DEVELOPING AN APPETITE FOR GOD | Dr. Hart Ramsey

in the word of god i want to read to you uh from hebrews chapter 12 verse 14. i want you to please stay with me as i work with this because i want to make sure that i'm not just up here trying to fill us a void or stimulate you in a way that will not benefit you in the long run in hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 it says and i'm reading from the new living translation get your smart device whatever you're reading on it says work at living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life for those who are not holy will not see the lord now i want to before i i want to unpack some of this and i want to go as long as i can to show you where we're going they're words in the bible that many of us don't know what they really mean when we hear words like holiness and and even the or the directive to work at we we fail to to locate ourselves and know what god expects of us i'm going to point to point out to you throughout the teaching this week and next week i'm going to show to you that that when the lord called upon his people to work we only work out what jesus has worked in none of our works the bible says none of our works that we give to god can win us anything with god but there is an exertion there is a a trying or an effort that we give to god in in cooperation with what he's doing in our lives when he says work at living at peace it means it's going to take some effort when he says work at living a holy life this this concerns me because you've heard so much erroneous teaching about holiness that many people don't know what holiness is holiness is not something that you give to god because we have no holiness to give him it's not a gift i give to god the word holy means to be separated consecrated or or set aside to god but in in this boiled down definition it really means to be different to be different it says it says work at living a life that's different in that it's set aside to god for it says for those who are not willing to live a life that's different to set aside to god he said they won't see the lord but in verse 15 he says look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of god he says our job is to is to be so concerned about one another that if i see a person lifting themselves up or trying in their own effort my job is to correct them because watch this now the the issue at hand is not that unless they could get beside themselves is that if they lift themselves up beyond measure and if they become self-righteous and judgmental then they fail to receive the grace of god and they begin to fall many believers think that because you're walking a good walk or you're living a good life that means you better but that's not what it means it means that you found a way or you found the way to give yourself to the lord in such a way that he can carry you and your life takes on a stride that's not even yours it's the lord's he's literally carrying you carrying you you think you're walking the the worst thing you can do from that position is judge other people for failure when the lord is carrying you be like me you look how it's not even you it's the lord and so the bible says here that our job is to watch out for each other look out after each other so that no one fails to receive this continual flow of god's grace he said watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you corrupting many he says what happens to me when i'm a part of a collective what happens to me affects others if i go straight others will go astray if something is on me if i allow something to come into my life and and contaminate the community he said that's on me and then he said make sure this is the verse i'm looking for make sure that no one is immoral i'm gonna talk about that or godless and this is not a judgmental message like esau make sure that no one is immoral or godless like esau who traded his birthright as the firstborn for a single meal you know you know that afterwards the scripture says when he wanted his father's blessing he was rejected it was too late for repentance even though he begged with bitter tears i want to i want to deal with this lesson as a jumping off place to kind of get it dig into your heart and go after the poor the place in your life where failure emanates from in other words i want to deal with the issue in your life where you have struggled that you've built a fence around so to speak or even a protection around because you want no one to know that for all your giftedness and for all your time you spent with the lord and for all the way you can speak and prophesy whatever you do that you have an area of your life that is that is nothing but weakness and failure i want to speak to that today when the bible talks about this or issue of immorality make sure that no one is immoral i want you to understand i will i define everything and if i can't define it i'll describe it the word def i'm sorry the word immoral here means um having no standards so when you say when you hear a person talk about morality what they really talk about are standards having no standards he said make sure that there's no one among you that has no standards now it doesn't mean they have your standards he said but they have to have some standard you got it and he's speaking to the fact of how we behave when we feel empty make sure that no one is immoral having no state or godless the word god is here means a common thinker a person who who believes that that to be able to to uh fit in in the world they have to do certain things or be a certain somebody and he says i want you to make sure two things people among you have standards and number two they don't look at the world as the goal they don't look at what's happening around them as what what they aspire to be he said make sure that they don't do that and he says he points to esau he says look at esau and when you look at esau what you find is this esau sold his birthright over appetite my wife is an absolute seafood lover i don't know if if there's a kind of seafood that she doesn't like um lady k from time to time would say to me as a matter of fact it's interesting we i i i eat red meat i eat chicken she's not a chicken either but my wife would will say i i crave