Sermon Tone Analysis

*Date:*      12th August 2007                                                                  (Sunday AM)                                                                       *Ref:* A0326

*Place:     Kambah P.S.*

*Title: Malnourished Christians*

*Text:        *& Jeremiah 15:16

*Illust:     *The headline:* *FAT Aussies are over-feeding their furry friends.

**If people do resemble their pets -- unfortunate in a nation of fatties -- it's bad news for our cat and canine companions.

Moocher pooches and couch potato cats are developing diabetes and other weight-related illnesses at alarming rates.

Victorian vets say fat cats and overfed dogs have joined their lazybones owners in loafing around the house.

"A fat cat quickly becomes an obese cat as it loses the ability and desire to get off the couch and exercise," said Melbourne vet Ros Nichol.

"With all respect, if an overweight owner walks into the surgery, you can bank on it being followed by an overweight pet."  ~~ World Health Organisation figures show more than a billion adults are overweight and about 300 million are clinically obese worldwide.

Sadly, the figures are reflected in companion animals.

About 40 per cent of domestic dogs and a third of cats range from tubby to obese.

– a land of overfed pets & underfed Christians.

!

I.                   Necessary Food

!! A.               Spiritual Starvation

i.                 Obviously given our text and my own waistline, I am not talking about a lack of gastronomic nourishment – I & indeed most of us would eat pretty well, 3 good meals a day plus snacks.

ii.

Fact is that in our culture, with the major concerns about obesity our real problem is ensuring that we don’t overeat.

Proverbs gives us some good advice:

         Proverbs 23:1-2 1 When dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you. 2 If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat, (NLT)

         Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat too much honey, (NIV)

iii.

What I want to look at is the danger of being a starving Christian, not from a lack of food, but rather a spiritual starvation from a lack of the nourishment that can only come from the Word of God.

!! B.               Real Food

i.

This is the real food that we as Christians need and I would like to suggest that especially here in the West and even here today we maybe have a large number of malnourished emaciated Christians.

Christians who are not digesting enough spiritual food, being the Word of God, the Bible.

– I won’t ask you to show hands but for how many the only Bible you read in the past 7 days was when Pr Tilli said “turn to”

      When I fast, the challenge is to go to work; ~~  that 1st day is a killer, I can’t focus, I feel wasted, I have no energy it is extremely difficult.

ii.

This is a picture of trying to live the Christian life without a constant intake of the Word of God, you are going to continually struggle in your Christian walk.

Everything will seem so hard & a major effort.

Why the Bible is presented in imagery as food – Our text & &

         Psalm 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

(NKJV)

         Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

(NKJV)

iii.

The Bible exhorts you & I to read the Bible, to study it.

If we want to grow, actually if you want to just function as a Christian, need to be reading & studying your Bible

      Meditate

         Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

(NKJV)

         Psalm 1:2-3 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

(NKJV)

      *meditate*, ponder, give serious thought and consideration to selected information, with a possible implication of speaking in low tones reviewing the material[1]

      Study

         2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(NKJV)

      Read & Obey

         Deuteronomy 30:9-10 9 The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good.

For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

(NKJV)

iv.