Machu Picchu Adventures and Coffee Lectures

Ray Comfort 1:04

I have empathy with people who are overweight , because I know there's a monster that lives in me that wants to eat 24 hours a day , and I'm not joking . I could wake up in the middle of the night , go downstairs and have a hamburger . No , no problem . Some people can't eat at night . I can eat at any time , almost eat anything . So there's this monster that's insatiable . And one thing I've found that really helps . It's gonna sound strange but it's . I call it an inch milkshake . I just put an inch of whole milk in a thing and I just go and put some what's it called ? Monk , fruit Monk fruit , oh yeah .

Oscar Navarro 1:32

Monk fruit , oh yeah , got some protein .

Ray Comfort 1:34

It's really good . It's no calories . Just put that in and that fluffs up to five inches of milkshake and it tastes nice and sweet and that fills me up for about an hour . It keeps that monster down . It's really helpful .

Emeal Zwayne 1:46

Well , you know I mentioned on a previous podcast that I'm intermittent fasting right now and you know what helps me I drink a cup of tea and that holds me over .

Ray Comfort 1:57

It's the heat of the water .

Emeal Zwayne 2:03

What do you call a baklava-addicted , non-spanish-speaking Mexican from America in Peru , climbing Mount Muchichachapachuchu , drinking corroded motor oil and badly mispronouncing the names of revered church fathers ? You call him Oscar Navarro .

Oscar Navarro 2:23

That's going to be on my tombstone , the whole thing , oh yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 2:25

Oscar Navarro , the part zebra man .

Oscar Navarro 2:28

Ah , I see what you did there , I did . I got to hike Machu Picchu last Sunday .

Ray Comfort 2:32

Could you explain what that is ? It sounds like some sort of disease .

Oscar Navarro 2:35

It is . I conquered it . It is one of the seven new wonders of the world . It is a . Is it really ? Yeah , it is one of wonders of the world . What happened to the other one ? Did they bump off ? Yeah , no , no , because there's seven old wonders , oh , seven new wonders . So the only old wonder that's still still in existence is the pyramids , and then the new wonders consists of , like , the great wall , the coliseum , machu picchu and a few other things . That's new . Those are the new wonders of the world . The wall , great wall of china I believe that's under the new yeah , who makes these decisions , mr Wonder ?

Oscar Navarro 3:10

Yeah right , they have a whole . There's like I read about it , there's like this whole process .

Ray Comfort 3:14

And why are they called wonders of the world ? They wonder how it got there , or what .

Oscar Navarro 3:18

Part of it , or how they stayed around . Yeah , so for what I saw in Machu Picchu , it's like you've seen it on , like Apple TV , where it's like this big , beautiful green city that was on top of a mountain , and this particular one , as I learned , was like a , was like a resort for the elite , for the political , for the spiritual elite . They'd go up there . Here's what was funny is , though , I had this , I had this um tour guide , and he was ridiculous . So the two things that he said that I found hilarious . He goes you know , you got to understand that the Incas were the only culture that didn't have slaves . And then he says you might be wondering how they got all this stuff up here . He goes you have to understand , when one Ica tribe took over another Inca tribe , they would force them to pay taxes in the form of physical labor I'm like wait of physical labor .

Emeal Zwayne 4:06

I'm like , oh wait , you're like slaves .

Oscar Navarro 4:09

I'm a hundred percent serious . I'm like , oh , you mean like slavery , how long did it take you to hike it ? Well , I was hiking around Machu Picchu for about four hours . There's different things you can do . You do a four day full hike . You can do a seven hour one day hike to get up there and then the four hour hour hike . Because I only had a day . I wanted to get home to my family . I did the easy route and just did the four hour hike .

Oscar Navarro 4:33

I would love to go back and do the full thing have a helicopter hike but here's the other thing , and and um , man , this is , this is fuel for for the fire , for you , mark , we get to the um , we get to the temple and he's explaining , you know , they would sacrifice goats and they would sacrifice sheep , and then he would go , you know , every now and then , 6,000 times a year , every now and then they would sacrifice children . But you have to understand , it was because they saw them as pure and I'm like , so that's supposed to make it like yeah Right , wow , you're so pure and innocent , let me murder you .

Oscar Navarro 5:12

Yeah , how nice , thank you . And meanwhile he's explaining it to us and I could not help . But I'm standing there staring at the idol that they would do it at and in my mind I couldn't help but just hear the wailing of those children as they burned , you know , as he's trying to tell us about how they were pure . Yeah , wow , that's uh did you rebuke him ? Uh , I had . I had a conversation with him about those two things , yeah , and I preached the gospel to him . Good for you . Yeah , I did .

Emeal Zwayne 5:39

Was his name Augustine . No it was Augustine , okay .

Ray Comfort 5:42

What's the English equivalent to Machu Picchu or whatever it is ?

Emeal Zwayne 5:47

I don't know . Now this is in Peru , for those of you that don't know , so is it one of the highest mountains in the world .

Oscar Navarro 5:54

No , not at all . So Cusco , which is the city you land in , is 12,000 feet , and then Machu Picchu is only at 9,000 . I say only I know that's high for a lot of people , but that's the same as Mammoth . I say only I know that's high for a lot of people , but that's the , that's the same as mammoth . Wow . But so people were getting um , what is it called Altitude sickness , I think , cause I travel and snowboard a lot . I don't get that . But there were people like one guy told me about a lady he saw get hospitalized cause she couldn't do it .

Emeal Zwayne 6:23

I bet , oscar , though the highlight of your trip was that video you sent me , with some guy sitting down and giving you guys a coffee lecture . Oh , that was so cool he was like he was getting into it too , and uh , actually the highlight so .

