Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. Glad you've joined us in this presentation. We're looking at conquerors of the night life at its best. You know, any soldiers that go to war need to obviously be at peak condition. Peak performance is required, isn't it? And as we're seeing in this series, you and I are at war. We're in a war much more real with much more larger consequences than any war on this planet. Notice what the Bible says. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles. That means the strategies of the devil. For we do not wrestle, meaning we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts and wickedness, against in the heavenly places. So very clearly we are at war and we need to be in the best possible condition to win this war. The war for your eternal destiny or your eternal loss. Both of us, we need to understand how to be in this best condition. We need to go back to these three beasts again. Remember, we're looking at this great issue over global worship. These three powers, the dragon, the sea beast and the land beast, they seek global worship, meaning your allegiance and mine, the allegiance of the whole world. And we've seen these final warning messages to counteract, to help us overcome these three beasts. That's what the three angels are given for. I want you to notice what the first angel says. There's something in this first angel's message that we haven't looked at up to this point. So let's come to that. Now, in this message, the Bible says, I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him. Now, how do we give glory to God? How does that happen? Well, there are many ways, of course, but the Bible signals out one way a number of times. It uses the phrase to glorify God. I, I want you to notice what it says. We go to the writings of the apostle Paul. Paul said, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. Why? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, which means which belongs to God. In other words, Paul is telling us, bring glory to God. Lift God up by caring for his body temple. Now there are sadly many people, even many Christians, who say, listen, it doesn't really matter how you treat Your body, so long as your heart is right with God, that's all that counts. Now let me tell you my friend, nothing could be further from the truth. Why pray, tell me, would Jesus go about healing so many people, all of his ministry if the body didn't really matter? Jesus didn't do this for fun. The body belongs to God. And Jesus went about healing people because it does matter. You see, our Creator knows what we need for optimal health. Cause he's the one who made us. Now maybe you've bought yourself a car on some occasion. I hope you took time to read the manual because the manual is given by the manufacturer because the manufacturer knows how the car was put together and what's the best way to look after the car. Fortunately, there is a manual for good health. It comes from the Creator. It's actually called the Bible. The Bible has great principles for caring for your body and my body. Right there in this amazing book we're going to discover that there are very sound scientific health principles in this book. It's been my privilege to. I began my studies by studying medicine. I did a couple of years of that and then I changed to science in pathology and biochemistry. And I'm amazed at how the body works. And so I'll be sharing with you some of the key principles that we find in this book that really bring us back to modern day science. So we're going to discover sound scientific health principles in this book, no question. Now first of all, humans are four dimensional. What are the four dimensions? Well, we find them, they are social. We are a social being, we are a mental being, we have a mind, we have physical, our bodies, muscles and so on. And finally we are spiritual beings. Now sadly, there are some people in life who try to get on in life with having one of those missing, maybe the spiritual component. Some other people think, well it doesn't really matter if I don't look after my body. Well let me tell you, it's going to affect our mind. In fact, the Bible gives us these four principles. Even in the life of Jesus, this four dimensional picture of human beings, the Bible says of Jesus, Jesus increased in wisdom, that's mentally and stature physically and in favor with God, that's spiritually and in favor with men or people socially. Now if you don't think this is true that we, these four things are very important to good health. Let me share with you what may happen should you have one of these things missing. Now imagine if you lose out on sleep, okay? You're going to find that you become Irritable and it will affect your social relationships just by not getting enough sleep. How about mental stress? It can cause heart attacks and stomach ulcers. Right? We know that. You imagine if I'm standing here and I have in my hand a green lemon and I take a knife and I cut this green lemon. Z. Some of you are nearly salivating already. And I don't even have a lemon in my hand. The mind affects the body, doesn't it? And so that's what we mean. These four dimensions of life, they all interact very important for holistic health. These four things. Now what we want to notice is how to have good health and a strong immune system. I'm going to share with you some amazing principles found in this book and backed up by science. 