little
League when the parents bring all the snacks.
I'm like, oh, don't eat that.
Don't eat that.
Big League chew and a diet Pepsi and
Twinkie.
And it's like, oh, goodness, kids.
It's no wonder we're experiencing what we're experiencing.
So there are no shortcuts.
Lose weight quick is a great marketing slogan,
but it's not realistic.
All that you do, due to the glory
of God.
That's why this area has to be focused
on a lifestyle.
It's a lifestyle, but you fall forward.
You fall forward.
You think anybody who's ever accomplished anything has
ever not stumbled and fallen.
I can show you people who take care
of their body and they make mistakes.
I can tell you people who have succeeded
and they've fell many times along the way,
but you have to make a lifestyle.
Don't say the month of January, I'm going
to do this.
And then back on February 1st, it doesn't
work.
It doesn't work that way.
It's interesting too.
My wife told me, I wrote it down
a while back.
She did 40 days.
I think it was no sugar and it
took a while.
It was a hard fight.
I was pretty impressed actually.
But unless you make it a lifestyle, that
desire is going to come back again and
again.
And you're fighting the same demon that you
fought many years ago.
Is there a demon of sugar, Shane?
No, it's not a demon of sugar.
But what I mean by that is you
allow that open door to come back and
it comes back stronger.
If there's a bondage in one area, why
do you go back to it?
That doesn't make any sense.
It reminds me of the verse where the
demon finds the house clean and swept and
then brings back more with him.
And the last day to that man is
worse than the first because he allowed that
door of bondage to be open.
When it's a lifestyle, I'm prepared for the
ups and downs.
You get through the holidays.
You get through the different seasons.
Number three, choose the pain of discipline over
the pain of regret.
This will apply to those who even don't
want to hear a message like this.
They want to get back to the Bible.
This is Bible.
It's called gluttony.
It's called taking care of this wonderful thing
that God has given us.
And we need to start talking about these
things that are so important.
Choose the pain of discipline over the pain
of regret.
Physical discipline always has spiritual benefits.
What happens is you discipline your body, then
joy comes.
After I drank that smoothie, I was happy
as could be.
Had I caved in to the eggs?
Not happy because I blew the fast.
I want to start today.
Oh my gosh, I can't get through one
day.
But joy comes.
Patience, then peace.
Abstinence, then fulfillment.
Do you see how that works?
Discipline.
Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 9, I
strike a blow to my body and I
make it my slave.
I discipline my body like an athlete to
train to do whatever it should.
I keep on disciplining my body and make
it serve me.
That's three different translations.
But the bottom line is Paul said as
a believer, here's what's offensive.
Here's what people don't want to hear.
You have to discipline your body and stop
allowing your body to discipline you.
You have to take control.
You have to lead in this area.
You have to tell your desires, nope, you're
not going down that path.
Here's what I'm going to do.
God has called me and you discipline your
body.
Eventually your body will be quiet.
It'll be quiet in these areas because if
you resist long enough, the devil will flee.
Eliot's commentary on this 1 Corinthians.
The body is spoken as Paul's adversary.
It's the seat of those lusts and appetites
which war against the mind, which makes it
a slave.
The idea is carried on that the body
is not only conquered but led captive.
We must remember that the language all throughout
this passage is figurative.
And the statement here refers not to inflicting
his own body, not hitting his body, but
subduing the appetites and passions which are located
in it.
The true position of our natural appetites is
that they should be entirely our servants and
not our masters.
That we should not follow or be led
by them, but they should follow and be
led by us.
That's what I'm saying and I'm dead serious
that our appetites control our entire day.
Morning, where I'm going to lunch, where I'm
doing this, when I'm feeding this appetite.
When you begin to control your appetites, you
say, no, that's not what we're having this
morning.
This is what we're having.
I'm controlling you.
And when you want to stop and get
that large frappuccino that has tons of stuff,
and I gotta wait in this line.
You'll make excuses.
Sorry, running late traffic's bad.
No, it's not.
You're in Starbucks line because it controls.
Let's get real.
These things are controlling us.
And Paul said, I don't do that.
I've never done that, but I've heard people
do that before.
Paul is saying, don't allow this area to
keep controlling you.
John Owen was a Puritan author.
He said, secret lusts lie lurking in our
own heart, which will never give up until
they are either destroyed or satisfied.
Secret lusts never give up until they are
destroyed or satisfied.
The fourth point is fall forward.
Hopefully this is encouragement.
The enemy uses regret and procrastination.
Those who succeed in this area are those
who have fallen many times before.