or i like to eat some snow crab or crab legs tonight or whatever and i say yeah but you know it makes the house smell funny and she heard things like i just boiled some vinegar and water it'd be okay translation i'm gonna eat it anyway i don't care what you say you know so that's what i'm gonna eat so so the thing is though the fact that she's a seafood lover tells me that somewhere in her life she developed a taste for seafood watch this now she developed uh come on work with me is it developer what a taste for seafood because you can't have a taste for something you've never tasted have you ever noticed how many of you how many of you ever have not i'm gonna put on your transparency how many have ever gotten high in your life i don't care what it was on you gotta hide anything okay how many of you never gotten high well you kind of well but you notice that you notice that if you've never tried something the enemy never tries to tempt you to do it he never says you know you don't you don't ever get depressed and go you know i need a drink because you've never had a drink you you never you don't get depressed and go you know i i really could take a you or use a blunt right now because you never had it you don't know what it but people who have indulged once you've tasted something watch this now because you because you've tasted it the enemy canal can give you a taste for it because i'm going to talk to you today about the reason you crave certain things it's because you tried it don't do you think that it's a coincidence that the bible says oh taste and seek that the lord because once you taste something you can have a taste for it you got it now here's what we need to understand here's what you need to understand although my wife does not eat seafood every day and i think if she could she would she comes she sometimes crave it she comes she will sometimes crave seafood now the word crave uh if you've ever been pregnant ever lived with a pregnant woman you know cravings could be strange cravings can be string um i want a banana with peanut butter what what in the i want a pickle with i've heard i want to pick it with jelly i've heard that dumb stuff it's like what here's what happened when a pregnant when you're pregnant with something listen to me real carefully when you are pregnant with something it is not uncommon for your body to crave things that don't normally go together when you're headed towards purpose when god puts something in you and you're full of it and you're going towards it it's what you're just stating and here's what's going on it's it's giving you demands that the word crave means to demand it's demanding things of you and the reason that pregnant women will create strange things is because sometimes she'll crave this from that time and this from that time and she wants them together here's what that's what you understand about craving is that once you've tasted something if the enemy knows that you don't know his devices he could literally put pressure on your mind and as godly and anointing anointed as you are he will have you drinking from toilet bowls and eating from garbage cans all because you don't know how to control your appetite now if i was a preacher you'll be in trouble but i'm a teacher so i gotta stick to my call but i'll tell you this no it's real once you have tasted indulged a certain kind of food or have been satisfied by something from time to time you will have a taste and a craving for it your body being driven by your mind will demand it of you where the church has failed is that when people struggle with cravings instead of teaching them that how how they're made you are fearfully and wonderfully made and the problem with you right now in your struggle is that satan knows your nomenclature and you don't know let me work that word nomenclature satan knows how you built he knows how you frame he knows people looking like what look it up listen he knows how god put you together he knows that this works into that and this pose on that he understands how you're made and no one has ever taught you how you made [Music] it's not a coincidence you know the lord said to me ask the lord i said what is my assignment here and he says you you come in to lay foundation and build structure watch this you think that's enough some people play with that but you know when we talk about building structure the word instruction means to build something in you you got it in the latin what structures means to build construction means the prefix economies to build together okay construction built together destruction means to tear down the structure but instruction speaks to building something in you i can't be moved by what you think you need in the moment what i have to do is to continue to teach us along a certain line to make sure because god is going after something that the enemy spent years building in you satan started writing in your cement when it was wet he understands watches now satan understands that if he writes in your cement when it's wet if if someone doesn't pay attention to it when the cement is dried it's hard to get it out the only way now we can build anything else in you is to destroy what what was the where the cement was poured and reap and re-pour the cement for some of you watch yourself for some of you god is actually taking a sledgehammer to the cement in your life and so this process of sitting and enduring and hearing me talk about this stuff is gonna seem academic to you it's gonna seem like school to you but you need to know what the enemy knows so that when you meet him at the past when it's time to make a decision when the roads cross you know the decision you have to make although it does not feel good we are designed by god this is a very powerful statement that's a powerpoint we are designed by god to live out of our appetites the reason that we have several appetites is because god put them in us to make sure that certain things are fulfilled god did not trust the human race to remember to eat so he put within you a device called appetite and the appetite is called hunger it triggers at a certain time and he and your appetite reminds you to eat so that watches that so that you can always have strength you can always have presence of