Oscar Navarro 6:36

So what happened was I invited a bunch of the pastors and the guy that was there with us and Luis , our Latin American , uh , the guy who oversees , uh , living Waters of Espanol . I . I found this coffee shop online . It was like the best one in Peru and we went there and when you order a pour over a Chemex , they come out and they present it to you and they walk you through the process of what's happening and they invite you to taste the flavor . He did a great job and it was amazing because I was just explaining to them why I like the coffee that I like and then they come out and do the entire presentation and I won a few of the guys over . That wasn't my highlight , though . My highlight was we landed in Cusco . No , we landed in another city and we walk out of the airplane .

Ray Comfort 7:18

Cusco Costco .

Oscar Navarro 7:19

Costco . We walk out of the airplane and there's like 20 or 30 faithful brothers singing to us . I wanted you to share that . Oh , man , it was so .

Physical Health and Ministry Impact

Oscar Navarro 7:30

You know the guy Abel who brought us out there . He oversees , I think , like 6,000 evangelistic college students over all of these college campuses and so every city we went to , there were people meeting us at the airport like just singing us songs and giving us gifts , and they're all been impacted by the ministry . I can't tell you . Every single place I went it was like . It was like what God is doing through Living Waters , through Ray's faithfulness through all these years . I mean I I came back like humbled and on fire for the way the Lord is using living waters all over the world . It was so encouraging . These people have been encouraged and lifted up to proclaim the gospel in Latin America . It's amazing .

Emeal Zwayne 8:17

I was really blessed by your report and again , just the thought that , yeah , the Lord's using the ministry all over the world Thanks to our Spanish ministry .

Ray Comfort 8:24

Yeah , yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 8:25

For those of you friends , by the way , who are listening , you have Spanish-speaking friends or people that you know . Living Waters Español . Our YouTube channel has almost 400,000 subscribers . Great videos . A lot of our top videos have been translated , so check it out there . Yeah , by the way , the guy who owns that coffee shop is the one who sells me my flavored creamer , just so you know . Oscar , yeah , one of the seven wonders of the world . Did you know that Ray is the one duh of the world ?

Mark Spence 8:54

The one duh , the one duh of the world , it's just him waving .

Emeal Zwayne 9:00

Yeah , oh , wow , that's awesome , oscar . Glad you're back safely . Yes , all right , friends .

Emeal Zwayne 9:06

A cool , classy comment . This is from Stephen Corpy . Good afternoon Thanks . Thank all of you for letting God use you and being faithful to him . You are an encouragement to me . Alongside with my church , I feel like I'm in another small group and listening to the podcast , you guys feel like family and , of course , you are in Christ . Please keep doing these podcasts . I'm learning so much . Easy , keep making a joyful noise . Yes , la-la-la-la-la-la-la . I almost liked that , you almost liked that . I almost liked that comment Almost yeah . Then she yeah , oh , yeah . And then she went on to or he , I'm sorry , transitioned Stephen . And then she went on to or he , I'm sorry , transitioned Stephen . Then he went on to ask which Bible verse they should put on their car . What would you guys recommend ? A Bible verse on the car .

Oscar Navarro 10:00

A woman should learn in full submission in quietness .

Emeal Zwayne 10:02

It's a guy , Stephen . I accidentally read it as Stephanie , but it's Stephen .

Ray Comfort 10:07

All the disciples were in one accord .

Oscar Navarro 10:11

It's a .

Emeal Zwayne 10:11

Honda Accord yeah , that's good .

Oscar Navarro 10:14

Get behind me , Satan .

Ray Comfort 10:17

Well , that'd be a good bumper sticker for a car , wouldn't it ?

Emeal Zwayne 10:20

Yeah , that would be a good one .

Ray Comfort 10:21

Tailgater Repent and believe the gospel .

Emeal Zwayne 10:25

Yeah , there we go .

Ray Comfort 10:26

Oh , no serious .

Emeal Zwayne 10:29

Yeah , there's a lot of good ones , stephen . But hey , thanks for writing in and we're blessed that you're blessed , so needgodcom is also a good thing to me .

Ray Comfort 10:38

Yeah , you have bumper stickers .

Emeal Zwayne 10:39

In fact , that's what I would recommend , because that's going to pique curiosity . Glad you remembered that . Right , It'll pique curiosity , and you know , Glad you remembered that , Ray . It'll pique curiosity . People , I do that Sometimes . I'll see something on a bumper sticker and I'll go what is that ? I'll check it out . That'll get them the gospel in its fullness .

Oscar Navarro 10:53

And we have those bumper stickers on our website , right , do we still ? We used to . We should get them again .

Emeal Zwayne 10:59

We just wear a key Look on the store on livingwaterscom and we may have it there . I'll take a look .

Ray Comfort 11:07

Yeah , take a look . We should have free stickers . Put them in all the orders , free stickers .

Emeal Zwayne 11:13

That's a good idea .

Mark Spence 11:14

We have fully free films .

Emeal Zwayne 11:17

Yeah , that's it Fully free films . Well , that works too . You could do that as well . Yeah , that may even be more interesting . Alright , friends , revolutionary , radically revolutionary resource . This podcast is brought to you by why christianity booklet . The subtitle , by the way , is solving life's most important questions that just got printed in spanish see , did it really ? Yeah , I love that , love that , love that booklet Ray . Even the cover looks cool .

Ray Comfort 11:52

The cover looks cool and the message is so clear Give them four gifts . No one's interested in the parachute of the four gifts . They want the gold , the silver , the diamonds or whatever .

Emeal Zwayne 12:00

Yeah .

Ray Comfort 12:00

Until they realize they have to jump . Suddenly , the parachute becomes important and then it swings to the gospel .

Emeal Zwayne 12:06

Two men are seated on a plane .

