This sermon addresses the importance of taking care of our bodies and avoiding unhealthy eating habits, focusing on the struggle to resist temptations and the need to prioritize physical health for spiritual well-being. The speaker shares personal struggles with weight and emphasizes the parallel between physical and spiritual health, highlighting the impact of neglecting the body on overall well-being.

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. It's 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, Chubberlain. Remember with Mr. T when he fought Rocky Balboa, and he was called Clubberlain? They called me Chubberlain. 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 their 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, I'm 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 push other people's face in the sand. And that's what I set out to do. And that's what why I got into health and fitness. And I wasn't healthy, I wasn't fitness, too fit, a lot of steroids. A lot of the rest, 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, I can share it with you. But when I got to my biggest at 270, 275 pounds and, and look 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, 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, 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 I, 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 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 and you should see his before and after pictures. It's like 80 or 90 pounds, just the energy he has and eating very healthy. And 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 extra 30-40 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 Constain'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, Reynard'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 prisoner of our own appetite. And the 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, panic attacks, anything over 400 milligrams of caffeine sets you into a mental 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. 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. 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 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? Was it a little petite salad and come back to it later? Or was it, that's what they called a big gulp, 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. I wrote 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 would help over 20-30 thousand 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, oh, Shane can't have one cookie. Here's the problem. One cookie here. In and out here. Tri-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, you know, I'm not talking about you have 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 would 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 of 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. It's not gonna look any different a week or two or three or a month later. It doesn't look. 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. Unhealthy, think about this, gorging on unhealthy food. But I haven't ever ate, I ate too much of that salad. Why? Because it's healthy life-giving food that satisfies the body. Now I'm convinced that Starbucks puts a little bit something else in their coffee to keep you coming back. Because those, that line from 5 in the morning till 10 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. It's, it's, it's, it's, you have to, and 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, my green smoothie? Or my coffee and donut? And a couple hours later, I need my this. And 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. 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? That could say, okay, that's from the pulpit. Some of the old timers are going to say, no, you can't say that. So, 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 it's going to offend people, please help me with this sermon. I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm praying, Lord, help me. 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. Let me read that. But then you start to think it's bondage. If you're 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. 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 got to get rid of all this junk. I keep compromising. No, for me, it's dairy, meat. I'll explain. I just want to do a Daniel fast. And I walk in, and there's, I smell eggs and toast. 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. You know, you don't want to, is it a big shame you could 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. So 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 gonna pull on me after the service. So I'm gonna throw it out there right now. 1st Corinthians 6 12. Shane, haven't you read? I have the right to do anything. Yeah, I did, but you gotta 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 be not, 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, 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? Shane, 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 recommend, 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 abundant life, a life flourishing because of your doing it spiritually and physically. I want to throw this out there as well. Have we 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, 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 gonna 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, 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. Now, I've been there before. I've been there recently, probably a few months ago, and it sounds good right now, but 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. 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. You know, 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, don't eat that. Don't eat that. Big League, too. 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, do 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. There was no sugar. And it took a while. It was a hard fight. I was pretty, pretty impressed, actually. But unless you make a lifestyle, that desire is going to come back again and again. And you're fighting the same demon you fought many years ago. Is there a demon of sugar, Shane? No, there'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 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 state of 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, nope, 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. And 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, it 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. Why 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. 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 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. 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 till I have my heroin. Stay away from me till I have my crystal meth or my, stay away, because it's 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 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 a big 16-ounce every couple, and coming off of that, 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 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 sign-ups. 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 a nutshell. The power of the made-up mind. You've got to made 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, well just have a little bit of meat and sugar, chocolate, just wean off tomorrow. Okay, you're right. And then 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 it? 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 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 doughnuts 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'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 weeks and they do not feel good about it. Well, there's nobody except me. 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 ten 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.