mind everything in your body functions based on what you eat god understood that you are 66 water so he put another appetite in you called thirst and first kicks in it by the time your lips are dry you're already dehydrated you became thirsty long before but you ignored it so god put appetite and then he put dryness in you so you sit when something is off and spiritually it works the same way listen to this this will get you we we play around and we become bashful and timid and we made it taboo to talk about sexuality and intimacy but you must understand that god put that appetite in you to make sure two things number one god gave us a foretaste of heaven with intimacy do you know that that level you that level of intimacy that you experienced during that time that level of pleasure rather that you experience during intimacy is what you're going to experience on a whole another level in in in the eternal world in heaven when the bible says pleasures forevermore it's on a level that we can't even wrap our minds around get this sexual intimacy was given to us that appetite to make sure that the human race never becomes extinct what god does with appetite what he did with appetite was to program within you certain things to make sure that the results he desires will always come forth you got that if you don't understand how your appetite works the enemy has the upper hand on you appetite is a natural desire to satisfy a physical need especially for food all throughout the scripture there are many references to the power of human appetite but terminology using scripture does not always make reference to food i'm going to give you some appetite words that are in the bible that you you read about appetite all the time the lord is always trying to tell you how to how to control how to fix how to direct how to point how to how to be the governor of the government over your appetite and appetite listen appetite doesn't care about you you've we've all been in a situation where where you you refuse to eat your stomach is telling you listen you said well i'm gonna eat and you're listen at the most untimely place your stomach will begin to sing to everybody she hasn't eaten you have been a situation where your stomach just started making a sending alarm off like you need to eat it will do that why because as far as appetite is concerned god put me in you for a reason the problem is listen i don't pursue anything with passion that i'm not hungry for the enemy understands that so what he's done in you is that throughout your life he's used certain people in certain places to give you a taste of certain things that are temporary fields a taste everybody said taste put in the comments just to taste and that little taste what he will do with it is that he will bring that taste around full circle at the most inconvenient time to make sure you do not obey god my i have a brother that was on crack he's he's deceased now he was on crack and and um when i had a chance to talk with him i asked him what is it about crack that made you keep going back and he said something to me that was amazing he said they used to call me jack he said jack when you when you you smoke it he said it goes into your tongue where your taste buds are he said when you least expect it the resin from the crack comes back to the surface and you taste he said the addictive part comes back to the surface he said you would do anything anything to stop the pain of the addiction he said it literally hurts to desire you desire so badly that you you i've seen guys and this is a true story big dude pick refrigerators or put them on their back to take down the street to the crack dealer just to get a hit when satan grabs you by your appetite there's some there's something about him grabbing you by your appetite that if the people around you don't understand who you are they will write you off sell you out and say that god is not in your life but they don't understand how appetite i'm speaking to you right now they don't understand how appetite works so when the bible addresses this topic and i want to say this when when you hear this term about uh appetite it's it's not just about what we eat physically it's about your drives the thing that drives you it's about your inclinations your preferences it's about your desires what you want there are people that can't stop doing what they're doing because the appetites are out of control and they literally don't know how to stop and then preachers will get in the pulpit and take a scripture like i just read they say holiness or hell now the challenge is you want heaven you want god but you don't understand you appetize don't you think it's frustrating to have something driving you or you don't know what it is and when you try to communicate it because they've never tasted what you've tasted then they said they don't think it's legitimate so when the bible addresses this topic it uses words that collectively mean to seek after to pursue to be consumed with because of something in you that wants something it motivates us to do what we do when you read words in the bible like nourish the word desire the word satisfy when you read words like strive and lust and crave and longing and panting after and wanting and needing and sometimes even the term burning these are all images of human desire it's being expressed it's been expressed to tell us that appetite is at work it's better to marry than to burn everybody knows it but no one they don't really know what it meant it meant that listen in one of the i think in the book of song of solomon the shunamite woman says do not awaken love before the time which means listen to me i want to help you out with this and this is going to bless somebody's life what it means is there's certain appetites that you could literally put to sleep how does that happen listen there's a psychology to our theology that we always miss we spend so much time on the philosophy of theological theology and not the psychology of it the world understands more about our minds than we do that's why christians we oh jesus when i first came to church i was not raised in church now my parents went to church and they they took us sometime i went to a christian academy as a kid i wasn't raised in church but