Men, Proverbs chapter 23, beginning in verse number 20, the Bible reads,
Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,
and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Harken unto thy father that beget thee, and despise not thy mother when she's old.
The title of my sermon tonight is Gluttons and Winebibbers.
Gluttons and Winebibbers.
The Bible says, Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
Why?
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,
and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Being a drunk, being a glutton, will not only sap you of your money and bring you to poverty
because of all the money wasted on booze and junk food and medical bills,
but also they will make you drowsy.
It will take away your energy.
If you eat and overindulge in junk food gluttonous, you will become drowsy.
You will lack energy and people will drink alcohol.
It's a downer.
It's a depressant.
It doesn't give them more energy.
It gives them less.
Drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
But notice verse 20, it says, Be not among winebibbers.
Why is that?
Because if we spend a lot of time around people who are constantly indulging the flesh, constantly
giving in to the lust of the flesh, and exercising no willpower, then we're going to begin to
be the same way.
The people that we're around have a great influence upon us.
And so if we want to live a life that keeps under our body and brings it into subjection,
then we need to make sure that we surround ourselves with those type of people.
We don't want to be around people that are constantly a bad influence on us, that are
influencing us to give in to the lust of the flesh.
Not only that, but this also highlights the importance of, as a parent, setting the right
example for your children.
Because I don't think it's a coincidence that right after he says that we should not be
among winebibbers and riotous eaters of flesh, because the drunkard and the glutton shall
come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
And in the next breath he says, listen to your parents, he says, hearken unto thy father
that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
You see, the bad habits of the parents will be passed on to the children.
Or the good example set by the parents will be passed on to the children.
And often what the parents do in moderation, the children will take to excess.
And we have a ton of examples in the Bible where parents dabbled in a certain sin, and
then the children just went all the way into that sin.
And we see that the sins of the parents are often passed on to their children.
Now I want to focus tonight in my sermon, I'm not going to focus as much on drinking
alcohol, I'm going to focus more on the gluttony side of this, and just the winebibber side
of this, not talking about the alcoholic stuff, but the non-alcoholic stuff, the sugary
drinks that you're pouring down your gullet, the winebibbing gluttony of that.
Now I'm going to focus on that tonight, and there are not a lot of preachers that will
preach this sermon because they're afraid of offending people.
And I don't want to offend anyone either, because of the fact that my goal as a pastor
is never to hurt people's feelings, or to just get on their case and just sock it to
them.
I mean, what would be the point of that?
The point of preaching the Bible, no matter what sin I'm preaching against, is to help
people get it right.
It's not to beat people up for mistakes that they've made in the past, or to just get on
people for being wrong.
No, it's to try to help people to improve.
The point of hearing the preaching of God's Word is that it would bring about repentance
in your life, that you would hear God's Word preached and realize, hey, this is something
that I need to fix.
This is something I need to improve.
What's the point of even going to church if you're not going to be challenged from the
pulpit?
If you're not going to have sin pointed out so that you can purify yourself and become
a better Christian and a better servant of the Lord.
So I don't want to offend anyone, but no matter what sin I preach about, somebody's going
to be offended.
You preach against fornication and having kids out of wedlock, the single mother is
going to be offended.
You preach against divorce, the divorced are offended.
You preach against any sin and somebody out there is going to be offended.
But often the people who are offended are the people who need it the most.
And a wise man will hear and will increase learning and will understand, hey, maybe there's
something I can learn from this.
Maybe I can become a better Christian in the new year going into 2018.
Maybe I can fix this problem in my life.
There are people today that are godly, Bible-believing Christians, but this is a major sin in their
life of being a glutton or being a wine bibber or being one who indulges the flesh to excess.
And it's a sin just like anything else.
Just as the smoker is in sin, just as the drunk is in sin, just as the thief or the
covetous are in sin, the one who looks at porno is in sin, the glutton is in sin as
well and it needs to be addressed from the pulpit.
The Bible covers it.
The Bible says, and if you would flip over to Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 21, the Bible
says in Ecclesiastes 10 verse 16, woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child and
thy princes eat in the morning.
Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles and thy princes eat in due
season for strength and not for drunkenness.
By much slothfulness the building decayeth and through idleness of the hands the house
dropeth through.
You see that often overeating or gluttony is mentioned in the same breath with drunkenness.
You see that those two things are often put together side by side in the Bible.
Here's another example of that, Deuteronomy 21 verse 18.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son which will not obey the voice of his father
or the voice of his mother and that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them,
then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders
of the city, Deuteronomy 21, 19, and unto the gate of his place and they shall say unto
the elders of his city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice,
he is a glutton and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die, so shalt thou put
evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear.
And so while you might think to yourself, well I don't know if gluttony is a big deal,
I don't know if it's a big sin, here's the thing, it can lead to worse sins.
Because when a person is willing to disobey in that area, to disobey mom and dad in that
area or to disobey the wisdom and the guidelines of the word of God and overindulge in this
area, what area will they overindulge in next?
