Participants: Pr. C.A. Murray
Series Code: HHR
Program Code: HHR000004
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00:35 Wonderful merciful Savior.
00:41 Precious Redeemer and friend. 00:47 Who would have thought that a Lamb could 00:53 rescue the souls of man. 00:58 Oh, You rescued the souls of man. 01:09 Counselor, Comforter, Keeper. 01:15 Spirit we long to embrace. 01:22 You offer hope when our hearts have 01:28 hopelessly lost the way. 01:33 Oh, we've hopelessly lost 01:37 the way. 01:41 You are the One that we praise; 01:47 You are the One we adore. 01:53 You give the healing and grace 01:58 our hearts always hunger for. 02:04 Oh, our hearts always 02:08 hunger for. 02:12 You are the One that we praise; 02:19 You are the One we adore. 02:25 You give the healing and grace 02:30 our hearts always hunger for. 02:36 Oh, our hearts always 02:39 hunger for. 02:47 Almighty, infinite Father. 02:53 Faithfully loving Your own. 03:00 Here in our weakness You find us 03:06 falling before Your throne. 03:11 Oh, falling before 03:15 Your throne. 03:18 You are the One that we praise; 03:25 You are the One we adore. 03:31 You give the healing and grace 03:36 our hearts always hunger for. 03:42 For... our hearts always 03:46 hunger for. 03:50 You are the One that we praise; 03:57 You are the One we adore. 04:03 You give the healing and grace 04:08 our hearts always hunger for. 04:14 For... our hearts always hunger 04:19 for. 04:35 Amen. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you so very much. 04:38 So very, very well done. 04:39 Our title for this evening's discussion: 04:43 Letting Down the Last Man to Let You Down. 04:47 And the crew had quite a lot of fun today 04:50 trying to figure out what this means. 04:52 And someone gave me actually a whole new wrinkle on it. 04:55 They said: "In this world, so many people let you down 05:00 the last person who would ever let you down is Jesus. " 05:03 So, letting down the last person 05:06 to let you down must be a sermon about 05:08 not letting Jesus down. 05:10 And I said: "That's very, very good. 05:12 Wrong... but very, very good. " 05:15 We're going to talk about letting down the last person 05:18 to let you down just now. Shall we bow our heads in prayer? 05:21 Father God, we thank you for Jesus our Savior and Friend. 05:26 We thank you for His love, His power, His protection. 05:31 We thank you, Lord, for the truth of Your Word. 05:34 And we're asking, Dear Father, 05:37 that You would show us only the truth in Your Word 05:41 because we don't want to follow cunningly-devised fables. 05:45 Lord, we want the truth, the whole truth, 05:49 nothing but the truth. 05:52 And then help us to do that which we know to be true. 05:54 In Jesus' name, Amen. 05:57 When I pastored the Ephesus Church in New York City, 06:01 my membership was 2,142. 06:06 In the seven years that I pastored that church 06:09 I conducted 117 funerals. 06:13 117 funerals. 06:16 During my ministerial career I have had two very close 06:21 friends who are undertakers... funeral directors. 06:25 Both of them, by the way, are named Bill or Willie. 06:29 One is Bill Willis, who is living in Buffalo, New York, 06:33 in the church that I grew up in. 06:34 In fact, the Buffalo, New York, Church Emmanuel Temple is 06:37 hearing these meetings tonight, 06:38 so I want to say "Hi" to Bill Willis. 06:40 The other is Willie Bathea, 06:42 who is a member of the Ephesus Church that I pastored. 06:45 And it's interesting that one was Bill Willis - BW - 06:49 the other Willie Bathea - WB. 06:51 But the... and one is from the Bronx and one is from Buffalo. 06:54 But they both were undertakers. 06:57 We usually think of funeral directors - undertakers - as 07:00 somber individuals, you know, who wear black 07:03 and are very somber. But Willie Bathea was 07:06 really quite a character. I say was... he IS 07:09 quite a character. And anybody who knows him 07:11 knows that he sort of breaks the mold of the somber 07:14 undertaker because Willie is full of fun 07:17 and likes to joke and is a rather jovial fellow 07:22 to be involved in such a serious line of work. 07:25 He's a great singer, and we were very, very, very close. 07:29 Also I can say this about Willie Bathea... he also 07:31 was a... he snores more than anybody else I've ever met. 07:34 We took a trip in Jamaica and we had to be roommates. 07:38 And I called his wife and I said... 07:40 I said: "Irene, I think you've got grounds for divorce. 07:43 I've never heard a man snore like this before. " 07:45 But we're very, very close friends. 07:48 And I got the title of tonight's message actually from 07:52 Willie Bathea. 07:55 As an undertaker, he put on his business card 07:58 I think it was: I will be the last man to let you down. 08:01 And of course, he meant let you down in the grave. 08:05 He would be the last person to ever let you down. 08:08 And that was his... that was his moniker as an undertaker: 08:12 I will be the last person to let you down. 08:15 And in thinking about my days with Willie Bathea 08:19 I came up with the title of this message: 08:21 Letting Down the Last Person to Let You Down. 08:23 In other words, the title is 08:26 how to disappoint the undertaker. 