The Discipline of Food

Master Your Mouth: How Food Discipline Fuels Kingdom Impact

• As Christians we must have self control and one of those areas is food. We must control our food and not let our cravings control us. The glutton will come to poverty the Bible says
• I love you and as your pastor, I want to teach you the whole counsel of God in EVERYTHING
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• And for a scripture that links prospering with health, here’s another: 3 Jn 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
• This is biblical. I must preach to you how your body can be preserved blameless and that you may be in health. Many pastors wont touch this. I will because its biblical and I love you. 
• Proverbs 23:20–21 Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
• Obesity steals your time, drains your money, weakens your body, limits your opportunities, and affects your legacy. Remember- DISCIPLINE is FOUNDATION This is loving your future self
• I don’t want you to die an early death and I don’t want you to come to poverty. Want you to win
• Obesity shortens life by up to 14 years. It triples your risk of diabetes, raises heart disease by 50%, stroke by 64%, and cancer by as much as 80%. It drains your finances$1,400 more per year, over $100,000 in a lifetime. It limits your energy, mobility, and opportunities. Obese individuals are paid less, promoted less, and experience more fatigue, depression, and  brain fog. It strains marriages, reduces intimacy, and increases divorce risk by 21%. It even affects your children. Obesity doesn’t just steal your health it robs your legacy. You should want to be healthy
• Proverbs 18:9 He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.
• Obesity is the #1 cause of preventable disability in America. Don’t hide behind spirituality.
  The Church Fathers identified gluttony as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
• Gregory the Great (6th c.): Said there were five ways to commit gluttony: Eating too soon, Eating too expensively, Eating too much, Eating too eagerly, Eating too daintily (being overly picky)
• Gluttony was not just about how much you ate it was also why and how. No regard for restraint
• 1 Cor 10:31Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
• We must master our mouths when it comes to food. Our Spiritual and Physical life depend on it. 

1. Mastering your mouth Is a Spiritual Battlefield

• Appetite is often the first place spiritual warfare begins. Desire when it comes to fruit becomes SIN. You think about it, you dwell on it, you make a plan to get it, and then you do it. 
• It’s like this:  love the apple fritters at the donut shop. I think about it. I picture myself eating it. I consider the detriment to my waistline and health, justify it based on pleasure, get in my car, cast care to the wind, go down and get a donut or 3, eat them, realize I’ve ruined my calories

• Isn’t that the same cycle as any sin we commit in steps or speed? Can go faster. 

• You don’t restrain appetite, you create pleasure cycle memory with no restraint. You just give in
• But it’s the DESIRE that gives birth to the sin- It comes to fruition based on our DESIRES
• Let me say this. Food is not sin. You must eat food. Just like money isn’t sin. Its HOW you use it. 
• But if we can’t control our physical appetite, its very hard to control sinful appetites BATTLE
• DISCIPLINE to master your mouth, to learn to not gossip, lie, cheat, steal, porn, drink, drug etc
• The first sin of humanity was a sin where food was involved. God said DON’T EAT THIS 
• 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
• Food isn’t sin but sin appears to be food. It sells its self as satisfying our desire for nourishment, but in the end it kills us. Fight to control physical appetite, fight to control the appetite of flesh
• Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

• Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

• If our stomachs rule us, there’s not much else that can’t rule us because we lack self control
• Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
• We’re supposed to live on the word of God. Food is necessary, but it can’t fulfill us
• And honestly, many people don’t master their mouth because of trauma, wrong ideas, motives, guilt, shame, depression etc that they try to cover with food instead of finding redemption

• Food can be a blessing but also a burden. The Israelites begged God for meat in Numbers 11 and made them eat so much that it came out of their nostrils and dropped a plague. 

• Numbers 11:34 there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.
• We can’t give into our cravings! We must master our mouth! Its biblical!
• Phi 3:19 the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, 
• Esau Traded His Birthright for a Bowl of Stew A permanent loss for a momentary appetite.
• Sodom’s Sin Included “Fullness of Food”- gluttony, pride, and idleness: 
• Eli’s Sons – Gluttony and Corruption at the Temple Hophni and Phinehas took best meat
• Corinthian Church – Selfishness at the Lord’s Table  eating and drinking selfishly and unworthily during the Lord’s Supper, getting drunk while others went hungry.
• Food is a battle field! It’s a place where you win or lose and you have a chance to do it daily
• its possible. Its possible to control cravings and not have cravings control you. Have victory in it. 

2. Master your mouth by learning about nutrition

• Most believers know theology, but not nutrition. Most Christian theology of food is what food will be at the potluck and can I go first in line? We love food! But you can fellowship on a walk
• The bible repeatedly calls it blessed Deuteronomy 12:20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.
• 1 tim 4 says that a sign of the end times is telling people to abstain from certain foods! 
• Ignorance leads to bondage you must steward your body and your biology and DISCIPLINE
• Learning how to fuel the body is part of discipleship. Everything isn’t ethereal real talk here
• Its like money, you have to have a budget. Its not ungodly. Nor is it to have a health plan
• James and Robyn dialed it in. She lost 25%. Diagnosed w Diabetes. Changed. People asked, whats the trick? What program? “I just did what everyone knows they are supposed to do”
• Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
• You must have a basic knowledge of biology and nutrition to take care of this machine
• Protein Builds and repairs tissue (muscle, organs, enzymes, hormones) Carbohydrates Primary source of quick energy Fat Long-term energy, hormone production, and cell health
• You need all three of this MACRO (large) Nutrients to live. This fuels the machine
• This isn’t about debating diets this is about disciplining desires. Mastering your mouth
• This is how God designed you. This is biblical and scientific fact. You need all 3. 
• And the MORE you get, the more you STORE. The less you STORE the more you LOSE. 
• I’m not selling you the covid shot here. This is settled science that everyone argues with. 
• Pr 25:16 Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit.
• I do not have time to cover every aspect of this, invest in your own life and do some research
• BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate – 60–70% – calories to stay alive (breathing, organs, etc.)
• NEAT – Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – 15–30% – daily movement, chores, walking
• EAT – Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – 5–10% – intentional workouts, training sessions
• You figure out how much calories you burn in that. Do the math, spend more than consume- lose, add more than burn, gain. You track what goes in, what goes out, and come up with a plan
• First law of thermodynamics- Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred from one place to another or transformed from one form to another.
• you can’t make energy from nothing, and you can’t make energy disappear into nothing.
  You can only transfer it (move it somewhere else) or transform it (change it into another form).

