What does Tribe teach about controlling appetites?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on controlling appetites starts with a simple observation: the heart follows appetite, not the other way around. In the message "Make Room in Your Heart," Pastor Brian walked through Matthew 6 to show that whatever a person consistently feeds is where their heart tends to settle. Earthly appetites can be corrupted or taken away, which is why Jesus points people toward storing up treasure in heaven instead.
Proverbs 27:7 pressed that point into practical territory. Brian drew on its plain image, that a person who is full refuses honey, but bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry, to make the case that fasting and self-denial are not ends in themselves. They are a way of creating interior space, an appetite, for what God actually wants to put in. If there is no hunger, there is no room.
The congregation was called to act on this, not just to hear it. Pastor Brian invited people to write down what they would fast or deny themselves and bring that commitment forward publicly. The underlying conviction is that controlling appetite is less about willpower and more about recognizing what has already taken up space in the heart, and choosing to make room for something better.
Taught from Matthew 6:19-21 · Proverbs 27:7 · John 8:31-43 · 1 Samuel 16:7-12
“Jesus is always reliable, but he is always unpredictable.”
From Make Room in Your Heart
The passage taught · 1 Samuel 16:7-12
7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.”
10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.”
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- September 4, 2023 Make Room in Your Heart Brian Hunter walks Tribe Church through John 8 and Matthew 6 as he launches a 21-day fast for Israel, asking the congregation to make room in their hearts for what God cares about.