08:28 How to postpone your funeral. 08:31 How to let down the last man to let you down. 08:35 Amen. 08:37 And some of you are looking at me... what is he talking about? 08:40 We'll make it a little plainer. 08:42 So tonight's message comes from 08:44 Letting Down the Last Man to Let You Down. 08:46 We can also call it: Three Ways to Postpone Your Funeral. 08:50 Now I need to say this: 08:51 in life we have no guarantees. 08:54 There are none 08:56 except for the fact that Jesus is coming again 08:59 and all of those who are faithful in Christ 09:02 will be saved. That is a guarantee. 09:04 Other than that, as far as humans are concerned, 09:07 we have no guarantees. 09:09 We make no guarantees. 09:11 But, if you live a certain way, 09:15 God has guaranteed certain outcomes. Can you say Amen? 09:21 So if you conduct your life a certain way, 09:24 certain things are going to happen from living that way. 09:28 There are certain laws that if you obey those laws 09:31 certain things happen. 09:33 If you break those laws, certain things happen... 09:36 and they are inevitable, 09:38 even though in this life we have no guarantees. 09:41 So let's look at a Biblical principle. 09:43 I'm in the book of I Corinthians. What did I say? 09:46 I Corinthians - you're with me - chapter 10 and verse 31. 09:49 I Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31. 09:52 Give you just a second to find it. 09:53 It's on the screen. 09:55 Here is a Biblical principle. 10:08 Now that is an overriding, overarching Biblical principle. 10:14 Whatever we involve ourselves in 10:18 God ought to be glorified. 10:20 Things we eat, things we do, 10:23 things we think, things we say, 10:27 places we go. All of these things as Christians 10:31 ought to give God glory. 10:34 And if you're doing something, 10:37 eating something, drinking something, saying something, 10:41 thinking something that does not give God glory 10:45 as a Christian you need to stop doing it. 10:47 Can you say Amen? You need to ask for God's help 10:51 to stop doing it because we, as followers of Christ, 10:54 ought to be involved only in those things 10:58 which give God glory so that someone seeing us 11:02 will know that we are different. 11:04 Can you say Amen? 11:05 They ought to be able to see something different 11:07 about the way we eat, drink, dress, talk, walk. 11:13 Even Christians... 11:15 Christians ought even to smell differently. 11:19 Um-hmm. 11:21 There ought to be certain smells that ought not emanate 11:24 from the Christian persona. 11:27 Ought to look differently, talk differently, 11:31 walk differently, speak differently, 11:34 act differently, smell differently. 11:39 That's a beautiful text in... is it II Corinthians chapter 2 11:43 verse 15? I'm coming from my memory 11:44 where the Bible says we are the aroma of Christ who died. 11:48 We are the aroma of Christ... 11:49 so you ought to even smell differently as a child of God. 11:52 So God then is concerned with every aspect of our lives. 11:56 Can you say Amen? Now this is something that 11:58 makes a lot of people a little uncomfortable... 12:00 but it is the truth. Every aspect of your life 12:04 concerns God. He is concerned about the little things 12:08 and the big things. 12:09 Everything you do; everything you think. 12:11 Your physical, your mental, your social, your spiritual welfare: 12:15 all of these things concern God. 12:18 As Christians, everything that we do ought to have 12:22 divine approval. Amen? 12:25 So God is concerned with all of these things. 12:28 God's concern, ladies and gentlemen, 12:31 is based on eternal reality. 12:35 When God looks at our life, 12:37 He is looking at you not just now 12:40 but throughout all of eternity. 12:42 So as God structures our life, 12:45 as things come in and through our lives, 12:47 God is looking at the ultimate big picture. 12:50 Amen? Yeah. 12:52 You may not get the fourscore and ten 12:54 or the threescore and ten. But if you get eternity, you've won. 12:58 And God is looking at it from that big picture. 13:01 God, then, is intimately concerned 13:04 with the here and now of our lives 13:07 but He is ultimately concerned with our hereafter 13:12 or our eternity. 13:13 God wants all of us to be saved! 13:17 Can you say Amen? Amen! 13:19 Now, what is most important to the Lord 13:22 is our salvation... 13:24 not necessarily - I want you to hear this - 13:28 not necessarily our temporal happiness 13:34 or our good time. 13:36 Because sometimes... sometimes 13:41 the things that make us happy 13:43 are not for our good. 13:46 Amen? Amen! 13:48 Yeah. When I was young, I used to love to eat Butterfingers. 13:51 Still like it to an extent. 13:53 I could sit down and eat Butterfingers all day long. 13:56 But they weren't for my good, 13:57 and so my mother had to restrict my Butterfinger intake. 