Sermon Tone Analysis

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*THE CRAVING*
Imagine Goal: /Imagine a life that hungers for God!/
*Psalm 42:1-2*
Pastor Ricky Powell
Today I want to talk to you about, *“The Craving: Imagine a life that hungers for God.”* Open your Bible to *Psalm 42* and get your note sheet ready to hear what the Lord wants to say to us today.
*1.
Do you ever crave certain foods?
*
There are times when I simply crave certain foods.
I find myself craving a good, juicy steak or a grilled cheeseburger.
Sometimes I crave sweets.
What’s better at midnight than curling up with a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with Ritz crackers and Hershey’s chocolate syrup?
Hey, don’t knock it till you try it!
Sometimes I crave a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Can I get a witness?
My craving is especially intense when I drive by the shop and see the red neon “Hot” sign on!
Sometimes I have to drive by four or five times until that sign comes on!
*What causes us to crave certain foods?*
There are three basic *“Causes for the Cravings:”*
* *Deficiency:* Sometimes our bodies crave things that have nutrients that our bodies need and that we are deficient in.
You may crave bananas because your body is deficient in potassium.
* *Disease:* Another reason we sometimes crave food is because of disease.
Have you ever suffered with a severe cold or the flu and all you wanted was a soothing bowl of hot chicken noodle soup?
* *Depression:* There is another cause for the craving.
I call it depression or discouragement.
Sometimes when I am down in the dumps I just want to eat some comfort food.
As you have guessed by now, my comfort food is ice cream or doughnuts.
Did you know that it was a sense of depression and discouragement that caused a craving in the author of Psalm 42?
He expressed his craving in verses 1 and 2. /1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?/ *Psalms 42:1-2 (NKJV) *
The author of this psalm was discouraged.
His depression led him to crave, to long for, and to cry out for a closer relationship with God.
He compared himself to a tired, hunted, exhausted, and dehydrated deer that is panting for a drink of cool refreshing water from a mountain brook.
What a descriptive word he used: pant.
Can you picture a deer panting with its tongue out, desperate for a drink of water?
We do not know the exact circumstances in the writer’s life that were troubling him, but this we do know; he wanted and needed to be closer to God and he would not rest until he had it.
Friend, I do not know the circumstances of your life.
I do not know all the things you have to deal with each day.
But this I know, you need God.
You need God in the bad times of life and you need God in the good times of life.
We should not be satisfied until we too, long for God with this same intensity.
That’s the problem isn’t it?
*We don’t crave a closer walk with God like we should.
We are seldom desperate for a closer walk with God.*
That is why God may allow deficiency, disease, or depression to come into our lives; to drive us to crave a closer relationship to Him.
For example, when satisfaction and purpose are missing from our lives and we are *deficient* in these qualities it is God’s way of helping us crave Him.
God is what we really need!
When something in our life is out of place, when our relationships are hurting, or when there is a sense of *dis-ease* in our heart, it is God showing us that He is what we need.
And when we are discouraged or *depressed*, when life has let us down, it is God showing us that He is the only one who can truly satisfy.
He wants us to crave Him more than anything else in life!
The problem with cravings is we often crave the wrong things.
We give in to junk food.
We have to learn to stay away from junk food.
*2.
Stay away from the Junk Food.*
Junk food is food which has little to no lasting nutritional value.
Junk food makes you feel good for a short while, but it does not last.
It may give you a sugar rush, but soon you will crash and feel worse than you did before.
There is physical junk food, and there is spiritual junk food.
Instead of craving God, we often give in to spiritual junk food that has no lasting value and that actually hurts us in the long run.
Listen to what the apostle John said about craving the wrong things in life.
He warned in *1 John **2:15-17:* /15// Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that /is/ in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever./
There are three types of junk food that have no lasting value and that are bad for you in the long run.
/The first type is called the:/
* *Lust of the flesh: Fleshly appetites.*
The flesh is related to what you can see, smell, touch, taste, and hear.
Our flesh craves things that should never be more important that God and His will for our lives.
For example, we crave *sensuality*.
We live in a sex-saturated society.
People want sex without strings and relationships without rings.
But when we crave sex more than God we have crossed the line.
Sex is not wrong or dirty, but if we elevate it above God and his revealed will for our sex lives then we are eating junk food!
God designed sex as a celebration between a husband and wife.
Sex is to be enjoyed in marriage.
However, we often elevate our fleshly pleasures above God's will for our lives by having sex outside of marriage.
Another fleshly appetite is *slothfulness*.
There is nothing wrong with rest and relaxation.
But when we give in to laziness and sleep we crave our comfort and pleasure more than our creator and Lord.
You cannot crave God and fleshly appetites at the same time.
* *Lust of the eyes: Greedy ambitions.*
The lust of the eyes have to do with our greedy ambitions.
Some people think that money and possessions are more important that God.
They would never admit that, but just watch how they live.
They have little time for God and His church.
They seldom give of their financial resources to God’s House.
They believe that happiness comes with having stuff.
They see nice things and want it and will spend more energy on getting things rather than on getting closer to God.
* *Pride of life: Haughty arrogance.*
The pride of life relates to a haughty arrogance that is self-centered, that looks down on other people, and that is prideful before God.
These people seldom see their need for God.
They are not humble.
They believe they are self-sufficient and do not need God.
They never pray, read the Bible, or go to church, etc.
We must choose to stay away from junk food like this if we are going to crave and hunger a closer relationship with God.
/But it is not enough to simply stay away from the junk food.
There is something else you must do./
*3.
Crave Things That Are Good For You.*
When I was a boy I detested squash.
I nearly gagged at the sight of it.
My mother would regularly make me try a little squash each time she cooked it.
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