Ray Comfort 12:08

No , it wasn't Parachutes . We enjoyed filming that . Do you remember ? We were out of the graveyard with all the old planes it was at the airplane graveyard .

Emeal Zwayne 12:17

My friend Eric Jewell Bean was there .

Ray Comfort 12:21

We had a big suitcase full of money . Remember that . So the guy opens the suitcase .

Emeal Zwayne 12:25

We did some cool green screen effects of you skydiving too . I was embarrassed . Whose idea Was that ? Dwayne's idea ?

Ray Comfort 12:33

Yeah , dwayne's idea is being held up by a couple of guys on my back and shaking about and I had to yell and speak at a camera . Oh , that's so funny .

Emeal Zwayne 12:41

We were talking about doing the podcast while all of us are skydiving . No , we weren't . No , we weren't , you weren't , we weren't . No , we're not . That's funny because you were actually pretending to be skydiving and talking to the camera .

Ray Comfort 12:55

That was good . It looked good by the time they'd done it , but when I was doing it it was crazy .

Emeal Zwayne 12:59

Yeah , by the way , friends , you could check that out on our YouTube channel and just look up . Why Christianity episode Is it called that ?

Ray Comfort 13:08

It is . I think we took it down . I'll confirm . You mean it's gone to Living Waters TV .

Oscar Navarro 13:13

Yeah , I'm a historian , yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 13:17

Make sure to check that out . Why Christianity booklet , the Living Waters mug and the Evidence Study Bible , all that ? That's saying it while skydiving .

Ray Comfort 13:30

I thought you were drowning . I thought you were under the water . I thought it was underwater . Yeah , livingwaterscom is what they were trying to say .

Emeal Zwayne 13:37

Yeah , that was skydiving All right . Today we're talking about is it unspiritual for Christians to pursue physical health ?

Ray Comfort 13:51

Ray obviously thinks it is no thanks for joining us . That's it .

Emeal Zwayne 13:55

Ray obviously thinks it is Ray . Why aren't you physically healthy ?

Ray Comfort 14:01

Healthy , wealthy and wise .

Emeal Zwayne 14:02

Yeah .

Ray Comfort 14:04

Yeah , we should be physically healthy . All of us should strive to be , because we're the temple of the Holy Spirit .

Emeal Zwayne 14:09

That's it .

Ray Comfort 14:10

Thanks for joining us .

Emeal Zwayne 14:11

Thank you , ray . Ray is should be physically healthy .

Ray Comfort 14:14

All of us should strive to be because we're the temple of the Holy Spirit . That's it , thanks for joining us .

Ray Comfort 14:19

Thank you , ray . Ray , is your beard physically in good shape ? Do you ever think about how incredible hairs are ? Hair , yeah , hairs . How the hair on the eyebrow is different than the hair on the eyelash , or different than the hair on the chin . The hair on the eyelash grows in a certain direction and then stops . You don't have to trim your eyelashes every day , it just goes out and then you've got your eyebrows all facing different ways , different hairs with different DNA to tell it what to do . It's just amazing . Eyebrows are always there to stop the soap getting in your eyes when you're having a shower .

Emeal Zwayne 14:47

I've often thought that , like yeah , soap getting in your eyes when you're having a shower . I've often thought that , like yeah , what ? Really ? What is the purpose of eyebrows ? I think it's for sweat .

Ray Comfort 14:54

No , it's to keep this shampoo out of your eyes when you shower . Yeah , the other thing is , the nasal hair has got no function at all . It's just a haywire . Have you trained your nasal hairs right ?

Emeal Zwayne 15:06

That's what my mustache is Wait , what was it we used to talk about ? About growing something out and making it a toupee , or like making it a comb over , or something Well , there was one .

Ray Comfort 15:16

she had beautiful blonde hair from each nostril Flowing along , flowing around .

Emeal Zwayne 15:27

You know , hair is pretty funny .

Ray Comfort 15:28

It just makes me think of God's incredible creative power to even bother to be worried about one hair and where it would grow , what direction it would grow .

Emeal Zwayne 15:37

It's just incredible that reminded me of this guy in the Guinness Book of World Records who held the record for the longest ear hair Ear hair .

Mark Spence 15:44

That's disgusting .

Emeal Zwayne 15:45

Wow , seriously , you've never seen that . No .

Oscar Navarro 15:48

All this talk of hair , you think Eddie Roman's feeling triggered ?

Ray Comfort 15:53

That guy was waxing bald .

Emeal Zwayne 15:54

Yeah , so yeah , but you know , I think , how do we get on to ?

Ray Comfort 15:59

that I have no idea .

Mark Spence 16:00

How did we ? Let's get off of that . Oh , you asked if your beard was physically fit oh you asked if your beard was physically fit .

Emeal Zwayne 16:07

That's what it was , it is . Yeah , oscar , go ahead . You were going to say something you know .

Oscar Navarro 16:11

I think , especially in America , the problem isn't so much that there's people who are physically healthy . Actually , the bigger problem is that people are not that healthy . I was looking up Over 42% of Americans are struggling with obesity . 31% are overweight . According to the Journal of Mayor Clinic Proceedings , only 2.7% of Americans exhibit four foundational healthy characteristics being sufficiently active , which is categorized as a one hour of day of activity , not even like full-blown working out . Going on a walk is categorized as one hour activity . Eating a healthy diet . Being a non-smoker . And having a recommended body fat percentage .

Ray Comfort 16:52

What about alcohol ? Did they mention that ?

Oscar Navarro 16:54

They don't mention alcohol in that one .

Mark Spence 16:55

It was written by an alcoholic . That's right .