14:01 That's what parenting is about: 14:03 not always giving children what they want 14:05 but more importantly what they need. 14:07 So God does not always give you what you ask for 14:10 because the Bible says sometimes we ask amiss. 14:13 We ask wrong. 14:15 So God as a good parents says "Yes, " He says "No, " 14:18 He says "Wait, " and we don't like to wait. 14:22 Sometimes waiting is for our own good. 14:24 So God is intimately concerned about our total 14:29 ultimate happiness... not our temporary happiness. 14:32 Case in point: ask Samson. 14:35 Famous last words: "She pleases me well. " 14:39 "I like her! " 14:42 "She's a sharp girl, that Delilah... 14:44 with a sharp knife and a sharp pair of scissors. " 14:48 So everything that makes us happy is not necessarily 14:52 for our good. 14:54 And sometimes we've got to trust God 14:57 even when what He's taking us through doesn't make sense. 15:02 We've got to follow Him. 15:03 I have a friend, bless his heart. He's Korean. 15:06 Works seven days a week. 15:09 Up at 5 o'clock in the morning. Owns three dry cleaners. 15:11 I've talked about him before. 15:13 Uh, owns three dry cleaners. 15:15 Get's up in the morning at 5:00 or 6:00. 15:18 In the first one at 7:00; the second one at 8:00; 15:20 the next one at 9:00. Works all day till about 15:22 7 or 8 o'clock at night. 15:23 Closes up all three dry cleaners. 15:25 Collects all the money; takes it to the bank. 15:26 Does the receipts. Goes home... cooks for the family 15:29 who sit at the table and wait for him to get there. 15:31 Cooks for the family. Does that six days a week. 15:34 On Sunday he goes to church... cooks for the church! 15:40 Comes home; does his books. 15:43 Cooks for the house; goes to bed. 15:46 Monday morning he's back up at 5:00... that routine again. 15:48 I said: "Bill, you are killing yourself. " 15:51 The reason God gave you the Sabbath is so you could 15:54 get off of that merry-go-round and stop killing yourself. 15:58 His thesis to me is: "I'm happy when I make money. 16:01 I make money when I work. 16:04 God must want me to work because God wants me to be happy! " 16:07 That's his logic. 16:09 And I'm trying to tell him that's illogical 16:11 because you're hastening yourself to your grave 16:13 and you can't take it with you. 16:16 I told him flat out: "You are going to die, 16:20 and you are not in God's will. 16:23 Not working 24/7 like that. 16:25 That's not God's will for your life. " 16:28 III John 2. Third book of John 16:31 verse 2. What book did I say? 16:33 III John 2. Here we go: 16:45 Now, that is not an entitlement to a prosperity gospel. 16:49 What is being said there is: Given that your soul 16:54 is prosperous in the Lord, 16:55 I hope that your temporal prosperity follows. 16:58 It's saying: "Be prosperous in the Lord 17:01 and allow the Lord to prosper you. " 17:04 I am praying that you prosper physically 17:06 as well as spiritually. 17:09 But the most important of the two comes last: 17:11 it's spiritual prosperity. 17:13 He's saying that "I hope that you do as good in life 17:15 as you're doing spiritually. " Amen? 17:17 Because ultimately God wants us to prosper spiritually. 17:20 And if you're prospering spiritually, 17:23 I daresay you are prospering in the physical life also. 17:27 So that is the burden. Verse 3: 17:38 So, his burden again is walking in the truth. 17:42 And verse 4: 17:50 And so John's burden there is not prosperity 17:54 as much as it is truth! 17:56 He's saying: "As you walk in the truth, 17:59 you are a prosperous person. " When you've got Jesus, 18:02 you've got all you need. 18:04 And sometimes you never know that Jesus is all you need 18:07 until Jesus is all you've got. 18:09 But if you've got Jesus, you've got what you need. 18:12 Because Christ has said: "If you put Me first, 18:15 I'm going to take care of everything else for you. " Amen? 18:18 And Amen. So then, God's great concern 18:25 is about our spiritual up building 18:28 and our spiritual strength in Him. 18:31 We need to be involved in those things that draw us to Christ, 18:35 that help us to spiritually prosper, 18:38 that make us stronger in the Lord, 18:41 that do not tear us down physically, 18:45 and that through which God can get the glory. 18:48 In other words, the Lord wants us to be 18:52 healthy, happy, and holy. 18:56 Say that with me. 18:58 God wants us to be healthy, happy, and holy. 19:02 Now some will say: "It's my body 19:06 and I can do what I want. " 19:10 How many have heard that before? 19:12 Here it all the time... "My body; 19:14 I'll do what I want. " 19:15 Well, the Bible has something to say about that. 19:19 I'm in the book of I Corinthians. What book? 19:21 I Corinthians chapter 6 verses 19 and 20. 19:26 Let's go to I Corinthians 6:19 and let's read the Word of God. 19:45 So God's making a claim here. 19:48 He's making a claim. 19:49 Let's go on to 20: 20:01 So this idea that it's my body, 20:04 I can do what I want, go where I want, 20:07 wear what I want, dress like I want, 20:10 act how I want is not Biblical and is certainly unchristian. 