i'm going to tell you something i remember saying to one person these are the dumbest people i've ever made in my life and i wasn't trying to be mean it's just everything in the bible to to the people i was surrounded by was about this otherworldly thing no one was teaching me how to function in this life you have to understand who you are and listen and never dismiss where you've been never dismiss what you've encountered never the enemy it was as strategic as god the way god warned you to himself the bible says jesus said no one can come to me except the father draw them god actually used something in you to hook you and to pull you to him but at the same time why do you while god was pulling you to him and you you are waiting or or meandering you have to understand something every time you told god no the enemy is working giving you a taste of something else by the time you come into the kingdom you're born again but now he says impatience you must possess your soul in patience possess your soul in patience he's saying to me you don't own your soul right now you could be saved and don't possess your own soul the enemy can have authority and inroads into your emotions into your minds listen when your when your chooser comes under or um siege by the enemy when the enemy says oh you could praise all you want to but at the end i got something planned today you can't say no you know why because he's listening and he's watching and he understands that no one equipped you to say no to what he's going to set up the church teaches us how it teaches us how to say no but there's no yes and so what happens to us is they say deny this don't do that and no one tells you that when you say no you leave a vacuum there has to be a yes to fill the the space you see this okay now i want i want to give you the story of esau from genesis and i want to show you how appetite came into play the bible says in genesis chapter 25 verse 27 as the boys grew esau became a skillful hunter he was an outdoorsman but jacob had a quiet temperament preferring to stay at home esau i'm sorry isaac loved esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game issa brought home but rebecca loved jacob that's a whole another lesson one day when jacob was cooking some stew esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry pay attention to that he comes home he's exhausted the word exhaustion speaks to not having enough in me to fulfill the assignment before me when i speak of exhaustion i'm saying that you know food gives you energy and it's not just a physical energy it even even feeds your mind many times you can't think straight if you're hungry i saw a post on social media that said that most arguments 80 of arguments start because somebody was hungry you know you got a bad attitude when you're hungry so without what yeah you're just mad because you're hungry so esau said to jacob listen to this term i'm starved give me some of that red stream let me i want to address this i got to do this i'm starved there are people in your circle who are starving for attention starving for affection you married to someone starving and they're starving for affection what is wrong with that picture starving to be seen starving to be heard no one in your circle should be starving the reality is when you start this term starving is a powerful term it's not just like being hungry starving is the illusion or the reality that i'm at the point of death because i'm empty and when the enemy or communicates to you in any kind of way that if you don't fill up on something right now get a snack get a candy get a cook get so if you don't fill up right now you're going to die self preservation kicks in i've sat across the desk from preachers who are powerful i watched them lay houses waste with the gift of god in them i've watched them anointed i watched people hear from their ministry and they sat across my desk crying asking me to help them what's the problem and they're saying to me i can't stop myself from blank my question is always why did you come to me and here's what they would always tell me because you see with the grace eye they're looking for safe space safe spaces to unpack their problem because they and here's what the person said to me one guy said to me he says when i leave here i'm gonna do it again he was in tears he said when i leave your office how do you know just because i feel it when it comes on me that says it on you know you say yes i said do you think it was eastern i'm not he said i know what it is i said what is it he said i'm empty i said define empty he said i can't put my finger in he says it's almost as if he said when i get ready to talk to god's people i become full of god and then when i walk out the pulpit and i go home by myself he said there's no one there but me i said do you think you need to get married he said no he said i don't want to share this with anybody and i began to cry and i said we got to get you free and he was weeping two men of god weeping and and i'm asking god what am i looking at what what am i saying what did i tell him all i could do was love him and he went out and he did it again and then some years later the scandal is on the front pages the church is killing him but i knew that he came for help and i didn't know how to help him i did not help him because the thing about it is if you don't understand what drives a person then you know how to shut the engine off if you don't know what drives you if you don't understand how it works and see this thing about happening we don't talk about these things preachers don't talk about this because we we don't want ourselves to become uncomfortable but the bottom line is this is real here's the situation the bible says in verse in verse 30 esau said to jacob i'm starved he said get me something some some of that red stew and that's how esau got his name edom which means red that's what the bible says in verse 31 all right jacob replied but trade me the rights or your rights as the firstborn verse 32 he says look i'm dying of starvation what good is my birthright to me now listen to the language he said i'm dying in this moment what good is it from that i'm holy what good is it that i serve god he said in this moment he says i don't i've cried