You see when we train our bodies to rule us and when we just train ourselves where
whatever we crave, whatever we desire, we just indulge in that and we don't tell ourselves
no, are we going to tell ourselves no in other areas of life?
You think about Eli.
The Bible talks about how Eli was a very heavy man, the Bible tells us.
And in fact when God rebuked Eli, he said to him, wherefore kick ye at my sacrifices
and at mine offering which I have commanded in my habitation and honourest thy sons above
me to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings of Israel my people.
So he rebuked him for making himself fat and he said that he was a very heavy man.
But what do we see next?
Eli, that's where it stopped with him.
That was his big sin was that he was just overindulging the flesh but you know what
his sons did, they did the same thing except they added another sin, they lay with the
women that assembled by the congregation.
So basically the dad had this sin of gluttony and then what did his sons do?
They said okay I see your gluttony and I'll raise you fornication.
They did what the dad did but then they just indulged the flesh in other areas as well.
And so this can lead to worse, we don't want to raise sons of Eli do we?
I don't want my sons to grow up and be like Eli's sons and just grow up and indulge the
flesh through gluttony, indulge in drunkenness and indulge in fornication.
I don't think you want to raise an Eli either.
Well we need to have some self-discipline in our lives so that our children will see
that example and grow up and be disciplined young people and not like Eli's sons.
Now you say well it's just genetic.
That's funny because when you see people that are morbidly obese and they adopt children,
those adopted children become morbidly obese as well.
You say well the whole family is that way, it's genetic.
The whole family has the same habits.
The whole family has the same diet.
The whole family has the same lifestyle.
And you know who determines this more than anyone else is the mother.
And the mother is the one that's going to the grocery store and putting things in the
cart.
The mother is the one that's making breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You got to take that responsibility ladies to serve nutritious food to your family and
to teach your children habits of what is the right food to eat and what is the wrong
food to eat and when to say okay you've had enough.
You know we need to put limitations on what our children should eat and not eat.
You say well Pastor Anderson I think that this is just all your opinion.
It's out of bounds.
How dare you?
Well if you stop and think about it and if you would flip over to Genesis chapter 2.
If you stop and think about it the very first sin in the Bible was somebody eating something
that they were told not to eat.
That's the first sin in the Bible.
True or false?
You open the Bible to Genesis 1 and you start reading.
The first time somebody disobeys God is God says don't eat that and they eat it.
And you know what I'll bet you that that is one of the first sins that we all committed
in our lives.
How many of us when we were kids stole a cookie out of the cookie jar?
That's probably the first thing that we ever stole.
Right?
I mean who here can say Pastor I remember specifically a time.
Every head bowed every eyes closed.
But how many of you would say I remember specifically a time when I was a kid when I was told that
I was not allowed to eat something and I snuck it and ate it anyway.
I remember a time like that.
My kids should all have their hands up because I busted you doing it.
Yeah but look around.
So look it's the first sin in the Bible and it's probably the first sin in most of our
lives.
I remember one time you know my mom was reorganizing our bedrooms and she was moving mattresses.
She picked up my mattress and underneath my mattress there were like 30 packages the wrappers
of those Farley's fruit snacks who knows what I'm talking about the Farley's those things
were good right and grape strawberry and cherry right and I mean there was just so many packages
and I got a big you know or I think I think my mom didn't spank me because I convinced
her like that was a long time ago mom the statute of limitations has expired on that
you know I'm like no that was like a year ago I think it's like a year and a half ago
you haven't even bought those in a while you know because I had just been sneaking them
because there was a rule you're allowed to have one per day or something but we would
go beyond that and then the wrappers would have to be disposed of in a in a in a safe
location so the point is you know this is a sin that everybody has probably had in their
life at some point the Bible talks about it the Bible deals with the Bible covers it therefore
I as a preacher should cover it as well of course in the famous verse the Bible tells
us what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which
you have of God and you're not your own for your bought with a price therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit which are God if our body belongs to the Lord we
need to honor our bodies and not destroy them I mean if I borrowed someone's car I shouldn't
trash the thing and return it to them but that's what we're doing we're trashing a borrowed
body that belongs to the Lord we need to treat it with respect the Bible talks about
in Psalm 78 stay there in Genesis but in Psalm 78 29 it says so they did eat and were well
filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust but while
their meat was yet in their mouths the wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest
of them and smoked down the chosen men of Israel look this is something God deals with
in the Bible it's something that we need to be cognizant of ok so what food should
we eat you say ok Pastor Anderson you're right there's a limit to what we should eat we should
take care of what we eat mothers fathers need to make sure that their children have nutritious
food but what should we be eating what's the right thing to eat what should we avoid when
do we say enough is enough when do we decide we've gone too far and we've gone into gluttony
well let's get some principles from the Bible of course we showed that in Genesis 2 the
first sin was was not was eating something God said not to eat but look at Genesis chapter
1 Genesis chapter 1 verse 29 says this and God said behold I have given you every herb
bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in the witch is the
fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat now the word meat let me just
stop and explain this when we say the word meat we are only referring to animal flesh
but when the Bible uses the word meat it's actually referring to any type of food for
example in the Old Testament they had something called the meat offering and it was made out
of fine flour mingled with oil so that's not something that we would think of as meat we
would think of that as a pancake okay but here he says that the the fruits and the vegetables
the seeds to you it shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and to every fowl
of the air and everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I've given
every green herb for meat and it was so so let's just start out number one as one of
the foods that we should eat the fruits and vegetables that God has created now that's
not the only thing that we should eat the Bible has a lot to say about other foods that
we should eat that we're not talking about veganism tonight I'm going to get into that
a little bit later but one of the things that we should be eating are fruits and vegetables
these are the foods that God created and if we are eating them in the exact form that
God created them how could that be bad for us when God says look I've given you all these
fruits and vegetables and seeds so eating fruits and vegetables is healthy it's nutritious
and God said of all the trees of the garden now may as freely eat it's a it's a great
thing for us to be eating but notice he did not say to you it shall be for a drink he
said to you it shall be for meat okay the biggest problem today with our diet in America
why is it that obesity is epidemic why is it that so many people struggle so hard to
keep their weight under control it's not the food as much as the drinks it's the drinks
that are killing us today it's the drinks that are causing people to struggle in this
area more than anything now there's a lot of junk food out there don't get me wrong
but the drinks are even worse okay now let me just explain to you the science behind
this okay see everything that we eat is eventually turned into sugar it's turned into energy
that our cells and our bodies can use to perform whatever the function and that's what we're
doing okay but there are different types of sugars that we could eat now one of those
types of sugars is known as glucose and another of those sugars is known as fructose and the
reason it's called fructose is because it has to do with fruit okay anything that ends
in o is pretty much a sugar like you've got your lactose and maltose dextrose fructose
glucose stay with me now all right glucose and fructose now our body will eventually
break everything down to glucose glucose is the standard energy unit that we use in our
bodies okay it all comes down to glucose eventually now what is fructose it's found in fruit well
what about the white granulated sugar that's sitting in the sugar jar or on the table at
a restaurant what is that stuff well that stuff is called sucrose and it's half glucose
and half fructose okay so just stay with me now glucose is the energy that we all need
to survive right fructose is the kind of sugar that comes from fruit everybody got it that's
the white powdery stuff on the table is both of these things combined because it's called
a dye saccharide because it has two monosaccharides glucose and fructose together form sucrose
which is the stuff on the table in the white dish everybody follow okay here's the thing
about glucose when you consume glucose you're getting calories and your body says I got
calories I'm going to get a little more full now because I've ingested calories right because
our bodies have a mechanism to tell us when to stop eating right you're eating you're
enjoying it but you get to a point where you say you know what I'm full I don't need anymore
or you might just go hours and hours having no desire to eat why because you're full well
one of the things that makes you full is eating food now I know that sounds kind of obvious
but bear with me for a moment you eat food you get full right glucose has that effect
upon you okay fructose on the other hand does not have that effect on you in fact fructose
makes you more hungry so you're putting calories in and you don't walk away more full you walk
away even hungrier that's what fructose does now why why would God create fructose in the
glucose that way here's why because fruit has so much fiber in it that if you just ate
a bunch of fruit all day right and then just said oh I'm full you're not going to get enough
food you're not going to get enough nutrition you're going to be at a super caloric deficit
if you're just eating just nothing but just fruit okay why because if you eat fruit it
takes up a lot of space in your stomach but it doesn't give you a lot of calories and
that fiber takes work to digest and it's not giving you so the point is that it makes
sense why God would create the sugar and fruit to not make you full so that you don't just
eat nothing but fruit you know you have to eat other things too that will actually fill
you up right I mean think about it if your kids hungry and you just tell them well eat
an apple son is that going to fill them up here eat these grapes here eat some strawberries
that doesn't really fill you up though you're like I need a real meal okay so that's why
fructose doesn't fill you up because you can eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want
and you're not going to get fat from eating raw fruits and vegetables okay here's the
problem though when you take the fructose out of the fruit now you don't have any of
the fiber and the good stuff now you're just mainlining pure sugar into your body that
doesn't make you full but makes you hungry so you drink a glass of orange juice or apple
juice or grape juice and what are you doing you're just dumping in sugar that makes you
even more hungry doesn't fill you up at all now can you see why this would be a problem
okay you say well you know that's fruit juice okay what about coca-cola you know what coca-cola
is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup so it's been scientifically proven that if
you drink a coke with your meal you'll eat more food so you're adding calories with the
coke not that but it doesn't fill you up makes you more hungry so if I ate 200 calories worth
of food I'd be a little more full right because I ate 200 calories of real food but if I drink