20:14 Amen! 20:15 God says first of all your body is a temple. 20:18 It is a holy place. 20:20 It is a place where the Spirit of God dwells in you. 20:24 You were bought with an incredibly-high price - 20:27 even the blood of Christ - so you are not your own. 20:30 You and I belong to God. 20:35 God has purchased us at a high price. 20:39 And so this idea of it's my party and I'll cry if I want to. 20:43 Oh, no. No you won't... because you belong to the Lord. 20:47 Amen? I want you to understand. That's very, very important. 20:50 So that we are not free to do certain kinds of things. 20:55 We're not free to act certain kinds of ways. 20:58 We are not free to go certain kinds of places. 21:01 The Christian ought to be different. 21:04 The sign of our love and our relationship with Christ 21:08 is a separation from worldly practices 21:11 and those things which are not like Jesus. 21:14 Now this is not a message people like to hear. 21:16 People would rather go to church and hear: "Doesn't matter. 21:21 Just love the Lord and everything's going to be fine. " 21:25 But it's not true! 21:27 Because if you love the Lord, the Lord has got claim 21:31 on your life. Amen? 21:33 So Christians then must live differently. 21:35 I'm in John chapter 3 and verse 16. 21:38 You know that text so very, very well. 21:40 John 3:16: 21:51 That is the ransom note for you and me. 21:54 That is God saying "I will give up GOD 21:59 in order to get you back. " 22:01 "I made you; I created you... 22:04 and now I've got to buy you back 22:06 because you indentured yourself 22:08 to Satan... so I've got to get you. " 22:11 So God really owns us twice! 22:14 Made us and then bought us back. 22:17 Such is the great love of the Lord for you and for me. 22:21 So I say again: God says "I reserve the right 22:26 to tell you how to live. " 22:27 Now there's a lot of people who do not like that. 22:29 They don't like being told how to live. 22:32 And yet, the Creator has a right to make that claim 22:37 because God broke the bank, ladies and gentlemen, 22:40 for you and for me. 22:41 So He has the right. Let's reinforce the case. 22:44 I'm in the book of I Corinthians again. 22:45 I Corinthians chapter 3, picking it up at verse 16 this time. 22:59 Sounds about like 6:19, doesn't it? 23:01 Reinforcing the point. 23:03 Spirit of God dwells in you. 23:05 God is in you through His Spirit. 23:07 Now, here's something a little bit more serious. 23:09 Let's go on: 23:27 That's a strong text. It's one that needs to be underlined 23:31 in the Word of God. God is saying 23:34 "The temple is holy, and if you persist in destroying it 23:38 then it will have to be destroyed 23:40 because I cannot have you destroying a holy thing. " 23:43 God wants to dwell in us and make us -as that song says - 23:45 a sanctuary. 23:47 But He can't do that if we insist on defiling His temple. 23:51 Here is a statement that I believe few can disagree with. 23:57 We as Americans 24:00 and those of us in most of the Western countries 24:04 are overfed and undernourished. 24:09 Now you got quiet on me. 24:12 That's a time to say Amen. 24:15 We are overfed and undernourished. 24:21 As a rule we take in far too many calories 24:27 with far too little nutrition. 24:30 And if you can't say "Amen" say "ouch! " 24:35 Overfed... undernourished. 24:39 There is a certain fast-food restaurant... 24:42 You can go in the morning and have "breakfast" - 24:47 and I put that in quotes - 24:49 you can consume 2,200 calories 24:55 for breakfast... and very little nutrition. 24:59 You will fill up and fill out, 25:05 um-hmm, 25:08 you will be overfed and undernourished. 25:13 And your body will continue to call for nourishment, 25:16 and you wonder why you're eating all day... 25:19 eating, eating, eating. 25:21 It is because you are taking in calories 25:24 and not nutrition. 25:26 And most Americans are overfed and undernourished. 25:31 There are certain restaurants you can go to 25:33 and the appetizer - 25:34 the appetizer before the food comes - 25:36 is 2,700 calories. 25:39 That's a day's worth of calories in the appetizer. 25:43 We are overfed and undernourished. 25:47 The problem is that as far as vital nutrients are concerned 25:52 your body demands them but gets very little... 25:56 so you eat and eat and eat 25:59 and wonder why you're not satisfied. 26:02 We eat a day's worth of calories in one meal 26:06 and nutritionally we are starving. 26:08 You can have a big lunch or a big dinner 26:12 and soon you're sick... and you wonder why. 26:16 I believe that we Westerners 26:19 are digging our way to our graves 26:22 with our knife and fork. 26:25 If you can't say Amen, 26:27 say ouch... 26:30 We are digging our way to the grave with the knife and fork. 26:35 And we should know and understand that much of the 26:37 disease - many of the diseases that we are suffering from - 26:40 are lifestyle diseases. 