Alright, we're here in Ephesians chapter 6 and we're finishing up our series on a proper balance and the purpose of the series is meant
To just really help us have a good balance in all the different areas of our life
Just kind of an edifying and helpful series and what I want to talk about in this sermon is health
I want to talk about our health and I would say that when it comes to areas of our life that are important
There are certain things that maybe are important to some and not to others
But I would say that all of us to some level of degree care about our health
I mean, I want to live a long life. I want to be healthy. I want to be able to serve God
I want to see my kids one day get married and be able to play with my grandkids and things such as that
and so I want to I hope to have a long and healthy and and
You know long life with a lot of health and good health
But I do want to say this that you know before I even get into this even if you do everything perfect
There's no guarantee on your health
I mean you could literally do everything perfect and then get it in a car accident and
There goes all the work that you did, you know to put in effort to be healthy or you can do everything
Right with diet and exercise and everything
I'm going to mention in the sermon and yet you still have various health problems because you know
There are certain people that are born just as babies with health problems
And sometimes we don't necessarily know all the answers to these things
But at the same time if we are doing what the Bible says it's going to increase our chances of having good health
So we have seven points here today and point number one
Which is by far the most important is godliness
Godliness is by far the most important thing you can do for your personal health and I don't just state this as a matter of
Opinion, but if you were to actually look at it and study it in the Bible
You're gonna see that there is a promise with living a godly life of having good health and God to bless your physical
Literal health notice what it says here in Ephesians 6 verse 1
Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor thy father and mother
Which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth
The Bible speaks about a promise when you honor your father and your mother of living a long life
Now obviously there can be people that really honor their parents and died a young age and they're gonna be
Disrespectful kids that live a long life
But in general what the Bible showing you is that if you honor your father and your mother
God will bless you with a long life
Somebody might be a drunk and they smoke a lot of cigarettes and they do everything wrong and you say how did they live a long?
Life my best guess is they're very respectful to their mom and their dad and I'm not saying that jokingly
I'm being dead serious and the Bible talks about that. Hey, if you honor mom and dad
There's a promise of living a long life
Look young kids in this room. You want to get something out of this sermon obey mom and dad
Why because you're likely to live a long life if you obey your your father and your mother as the Bible says it's a commandment
with
Promise when it comes to this I do believe there's an inherent blessing with obeying your mom and your dad or your dad and your mom
But I also think that you know if you obey your father and your mother
They have practical wisdom that they can teach you that is also going to help enhance your physical health
Go in your Bible to Proverbs 3. Let me show this to you Proverbs 3
Proverbs 3
Look obviously a sermon like this if there's somebody who has bad health or you've had a lot of medical problems
That does not mean that they've done something wrong
You should never look at somebody else and judge them and say well, it's because of this or because of that
You know, obviously we don't necessarily know these things
There's good people that die at young ages or get health problems and it is what it is
But at the same time if we follow the advice of the Bible it will help us out Proverbs 3 verse 1
My son forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments
So here you have a son obeying his father at least a father telling his son
Hey obey what I say do what I say keep these commandments and notice the result for length of days and long life
And peace shall they add to thee?
Here's what we have to understand your your father and your mother they have your best interest at heart
There could be a father that is addicted to smoking cigarettes and he smokes a pack a day
But most likely what is he going to teach his son?
Never smoke a cigarette, right?
Do as I say don't do as I do
Now the sad reality is actions speak louder than words and your kids are probably going to replicate your actions
But the reality is that even if your father and mother made a lot of mistakes
They don't want their kids going down the same road. Isn't that right?
A lot of fathers and mothers in this room you might have made mistakes
But inside your head, I'm gonna teach my child so they do not do what I did
Right. And so the thing is if you actually keep the commandments of your father and your mother
90 whatever percent of time they're gonna help you they're gonna be good for you
You have to realize that your father and your mother are probably wiser than you
Especially when you're younger, you're 10 12 15 or whatever. Even if you're a young adult they've been around longer
They've experienced things they know certain things so don't be stubborn rebellious and say well
I'm not gonna obey my father and my mother. It's like it's probably gonna help you in life
It's probably gonna be good for you
If you actually take the advice of your father your mother you say why because your your parents are trying to make your life
Good and not bad. So if you hear their Commandments do what they say and it's going to help you out
verse number five
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not onto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him
And he shall direct thy paths
these are very famous verses about
trusting in the Lord with all your heart and not leaning on your own understanding and most likely your father and your mother are
guiding you into principles and rules that are actually following what the Bible says as
Opposed to what might seem right to you look young teen
I mean teenagers just are not that wise in general
I
Mean as an adult in this room, I can say I have a lot more wisdom than when I was a teenager, right?
You know as a teenager you often do a lot of stupid things that can get you into trouble
But you know what if you would just listen to the advice of your father and your mother it would actually help you out
verse number seven
Be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil and notice this in verse 8
It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones
The Bible speaks about literal physical health being enhanced and it's in the context of hey obeying your father
Obeying your parents doing what they say you say why because your father and your mother have more wisdom than you about things
Go to first Timothy chapter 4 first Timmy chapter 4
Now are there exceptions of course
I mean we trust in the Lord with all our heart and maybe your parents give you advice
But the Bible says something different follow God every single time
But I would just say that in general. It's like your parents probably have a lot of guidelines as you're growing up
They're trying to help you when your parents tell you hey, you know what you need to brush your teeth
You know why they're doing that they're doing it to help you
When they say hey, you know you can't play video games till 2 in the morning. They're doing it to help you
They're like hey, you can't eat ice cream for breakfast. They're helping you out, but as a young kid. Why can't I eat ice cream?
They don't get it
Neither did I as a kid right? I mean kids don't understand these things and sometimes kids might complain or wine or whatever
It's like well. No you eat your vegetables before you eat dessert
Right as a parent. Why do you have these rules to make the life of your children better isn't that true?