200 calories of coca-cola I walk away even hungrier and I've had an additional 200 calories
everybody understand what I'm saying so you end up eating way more it's not just oh the
coke's only 200 calories whatever yeah it's 200 calories and it's gonna make you hungrier
and then you're gonna eat even more and then you're gonna drink even more and then you're
gonna get hungry and not only that coca-cola is designed to make you even thirstier too
have you ever noticed that when you drink coke you're even thirstier because it's diuretic
it has it's literally formulated to make you thirsty and hungry that's why these restaurants
love to ply you with coca-cola because they know you'll buy more food you'll eat more
and they oh free refills on the coke buddy drink up because the more you drink the hungrier
and the thirstier you get and the more you're gonna overeat and over indulge this is a huge
problem today why people are overweight one of the biggest things that you could do to
fix this going into the new year you know because look you can party till midnight tonight
all right but you know don't you know you can put this all into practice tomorrow I
don't want to dampen the potluck or anything you know this is all tomorrow folks but here's
the thing about that one of the best things that you could do is just start drinking water
with every meal see we in America today are just too used to just drinking a fun party
drink with every single meal we wake up in the morning for breakfast and we gotta have
a big giant glass of orange juice and just dump all that fructose down the gullet and
then for lunch it's coca-cola or milk or grape juice or apple juice or whatever the soda
and it's just dinner time it's a fun drink and you know what it's also expensive you're
also wasting money when you go out to eat and you got to buy all these expensive drinks
to go with your food and you know this might not be a popular sermon but this could actually
save your life you know when you don't have type 2 diabetes and when you don't have heart
disease and when you aren't suffering from all these illnesses that are obesity related
drinking calories that's the biggest problem and especially fructose and you say well no
no pastor Anderson you understand I got the the coca-cola from Mexico with the cane sugar
which is what half fructose same thing it's having the same effect you're drinking calories
that don't make you full if you instead ate those calories you say well I tried to eat
I tried to lose weight I was just too hungry all the time yeah but focus on eating the
calories eat food eat nutritious food fill up on that and drink water now look if you're
used to drinking a fun drink with every meal this is a little bit of an adjustment at first
I you know for me I drank a ton of milk with every meal and I I don't think milk is bad
unless you're overweight then milk is bad because milk is the Bible says that you may
grow there by all right so yeah if you're a baby or a child yeah desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow there by but you know what some of us aren't interested
in growing anymore now if we need to grow then yeah let's if you're underweight drink
milk it's good for you okay but people that are overweight you just need to drink water
friend with every meal now look if you're used to just the constant sodas and I've been
there when I was a teenager and you can kind of get away with it sometimes when you're
a teenager although you're setting bad habits for your life and and harming your health
you know I was drinking sodas with every single meal drinking milk constantly with every meal
but listen to me all you have to do is go like two weeks where you drink water with
every meal and you will not miss it anymore you know it's like quitting smoking it's like
quitting anything I mean you just you go like two weeks where you just with breakfast you
drink water lunch drink water dinner drink water and just do that for a few weeks and
you will break the addiction your body will adapt and pretty soon you won't even miss
it and some of you guys especially because it's a lot harder for women to lose weight
than men but for you men just that alone would probably cause you to lose like 20 or 30 pounds
if you would actually just drink water with every meal because then you're going to eat
less food I mean look I used I used to go to Panera I mean I still go to Panera but
I used to go to Panera and I'd get two giant breakfast sandwiches and sometimes I'd even
have something else with the orange juice right but you know then I switched to drinking
water with every meal now I eat one breakfast sandwich and I'm done because you're just
not as hungry when you drink water instead of dumping in all that fructose which is an
appetite giver not an appetite suppressant so I don't want to spend too much time on
that now look I'm not saying to never drink juice or soda or anything like that but I
will say this it should be a rare treat see the Bible says he that loveth pleasure shall
be a poor man he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich the Bible says the pastor
should not be given to wine the deacon should not be given to much wine wine in the Bible
is fruit juice now often it's alcoholic and other times it's not alcoholic it just depends
on the context but you know what as a pastor I should not be given to either the alcoholic
kind or the non-alcoholic kind you know why because if I'm given to the alcoholic kind
then I'm a drunk and if I'm given to the non-alcoholic kind I'm going to get fat and you know what
all across America we have fat preachers in the pulpits all across America by the thousands
and it's a look I'm not down on them I don't hate them I'm not mad at them but I'm telling
you that's a bad example they're setting a bad example to their flock and they need to
change that they need to fix that I'm not saying that they're bad people I'm not saying
that God can't use them but I am saying that they should get it fixed and you know what
there have been many fat preachers who've lost the weight and fixed that anybody can
fix that but they have to you can't just keep doing the same thing and expecting to get
a different result you know you're gonna have to make changes in your life like for example
step one don't go home and dump out all the coca-cola and all the fruit you say well fruit
juice is good for you drink your apple a day wrong fruit juice is good for you you know
what yeah if you're underweight drink fruit juice anyone who is overweight should never
