Five ways to overcome gluttony. Now, we will also define what gluttony is, what does the Bible tell
us about gluttony and how to overcome gluttony. Gluttony is defined as over-indulgence or lack
of self-restraint with food or drink. Dictionary defines it as habitual greed or excess in eating.
Greedy or excessive indulgence. Now let's start from the beginning, food is good. Somebody say,
"Amen." God created food. He created the garden of Eden with food. Food is necessary for survival.
We actually see that in the Bible, that eating is for survival in Nehemiah 5:1-2. Eating is a
sign of life and health, Deuteronomy 28:4-11. And enjoyment of eating is one of the gifts of God,
Proverbs 13:25, Proverbs 10:3, and Ecclesiastes 3:13 and God blesses His people with sufficient
food. I mean we see Jesus multiplying bread and we see there was more than enough. And so you
know consumption of food is necessary for survival and occasional overeating is not gluttony. Now,
being overweight does not mean you are a glutton, and we can't determine whether somebody
overeats or is a glutton by the size of their body. So we're going to look at few things that
the Bible says about gluttony first, and then we're going to deal with how to overcome this.
Number one. The Bible tells us that gluttony is actually making a God out of your belly.
In Philippians 3:19 it says:
So I want you to see this category of people, they constantly think
about food, they have a compelling desire for food and drink. It drives their life and to the
point it actually becomes an idol in their life. Gluttony in the Bible is a form of idolatry,
and any form of idolatry is a serious offense to God. We see in 1 Corinthians 10:7 it says:
So nothing wrong with food, but the moment it becomes your obsession, becomes your passion,
becomes your friend, becomes your comfort, it really becomes your god. Bible actually says,
your belly becomes your god and so that's what gluttony is. The second truth the Bible tells
us about gluttony, is that gluttony induces laziness and results in hopelessness. In Titus
1:12 Paul tells Titus, he says, "One of them, a prophet of their own," he's quoting one of the
people of the island. "He says, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons.'"
That's a really bad description of the category of people, but I want you to notice "lazy
gluttons." Gluttony induces laziness, and as Christians God is against laziness and
it results in hopelessness. We see you know in 1 Corinthians 15:32 that, "If, in the manner of men,
I have fought with the beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise,
'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.'" Meaning this, this notion that I'm just gonna eat
and drink, tomorrow I'm gonna die. A sense of hopelessness, sense of no purpose, no meaning
and so that tells us that gluttony, you know it wastes resources. He who dedicates himself to
hard work and work ethics, learns the true value in life to provide for himself, for his family,
both spiritually and physically. And when you introduce gluttony into your life,
it will destroy that rhythm of hard work, good ethics and Christian principles that
we should abide by. Number three is gluttony brings poverty. In Proverbs 23:21 it says:
When you allow alcohol and you allow gluttony, overeating, in your life, you will be brought
to poverty. And so one of the ways you need to overcome gluttony is because it steals your money,
it's a waste of resources if you eat too much and you drink alcohol. Now number four is gluttony
is associated with rebellion, stubbornness and wastefulness. Deuteronomy 21:20 it says:
I want you to notice that gluttony is always in association with rebellion, stubbornness,
wastefulness and also alcoholism, or being drunk. They always go together. So when you
yield to gluttony, it will invite other demons, it will invite other sins, it will invite other vices
and you don't want those vices, and therefore we got to come head on and attack this problem.
First temptation of humanity was with food. Jesus temptation was with food, Israel complained a lot
about food and this area of food cannot be our god, has to be subjected to our God. Now the
Bible gives us negative examples from gluttony. We see gluttony plunged humanity in the state of sin,
we see gluttony led Sodom and Gomorrah into destruction. Gluttony not being the only vice
but many others as well. We see Esau put his food before his birthright. We see that Israel lusted
after the meal and eventually killed him, and we see that Jesus was falsely accused of gluttony. It
tells us the gluttony is not something to have on your rap list. I read this psalm, it mimics Psalm
23. It's called the 23rd pound. The appetite is my shepherd, I always want. It makes me lay down
and stuff myself. It leadeth me down to my refrigerator repeatedly. It leadeth me in the
path of Burger King for a whopper. It destroyeth my shape. Yea though I know it, I gain it,
I shall not stop eating for the food tastes so good. The ice cream and the cookies comfort me
and when the table is spread before me, it excites me. I know that I should dig in as I
fill my plate. Continuously my clothes runneth smaller, surely bulges and excess weight shall
follow me all the days of my life and I shall be fat forever. Who is your shepherd? Is the
food your shepherd? Who do you find joy, pleasure? Who's your friend? Who's your comfort? Is it food?
Do you find yourself excessively eating? Find yourself you know battling with overweight as
a result of that doughnut? Every person who has overweight problem is a glutton, but a
lot of times if you yield yourself to that you may experience excessive weight, obesity, sicknesses,
diseases, lack of motivation, find yourself without any energy, struggling with sleep,
having all kinds of also other vices that seem to pursue you, find yourself with laziness. God
wants to break that off of you. How do we do that? Number one, you can't overcome gluttony without
overcoming excessive eating. You have to limit overeating and you have to cut that off from your
diet. Cut it away. That's a Christian duty, that's a Christian principle. In John 6:12 it says:
Have you noticed "when they were filled." It does not say, when they were over filled. It
doesn't say when they were stuffed. Don't eat until your stuffed, eat until you're no longer
hungry. That means that you might need to trim the amount of food you eat and the amount of
times that you eat. One of the things that I practice is I practice intermittent fasting.