Oscar Navarro 16:58

So 97% of Americans are failing to meet an ideal , healthy lifestyle . Healthiest countries in the world Singapore , italy and Australia . On that list , the United States is 33rd . Less than 3% can say that they don't smoke , can say they have a nutritional diet . Exercise , I'm sorry , 30 minutes five times a week . That's what it's considered . That's nothing . And the BMI body mass index for men should be below 20% and women below 30% .

Ray Comfort 17:28

So 30 minutes is ridiculous . I do it in a minute and a half . I pedal on my bike . That's the exercise cycle on the hardest thing , so I'm just about choking to death at the end of it . But it's done . That's all it's getting A minute and a half . About a minute and a half .

Emeal Zwayne 17:44

Yeah , because now you do your electric on your bike so you can't even get exercise there .

Ray Comfort 17:47

Yeah , I do pedal . I think of you abusing me if I don't do some pedaling . You do two pedals .

Oscar Navarro 17:51

Yeah , but Ray , you are like a hummingbird , you're always moving . You are a very active person . See , that's my wife as well . She's always on the move . You jog up and down these hallways nonstop . The point that I wanted to point out is that most Americans live sedentary lives . God created us to be embodied , to have physical bodies , to work , to toil the ground , to hunt our own meat and all that stuff is done for us , and all we do is sit down and do nothing . And so , while there's definitely idolatrous things to working out and we'll get into that I think the bigger issue with America is a sedentary life .

Ray Comfort 18:34

I wonder if anyone's ever worked out how many calories you burn each night , because when we wake up in the morning , our bed is a mess . It's been a wrestling match going on all night . The sheets are crumpled all over the place and it's everyone seemed to be like . I wake up with a bed that you don't make .

Emeal Zwayne 18:51

My bed's not like that when I wake up .

Ray Comfort 18:53

That's because your mouth's open . Maybe it's because you have a hole in your bed . I burn calories trying to get out of that hole .

Emeal Zwayne 19:00

That's why you're so healthy , right .

Oscar Navarro 19:02

Sue the ladder .

Emeal Zwayne 19:09

You know , rachel and I just went out to dinner with a pastor friend of mine and his wife and he was telling me that he went for a checkup a long time ago and they saw that there was some buildup in his arteries and stuff . And so the doctor said oh , just want to let you know that the first symptom that you have a heart problem is death . That's the first symptom . He's like wait what ?

Ray Comfort 19:33

That cure smoking too , by the way . Yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 19:36

So anyway , he went to another doctor and he's like , hey , this guy kind of scared me first . He's like , no , that's not right . He said here's why he said that Because he's an undertaker . No he said .

Emeal Zwayne 19:57

The reason why he said that is because that really is the first symptom for people who are sedentary , for people who don't move . He said because when you don't move you don't get any symptoms because your heart's not working . But when you're someone who's exercising and who's moving around , if there's things clogged and you have a problem , you'll feel it , you'll know , you'll get the symptoms . And I thought that was yeah , that was really really big and I love what you said , oscar , as it relates to Ray , yeah , it's not necessarily that you're doing per se like focused exercise , but you move around

Body, Mind, and Soul Health

Emeal Zwayne 20:23

. You guys remember , was it the animation WALL-E ?

Mark Spence 20:29

WALL-E .

Emeal Zwayne 20:30

Where people were sitting and floating . It was futuristic . People were sitting in floating chairs and they pressed buttons and it's stick food like . Create food Sounds pretty good and they're all obese . They can't walk .

Ray Comfort 20:45

Yeah , seriously , do you get that in the animal kingdom ? Remember , years ago there was a video that came out that showed pictures of giraffes that were obese . It was just a joke , because you don't see any of the animals like that .

Emeal Zwayne 20:56

Yeah , it's true . Well , you know , human beings didn't really used to be like that , because you had to walk everywhere . You had to gather , you had to move , you had to hunt . You , you had to move , you had to hunt , you had to . You know , it was all and it was physical labor and moving . But now you don't even have to look , you don't even have to leave your house to stay alive . Literally , If you have the money , you just order Uber Eats and you order you know , whatever all these things and they'll deliver door dash .

Ray Comfort 21:22

Do they bring them to the door or do they bring them to your lazy boy ? I want to know they feed it to you .

Emeal Zwayne 21:26

They chew it . They chew it for you . It's a straw , it's like mama bird . Mama birds yeah , they feed you , but no , but you guys know what I mean . It's like . This is where we live . But to the point that we're trying to talk about here today is that , you know , Rachel and I were at an event in Tennessee . I was out there speaking and then there was this big convention and one of the guys that was evidently the leader of this group . You know , he was massive , he was very , very big .

Ray Comfort 22:02

While you're whispering , you think he's listening . He was massive .

Emeal Zwayne 22:06

What he's massive what .

Ray Comfort 22:08

He's coming through the door .

Emeal Zwayne 22:13

You guys are terrible man , but you know it made me think that a lot of times there's just neglect . And look , guys , we're joking and being funny . We want to be sensitive . We know that there are people listening that do struggle with their weight and some of them you know there are there could be some physiological issues why that's harder for them to lose weight . We don't want to make fun of anyone , laugh at anyone , and it's not even just about weight , because someone can be thin and be unhealthy , you know , because you know so . But oftentimes I think the reason why I gave that example is I think that sometimes people have this perception that hey , that doesn't matter , it's almost like a form of Gnosticism . You know , the Gnostics were kind of like the body doesn't matter , but in the sense of like indulging in , you know , sexual immorality and stuff like that . But there is that kind of dynamic , don't you think , oscar , where it's like , oh , whatever , right .

