A Biblical Perspective on Eating, Dieting, and Gluttony (pt-3)

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we want to ask ourselves the question how should we as Christians look at our bodies look at eating, look at dieting and look even at the topic of gluttony and so we've basically said so far that food in and of itself isn't bad.
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What you eat isn't bad and if you eat fast food or if you eat something else the food is not bad because God has given us food to enjoy.
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We looked at fasting a little bit that I don't believe there's any New Testament commands for fasting if you'd like to do that that's fine.
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Do it as a spiritual exercise not as an exercise for dieting and somehow think that it's commending yourself to God.
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If you want to fast to diet that's fine as well but don't mix spiritual and physical If you have your
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Bibles right now I want to give you just kind of an overview of what the Bible says about gluttony and we'll look at several passages before we get into some other issues.
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So turn your Bibles to Proverbs 23 to start and we're gonna do a jet tour of what does the
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Bible say about gluttony there's not much in there about gluttony so let me show you a few the places where this excessive eating is condemned by God and we want to make sure we don't do that we can eat and we can eat to the glory of God whether you eat or drink or whatever you do you can do to God's glory and say thank you
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Lord for these taste buds thank you for this meal but excess eating is not good
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Proverbs chapter 23 verse 19 and now we're just gonna do a cursory look at several of the New Testament and Old Testament passages that have gluttony in them and they're just a handful.
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Proverbs 23 19 in the way Solomon often teaches, listen my son and be wise and direct your heart in the way.
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Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine or with gluttonous eaters of meat.
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Why? This is kind of that first Corinthians chapter 15 evil company corrupts good morals concept of poor associations.
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For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
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We usually focus on the drinking side of things more than the gluttony side of things and my question to you tonight is why?
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We get that when it says the heavy drinker will come to poverty and we'd all say yes look at the horrible effects of alcohol but why don't we talk much about the glutton will also come to poverty and be careful not to hang out with gluttons
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There's a short answer to the question. Does anybody know it? Why do we think one is worse than the other when actually both are condemned here?
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We don't do one and we do the other and even in a larger scale we think of what society says and society doesn't say anything about gluttony.
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It says some things about the consequences of drinking. Good. Go forward a few chapters please.
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Proverbs chapter 28 and again we're just gonna get an overview so you will all know that Bible says gluttony is not a good thing.
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Certainly eating is fine and we have to eat. God has given us an appetite. God has given us taste buds and just because we overdo it, it doesn't mean it's wrong to eat.
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Proverbs 28 7. He who keeps the law is a discerning son but he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.
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Why would Solomon write that? Why would he warn his son don't be a companion of gluttons?
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Anyone? Pretty straightforward. Why shouldn't we be companions of gluttons?
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Pardon me? Because it'll rub off on you and you could become one? Good. Why would you do something?
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Remember back in those days, we looked at Deuteronomy 21 a couple weeks ago that a glutton could literally eat you out of house and home back in those days.
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He could destroy everything. He could eat all that you saved. He couldn't just go down to Hannaford's easily and buy all the food and so your son eats you out of house and home and so it's a bad thing.
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These people were unruly and anti -social at times. They would just do all these things to bring disrespect on the family.
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We don't want to hang out with those kind of people. Alright, let's go to the New Testament. This is an interesting one. Titus chapter 1.
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Boy, these Cretans. Do you know who Cretans are? I know one thing about the Cretans and what kind of people were they?
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They were gluttons. Let's learn about these gluttons. How would you like to be the pastor of the church at Crete?
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Gluttons Bible Church. He wanted to make sure they weren't in there and so Titus chapter 1, speaking of elders, at this little island of Crete.
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Matter of fact, do you know where Crete is? Off the coast of Greece.
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You have the 67th book in your Bible. It's the last book called the Book of Maps. You can take a look at Crete if you'd like sometime and see where Crete is.
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It's amazing to see. Cretidzo, by the way. What does
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Cretidzo mean? Crete, Cretidzo. Do you know what Cretidzo means in Greek? Island of gluttons?
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Pretty close. That sounds like a bad B -movie. No, it means to lie. And Cretans are liars.
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Cretans are lazy. And Cretans are gluttonous. Let's see. What should elders do?
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We're jumping right in in chapter 1 verse 9. Elders are to hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine.
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That's part of the elder's job. And to refute those who contradict. That's also part of the elder's job.
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The elders of this church must say this is good hygienic doctrine. This is sound doctrine. This is something good.
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And we also must say that person's a false teacher. Don't listen to that particular person. So much so, look at verse 10.
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This is amazing. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision.
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In this particular case there were a lot of men who were Jewish who are empty talkers. They'd say things that didn't mean anything.
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Didn't hold any substance to that. And what does Paul say? It is unloving if you ever say anything about them.
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Please, whatever you do, tiptoe through the tulips and don't say anything that somehow might rile them up.
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You don't want to try to rock the boat at all. You just kind of just avoid them and that's it. What does he say? Amazingly, Paul says to Titus, you gag them.
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You take a muzzle that you would put on an animal and you muzzle them. Look at the text.
