Any Appetite Can Die In 40 Days | Preston Morrison | Gateway Church

hey everybody welcome to Gateway Church we're so excited that you joined us this weekend what's that oh yeah yeah I can hear you all the way from your house you love this don't you I love that this is one of my favorite things about you I just decided if you're not gonna be in the room I'm gonna just start dressing the way I want a dress and since I all know that you just love my beloved Cowboys I don't you turn off that TV right now because I'm about to give you a word God gave me for you alright so don't let my sarcasm get in your way I'm just being silly and I thought I would celebrate the unbelievable draft my beloved Cowboys had this last weekend and I know you football fans some of you are saying give it eight games into the regular season Preston and you'll do what you always do you'll start moping because you know your Cowboys aren't what you thought you're probably right but maybe this is my year let's just agree to disagree all right if you got a bob I want you to turn to Luke chapter four we're continuing our series entitled 40 days now if you haven't gone to 40 days calm and signed up to do a 40-day journey I want you to whether you consider our church your home or not this is a really valuable tool for every one of us as followers of Jesus Christ even if you're not a believer in Jesus yet go to 40 s that 40 days calm and you can go through the what is godlike journey that there's something for everybody all right but especially if you call our church home then if you haven't signed up on 40 days calm to go through a 40-day journey I want you to join your church our church and do this together all right today what we're talking about is something powerful that can happen in a 40 day period of time and I believe as a church this is something God is asking of us he wants this from us during this 40-day journey as we are looking to transition out of this kind of quarantine season and start stepping back towards some type of normalcy as a church let me just say for those of you who are wondering and asking what's the plan we are still researching we're taking in all of the information we can to make the best decision we can as that time comes but where we are for now is where we've been and if that changes and when it changes which it will I promise we'll keep you ahead of the curve as we communicate it to you all right okay the title of today's message is any appetite can die in 40 days any appetite can die in 40 days and specifically what we're gonna do is I'm just gonna give you three simple steps to kill any ungodly appetite in your life now I've done a lot of teaching on godly desires versus ungodly appetites so I'm not gonna break that down because I've done it enough here at our church but one of the things absolutely wreaking havoc on believers all over the world is on is godly desires that have turned into ungodly appetites now how do you know godly desire has turned into an ungodly appetite here's the answer when it's never satisfied you know a god-given desire has turned into an ungodly desire appetite when it's never satisfied all right now the flesh in the spirit both have appetites but you have to decide which one you're going to feed the most now in Luke chapter 4 we're gonna read the first couple of verses many of you know the story but let's read it together this is the recording of Jesus being led out into the wilderness the desert before he kicks off his three-year run of ministry on the earth alright Luke chapter 4 verse 1 then Jesus being filled with the holy spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness being tempted there for how many days 40 days 40 days by the devil he's being tempted there for 40 days by the devil and in those forty days he ate nothing and afterward when they had ended he was hungry you think 40 days of not eating I'm pretty sure remember Jesus fully God fully man had an earthly appetite for food a need for food he didn't eat for 40 days and afterward he was hungry here's step number one what we're gonna do is walk through the divine death of dangerous appetites alright I'm gonna give you three really simple steps to walk out to kill any ungodly appetite and I want you to understand as we step into this with all of my heart I believe this is what God is saying to us as a church that during this 40-day run God wants us to kill some ungodly appetites alright so way to keep that focus as you take notes writing out these steps and the one-liners that go with them here's step number one to kill any ungodly appetite starve it out starve it out we see that with Jesus he didn't eat he went without food he starved okay that's that's how we started off his ministry on the earth getting baptized and then fasting he starved an appetite while he was being tempted now how do you know what you what you desire and even further a more important way to say it is what you need because a lot of people get their wants and needs confused but how do you know if you're kind of it on the edge of moving from a godly desire to an ungodly appetite one of the things you hear yourself say in an unhealthy way about many things related to the godly desire is this I need I need I need and it's all about this one area I need this I need I need I need and it's not really I need what you're really saying is I want but listen to me if you say I need more than you say I am you don't understand who and what you are too many of us get focused on I I need I need I need this stuff and God gave us needs yes but when we talk about godly desires and ungodly appetites one of the the ways we get tripped up is we feed a god-given desire or a better way to say it