26:42 They come from the way we... 26:45 I have a good friend who is an emergency room doctor 26:49 and he says: "I have a ringside seat to the decline and fall 26:52 of Western civilization 26:53 as an emergency room doctor. " 26:55 And he says: "So much of what we see in the emergency room 27:00 in the hospital - chronic disease - 27:03 is lifestyle induced. 27:06 He says if we would just eat a little less 27:09 or watch what we eat 27:12 we'd do so much better. 27:13 The truth is that everything that walks on the earth 27:19 or crawls along the ground 27:21 or swims in the sea 27:23 was never intended for human consumption. 27:27 There are certain things that we are eating 27:29 we ought not to be eating. 27:31 And even though they're not killing us outright 27:33 they are killing us slowly. 27:38 I heard someone say to me the other day 27:41 "You know, " they said, 27:42 "Pastor, they wouldn't really put anything out there 27:45 that would hurt me, would they? " 27:47 My response was: "Are you kidding? " 27:52 Just in the last month they had to recall 1/2 million toys 27:57 because of lead paint. 28:01 You remember years ago a drug called thalidomide? 28:04 Red dye no. 2? 28:06 The list of drugs and foods that can maim, injure, 28:10 kill or destroy is long and staggering. 28:13 There are a lot of things that we are taking in our bodies 28:15 that have no business being there, ladies and gentlemen. 28:18 People will cut corners to make money. 28:20 The truth is: you can read a pack of cigarettes 28:24 and it tells you. Cigarettes may be the only thing that when 28:27 used as directed can kill you. 28:30 When you use it the "right" way 28:31 it increases your risk of death. 28:34 No child of God should ever smoke. 28:37 Come on... say Amen. 28:39 No child of God should ever smoke. It destroys your body. 28:43 It makes you ineffective in the cause of Christ. 28:46 It's tearing you down. 28:48 No child of God should light up a cigarette. 28:51 You don't have to read your Bible... 28:53 Read the label 28:57 then read the Word of God! 28:58 Killing us. Killing Western civilization. 29:01 Cigarettes, chewing tobacco - all of its forms - 29:05 not for the child of God 29:08 and we should have no part of it. 29:10 God says there are a number of things we should not eat 29:15 if you want to live long and stay healthy. 29:19 Things we should not drink. 29:20 Let's run to Proverbs chapter 20 verse 1. 29:22 Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 1. 29:26 I want to punch a little hole in that thing that says 29:29 we need to drink responsibly. 29:30 I say there is no responsible drinking. 29:32 Proverbs 20:1 backs me up. 29:41 If you are not wise, what are you? 29:44 The opposite of wise is? 29:46 Ah, you said it... I didn't. 29:48 But the Bible is saying God's people should have 29:51 nothing to do with alcohol. 29:53 I've heard them talk lately about the... the effect... 29:57 the bioflavonoid effect of red wine. 30:00 What they don't tell you is you can still get that... that 30:02 same effect by drinking grape juice. 30:04 You don't need to have the fermented wine. 30:06 Wine does no good. 30:08 I was going to put up a graphic 30:10 for you of a woman who actually ran down a priest 30:13 in New York City while DUl 30:17 and saying how sorry she was. 30:18 And then they found out in checking the record that 30:20 she was what they call a serial alcoholic. 30:23 She had been caught drunk driving many, many, many, 30:25 many times. 30:28 "Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging. " 30:30 God's people should have nothing to do with it. 30:32 I don't care how many commercials they have. 30:34 How good they say it is. 30:35 How life of the party people think they are. 30:37 Wine has no place on the Christian table 30:39 in the Christian home. 30:41 Christians should have nothing to do with alcohol in any sense. 30:44 Can you say Amen? 31:13 The Bible is saying the child of God should have nothing 31:16 to do with wine, beer, sangria, cordials, cocktails, 31:22 crème de menthe. You name it in any form. 31:24 Wine coolers, little bit of near beer. 31:27 You name it. None of it belongs on a Christian table 31:29 and in the Christian home. Can you say Amen? 31:32 The body has no real internal use for alcohol. 31:35 Kills your liver; kills brain cells. 31:38 Kills kidneys... sclerosis of the liver. 31:42 The next thing that we need to look at are unusual stimulants. 31:48 Wine, liquor is a depressant. 31:51 Caffeine is a stimulant, 31:54 and caffeine is killing our society slowly. 31:57 There are people who cannot get up in the morning 31:59 unless they pump in 4, 5, 6 cups of coffee 32:02 and then they're wired and gassed during the day 32:04 and have to take something else to wind down at night. 32:06 So you get this up and down spiral. 32:08 I've heard people: "I'm no good unless I've got my coffee. " 32:10 Well why? Because you're drugging yourself up. 32:12 You walk around like a zombie all day long full of caffeine. 32:15 Then you can't sleep so you grab a little something 32:17 to sort of tie you down at night. 32:19 The next morning you're back up like a zombie wired on caffeine. 