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Men who must be silenced. They must be. This is a moral necessity.
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If you want the church to be healthy and prosperous and godly, you muzzle those kind of people.
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You gag them. Very rare word. It means to close the mouth by means of a muzzle or gag.
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Can you imagine those old shows where they put some kind of cloth in the mouth and tie it in the back and it's just really pushing the mouth back?
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That's the exact word here. They must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.
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And one of the things about false teachers, they're always in it for themselves and materialism and greed and covetousness go hand -in -hand with false teachers.
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One of themselves, a prophet of their own. Which prophet, by the way, said this? And how many years earlier did this prophet say this?
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Probably you have it in your study notes. There's a prophet who they all knew, who lived on Crete, who said this about the
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Cretans himself. Yes, Bruce. Appendamenides.
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I think he was where we get the word appendix from when we get that. No. Epimenides, right?
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Here we have Epimenides. He wrote back when? When did he make this little slogan?
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People come up with slogans now. This guy Epimenides, this philosopher, came up with a slogan that's found here in the text.
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And when did he come up with a slogan? 600 years before this there was a slogan and this was a slogan.
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Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And you know what Paul says in verse 13?
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Some things never change. This testimony is true. What he said back then, these people are even now.
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I find that interesting. By the way, the word glutton here of course is different than the one in Proverbs, but here's the word glutton.
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Gastrous. Gastrous. What do you think of when you think of glutton and the Greek word gaster? I almost said just gas, but that wouldn't be good.
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If you have an upper GI, what are you having done to yourself? Gastrointestinal, that's right.
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And here, literally that's where gaster is the word womb. The people that would eat so much, not because of some kind of problem with their system, not because of something that was wrong with their thyroid, but because they overate and overate and overate.
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And when you look at the side view of that particular person, he looked like he was pregnant. He's got a huge womb as it were.
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Literally, Freiburg lexicon said as the inward parts of the body, belly, stomach, figuratively of one who lives only to satisfy his appetite for food, glutton.
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Itomatically, literally have in the womb to be pregnant. Another lexicon said the paunch, the belly.
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Latin, venter. Another one said the stomach, gormandizer, a man who is, as it were, all stomach.
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And so 600 years before the gospel got there, the Cretans were liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons, and they were even when
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Titus was the pastor there. How would you like to pastor that place? And then our last verse, to make sure we understand that it's not a good thing, is
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Philippians chapter 3. This is amazing. I don't know if you've studied Philippians chapter 3 very much, but it's one of the greatest chapters in all the
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Bible. And these verses are often not read because chapter 3, verses 3 and following are so wonderful.
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And then we hear in chapter 3, verses 10 and 11 and other parts of chapter 3, the greatness of Christ and His righteousness, that we could have the righteousness of God.
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We rarely get down to these verses, but we should. And again, I'm trying to just paint the picture that it is not a good thing to be a glutton.
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It is not a good thing to just want your own self to be satisfied all the time and be self -indulgent and overfed and lustful when it comes to food.
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Philippians 3 .5, Paul says, Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude. And if anything, and if in anything you have a different attitude,
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God will reveal that also to you. By the way, what's another word for perfect, if you have a New American Standard?
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Are we talking about people have to be perfect and that's the goal to be perfect? What's a good synonym for the word perfect?
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When you see that in the New American Standard, you should often say to yourself, He's not saying as many are perfect have this attitude.
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I mean, how many people here are perfect? So, we don't have to have the attitude. What's the synonym for perfect?
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Oh, sorry, Philippians 3 .15. I said 2 .15? Oh, I said 3 .5.
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Sorry, I was thinking of Titus, maybe. I met a man one time while you're getting ready for Titus and he had this kind of numerology system, so he would pick a favorite verse.
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Maybe I've told you of this man. And he'd say John 3 .16 is my favorite verse. And if you look at 1
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John 3 .16, that's a real neat verse, too. So, Acts 4 .12.
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Philippians 4 .12 might be neat, too. Ephesians 4 .12, Philemon 4 .12.
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Oh, it doesn't work there, but just all these kind of things. There were no numbers originally. It was just a letter.
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So, be careful with all these kind of things we come up with. Like I clearly said before,
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Philippians 3 .15, let us therefore as many as are mature.
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That's another word that's synonymous for the word perfect in the
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Greek language. As many are as mature have this attitude. Mature Christians, here's how you want to think.
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And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. You'll get it.
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However, let us keep living that same standard to which we have attained. Let's live up to what we've learned.
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Sounds like a sermon that was preached here recently, doesn't it? Be doers of the Word, not just hearers only.
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Brethren, join us in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
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Follow my example. Doesn't Paul say this all the time? As I follow Christ, you follow me. As I'm an imitator of God, you follow me.
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Sometimes he just says, follow me, and he means that implicitly as I follow Christ. On the flip side, though, not everyone acts like Paul does.
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Verse 18, for many walk of whom I'm often told you, and now tell you even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ.
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Is he talking about Christians there? Verse 18? No, he's talking about the false teachers. Here's what we do.