Ray Comfort 23:11

I have empathy with people who are overweight , because I know there's a monster that lives in me that wants to eat 24 hours a day , and I'm not joking . I can wake up in the middle of the night , go downstairs and have a hamburger , no problem . Some people can't eat at night . I can eat at night , I can eat any time , almost eat anything . So there's this monster that's insatiable and one thing I've found that really helps .

Ray Comfort 23:34

It's going to sound strange , but it's . I call an inch milkshake . I just put an inch of whole milk in a thing and I just go and put some what's it called monk fruit monk fruit .

Oscar Navarro 23:39

Oh yeah , I'm true . Oh yeah , got some protein it's really good .

Ray Comfort 23:42

It's no calories . Just put that in and that fluffs up to five inches of milkshake and it tastes nice and sweet and that fills me up for about an hour hour and a half . It keeps that monster down . It's really helpful .

Emeal Zwayne 23:53

Well , you know I mentioned on a previous podcast that I'm intermittent fasting right now and you know what helps me . I drink a cup of tea and that holds me over . The heat of the water fills your stomach . Yeah , I put three pounds of honey , but hey , who's counting ?

Oscar Navarro 24:16

I love that you were careful to bring up . You know we're not trying to shame anybody and if you notice the data that I was reading , it had nothing to do with your physical appearance . It had everything to do with health , right , health of your heart , the health of your body , being able to walk 30 minutes a day . The goal here isn't that you appear physically a certain way . The point is the healthiness of your body , and I a hundred percent agree with you , ez , that there is this , that Gnosticism tends to creep into Christianity , the theology of Gnosticism . And you're absolutely right . Gnosticism looks at the body or the human experience and thinks well , my body doesn't mean anything , it's just like this machine that's delivering my soul into eternity . So what difference does it make ? That is a very Gnostic view of looking at yourself and the world around you .

Oscar Navarro 25:04

God made us to be physical , spiritual and mental , psychological , and I love the way many theologians talk about it . They look at it as being embodied . To be embodied is to look at holistically all three of those things . Am I taking care of my body to the glory of God ? Am I taking care of my mind to the glory of God ? Am I taking care of my mind to the glory of God . Am I taking care of my soul to the glory of God ? And I think many Christians understand the soul portion , the devotions , the quiet time , the meditation , the prayer . They often don't think about the mind , the reading you know , reading a good and hard book , setting goals , and that nature and then of course , the physical . That is a part of our walk with the Lord and it doesn't need to look at .

Oscar Navarro 25:53

You know , I love going to the gym . That's something . It's a hobby of mine . I spend time there , I make space for it . You don't have to do that . Sometimes just being physical could be forcing yourself like we've been practicing this in my own home forcing ourselves to be uncomfortable . What does that mean ? It means taking the stairs instead of the escalator . It means walking to a place instead of driving place . It means parking a far away spot rather than the close up spot . Yeah , little we like in our home . This year we're practicing little things like that . Just let's just make ourselves a little more uncomfortable so that we have to put in a little bit more physical work in that particular situation .

Ray Comfort 26:28

Speaking of walking the stairs , let me ask you guys a question , easy when you go downstairs , do you hold on to the rail ? Uh , usually , yeah . What about you , oscar ?

Oscar Navarro 26:36

I don't know , I've not noticed . I'm not sure you don't know .

Ray Comfort 26:38

You don't know what your body does . I don't know , yeah .

Mark Spence 26:40

Maybe I do . What about you , Mark ? No ?

Ray Comfort 26:42

No . Do you know how many people die each year falling downstairs in the US ? Let me guess Great 12,000 ? 12, . Statistics are so cold and meaningless so I just want to share a little thought . This young lady , young mother , goes upstairs she wants to do some dusting , carries a duster in one hand , she carries coffee in the other , does the dusting On the way down she grabs a book she wants to read before the kids get home . She's got a book in one hand , she's got a duster in her hand , she doesn't bother holding the rail going down . She falls , she dies . Kids don't have a mother , two kids that come home and he's lost his precious wife . Why ? Because of an overconfidence . And I've asked a lot of people when I'm talking that's how I begin a witnessing session lately on video .

Ray Comfort 27:30

Do you hold the stairs ? No , why not ? I don't need to . I've got good balance . All it takes is one little

Physical Fitness and Spiritual Balance

Ray Comfort 27:36

slip . I fell down our stairs about three years ago . Guys , this sounds weird , but I run upstairs and I've always ran downstairs . That sounds really dumb , but I've done it since I was a teenager or younger . I used to drive my dad nuts because I'd leap four stairs at a time and go boom on the end and dad would say stop that . And I always remember that surprise because I and I've always . I've kept that habit up until three years ago , just leaping downstairs at my age , I messed up three stairs up and I've never felt such violence in my life . You just don't know how harsh and unforgiving , merciless gravity is until you violate it . Yeah , so if you fall down a whole set of stairs , you're gonna going to hit your skull when you go down , when you hit the bottom , it's going to kill you . So think of 12,000 bodies piled up , moms and dads .

Mark Spence 28:28

Well , I heard it was 20,000 bodies of people who touch the handrail and get a disease from germs on the rail .

Ray Comfort 28:33

And the reason I brought this up is because Mark and I came down the stairs . I was in front of him this morning . He was carrying a laptop in one hand , coffee in the other , and he didn't hold onto the rail and one of our staff fell down our stairs and almost killed herself years ago .

Ray Comfort 28:47

Well , I planned on if I was falling , I was going to fall into you and you were going to yeah because I'm such a bouncy fellow , but yeah , so I think it's part of the temple of the Holy Spirit is respecting the life that God gave him , and don't do dumb things like I did leaping downstairs . Just take it easy . Grab that rail , realize your own frailty because we're about dust . One little slip and you never see your kids again .

Emeal Zwayne 29:09

Yeah , you know , and that's really good .