32:24 And caffeine causes cysts in the chest and in the breast 32:28 and it does other things to your body. 32:29 We ought to live naturally, ladies and gentlemen. 32:32 This up and down... I mean, there's enough pressure 32:35 and stress in life now without jolting yourself up on caffeine. 32:38 They've got colas out - Jolt, and other kinds of colas 32:40 which have 3-4 times the caffeine. You really get wired! 32:43 You know, you just... you can't even think. 32:48 And God's people need to stay away from these things. 32:52 These artificial stimulants and artificial depressants 32:55 our bodies are not made... 32:56 and that's why our bodies are breaking down. 32:58 Up and down and up and down and up and down. 33:01 We're taking in things we don't even understand the 33:04 pharmacological effect. Someone was telling me 33:06 that if a young child goes to the corner store 33:09 and drinks a 44-ounce soda that they have... these 33:12 giant Big Gulp sodas... 33:13 that is a pharmacological dose of sugar. 33:17 That child's body chemistry - his brain function - 33:20 has been altered by pumping in that much sugar. 33:23 Your body was never intended to take 44 ounces 33:25 of soda laced with sugar into your body at one time. 33:28 We are killing ourselves. 33:30 And we are wondering why children cannot study in school. 33:33 Why they cannot pay attention. 33:35 Why children grab guns and come to school. 33:37 Because their bodies are so full of different kinds of chemicals 33:40 that they cannot think or reason. 33:42 And it's the same with so many adults. 33:44 Another thing we need to stay away from... umm... 33:48 is tobacco in all of its forms. 33:51 Pipe. Cigarettes. 33:55 Chewing tobacco. All of those things 33:58 we need to stay away from. 34:00 Nicotine is a poison 34:02 and has been proven to be a poison. 34:04 Deuteronomy chapter 9. Let's look at verse 19. 34:08 Deuteronomy chapter 29 verse 19: 34:33 God is saying we are fooling ourselves 34:36 if we think we can invest in these kinds of lifestyles - 34:40 eat anything, drink anything, live any way - 34:44 and have peace in our hearts and in our lives. 34:46 It's not going to happen! 34:49 God has given us a roadmap, a blueprint, 34:53 for how to live, for what to eat, 34:55 what not to eat and how to eat, 34:57 and if we follow it we're going to have peace. 35:00 We're going to have good success. 35:01 We're going to have healthy and happy lives. 35:04 Now, I've heard people say many, many times 35:06 "Well, you've got to die of something. " 35:09 That's not the question. 35:11 The question is how you're going to live 35:14 and how you're going to die. 35:15 You can die of a heart attack at eighty-seven 35:18 playing basketball with your great-grandchildren 35:21 or you can die at forty-seven from colon cancer 35:26 because you didn't get enough fiber, 35:28 you packed in too much meat, 35:29 you got no exercise, 35:31 and your body just gave up. 35:33 It's your choice! 35:34 Now... John Lomacang, myself, Danny Shelton are all 35:39 in the same zip code age-wise. 35:41 Every Tuesday we play basketball. 35:43 And a couple Tuesdays ago 35:46 we played some young men thirty years our junior. 35:51 We're in our mid... 35:54 and these were young people. 35:58 And you know... we beat them! 35:59 We beat them... thirty years younger than us. 36:02 And about, oh, a year ago, Danny Shelton and I 36:06 took on two young men from Oakwood College 36:08 who were 19 and 20, bigger and taller than us. 36:11 And Danny and I are the same age. 36:15 We are... years of age 36:17 and we beat them! 36:19 We beat them. 36:21 We're in pretty good shape. Now some of you have heard 36:23 that Danny had a little problem with his heart. 36:26 And some people said: "You see, you live healthy 36:29 and you still have heart problems. " 36:30 And the doctor said: "Had you not lived healthy 36:33 it wouldn't have been a heart problem... 36:34 it would have killed you. " 36:35 You see, there are dividends for following the will of God. 36:40 You don't get a guarantee, but what you DO get 36:43 is the presence and power of God and the comfort of knowing 36:47 you're doing the will of God. 36:48 So it's not you're going to die... 36:52 it's how you're going to live until you die. 36:55 And God makes a promise that if we do these things 36:57 you'll get none of these diseases. 37:00 Nicotine enslaves your mind and your body. 37:03 You become a slave to yourself. 37:05 Your body becomes a slave to itself. 37:06 And that's what addiction is: you are a slave to yourself. 37:11 Your mind is a slave to your body, to your lower one. 37:15 Matthew chapter 4 verse 10. What book did I say? 37:18 Matthew 4 verse 10: 37:28 Now how does this text fit in? 37:30 It talks about what I think is addiction. 37:32 God says you need to worship Him only. 37:36 People who are addicted cannot worship God 37:39 because they are slaves to themselves. 37:41 It's like self-worship. 