think that they're doing their body a favor by drinking fruit juice ever you are not doing
anything healthy for your body ever drinking fruit juice if you're overweight if you are
overweight fruit juice should never even enter your mouth because and the sad thing is people
drinking like oh this is really good for me you know I saw a TV commercial about it orange
juice is good for your heart dad have a big glass you know I remember that was a commercial
I can quote a lot of commercials from my childhood but you know drink this glass of orange juice
given to old man here you need this yeah this is gonna help your heart well you know it's
not gonna help your heart to be a hundred pounds overweight because every morning you
drink a glass of fructose and then you're hungry all day and eat a bunch of junk food
look fruit juice especially the pasteurized fruit juice at the store or at a restaurant
has virtually no nutritional value the nutritional value is close to zero and whatever nutritional
value is there is counteracted by the fact that's making you overweight which is bad
for you so you just got to get that out of your head that fruit juice is good for me
wrong here's what's good for you fruit say what's the difference fiber it's a massive
difference look you could eat pineapples and bananas and apples and oranges all day long
that stuff's good for you but as soon as you start drinking pineapple juice apple juice
grape juice it's bad for you and again I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it for a
rare treat but that's what it should be considered a treat you know your birthday comes once
a year New Year's Eve is once a year you know right Christmas is once a year Thanksgiving's
once a year you know somebody told me they said you know your birthday comes once a year
and today's not your birthday but it's always somebody's birthday and you know that's our
mentality I mean look when you have a church with 365 people in it it's always going to
be somebody's birthday so here's a good rule of thumb party on your birthday but not on
everybody's birthday because if you're gonna just break out the wine and and I'm not talking
alcohol now I'm talking the fruit juices the coca-colas the the fun drinks if you're gonna
crack those out on everybody's birthday you're gonna be just drinking that stuff all the
time eating that stuff all the time in excess so look yeah cookies brownies cake all that
sugary kind of junk food and the the fruit juices and the sodas they should be a rare
treat I'm not saying you can never eat them or drink them but when you're just constantly
eating and drinking that stuff don't be surprised when you get overweight and again let me just
say a little more on the science part of the sermon before I get back to the Bible here's
the science of it okay one pound equals 3500 calories all right one pound 3500 calories
so what does that mean that means that if you ingest 350 extra calories that you don't
need for 10 days right everybody listening 350 times 10 that's a pound of fat added okay
now do that for a whole year and you just added 30 some pounds I mean you can you can
really do damage quickly or you can lose weight now look how much if you're drinking a soda
with lunch and a soda with dinner right that's like 350 calories between those two things
or a glass of orange juice with breakfast and a soda with dinner that's 350 calories
that you just drink not to mention bags making you hungrier and you're overeating but just
that alone that's 350 calories every 10 days imagine what that how quickly you could gain
too much weight and then you wonder why so many people are overweight it's all the drinks
and then some people when they're teenagers and they're growing they develop these habits
and then they get married and their life slows down and then they just keep eating and drinking
the same way they ate and drank when they were teenagers or in their 20s look when you
get in your 30s you got to slow down on that stuff you're not growing anymore and so you
know if you want to even just even to just drink just think about this even if you just
drank 100 calories a day above what your body needs just you just have an excess every day
of 100 calories times 365 I don't know what that math is I'm too tired but anyway it's
bad whatever it is it's it's don't do it that's all I know I'm just kidding but anyway you
know yeah you're gonna gain 10 pounds approximately in a year right or you're gonna lose 10 pounds
if you shave off 100 calories every day so you know these are just some things to think
about you can't just keep on going down that same path and then wondering why you can't
lose weight and look stay away from gimmicks have I preached to you a gimmick tonight yet
no I'm not telling you to do any kind of a gimmick I'm just telling you to drink water
like all the prophets in the Bible drank water like everybody in the Bible drank water and
they drank wine as a treat as a rare treat okay let's get back to the Bible what kind
of food should we eat fruits and vegetables are great but don't juice them and don't drink
the juice eat the fruit eat the vegetable get the fiber eat it the way God intended
number one but number two we should also be eating meat go if you would to Genesis chapter
9 Genesis chapter 9 we should also eat meat so first of all the fruits and vegetables
are good for us but we should eat them not juice them actually ingest them as God you
say well no no because if we if we can juice them then it's like we can just get so many
more nutrients because there's no way I could ever eat you know 15 oranges but I could juice
some and there's no way I'd ever eat all these vegetables and fruits you know I get like
30 pieces of produce and just drink it all in this one glass it's just so many vitamins
we're saying obviously God didn't intend you to eat or drink that many or else it wouldn't
require a machine that was invented in the 20th century to make it number one but number
two who can afford that it's like you're just buying like so I mean that stuff is expensive
and then like 90% of it goes in the trash right you come home with like bags of produce
you juice it all it's like one glass and then the whole trash is just filled with pulp and
fiber and that's all the stuff that's good for you fiber is good for you so you know
stay away from the juicing you know and actually eat the eat the foods and you say well but
by blending it up it's like pre-digested here's the thing your body is supposed to do the