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This is our standard. You follow me. Don't follow these kind of people. Who are the kind of people you don't want to follow?
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Whose end is destruction? The word there is for eternal loss.
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Their end is eternal loss. Whose God is their belly?
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Whose God is their appetite, and whose glory is their shame, who set their mind on earthly things?
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Can you imagine people whose God is their stomach? How about that?
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That's weird. I thought I had heard it all when people would say, well, you know, they've even made idols in the shape of, true story, of hemorrhoids before, and so people could bow down to the little hemorrhoid
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God so you wouldn't get them in the future. How about that for the insanity of idol worship? Can you imagine having a stomach as that's my
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God right there? Talk about insane. My stomach's my God.
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These are false teachers. They had their mind on their own physical desires, and they had unrestrained desire for just eating, and their glory was their shame.
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Instead of to God be the glory, we want all the glory for ourselves, and instead of a godly attitude, that was shameful.
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That's a sign of a false teacher. And then he contrasts that with, in verse 20, for our citizenship is in heaven.
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Theirs is someplace else. Their citizenship is destruction, from which also we eagerly await for a
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Savior and the Lord Jesus. So, would you think, if this was a class tonight, that gluttony is either good or bad?
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It's bad. There are many places punctuated in Scripture. Now let me give you some other thoughts tonight, and I think
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I have about five other truths to give you. And the first one, I will admit, has nothing to do with the Bible, and I think
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I'm going to actually go back on my word. I told Steve Cooley one time that I would never talk about this from the pulpit, and I'm just going to just quickly do it tonight.
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He made me kind of promise, and I had my fingers crossed as I gave the kind of cub scout, wee below deal.
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I'm going to make it fast. Additional truth number one for tonight.
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There are some foods that are more healthy than others. This has nothing to do with the Bible. I'm telling you just right now, that if you want to be concerned about your food and your weight, and if you're overweight and how fat are not your fat, not so fat, then what you have to do, and again remember last time when we talked about gluttony, because you're thin doesn't mean you're not gluttonous.
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You could be a glutton while you're thin. If you're overweight, you still might not be gluttonous because you have other issues and physical issues to deal with.
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But I want you to know that even though we have said all food is good, fast food is good.
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Is fast food good or bad for you spiritually? Doesn't matter.
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It's neutral, right? Food's neutral. But I want to just tell you as a pastor, if you eat fast food every single day of your life, what's going to happen to you?
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So, what? You get to heaven faster. Processed foods you're going to have to eat less of if you struggle with this, and regular food, you know, good grains and different organic kinds of food and other things, you can eat more of those.
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I just wanted to say that because I wanted to get to this point to Steve's chagrin. I am appalled at what high fructose corn syrup does to people.
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I think it's almost like satanic. It's the mark of the beast when I pick up a product and look at that thing. I just want to warn anybody that will listen, and tonight it happens to be you, if you pick up something and see high fructose corn syrup, you need to run.
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It's everywhere. It is everywhere, I'm telling you. High fructose corn syrup is made by treating corn with a variety of enzymes, some of which are also genetically modified to first extract the sugar glucose and then convert some of it into fructose.
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Since fructose tastes sweeter than glucose, the end result is a mixture of 55 % fructose and 45 % glucose.
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Why do I hate it so much? And then we're going to get right back to the Bible. By the way, you pick up bread,
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I defy you to find some bread at the supermarket that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it. We have to look.
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Out of the hundred different SKUs of bread, our family's in there trying to find just the kind that doesn't have it. How about having some ketchup?
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Guess what ketchup has in it? High fructose corn syrup. Everywhere you look. And can you imagine this article that I'm going to read right now, just a portion of it?
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If you stop eating high fructose corn syrup, you will lose 10 pounds in six months, according to this article.
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High fructose corn syrup shuts off the switch that controls appetite and turns it into fat more easily than any other carb.
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Carbs cause your body to produce insulin, but high fructose corn syrup does not. So instead of burning the calories for energy, you store them as fat.
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Average American consumes 228 calories of high fructose corn syrup per day.
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That's 10 pounds of fat in six months. San Francisco Chronicle, Sun Kissed Soda, 10 and a half teaspoons of sugar, almost all high fructose corn syrup.
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Berkeley Farms, low -fat yogurt made with fruit, 10 teaspoons of this stuff. Mott's Applesauce, 5 teaspoons of it.
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Slim Fast Chocolate Cookie Dough Meal Bar, how many adjectives can you get in a row? 5 teaspoons. 1 tablespoon of ketchup, 1 teaspoon of sugar high fructose corn syrup.
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How about that? Hanson's Super Vita Orange Carrot Smoothie, 10 teaspoons of sugar high fructose corn syrup.
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In 1980, the average, last comment, the average person ate 39 pounds of fructose and 84 pounds of sucrose.
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In 1994, the average person ate 66 pounds of sucrose and 83 pounds of fructose, providing 19 % of the total caloric energy.
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Today, approximately 25 % of our average caloric intake comes from sugars with the largest fraction as high fructose corn syrup.