So you can have a wonderful 2017.
You can say, well, Shane, I was just
born this way.
My pituitary gland, my this, my hereditary.
It doesn't matter.
You can succeed in this area.
And a lot of times we blame our
body.
I did.
I blamed different things on my body.
And we can't continue to do that.
Yes, that sometimes plays a role, but I
want to encourage you to fall forward.
Fall forward.
Can you imagine this time next year?
Or this time this summer?
Feeling better because you put, it's not just
weight or bad food, it's putting your body
in subjection, and you controlling it versus you
controlling you.
It already controls me when I leave here.
Where am I going for lunch?
Gulp down, right?
Hurry, hurry, more food, more food.
Where am I going for dinner?
I'm going to stop by here and get
a candy bar.
I'm going to stop by here and get
this.
And it controls us.
He's saying, put your body in check.
You control it.
The fifth point, I've already thrown this out
there, is consume.
Consume life-giving foods.
You have to consume life-giving foods.
People often say, what about the meat debate
and the dairy debate and all this?
You know, I'm not going to get, I
get real technical, but take it to the
Lord.
These things are delicacies in Bible times.
You didn't, you didn't have meat for breakfast,
meat for lunch, and meat for dinner 14
times a week.
It was a delicacy.
Brang, when the prodigal son came home, go
and get the fatted calf for this reunion.
It was a time of celebration, weddings.
But now we're feasting on things that were
meant to be only now and then.
So life-giving food from the soil.
Get life-giving food, not dead food designed
in a factory.
And I'm well aware, doing this as much
as I have many of this, many of
what I'm saying is right now is going
in one ear and out the next.
But I'm talking to that group of people
who want to make a change.
And I can tell you, as a living
witness, when I'm taking care of my body,
I'm a better pastor, I'm a better husband,
I'm a better father.
Bar none, bar none, not even comparable to
anything else.
Because here's why, here's why.
Just, just, let's just stay on this topic
for a minute.
When I have, when I have, and that's
why I go off now and then, and
it's hard, that's why I go back on,
it gets bondage.
When I get off of coffee, I didn't
realize how much of a jerk I was.
You're, you're irritable, you're anxious, leave me alone,
get away, leave me alone, get away, gotta
have my coffee, gotta have this, get away,
kids, you're bothering me, get away.
It's just, it's just everything that's not fruit
of the Spirit.
It's not.
If you treat people, you're mean, you're rude,
you're arrogant, you're condescending, you're irritable.
That's wrong.
Why should we not say that?
That we're taking things that actually turn us
into jerks, and monsters, and being, stay away
from me until I have my coffee.
I mean, can you imagine that?
What is that?
That's like, stay away from me until I
have my heroin.
Stay away from me until I have my
crystal meth, or my, because that addiction, so
be careful in this area, it affects you
more than you realize.
And the reason our bodies are falling apart
is because we're not feeding them what they
need to sustain life.
We're feeding them death.
That's why all these injuries many times are
happening.
Of course, we're getting older, and God says
in the Word, you know, we're not to
live to be more than 120.
And there's different things on this.
And who's ever reached 120, right?
I mean, that's, that's been on very few
people.
But the bottom line is, I know people
who are in their 80s, that are running
marathons.
I can't keep up with them in their
80s.
So you wonder, hmm, wonder what, wonder if
we can really take care of this machine
that God has given us.
I mean, I could break down on the
molecular level, how food plays a role in
endorphins, and making you feel better and moody,
being very moody and being chemical imbalances, because
you're feeding on all the wrong chemicals, additives,
sugars, preservatives, all these things, the body's not
designed to take in.
You look at just look at the back
of something when it says partially hydrogenated oil,
they are injecting hydrogenated gas into the fat
molecule so that the food won't go bad.
Aspartame, which is the sweetener in diet drinks,
was found by a guy trying to cure
an ulcer.
It's an ulcer medication.
It's not FDA, you look, do the research
on this, it's not a good product.
But we're consuming and we're consuming and we're
consuming.
And that's why it has such a strong
pull.
Try just stopping diet Pepsi.
I was hooked on that in 1999.
I had to have big 16 ounce every
couple.
And coming off of that, I thought, I
thought the world was going to explode.
I mean, you start shaking heart palpitations, moody,
talk about moody and irritable.
Oh, my Lord.
And just anxious.
Stay away.
I can't.
What is this?
It's it's withdrawals because this is a highly
addictive thing.
You come off broccoli, nothing's going to happen.
Nothing's going to happen.
So here's today's tip.
formulate a plan.
This is what you need to do.