is over feed it because we're convinced I I need I need I need so a good example a god-given desire for sex God created sex and he gave me as a married man a godly desire for sex but can a godly desire for sex become an ungodly appetite absolutely and one of the ways is if I over feed I need I need I need I need and I'm constantly telling my wife it's one of the ways that a godly desire can become an ungodly appetite or one of the ways we starve it out is just to look at it and say hey hold on I need to stop focusing on what I need so much and I need to Remember Who I am Who I am in Christ and what does scripture say about you about me if we're believers in Jesus that we are complete in Christ that's Colossians we're complete in Christ we have got to starve out some ungodly appetites during this forty days some of us during this quarantine have gotten some some heightened habits let's just call him and we all know that if we don't starve them now they're going to wreak havoc in this next season of life so we have got to starve out these appetites the Holy Spirit leads us to starve out okay that's step one here's step number two crowded out crowded out now I want to teach you a scriptural principle about emptiness okay a healthy diet involves displacement in other words getting rid of or emptying of and replacement so a lot of us let's just talk physically for a minute when we think about a healthy diet some of us think about getting skinnier by just going without food and so we don't eat well that's displacement so we get rid of unhealthy foods but we can take that too far a healthy diet involves displacement and replacement well this is not just physical it's also spiritual Exodus chapter 23 starting in verse 28 I want you to hear what God says to the Israelites as they're stepping into the Promised Land he's teaching them about this principle of what I would call emptiness all right Exodus 23 verse 28 God says and I will send Hornets before you which shall drive out the hivite the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you I will not drive them out from before you in one year or basically all at once why lest the land become desolate or empty and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you okay this is what I would call the principle of emptiness here's another way to say this in one liner fashion empty spaces are the devil's favorite places let me say that again I know you're seeing it on your screen but that's nastiness right there empty spaces are the devil's favorite places now be honest some of us might have had a godly grandmother say to us when we were kids honey you know what I'm about to say honey idle hands are the devil's workshop it's the principle of emptiness God says to the Israelites hey I'm not gonna do this all at once because if I cleared out the land you would be overtaken by what comes in to inhabit the land this is the principle of emptiness in the New Testament we see the same thing we're taught that when a demon Li that if we don't replace refill that space it comes back with seven friends that are even stronger and the person scripture says is worse off than they were before okay this is the principle of emptiness we cannot just starve out an appetite we have to also crowd it out which means not just to this place but to refill to replace to put new food into now we talked about last week what we talked about it in seed form what's the best seed that growth God's Word okay what is the best food well if you go back to Jesus in the wilderness being tempted starving physically what's the first thing Satan comes and says to him he can tell he's hungry he says hey why don't you just whip up some bread let's read it together I want you to see this in Matthew chapter 4 verse 3 now the tempter came to Jesus and said if you're the Son of God command these stones to become bread but jesus answered and said it is written man not just Jesus man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God okay listen to me we can't just starve out ungodly appetites cold-turkey by just doing nothing by displacing them we have to replace them with what the godly desires we've been given one of the most important godly desires you will ever have in your life is a desire for God's Word it feeds us I remember I had a friend who was at the end of wrestling giving their life to Jesus and it got really dark and it was really tough season and and I would get calls and text in the middle of the night and and they were hearing a bunch of voices and they didn't know what to do and I would pray with them and and on one call I remember the holy spirit saying so clearly giving me a picture of a radio station and this person had like a hundred maybe even a thousand radios in front of them old-school boom boxes as I would like to call them the kids don't know what that is old-school boom boxes just surrounded and they were here in all these different radio stations and they couldn't even make out completely what they were hearing because they just heard so many voices okay and then I just sensed the Lord say tell him to tune into my word my word is my voice if he wants to silence the voices he thinks he cannot stop from speaking he needs to elevate the sound of my voice in his life tell him to tune into my word I'm just telling you right now I know some of us are dealing with some anxiety and and some frustrations due to what's going on and and the uncertainty of what's ahead but can I just tell you in uncertain times one of the wisest things we can do is elevate raise the volume of God's voice in our lives I don't want to listen to the news more than I listen to God's Word his word never changes because God never changes what the