about this a thousand times it's not changing and he doesn't understand that god is saying to him listen you have got to get your appetites under control and you say but i can't and god says if you couldn't i wouldn't tell you to matter of fact the reason we fast is to empty ourselves out here's why because we have a god spot in us and most of us when we feel the emptiness of the god spot where we don't spend matter of fact the definition of loneliness is not being alone the definition of loneliness is not giving god enough of your alone time and when you rob god of his portion of your alone time it feels like loneliness it's a pain actually what you feel is a hunger for god and many of us when you say i'm hungry for something the enemy whispers in your ear what about this and then all of a sudden your mind begins to demand you begin to crave something again and he tells you all you need is intimacy and you say i didn't like the way i felt afterwards afterwards when i did that and you fight this and you fight and then after a while you say you know let me just go especially if you go to god you start praying prayers like father i need strength if you don't help me i'ma do no sometimes you don't need to talk sometimes what you need is just to get in a place sit in a room and maybe put on worship and just sit with god and while you sit there you know what he does he fills you up you know why the worship culture in this house is important to me because sometimes people come and sit and worship leaders let me help you out don't always demand of people that they responded that they move sometimes people just need to sit and fill up because when they leave they're going back to a struggle that they're not winning emptiness is real and this year we're gonna go after it the reason we fast the purpose of fasting is to clear out space from the god spot so god could come and take his rightful place why did i fast he said pastor i'm hungry listen i believe if you set a time to fast 72 hours you say god i'm fasting three days that you set the time and god me god meets you where you are you can say god i'm fast i fast every day this week from six in the morning to noon and god says i'll take that god will take what it's not like god said only that god will take whatever you give him because he understands that the only way for you to get your appetite under control is to control your appetite this is a strange phenomenon the phenomenon is if you never attack your physical hunger if you can't control watches if you can't control yourself you say i'm gonna fast from six to six and then at one o'clock in the afternoon you say i'm really hungry if you can't stop yourself from eating at that time you'll never stop your sexual drive no what about this you spend as soon as you get money you spend it this appetite to fill up so you if you can't control eating you can't control spending you said i just talked so bad about people if you can't control your eating you can't control your gossip the bottom line is the the master appetite is food and that's why god says to you god says if you if you go after that appetite right there esau traded his place his position his relationship with his father for me it was not it's not he didn't say for a year worth of meal it was a meal in the moment here's the problem what you're craving may satisfy the moment but it never satisfies the need i said again what you're craving may satisfy the moment but it will never satisfy the need that need is deeper that need is you have to drill down deep under some stuff to get to the need what's making you crave that what's making you crave that and so let me tell you how serious this is the bible talk about you know the story he ate the food and he left and the bible says that in in doing this and eating that food in exchange for his birthright he showed contempt to the right of the firstborn god looked at him he despised his position as the firstborn he could have demanded some things in the moment he didn't know who he was you know how every time you get into a situation where you're craving something that's not of god you are ignoring the fact that you have a position i'm going to unpack this later on next week and in the next service i want to show you something the bible says we are seated with christ in heavenly places you've heard that before right but but then in psalm 23 in other places it talks about he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies so i s now watch this when you by the time the bible starts talking about tables we're going to talk about cups and tables next week here you are sitting at a table and he said you can't you can't drink the cup of demons in the cup of the lord too you can sit at the table with demons and sit at the table with god too with the enemy not watch his people i'm struggling no by the time you make it to a table you've settled baby there's no struggle when the enemy pulls you out of chair and promise you that every time you get into that need every time you start craving i will provide something or someone for you you put he's telling you have a seat at my table and so here's the thing there is in the in the book of corinthians paul is telling the church he said i'm watching you in the spirit and what you're doing is he said you will come and worship the lord and enjoy the lord your gifts will flow and they're real he said but the problem is when you find yourself hungry you go over and there's a place at a table for you where demons reside [Music] i'm gonna tell you so by the time you sit at the table you've settled you have said to god that my position my birthright in christ does it does everything else but it doesn't answer this yes i love you when i worship i love you i love the spirit of me when i pray i love but the problem is you are not speaking to this area where when it comes up i don't know how to control it and god is like you're seated at the wrong because listen to what i'm about to tell you because thrones in heaven listen to what i'm about to tell you thrones in heaven are represented by tables on earth i want to say it again thrones in heaven are represented by tables on earth when he says i prepare table before you in the presence of your enemies when you sit at that table