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Now for as long as I live, I never will say from this pulpit, hopefully, the words high fructose corn syrup.
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But really, pastorally, some of you that struggle with weight, some of our children struggle with weight, the first thing
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I would do is look to see how much high fructose corn syrup was in there and then how much did I want to give my kid.
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And what the Bible, what this doesn't tell us, as I was reading one article, is when you eat a lot of high fructose corn syrup, your body doesn't tell you you're full because it shuts that off.
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So you have 44 ounce super big family gulp of Coke and you're just drinking high fructose corn syrup and you're going, boy, that's super sized meal,
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I'm still hungry. So if you want your kids to be fatter than eat a lot of high fructose corn syrup and if you want them not to feel full after a meal, just give them a
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Coke and a smile. And that's what you'll have. So I won't say anything about it.
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We could talk about smaller plate sizes, smaller portion sizes, etc, etc. But I just, that's just been bugging me.
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So I try not to eat high fructose corn syrup as much because I struggle with my weight and I don't need anybody telling me, you know,
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I ate some food and I'm still hungry. Okay, any questions about that? Okay, good. All right, let's turn to Galatians chapter 5 and get to the real issue when it comes to dieting and that is the topic of self -control.
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What does the Bible say about self -control? When we say dieting, it tends to put the focus on us, it tends to put the focus on our appearance.
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And while Christians should be concerned about that to some degree, maybe, I think the real issue is attitudes of contentment, gratitude, patience.
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And as one man said, gluttony is not wrong because it makes you fat, it is wrong because it is the fruit of self -indulgence.
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Did you get that? Gluttony is not wrong because it makes you fat, it is wrong because it is the fruit of self -indulgence.
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And if you could give me the antonym for self -indulgence, it might be the word self -control.
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And if you need to have more self -control, how do you go about getting it? Anyone? You want to have more self -control in any area tonight on eating, how would you get more self -control?
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Okay, let's do the... I wanted to get the wrong answers first. Anybody besides the prayer answer?
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Try harder, accountability, try a new diet. You got to weigh in on, you know,
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Saturdays. You watch that show that I just saw a glimpse of on TV, The Biggest Loser, right?
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Who can lose the most weight? Everyone who's smiling, I know you have a TV and you watch that. But really, if you say,
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I've got a problem or my child has a problem with overeating, is it a spiritual issue?
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Could it be a spiritual issue? What does the Bible say about self -control? And that's what we want to look at tonight in Galatians chapter 5, and I just want to teach through the whole passage.
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So let's go back up to verse 16, please, of Galatians chapter 5, and we'll just call this true godly living.
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Walking by the spirit instead of walking by the flesh, and we want to talk about real issues, not external, not just habits that are on the outside, but real heart issues because I think that's the only thing
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I could really say from the pulpit to help you because self -control is part of the spirit's fruit in our life.
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Galatians 5 .16, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
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If you had to guess, do you think that would be a command or a suggestion? It's a command, and you think it would be a one -time command, just do it once in your life or an ongoing, present, durative, continuous tense?
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Continuous, right? So keep on walking by the spirit, and the good news is if you do, a wonderful promise, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
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That's why so many people, I struggle with this, and I'm hooked on that, and I can't take my eyes off of this, and I so struggle in this area, and I just want to turn them around and say, you know, the issue is not what you are trying to avoid, the issue is what you're not doing, and you're not walking according to the spirit.
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If you walk according to the spirit, that will take care of those issues that you have in your life, and you will not carry out the desire of your flesh.
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Let your conduct be directed by the spirit himself. And this kind of walking, what kind of walk word do you think that might be?
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Anyone? Not in what kind of tense it might be, but walk meaning, just your manner of life, a continued manner of life, walk by the spirit, just keep doing it all the time.
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And here it says in verse 17, for the flesh, by the way, this is the answer to the question, why is it so hard to live a godly life?
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For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
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Boy, doesn't that sound like Romans 7? That is Romans 7 big time. For what I would, that I do not, but what
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I hate, that do I do. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law.
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As the spirit gives us influence and controls our lives, we're walking by the spirit, but what do we have here in verse 19?
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All kinds of deeds of the flesh. These are the deeds that are so horrible, and he has several categories, and the categories are sexual, religious, social.
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And the first one is what? Immorality, pornea, that's where we get the word pornography. It's just a broad word for improper sexual behavior.
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You can ask yourself the question, what's the opposite of that if you want to know what the deeds of the spirit might be through us?
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The next one is impurity, and the impurity originally started for an infection and kind of a wound that was oozing with all kinds of pus.
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How's that for a word? Yuck, and it can denote impure thoughts and all kinds of misuse of sex and sexual aberration.
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Something that's soiled and gross is what the word is. Sensuality is defined as readiness for any pleasure.
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Forget restraints, just flaunt it all, just go for it. A horse without some kind of bit, just run.
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Idolatry, we always think of kind of graven images, and I don't commit idolatry, but what's one of the things that Paul says is idolatry in the
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New Testament? The shocking one in Colossians 3 .5. Covetousness, you know if you're covetous, you're an idolater.
