WEBVTT 00:00:06.720 --> 00:00:11.519 In our world, there's a hot topic: body autonomy. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:18.399 And if you were to ask probably much of the world who owns your body, they would say, I do. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.560 I own my body. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.839 What I do with my body is my business. 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:31.440 Maybe even some of you have thought that when someone's made a comment about your health or about your body, well, it's my body, I'll do with it what I want. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.439 I'm sure that I thought that when I was in seventh grade and I went to the local mall and I got my ear pierced. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.600 I had a nice turquoise earring. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:40.560 Well, guess what? 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:42.479 My parents weren't too fond of that. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:44.960 And they told me I had to take it out. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.160 And I probably thought it, I know I thought it. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:49.840 I probably said it. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:51.119 My body's my own. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.359 I should be able to do with it what I want as a seventh grader. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:56.799 It's my body. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:01.359 And in one sense, we all do own our own bodies. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:04.560 And what we do with them is our choice. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:09.359 That's the gift that God gives to all of us is a God of freedom and a God of choice. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:13.919 He gives us the freedom to choose things for our body. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:15.439 God gives us that. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:23.199 And to the to quote my Southern Baptist friends, to the unregenerate mind individual, this makes perfect sense. 00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:24.319 My body is mine. 00:01:24.479 --> 00:01:25.759 I've had it my whole life. 00:01:25.919 --> 00:01:27.520 I decide what goes into it. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:29.280 I decide how hard to push it. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:36.639 I decide how much I will give it rest, what I'll eat, what when I'll eat, what I'll eat, when I'll sleep, how long I'll sleep. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:37.680 It's mine. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:43.120 But then a person becomes a disciple of Jesus. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:49.840 And let's define disciple because disciple is a word we use a lot in the church, but kind of can be one of these ambiguous words. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.120 Even recently, someone asked me, what do you mean by disciple? 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:58.319 One of the best uh definitions I've heard was by a gentleman named Dallas Willard. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:03.759 He wrote a book that I love called The Divine Conspiracy, Great Omission, several other wonderful books. 00:02:03.919 --> 00:02:16.159 But Dallas Willard said this a disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:25.680 Disciples, he said, are simply people who are constantly revising their affairs to carry through on their decision to follow Jesus. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:29.599 Maybe a little simpler definition to put in your mind. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:41.759 A disciple is someone who is with Jesus, learning to live like Jesus, and rearranging every aspect of their lives so that they can look like Jesus. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.159 So I become a disciple of Jesus. 00:02:44.239 --> 00:02:46.560 You become a disciple of Jesus. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:55.519 And that means that I want everything in my life to be arranged around the principles of the best book ever written, the Bible. 00:02:55.919 --> 00:03:05.759 I look at the Bible, and as I read the Bible, I begin to see these various principles and ideas come forth, and I begin to rearrange my life around those principles. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:14.000 And I come to the book, the part of that book called First Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19. 00:03:14.079 --> 00:03:20.239 And I read these words that were inspired for Paul to write down. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.959 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? 00:03:27.359 --> 00:03:30.479 You are not your own. 00:03:30.799 --> 00:03:32.479 The world says, Hey, the body's mine. 00:03:32.799 --> 00:03:34.560 I'm my own person, I can do what I want. 00:03:34.799 --> 00:03:38.319 Mom, Dad, I don't know why you have such a problem with me, person my ear. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:39.439 I'll do what I want. 00:03:39.519 --> 00:03:40.959 It's my own body. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:42.400 I'll do what I want. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:49.840 But Paul, the writer of 1 Corinthians, inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak on behalf of Jesus, says, you are not your own. 00:03:50.079 --> 00:03:53.120 Not a set uh suggestion, a declaration. 00:03:53.359 --> 00:03:57.280 As a follower of Jesus, you are not your own. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:14.639 And if that's true, if we really are not our own, then the way we treat these bodies, the way we treat these physical specimens, matter a lot more than a diet plan or a gym membership or making sure we have doctor's appointments. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.720 There's there's something deeper to how we care for our bodies. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:25.839 There's a greater purpose than just having a diet plan or just having a gym membership or just making our doctor's appointments. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:34.319 There's a holiness that is involved in living holy for God. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:45.920 In scripture, you cannot separate this concept of God calling us to live to be holy people and living holy for God. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:55.839 This morning, I want to talk about the connection between your physical life and your spiritual life. 00:04:56.159 --> 00:05:00.240 Because in scripture, they are not separate. 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:09.759 Even though sometimes we we we struggle, we slip up, we fall back, and we live as if they were separate, they are not separate. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:14.480 If you've not already done so, you can open your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. 00:05:14.719 --> 00:05:17.599 We're gonna look at verses 19 and 20 to begin with. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:21.439 And if you're pulling out your phone to look at your Bible, that's perfectly fine. 00:05:21.599 --> 00:05:26.000 Just make sure you skip the uh notifications that you have. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.279 Just get on right to the Bible. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:29.439 Don't be distracted by those notifications. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:36.159 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:43.599 And Paul wrote this, what I already read, or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:45.839 You are not your own. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:54.800 And then this phrase, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.639 In verse 19, Paul is not speaking metaphorically about the temple. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:25.759 He is making a direct, concrete claim that the same spirit who hovered over the waters at creation, the same spirit who filled the tabernacle in the desert, the same spirit who came down and spoke over Jesus when he was baptized in the river, that same spirit lives in your body and speaks to you and communicates to you. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.360 The body is not a cage where the soul is trapped in. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:34.399 The bodies, the body is not a temporary vehicle you're borrowing until you get to heaven. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:39.519 The body, according to Paul, is a dwelling place of God. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:49.360 This should change everything about how we see ourselves when we look in the beer, when we make decisions about how we treat our bodies. 00:06:49.599 --> 00:07:05.759 Now, I want to be honest about the context of this text because if you're one that kind of reads around the fringes as the pastor's preaching the context of the text, Paul is not writing this passage because someone ate too many cheeseburgers or didn't go on a long enough walk. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:11.599 Paul is actually writing to a church that was struggling with sexual immorality. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:24.079 And so Paul is saying, yes, in a society that says my sexuality and who I sleep with is my own to decide and to define, Paul would say, no, no, not if you're a follower of Jesus. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:27.040 That's Paul's context in writing these words. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:31.680 But his principle is bigger than just the presenting problem. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:45.759 The argument he makes that your body belongs to God because God bought it with the price applies to every dimension of your life if you are a disciple of Jesus. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.560 It applies to every dimension of your life. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:52.879 You and me, we were bought with a price. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:11.279 The cross is about the forgiveness of your sins. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:20.159 You have been forgiven because Jesus chose to take the punishment that you deserve, that I deserve. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:28.319 But the cross is also God saying to each and every one of us, I want you back. 00:08:29.599 --> 00:08:31.519 I want you back. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:38.800 And not just part of you, I want all of you back in my care, in my love. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:46.800 The incarnation, God taking on flesh was the beginning of God's rescue plan. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.000 Jesus becoming one with us. 00:08:50.560 --> 00:08:54.480 The resurrection was actually proof that the flesh matters. 00:08:54.640 --> 00:08:58.000 Paul says, without the resurrection, we'd be the most pitiful of people. 00:08:58.160 --> 00:08:59.680 We'd have no hope in this world. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:11.840 But but the resurrection also shows us and illustrates to us that God intends to redeem even the material, even the physical. 00:09:12.160 --> 00:09:20.879 So what we do with our bodies is not just about a spiritual idea, but it's actually encompasses the fullness of us. 00:09:22.160 --> 00:09:36.160 And so when we live with our bodies, bodies honoring God in everything that we do, we are actually testifying what we believe about the cross and what we believe about the resurrection. 00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:46.480 We are to be holy beings by being holy and completely God's God to God. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:55.760 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 16, Peter wrote, It is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:09.120 Later on, Peter writes in chapter 2 and verse 9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.120 It's not that just your beliefs are the possession of God. 00:10:13.280 --> 00:10:26.480 It's not just that your spiritual thoughts or your spiritual leanings are a possession of God, but your entire being, your whole body is to be God's possession. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:32.960 A picture of wholeness is the vocabulary that God uses throughout the Bible. 00:10:33.280 --> 00:10:42.000 This idea of wholeness is the vocabulary that God has communicates from Genesis all the way through Revelation. 00:10:42.560 --> 00:10:48.160 In the third book of John, of the epistles of John, the third book and verse 2. 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:50.240 There's only one chapter in that book. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:51.760 Here is what John wrote. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:17.200 This window, this verse, though, is a window into how God thinks about human beings and how God connects our spiritual to our physical. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:23.920 John here connects the well-being of the body to the well-being of the soul, the well-being of your spiritual life. 00:11:24.160 --> 00:11:35.760 He doesn't separate them, he prays for both good health because it goes well with your soul, with a spiritual life. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:42.960 The Greek word translated good health, I won't even try to say it's a it's a hard Greek word to pronounce. 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:46.320 Has one of those weird little things, and you don't care, anyways. 00:11:46.400 --> 00:11:53.040 But but from this Greek word, this translated good health is the root that we get our word hygiene. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.600 John is talking about your physical nature. 00:11:57.760 --> 00:12:02.640 He's not saying I just hope you're in good health, like, hey, pray you're in good health, kind of a casual thing. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.600 No, he's talking about the physical body, and why does he say that? 00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:13.440 He says, because when you're in good health, it is well for your soul, your spiritual life. 00:12:14.160 --> 00:12:18.960 Wholeness is in the connection between good health and our spiritual selves. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:23.680 And God wants each one of us to be whole. 00:12:26.640 --> 00:12:36.400 You're forgiven, you're called, you're loved, and God says, now I want to give you the abundant life, and that comes in wholeness in Him. 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:45.360 A spiritually alive body is strengthened by a spiritually healthy body, by a spiritually healthy body. 00:12:45.680 --> 00:12:52.560 This is consistent with our understanding and what we believe the Bible teaches about the creation narrative. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:58.160 God made man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into it. 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.960 And the Bible says, and it became a nefesh, it became a living being. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:11.280 Both the the spirit of God and the physical body made a human, made a life. 00:13:11.520 --> 00:13:19.680 He didn't make the soul, make a soul and temporarily temporarily attach it to some inconvenient flesh. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:25.440 He made a human being, both body and breath, together, inseparable. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:36.640 And he looked at what he made, your physical manifestation, and he said, It is very good. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.560 Think about that phrase we read in scripture and we think about in scripture. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.800 For you are fearfully and wonderfully made. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:58.160 This is not just talking about your mental state, it's talking about your whole physical being. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:16.640 And our enemy, the devil, wants us to believe that the physical and spiritual are at the least indifferent to each other, but even more so we see in the world that oftentimes people teach that that the physical and the spiritual are in competition. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:40.080 There's been times, if you read through various uh heresies of Christian history, where there's been the the teaching that the the body and caring for the body is somehow worldly, and that real spirituality is only about the inner life, and the body is just a distraction that is that is that is to be ignored, but really it's just about the inner being. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:48.640 We still hear in our modern context the body is nothing because only the soul goes to heaven. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:55.120 But a real understanding of scripture will not let us take this view, will not let us go there. 00:14:55.920 --> 00:15:07.120 You became a whole being by the breath of God coupled with the body that was shaped in your mother's womb. 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:10.720 That made you holy to God. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:18.720 And Peter connects our spiritual well-being with our physical well-being. 00:15:19.280 --> 00:15:27.760 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.080 I hope you see that connection. 00:15:30.400 --> 00:15:36.320 Now go back to, or go back in the Bible to Mark chapter 12 and verse 30. 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:38.480 We read it as part of our scripture reading. 00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:39.120 Thank you, Sheena. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:45.440 Sheena is actually our health ministries chair here, and we're appreciative of her ministry and her work. 00:15:45.680 --> 00:15:47.920 Mark chapter 12 and verse 30. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:54.560 This is Jesus quoting the Shema, the great prayer of the of the Jewish nation, the great commandment. 00:15:54.800 --> 00:16:02.560 And Jesus says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your what? 00:16:03.280 --> 00:16:04.480 Strength. 