watch us now as far as god is concerned you reign from your seat at the table put it in the comments i reign from my seat at the table that is why when it's time when we get back together when it's time to come to the house to worship there should never be a sunday when your seat is empty an empty seat at the table says that you do not honor the cook and i'm not the cook when jesus prepares a meal for you what he does he sends the exact word that you need to do warfare against that appetite that's in you because he understands that's what the lord understands you're going to be free i'm going to tell you what's powerful about this whole thing nothing the enemy tempts you to do will rob or rob you of what the lord did for you nothing but if your light is going to shine if you're going to be the salt of the earth i'm going to tell you something right now you've got to get control of the thing that drives you i want to i'm out of time but i want to give you a couple other things your appetite determines who you will become eat when esau ate the stew the red stew the word is edom this they nicknamed him after what he ate that no no no it's worse than that his his his appetite gave him his identity not only that his descendants are called so not only do you identify yourself by your appetite you you identify your descendants everything that's born of you will have that name because you couldn't when you are hungry when your appetite gets to working and it becomes bigger than you you when the appetite becomes the boss you're going to make arrangements and concessions that you would not have normally made you're going you want to put yourself in a position to be satiated or satisfied and the problem with that is that sometimes there's no coming back from it [Music] your appetites determine what you're capable of you can't eat just anything if you want to live a disciplined life diet can affect performance so if you did if your desires to win and you commit to training to win you have to watch what you eat that means your appetite has got to be addressed i'm going to tell you something now i'm going to tell you um there's some people who don't get off in life unless someone else is suffering they live to make people hurt it's an appetite you know it came from is they tasted how it felt to have someone else ashamed and not them it may there's some people that want that want you to feel horrible because they feel terrible and they feel if you if they can make you feel horrible because they feel terrible it makes them feel better it's that's an appetite they become sadists psychopaths because they're driven by the enemy to hurt people and sometimes when you see them they look like normal people and you invite them into your space what is god asking us to do he says what i want you to do i'm almost i'm going to end with this here to dig i got so much to say but i want to end with this i want to set up next week for you god has given you pastor how can i change this there's a scripture you can what i love about the lord you could play great there's something about what the lord does that always blesses me hidden within instruction from prophets and and apostles and and um even the lord speaking the instructions that are so practical for the day years ago i was i was in a battle uh my pastor had uh called me in he said the lord spoke to me my pastor was a bona fide prophet and he said the lord told me to ordain you i said i'm not ready he looked at me he says do i look like the kind of person that would take your word over god's he said do you think i hear god i said yes sir he said kneel down i don't own my good shirt he brought he he called his assistant pastor i had on the night shirt for choir rehearsal he took a bottle of oil and poured the whole thing on my head and he says hath not the lord called you and i'm sitting there watching i'm on my knees thinking to myself if he only knew my struggle he would not have done this the next sunday a prophet another prophet came up to me minister mints and he said he said man of god he gave me an envelope i opened it was money in it i said what is this for he said thus saith the lord he said you're going to go to germany he said i saw you in a vineyard in germany weeping you were crying i said what what's the vineyard represent he says harvest he says the lord is sending you to germany because his soul's waiting i said i said they keep saying i'm a pastor he says you are a pastor and i said you don't even know what i struggle with he said your struggle is not your call [Music] your struggle is what was placed in your in your way to prevent the call and i went to germany and the first week i was in the hotel went down to the laundromat in the hotel and two people were arguing about a church split when i said well i'm a pastor and the woman without knowing turns and says will you come to my house to teach at bible study and the spirit of god says go with her or say only what i tell you to say so i went and got before the lord now you have to understand back then my passion for god was so crazy that in that first pastor we raised the dead it was crazy i looked back at myself back then i didn't care about what people thought i lived in the if there was nothing no other responsibility was getting in the word i'ma tell you what happened to me the lord says when you go to their house you're going to teach this lesson it was called pastor killers how many of you know that's not a popular first message to preach and when i shared that word with them it was so uncomfortable when i left i told god you set me up but here's what happened people started reaching out to me and they said we didn't do him right and i watched god turn this thing around i joined the church they tried to split watch this and i was the musician i served the pastor when he got ready to leave this last sunday he called me up he said the lord told me to give you this church that was my fat my first pastorate what what happened to me in the in that whole process god taught me something about appetite that i want to leave you with i'm going to pick up next week in colossians chapter 3 verse 1 it says if ye then be risen with christ seek those things which are above where christ is seated at the right hand