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Social sins, sorcery, pharmakaia, originally used of medicines and then kind of mind -altering drugs.
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Enmities, hateful attitudes and wrong attitudes towards people, individuals, politicians, religions.
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Strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, notice the plural there. Disputes, there's another plural.
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Dissensions, I have in my notes the Hatfields and McCoys. Factions, envying, and there's drunkenness there, carousing, and you see the text, and things like these, of which
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I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, and those who practice such things, it's not that they've never done them, but these are the characterization of their life, as we talked about this morning, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
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But, the opposite, but the fruit of the Spirit is, and what are some of the fruits of the
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Spirit? I say fruits because it says fruit in the text, but now as I'm just describing them, there's a bunch, so it's kind of plural.
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They're like grapes. You look at the grapes, and you don't say there's a bunch of grapes, you could say there's a bunch, and that's the singular, and you could call it that.
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The first one is love. Who could tell me what love is? Anyone? Close?
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Okay, self -sacrificial, good. Christ gave himself for the church, and you have a commitment for the welfare of someone else.
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Joy, who could tell me about joy? It's kind of good to have to define words, even out loud.
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What's joy? How would you define joy? Happiness, good. We have a thing at our table, by the way, if you're a dad, or if you're even a single mom, and you're teaching your children the
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Bible, what we want is them to answer the questions, and so you ask the question, and they give you the answer.
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So, good job, Lou. Okay, a deep, I have a deep abiding inner thankfulness to God for his goodness that is not interrupted when less than the desirable life circumstances intrude on my life.
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John MacArthur. Of course, I couldn't write that. Peace, what about peace?
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How would you define peace? Now, remember, there's two kinds of peace.
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There could be a peace with God, so it could be a positional thing, or it could be that peaceful feeling inside, and this one is the second one, contentment.
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How else would we describe that? You only get two chances. One commentator said it was an abiding, heartfelt tranquility and trust during the storms of life that is anchored in the overwhelming consciousness that my life is in the hand of God.
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That sounds pretty good. Again, I didn't write that. Patience. I do find this interesting.
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This is from where we get the word long -nosed, because it takes a long time for the fury that's up here to get out of your nose.
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You can almost see a horse when they're mad. What's a horse when it's mad do with its nostrils?
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Pardon me? Yes. Kindness, seeking people out to serve them.
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Goodness, an unserving capacity to deal with people. Faithfulness, an inner unyieldedness that results in people remaining true and loyal.
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Gentleness. What's gentleness? We talk about that often. It is weakness, right? No. What is gentleness?
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Okay, good. Strength under control. And then finally, we have what? Self -control.
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Now, my question is this. Oh, let's have another question. What is self -control? How would you define self -control?
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Being able to resist temptation. Good. Anybody else? Discipline.
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Self -discipline. Discipline by the Spirit of God. Good. What else? Saying no to yourself.
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Good. Let me tell you what I found in my study. One describes it this way.
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An inward personal mastery that submits my desires to the greater cause of God's will.
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An inward personal mastery that submits my desires to the greater cause of God's will.
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Another said it is the opposite of overindulgence. Does God need self -control?
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God doesn't need self -control because He doesn't change. And what does the text say after that?
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Against such things there is no law. Now, I've got a bigger question. If you want to have self -control and if it's the fruit of the
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Spirit, how would you go about putting yourself in the position to have the Spirit to control you so you can say no to things?
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Whatever you're dealing with with self -control. In this particular case, food. I eat too much food and therefore
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I need the Spirit to help me to say no. How would you better do that? Lay back and let
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God? I don't have to do anything. God, I'm struggling with how much food I eat and I just don't have to do anything.
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What would you do? Someone came to you and said, I'm struggling with self -control. I have a hard time saying no.
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Everything I've done doesn't seem to work and I'm at my wits end and maybe God could help me.
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I'm a Christian and I want to walk by the Spirit. How do I walk by the Spirit? And you would tell them, call the pastor.
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I don't know the answer. That's why I'm asking you. No, what would you tell someone? How do you walk in the
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Spirit so you do not fulfill the desires of the flesh? Okay, there's one answer.
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Make yourself accountable. Bruce? Okay, memorize the
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Scripture. Good. Other answers? This is big, by the way. How do you stop doing anything and do the right thing if it's kind of the
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Spirit working through you? Then what's your part? You do the first part, God does the second part. God gets you going.
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You know, you kind of, have you ever started a motorcycle with a kickstart? You just turn that little thing over and you do that part or maybe
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God does that and then you do the rest. What is walking by the Spirit? Yes, Mark?
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Focusing on Christ, okay. Being a doer of the Word. It's kind of a hard question, isn't it?
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What are some of the factors when it comes to walking by the Spirit? Let me just take you on a little tour and let's find out a good answer and I think it might be surprising.
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Ephesians chapter 5, please. We're gonna look at two passages and I want to try to help you understand what is walking by the
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Spirit so that you can have self -control when it comes to food. And by the way, if you have children who aren't saved and they're dealing with food issues and they are
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Christians or not Christians, the parents are there to help them when the children don't have self -control.