1972, Doctors Breslo and Belloc from the University of California put out the results of a study that they'd been doing for nine years. In this nine year study of 7,000 individuals, it revealed how to add 11 and a half years of good quality life. Now, the things that they discovered pretty much are found in this book. And yet this goes back way back in time, 1500 years before Jesus, Moses started to write things down. So let's begin with the first of these things that can help your and my health. I put this acrostician, you start. It's a simple way to think these principles need to be in your life and my life if we want to have good health. Notice the first one. Nutrition. N for nutrition. Very important. Moses gave very sound dietary principles in this book. It amazes me to think what he wrote. First of all, for example, he told us by God told Moses, tell the people to avoid animal fat. Not good for them. Notice what it said. Speak to the children of Israel, saying, you shall eat no manner of fat of ox or of sheep or of goat. Wow. You know, it's, it's, it's every time you go to a doctor, if you have a heart problem, first thing he's going to say, listen, cut back, cut back on all that red meat stuff, right? He's just what he can tell you because of the harm that it can do to your, your arteries and vessels and so on. No question about it. In fact, science backs this up big time. The American Heart association recommends limiting saturated fats. Those are the ones that are found in butter, cheese, red meat and other animal based foods. Decades of sound science has proven it can raise your bad cholesterol and put you at higher risk of heart disease. Very, very important. And yet the Bible Spelled those things out way back in time, over 3,500 years ago thereabouts. Number two, Moses was told by God that a plant based diet was the best for optimal health. Notice the very first page of the Bible almost God spelled this out to his people. God said, this is talking to Adam and Eve. Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all of the earth and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree and yielding seed to you. It shall be for food. God said. Now again, medical science backs this up big time today. Notice what Lily Henderson from New Zealand had to say about this. There's no debating the science. A diet packed with plant foods does wonders for your health. She's part of the National Nutrition Advisory in New Zealand on the Health Foundation Heart Foundation. Science backs this up today big time. The China studies and so on, that have been done. Number three point that Moses gave on diet was a prohibition. God gave on unclean meats. Now I'm sure you've heard of Noah's flood. Notice what the Bible said. When Noah went onto the ark with his family, the animals came on board. I want you to notice what happened. The Bible says you shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female, 2 each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female. Now clearly God did not intend for Noah's family to eat the unclean ones. Why? Well, you imagine Mrs. Noah brings supper to Noah on the boat one day and she's taken one of the unclean animals and Noah says, oh my dear, you've just wiped out the species. Cause now there's only two of them, a male and a female. God didn't incline us to eat those ones, but he provided plenty of the clean animals 7, you'll notice. So I guess the question now becomes, what's the difference between a clean and unclean animal? Well, the Bible spells that out for us. Notice what the Bible says. You may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts and that chews the cuddling among the animals. So those are the ones you can eat. Now what are those animals? Well, these are the animals that we're familiar with when it comes to usually on the plate if you're going to eat flesh, the deer, the sheep, the cattle, goats and so on. These are what the Bible says, the clean animals, they chew the cud and have a cloven hoof. All right, let's continue on. Moses continued, nevertheless, of those that chew the cuddly or have a cloven hoof, you shall not eat such as these, the camel, the hare, or the rabbit. And the rock hyrax, for they chew the cud, but they do not have cloven hooves. They, he said, are unclean for you. So what animals are these? Well, there's heaps of them, isn't there? You think about the horse, the rabbit, the kangaroo. These, according to the Bible, are unclean animals. And generally we now understand a little more why. Because many of these unclean animals have parasites in them. Now, when you eat the flesh and you get the same parasite that's in the flesh, it's going to affect your body. It's going to do you big damage. In fact, some of these parasites, rather large worms, they're found in people from eating this sort of thing. So God says, no, don't eat these ones. These are the clean ones. These are the unclean ones. I care about your health. He continues, Also the swine, the pig, he's unclean