37:43 They don't have the control any more 37:45 because they've given up control of their mind 37:48 and their body to a substance 37:51 which now controls their wants 37:52 and how they live. 37:54 So you're breaking that commandment because you're 37:55 worshiping another god. 37:57 That god is that addictive substance 37:59 that has you in its control. 38:00 Paul said: "I keep my body under... " 38:03 "I fight the good fight against myself. " 38:06 Your toughest opponent - ladies and gentlemen - in your life 38:09 will be you! 38:11 The hardest battle you will fight 38:13 is the battle against yourself. 38:16 And so if you have never smoked or drank 38:21 or taken any substance, I pray to God that 38:25 you will never start. 38:28 And if you have, the good news is 38:31 God has the power to set you free. 38:35 Smoking injures your health, destroys the body. 38:39 So does alcohol. 38:42 I Corinthians 3:16-17 again 38:45 tells us that our body is the temple of the Living God. 38:49 We need to surrender our diets to the Lord. 38:54 Does the Bible have anything to say about what we eat? 38:59 Does it? 39:01 Now it is not a text that we like to read, but 39:03 the Bible has a lot to say about how we eat. 39:07 And before time gets away from me we need to go 39:09 to Leviticus chapter 11. What book did I say? 39:11 I'm in the book of Leviticus 39:14 chapter 11 and I'm beginning at verse 2: 39:47 Ladies and gentlemen, no camel! 39:50 Don't eat the camel; don't smoke the Camel. 39:53 All right? 40:33 Now it doesn't chew the cud. What does the swine chew? 40:41 Anything. 40:43 That's why you can't chew it... 40:45 'cause it chews anything 40:48 it can get it's little mouth around. 40:51 And God is saying it is unclean. 40:53 And when you look... and I've talked to many, many 40:56 doctors on this... when you look at the root cause 40:59 of a lot of disease in the human family 41:02 it is occasioned by eating of swine flesh. 41:06 God says: "Don't eat it. It is unclean. " 41:10 Now, you've got... on the clean side you've got 41:14 cows and sheep and, uh... and, uh, 41:18 animals that chew the cud like that. 41:21 But these others God says stay away from. 41:23 And listen, truly... 41:25 too much meat eating is not good anyway. 41:29 The best lifestyle is vegetarian. 41:32 It really is. And so much of the meat today 41:36 is processed and packaged 41:39 and fed with hormones to get it big enough and fat enough 41:45 to be commercially viable. 41:47 And when you ingest all of that you are taking all of that 41:50 into your body. 41:51 And so the best thing to do is do... 41:53 and you've got to be even careful with vegetables 41:55 to see that they are clean and that they are washed... 41:57 but vegetarianism is far superior 42:00 to a lot of meat eating. 42:02 And we are finding that there are very, very degenerative 42:05 defects to excessive eating of meat... even of clean animals... 42:09 because of the way meat is slaughtered and processed today. 42:12 So these things we need to really keep in our minds 42:16 and think about very, very carefully. 42:18 Let's go back to the book of Deuteronomy. 42:20 What book did I say? We're back in Deuteronomy 42:21 and we read 2 to 8. Let's pick up 9 to 12. 42:26 Deuteronomy chapter 11 verses 9 to 12: 42:41 Let's go on. 42:43 God is saying a number of things here 42:46 that translate to us today. 42:49 He is saying: "Be very careful 42:52 about what you put in your body. 42:54 Be very, very careful. " 42:55 And if you've got to spend a few more cents 42:57 to get organic or to get healthy 43:00 it's worth it... because you only have one body, 43:03 ladies and gentlemen. 43:05 And you only go around one time, 43:07 and we want to be as good as we can for the Lord. 43:12 When your mind is benumbed and your body is sick, 43:15 you can't serve God. 43:17 You don't want to serve God. 43:19 You don't want to do anything but lie in bed. 43:21 But when you're up and healthy and strong 43:24 you can serve the Lord and be a tool in His hand. 43:27 We eat too much. 43:33 Amen. 43:35 You know, my wife and I as of late 43:37 this year have reduced ourselves to two meals a day, 43:40 and we found we're fine with two meals a day. 43:44 We used to be one meal a day. 43:48 Um-hmm. Start at 9:00 end at 9:00. 43:52 One meal! 43:55 Now we're two meals. 43:57 We eat breakfast. We eat in the afternoon 43:59 and then we shut it down... and we found it's OK. 44:02 We can make it on two meals a day. 44:04 We tend to eat too much. 44:06 And I say again, we are digging our way 44:11 to our graves with our knife and fork. 44:16 High blood pressure. All of these ills and aches. 44:19 Rheumatoid arthritis. A lot of that can be traced to 44:22 pork and excessive pork. And I've gotten this 44:24 from a number of doctors. 44:25 These things that are killing us so many, many ways. 44:30 We... we... we are so overfed and undernourished. 44:34 Let's go to that graphic, gentlemen, about the food. 44:38 Let's just jump down... I want to show you something: 44:39 how calories sneak their way into our lives. 44:43 That is a Fig Newton. 44:49 One Fig Newton equals a whole cantaloupe. 44:55 Can you believe that? 44:56 One Fig Newton... 