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And I think almost by definition, younger ones have a hard time with self -control because they haven't controlled and mastered their self.
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Ephesians chapter 5, do you know what verse I'm going to? You know? Okay, good.
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Do not get drunk with wine, chapter 5, verse 18 of Ephesians, for that is what?
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Dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. What is being filled with the Spirit?
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How are you filled with the Spirit? I want to be filled with the Spirit. Why? Because Spirit -filled people do what? Verse 19, speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, tell out my soul.
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That's how they talk to people. I want to be that kind of person. Singing and making melody with your heart to the
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Lord. Matter of fact, is that out loud? Could it be out loud? My God is an office.
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I'm God. I heard the kids singing around the house the other day. But could it just be your heart towards God? God, you're so good and you're just kind of walking around with just melody in your heart to God because you realize who
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He is and what He's done. I want to be that kind of person. Verse 20, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father. Hey, that sounds good. You want to be a thankful person?
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How are you being more thankful? And then lastly, verse 21, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Boy, I really want to be that kind of person and that kind of person is the person who is filled with the
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Spirit. My question to you is, how are you filled with the Spirit? Come up to the thing tonight and I'm going to zap you.
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And it's like when they brought my mother up one time to try to slay her in the Spirit. So they brought her up to the front.
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Matter of fact, we have this blue line here for the Iwana circle. We could use that maybe as the slay line or something right there.
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The spotters could be over there. And so they were trying to slay my mom in the Spirit. And so they said, I'm going to put my hand on your head and begin to pray.
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And my mom said they began to push her backwards and she began to push back. And so it was like this
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Mexican standoff kind of thing where they're pushing it back and forth and finally they just realized, you know, it's not going to work.
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So move on to the next one. It's so much easier if you just say, I just want to zap.
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I went to an Anaheim vineyard one time and saw the people who had been zapped and they're just laying there with their arms up, kind of like a slain dead fly kind of thing.
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And they were just up like this. And I just thought, it is so hard for me to say no to myself and yes to loving my wife like I ought to.
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What's easier? The hard road of being walking by the Spirit or just coming up here for the slay business.
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I want to be the kind of person that can do these kind of things. That's being filled with the
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Spirit. The kind of person who's filled with the Spirit speaks, sings, give thanks, and is subject in a way where you say, if God of the universe starts controlling my life, this is what
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I'm going to act like. I'm attracted to that. I want to know what that is. And so let's go to Colossians to find out the number one way you can be controlled by the
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Spirit. And I don't think there will be any great, oh boy, that's new information.
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But I've tried to set it up in such a way that we at least desire that. Colossians chapter 3 verse 16.
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And this is how the Spirit controls. This is how the Spirit leads us. This is what the Spirit uses.
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He didn't have to use this, but He just does. And so this is why we need to be people of the
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Word of God. Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. Do you see there where it talks towards the end?
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One another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do, do all in the name of the
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Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Verse 18, we're talking about subjection.
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Be filled with the Holy Spirit is equivalent to Paul saying to the church at Colossians, what?
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In chapter 5 of Ephesians, you sing. You're subjected to one another. You show thanks.
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You do all kinds of things like that. And in Colossians, it's the same thing, except it doesn't say the fruit of the
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Spirit or the control of the Spirit. It says what? Chapter 3 verse 16.
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Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you. The answer to the question, how does the
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Spirit, how do I walk in the Spirit more and more and more, is we need to, I hate to use this in Protestant circles, but I'll use it anyway.
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We need to infuse this book into our minds. Righteousness from Christ is not infused.
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It is imputed to us. But we need this book in our lives because the Spirit of God has ordained that He uses the
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Word of God to control His people and give them the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self -control.
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This is not read a Bible verse and call me in the morning, is it? But it's the Word of God that is just in you so much that you just respond biblically.
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I used to be a disc jockey in college, and I prided myself on knowing songs for every situation.
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You're kind of down, and you're not really feeling too good, and I could think of a song. And the particular music that I would listen to back then is, you know,
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I hate this world, you know. And I just thought, you know, I'm so smart.
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I'm just a guy that can take a situation in life, and I just know a secular song to just make it all right.
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Size it up. I just know songs. I want to be the kind of person, and don't you, that in any situation in your life, whether you want to sin or whether you want to obey, the
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Word of God just keeps coming down upon you saying, here's the truth. Here's what you should do.
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This is what God says, and then the Spirit uses that word at that time through you to do the right thing.
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That's why we need to be people of the book. If you want to be filled by the
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Spirit, you will be a person who fills your mind with the Word of God, and God will bless you with self -control and everything else.
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Questions about that? How is self -control related to eating?
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I think the answer is obvious. Regarding self -control, how many people know C .S.
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Lewis and his sci -fi novel, Paralandra? Some do. Let me read you something from Paralandra, and I think self -control will tie in quite nicely, thank you.