for you because it has cloven hooves, yet it does not chew the cud. You shall not eat their flesh. Now, of course, everybody knows that. The old porky pig, he's pretty, pretty unclean, isn't he? Not a good, not a good thing. I remember when I was a kid, we grew up in, in Perth in Western Australia. And we were at the end of a road, and at the far end of our road there was a main road where the trucks used to come from the farms carrying cattle, sheep and pigs. Now, we could never smell the cattle truck or the sheep truck from where we lived, but we could smell the pig truck because of course, they're very unclean. And God knew that and knew that it would be harmful for us to eat them. Notice what the Bible says. For the Lord God is a son and a shield. In other words, God cares about us and wants us to have the best. He's a son and a shield. He protects us. In other words, he's looking out for our interests. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. That's a very important principle. If God tells us not to eat something, it's because it's not good for us. That's why he withholds it. If it was good, he wouldn't withhold it. He withholds it from us because he knows it's going to be deleterious to our health. And of course, we know today that pork has the highest fat content, it is the highest cholesterol. Source in meats. And Dr. McNaught, notice that one in every four pork specimens had living Trochana larvae in them. In other words, even the best of cooking, it's very hard to kill these parasites. And when they grow, they're going to be some sort of a great worm in you, taking away all the nutrients and doing you harm. So God says, no, don't. Don't have those. It's unclean for you. Now, sadly, the Israelites were very rebellious and unfaithful to God in the Bible, in the Old Testament especially, we read of it, in fact, they not only broke God's Sabbath, as we saw, they not only turned away from following God in all sorts of things, but this was another area they turned away from following what God gave them in these sound scientific health principles. Notice what the Bible says, talking about a rebellious attitude. That is, these people knew what they should do or stop doing, but they would not do it. That's a rebellious heart. Not talking about where they were ignorant, but where they knew what was right or what was wrong and would not follow the right thing. Notice what God says. He says, for behold, the Lord will come with fire and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens after an idol in the midst. Because the Israelites sadly got into BAAL worship and would eat up there on the groves and sacrifice to the idols and so on that the BAAL and Asher are, and so on. They go after an idol in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, they shall be consumed together, says the Lord. Imagine they were eating mice. Mice for breakfast? Give me a break. Very full of disease. But they were eating them in their rebellious attitude. And God said, hey, this is dangerous. As we said, this is an attitude of rebellion. God says, it's an abomination unto me. When you know what we should do, but we will, we refuse to do the right thing. This is what he was talking about. So what about the fish that swim in the waters, the oceans and the rivers? What are the clean animals there? Notice what the Bible says. How to tell a clean fish from an unclean. A clean animal in the waters from an unclean. One very simple principle. God gave these. You may eat of all that are in the waters. You may eat all that have fins and scales. And whatever does not have fins and scales, you shall not eat it. It is unclean for you. Well, there's a whole bunch of animals you can clearly eat that come from the waters. Many of them have fins and scales. And so there is an abundance that one can eat as long as it has fins and scales. But there's a whole lot too, that we shouldn't eat, because God says, look, it doesn't have fins and scales. And I know it's not going to do you any good. Let's talk about, for a moment about shellfish. According to Prevention magazine, they are dirty and dangerous. I remember when we lived up near Newcastle many years ago, my wife and I, oftentimes there'd be an outbreak of food poisoning and they could usually trace it to people eating shellfish. Because you see the shellfish, they eat the garbage on the floors of the oceans and the rivers and so on. And then we get the garbage into our body and of course it's going to do us harm. It can be very deleterious. I remember my parents, they were. They loved crabs and crayfish before they found out about these things in the Bible, and that was a big part of their diet. And then they read these words and they said, oh, no, God's spoiling all our fun. Oh, no, no, no. But they said, no, listen, if that's what God says, if that's what's in his word, let's follow it. Pretty soon they got used to not eating that stuff and their health was better for it, of course, because God knows what is good, what is harmful to us. Back in the time of the Second World War, the United States asked Dr. Bruce Halstead, who was a marine biologist, to come up with a diet that downed airmen being shot out of the sky or a ship that had