digesting you don't need a pre-digested meal digest it yourself because you know what then
your body if your body has to work to digest things then you're like burning calories just
to digest it I mean like that Apple that has 60 calories you're not getting 60 calories
out of that Apple so we are an apple has six cars no because it takes 60 calories just
to gnaw through the thing and swallow it all and digest it all and eliminate it all you're
gonna burn 60 cows that's why the fructose doesn't make you full because you need to
eat something that's gonna put meat on your bones and apples will not put meat on your
bones you're not you know look the chewing is part of the process oh yeah it's great
you don't have to chew anything you just pour it all down chew chew and swallow and digest
don't have someone else do your digesting for you so number one we should eat the fruits
and vegetables number two we should eat meat Genesis 9 verse 3 every moving thing that
liveth shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things but
flesh with the life thereof which is the blood thereof shall you not eat go to first Timothy
chapter 4 first Timothy chapter 4 so the Bible tells us to eat the fruits and vegetables
but he also says to eat the the moving creatures the living things the animals he said as the
green herb have I given you all things now the misguided vegan philosophy will tell us
well but yeah but before sin man only ate fruits and vegetables well here's the problem
with that logic is that before sin lions also ate straw like an ox but if a lion tries to
eat that way now it'll die any cat even a house cat cannot live on a vegan diet despite
what lying vegan websites will tell you cats do not have the enzymes to process a plant
based diet they must eat meat now dogs could live on a vegan diet but cats cannot that's
why God brings up the miracle by the lion is going to eat straw like an ox and the millennium
and so forth that's how it was the beginning so to say well you know God told them in the
Garden of Eden just eat fruits and vegetables so that must be the best thing for our bodies
that's about as logical as saying well straw is the best thing for a lion's body because
after all it's how it's going to be in the millennium how it was in the Garden of Eden
no wrong our bodies right now are designed to eat meat so God tells us to eat meat first
Timothy 4 1 now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter time some shut apart from
the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy
having their conscience seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to
abstain from meats which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which
believe and know the truth for every creature referring to the animals that provide the
meats for every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with
thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer if thou put the brethren
in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ nourished
up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou is attained and in the Old
Testament the priests every day ate meat from the sacrifices and the children of Israel
had to eat meat at the Passover it would have been impossible to be vegan in the Old
Testament and be right with God impossible because you have to eat the Passover commandment
so God obviously didn't intend for us to be vegan so number one eat your fruits and vegetables
number two eat your meats and number three eat bread eat bread Matthew 6 11 give us this
day our daily bread Luke 11 3 give us this day our daily bread Acts 2 46 and they continuing
daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat
with gladness and singleness of art you say well pastor Harris said what kind of a diet
is this we're supposed to eat meat and bread and fruits and vegetables so are we cutting
out butter no butter is biblical amen kind of a diet is this I thought you were gonna
go paleo man thought we're going vegan thought we're going low carb low fat no get off the
gimmicks get off the fads now look do the gimmicks and fads work yeah they work if you
actually follow them all of it works I mean if you were to just go super low fat yeah
you're gonna lose weight if you go super low carb yeah you're gonna lose weight but
here's the thing a lot of that stuff it's not sustainable for a lifetime though so people
they do the fad they do the gimmick and then they end up gaining all the way back or or
let's say oh it works to lose weight but that doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you
because people can do a low fat diet and yeah it works right until their hair starts falling
out till they start getting all crazy because they don't have enough omega fatty acids going
to their brain you know their nervous system gets all weirded out and stuff so look look
I don't want to do some radical diet because then I could be missing out on key nutrients
so I don't want to cut out carbs or cut out fat or cut out meat or cut out fruits and
vegetables you know what we need to eat a balanced normal diet and stay away from the
gimmicks and the fads just a sustainable long-term diet where we drink water and eat
a balanced diet of healthy whole foods you know and and and just say now look you say
well I lost a lot of weight and had success with this gimmick or that gimmick great but
you know for the average person that stuff doesn't work you know you need something that
you can stick with you need something that fits your lifestyle and it God tells us to
eat bread and meat and butter is good and the fruits and vegetables now if you would
flip over to Deuteronomy 22 Deuteronomy chapter 22 and by the way this paleo diet I don't
like the name because it implies that we were once a caveman and it's basically telling
us hey we evolved to eat like a caveman let's eat like a hunter-gatherer or whatever and
look I'm not saying that people you know couldn't be healthy or lose weight on that paleo diet
but I don't like the name first of all and I dead sure don't believe that that's how
God created us to eat when he's telling us to eat bread every day give us this day our
daily bread now the problem today is not with meat or with bread the problem is that people
are eating junk meat and junk bread you know and so people will say like well I switched
to a vegan diet and now I just feel so much better yeah that's because you went from a
junk food right well-rounded diet to a healthy vegan diet then yeah you're gonna be way better
