In this enlightening episode, Pastor Rick brings to light the incredible ways our bodies are intertwined with our spiritual lives. Discover how principles such as community involvement, generosity, and faith are not just beneficial for the soul, but also essential for physical health. Listen in to understand why caring for your body is a profound act of worship.
Hey there everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in, or if you’re a regular listener, we’re really excited that you’re here. Well today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover Your Destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life, spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God’s incredible plan for your future. And now let’s join Rick with the final part of a message called God’s Prescription for Health.
SPEAKER 02 :
Second reason we don’t stick with it is the wrong motivation. When the goal is simply all about me, that’s not enough to keep most people going. You need something bigger than yourself to draw you out of yourself so you can be greater than yourself to get you out of bed in the morning. When the goal is all about me, I can’t tell you how many diets I started on simply because I wanted to look good. Kind of hard to be better looking than this, but… Look good, feel good, and live longer. Now there’s nothing wrong with those. In fact, those are good goals. Those are legitimate good goals. But what we’re talking about today is far deeper than this. Far more spiritual significance to being in shape than simply looking good and feeling good. There are other reasons for it, and we’re looking at these six reasons right now. Appearance isn’t a big enough reason. You know why? I discovered that once I got to the size I wanted, I stopped caring. and I stopped trying, I stopped doing willpower, and I’d go right back to my old habits and old ways, and pretty soon I’m just yo-yoing back and forth. Anybody identifying with this? Yeah, okay, you know what I’m talking about. So when I’ve got the wrong motivation, when I’m just using willpower instead of God’s power, that’s gonna, and then the third one, third reason why we don’t stick with it is when I try to change on my own. It isn’t gonna happen. You were made for community. You’re created for community. You’ve gotta have group support. You’ve gotta have a partner or a coach or a support. You’ve gotta have accountability. You’ve gotta have group. That’s why we insist 30,000 people in this church are in small groups every week, 5,000 small groups. Why? Because we know you’re not gonna make it on your own. You say, well, one of these days I’m gonna change. If you could, you would, but you can’t, so you won’t. You need help. We’re better together. You know, I have a trainer who I work out with, and I know it doesn’t look like it, but I do. And you know what? If he didn’t show up, I wouldn’t show up. I need a partner. I need somebody who works with me. And when I try to change my own, it doesn’t work. You’ve got to have group support. That’s why we insist on everybody in this church being in a small group. Okay, so God says, I created your body. I expect you to manage your body. One day I’m gonna resurrect your body in version 2.0. Number four, the Bible teaches my body is connected to the body of Christ. You probably never heard this before, but the Bible says my body is connected to the body of Christ. It says this, verse 15, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Flee sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. That’s why it’s in a special class, because you’re actually sinning against yourself, not just God. Number five, the fifth reason, the Holy Spirit lives in my body. The Holy Spirit, God puts his spirit in my body. And that’s verse 19. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? That means God takes up residence inside you. He puts his spirit in your spirit. So you are the temple of God today. God puts his spirit in you. You study history, God on earth has always had a dwelling place. First, he dwelt in the tabernacle that was designed according to the specifications he gave to Moses. And the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. And then later God gave to David the specifications for the temple in Jerusalem and God dwelled in the temple in that building. Today he dwells in you. You are the temple. Now, if you were out walking down the street one day and you saw a gang vandalizing a house of worship and they were breaking the windows of a synagogue or a church, and they were writing graffiti on a temple, a house of worship, you would say, that’s not right. You should not be vandalizing a temple. And you would either try to stop them or you’d call the police. But you vandalize the temple all the time. You, your body, by what you put in it, by the way your sleep schedule, by not taking care of your body, you are vandalizing the temple of God when you don’t take care of your body. Holy Spirit lives in it. Number six, Jesus bought my body on the cross. That’s one of the things he came to do. Look at this verse, verse 20. You are not your own. You were bought at a price Therefore, honor God with your body. Jesus bought your real estate. And what does that mean? If you want to know how valuable you are, you know, Kay likes to watch this show, Antique Roadshow. She loves that show, you know. The bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, you