Sermon Tone Analysis

“You are what you eat”

This is a phrase that can be applied not only to our physical meal plan but also our spiritual diet.

Today we are all concerned with out health, some of us struggle with health issues, weight issues, chronic pain and illness.

Therefore we are learning to take better care of ourselves because we have to, we need to.

We need more than a well balanced diet to be totally healthy don’t we?

We are not only complex physical beings we are more also spiritual beings.

Just as vibrant health and growth in the physical realm are critically dependent on a proper, well balanced diet, so also our spiritual side is in critical need of proper spiritual food.

This is why God spoke of these things to the prophet Isaiah:

There is a general theme in scripture that salvation comes through Jesus only which is true.

In this passage we are looking at there is specific reference to “water”, “wine”, “milk”, and “bread”.

These words refer to an important spiritual principle from which no one is exempt.

Just as physical problems result from improper diet and vitamin deficiencies, spiritual problems often result when we are spiritually undernourished.

Even as diabetes, high cholesterol, and a host of other problems can be treated by a change of diet, so numerous things can be accomplished in our lives as Christians when we follow a simple but radical change of diet.

“You are what you eat” - very true in the spiritual realm, but many of us live in denial about the real cause of the problem.

What you put in is what comes out!

Garbage in Garbage out!

It is very possible to be a Christian who is born again in the spiritual sense but at the same time be ill and weak due to spiritual malnutrition.

I believe this is the root cause of the struggles faced today by Christians.

How can we fight the good fight and stand strong against the enemy when our spiritual vital signs are staggeringly low?

How can a church make a positive impact on its community when it can’t even get its own members to pray together?

Our church prays together but there are times when there are strained conversations and noticeable grudges happening that we need to put to bed for good.

One of the keys to the church and the people of God is that they understand and follow the directions that God himself gave for maintaining spiritual vitality and strength.

How can God’s grace work powerfully in you and I when we cut ourselves off from the very food he has prepared for our souls?

Only 1/3 of all church going, professing Christians read their Bibles even once a week!

Is it any wonder why they are spiritually sluggish and easy prey for Satan’s attacks?

The practice of private prayer and collective prayer as a church has dropped to an all time low in too many places.

This is another indicator why congregations are barely surviving.

There is no bold powerful witness to unbelievers.

We can be spiritually “alive” yet be in an almost comatose states.

God has clearly promised that “he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”.

How can we experience these blessings if we never sit down at his table and eat?

We would never do that to our physical bodies.

Our natural bodies know the satisfaction and delight of a good meal, but what happens to the inner person that has no interest in steak and potatoes?

There are many Christians who are feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

Our “Spiritual man” can only be nourished when we partake of God’s Word and receive the refreshing that comes from his Holy Spirit.

Just as we would rave about a gourmet meal and pay tribute to the chef who prepared it, so should God’s people be continually singing the praises of the One who feeds them daily with the “richest of foods”

Are we that kind of Church?

A church blessed by God is a joyful, loud, singing place, for how could it be anything else?

Christians get more excited about football or an ocean cruise than about Jesus Christ, the Lord of Heaven and Earth!

The signs of being undernourished:

What is taken in spiritually is at the heart of the problem.

Trying to help people who claim to be Christians for years but have the maturity of toddlers who get upset when someone takes away their crayons.

Believers who do not continually drink the pure milk of the Word of God remain baby-like and unstable because they are neglecting the spiritual food that will help them grow.

There comes time when we need to wean off the spiritual milk and move on to something more substantial.

To see growth spiritually.

2. Weaning needed - there are multitudes who drink “spiritual milk” but never get off the bottle.

How crazy to see a 35 year old person sucking on a bottle and eating a jar of baby food.

But this is exactly the picture that is occurring if we don’t maintain a balanced spiritual diet.

The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian church of this danger.

There is more to learn and this is what Paul is saying there was more for the Corinthians to learn than just the first principles of Christianity, but the believers were too immature and worldly to digest “solid food” from God’s Word.

To grow spiritually - conscious everyday of the needs of the inner man and scriptural reminder that:

Strengthened by grace!

God’s grace comes in different forms and through various channels but truth remains the same.

Neglecting the Bible, prayer, worship and fellowship with other believers, problems will occur.

How can we ever be other than what we take in?

The enemy knows what we need and will do everything to use distractions to his advantage.

The part of spiritual warfare that so few of us think about it the demonic strategy of cutting us off from our food supply.

Satan knows that a “strong-in-the-Lord” believer is one thing and a weakened , emaciated on is quite another.

Because of this he uses a host of distractions, discouragements, and “junk-food” substitutes to keep us from receiving the daily nutrition our spirits vitally need.

He will try to get us too busy, too tired, too discouraged, too anything to keep us away from the Lord and His Word.

We have been called into fellowship with Christ.

The enemy uses anything to keep us from communion with God to weaken us and soften us up for his next attack.

We have been called to Come to the waters - action - to let our heart reach out and take action so our soul can be satisfied.

Come to a place of refreshing so we don’t starve and shrivel up.

He has provided all we need.

The river is flowing, water is plentiful, the table is set.

We must take time to receive or it all counts for nothing.

Don’t live on junk food when you an have the best nourishment

The enemy is saying your are not worthy --- God says come and get it!