You don't want your children's life being destroyed because they don't have wisdom at a young age so realize that as you are growing up
And you are young and your parents are telling you things
They probably have more wisdom than you and their rules and their commandments are probably going to help you are there exceptions of course
Sometimes there might be ungodly or wicked people in this world
But in general even if your parents are not saved most of their rules are probably good rules
That will actually help you and make your life better
Here's what it says in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 7
First Timothy 4 verse 7 but refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself rather on to godliness
For bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable on to all things
Having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come now
I remember when I was in college you know me my friends
We really like to you know work out a lot and exercise and our pastor used to always joke with us
he'd say hey the Bible says bodily exercise profit little and
You know we would joke back and say but the Bible says bodily exercise profit it and just not add the little
But you know years later as I was reading the Bible
I realized well wait a minute actually if you look at the context it is not saying
bodily exercise profits little in this life
The reason why it says little is because godliness profits both in the afterlife in this life
Bodily exercise only profits in this life
So bodily exercise profits little in the fact that it doesn't benefit you in the afterlife
I mean if you bench 500 pounds
That's not going to get you rewards in heaven if you run a mile in five minutes
It doesn't get you rewards in heaven, but of course it profits you in this life
I mean being in shape and having good health it profits you a lot in this life
It's little in the fact that it doesn't profit you in the afterlife
But godliness profits both in the afterlife in this life and in all things the Bible says so even in your physical health
Did you know that godliness actually profits you now?
I believe part of this is the inherent in blessing and doing what God says and of course the obvious curse in
getting drunk doing drugs
Smoking sleeping around fornicating these things they're gonna hurt your health and doing what God says he can
Bless your life, and he will bless your life
But I was thinking about this a little bit more deeply for this sermon
And I was kind of curious about because I saw somebody make a Facebook post about
When you tell a lie the effects it has on your body, and I was kind of curious well
How do lie detector tests work and so I started studying lie detector tests a little bit more and here's what it says from this
Article on lie detector tests a lie detector test is a device that measures the involuntary
Physiological changes of a subject's body as the subject responds to a question or statement
Polygraphs are the most popular lie detector tests used in the United States
polygraphs measure physiological arousal factors including heart rate blood pressure
respiration perspiration and skin conductivity the theory of the lie detector test is that these
Physiological responses will be different when the subject is truthful versus when the subject lies
Therefore the term lie detector test is a misnomer of sorts
Since the test does not speak to the truth of the answer statement
But rather to the fear stress anxiety of the subject as the answer so the idea is this that if you're in a lie detector
test and
I get asked the question is your name Matthew. It's not like I'm gonna start getting really worried like oh, no
Oh, no, I'm gonna be caught lying because that's that's my name
Okay, but if they were to ask me a question on something where I don't want the truth to come out
What's going to take place? You might start sweating
Your heart rate is gonna go your blood pressures gonna go up and all of these things and here's the thing about this a
Lie is one of the smallest sins you could think of
Not serious because all sin is serious, but nobody would sit here and say that lying is as bad as murder, right?
Obviously murder is a much bigger sin than lying. Here's the thing though
If you have a lie, and you don't want the truth to come out on a small matter
It still has adverse effects on your stress and your heart rate and your blood pressure
Well, the question is what is the long-term effects of having an elevated heart rate and elevated blood pressure and all these
Physiological effects in your body for something as small as a lie
Imagine if you have a really big skeleton in your closet like you're guilty of murder and it's not known
It's like you could have
Extreme issues with your heart rate and your blood pressure and who knows the long-term effects, right?
The long-term stress on your body your heart rate all these physiological factors
Here's thing about this though when you're right with God and you have a clear conscience. You don't have those things
But if you got a lot of sin in your life, it's like oh man and you feel guilty. You're stressed out
You're in a bad mood. What are the long-term effects on that?
I think we could all agree that they're gonna be very negative, right?
So here's the thing about this living a godly life actually has the blessing of being physically healthy
Whereas living a sinful life will end up having negative effects on your body
Physically not even all these other things rewards in heaven just physically on your body sin takes a toll on your body
But being right with God is actually going to help you with your physical health
Go in your Bible to Philippians chapter 3
Philippians 3 I
Mean, I I remember some vague memories when I was a kid and you know
I did something wrong or I got in trouble and I'm trying to hide it from my parents and you're so scared
You're so nervous your heart's going and then they ask you it's like did you do this? No, why would you think I did it?
Right, and it's just like getting caught actually provides relief in the fact that it's over
right, but when you have something you're trying to hide that is wrong and sinful it actually harms your body and is it a big
Deal over a short period of time. Well, probably not but what about the long-term effects of living a sinful life?
I would say it probably
massively destroys your body and I doubt that they could even judge something or they've really done sort of tests on this but even
Lie detector test the way it works is it monitors if you're lying, you know
You've probably seen those whatever they call them where the those things where it goes up all over the place when they're lying
It's like is your name Matthew? Yes
Right, I mean imagine if you had all of these sins in your life and you're trying to hide them, right
I mean, it's gonna be a lot worse than just like, you know temporarily
But probably you're going to be living under with that curse of just all of these things on your body itself
It's going to destroy your body long term
So look when it comes to being healthy by far in my opinion both biblically speaking
Logically when you stop and think about it living a godly life is the best thing you can do, you know pastor
I want advice. How can I help my health read the Bible every day?
Pray to God every single day
Go soul winning. You say but that does nothing for my physical body. You don't think it does but it does
It will help your physical health if you are right with God above anything not even mentioning the fact that God
Safeties of the Lord and God can bless you and keep you healthy and he can bless your life
But even just physiologically speaking living a godly life is easily the number one thing to having good health
Now one thing you need to keep in mind and I'll talk about this a little bit later
Is that you cannot necessarily judge physical health just simply by looking at someone so for example, you know when I was a kid
You know
I used to watch pro wrestling a little bit and you've got these pro wrestlers that got that have all of these muscles and
You think they're in really good health and then they die when they're 35 years old and you're like
What?