been, you know, destroyed and people were on the ocean in a raft or something or landed on an island. What sort of food could they eat? Bruce Halstead pretty much came up with what the Bible says. These are great principles, scientific health principles. How about the birds? What of the birds can we eat? Well, God just tells us what not to eat, basically. And you can clearly see which are the harmful ones. He says, all clean birds you may eat, but these you shall not eat. Notice the types he said not to eat. The eagle, the vulture, every raven, the seagull and the hawk and the heron and the bat. Bats for breakfast. Boy, that'll do you some damage, wouldn't it? We know they're full of disease, but the animals that tend to be the ones that, you know, carnivores and those who pick up the dead flesh, you know, like the vultures and so on, not good. The rubbish that they take in, comes into our bodies. So what's the sort of animals that fly? Well, of course the turkey, the hens, the common types of fowls that we find most people eat today. These are the clean animals that fly. If you're going to eat flesh, let's move to the second area, exercise. Now, of course, in Bible times they did a lot of exercise. They walked everywhere and drive a car, didn't jump on a train, they walked, they had gardening. And so they had plenty of exercise. But let me tell you, there are many good forms of exercise today. Gardening is a good one, so long as we do it sometimes vigorously. Many different forms of exercise. I remember reading about this when I was a medical student and I thought, I need to get into exercise. You know, usually after you finished high school, you stop exercising. Most people. But if you keep it up 30 minutes a day, every day, at least three or four, five times a week, you will be much better off for it. This one thing alone has kept me out of the grave. I'm a type A person. I love to do, love to be active. But exercise can actually help us with our minds. It can give us, you know, calm us down. It's a tremendous thing having physical exercise. Water. One of the most important things to have in our, in our bodies is water. Water as in H2O. Not water as in coffee or water as in coke or water as in something else. No, just water. This was what God gave Adam and Eve. And it does wonders. Six to eight glasses a day will help your kidneys big time at other parts of your body. It's very important and proven scientifically that water is very good for you and I and drink plenty of it. It can do wonders for our health. The next one, sunshine. We lived out in the Pacific Islands for some years and we noticed that every time the sun came out after you had lots of rain, out would come the sheets, the blankets and everything out there in the sun because the sun is a great one to kill bacteria and so on. That can cause us damage. Sunlight critical for good health. We need to get out in the sunlight. Of course, we don't want to overdo it, but it can do wonders because as we said, it kills bacteria, viruses and fungi. A very important principle. Many people are indoors too much these days. We work in offices all day and we don't get enough sunlight. Some countries, people have to take vitamin D because of the fact that they don't get enough sunlight in some parts of the world. So we all need to have plenty of Sunlight. Then we want to talk about a very important principle in the Bible, temperance. Now, Paul addressed this one very clearly. He likened us as somebody who's going in an Olympic race, the Olympic Games. He spoke about these sorts of things, but he was talking about us personally in our journey with God. Notice what he said. Everyone who competes for the prize is temper in all things. And isn't that the case? Somebody who's going in the Olympic Games or he's on some football team or whatever, is he going to be very careful what they do with their bodies? Get to bed at a good time, you know, and eat the right things. Generally speaking, those people who watch that are going to be the better athletes. Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown, just a gold medal. When Paul's there, a reef on your head. But we, for an imperishable crown, we're heading for eternity. Notice what Paul says next. I discipline my body. Paul is saying. I watch how I treat my body, what I put into it, and so on, he's saying, and bring it into subjection. Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Paul said the way we treat our bodies can disqualify us for eternity. In other words, very important principle here, temperance. What do we mean by temperance? What we mean is basically self control. Now, what does self control look like when we think of things that we put into our bodies? How about poisons? What would self control say? How much arsenic should I take? How much cyanide should I take? Well, temperance would say none, right? For a poison, none. How about something that's neither good, neither really bad? Well, temperance would say a little. A little, but not too much. Sugar. Some sugar is okay, but not much because it can do us damage. How about something good? Well, that would be sufficient. But don't overdo it. Just because a thing is good to overdo, it can do harm as well. You