people on the news say changes every five seconds listen to me as followers of Jesus Christ we've got to raise up the volume of God's voice in our lives and the best way to do that is to raise up or strengthen the godly desire to feast on God's Word this is not a cliche this is a mandate from God it's a mandate as Jeremiah 23 God says does my word not devour is it not an all-consuming fire it's like a fire Preston your bones when you get my word in your life hey listen when we talk about starving out ungodly appetites we've got to crowd out the space where that ungodly appetite once kind of occupied that territory we've got to replace it with God's Word step one starve it out step two crowd it out and here's step number three burn it up burn it up baby burn it up this is a word from the Lord for our church right now in this season now two things I want to kind of draw your attention to as it relates to burning up the word repent one of my favorite definitions is to burn up so as to never revisit again okay we hear you know metanoia change your mind also to turn and those are definite definitions of the word repent but the word picture is to burn up so as to never revisit again Acts chapter 3 verse 19 says repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out then times of refreshing may come from the Lord repent turn don't don't some of the best advice I can give you if you have an ungodly appetite that you've been struggling with for years one of the worst things you can do is stand close to what you used to eat and not like that you ate okay let me say it like this it's like brownies at my house one of my favorite things it's a weakness for me my wife's brownies okay when I am close enough to the kitchen to smell the brown the brownies you know what's gonna happen I'm getting the blue bell out and I'm eating them brownies why because the closer you are the easier it is to smell and the more you can smell something that used to taste good the higher the chances you're gonna go back to eating in so says hey don't Preston don't just make this about forgiveness when you starve out an ungodly appetite yes I forgive you but I want you to repent I want you to turn I want you to walk so far away from that old kitchen that cooked up that ungodly dish then I don't want you to ever smell that dish again and Preston if you're really wise what you'll do is you'll set fire to that old kitchen what does Jesus say better for you to pluck out your eye if your eye causes you to stumble Preston burn up the kitchen so you'll never be able to revisit that ungodly appetite again burn it up but here's the second thing I want to draw your attention to catch fire don't just burn up something so that it's gone I want to draw your attention I really feel the Lord pushing on me on this one this week we need to catch fire it is time for an all-consuming divine fire to take over the earth let me show you we talked about in the beginning of this series the 40 days between the resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus and in those 40 days I want to go back to Luke 24 so if you were in Luke 4 flip to Luke 24 so you can see this go to verse 32 we're gonna read this together I want you to see something Jesus does on a walk with a couple guys during this 40 days between the resurrection the Ascension Luke chapter 24 verse 32 remember these guys are walking with Jesus and they some I don't have time to read the whole context but let me just show you this is the after effect of what went down and then I'll go up few verses verse 32 they said to each other Jesus has just revealed that he was the one they were walking with they said to each other didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us now quickly they didn't know they were walking with Jesus at the time didn't reveal himself to them so now Jesus reveals himself and they go oh now it makes sense did our our hearts not burn within us as Jesus talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us now question what did Jesus do with them as it relates to the Scriptures let me show you go back five verses Luke 24 verse 27 then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses so scripture and all the prophets explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself okay this is huge what was Jesus doing with these men on this walk before they even knew was Jesus Jesus was walking them through Scripture pointing at one fact I am at the center of all of this why was their heart burning a flame within them because Jesus was pointing out this is what happens when you realize I am at the center of everything Jesus is at the center of every divine fire period point-blank the Christians highest calling is to keep Jesus at the center of everything in every area of life one of the reasons we have got to starve out some of these and all of these ungodly appetites is because it creates more room for Jesus to occupy in our lives not just to be at the center of our lives but to take over our lives this is what we are called to do and this I believe is what Jesus is doing in our midst in these days if we will make room by starving out the ungodly appetites we are making room for Jesus to occupy and take over and move in us through us and among us in ways we have never seen before any appetite can die in 40 days do not be convinced by your enemy that you're gonna have this ungodly appetite forever you can starve out that ungodly appetite and get back to fulfilling a godly desire if we will starve out these ungodly appetites if we will crowd them out with God's Word daily and if we will burn it up and burn ourselves up catch fire with all of my heart I believe we're gonna see God move among us