Or bodybuilders bodybuilders like their lifespan is very short and you would think with all this muscle
They're actually in really good shape, but they're not
So you cannot simply look at someone to determine how healthy they of shape that they're in
And even if you think you can it's that you'd be negating the fact that God can bless them with good health and
Living a long life as well. So number one is living a godly life is the most important thing
Number two is your diet now, these are not necessarily in order the first couple points. I believe are kind of in order
I'm not really sure how it ranks some of these godliness is easily number one
I would say number two is your diet, you know what you eat. I think is very important what you eat and drink and
I will say this as they talk about diet
I'm not going to get very specific on my opinions or what the Bible says
I'll give you a few general things that I think we can all agree on and just show you what the Bible says
Even though you might agree or disagree with me on certain foods or certain types of diets
There are things that we can all agree on
Eating a bunch of sugar and desserts is unhealthy
I would say everybody would agree with that eating potato chips is not as healthy as eating an apple
I think we can all we're eating a real apple right, you know
It's like I think there are certain things that we can all agree on certain foods that hey, they're not healthy for us
They're not good for us and other foods. We could say yes, they're good for you. They're healthy for you
They should be a part of your diet
And so basically if you don't agree on everything that I think about, you know what you eat, that's perfectly fine
You can still get wisdom from this. Here's what it says in Philippians 3 verse 18
For many walk of whom I have told you often and I'll tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of
Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and his glory is in their shame who mind earthly things
The Bible speaks about people that are bad people and it says their God is their belly now
It's not really referring to physically what they eat
but the belly and what you eat is a good example to help us understand because all of us have probably gone on diets or we
Try to avoid eating certain foods and we're sitting there and it's like
I know I shouldn't eat another cookie. I know that I've eaten my proper fill and yet you're just like but I want that cookie
My belly wants it right now with bad people they give into desires, whatever it is sinful, whatever the desires are
I don't think eating unhealthy I would say is a sin. Although at some point our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost
But we can understand this idea that you know at some times instead of listening to our mind
We listen to what tastes good right and what the Bible showing you is we should not live our lives like that you say pastor
Should we eat to live or live to eat?
That's not a hard question as a Bible believing Christian
You should eat to live
You should eat what our bodies look I'm not an expert at this stuff, but I've watched videos
It's really amazing how our bodies are like a fine-tuned machine
It's crazy how God designed is and the thing is when it comes to a machine you got to put the proper things in
There look if my ink tank on my printer runs low
I can't just put anything I want inside of it and expect it to work. I want to save my money
I'm gonna put some water in it
Well, good luck
No, I mean our bodies work the same way
I mean if your your car is low in gasoline, you got to fill it with gasoline and
Our bodies are like a fine-tuned machine
You can't just put anything inside of it and expect the same results if you want good results
You got to put the proper things inside of your body to make it in good condition
And so yeah, the things that we eat should be important to us you say well, is it really that big of a deal?
Well Bible says whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all the glory of God
Even the things that we eat or drink should matter to us as a Bible believing Christian
It should be important to us now
I would never say that it is a sin to eat a piece of cake or eat a bowl of ice cream
Nor would I say that I never eat anything like that. I'm not saying I have a perfect diet
I'm not saying it's a sin to drink a coca-cola
I'm just saying that we should try to take care of our bodies. It's not a non-issue as Christians
We should take care of all areas of our body and what we eat or drink is very important
In fact, I would say that as I get older
It's more important to me than I used to because when I was young you can eat a bunch of junk food
Wake up on four hours of sleep and you're good to go
If I eat a bunch of junk food now at my age, you know being 40 years old
it's like when I wake up I'm like I
Cannot focus on my Bible reading. I'm exhausted. I'm tired
It's just like, you know, it actually matters what we put inside of our bodies
It is a very important thing and what about the long-term effects?
It's one thing to be tired for one day due to a bad diet
But what about the long-term effects on your body? Of course, it's gonna be negative, right?
Go to Genesis chapter 1 Genesis 1 and I'll give you just three basic ideas about diet and what we eat in this sermon
Genesis chapter 1
And
one aspect of having a good diet and an nutritious diet is to try to eat as naturally as possible and
Here's what the Bible says in Genesis 1 verse 31
Genesis 1 verse 31 and
God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day
See the Bible says that everything God made was very good
And I believe that anything that God created to be food and to be eaten is actually good for our bodies
And now obviously people can have certain health issues where they have to avoid certain things
But I believe every fruit God created is good. I believe every vegetable is good
I believe the things that God made are actually good for us
And here's what I would say that I don't believe that man can recreate in a laboratory
What God actually made?
It's not going to be the same. I am by no means this obsessed organic only diet person
I agree with the general principles, but it's not going to be my religion because
Godliness is far more important and there's a lot of things to worry about in life
But I agree with the general idea because of the fact what God made is going to be good and healthy
What man-made is not the same basic example. I mean honey is actually a very healthy food
But if they recreate honey in a laboratory and now you're just eating sugar probably
Right. I mean all the health benefits are probably gone from it
And so I would say a general way to look at this is when we eat an inner modern day
This is important because of the fact there's a lot of snack food
Which really is just junk food that you can buy at a store with Robinson's grocery stores or a sorry-sorry store
You have just snack food instead of eating real food
like people used to they just quickly eat something that is just pure chemicals and
Just not healthy at all. No nutrition whatsoever
And what I would say is to the best of our ability
We should strive to eat naturally with the idea that what God created is going to be better than what man created. Okay a
Basic rule I heard a long time ago in sermon and I think this is good advice
Is that if you're at a grocery store, you know
look at the back of the container at the nutrition and it's like if there are a multitude of
Ingredients that you've never heard of before it's probably not the healthiest thing to eat
So I don't believe potato chips are healthier
But I certainly would believe that Fritos or Lays are a whole lot healthier than Doritos
You say why because they have a couple ingredients
Corn salt and oil three ingredients for Fritos, I believe Doritos
There's like a hundred ingredients and I cannot pronounce over half of them
It's like rubo flavin phosphorus
Level G color purple. It's like what it's like. What am I putting inside my body?