Emeal Zwayne 29:12

And I think that you know motive is really important to examine when you're talking about this . You know motive is really important to examine when you're talking about this . Look , some people are physically exercising sinfully and the reason for that is because their motive is their appearance and you know their image and their reputation in a fleshly worldly kind of a sense , you know . So there's nothing wrong with wanting to look right . In fact , I think part of that could be a good witness . I think that you know we do need to think about that , but there has to be that motive as well of Lord , I want to be at peak performance , to have impact for your glory in this world , and that that includes , I mean , you know , when you're physically healthy , you are also mentally healthy . It affects your mind , your thinking , your clarity , your energy level . They're all connected .

Mark Spence 30:10

Yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 30:11

And you know there has to be that , that thought and that consideration too , of your , your children and your grandchildren being able to to be in a place where you can affect them and impact them , you know .

Oscar Navarro 30:24

Yeah , they are all absolutely fit . They're , they're connected , they're like strings together . Often , if you're , you know , if , if you were experiencing anxiety and depression , um , it'll be recommended for you to go out and get physical activity , um , and so all those things are interconnected together . And I would add to that , not only for your kids , for your grandkids , but I would say for men . I think we have an opportunity to be protectors of our family , like the idea that I can . You know , there's guys that I know that can't like run anymore , like not because there's some sort of injury . They just wins . The last time they had a full blown sprint , you know they would be exhausted . And so the fact that you can run , that you can protect , and you don't need to be a big , large person to do that , like I'm not I'm not the biggest person in the world , but the physical activity gives you the confidence to be the person your wife and children need you to be in playful moments and in really important moments as well .

Emeal Zwayne 31:26

Amen , yeah , all of that you know is good and key , and I think sometimes people will point to 1 Timothy , 4 , 8 , for bodily exercises profits a little , but godliness is profitable for all things , having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come . I think there are a number of people that misinterpret that as , oh , bodily exercise doesn't matter .

Ray Comfort 31:46

No , AJV's caused that .

Emeal Zwayne 31:48

Has it .

Ray Comfort 31:49

Yeah , it says , bodily exercise profits little .

Emeal Zwayne 31:52

Yeah , right here it says exercise profits a little right .

Ray Comfort 31:55

Oh , they drop in the word a little .

Emeal Zwayne 31:57

Oh , yeah , a little , but yeah . So there's this perception . But no , paul is making the contrast that , in comparison to the physical , the spiritual is way more important , of course , but he's indicating there's profit in it . That's truth , of course . It's a known thing . So we have to be careful in taking verses like that and going off in a wrong direction . But I've noticed a difference in my own life from the seasons when I am being physically active and I'm not , and it really started to hit me as I had grandkids . I'm putting them on my shoulder and I'm running , or shoulders running around with them and stuff Running up the stairs oh boy running up the stairs , yeah . Who up the stairs ? Oh boy Running up the stairs , yeah .

Ray Comfort 32:41

Who would run upstairs ? Who wouldn't do ?

Emeal Zwayne 32:43

that . But you know , I started to think . It really started to make me think . I mean , I've always been relatively physically fit , but it really took it to another level when I had grandkids . You know , because we get busy , we travel , there are times when it's more difficult to stay physically fit , but it just kind of highlighted it for me and made me realize , you know , this is important . I want to be able to run with my grandkids , I want to be able to play with them , engage them . Why don't ?

Ray Comfort 33:08

they have a flight in a great big like a jumbo jet with all like a gym where everybody , instead of sitting there eating all the time , they're working out for five hours .

Emeal Zwayne 33:17

An Xer flight , dropping the weight just straight through . Stop that , yeah , yeah . So I was looking at some benefits of regular physical exercise , and this is from the Mayo Clinic website , and one is exercise controls weight , of course , and you know , when we talk about weight , we talk about it from the perspective of you know what it can do to you physically , you know , and how it can strain your heart and how it can , you know , affect you know a whole bunch of other physical factors and I think we've talked about this before and we were , I think , right to do it . We talked about gluttony and that is a problem in America , you know , and it's one of those sins and it is a sin that Christians don't want to talk about because it's uncomfortable , you know , and some , I think , talk about it inappropriately and in a demeaning way . But gluttony can be a problem and I encourage believers to examine their hearts , you know , to say look , scripture is clear on this being a sin when we overindulge and we're not demonstrating self-control .

Ray Comfort 34:24

Do you think the gluttony diet is a good one ? The what Gluttony diet . Gluttony free Gluttony free diet . Gluttony yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 34:33

The glutenite ? Yeah , so , but but I mean , oscar , don't you agree that like that is because we have such abundance ? Like you know , we've been at third world countries where that's not an issue , because it's not an option , people just don't do it . One meal a day in a lot of countries is the norm . Yeah .

Oscar Navarro 34:49

Gluttony and um , now I'm forgetting , but gluttony and one other center , the two forgotten sins in America . Cause it's ? We're so used to it , we have an abundance , we think we deserve it all .

Oscar Navarro 35:01

I mean the reality that you can go , you know the reality that you're thinking of in temperance potentially no , um , I'll remember it in a minute , but the fact that I mean you think about , like the amount of food that you normally get in a serving , the fact that we can supersize things , you know like there's no reason why you need 40 ounces .

Ray Comfort 35:18

I'm getting hungry Some people get double , double , double , doubles .

Oscar Navarro 35:22

Oh , four by four Protein style right Once again , because now I'm thinking about the person who's you know driving their car and they're feeling , they know they're not healthy .