Means that I don't eat until 12 and from 12 to 6, sometimes from 1 to 5, and I eat twice a day,
why? Because I don't do a lot of physical activity and I sit a lot, and so I do not want to over
eat. It's like putting gasoline into your car but your car doesn't move from the garage,
after a while the gasoline begins to spill. And so when you overeat, it creates being overweight,
it kills the energy and it doesn't glorify God with the temple that He has given me. And what it
does is it actually leads me into gluttony, where I begin to stuff myself because the more I eat,
the more I want to eat. Then I begin to eat sugar and I begin to you know like eat all the sweets
and everything. And so even at the point that I'm recording this video, I am on a very strict you
know thing, where I'm avoiding sweets and limiting the amount of caffeine that I take as well,
and so why? Because I want to honor the Lord and I do not want to sin with the sin of gluttony.
The second thing that you need to do, is that we need to do, is overcoming gluttony is less
about losing weight and more about gaining new perspective in life. Matthew 6:33 says:
My goal, our goal is not obsession with our weight. It's not losing weight. It's not about
gaining a better body, because if you obsess with that, that is not going to help you to
overcome gluttony, okay. It's going to actually lead you to bulimia, anorexia or other problems.
The Bible says that we discipline our body and bring it to subjection, lest I have preached to
others, I myself have become disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:27. What does it mean?
As a Christian it's about a perspective. I am in a Christian military called: The Ministry.
And I have to be in shape, not so I can look good but so I can be useful to my Master.
So that I can live a disciplined life and so that I could live a life where I see God's kingdom
first and my King is Jesus. My King is not burger. My king is not caffeine. My king is not soda.
My king is Jesus. So it's about a new perspective as a Christian. Yes, I reap the benefits of losing
weight, I reap the benefits of having good energy, sleeping good, you know not having
certain sicknesses otherwise I would have had if I would not watch my eating and stop overeating.
But the goal, the purpose is the kingdom. The goal and the purpose is seeking Jesus first. The third
thing that we must do, is we must submit our cravings to the Holy Spirit. Now a lot of times
we have hunger, but there's a difference between hunger and craving. Hunger gets satisfied if you
drink water and eat proper, at proper time and proper foods. Craving is the thing of the flesh,
and so we have to submit that to the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23, it tells us that the fruit of
the Spirit is self-control. See, uncontrolled appetite is gluttony. Self-control is the virtue
that God expects us to practice and the Holy Spirit gives us this new perspective on gluttony,
and you would then become more passionate for God, not for food and He gives you the desire
then to control your cravings. Cravings are not going to go away right away, they need to be
subdued by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not about me trying harder, it's me surrendering more
to the Holy Spirit, even in the area of my appetite, even in the area of my food. The
fourth practical thing that we must do is we must practice fasting to subdue our appetites.
Fasting is not easy because you're letting the flesh know who's the boss over the body,
the spirit and the soul. You're denying yourself food, you're strengthening your will to say no
to many other spiritual weaknesses and failures. God does not give you the will power but He gives
you the Holy Spirit power, and then your willpower gets strengthened as you yield to the Holy Spirit
power in fasting. We don't fast for a diet, we fast for the purpose of seeking God but the
benefit of it, our appetites get subdued and there are so many benefits of small, short one day,
three day fastings to your life. But one of the main spiritual ones is that you subdue king belly
under the King Jesus, and the king belly bites the dust. And then your belly you
know instead of being highly exalted, you actually decrease and Jesus increases,
and fasting is such a beautiful example. Of course your flesh is going to give you a lot of feedback
and let you know that it's very upset when you start fasting, but ignore the flesh and keep on
fasting. And the fifth one is to overcome gluttony is you have to rebuke the demon of gluttony.
"Did you, Vlad, say that there's a demon on gluttony?" Yes, there is such a thing as
uncontrolled, unbridled appetite that starts as a flesh, as you keep yielding it, it becomes a
spirit. If you're addicted to anything, you got company. The devil is the author of stealing,
killing and destruction. You can't tell me there's something that leads you to sickness,
that brings you into laziness, kills your motivation, hurts your sleep, makes you die early,
exalts your belly as the king, does not have a devil behind it. You can't tell me that. There
is such a thing as a demon of gluttony. It doesn't start as a demon, it starts first as an appetite.
Then we keep feeding it, feeding it, feeding it, feeding it. We exalt our belly into the place of
royalty and our belly becomes the king, and behind every idol is a demon and now something controls
you. Now you cannot stop on your own and you need not only discipline, not only seek the Holy Spirit
,you actually need deliverance where you need to renounce the spirit of gluttony. Renounce that,
repent of opening the door to it. Renounce it and rebuke it, and then apply discipline,
so that you can walk in freedom and dominion in your life. In conclusion, food is not your friend,
food is not your comforter. If you have made the fridge to be your comforter you're in trouble. As
a Christian you have a comforter, His name is the Holy Spirit. Food is not your staff that comforts
you. Jesus is your comfort. Jesus is your friend. Relationships are where you find the nourishment,
not on the plate of food, not in a brownie and not in a donut. Not in a red bull drink
or in some other caffeine. I want you to repent of gluttony today. I want you to put your faith
in Jesus. May Jesus be the King and the Lord of your life. As a Christian, you will see greater
victory in your purity, you will see greater victory in other areas of your life where you're
not motivated, where you're lazy, where you feel slothful. You will see victory in those areas
if you first submit the area of overeating, eating of junk food that feeds your flesh,
and stop abusing the temple of the Holy Spirit and yield your body, yield your instruments to
the Lord. Your mouth, your hands, everything to God. You will see greater victory and dominion
in your life. Thank you for watching this video. I know this was a strong message, but I believe
that you received it. Let me know in the comments below if you battled with this issue, and if you
have overcome, what you've learned. Maybe you're still battling and you need to make a confession.
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