You know the most extreme example that I've ever seen I saw this documentary a long time ago because nowadays
Governments since they more and more control the food supply they try to mass produce food for the sake of money
I think common sense we could understand that this is the case
I saw a documentary at one thing that they're doing because in a lot of stores, you know, at least in the u.s
I'm sure here as well if you buy meat at the store, they might add a food coloring
So you don't actually see what it looked like before they adjusted it and what they were doing
You know with cows in the u.s. Is they were putting a hole
inside of the cow and
Then feeding the cow through the hole that way they could get the cow to eat a lot of food and there's more meat
They're literally putting a hole inside of the cow
So instead of the cow just eating food they put a hole and then they would just put it through a tube
Now look, I'm not an expert at this stuff
But I cannot understand how that could possibly be healthy and I would certainly be a
Afraid of various diseases that could take place where it's like you could easily create an infection
Inside of that animal you have to realize that animals that are in the wilderness, you know
They will die because they get eaten but you're very rarely going to see an animal that dies in the wilderness that has like these
Terminal diseases against their health you say why they're eating naturally
Now you can do whatever you want but you know and I don't have pets but I would just say like if
We had a dog. We would just try to feed the leftover scraps of real food rather than what you're gonna buy it
Whatever story you say why because I believe what God made naturally is gonna be better for them
And I would just say that the more natural you eat the better
It's gonna be for your body go in your Bible to Psalm 104 Psalm 104
Psalm 104
Now
Look I'm not saying I have a perfect diet
So look if you see me drinking a coca-cola or a cobra energy drink one day
It's like don't come up to me and say you're a hypocrite pastor or whatever. I don't claim to have a perfect diet
It's the holiday season. I eat more sweets during this time of year or whatever
I don't think any of us have a perfect diet nor do I think it should be the thing that runs our life
This is all we think about but just in a general perspective
I would just say try to eat healthy basic things like this drink more water than sugary drinks
Right, you know try to get more fruits and vegetables in your diets, you know
Try to cut down on you know processed foods and sugar and things such as that
I mean obviously these things have an adverse effect obviously
You know, there's certain food that you eat where you get done eating and you feel healthy and strong and good other foods
You eat you feel horrible afterwards
Why because of what they're putting inside of that food, right?
One thing is eat naturally another thing that is advice from the Bible is eat a balanced diet
here's what it says in Psalm 104 verse 15 and
wine that maketh glad the heart of man and oil to make his face to shine and bread which
Strengtheneth man's heart and we're gonna look at a couple verses but what the Bible has is a great distinction of different foods
And yet they all have a purpose now when the Bible says wine
I do not believe that's fermented alcohol when you see the word wine in the Bible. It could be referring to juice
It could be referring to a fermented juice or basically alcohol
I don't believe that's referring to fermented alcohol there, but you have something that is juice, which is pretty much all sugar
The Bible says bread was strengthened with man's hearts. The Bible says bread actually strengthens your heart
So it can be very good for you. It can be very healthy go to Proverbs 16 Proverbs 16
Proverbs chapter 16
Some some basic things that I think we all know I mean certain meats are healthier than other meats, right?
I mean, I don't think anybody would argue that bacon is the healthiest meat to eat now
It's not a sin to eat it
I couldn't point to a verse that would say that nor would I claim that but obviously chicken is healthier than bacon
I would say obviously fish is healthier than bacon
Right. I would say that if you looked at the unclean animals in the Old Testament
Probably not the healthiest thing to eat today either now. It's not a sin
But it's not the healthiest thing right and so, you know, there's nothing wrong if you avoid certain sorts of foods
You know, I've always been more of a chicken person when it comes to meat, but I try to eat the healthier meats
And yeah, I eat pig sometimes but I'm just saying that I don't I would never argue that pig is as healthy as chicken
Right or as healthy as fish and so just minor things like that making adjustments in
Your diet could have great long-term effects on your health. It could be very good for you
Proverbs 16 verse 24 pleasant words are as in honeycomb sweet to the soul and health to the bones
Now pleasant words are something to think about but here we're looking at what we eat in our diet
And what the Bible is showing you is that honeycomb is good for you. It's health to the bones and
Honey is basically a hundred percent sugar, right?
But honey is one of these foods in the last several years where they realize that there's all of these, you know
Unique cures that honey has that they never knew in the past and honey can actually fix a lot of different problems now
Here's the thing if you say well, I really love honey. So all I'm gonna do is just eat a bowl of honey for breakfast
I don't think that's the healthiest thing because you're only eating one food
Obviously things are healthy in parts. I mean health. I mean honey is has a lot of sugar
So that's all you're eating
It's not gonna be good for you
But it actually is very good for your body in the right amounts according to the Word of God go in your Bible to Isaiah
chapter 7
Isaiah 7 Isaiah 7
Isaiah chapter 7
You know what you're gonna find if you look at food as being in five food groups as fruits vegetables bread meat dairy
It's like all of those things are mentioned as being a good thing for you and they're very, you know
uniquely different from one another so I think a balance of that is good because the Bible speaks about
Bread being good for you
It strengthens the heart gives us day or daily bread fruits and vegetables are mentioned very positively throughout the Bible
But especially right there in Genesis chapter 1 we see that principle
Dairy is mentioned as being very, you know healthy and by no means am I a vegetarian
I mean meat is healthy for us
We need protein and if you actually study nutrition and the different nutrients that everything provides
You have to get a balance of these things to get everything if all you ate was one thing you're gonna be missing out
Right, I I love eating fruits and vegetables personally
I eat more than almost anybody I know but if all I ate were fruits and vegetables
I would be severely lacking some of my nutrition because you need a balance of different things in your body
Isaiah 7 verse 15
Bible says in Isaiah 7 verse 15 butter and honey
Shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good now?