could kill yourself just by drinking gallons and gallons of water in one hit, couldn't you? Of course you could. Even though water's good. So enough, sufficient. That's temperance. Self control, balance. In other words, let's talk about a few things that many people face because it's out there in your face. Do you know, when it comes to smoking, let me tell you, if I was dishing out a poison, I'd probably get put into jail for it, right? Dishing out poison. Cigarettes kill people, and yet they're allowed, even in society. Something's wrong here. But anyway, what about smoking? Dr. Linus Pauling, scientist discovered that every cigarette takes 14 and a half minutes of life off your life, you may say, well, who cares about 14 and a half minutes? That's nothing. Well, wait a minute. Some people smoke 40 cigarettes a day. Very expensive today, I will admit, isn't it? 40 cigarettes a day will mean 16 years less life when you look at that. And the quality of life will be much poorer at the end. It has a cumulative effect. And then, of course, smokers have a 25% higher risk of heart attacks. This is really damaging to us. How about drugs? You know, one of the great tragedies. I traveled on trains a few years ago from the central coast of Sydney of New South Wales down to Sydney itself. On the train station, I would notice a young guy on one occasion, he's just talking out loud to himself. Just talking out loud. He's lost his mind, probably on drugs, just the way he looked. Drugs can have a terrible effect on our mental health. Now, what about it? When we're on some of these things, how can we get off? Well, let me tell you. We can't usually do this on our own. If we're on some addictive substance like cigarettes, they're addictive like drugs. But God has a way. The Bible says, without me, you can do nothing. But with me. Notice what Paul says with Christ, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You may not be able to overcome it of your own, your own willpower. But let me tell you, when you ally yourself with Christ, when you invite him into your life, a new power comes into your life. And God can give you the victory over that which is destroying your health. There's no question about it. There is a power that comes. What about alcohol? This is a very common thing. In fact, it's huge in our society. You can hardly drive down a street without, in a suburb, without noticing some bottle shop right, right next to where you buy your groceries. In fact, right in the grocery shop. It's rampant today in our world, but it's causing a lot of harm to people. Notice. Dr. Melvin Kingsley of the University of South Carolina discovered that alcohol causes red blood cells to clump together, to stick together, making it impossible for them, when they're clumped together, to pass through the tiniest blood vessels, your capillaries. Alcohol cuts off blood to the brain, killing cells with just one drink. Think about it. Just one drink and you and I can be killing brain cells. Now, you lose brain cells naturally as time goes on. That's why sometimes we can't remember like we Once used to and so on. We're losing brain cells. But why take out them quicker by drinking alcohol? There's something else about alcohol that's really dangerous. Alcohol affects the forebrain. That's the part that affects our conscience, our reason and our judgment. Which is why people, when they're under the influence of alcohol, do things they would not normally do because it's affected their forebrain. Which is why the Bible says these words about alcoholic drinks. Notice what it says. This is the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon. God is speaking through him. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler. And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. In fact, Solomon goes even stronger and further notice what he says about wine and alcoholic drinks. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly, talking about the alcoholic variety at the last. It bites like a serpent, a snake, and it stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things. And isn't that the case? I've been in some hotels in various places on this planet and at 2 or 3 in the morning, you hear people coming home or trying to come home down the street. They can't hardly talk straight, certainly not thinking straight, certainly not walking straight. Bible is talking about alcohol. It's very harmful to us especially. You want to get to eternity, you need your brains intact all the time. Because there is an enemy against us who is waiting for opportunities for us to be led astray. Do you know one of the most amazing statistics and saddest statistics is this? Two out of every five drinkers will have a serious drinking problem. Two out of every five. Do you know what that means? 40%. 40% of people who start on alcohol will have serious problems. Either it'll break up their marriage because of the influence in the home. It'll affect their health, put them in hospital. It'll cause them to have an accident where they may kill someone or be killed. 