You need to formulate a plan.
So we're going to have signups.
I know Kristen will be out in the
lobby, Kristen Bosma will be out in the
lobby.
She's doing something for 30 days.
If you want some accountability, we've got free
books, you have to have a plan.
Here's here's my plan in nutshell, the power
of the made up mind, you got to
make up your mind.
I'm not doing this.
I'm making up my mind.
Because here comes the excuses, right?
Tonight, I can already hear it.
We'll just have a little bit of meat
and sugar, chocolate, just wean off tomorrow.
Okay, you're right.
And I get up in the morning, what
about a little bit of coffee, a little
bit of coffee is not going to hurt,
you know?
Oh, yeah, you're right.
And you start to have all these excuses,
the power of the made up mind and
expect temptation and withdrawals and plan accordingly.
Don't just go cold turkey.
Sometimes you need to withdraw off of things
and get them out of your system.
That's one of the benefits.
Have you ever noticed the benefits of fasting?
If you've ever studied, the benefits of fasting
is not just spiritual, it's physical.
The body restores and rejuvenates itself.
Cells are cells, actual cells come back to
life.
Disease is killed and conquered and many times
fasting, allowing the digestive system to rest.
It's a wonderful principle.
Out of sight out of mind.
This is an important thing.
Go through your pantry and remove all those
things that are going to pull you back.
You can't just have a pantry full of
something that you're trying to quit.
Look at the ingredients.
Look at what you're consuming.
If you can't pronounce it, and the list
is this long, it's not good.
And I have more on that that we
can help you with.
Don't center things around food.
That's a big deal.
We seem to center things around food.
That's one reason why I did the men's
walk.
We started when the church started.
There's guys sitting around having three donuts and
a big thing of coffee.
I'm so tired.
I don't know what to do.
I'm moody.
Versus let's go out and walk for an
hour and a half and not center everything
around food.
Have healthy options available.
Move more.
Stay active.
You have to stay active.
Sign up for the hospital home.
Sign up for something.
Do something.
Stay active.
Getting home, putting your feet up on the
couch and watching TV is not a good
thing.
It will actually hurt the body.
And of course fall forward.
I want to really encourage you to fall
forward because many people make mistakes, but you
get back on track and you move forward.
So here's what we're doing as a church.
We're doing a 30-day focus on health
as a church.
I'm going to start back in the book
of Acts next week.
Some of you are like, thank God.
But, and I would have a health seminar
where I could talk more about this, but
12 people will be there.
So I had to just, you know, get
you out now.
I'll get CDs available for those who thought
they could miss it.
We'll make sure they get CDs next week.
So if you didn't, if you know somebody
who's not here, give them a CD.
But as a church, I'm just going to
go, I'm going to do a Daniel type
fast with intermediate fasting where I fast all
day and just get back to healthy, good,
God-given foods and see what that does.
I want to have a tip each week
to kind of help you get on track
through the month of January.
And there's no, no better way than to
start the new year off in this direction.
And most of you know who ate a
lot of junk the last couple of weeks
and they do not feel good about it.
Oh, and there's nobody except me.
Oh, there we go.
You didn't have to raise your hands.
I was just saying, I actually have at
least, Morgan knows by six shirts in my
closet.
I'm just waiting to wear, just waiting to
wear.
I wore them three years ago and I
don't know what happened.
The reason what happened is got kids, church
is growing.
I'm busy.
So what does that mean?
Exactly.
When it should be the opposite, because I'm
actually more productive, very productive when you're taking
care of what God has given us the
right way, then you're more productive.
You're not moody, you're filled with the Spirit
of God.
And life is a breeze compared to being
addicted all the time.
So trust me, this is a huge area.
That's what we're doing as a church for
the month of January.
So consider fasting.
It's a purifying process.
We have more information on this.
And I'm going to leave you with this
closing thought.
How much longer are we going to talk
about this and not do it?
How much longer are we going to neglect
our health, hurt our families and leave a
poor example for others and our children?
Think about that.
What about Jesus walked around with an extra
amount?
I mean, and really what weight is, when
I had extra weight, have extra weight now,
what weight is, it's this energy that hasn't
been burned yet.
You realize that, right?
Calories are units of energy.
When we take in and we don't burn
it, it stores and stores and stores.
It just means I need to move more.
I need to burn this energy.
It's a very good thing because it'll get
you up and out of the house and
motivated.
Remember this gentleman, he stayed in his room
for 10 years and wasn't released until after
Edward died in battle.
By then his health was so ruined, he
died within a year, a prisoner of his
own appetite.