I find this verse, you know hilarious and it gives us a lot of wisdom
But you've got two things that are extremely different butter is all fat and
honey is all sugar and yet both are good according to the Word of God and so
There was you know 50 years ago. I don't know about here in the Philippines, but in the u.s. It's like they made this decision
We got to cut down on fat fat is the big killer. We got to get rid of fat in people's diets
So what do they do? They switch from butter to margarine?
Margarine is like the worst tasting thing in the world in my opinion
And if you want it you want some basic advice if you have margarine at your house just buy butter next time
It's actually better for you
It's not just that it tastes better
It's just better for you and see the idea would be if we cut down on fat
It's gonna make you healthier
But haven't they learned in the last several years that there's a lot of foods high in fat that are actually very good for you
Avocados are almost all fat right and yet they're considered like a miracle food
You know coconut milk, you know things such or coconut oil they used to cook and things such as that
There are a lot of things that are high in fat that are actually good for you
And so the thing is if we just look back at the Bible just say I'm going to try to follow what the Bible says
We're gonna see that there's a lot of foods that are actually good for us that maybe we think are not good for us
The Bible mentions honey, and of course fruits are mentioned is very positive in the Bible and fruits are very high in sugar now
I will say this that if you look at the healthiest fruits
What you're going to generally find is they have higher amounts of dietary fiber
And so that is part of the healthier fruits if you want to make a distinction there
But all fruits have their proper place in our diets go in your Bible to Proverbs 13
Proverbs 13
Obviously there's some basic things like if I if I was trying to trim down a couple pounds
I would try to lower my carbs lower my amount of sugar and things such as that and even though honey is very healthy
You know if I'm trying to trim down weight, I'd probably cut down on eating, honey
Whereas if I'm trying to build muscle
I'm going to eat a lot of meat mixed with the proper vegetables to utilize that protein and things such as that
And so, you know obviously you can be in certain situations where you have certain health goals and you might make various changes
What you're seeing is that you know, a well-balanced diet is actually good for us
Also eating the proper amount of food is advice the Bible gives Proverbs 13 verse 25
The righteous eateth to the satisfying of a soul
But the belly of the wicked shall want the Bible speaks about eating to the satisfying of your soul and you know
There's a certain level of food where you eat it and it's like you do not need to eat more than that
Right, maybe you have the ability to eat more but it's kind of like, you know
I've already reached that level where I know I should not eat another spoonful. It's like I got my calories. I got my intake
I'm not hungry anymore
I don't need more food
But all of us have crossed that line where he said but I want more food and then eating more than probably should have
There's a certain level though that we all know is there when we eat we realize hey
I've eaten the right amount even if you don't count calories, you can just feel it in your body. I've eaten the right amount
I should stop here and you know what good
Advice for good health is to stop at that point where you realize you've reached the right amount go to Proverbs 25
Proverbs 25
Look I know this sermons not the most exciting sermon like oh you're not screaming against anything
But you know, honestly if we apply this sermon to our lives and it increases our health. It's gonna be worth it
Right, you know the long-term effects of just doing the right things to our bodies are gonna be good for us
Proverbs 25 verse 16 has thou found honey eat so much as is sufficient for thee lest
I'll be filled there with and vomit it
See the Bible says, you know you eat to a certain point and if you eat past that point
It's not good for you. And you know, there's other verses that talk about this and we realize this that when you're hungry
everything tastes good just about right and
When you're already full food just does not taste as good and it's sort of like a way that God's trying to tell you
It's like okay. You don't need to eat more food. It no longer tastes good. It's not the same
It's like you've gotten your proper fill stop at that point and you know, if you eat past this point
You're you're you're gonna get sick and you see this with kids
Sometimes kids will eat neat and sometimes they end up eating too much and then they just do exactly like this verse talks about
It's why because they reached a point where their bodies like you don't need any more food when I was a kid as
A soccer player I ran a lot and it's kind of a misnomer to think that if you're thin that you cannot eat a lot
of food because it's often the opposite case because if you run a lot and drink a lot of water water will expand your stomach and
When I was a kid and I was I was very lean
I weighed less than 50 kilograms and I was a freshman in high school and playing soccer
I could eat a lot of food
I mean I could eat thousands and thousands of calories at one sitting because I ran a lot and my stomach had the capacity
To do that because I worked out a lot and you know when you go to buffets and you're young
You're like I got to get my money's worth
And I would like eat and eat I would eat to the point where it's uncomfortable I get up and I'm like
Oh, I'm in pain. It hurts. It's like I'm never gonna do this ever again
Right. I
Had the ability to eat a lot, but you know, of course as you get older like I personally I don't like buffets anymore
Just for the fact that you know, I've got part of me that says I want to get my money's worth
But I'm just like I just don't like overeating, you know
Like I did when I was younger because you know
You just kind of reach a point where if you eat too much food, what's the effect on your body?
Even if it's healthy and good food you feel tired and exhausted
One way to think about this is you know
Let's say for example, you're filling up a printer with ink or you're filling up something that has a certain level
It's like often they will have a level where you do not go over it and you know in our
Printer at home. I'm tempted when I have a little bit
Extra ink left because I used to try to keep the ink but there's too high of a chance of it spilling which has happened
Many times and it caused a huge mess. So I'm like I got a little bit left
Can I know I've reached the line? Can I put it over?
But it's like, you know
If you do that
You risk the the chance of destroying that machine our bodies are like a well-oiled machine where there's a certain amount that we reach
And you don't want to go over that certain amount. Okay?