00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:19.760 If you read through commentaries and uh commentators and translators of this text, they wrestle with those four words and and their meaning and their their direction. 00:16:20.800 --> 00:16:23.920 Heart, soul, mind, strength. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:27.360 I want us to focus on the last one, strength. 00:16:27.920 --> 00:16:30.240 It's the Greek word ischis. 00:16:30.640 --> 00:16:38.400 And here's what it actually means physical force, bodily vigor, and physical capacity. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:46.640 Strength, though, is kind of the one that we it's like the add-on to the verse. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:17:10.879 But what this text is saying is that that loving the Lord your God is not just emotional devotion or intellectual assent or feeling good about something, but that loving the Lord your God includes loving God with your body, with your physical energy, with your physical capacity. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:18.000 You'll hear sermons preached, and and you'll hear people talk about loving God with our hearts and with our affections and our desires. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.439 We talk about loving God with our minds, the things we put in our minds. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:27.599 We talk about loving God with with the fullness of our of our spirit as we worship, as the choir was singing there. 00:17:27.679 --> 00:17:33.519 I just had my eyes closed for a moment, and just my emotions were drawn up, and it was a blessing to me. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:45.519 But Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with your heart, your mind, your soul, and we translate it strength. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:57.599 But what Jesus is saying, you shall love the Lord your God with your physical capacity as well, your physical vigor as well. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:34.319 So what if then, if that's true, what if then fatigue and neglect of sleep and poor health and poor diet are not just personal inconveniences, they are ways that quietly and subtly over time diminish our capacity to serve and love God and others the way He's called us to. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:44.960 Now, whenever you talk about health stuff, there's that feeling, whether it's intentional or not, I know that I feel it. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.119 Even as I wrote this sermon, I feel it. 00:18:47.439 --> 00:18:50.000 A little bit of guilt comes on. 00:18:51.919 --> 00:18:59.679 I want to say this to some of you because there's also that aspect of where some of you are saying, but but what do I do with my health? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:02.639 I I have an illness that's beyond my control. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:09.359 Some of you are dealing with illnesses that you did not choose and that you did not contribute to. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:17.039 Some of you are struggling in ways that that you were never intended by the way God designed you to struggle with. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:22.399 God understands this and he meets us there in his mercy. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:23.679 Always remember this. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:28.240 There's the ideal, but but last I checked, I've never lived up to the ideal. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:33.599 And so I always need God's mercy in every situation of my life. 00:19:33.919 --> 00:19:41.200 But for many of us, and I'm preaching to myself here, the issue is not illness that's beyond my control. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:54.879 The issue is that that sometimes I don't take seriously the fact that these bodies are part, that my body is part of how I love God and how I give myself to others in service to them. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.319 Here's what the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation. 00:20:00.639 --> 00:20:06.799 There is no clean delineation between your physical and your spiritual life. 00:20:07.439 --> 00:20:17.439 That's what the Bible teaches from beginning to end, from the very beginning, I breathed life into a shaped human body and it became a living person. 00:20:18.399 --> 00:20:19.359 It is all together. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.319 They are constantly shaping each other. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.599 Our physical and our spiritual bodies are shaping each other. 00:20:26.399 --> 00:20:31.119 When you are chronically sleep-deprived, think about it from this standpoint when you think about spiritually. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:38.000 When you're chronically sleep deprived, when I'm chronically sleep-deprived, you know what's what happens in my home? 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:40.960 My patience evaporates. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:44.159 Less sleep, less patience. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:50.159 I read this text, the fruit of the spirit, our love, joy, peace, patience. 00:20:50.399 --> 00:20:54.000 Oh no, that's something to do with my sleep. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:05.039 When you're consistently eating in ways that destabilize your body, modern science tells us this now that foods literally affect our moods. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:06.960 We already knew this before modern science. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.679 We had studies and understanding of this. 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.679 But food impacts our moods and our emotions. 00:21:13.919 --> 00:21:18.319 And do you know what every single relationship is built on? 00:21:18.639 --> 00:21:20.639 How you respond to others. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:29.919 And if if my eating impacts the way that I'm feeling in a moment, then I'm gonna respond to someone and be challenged in that relationship. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:38.879 Now, I'm not saying that God only works when you're perfectly rested and when you eat perfect. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:51.200 Let's acknowledge that God moves in broken, depleted, hungry, struggling, fragile people, even now and throughout all history. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:58.480 But what I am saying is that God designed the physical and the spiritual to work together. 00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:03.679 And when we neglect one, we feel the loss in both. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.079 I actually believe that when you neglect your spiritual. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:09.200 Life, your body suffers too. 00:22:09.439 --> 00:22:13.919 And when you neglect your physical life, your spiritual suffers. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:14.799 I believe that. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:19.359 And I've been walking this journey long enough to say that I've experienced that. 00:22:19.919 --> 00:22:24.240 As I mentioned in my welcome, I have a bit of a cold right now. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:28.079 And you know, two things happen to me when I when I get sick. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.720 One is I become very clingy. 00:22:30.879 --> 00:22:35.359 My wife says I get very much like, Christina, hold on to her. 00:22:38.879 --> 00:22:51.919 But I also find myself, and I'm just gonna be very honest with you, I find that when I'm physically down, I find myself more spiritually open to things that I wouldn't normally be open to. 00:22:52.159 --> 00:22:54.960 And when I say spiritually, in a bad way, not in a good way. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.240 I can just feel it. 00:22:56.639 --> 00:23:00.079 I've been on this journey long enough to recognize it and to see it. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.759 We neglect one, it impacts the other. 00:23:03.919 --> 00:23:05.599 Both ways, going both ways. 00:23:05.919 --> 00:23:10.399 Ellen White, in the context of our church's distinctive health message, put it plainly. 00:23:10.639 --> 00:23:15.279 The condition of the body affects the mind and the spirit. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:17.200 She said it very plainly. 00:23:17.439 --> 00:23:21.599 The light she was given on health was not peripheral. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:23.359 It was not this outside thing. 00:23:23.439 --> 00:23:25.039 It was actually missional. 00:23:25.439 --> 00:23:32.159 So that we could serve God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all of our physical strength. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:36.399 So when she says to live whole lives, she's not just talking about rules and laws. 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:41.119 She's saying so that you can be missional, so that you can be living on purpose for God. 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:47.359 She connected it directly to the great task of proclaiming the gospel. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:58.720 A people prepared to meet God would need to be whole people, clear-minded, vigorous, alert, not dulled by the habits that diminish life. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:04.399 I want you to key on that word for a second, habits, and we'll come back to it, but just hold it in your brain. 00:24:04.879 --> 00:24:16.960 Anything, she continues, that lessens the physical power, enfeebles the minds, and makes it less clear to discriminate between good and evil, between right and wrong. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:22.159 Again, hold on to that word habits, because I think this is important. 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:24.159 I want to come back to this again. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:31.439 I'm not talking about the effects of sin that we all suffer and that this world all suffers. 00:24:31.919 --> 00:24:35.839 In this world there is sin and in this world there is trouble. 00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:42.319 And sometimes those things attack us without rhyme or reason and they limit us. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:52.879 Many of you know that at this very time, a year ago, we were in the hospital with our oldest son, who out of the blue, we discovered had a disease. 00:24:53.679 --> 00:24:57.200 That we don't know where it came from, why it happened. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.319 It's just there. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:07.439 What some of you don't know is that later that fall, Christina got a virus, a virus that many people in this world get. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:09.919 They get it, they get through it. 00:25:10.159 --> 00:25:22.720 But that virus that all of not all of you, but probably many of you have had before, maybe even unbeknownst to you, served as a little trigger that triggered something in her that was lying dormant. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:30.480 And now she has an autoimmune disease living in her for the rest of her life that she has to deal with. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:36.079 No rhyme or reason, just the effects of sin. 00:25:36.159 --> 00:25:40.399 And some of you are dealing with those things in your life. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:44.879 And that makes it so that you're not physically able to do some of the things that you'd like to do. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.119 This is not what we are talking about. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:57.439 We are talking about those things that are habits which lower the standard of physical health, they enfeeble the mental and moral strengths. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:06.000 They're the things that we choose in our own sinfulness to embrace rather than embracing God's principles. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:17.039 Now, I want us to be careful here because it's easy to take everything we've said and turn it into a very rigid law. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:19.919 And I'm not going to give you any rigidity in this sermon at all. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:27.359 I'm not going to give you any absolutes of you have to do this type of walk and you have to do this type of food or anything like that. 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:30.159 That's not the gospel. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:35.519 What I want us to think about is Paul's logic in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 00:26:36.159 --> 00:26:48.960 His logic is that there's someone that loved you so much and saw so much value in you that he died for you. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:53.679 And he then says, Now come follow me. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:57.039 Come follow me, be my disciple. 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.200 And as we realize the love of Jesus, what does the Bible say? 00:27:01.439 --> 00:27:04.559 We love because he first loved us, right? 00:27:04.879 --> 00:27:19.519 And when we realize the love of Jesus, we say, Man, I want my whole life to be reoriented around the principles of Jesus because I want to think like Jesus, I want to live like Jesus, I want to look like Jesus, I want to tell people about Jesus. 00:27:19.679 --> 00:27:31.200 And part of that includes, according to Jesus Himself, serving God, serving others is with our mind, our body, our minds, our spirits, and our physical strength. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:35.119 And so we begin to reorder our life around that. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:41.679 In other words, we're ordering our lives around the purchase that already happened, not in order to be purchased. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:43.519 So this is not a set of fundamentals. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:45.919 If you do this, you do this, you do this, then Jesus will love you more. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:46.639 No, no, no. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:48.559 This is because Jesus loves you so much. 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:54.879 You're saying, I want to live to the fullness for him in response to already being loved. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:00.240 And caring for your health is an act of discipleship. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:03.279 Jesus chose you, he chose me. 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:09.119 And the connection between your physical and your spiritual life is not theoretical. 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:19.279 And so here's the challenge I want to give to you, and I'll close in just a few moments after sharing just a couple more things, but you can test it this week, starting this week, starting today, even. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:30.879 What if you brought your body into your spiritual life, not as an afterthought, but as part of your daily worship? 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:38.799 I close my Bible, I worship the Lord, my Bible's on my lap, this is what we talked about last week, having a quiet time with the Lord. 00:28:39.679 --> 00:28:49.039 I close my Bible, I've had this spiritual moment with God, and then I keep worshiping with my body and the way I live throughout the day. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:53.519 Our church has a heritage here that I don't want us to miss. 00:28:54.480 --> 00:29:03.519 Long before the world was talking about holistic wellness, Aventists were already saying God cares about the whole person. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.639 And I praise God for that message. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:23.679 Roger Kuhn, one of our scholars in Aventist history, drawing directly from Ellen White's writings, he distilled that hair, that health message heritage into two simple principles that I think are so valuable for us to think on. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:28.000 And I also think they're they they are written with grace. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:38.639 The first principle is this the Christian in every act of life seeks to promote and maintain life and good health. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:44.000 Ellen White said in one of her, in one, uh Ellen White put it very plainly. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.879 Preserve the best health you can. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.159 That's not perfectionism, that's that's a gracious statement. 00:29:52.399 --> 00:29:54.799 Preserve the best health that you can. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:59.839 Eat what is nourishing, make choices that build life rather than erode it. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:14.319 And the second, equally simple statement, and I find this principle beautifully in the Avenus Health message that God has given to us do the very best possible under every circumstance in which we find ourselves. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.159 You know why I love that? 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:24.000 Because that says to the mom who has a newborn baby, you can't find eight hours to sleep. 00:30:26.159 --> 00:30:32.879 How dare you! No, it says to the mom, do the best you can in the circumstance that you're in. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:47.919 Maybe you have a middle child like me who didn't sleep well as a baby, who didn't sleep well as a toddler, who doesn't sleep well as a teenager, and it was only about a year ago where I finally got him to come stop coming in and telling me that he was still awake. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.919 I was like, it's okay, but you're old enough to hold that to yourself. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:31:02.240 If you're still that parent getting woken up through all those stages of life, God's not saying, hey, you didn't get your eight hours, how dare you? 