Junk Food Addiction<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Carpenter \/ General<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not From Around Here: The Complicated Life of a Sojourner \/ Repentance; Read; Bible<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several years ago, park rangers in the Grand Canyon National Park had to kill over two dozen mule deer, because they became hooked on junk food left by visitors to the park \u2013 things like potato chips, cheese curls, and candy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once they got a taste of the sugar and salt, the deer developed an extreme addiction and went to any lengths to eat only junk food. As a result, the animals ignored the food they needed, leaving them in poor health and on the edge of starvation. Their junk food cravings caused them to lose their natural ability to digest vegetation. One park ranger called the junk food “the crack cocaine of the deer world.” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Spring 1995, www.PreachingToday.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it is when we ingest thoughts of sweet revenge, bitter treachery, sugar-coated hypocrisy, sour envy, and acidic slander. Such a diet keeps us from hungering for the things of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we continue our series \u201cNot From Around Here: The Complicated Life of a Sojourner\u201d, we discover that Peter has turned his focus from the beauty of being Born Again, to the Beauty of the Word that wrought that Saving faith within us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 1:23<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This evening\u2019s text comes from chapter 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:1\u20133<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n These three verses are one sentence that refers back to verse 23 of chapter. Since we have once tasted the pure Word of God, but later developed an appetite for spiritual junk food, we need to put away the garbage and once again develop a craving for the pure milk of the Word. We need to break our Spiritual Junk Food Addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You Once Had A Healthy Appetite.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:3<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cif\u201d is a fulfilled condition. They as newborn babes had tasted the Word of God, and had found in it that the Lord was gracious. The word \u201cgracious\u201d is the translation of a Greek word used in Luke 5:39<\/a> where it is translated \u201cbetter.\u201d The word means literally, \u201cexcellent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tRemember the Convicting Power of the Word<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tRemember the Enlightening power of the Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tRemember when you used to get truths you could use from preaching and teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tYou once had a taste for grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get Rid of the Junk Food that Has Spoiled Your Spiritual Appetite.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 3:1\u20133<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:1<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWHEREFORE\u201d goes back to the fact of the new life imparted (1:23), and argues in 2:1\u20133 that therefore a new kind of experience is demanded of the believer. \u201cLaying aside\u201d is from a participle that has imperative force. In view of the fact that divine life has been imparted to the believer, it is imperative that he \u201cput away once for all\u201d any sins that may be in his life. The preposition prefixed to the verb implies separation. The believer is commanded to separate himself from sin. This act of separating himself from sin must be a once for all action, as the tense of the participle suggests. There must be a complete right-about face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tMalice = any kind of wickedness<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tGuile = \u201cTo catch with bait\u201d – Craftiness<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tHypocrisies – judgement from behind a mask- the true identity of the person is covered up\u2026 impersonation or deception<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\tEvil Speakings = speaking down – the act of defaming or slandering<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter then singles out five sins that the recipients of this letter were guilty of. The Greek word translated \u201cmalice\u201d refers to any kind of wickedness. \u201cGuile\u201d is the translation of a word which in its verb form means \u201cto catch with bait,\u201d and in the noun which Peter uses means \u201ccraftiness.\u201d The word \u201chypocrisies\u201d is the transliteration of the Greek word hupokriseis (??????????) which means literally \u201cto judge under,\u201d as a person giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask. The true identity of the person is covered up. It refers to acts of impersonation or deception. It was used of an actor on the Greek stage. Taken over into the New Testament, it referred to a person we call a hypocrite, one who assumes the mannerisms, speech, and character of someone else, thus hiding his true identity. Christianity requires that believers should be open and above-board. They should be themselves. Their lives should be like an open book, easily read. The word \u201cevil speakings\u201d are in the Greek text \u201cspeaking down\u201d a person, referring to the act of defaming, slandering, speaking against another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Develop a Healthy Craving For The Word.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:2<\/a> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNewborn babes\u201d is from the Greek word brephos (??????), used only here in the New Testament in its metaphorical sense. Luke uses it (2:16) of the babe in the manger. In classical Greek it was used of a babe at the breast. Peter probably took the figure from Isaiah 28:9<\/a>, \u201cWhom will he teach knowledge? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.\u201d The recipients of this letter are called just-born infants, speaking of the recency of the Christian life in their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Greek word translated \u201cdesire\u201d speaks of an intense yearning. That which they are exhorted to have is an intense yearning for milk. The word \u201csincere\u201d is from the same Greek word translated in 2:1, \u201cguile,\u201d but with the Greek letter Alpha prefixed which makes the word mean the opposite to what it meant before. It is guileless milk, thus unadulterated. It has nothing added to it. The Word of God has no ulterior motives like so many human teachings, but has for its only purpose that of nourishing the soul<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The word \u201cmilk\u201d here does not refer to that part of the Word of God which is in contrast to the meat or solid food of the Word as in Hebrews 5:13<\/a>, 14<\/a>, but to the Word of God in general. The words \u201cthat ye may grow thereby\u201d could also be rendered \u201cin order that ye might be nourished up.\u201d There is a phrase in the Greek text not brought out in the translation, \u201cresulting in your making progress in your salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wuest\u2019s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 8. The Believer-Priest\u2019s Spiritual Food (2:1\u20135)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prerequisite to the act of intensely yearning for the Word of God is the act of once for all putting sin out of our lives. Sin in the life destroys the appetite for the Word. The Christian who tries to find satisfaction in the husks of the world, has no appetite left for the things of God. His heart is filled with the former and has no room for the latter. A healthy infant is a hungry infant. A spiritually healthy Christian is a hungry Christian. This solves the problem of why so many children of God have so little love for the Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have broken the addiction to spiritual junk food, you will be able to re-train your appetite for Healthy Food found in the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book The Wonders of the Word of God. The victim\u2019s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How many of you can say you\u2019ve read through the Bible four times\u2014with two good eyes? This man had a craving\u2014and even losing his eyesight wouldn\u2019t prevent him from reading God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: From a sermon by Larry Wise, Craving Soul Food, 2\/24\/2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exported from Logos Bible Software, 4:49 PM April 1, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Junk Food Addiction Pastor Don Carpenter \/ General Not From Around Here: The Complicated Life of a Sojourner \/ Repentance; Read; Bible Several years ago, park rangers in the Grand Canyon National Park had to kill over two dozen mule deer, because they became hooked on junk food left by visitors to the park \u2013 … Continue reading Junk Food Addiction<\/span>