Embracing Health Through Physical Activity

Oscar Navarro 35:35

Again , I want to focus less on the physical and more on just the health aspect and what you can do . My encouragement to anybody out there that's like okay , yeah , I see myself as being not a good steward of my body . What do I do ? I would encourage you to start small . Start with like a morning walk before breakfast . You know , 20 , 30 minute morning walk . And the other thing , too is , if you're married and you have a spouse , 30 minute morning walk . And the other thing , too is , if you're married and you have a spouse , invite them to do that with you , cause it's always more fun and easy . I mean , imagine the great thing about that is that you stack good habits on top of each other . Now you're on a morning walk 20 , 30 minutes before you eat breakfast with your spouse or your dog . You get to talk , you get to pray , you get to plan out your day .

Oscar Navarro 36:18

It starts with little things like that go such a long way in your health .

Ray Comfort 36:23

Especially if you're stuck in a car on a freeway every day . That sort of thing . Remember Fred Flintstone's car . Yeah , we need those we need those again .

Emeal Zwayne 36:31

That would be a cool kind of car for sure . Yeah , oscar , I'm glad you brought up walking . In fact , that was one of the things I was going to share . Rachel and I love to walk together . When we were in Hawaii for our 28th anniversary , we did 48 miles . Wow , that's awesome .

Ray Comfort 36:44

Every morning before breakfast 48 miles every day .

Emeal Zwayne 36:48

No , but a total of 48 miles . We hiked up Diamond Head . We went to Manoa Falls I mean , we walked the beach , it was awesome and Noah Falls I mean we walked the beach , it was awesome . And we like to walk around home . So yesterday we took a four-mile walk in the morning and this morning I texted Rachel . I said I wish I could walk with you every morning . You're my favorite person on the planet to fellowship with , and because that's what we did , we fellowship we talked a four-mile walk .

Emeal Zwayne 37:13

We were just talking about our kids and what the Lord's doing in our lives and what you know what , what things we want to do . I mean , it was just awesome and I love that . And there's something I do in my life . I call it I do this while I do that and I love it . You know , I'm listening to the word as I'm driving to work . You know , um , I'm , uh , you know , building my house as I brush my teeth . Ray does everything while he does something else . Anyway , ray , you still writing scripture on your bathroom shower wall .

Ray Comfort 37:45

Yes , it's not just scriptures , ideas , it's pencil .

Emeal Zwayne 37:50

So anyway , yeah , walking is awesome , especially , like you said , when you can do it with someone .

Ray Comfort 37:54

I'm glad you mentioned showers . I'm going to show how paranoid I am . A lot of people die in the shower also , oh no . And so it's always good to have a rubber mat because you're standing on a soapy surface , and I've heard of people the sheriff of Los Angeles died in the shower , fell over , hit his head and he died . I've heard a movie star in England died falling over in the shower because they're standing on soap . So it's good to have a rail and things like these little things that are just part of looking after your body .

Oscar Navarro 38:22

I'm going to buy you a helmet Helmet . I'm going to buy you one , lynn .

Ray Comfort 38:24

Copeland and her husband put on motorcycle helmets or bike helmets during a tornado recently . Really , yeah . They went into their closet with motorcycle helmets on .

Emeal Zwayne 38:36

Can you tell us where ? You buy your bubble wrap pants and shirts Closet with motorcycle helmets on . Can you tell us where you buy your bubble wrap pants and shirts ? Ray's just going to bubble wrap himself , so nothing happens to him .

Ray Comfort 38:44

That's very dangerous , that stuff .

Emeal Zwayne 38:46

You can die from bubble wrap . Yeah , it'll kill you . Another health benefit of exercise says exercise combats health conditions and diseases . It says regular exercise helps prevent or manage many health problems and concerns , including stroke , metabolic syndrome , high blood pressure , type 2 diabetes , depression , anxiety , many types of cancer , arthritis , falls . You know depression is a good one to highlight that exercise helps with .

Emeal Zwayne 39:12

Whenever someone tells me they're really struggling with depression , I say how are you eating and are you exercising ? Because that stress relief , you know that comes from it , man

Physical and Spiritual Fitness Balance

Emeal Zwayne 39:21

, I love . You know , when I'm on my normal gym routine , I'm doing 30 minutes of cardio on the basketball court , I do 15 minutes of jump shots and a circuit cause there are six hoops in the court , so I just go around doing jump shots and once I finished , I immediately transitioned to 15 minutes of layups and by the time I'm done , once I finish , I immediately transition to 15 minutes of layups . By the time I'm done , 30 minutes of active , strenuous , nonstop . Man , I'm sweating my heart out . I feel so alive . The endorphins kick in . Oh man , it's the best . Yeah , and it helps alleviate depression .

Ray Comfort 39:52

Yeah , if I'm stressed in my chest , you can feel the stress . I can get rid of it in two minutes on that bike . Yeah , I'm really really fast I can't emphasize that enough .

Oscar Navarro 40:02

I , I do . I work out about an hour , an hour and a half a day , six days a week , and , um , it's the . The only two ways that I can turn my brain off , um is by reading and by working out , and so what I'm saying here is that my weightlifting , my working out , is a form of not just physical therapy , but like spiritual and mental therapy , because I can turn my brain off and focus on the Lord when I'm reading and when I'm working out , and so , to your point , it's a great way to exercise anxiety and depression out of your body .

Ray Comfort 40:36

Yeah , and you think of how much Jesus would have walked with his disciples ?

Emeal Zwayne 40:40

Right , yeah , a lot .

Mark Spence 40:42

Mark you were going to say . There's an interesting scripture found in 3 John , verse 2 . It says I pray that you may enjoy good health , that all may go well with you even as your soul is getting along well , that there is a bedfellow to spiritual health and that is physical health . Right , if you want to be spiritually fit to the best degree , then really take care of your physical body as well , that you'll be able to do more things , you'll be able to enjoy the things that God has given us . I was reading a commentary not too long ago . It says obviously God is more interested in our spiritual health than our physical well-being , but he does want us to be physically healthy as well .