off on the healthy vegan diet than you were on the total junk diet but you know you can
actually get on a healthy well-rounded diet then you'll be better off even than the vegan
say why are you down on the vegans it's a doctrine of devils the Bible says and so it's
something we need to combat in the end times number one when people make a religion out
of it but number two you know you don't want to end up looking like Johnny Nixon because
you know you ate way too much soy or whatever if you unless you don't know who that is but
anyway the point is you know a lot of these vegan diets a lot of these vegan diets they're
they're heavy on soy so boys thank you don't you know look as a man you don't want to look
like a soy boy you know you don't want to get all effeminate and and low testosterone
because you're getting a bunch of phyto estrogen mimickers from a bunch of soy because you're
eating too much tofu so you know that that it's not good for you so even if these things
could help you lose weight and look yeah you could be vegan without eating soy I get that
but the average vegan person it's so funny how they're like yeah you know we were created
to eat this way vegan it's God's intent then why are vegans always trying to make food
that's like meat if it's so natural to be a vegan why do you have to keep tricking yourself
that you're eating meat right with a vegan sausage and a vegan cheeseburger and a vegan
turkey you know if it's so normal to be vegan would you just eat the fruits and vegetables
and the grains and stuff you always have to trick all this tastes just like a burger well
you know what I got some that tastes just like a burger a burger you say oh the animals
slay and eat look at Deuteronomy 22 let me just add this on we need to stay away from
the GMOs stay away from the genetically modified foods the Franken foods Deuteronomy 22 verse
9 thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seeds lest the fruit of thy seed which thou
has sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled this is one of those verses that's
made fun of in the Bible oh you know you believe the Bible huh well verse 11 says not to wear
a garment of woolen and linen together you're wearing a mixed fabric no I'm a hundred percent
cotton buddy how you doing you weren't a mixed fabric buddy you know what maybe we
should actually listen to this stuff and quit mixing the crops and not so our vineyard with
diverse seeds lest the fruit of thy seed which thou has sown and the fruit of thy vineyard
be defiled why don't we keep things the way God created them and not genetically modify
the plants and animals that we eat so I think that if we were smart we'd go with what God
made because God created everything he said it's all very good so if we eat the fruit
that God made we eat the vegetable that God made we butcher and eat the animal that God
gave us and then we make bread out of the grain that God gave us and we eat the butter
from the milk that God gave us in moderation we're gonna be doing great the problem is
that we're driving through and getting partially hydrogenated soybean oil high fructose corn
syrup and a whole bunch of chemical ingredients and a whole bunch of junk garbage food that's
the problem it's not meat that's the problem it's not bread that's so people think like
oh if I just go vegetarian it'll fix all my problems and then you tell them no meat's
good for you oh well have you seen you know the the meat industry what we don't eat that
meat though get your meat from a healthy source get the grass fed get the organic you
say oh I can't afford it you know what you can't afford not to eat healthy you you know
what you can't afford the medical bills that you're gonna pay from all the junk food that
you eat you know what you can't afford all the sick days you're gonna have to take from
your junk oh you know I I just don't have enough money so I just have to eat junk food
okay you're gonna spend all the money at the hospital and you're gonna lose all the money
when you can't go to work and can't perform well because you're full of junk food and
you know what junk food is not more expensive than real food that is a myth that is a myth
I'll tell you that this is what it comes down to it's not that it's not that junk food is
cheaper than real food because it's not you know what it is it's more convenient than
real food the thing about real food is that somebody has to prepare it okay that's what
it comes down to the junky foods are the ones that are ready to go off the shelf they're
ready to go out of the box ready to go out of the can ready and waiting right across
the parking lot in Wendy's right here ready to roll I mean what's easier rolling across
the street into Wendy's and getting your your combo of the cheeseburger and the fries and
the wine and the oil of Wendy's or actually going home and forming your ground beef patties
and then baking your rolls that you made from scratch for the bread right you baked your
own bread right I mean yeah for the for the rolls you know and and then and then but that's
a simple meal but what about you know baking the bread and chopping up the fruits and chopping
up the vegetables and and cooking it yourself see the healthy foods the rice and the beans
are cheap and they're healthy but you have to do what soak the beans you know cook the
food you gotta do work you gotta prepare it that's the issue and if you want to do it
on the cheap you have to put a little work into finding the deals and that takes work
too right because you have to you know the prudent wife and the virtuous wife is seeking
out the deals and the bargains on the nutritious food so eating healthy doesn't have to break
the bank you can do it on a budget you just might have to you know do a little more work
to prepare things and to seek out things and you know and plus you might not be able to
eat steak and lobster with every meal you know you might have to do some meatless meals
just to save money but rice beans fruits vegetables these things are not that expensive if you
buy them in their raw forms and actually prepare them yourself okay so I'm just gonna leave
you with this one last verse turn to Jeremiah chapter 13 Jeremiah 13 and while you're turning
I'm just gonna give you a quick review of everything we learned tonight and look if
you want to just blow off everything I'm saying tonight you're welcome to do that that's fine
I still love you we're still friends but I'm only telling you this stuff because I love