in ways we have never imagined possible I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes no matter where you are right now no matter who you're watching with whether you're by yourself whether you're with family or you're with friends there is one specific type of person I want to speak to first then I want to speak to everybody else if you're watching this right now and you'd say Jesus is not the center of my life he is not at the center of my life but I want him to be I want Jesus to take over my life I've tried things my way but it's not working if that's you you'd say I'm ready to make Jesus Lord of my life to give him control of my life I want him to be the center of my universe and not me I want you to do something for me with every head bowed every eye closed so if you got people in the room with you don't worry about them watching you if I'm talking to you right now more importantly if God's speaking to you right now but this is your moment that's it you've tried it your way for long enough now it's time to get serious about your life listen to me closely you were made to do things you can't wrap your mind around on this earth but you cannot do them outside of partnership with the God of the universe and the only way for that to happen is to make Jesus your Lord and Savior not just to give him access to every part of your life but to give him control and if that's you with every head bowed every eye closed if you're ready to do business with God and you'd say I'm ready to make Jesus the center of my life just put your hand up no one's watching you just put your hand up come on put it up high shoot it up high shoot it up strong be proud before the Lord all of heaven is watching shoot it up come on put your hand up and you may have been shooting other stuff up this last week I want you to shoot your hand up right now in the presence of all of your enemies and say I am done living the way I used to I'm gonna make Jesus the center of my life just do it right now just put your hand up anybody else okay you can put your hands down every head bowed every eye closed if you just put your hand up I want you to repeat the simple prayer after me all right just say it out loud you can whisper it there are other people around you don't feel comfortable that's okay all right repeat it in your heart after me all right let's say this prayer together repeat it after me dear Jesus I am done doing things my way I'm ready to make you Lord of my life Here I am take over my life I believe you're the son of God I believe you came to this earth to die for me and I believe on the third day God raised you from the dead [Music] Jesus forgive me of my sin take over my life I belong to you from here on out do what only you can do in Jesus name with every head bowed still and every eye closed now I want to speak to everybody else if you're listening to the sound of my voice right now I believe you're hearing God's speak and I want to speak especially to those who called this church home I'm speaking everybody but I'm especially speaking of those who call this church home just right now between you and God I want you doing some business right now I want you to ask the Holy Spirit a very important and powerful question what needs to die in May ask him right now [Music] holy spirit what needs to die in me [Music] holy spirit would you reveal to every person what needs to die in each of us god you're on the move and you're looking for an army big or small of unified believers who will do what you want done on this earth but you need that army to starve out the things that are getting in the way God would you show every one of us the ungodly appetites that need to be starved out crowded out and burned up Holy Spirit during these 40 days as we journey together as a church in unity would you kill these ungodly appetites and would you fill every inch of that space that was previously occupied by ungodly things would you fill every inch of that space with more of your word in more of you Jesus you're at the center of this church of our lives have your way with us in Jesus name amen well before we finish up together I just want to say if you prayed that prayer with me and put Jesus at the center of your life gave him total control of your life you're a savage you're amazing our church celebrates the decision you just made the Bible says all of heaven is rejoicing think about that like the biggest game in the history of humanity the crowd is going crazy because you just made the decision you made now if you just prayed that prayer with me I want you to do something I want you to text the name Jesus to the number two four five eight seven Jesus two two four five eight seven you'll get a response we just want to reach out to you send you some stuff so that you can get on a good healthy start in this journey of following Jesus Christ way to go you then everybody else I just want to say especially those who have a gateway Church here in Arizona is your home did you know that since I announced our goal of 20,000 Souls in 25 years we hit the hundred person mark last weekend that's what I'm talking about listen to me closely some of you might be think that's a long way from your goal I'm not looking at it like that everything big started small a hundred people a hundred souls are going to heaven because of what you and I have dedicated ourselves to to take the gospel to the ends of the earth starting here in our Valley I love you I miss you I can't wait to see you again god bless you have an awesome week

Channel: Gateway Church

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Id: 2Z_0P8wWhpY

Length: 30min 17sec (1817 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2020