Turn your Bible to first Timothy chapter 4 first Timothy 4
First Timothy chapter 4
And
One of the big advices in the Bible is just to drink a lot of water, you know
That's good for you
And I think all of us have probably maybe had times where we're a bit dehydrated and maybe you start feeling a bit dizzy
you start kind of seeing lights or what your head starts hurting a little bit and
The the answer is just a simple drink a little bit of water
That is the first thing that we try as parents with our kids when they have a bit of a headache and usually
That gets rid of the problem. We're basically we just tell them hey drink this cup of water and like ten minutes later
They're fine because they just had a little bit. I mean too little of water
You can go without food in your body for a while. Can't really go without water for a while
You're gonna have major adverse effects if you're going without water. So these are just basic principles
There are very basic will principles that any of us could do
To greatly increase and help our diet and our overall overall health just making small little changes, right?
Godliness is by far number one. Number two, I believe is diet number three
I would link it as exercise and so exercise is something mentioned in the Bible
We're back in first Timothy chapter 4 and as I mentioned here in verses 7 and 8 when it says bodily exercise
Prophet of the little you've got to look at the context of the verse
You've got a colon after the word little the reason why bodily exercise profits little is
godliness is profitable on to all things having promise of the life that now is and
of that which is to come
Bodily exercise profits little because what's the promise of bodily exercise?
Is it the life that now is or of that which is to come the life that now is and so exercise of course is
Helpful for us here on earth. It just doesn't get us rewards in heaven
Okay, go to Leviticus chapter 16
Leviticus 16
Yeah, as I mentioned earlier
You see people that are very muscular and sometimes they are actually in very bad health and you would think they're in good health
But they're not I was amazed when I started going when I went to college as I would go to the college gym
And you'd see guys that are really strong
They got huge muscles and sometimes they might even have abs and be very lean and then they go on a treadmill
It's like five miles per hour and then one minute later, it's like
And I'm just they look like they're in such good shape and I just kind of had this idea in my head and it's like
It's actually not not true at all
Because it requires more oxygen to be pumped if you have muscles
So if you have I don't believe God actually designed us to have these massive muscles necessarily
He did design us to be fit and strong and of course
There is functional strength where if a person worked on a farm, they're not gonna have these massive muscles probably
but they're gonna be very strong and
of course in
Times gone past most jobs are manual labor
So I think if you were to look at people like Jacob in today's world if he was around
Because he was very strong in the Bible right? He removed that stone all by himself
You'd probably see someone that did not physically look that impressive was actually very strong
I mean, I remember seeing somebody at the gym one time and he did not look super strong and
I remember just seeing him do like various gymnastic type things where you know
His feet are like straight across and all the and I'm thinking how is he that strong?
He was doing muscle-ups which are like a hundred times harder than a pull-up and I'm just thinking how do you I mean you he?
Did not look that impressive and yet he was incredibly strong and then I've seen other people that look incredibly strong
And then they're actually just not that strong
Right and so looks can be very deceiving. Okay Leviticus 16 verse 21 and
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins putting them upon the head of the goat and
Shall send him away by the hand of a notice this fit man into the wilderness. We talk about being physically fit
Physically in shape what the Bible defines someone being physically fit as is someone with both strength and cardio
Why because you cannot carry a goat if you're weak
But you have to have some cardio if you're going to be carrying it a long distance as well
So being physically fit the combination is actually having both muscle and cardio. We'll have a
goat carrying competition later on
We're going to find out who's actually physically fits right you're gonna have to carry them up and down the stairs like 20 times
We'll time you or whatever, but it's like truly being physically fit is actually a combination of both strength and cardio
It's not just one now when I was in high school, and I ran all the time. I had really good cardio
I did not have much strength, and I was not I was a soccer player
I wasn't training to put on big muscles or whatever
But you know there's other people that could be the opposite where you could have a lot of muscle
But not much cardio, but the reality is that we need both of them. We need both muscle and
Cardio, so if you're trying to get physically in shape you're gonna have a combination of various different things now
I do believe this that as you get older as a guy
one thing that we all struggle with especially we work out is the pain in the lower back and
When I was younger I would do a lot of very heavy lifting a lot of Olympic type lifting most of that
I don't really do any more because of the fact
I'm worried about injuries the long-term effects and stuff like that
But you know if you have just basic workouts of body weight type working out you can actually get physically fit
Even if you don't get massive muscle so even if you don't go to the gym all the time
You can actually just I mean a couple you can do a lot with a pair of dumbbells
The pair of dumbbells that the church gave me years ago
I still use those all the time because there's a lot that you can do just with a pair of dumbbells and just do various
You know body weight exercises. I used to go to the gym all the time. I don't do that really anymore
But you can still get physically fit just with some very basic things
Actually turn to Ecclesiastes 5 Ecclesiastes 5
Ecclesiastes 5 and the Bible says you know the days of our years are three square years and ten and if by reason of strength
They'd be four square years yet is their strength labor and sorrow for to soon cut off and we fly away by having strength by
Having physical condition it can actually
Help lengthen your life
Now I would say this that in the past as I mentioned people had a lot of jobs where you're actually
Physically being active and if you're a hard-working person you're gonna be in shape
I don't think that people really counted their calories thousands of years ago because they probably just ate as much as they could to have
The energy to work because they're just being very active in their lives and in some ways modern technology and modern
Conveniences can be detrimental to us because of the fact life is too easy sometimes
Right, but the Bible says this in Ecclesiastes 5 verse 12 the sleep of a laboring man is sweet whether he little or much
But the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep
The Bible speaks about the sleep of a laboring man, and if you're working very hard
You know what takes place is you fall asleep very quickly
And I would say this that if I am NOT being very active in my life
what I will often find is I try to go to sleep and I can't sleep and
So actually being physically active and getting some exercise is probably one of the best hobbies that you could do
Okay, turn your Bible to Proverbs 17
Proverbs 17 now, I want to give you just practical advice about this because obviously we live busy lives
I do not think exercise should become your idol or lowercase
You know God in your life where it becomes the most important thing
I definitely don't think sacrifice your Bible reading to exercise or anything like that