40% of people. The problem is we don't know whether when we start on this thing, alcohol, whether we're going to be two out of those five. We're going to be in that 40%. We just don't know. That's why it's not smart to start in the first place, because we just don't know if we're going to be two out of those five. You think what that means? Ever heard of Russian roulette? Take a revolver, put five bullets. It's got five chambers, I should say. And you put two of them in, two of the five chambers, you spin the barrel and you pull the trigger, you know, and you pass the gun around. Would you play a game like that with two bullets in and five? I wouldn't because I know my odds are first time I pulled the trigger, that'd be the end of me. Yet that's what we're doing. When we start on alcohol, we do not know whether we're going to be two of those five people. Now, here's a question that some people have, and it's a good question, but didn't Jesus turn water into wine? Yes, he did. No question about it. But we need to understand that the same word for alcoholic wine is also used for grape juice in the Bible. Notice what the Bible says here. As the new wine is found in the cluster, the bunch of grapes. When you squeeze a bunch of grapes, what do you get? Grape juice. Straight away, as the new wine is found in the cluster and one says, do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it. So the same Greek word is used for both alcoholic wine and non alcoholic wine or grape juice. It's the context that tells us which sort of wine it is. Now, Jesus himself refused wine on the cross. When they offered to him. When he first went on the cross, he refused it. Why? He wanted his mind in gear. He was in the greatest battle of the history of this universe. Whether he would win this battle or not determined on what he would do with this stuff because it would rob him of his power to think. So he refused it. He wanted his mind in gear. Now, do you think Jesus, the same Jesus who told Solomon to tell people wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, the same Jesus who inspired the prophet Solomon again to say, you know, don't look on the wine when it sparkles, you know, don't do that. Do you think that same Jesus is going to make enough wine from water to make make enough to make a whole village drunk? Cause that's how much he made plenty of it. Do you think the same Jesus who refused alcoholic wine on the cross is gonna make that much? No. The context clearly tells us this is done by Jesus. He's not gonna do that. God is not a schizophrenic. He's not gonna tell us to do one thing in one part of the Bible and do different himself in another part of the Bible. No way. He just doesn't do that. No, this was Jesus refused alcoholic wine and he turned water into grape juice. You know, maybe you're not a Shakespeare fan, but let me tell you, Shakespeare sure got this one right. Oh, God. He said that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains. Put a bottle in their mouth because it steals our brains. Pretty true, isn't it? You know, a father kept grog in his fridge, put it there in his fridge, and he tell his boy, boy, don't drink grog. Not good for you. But he drank it. Of course, the inevitable happened. The boy helped himself to his dad's beer from time to time. On one occasion, he took too much out of his fridge and had an accident and killed himself in this accident. And the father knew that he was the one who killed his son by his influence. You see, my friend, if we won't do these things for ourself, think of those who are watching us and taking an example from us. Your decisions can actually have a ripple effect to your kids, to other young people, or whatever. Our lives influence other people. God says, don't take alcohol. It's not good. Now, if alcohol is our problem, and that could very well be the case, let me tell you, God can give you the victory. I shared in an earlier presentation of how God helped my father. The moment he invited Christ into his life, God gave a new power over the bottle. The Bible says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That includes getting the victory over this thing. Now, it's impossible for ourselves, but when we turn to God for help, he is able. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ever ask or imagine. And he loves us and he's only too happy to help us. And he will send help. We just need to cry out to him and say, God, help me. Whenever you're ready to do the wrong thing, cry out to God. Move away from the situation, get outside in the fresh air, do anything, call on God for help. What's another one in our new start acrostic? That is air. Fresh air. It is an amazing thing, fresh air. You know, when our oldest daughter was just a. Just a baby, my wife Marilyn would sometimes, because she cried a lot in those early months, and she would just take her outside, outside and in the fresh air. And immediately every time the crying would stop, it was amazing. There's something about the fresh air that's good for our minds and we need to get plenty Today. We are often starved. All we have is air conditioning coming into the office and we sit there most of the day. Go down to the lunch break. May not Even go out of the building. We need to get good fresh air away from the smog and the pollution. You know, some of our cities are rampant with it, aren't they? Let's