know. You’ve seen that Geico commercial. And she loves that show. They tell you, this is really worth, and the person’s always reacting and saying, you’ve got to be kidding me. Do you know how much you’re worth? If you wanna know how much you’re worth, look at the cross. With arms outstretched and nail pierced hands, Jesus said, this is how much I love the world. Everybody, I don’t care if you’re Buddhist, Baptist, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, atheist, whatever. He said, this is how much I love you. I love you this much. I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much I’d rather die than live without you. I came all the way from heaven to do this for you. That’s how valuable you are. Your body is priceless. Now question, if you owned a million dollar racehorse, would you feed that racehorse junk food? You’d be crazy to do it. But you put that stuff in you all the time. And you are priceless. And you are worth more than a million dollar racehorse. And you are the temple of God. Look at this verse there on your outline. I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Notice, doesn’t say offer your soul, offer your body, your physical body. See, you can’t serve God except in your body. You know when people say, well, I’m not gonna be with you. I’ll be with you there in spirit. I’m not gonna be physically present. I’ll be with you in spirit. You know what that means? Nothing. Because you can’t be somewhere where you aren’t. You can only be where you are physically in your body. It says offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Did you know that taking care of your health is an act of worship? That taking care of your body is an act of worship. So let me summarize this. I want to get my body in better health. And as your pastor who loves you, I wanna get your bodies in better health. Not just so you can look good. Not just so you can feel good. Not just so you can live longer. Yeah, I’m glad for all that. And those are legitimate motives. but because of these six. God created my body, Jesus died for my body, God’s spirit lives in my body, I’m connected to Christ’s body, one day God’s gonna resurrect my body, and I’m expected to take care of my body, and one day I’ll give an account for it. That’s the spiritual reasons. Let me say them again. God created your body, Jesus died for your body, the Spirit lives in your body, your body’s connected to the body of Christ, your body’s gonna be resurrected in version 2.0 someday, and you’re expected to care for it in the meantime. Now, based on these six facts, can you see how caring for your body is more than just I’d like to look better? It is a spiritual discipline. Now, you’ve heard people say, you know, when in doubt, consult the owner’s manual. This is the owner’s manual. Nobody knows more about your body than God does. And if you’ll do what he says, you’re gonna be in better health. There are all kinds of health promises, health principles, and health programs in the word of God. Now, look at these verses on your outline. Psalm 119.73 says this. You made my body, Lord. Now give me the sense to heed your laws. A lot of people are always praying for a miracle. Why would God give you a miracle and heal you if next week you’re gonna keep on doing the same thing that got you in the mess you’re in right now? He’s not. Why would God give you a miracle financially if you’re gonna keep on overspending and getting in debt within another month? He’s not. Now look at this verse here on the screen. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 32, these instructions that God gives us are not mere words. They are your life. And by obeying them, you will, read this with me, enjoy a long life in the land. Now, if I stood up here today and said, I have discovered a new pill that will give you a long life. This pill is guaranteed to extend your life. You’d pay big bucks for it. And if I threw in the Genzu knives, and said, but wait, only three payments of $19.95. Operators are standing by right now. You’d pay big bucks for any pill that would extend your life. You don’t have to pay me a thing. It’s all right here. There is promise after promise. You can do a Bible study of all the verses, and there are many. It says, if you do this, I will extend your life. If you do this, you will have a long life. If you do this, you will have a long life. It’s all through the Scriptures. By the way, 98,000 Americans now are over 100 years of age. So the likelihood is you’re going to probably live longer than your parents. The question is, what kind of quality of life are you gonna have? Are you gonna be sitting in a wheelchair drooling? Or are you gonna actually live your life like Moses did where it says he was sharp as the day he was in full health the day he died? By the way, the healthiest place to live, the longest longevity in life in America is to live in Hawaii. You will live longest if you live in Hawaii. Of course, you figure that, you know, hang loose, you know, and just no stress. The second highest longevity is Minnesota. Minnesota? I mean, come on, that’s where Glenn comes from. I mean, really. I mean, we’re going to have to put up with him to 199, you know. The worst place for longevity, 51st place, all 50 states and District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. You do not want to live in Washington, D.C. Worst health rate in the country. Now, As I said, you already know about nutrition, exercise, sleep, rest. This is not rocket science. Let me point out to you maybe some unknown health factors that you’re not gonna read in any nutritional book. Proverbs chapter three gives us a few of them. In chapter three, verses one to 10, it says this. Keep my commands in your heart, says God, for they will, what will they do? prolong your life, they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. And then he gives some of those commands. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. What’s he saying there? He’s saying trust in me instead of worrying. Don’t get stressed out. Live a tranquil life. Trust in me. Don’t try to lean, don’t try to figure it all out. He will make straight your paths. He will make your paths straight. That’s integrity, living a straight life of integrity. Don’t be wise in your own eyes. That’s humility. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Why the bones? Why is that important? Because the marrow is created in the bones. Honor the Lord with the first part of your wealth, that’s generosity, the first fruits of all your crops, and then your barns will be filled to overflow. Now notice in this passage, he mentions tranquility, trust in God, integrity, pass straight, humility, don’t be wise your own eyes, and generosity, give the first part of your wealth away. If you live a life of tranquility, integrity, humility, and generosity, you are gonna be in better health. There is a direct connection between your spiritual health and your physical health. So let me just wrap this up by giving you, and I could give you a hundred of these from the word of God. Let me just give you four things that you need to do that’ll help you be healthier. Number one, trusting God is good for your health. Trusting God is good for your health. Why? Because you don’t worry. You’re either gonna worship or worry in life. You’re gonna pray or you’re gonna panic. And if you pray, you won’t panic. And if you worship, you’d have a whole lot less to worry about. You trust God. The Bible says in Psalm 116, seven, I said to myself, relax, because the Lord takes care of you. So, you know, just relax. The Lord will take care of you. That’s trusting God. Proverbs 14, 30, a heart at peace gives life to the body. But envy, what? Rots the bones. Okay, everybody look up here. Friends, it’s not just what you eat that matters. It’s what eats you. You can have the best microbiotic plant all around and eat fresh, healthy, organic in proper portions. But if you’re resentful against your dad and envious against your friend and bitter against your mom and guilty against something you did yesterday, it’s what he eaten you. Because they say, oh man, she’s a pain in the, and that’s why you got a pain in the. Okay? When you take resentment and bitterness into you, it’s like a poison. It’s like a fire. It’ll burn you up on the inside. It’s not just what you eat. It’s what eats you. I’ll never forget watching an old Columbo a long time ago. Johnny Cash was the bad guy. He’s a guest star. When he finally gets caught, he says, I’m so glad I got caught because the guilt was killing me. I can’t tell you how many reports I’ve read of doctors who said most people would leave the hospital today if they could get rid of guilt over what they’ve done and resentment over what others have done to them. There is an issue there that says trusting God and then getting rid of that stuff. And that leads me to number two, confessing my sin. Confessing my sin is good for your health. Now you could talk to any psychologist who’ll confirm that one. Now you cannot, you can’t repress it, you can’t suppress it, you need to express it to God. And you confess it to God, and you see, when I swallow my anger, my stomach keeps score. If you don’t talk it out to God, you’re gonna take it out on your body. And so the Bible says this, David says in Psalm 32, when I refused to confess my sin, I was weak. and miserable, it is impossible to feel guilty and happy at the same time. And I groaned all day long. My strength evaporated, that’s why you’re weak all the time. You’re carrying around a garbage bag of guilt. Finally I confessed all my sins to you and I stopped trying to hide them and you forgave me and all my guilt is gone. One of the healthiest things you can do is receive the forgiveness of God in your life and just throw away that garbage stack. Don’t carry into the next decade all the garbage of this decade. Don’t carry all the resentment, fear, worry, guilt, legalism, jealousy and envy and all those other emotions. Don’t carry them into the new decade. Trusting God’s good for your health, confessing my sin’s good for your health. Number three, giving generously. is good for your health. It’s good for your heart. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I break the grip of materialism in my life. People say, well, I’m not materialistic. Well, let me see your checkbook. Tell me how you spend your money, you spend your time. I’ll tell you what’s your priority. Is it all spent on you or are you giving it away? Now, there are more promises in the Bible about giving and generosity than any other promise, any other subject, because God says, I want you to learn to be like me. And God is a giving God. He’s generous. Everything you have is a gift from God. You wouldn’t take your next breath if God didn’t give it to you. Everything you have, the next beat of your heart is a gift from God. Everything you have, and so God says, you know, like father, like son, I want my kids to be like me. I want you to learn to be generous. And every time you give generously, you give away instead of keeping and hoarding, you are healthier. It is not a mistake that the word miser and miserable come from the same word. Misers are miserable. There are only two kinds of people in life, takers and givers. Takers are always sad. They’re always mad. Givers are glad. They’re the people who give away. The Bible says in Proverbs 11, 25, a generous man will prosper. You want to prosper? A generous man will prosper. And he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Finally, number four, and I wish I had a lot of time to go in on this one, having fun. Having fun, the Bible teaches, is good for your health. And I wish I could take you through all of these verses. The Bible teaches that life is meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. The Bible tells us God created everything for our enjoyment. The Bible says in Proverbs 17, 22, a cheerful heart, that’s a positive attitude, a happy, fun-loving, laughter, humorous, cheerful heart is good medicine. but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. He who laughs lasts. Now, let me tell you from personal experience, if you learn to laugh at yourself, you’ll never run out of material. You’ll always have lots of good stuff. It’ll just keep coming. You’ll never run out of stuff to laugh. Now, you need to put some fun in your life. Put play in every day. People say the family that prays together stays together. That’s true, but also the family that plays together stays together. Now, in John chapter five, Jesus is walking down the street and he sees this guy who’s sitting on the side of the road who’s been sick for 38 years. He’s a paraplegic. And Jesus walks up to him, and he asks one of the most important questions, and I want to ask it to you this morning. He says, do you want to get well? That is a profound question. This guy’s been sick 38 years. You’d think, well, of course he wants to get well. But Jesus says, do you really want to get well? And that’s my question to you. Where do you want to be a year from now, health-wise? Do you want to have the most energy, the sharpest mind, the brightest smile, the strongest body that you’ve ever had? Do you really want to get well? I want you to know I will do everything in my power to help you succeed in your goal, to help you become what God wants you to be. Let’s bow our heads. Father, you created our bodies. You sent Jesus to pay for our bodies. Then you sent your spirit to live in our bodies. Help us to never forget that our bodies belong to you, not us. And that they are connected to the body of Christ. And one day they will be resurrected in version 2.0. Forgive us for all the times we’ve misused our bodies and abused our health. We commit together to join in a journey of health, to follow God’s health plan for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
What a life-giving message from Pastor Rick. Now let’s join Rick with today’s offer. Thanks for listening today.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, honestly, I never paid much attention to my health until I had a little epiphany a few years back when I baptized over 800 people in a single day by immersion. Now looking at myself and everybody that I was baptizing, it was real clear that we all needed to get healthy. So I put together a team of nationally known doctors to help me develop a program for our church. I called it the Daniel Plan, based on the passage in the book of Daniel, where Daniel has a contest with King Nebuchadnezzar on who can be the healthiest. The Daniel Plan is centered on five essentials that will help you become healthier. faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends. There are a lot of diet plans out there that deal with food and fitness, but the secret sauce in the Daniel plan is focus, learning to have your mind renewed, friends, learning to grow in community, and faith, trusting God’s power rather than willpower. You know, we found that when individuals addressed health issues in each of these key areas, they are transformed. In fact, in the first year of the Daniel Plan, over 15,000 people from 190 countries participated, and the results were life-changing. In fact, our own church, Saddleback Church, lost over a quarter of a million pounds in one year. Can you imagine that? What did it do for our church? It increased our energy. We started sleeping better. It reduced our need for medication. The whole church was healthier. Now, the Daniel Plan has recently been released in a book format. And I want you to have a copy of this book today so you can start getting healthier now. And I’ll send you a hardcover copy of the Daniel Plan book as a very special thank you for your gift to this ministry.
SPEAKER 01 :
Just go to pastorrick.com to get your copy of this great resource. That’s pastorrick.com. Or you can just text the word HOPE to 70309. That’s the word HOPE to 70309. And thank you so much for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope really helps us share the hope of Christ with people all over the world. Be sure to join us next time as we look into God’s Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