But you know if you find yourself very busy one thing you try to do is kind of combine things together
So for example, hopefully you spend time in prayer
And one thing you can do is just go for a walk for 10 minutes and just go through your prayer list
For 10 minutes 15 minutes. I do Bible memorization while I'm walking it helps me
There's actually a lot of studies that show
light physical exercise actually increases your mental capacity while you're doing that and
So I will memorize the Bible and go walking for an hour an hour and a half
So I'm getting exercise and I don't exercise as much as I used to but at least I'm kind of combining things and getting some
Exercise and so, you know, maybe you could try to consider combining things together in the United States
If you're a soul winner you get exercise
Because people slam the door in your face
So if you're going so winning for a lot during the week, you are getting your cardio my friend here though people listen to you
So the only cardio you're doing is you know, your your mouth muscles are getting stronger
Okay, so I guess that's one advantage of America when they don't listen
I mean we would have sowing maps in Sacramento and sometimes the maps are designed
So you kind of do a square but sometimes they're just kind of straight in one direction
Nobody listens and it's like an hour later. You realize as you do the long walk back. It's like we walk like two miles
Right, so you get some serious exercise, but here of course going so winning you don't get as much exercise
So maybe you want to consider physical exercise on the side. We talked about godliness. We talked about diet
We talked about exercise also another thing to increase your health is happiness
Being a happy person is going to make you healthier the Bible mentions this several times
Proverbs 17 verse 22 a
Merry heart doeth good like a medicine
But a broken spirit drieth the bones the Bible says having a merry heart having a happy heart is like a medicine
You say well, what's the Bible saying? It's saying being happy makes you healthier
It's not just being symbolic it's literally saying being happy will make you healthier now one thing to consider is this
What's the biggest thing that will make you depressed and in a bad mood?
living in sin
right
When you are right with God, it makes you happier, doesn't it?
And that's another reason why living a godly life is actually going to help your health because when you're happy
It's like a medicine. It's good for you. It's literally saying your physical health will increase
By actually being a happy person
I mean what what David talked about was make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou is broken may rejoice
And he's also hinting toward this idea that having joy and gladness is actually going to help my physical health as well
Turn your Bible
to first Samuel 16 first Samuel 16 and
From an article on happiness and how it relates to health. It says this protecting your health
Happiness lowers your risk for cardiovascular
disease lowers your blood pressure
Enables better sleep improves your diet allows you to maintain a normal body weight through regular exercise and reduces stress
So according to a secular article happiness is very beneficial to your overall health
But it's not just a study that says that the Bible does tell us that being happy is going to make you healthier
It is interesting how it says it improves your diet because you know, one thing is true is often when you're depressed
You just eat junk food. It's kind of like I'm miserable. I'm gonna make myself feel worse
Right and what it's saying is that if you're actually happy
It's actually going to help you to have a better diet says that even in the secular article
So we talked about godliness. We talked about diet. We talked about exercise. We talked about happiness. Another thing is your emotions and
I'm gonna make a distinction here between
Emotions and your mental state and when I say mental state what I'm stating is keeping yourself mentally active
So it's a little bit different how the word world would define it when I'm saying emotions
I'm speaking specifically to your emotions when I talk about mentally for point number six
I'm saying keeping your mind active and not just sitting around watching TV all day
Okay, but emotions let's look at a person whose emotions are all over the place and that's King Saul first
Samuel 16 verse 14
but the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him and
Saul's servant said unto him behold now an evil spirit from God trouble with thee
Let our Lord now command thy servants which are better than it before thee
To seek out a man who was a cunning player on in harp
And it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt
Be well in verse 23 David plays with a harp and he does better
The Bible says that God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind
Meaning you're not acting crazy
Look if people are allowing their emotions to rule their life and they're just all over the place and they're not stable
It's it's also negative for your physical health as well
You need to make sure that you get your emotions under control
Now the best way to do that in my opinion is to wake up every day and
spend time with God and
If you don't do that, you know what?
You're probably gonna find in your life because I would say that all of us have probably had days
We missed our Bible reading or we did less or whatever
and you know what you find is that your emotions are all over the place and
Another reason to consider just spending time with God every day is because when your life is like that
You're gonna put yourself through a lot of stress
I mean like Saul is so stressed out in this story and so worried that he's getting rejected
It's like what are the long-term effects on that?
It's gonna destroy your physical health as well. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 Ecclesiastes 12
Ecclesiastes chapter 12
And so really, you know, we have seven points in this sermon
But honestly, it really all goes back to point number one of living a godly life
Because if you're living a godly life, it's gonna help your emotions if you're living a godly life
It's gonna help you be happy. I mean, it's like the number one thing by far you say man
I really this New Year's I want to make a New Year's resolution to get in better shape. I have these health goals
I think that's great. Make sure that godliness is the center of that make sure you do not sacrifice your spiritual goal
Say well, you know, I'm just gonna cut down on my Bible reading so I can exercise more
I would strongly advise against that because actually being right with God is going to do more for you than anything else
Number six is mentally and what I mean is mentally staying sharp
Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 12 and further by these my son be admonished of making many books
There is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh. See the Bible says that study
Wearies you it tires you
Perhaps in college you studied for exams and you're exhausted studying for these exams trying to learn this stuff. It's tiring
That's good for you
What happens to a part of your body if you do not use it it atrophies?
It gets small. It gets weak by lack of use
I was shocked when I had surgery and on my knee when I tore my ACL a long time ago and
After the surgery
I could only do limited exercise because right at the beginning I couldn't even lift my leg off the ground
And so I had various exercises for my PT that he gave me and I could do them three times a day
And I did it as much as possible because I'm sitting around doing nothing all day
It's like I want to do something and I was amazed though after a couple months that when you measured this leg
Versus this leg that this leg was just a lot bigger than this leg
This leg had atrophied where there was no muscle whatsoever
And it all just vanished just from a couple months doing nothing. Here's the thing
Why would you think it would be any different with our minds?
