What does Tribe teach about denying yourself?
Drawn from the messages 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 denying yourself starts not with willpower but with hunger. Joy drew a careful line between self-denial in general and the specific practice of fasting, but her deeper point applied to both: the motive is always the same. As she put it, "Our motive in fasting is always to offer ourselves to God. It is an act of worship." Denying yourself is not about achieving something or proving something. It is about presenting your whole person to God, which is exactly what Romans 12:1 calls for when it says to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Pastor Brian pushed that same idea from a different angle in his message the following week. Drawing on Proverbs 27:7, he made the point that a person who is full has no room for anything else, even something good. The logic is plain: if there is no hunger, there is no room. Self-denial creates an appetite, and appetite is what positions the heart to receive what God wants to put in. Brian connected this to Matthew 6, where Jesus says to store up treasure in heaven rather than on earth. The heart follows appetite, not the other way around. Whatever a person keeps feeding is where their heart will settle.
The picture both messages return to is that denying yourself is not the destination. It is the preparation. Joy traced it through Jesus's own life, noting that in Matthew 6 he says "when you fast," not "if you fast," placing it alongside prayer and giving as a regular rhythm his followers would keep. Brian's application was the same: the point of making room is so that something real can fill it. Self-denial clears the ground.
Taught from Matthew 6:16-18 · Romans 12:1 · Proverbs 27:7 · Deuteronomy 8:2-3 · Matthew 6:19-21
“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.
- August 28, 2023 When You Fast Joy Hunter teaches Tribe fam why fasting matters, what it does to body and soul, and how it connects to 21 days of prayer for Israel.