• There is no secret pill, plan, exercise, spot reduction, program, prayer, practice or pizza. 

• Do the math. Calculators all around the web. (study of guy w 1800 cal of twinkies losing weight)
• Here’s the plan: Weigh every day. Track macros. Do some activity 30 min a day. Easy money

3. Self-Control in Eating masters your mouth

• You can’t crucify the flesh if you never show any restraint in your eating. You are being indulgent, uncontrolled and lacking in self control. Don’t condemn the one who can’t stop drinking, drugging, lusting, spending and gossiping when you can’t control this flesh
• The way you do anything is the way you do anything. “But I’m on vacation” Do you cheat on your spouse on vacation? Steal from the hotel? Watch porn? You’re still you on vacation! 
• If you can’t tell yourself “no,” the devil doesn’t even need to come after you. He’s got you
• Paul said this 1 Cor 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
• I told you this before- This motivates me! Not just in eating, but in all matters of flesh. 
• Lust knocks on my door. Anger. Gossip. Envy. Jealousy. Laziness. I’m not immune. CALL ON HS
• But when it comes? I FIGHT IT. I’ll fast just to tell my flesh who is boss. You want to control me? Try a couple days without food. Not working? 3. You want some more? 7. Food is nice after that
• fruit of the spirit is SELF CONTROL. Those in Christ have CRUCIFIED the passions/desires of flesh
• Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
• Look around you! People are overly controlled by their flesh and food. They have no control
• I know the type- eat by the clock. Never fast. Every meal an experience. Overly picky
• You win in this area you’re ABOVE the world! People at work- “had to wait after blood draw”
• We display to God, ourselves and OTHERS that we have SELF CONTROL (Paul acts chp 24)
• Back in 2003, I was 285 trendin up. 44pants. Thanksgving, sweats, crystal helped me to not buy the 46s. It was my ceiling. Down to 260, 250, 235. (40in waist 50% higher chance heart disease)
  
  

4. Prepare your mouth now= Power Later

• This whole series is to prepare you for living until Christ’s return, and learning discipline in eating will pay you dividends in the future. Don’t live like it will never happen. 
• You can die in less than 24 hours w/o water. 60 days w/o food. Learn to live on less
• What if food becomes weaponized or controlled in the future? What if there’s a natural disaster or a food shortage and you haven’t learned to control your flesh? What will you do?
• Covid showed what freedoms people would give up. They got a shot for a free donut. 

• If the end times are meager, the undisciplined will fall quickly. Learn NOW to control flesh

• Discipline now prepares you for callings and crisis later. I can eat every other day. I’ve done it. 
• How can you make it if you’re taking so many pills and on a cpap? You lose agency!
• Proverbs 23:1–3 READ- If you’re controlled by your appetite, those with food will rule you
• Jesus fasted 40 days before he faced Satan. His first temptation? Bread. Food. Mastering his appetite was the first step to overcoming the ruler of this world. 

5. A Disciplined Mouth Becomes a Dangerous Weapon

• You can’t fight hell when you’re always foggy, tired, or bloated. You must be discipline in ALL
• And here’s the secret. You’re disciplined in this area, you walk in confidence in all areas
• Don’t waste your energy managing preventable pain. Discipline your body and live free
• Life is hard enough. There is so much that we can’t control. This is why discipline, in money and in health puts you at an ADVANTAGE to the average American. Bc you have MASTERED MOUTH
• What happens if Rainier explodes and you can’t walk 2 miles up a hill? Walk to get water?
• There’s a point where it becomes a poor witness and it needs to be remedied in your life. 
• Same as money. Its not time, its use of time. You can pray while you walk/run etc. 

• Walking 30–60 min daily burns 100–350 calories, can lead to 2–3 lbs fat loss per month, and cuts risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes by up to 40%. Boosts mood, reduces anxiety, adds 3–7 years to life, and lowers all-cause death risk by 22–50%. Walking alone, with calorie control, can realistically drop 24–36 lbs per year low impact, high return.

• If you cant put down your phone, go find a track and scroll for an hour and walk. 

• Fit believers have more energy to serve, more clarity to hear, more strength to endure

• No one needs to be a model here. Keep your clothes on. But have a standard. 
• Army standard for my height and age is 231 less than 30% bf. Generous. CDC 189lbs WHAT?
• This is the point You are more useful to the kingdom when you’re not a slave to your cravings
• Romans 12:1 present your bodies a living sacrifice… which is your reasonable service.
• 1 Cors 6:19–20 your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit -you are not your own -therefore glorify God in your body 
• Some of you may need to fast this week to tell your flesh who is boss. 
• Come up with a plan, stick to it and honor God. It’s not easy but its worth it. 
• Master your mouth, and God will use your life to storm the gates of hell