Mark Spence 41:22

And on the other hand , disease is a result of Adam's sin , and even the most righteous may suffer . After all , some are appointed to suffer for his namesake . I mean , job was righteous , but God allowed him to suffer disease and hardship . Or , as JC Ryle said you know , health is a good thing , but sickness is far better if it leads us to God . So we do want to be as healthy as we possibly can and do all that we can . I like what Randy Smith said . I found this from gracequotesorg . He said , men , you will never master the powerful desire for lust if you cannot put down the bag of Doritos . Listen , and that goes across the board , you know , to master the powerful desire of fill in the blank right .

Mark Spence 42:05

If we cannot put down the Dorito bag , and I love Doritos . I just I don't buy them , but I do . I absolutely love them . And I do want to be temperate when it comes to anything physically , anything physical , you know . So I can tell my body that my spirit is in charge .

Mark Spence 42:22

And there's the beauty of fasting when we see when Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration , we see that there was a demon-possessed individual and the demon was only going to be cast out through prayer and fasting . And he's not saying you know , you need to go pray now and you need to go fast now . No , the idea is , you should be prayed up , you should be fasted up , you should be physically fit . You know , imagine , you know , hey , we want to go share the gospel in this arena , in this event , this venue , but you kind of need to be physically fit to go into that area because you need to , you know , walk into that area . There's no transportation into that area . So there is the desire , the need to be physically fit in order to spiritually fulfill different things that God is maybe calling us to do . And one person said you know , to many of us we confine our exercise to jumping to conclusions we run up bills , we stretch the truth , we bend over backwards , we lie down on the job and we sidestep responsibility .

Emeal Zwayne 43:17

Oh , mark , please send me that , that's really good .

Mark Spence 43:19

We need to change that right . We need to be physically fit and spiritually fit , without putting an overemphasis on the physical fit , but let's put an overemphasis on the spiritual fit .

Emeal Zwayne 43:28

Amen , oh , that's so good . Yeah , you know , balance , right Balance in our lives , and recognizing , too , like , hey , the gym is actually a great fishing hole . You know I , I've gotten the chance to share the gospel in the sauna and the parking lot . And you know , amidst the weights you just meet people , especially regulars , you know , you get to know them and it's an opportunity for evangelism , you know .

Oscar Navarro 43:53

What's really cool is , uh , so a friend of mine , um , who I work out with , he's a . He's a personal trainer and he got saved about a year and a half ago , amazing story . He's a part of this gym where it's only personal trainers or professional bodybuilders , and so whenever I'm working out with them , we're always talking about the gospel . We're always talking about it . We're having a mini Bible study in the middle of our workouts and other guys because it's a smaller gym , they'll start having a conversation with us , and just the other day he sent me a text and was like hey , some of the guys at the gym want to start a Bible study . Would you be down to lead us ?

Oscar Navarro 44:30

I'm like dude , absolutely so they're literally in the middle of the gym at two o'clock . We're trying to figure out when , probably on a Saturday we in the middle of the gym at two o'clock , we're trying to figure out when , probably on a Saturday , we are going to start having Bible studies . That's a good call . Laying aside every weight , yes , oh , I like that .

Emeal Zwayne 44:44

Oh , that's good , yeah , so yeah , I mean again exercise improves mood . Exercise boosts energy . Exercise promotes better sleep . Exercise puts the spark back into your personal intimacy life . We'll skip that one Exercise . You just said it , I didn't want to get into detail .

Emeal Zwayne 45:03

I didn't even want to stop and make reference to it . Exercise can be fun and social , so there's at least one motivator in there for you brothers . But anyway , you know it's . There are so many different benefits , benefits and I would say that we shouldn't compartmentalize , we should integrate and recognize that physical health is a part of spiritual health , amen . And so the answer to the question that we started with is no , it's not unspiritual to pursue physical health . It's good . This is the temple of the Holy Spirit , like Ray said , and you know even Paul when he's talking about husbands loving their wives as their own body . But no one ever hated his own body but nourishes and cherishes it . Right , I mean , that's an indicator that we have . I often see you kissing your hand .

Ray Comfort 45:55

What do you mean ?

Emeal Zwayne 45:58

What do you mean ? Right , but you know it's a biblical indicator that physical health is natural for us . I mean , we have a natural bent toward doing it , but some of us neglect it because , yeah , it is easier to just sit around , be sedentary , not move , not , you know , do anything . And we think we're being spiritual because we're just sitting on the couch watching videos , listening to anything . And we think we're being spiritual because we're just sitting on the couch watching videos , listening to things , reading the Bible . Well , you can do that sometimes while you exercise as well . There you have it , friends . We hope you've been encouraged to do something , do something , do something . Was that Churchill ? Do something , do something ? No , that's .

Ray Comfort 46:38

Spurgeon . No , that's Spurgeon .

Emeal Zwayne 46:40

Yeah , ray's showing us a new tract while we do the podcast , because he's so excited to do it right now . Yeah , and actually that tract , we won't get into details yet , but it includes something physical , a sport . Yes , it does . Yeah , all right , friends , there you have it . Thanks for listening today . Don't forget why . Christianity Booklet right , solving Life's Most Important Questions , and the Living Waters Evidence Study Bible on livingwaterscom podcast , at livingwaterscom , with your thoughts , and don't forget to subscribe and like and share . Thank you for joining us , friends . We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters Podcast , where still , after all these years , we have no idea what Ray is doing . Whoa , is that my stomach ? It was mine .

Ray Comfort 47:26

What .

Emeal Zwayne 47:27

It came out , it came and spread into the microphone . Wow . Thank you , friends .