make sure we get good fresh air. It's vital for health. The next one is rest. Ah, God says very importantly seven to eight hours. Well God doesn't say that, he just tells us sleep is important. But we know scientifically that somewhere between seven to eight hours a night at minimum is important for us. It can actually cause cancer. If we don't get enough sleep. It can cause mental health issues because this is where the, during sleep the body, the nerves are sort of reconfigured, if we could put it that way. Notice what the Bible says about this. So he gives his beloved sleep. You know, we should not shortchange ourself on sleep. It's going to affect our health. It's going to affect our relationships as well. If we don't get enough sleep, as we said, we get irritable and things can happen that we not normally would speak, not normally the way we would act. Sleep is important. The last one in the acrostic is to trust in God. This is one of the most important principles in this new start acrostic for good health. Notice what the Bible says. But now thus says the Lord who created you, fear not, I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. Jesus himself talked about this principle. He said, do not worry about what you eat or drink or what you put on. Your Heavenly Father cares for you. Peter put it this way. Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Trust in God is one of the most powerful things for your health, you know, especially when it comes to things like mental health issues because there's a lot of that today and it's hard to avoid it in the stress filled lives that we live. But one of the best things is to take time out with God. Read the Psalms, those great promises of the Bible. They can do wonders for our mental health. They can do wonders for our outlook on life. God says, listen, this is important. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and, and all these things will be added to you. Trust in God. Throw our problems on God. He knows how to solve them. Just trust in Him. A vital principle. Now you know, many of us know these principles but actually putting them into practice is another thing. Right? We need motivation for good health. We may know the principles but hard to get around to it. Let me share with you some of the Bible's motivational principles that can get us moving in this direction and keep us on course. Number one, our bodies are God's temple. He actually lives in us. Notice that the Bible says, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Did you not know that? You know, little girl was told that one day that God lived in her through his spirit. She was scared of the dark, so she came running home to Mummy. She says, mommy, the preacher said that I don't need to be afraid ever again because Jesus lives in me through His Holy Spirit. Okay, said Mommy, after dark, you go upstairs. She knew the little girl was scared of the dark. So it got dark. The little girl ran upstairs. She was up there for half an hour. After half an hour, she came running down. She said, mummy, it's right. It's true. I didn't feel scared. I didn't feel. I felt God was with me through His Holy Spirit. And that's the truth, my friend. God lives in you. Our body is the temple of God. What a privilege. God is not just alongside us, he's inside us. When we have Christ, someone, we're never alone. Never alone when we have Jesus. You think about that idea of the body as the temple of God. Imagine what it would be like if in your town, your village, your city, somebody threw a bunch of dung into a church or a heap of rubbish into a mosque. Let me tell you, there'd be a hue and cry from either the Muslims or the Christians who had that done to their church or their mosque, right? Of course they would. And rightfully so. But what about these body temples, these bodies of ours which are more important than any physical building, yet we throw all sorts of rubbish into them and it's the very temple of God. This is a good thing to think about. Our body is the temple of God. Let's look after it. It's where he lives when we give our lives to him. Our body belongs to God and not to us. Many people say, it's my body, I'll do what I want with it. No, God says, it's not your body, it's mine. How come do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own. Why? For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's, which belongs to God. You see, our body belongs to God because of Christ's death. He paid an Enormous price for you and me. You, you're valuable to God. How valuable? Go to Calvary and you will see you matter to God. I like the way that Peter put it. Knowing that you were redeemed, you were bought with the precious blood of Christ. As of a lamb. It doesn't get that much better. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is God in human flesh. And he died for you. He purchased you. Your body with a price. Doesn't belong to you, doesn't belong to me. Belongs to him. That's why Paul said these words. I beseech you, I urge you. He's saying to his friends, brethren, in view of the mercies of God, in view of what God has done for us, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service after what he's done for you and I. Number three, caring for our bodies is a moral issue. Notice Paul, writing to his friends in Corinth, wrote these words to them. He said, do you not know that you are the temple of God? That the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. Whoa. You and I are going to be judged on the way we treat our bodies. It's not a game. God is saying. That's why. The first angel's message, what does it say? It says, give glory to him. Why does it say give glory to him? Because the hour of his judgment has come. Care for your body. Bring glory to him because there's a judgment. And Paul says, we're going to be judged by the way we treat our bodies. It's that important. And finally, the Bible's health principles work. They really do. Studies have been done on people living in Okinawa, in Japan. Studies have been done on people living in Sardinia, in Italy, and on a group called 7th Day Adventists Living in California. These lifestyle studies have shown that these people tend to have more people who live to be over 100 and have better quality life when they live longer. It's amazing. Let me just share with you the result of the Adventist studies because they've been done in the universities there, in university in California, and they've been very popular on radio, national television in that country. These studies have been going on for some 40 years, thereabouts. Notice what they've discovered on these studies. For Adventists, they tend for longevity. Living longer. Adventist men live 7 1/2 years longer, roughly. Adventist women 4 1/2 years longer than the average Population. People in the population group. Not only that, Adventists for all cancers. They've discovered that Adventist men have a 60% lower death rate from all cancers. Adventist women, 76% lower death rate from all cancers. And then there's bowel cancer, 62% lower for Adventists, for breast cancer, 85% lower for Adventists. And then finally, coronary heart disease. Adventist men, 60% lower incidence compared to the general population where the study was taken. Adventist women, a whopping 98% lower incidence. Now why is that? It's not because they're Adventists. It's because generally most Adventists follow the principles, or at least follow. A lot of them do. By the way, they did studies on Adventists who follow the principles and Adventists who don't follow the principles. And it's the ones who follow the principles that get the advantage. So as I said, it's not because they're Adventists, it's because they follow the principles of the Bible. Which is why God said these words to the people. If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you. Now notice lastly, caring for our body helps us overcome Satan. Remember, we're at war. Jesus in this great war, refused wine. He wanted to be a victorious. And you and I know that Jesus is coming soon. He wants you and I to be with him forever. And in this war that's about to finish and the biggest battle that's ahead of us, we need every means to overcome the enemy of our souls. Now, maybe you've succumbed to some of these things that we've been talking about and you feel guilty. Well, let me tell you, there's a forgiving God with God there is plenty of forgiveness. Even if we've deliberately gone and done wrong, we knew we shouldn't have done it, but we did it. God is a forgiving God. I love the way Jesus said on the cross, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. There's forgiveness if we've been going down the wrong track, but not only forgiveness. There is power to overcome poor health habits. The Bible says these words, they overcame him. That's the dragon, that's Satan by the blood of the Lamb. Do you know, my friends, the cross is powerful to change habits. Paul put it this way. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross. Of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. In other words, Paul is saying, when I accept Jesus, when I accept that he died for me, a new power comes into the life. I have power to do that which is right. And that's what he's saying. The world has been crucified of me, my love for the things that I once loved. Now I like the things that I once hated because of the cross. It changes one's perspective and gives power in the life. Let's thank God for these great principles that he shared with us. Sound scientific health principles in this old book. Let's bow together. Father, we thank youk so much for your great love with which youh've loved us, that yout put these things in the Bible so long ago. Over 3,500 years ago. Lord, may we determine right now as we've been watching this presentation? Oh God, here's my body. It's yous temple. Help me to look after it so that I can sense more of the presence and the power of God. Lord, help each one of us now to make that decision. God, I will follow you by your grace in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we're glad you were with us in this Countdown Back to the Future presentation. Whatever you do, don't miss our next presentation. We'll be looking at apocalypse. Apocalypse, the 11th scenario. You may be wondering what is all that about? Well, don't miss in our next presentation in Countdown Back to the Future. We look forward to being with you then.