If all you do is sit around and watch TV all day
You're destroying your mental health what I mean by that is you're just destroying your brain
It's like you need to make sure you're keeping your mind sharp
You know a great way to do that because here's the thing
One great thing about the Word of God is that we will never understand all of it
And you can study and study and study and study and you're still there
Just trying to learn as I memorize through the Bible. I'm thinking the whole time. I've been I got to think
What is this talking about? How can I tie this together?
Your mind is really going as you're thinking and studying the Bible
You never want to reach a point in life where you're like, man, I'm retired. So I'm gonna just watch TV all day
It's like you're destroying your mind and if you want to keep yourself healthy
One thing is to keep your mind very active go to Leviticus chapter 12 10. We're almost done Leviticus chapter 10
Leviticus 10
Look I think we should strive to get a balance on all these things in our life godliness is by far number one
But I think we should try to have a good diet. We should try to have you know, get exercise in our life stay active
Even if you're not able to just spend, you know, like isolated 40 minutes exercise, you know
Don't be a person who just sits around and does nothing make sure you're trying to stay active do something
Anything is going to help you, you know being a happy person our emotional state our mental, you know
Capacity by just using our mind
lastly cleanliness and cleanliness is probably way up on the list of
Important things but cleanliness meaning basic things like brushing your teeth
Taking a shower. I mean, these are things that are very important
In fact, there's an entire book of the Bible called Leviticus that talks quite a bit about these very very basic things
Here's what it says Leviticus 10 verse 9
Do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle the congregation
Lest ye die
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations
And I may put difference between holy and unholy and between clean and unclean the Bible defines alcohol as being unclean
Did you know that and of course, it's unhealthy, but it's also just not clean for our bodies
It's not good for our bodies. And so we should strive to live a clean life and of course clean
morally
Spiritually also just physically trying to live a clean life go to Leviticus chapter 13. We'll close up Leviticus 13
Look if I became the mayor of a city, which I'm sure will never happen
I'm dead serious that one of the first things I would do a yes
I would destroy all the idols, you know things such as that, but I would have like a
Nat or not a national but a local holiday
we're basically we'd use the money to buy trash bags by everyone a
Lunch or whatever and try to get everybody in the community everybody off from work just to clean up
The place I mean honestly, that's that would be about my biggest wish
You know, we're in on holy city that we would just man I would I would participate if it doesn't interrupt with church
I would certainly participate. I would love to just make it clean
I mean, wouldn't that be a great thing?
Just the streets being clean something very basic and you know, the reality is that you know
This is not the cleanest country in the world
But there are a lot of countries that are way dirtier than this a lot of areas that are super dirty very unhealthy for you
Well, if you're living in unclean areas, you're very liable to get sick and get diseases and various things
I mean I come from you know, a pretty clean area in the US and you know
When I first moved here to the Philippines because we started we were in Ermita because we didn't know where we're gonna live
so we had
Air B&B for a couple weeks
I was pretty much sick the first six weeks
I was here and I would preach and my voice was sore and I would rest it during the week and I because I just
Was not used to all the pollution especially in Ermita
Was horrible right because when you're in unclean areas, it's bad on your physical health
It's not good for you
I mean
There's nothing like just stepping outside
The Sun is shining and it's clean in the area and just breathing in fresh air. Is that not true?
Feels great and it also is very good for your actual physical health because cleanliness is very important Leviticus 13 verse 1 and
the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron saying when a man shall have in the skin of his flesh arising a scab or bright spot
and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy then he shall be brought on to Aaron the priest or
under one of his sons the priest and the priest
Shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh and when the hair and the plague is turned white and the plague inside
Be deeper in the skin of his flesh
It is a plague of leprosy and the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean
And I'm not going to go through this whole chapter or section to talk about it
But the Bible speaks about being clean and unclean and a lot of these things are just arising from having a clean area that you're in
Now obviously, you know you might live in an area
That is not the cleanest and you can do nothing about that and I get that
But to the very best of your ability you want to try to keep your own house clean
You know just keep things nice around the area
There's a lot of specific things that are unclean not to put as part of your lifestyle or part of your body
I mean these things are important, right?
I think in general when you go soul-winning if you notice areas where they drink a lot of alcohol
It's usually a pile of trash in their house. It's dirty. It's gross. It's like they don't even keep I mean
There's there's beers thrown everywhere in their backyard and I'm just saying what are you doing?
There's an invention called a trash can right? You just put it inside the trash can like why are you just throwing that?
Especially in your own yard. It doesn't really make any sense for me. I mean, I
Will eat just about anything or try just about anything as long as it's clean
That's kind of like my one standard, you know, I've eaten a lot of foods that are considered exotic foods
But the idea is that they're clean I've eaten various bugs, but they fit under the clean category from the Old Testament. It's like
On a side point one thing I do not understand because in my opinion Thailand has the best food in the world
But the countries are the best food eat the weirdest things as well. It's like they eat eat
Peace all the time, you know, it's like why would you ever eat that? I don't get it
But it's just like in general just trying to live clean, you know, take a shower
Try to live in a clean atmosphere not allow things in your life that are unclean and everything
It's going to be actually healthy for you
But above all if there's one thing you can remember from the sermon because I'm not trying to get you obsessed with your health
We need a balance in all areas of our life
Live a godly life and this is kind of an encouragement that yeah
You know what? If I live a godly life, it actually will help me even with my physical life
You say why because of the fact bodily exercise only profits in this life
But godliness profits in all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come
Let's go to prayer your Heavenly Father
Thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us to apply the sermon to our lives
God help everybody in this room
Strive to live a godly life
I ask you to bless all of us in this room with good health and
I ask you to help us have good health and be strong and
Active and have the energy to serve you and do right and just have good health God
But help us make sure that we put godliness number one in our lives in Jesus name we pray. Amen