What Do You Crave?

What Do You Crave?

Sermon by Pastor Jeff Moss / Feb 27, 2021

Main Bible Text: Daniel 1

ASK YOURSELF:

Do you have responsibility to manage your appetites, and if so, how do you direct your appetites?

Do you have a clear-cut picture and goal of what you want for your life?

The most innocent things to day can birth an appetite
that can control you later!

Every bad appetite you have had a beginning

I. RESPECT APPETITES

Respect (as in ‘fear’)

Read Proverbs 23:1-3

The proverb is a warning against accepting the king’s delicacies

Delicacies – enticements, with strings attached’

II. RESPECT APPETITES

“The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.” (Proverbs 12:5)

“His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.” (Psalms 10:7)

In Daniel 1, Babylon refers to the World – the Enemy

A. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the best. He wanted potential leaders (see verse 4)

B. Nebuchadnezzar’s aim was to “Chaldeanize” them in 2 ways

1. the learning of the Chaldeans
2. the language of the Chaldeans 

C. What did the King feed them?

Refer: 1 Corinthians 8:8

The world constantly offers its morsels to us
in an effort to make God’s food less appealing.

“The global online gambling market size was valued at USD 53.7 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.5% from 2020 to 2027. The high internet penetration and increasing use of mobile phones among individuals for playing online games from their homes and public places are driving the market. In addition, factors such as easy access to online gambling, legalization and cultural approval, corporate sponsorships, and celebrity endorsements are also contributing to market growth. The growing availability of cost-effective mobile applications across the globe is further expected to fuel market growth.”

“The internet has become a global platform for communication and enables merchants to offer their services in the digital market space. Trends also suggest that the consumption of services in the global virtual market has increased by 28.0 percent annually since the last decade. With the growing use of the internet, the growth rate of online casinos has increased significantly. In addition, growing awareness of the latest technologies and increasing disposable income of individuals are expected to propel market growth.”

“Developments in the online space are parallel to the annual growth of internet casinos. These developments are made to achieve the desired credibility in the gambling zone. Therefore, online casinos are focusing on investing in information solutions that offer continuous support to gamblers, ensure the credibility of the operations, and prevent illegal affairs. Numerous online casinos are offering a free play version of some of their games, which is creating growth opportunities for the market.”

There is not a single addict, in any addiction who did not utter the words,
“it won’t happen to me.”

We can and must temper and control our appetites. How do we do this?

• Be honest with ourselves about the impact of things in our lives

Study Daniel’s response

He purposed in his heart not to defile himself (Daniel 1:8)

Defilement of himself, the food wasn’t abominable in itself, but to partake of it would defile Daniel because he knew it would have consequences on himself and his position as a leader.

Most of us are very aware of our physical appetites. But our spiritual appetites are less demanding.

God isn’t only interested in the “sins,” he is interested in all those things that stand between us and him- and those choices are driven by appetites.

We will feed what we crave!

“One of the significant measures of a person’s spiritual commitment is what he does with
his discretionary or leisure time.” – Jerry White

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CRAVE?