of god here's the there's the next three words critical how many of you know this scripture by heart what does it say set your affections on things above not on things of the earth for you are dead and your life is hidden with christ here he said set your faith the word seek is the words they tell you in in the greek it means commit to searching for something that is difficult to find commit to searching for something what i'm looking for exit i'm looking for off-ramp i'm looking for the key i'm looking to find the governor in this thing i'm gonna i'm gonna shut this down if it's the last thing i do then he said the way i do it is i've got to learn to set my affection the most important thing i'm gonna say to you today is the last thing i want to say is this wherever you set your affection blindfold like this wherever you place your attention your affection will follow put it in the comments wherever you place your attention your affections will follow everybody say it out loud wherever you place your attention your affections will follow make it personal now wherever i place my attention my affection one more time wherever i place my and so as i close it i want to give you this i i was walking through the mall one time and i saw a coat it was in the window and i walked by it i thought to myself nice coach i went down to the store bought what i wanted i was walking back i looked again saw the coat i'm like nice coat every time i went to the mall i would go by the same store after a while i was stopping at the store staring at the store i was starting the court rather i went inside i started touching nice material the guy says you want to try it i said no i'm just the price was crazy i said i said no i'm just checking it out admiring it kept on walking every time i came in i walked by then all of a sudden when i was at home i'm thinking about this coat it's expensive but i kept seeing myself in this coat and i walked back and went to the store i said how much is the coat and he told me i said i thought that's what the price was i said well he said you wanted i said well i'm watching my budget and stuff but it's a nice coat and he said to me you've been coming by here every day look i had not noticed that whenever i had free time i'll go by the mall and look at this code wherever you put your attention your affectionate father here's what god said in psalm 94 he says on 91 he says because he set his affection on me his love on me i will be with him i would deliver him when he's in trouble he said you can set you can actually point your attention as something un intentionally pay attention to it intentionally say god i need answers to this and watch this what begins to happen it gradually all your appetites will begin to be reigned into the thing that you purposely set your attention to what satan has you doing whenever you get hungry he has you gazing at this and watching at that and talking to this person and you don't even know what your gates are he actually he actually tricks you through your eyes and tricks you through your ears he understand that appetite works through your gate who's listening to me what i'm trying to say to you is hunger can be generated by fixing your attention on something for so long that a part of you begins to desire it and even long for it the problem in your life right now you've lost your affection for god you've lost your hunger for him that's why you don't come after him that's why you don't read your bible that's why you go your your attention span is as long as a minute you watch you watch part of the stream you have to go do something else because you you've lost your affection for god what do you do you put your attention keep force your attention on him make yourself shut stuff off make yourself look to him make yourself look at him make yourself cry to him say god i'm not going anywhere jacob told the lord if you listen he said i'm not i'm not going to let you go to you give me what i need so what do you need so where are you on the scale of appetite where are you father i pray for your people [Music] i pray for your people before i do this you there's there's there's some people watching the stream today and you are in a struggle in a struggle matter of fact you've put yourself in a position where where you feel trapped by your appetite you've literally walked away from the lord and today i want to give you the opportunity to recover that to recover that right here right now where you are it's about eyes are closed i want to do this i won't do this every sunday but i'm doing today father i pray for the persons and the people right now lift your hand if you if you believe it's you right in front of your your laptop sit your smartphone down lift both hands to the lord and say father just say lord it's me it's me needing you it's me needing to know who you are where you are i need to recover from where i am because there's a time that i know you i've known you rather i've tasted and seen that the lord is good but i've been distracted and pulled away by desires and now i desire to give my life to you i desire to give myself back to you i desire to be reclaimed by you and say this say i belong to you i'ma say that last i belong to you all of me belongs to all of you i'm not satisfied to do life without you i ask you in jesus name come find me reclaim me shut down in my life the appetites that satan is using to destroy what you've built in my life i give myself back to you father and i expect you by the power of the holy spirit to begin to build in me what you desire of me to become in jesus name hallelujah i i trust today that god has done and will do something in your life now listen it begins here but it will continue to the future it continues to the future my prayer for you is that listen uh go back and listen to all that's been said in this message it's a lot take notes and and stop the recording at times and just pray and talk to god let god show you what he has for you i'm trusting god for great things in your life in jesus name hallelujah

Channel: All Nations Worship Assembly Atlanta

Views: 16,042

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Id: DcpRG1wCWOM

Length: 46min 57sec (2817 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 15 2021