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Paralanda has a main carrier, character named
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Ransom, and this person is sent to Venus. Ransom finds and eats a gourd with a marvelous indescribable taste, and only
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C .S. Lewis can write like this. Here's what
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Ransom experienced, quote, as he let the empty gourd fall from his hand and was about to pluck a second one, it came into his head that he was now neither hungry nor thirsty, and yet to repeat a pleasure so intense and almost so spiritual seemed an obvious thing to do.
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His reason, or what we commonly take to be reason in our own world, was all in flavor of tasting this miracle again.
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Yet something seemed opposed to this reason. It is difficult to suppose that this opposition came from desire, for what desire would turn from so much deliciousness?
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But for whatever cause it appeared to him, better not to taste again. Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity like asking to hear the same symphony twice in a day, end quote.
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Isn't that good? Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with self -control, but I just jammed it in there.
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I wanted to just say, that's right, and you eat such a huge meal. I know Kim is smarter with this than I am, but the kids will eat their food and it's a big thing of lasagna or something really good, and the first thing the kids want to do is what?
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I have some more. It tastes so good. I owe myself a try on. That's so good. And so Kim will say wisely, well, why don't we just wait a little bit and we'll just talk and we'll do our
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Bible time. If you're still hungry later, then we can have something more to eat. Boy, time goes by so fast.
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What are we going to do? One last passage, 1st Timothy chapter 4, please. Let's just go there and be done with all this.
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I guess we could say a lot more about some of the other issues. I want to talk about bulimia and anorexia and all those things.
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May I just say, I think they're spiritual issues as well. They're not just physical issues and they should be dealt with spiritually, of course, with sensitivity, but I think it's a spiritual issue.
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This is my last point, 1st Timothy chapter 4, true or false? All right,
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I'm going to switch you around then. The King James Bible seems to make exercise not very good.
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That wasn't a good sentence even. The King James doesn't translate 1st
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Timothy 4 very well, and it almost comes across that he's denigrating exercise.
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It's exercise good for you to do. Exercise profits, true or false?
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It is good for you to exercise. It is good for me to ride my bike tomorrow. Exercise profits.
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Whatever that exercise is, walking, lifting, running, bicycling, whatever it might be, it's good.
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If you take a look at 1st Timothy chapter 4, I'm not going to get into the whole issue, and we know that he's comparing something.
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One thing lasts for the life and the rest lasts for eternity. That's of course, but I don't think the
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King James translated it that well, and maybe it was the time in 1611, etc. It meant something a little bit different, but I want you to know that exercise is good, and I think you should exercise the body
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God has given you to whatever degree you can without going overboard, of course.
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1st Timothy 4, 7, but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit for old women regarding high fructose corn syrup.
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On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.
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Godliness does take discipline. J. Adams wrote a good little booklet on the discipline of godliness. Then he says in NAS, sadly as well, the for bodily discipline is only of little profit.
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What does King James Version say, by the way? Profit a little, okay?
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Here is what the Greek is, pros oligon. Pros oligon, it could be translated for a little time, that is for this life.
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Then you take a look at the rest of the passage, and it says, but godliness is profitable for all things, for all time, it could say, same meaning, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
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I think people should exercise, and I believe the Bible teaches that exercise profits you.
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Compared to spiritual profit, well, we can't run around all the time and say we're in the best shape and then have our spiritual lives suffer, but I think it is good, and I want to say as a pastor, it is good to have exercise, especially in our society today.
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As I did my research, October 4th, 2005, the average
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American is a ravenous media junkie, consuming up to nine hours a day of television, web time, cell phone minutes, according to the new research which raises fresh questions about how technology is revolutionizing society.
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Can you imagine, nine hours a day, and we're in a service industry, we're not in an agricultural system anymore, where everybody's out working all the time, we are eating high fructose corn syrup and never working out, and PlayStation 2, no wonder!
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One plus one is what? Did I say I was not going to say high fructose corn syrup again? What I meant within the context of only this sermon, then
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I wouldn't do it later. I'd love to do a study on PlayStation 2 and the size of children, that's what
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I would like to do sometime. So I just want to encourage you, if you exercise for vanity, then that would be wrong.
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If you exercise to keep your body in good shape for God, then I think that's a good thing.
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I'll never forget when I first got here, and I was kind of doing the whole, and I still sometimes do it, the kind of pastoral excuse,
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I've already been in 18 hours today, but I think I'm going to go to the gym a little bit to work out, and I said it to your mom, matter of fact,
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Cindy, and I said, I've got to go, I just need to go work out. You know, you just feel better, and you have a new perspective, and you just handle things much better, and I went to work out, and she said, you need to go work out.
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You need to go work out, keep yourself, you know, mentally fit kind of thing, physically fit, don't you, you know, it's kind of like what
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Judy does, if anybody tells you not to go work out, you come and have them talk to me, type of thing. And so if you come to the church, and Steve and I are at the gym, what are you going to do?
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If Steve and I are drinking 44 -ounce Big Gulps after we work out, what are you going to do? But I just wanted to say that bodily exercise is profitable, and I want to encourage you to do that, because as one lady said, a nutrition expert, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, and if you eat more calories than you work off, you will gain weight.