you and you know what if the pastor who will never touch on this maybe he just doesn't
love his people maybe he's just afraid to tell them the truth but you know sometimes
a little tough love is what we need to hear because we're destroying ourselves we're destroying
our bodies we're destroying and you know what fundamental Baptist churches are notorious
for junk food every fundamental Baptist Church I've ever been to it's just McDonald's and
just it's just the worst junk and Kool-Aid in the Sunday school and we Baptists love
to eat amen you know just the huge preachers and everything's junk and rare you know this
is like one of the only Baptist churches in America where we extol healthy eating and
organic and non-gmo and and look when we have a church picnic that's what we serve we serve
organic grass-fed beef we serve any church activity even when we break the record and
serve ice cream as a rare treat it's organic ice cream or it's the healthiest ice creams
that we can find so how can you afford that you know what because if we wouldn't serve
it to Jesus we won't serve it to you if if if I have anything to do with purchasing any
food for any activity I buy what I would buy for Jesus I wouldn't serve Jesus junk I would
you know if I were to serve Jesus ice cream if Jesus said woman give me an ice cream cone
should my wife get you know the five gallon Walmart cheapest possible ice cream and give
it to him you know or should she give him the best and if we've done it on to one of
the least of Christ's brethren we've done it unto him and we you know so so we want
to have a culture in our church and a culture for our children and a culture for the people
around us of modeling healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle in all areas of life not
to just get up and say don't smoke kids and just eat the worst junk food and be a hundred
pounds overweight and then you know what the kids are going to think well Bible doesn't
mention smoking where how dare he tell me that look what he's doing to his body he's
gonna he's gonna be lucky to hit 50 you know so the point is that you know we need to set
the right example for the people and and by the way I've heard that there's been some
people in our church have taken this preaching and said oh well pastor pastor says smoking's
not a big deal because it's just like eating junk food look the thought of foolishness
is sin I think you missed the point the point was don't eat junk food or smoke it wasn't
like oh it's just like eating junk food so let's just smoke up let's go up and smoke
no you're missing the point buddy but you know people kind of hear what they want to
hear don't they but you know what I'm sick of people blaming me for their sin don't say
well I smoke because pastor Anderson said it's not a big deal you know what let me just
start right now and say you know what if you smoke you're a fool and you need to quit smoking
it's a lack of character it's stupid it's worthless it's destroying your health it's
a waste of money and I'm against smoking anything pot tobacco anything it's garbage quit smoking
it's foolish and don't try to blame me on that and say well pastor Anderson was soft
on smoking it's like good night the last point I want to make after I make this quick review
number one drink water with every meal number two eat a balanced diet of healthy nutritious
food you don't need a gimmick just eat less food eat a balanced diet eat as much fruits
and vegetables as you want if you get hungry eat fruits and vegetables right drink water
eat a sensible portion of food get you know you want to count calories look do whatever
it takes get on whatever program you need but get it under control and then lastly is
this you're going to have to change your habits you're going to have to change your habits
you're going to have to break some addictions in your life that's what it comes down to
Jeremiah 13 verse 23 says can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil what's the bible saying look if you
are accustomed to doing evil it seems impossible to you to do good like it would be impossible
for a black person to become white or for a leopard to become a tiger okay look people
have this attitude that oh it's impossible but it's just that you have to change your
habits everybody's got an excuse don't they oh you know it's just my my my thyroid
it's just my hormones it's just my genetics it's just my DNA but you know what it is though
it's that you're accustomed to doing it wrong that's the problem show me somebody who loves
to drink water and drinks water with every meal and I'll show you somebody who's not
overweight and you show me the one who's drinking all the sodas and the wine and the beer and
the fruit juice and the milk and the drive-through sodas and icees and I'll show you somebody
who's overweight by and large we need to change our habits and you know what the new year
is a great chance to do it to push a reset button have one last hurrah tonight and tomorrow
decide on some concrete and don't just have some vague yeah I need to fix this you know
you need to go into it you know if this is a problem and a lot of people don't have
this problem but some people do you know you ought to go into it tomorrow with with a plan
that says you know what I'm going to start out doing X and sometimes it's just baby steps
you know just one step at a time just get rid of the drinks just get on water for a
while see what we'll learn what water tastes like learn what we've been drinking the rest
of us and then you know keep progressing from there let's bow our heads and have a word
of prayer father we just thank you so much for your word and the wisdom on this subject
Lord help us not to be gluttons and wine bibbers Lord help us not to be given to wine and given
to indulging the flesh and eating junk Lord help us to be sensible and to control our
appetites Lord and I know this is a very difficult struggle for people it's a hard addiction
to break Lord but I just pray that you would just give us the strength to do it to eat
what's right so that we can have the energy to go out soul winning and not get tired after
20 minutes but that we could get out there and get soul winning and not be drowsy and
to be able to have energy to raise our children and do the things that we need to do Lord
and I pray that no one would be angry or offended by the sermon tonight Lord I pray that everyone
would just accept it in a spirit of love in which it was delivered Lord and in Jesus name
we pray, Amen.