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:14.799 If you're someone that through some physical ailment, you can't get up and go for that walk after your meal, 10 minutes, whatever it is, to help your glucose out. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:17.200 God's not saying to you, how dare you. 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:24.879 The message, the Aventus Health message is promote life and do the best you can in the circumstances you are in. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.240 That's our message. 00:31:26.399 --> 00:31:29.439 And it's based on eight principles. 00:31:29.679 --> 00:31:33.599 That merciful message is based on eight basic health principles. 00:31:34.159 --> 00:31:36.639 Nutrition, think about what you eat. 00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:42.000 Exercise to the best of the ability in the situation that you're in. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:44.079 Water, hydrate. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:45.919 Hydration is not optional. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:47.519 That's one hopefully all of us can do. 00:31:47.679 --> 00:31:49.279 Hopefully, we can all do that well. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:50.240 Sunlight. 00:31:50.399 --> 00:31:51.919 Oh man, today is the sun still out. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:53.919 I can't tell in here, but it was out earlier. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:55.359 Enjoy that sunlight. 00:31:55.599 --> 00:31:59.519 Temperance, air, rest, and trust in God. 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:01.359 Eight principles. 00:32:01.919 --> 00:32:06.799 None of them complicated, none of them where I'm giving you any absolutes. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:10.720 All I'm saying is think about those eight principles. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:18.720 God designed your body to thrive when it lives inside of these principles and these rhythms. 00:32:19.679 --> 00:32:33.439 The question is not whether they work, the question is whether we take them seriously as disciples who want to arrange all of our lives around the things of God. 00:32:35.599 --> 00:32:36.559 Promote life. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:43.439 Do the best you can in the circumstances you're in, and watch how God works. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.399 One prayer, one word, and one act. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:33:03.919 The prayer I hope that you'll pray this week is Lord, help me to see my body the way that you do, as a gift worth caring for, as a dwelling place of the Spirit. 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:10.720 And teach me, Lord, what it means to love you with my strength. 00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:14.159 One word is actually two words, God's temple. 00:33:14.399 --> 00:33:24.639 This week, when you face one of those moments where you're tempted to move outside of one of these rhythms, one of these principles, maybe just have it written down somewhere where you can look at it. 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:26.159 God's temple. 00:33:26.399 --> 00:33:30.159 And remind yourself that you are God's temple. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:32.559 And then one act. 00:33:33.039 --> 00:33:42.879 Consider one of those eight principles nutrition, exercise, water, sunlight, temperance. 00:33:43.439 --> 00:33:45.039 I forgot A already. 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:46.879 Air, fresh air. 00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:47.759 Thank you, Dr. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:48.559 Landless. 00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:49.759 Appreciate it. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:51.039 Dr. 00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:54.079 Landless knows them very well, so we talked to him afterwards. 00:33:54.399 --> 00:33:56.559 Rest and trust in God. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:34:00.799 Which one of those is God convicting you to work on today? 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:01.759 Start there. 00:34:02.399 --> 00:34:03.359 Start there. 00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:10.159 We've been taught so often that's an all or nothing game. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:12.400 And God wants us to get all there. 00:34:12.720 --> 00:34:13.920 But you know what? 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:21.280 Start where you can in your circumstances and watch how God will begin to work and grow you. 00:34:21.600 --> 00:34:24.800 Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for your mercy, for your grace. 00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:32.240 We thank you that you love all of us, not just our spiritual minds, but you love our bodies. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:41.280 That you didn't just die for some spirit soul to go up to heaven, but you you died to save us completely and totally, Lord. 00:34:41.680 --> 00:34:46.240 Lord, we thank you that you've given us these principles. 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:59.760 And they are to guide us that we may serve you to the best of our ability in this world and to serve others to the best of our ability in this world. 00:35:00.080 --> 00:35:06.800 But they're also, Lord, because you want us to have a full and abundant life. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:24.800 Lord, I pray that each one of us will make a decision in whatever situation we're in to promote life in our own being and for others, and to do the best we can in the circumstances we are in. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:31.120 And Lord, we pray that you'll take those offerings and you'll use them to your honor and your glory. 00:35:31.840 --> 00:35:38.240 Bless us, Lord, as we seek to be a holy people, living wholly and completely for you. 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:39.440 Amen.