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Okay, I think, I think we're pretty much done.
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I could talk about 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 19 and 20, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the
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Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, context of sexual purity, but still a good principle, and that you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify
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God in your body. And that's how I was going to talk about anorexia and bulimia. Any last questions about dieting, eating, something else, working out?
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What are we putting in a gym? You know, when I first got here, we had kind of Christian jazzercise ladies that would kind of be in here in the
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Iwana circle doing jazzercise for the Lord. So, I don't know if that's something we want to do or not.
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You can lead that ministry, and Steve will oversee it. Pardon me?
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An Iwana leader, that's good. I noticed that I overeat, and I struggle with the issue, usually when
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I'm home, not being busy. I've got too many things going on, and you don't put up that refrigerator, because there's kind of nothing else to do.
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And you just look at that thing, and here it is again, and here it is again. I could be out, you know, if I'm working 20 hours in a day, you kind of forget to eat, because you're just busy, and that's not the focus.
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Just that refrigerator thing. You know, I think I've been so desperate here before. I think it was because of a winter storm, and I'm stuck here, and I'm looking for something to eat.
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I can't get out of here, and I'm going to scrounge around in the nursery for some kind of little malt -o -meal cookie or something, because there's something in the place to eat.
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I think years ago, I said that when I got stuck here in the snow one time, and the chaffers loaded me up for the wintertime, like a bear for hibernation, making sure in case
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I get stuck here. Probably with a bunch of high -fructose corn syrup Pop -Tarts, I'm sure. Thank you.
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HCFS. Okay, any other last questions? We want to be fit for the Lord, and thinness is not godliness, and being overweight is not ungodliness.
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May we never look at other Christians that way at this church, but we want to make sure we don't overdo anything, and we want to be controlled by the
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Spirit of God, and take food for what it is. A great gift from God that we can eat and enjoy. Sunday nights,
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I like to just get a big thing of ice cream, and say, I just want to have a big thing of ice cream on Sunday night. This is my Friday night.
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Tomorrow's my day off, and so you just enjoy it. We certainly can do that.
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All right, any last question? I feel like I'm at the visitor's luncheon with questions. Steve? Even exercise, that's right.
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We have a friend named Shivarsh, and Shivarsh was severely overweight, so much so, and his back's hurt, and he's on the side.
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I don't know how much weight Shivarsh has lost. What, 80 pounds? And he did it by only putting half of the portion on his plate.
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So he ate dessert, he ate all the snack foods, he ate all that stuff, but whatever he would normally eat, he would only eat half the size.
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And if I had children who struggle with weight, I think one of the first things I would do is not give them the huge plate to kind of fill it up, but I would be in charge of the plate size and what went on there, and I would be in charge of how much exercise they did.
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And some kids, just the way their hormones are and other things, they just are going to be overweight, but I like that idea because it wasn't,
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Shivarsh's view was not asceticism. You can't eat that, and you can't do that, and it was,
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I'm going to eat, but I know my body and metabolism, and I just can't eat that much. So I thought that was wise.
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Anybody else? Yeah, Bruce? What are the characteristics?
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Well, there's some thin people, probably even in the congregation, that could eat anything they want at any time and just gorge themselves with food, and we would never see it because they stay thin.
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And so we probably did that a lot when we were kids or other things, you know, you just left to yourself, what would you eat, what would you do?
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And so I think it's going to spill over in other areas because sin is not compartmentalized.
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It affects other things we do, and that's why the Roman Catholics would think that gluttony was a mortal sin, is because it was, you had no control of anything, and so you would be licentious sexually, you would be, you couldn't control yourself what you ate, and you'd also drink too much alcohol because you could just never say no to yourself.
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I struggle with weight, and so if I become a glutton, I think you'll know it. You'll know it to more, to more of a degree than 36 inches waist.
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Okay, I think I'm done. I'm ready to get back to Grudem's theology you can use.
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Created a monster I couldn't finish. Gluttony, Bible, and Christian dieting. All right, let's just close in prayer and we'll be done tonight.
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Thank you for coming out, and I hope God has blessed you in the doing of that, and instead of staying home watching the
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Patriots. By the way, if you want to be a great friend to me in ministry here, and I know other people agree, especially
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Dave I know, if we don't hear about sports on Sunday, I'm so glad.
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Get together with the Saints. Oh, did you hear about that Nebraska victory yesterday? You know,
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I know some of you, that's the first thing you say to me on Sunday, is what the sports things were on Saturday, and I'm thinking, it's the
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Lord's Day. That's another sermon. I should have preached that tonight instead.
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All right, let's bow. Lord, we thank you and exalt your name, and Lord, thank you. As we look to heaven, we'll all have bodies that work rightly, and Father, there's going to be none of those issues, and to think that if we want to eat in heaven,
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I think of the view of revelation that we're going to be able to eat if we want, but we don't even have to, and so we look forward to that day.
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Lord, thank you now for the food that you've given us. Thank you for the children that you've entrusted to our care, even. Help us to be wise as we help them, and help us to be different than other people who go around worshiping their body.