60 calories. 44:59 Now most of us don't eat a whole cantaloupe at one sitting, 45:02 do we? No. We may eat a half or a couple slices. 45:06 But when we eat a Fig Newton how many do we eat? 45:10 Five, six, seven? Whole pack? 45:14 And usually wash it down with something, don't you? 45:17 You don't just sit there and eat all that chicken, 45:19 you usually wash it down with something. 45:20 So you can eat 300, 400, 500 calories in Fig Newtons. 45:26 And what's their nutrition? 0! 45:31 Yeah. One Fig Newton equals a whole cantaloupe. 45:36 See how calories sneak in? 45:37 There is so much compact food and dense food and 45:40 engineered food. Let's go to the next one, gentlemen. 45:42 That is one piece of cornbread 45:48 with a pat of butter. 45:50 Do you see what that little piece of cornbread equals? 45:52 Can you see that? 45:54 That cornbread with a little pat of butter 45:57 equals a baked potato, an ear of corn, 46:01 sweet potato, slice of bread, 46:04 roll with jelly, and another ear of corn... 46:06 all in that one little piece of cornbread. 46:08 Can you believe it? 46:10 Tons of calories in that little piece of cornbread! 46:15 And we'll sit down and, you know, have a big dinner 46:18 and have one slice, two slices. 46:20 You can take in 1,000 calories just in cornbread. 46:25 Next one. 46:27 Slice of pizza. Have mercy! 46:32 560 calories. 46:35 And when... In the past I have eaten a whole... 46:41 a whole pizza! 46:44 A half a pizza sometimes. 46:46 560 calories. Now look at this. 46:49 Those two slices of pizza equal a salad, 46:53 slice of pizza, and a whole bowl of soup. 46:56 And that's just two slices of pizza. 46:58 Who eats two slices? We usually eat three slices, 47:00 four slices, five slices. 47:03 Six slices someone is saying. 47:05 Eight, nine, ten? 47:06 And you say what and you wonder why the belt's getting tight 47:09 and you're going back to the dry cleaners 47:11 and shaking your finger at the guy 47:12 "you shrunk my clothes! You didn't do a good job 47:14 with my clothes. My clothes are too tight! " 47:17 And you ate a whole pizza. 47:21 Let's go to the next one gentlemen. 47:24 A whole pineapple. 47:25 Now those little things there are gummy bears. 47:27 200 calories, and that's not a lot. 47:29 That's just a little fist full of candy. 47:31 Those gummy bears equal that entire pineapple. 47:35 And when... you can see children... they will eat 47:39 a bag of those things. 47:41 Or... or adults some times will eat a bag of those things. 47:44 Who eats a whole pineapple? 47:46 Very rarely we eat an entire pineapple. 47:48 But you'll eat several pineapples worth of gummy bears 47:51 and wonder why your jacket is so tight. 47:56 They slip in! Do we have any more? 47:57 I don't know if we brought another or not. 47:59 We've got one more. All right. 48:01 That's... oh, my soul... 48:04 that's a Caesar salad. 48:06 Surely we can eat a Caesar salad? 48:10 That Caesar salad is equal to 48:14 bowl of soup, bowl of fruit, 48:18 roll, and a regular tossed salad. 48:21 The thing that makes that Caesar salad so bad for you 48:26 is it's loaded with cheese and dressing. 48:29 So you take a nice, healthy green salad. 48:32 You add a bunch of croutons, 48:34 bunch of dressing, 48:37 slather it with cheese, 48:39 and sometimes they throw a big old slab of chicken on there. 48:44 And what was a nice salad becomes a 600-700 calorie 48:50 appetizer because you eat a meal after that. 48:54 And we wonder why am I feeling so sluggish. 48:57 Why am I so? I can't get up in the morning; 49:00 I can't sleep at night. It's because we are overfed 49:04 and undernourished. 49:06 God intended for us 49:08 to eat food in its natural state. 49:12 I'm not saying never have a piece of cake. 49:15 Can't say that 'cause we had some two nights ago. 49:18 I'm not saying never have anything sweet. 49:21 I'm saying as Christians 49:24 we have a God-given responsibility 49:28 to take care of this machinery 49:31 so it can be used to God's glory. 49:34 And you can't give God glory when you're sick, 49:38 when you're in bed, when you cannot think right, 49:40 when you cannot function because you've taken in 49:43 too many calories and you've destroyed this temple 49:47 that God has given us. I've seen so many people 49:49 praying "Lord, take this disease away from me. " 49:52 And they've gotten the disease as a consequence 49:56 of lifestyle decisions that they have made. 49:58 You've got to get water. 50:00 You've got to get exercise. 50:03 You've got to get rest. 50:04 You've got to get out in the sun. 50:07 You've got to trust in God. 50:09 You know, exercise is like medicine. 50:12 It is! Exercise makes you feel good 50:15 and makes you look good. 50:17 And you don't have to beat yourself up or kill yourself. 50:21 Just walk a little more. 50:22 When you go to the mall, rather than parking your car 50:25 right at the entrance 50:27 park your car down the road and walk to your car. 50:31 Amen? Or walk to the store. 50:34 You know, I had a friend just across the street from me. 50:37 He used to drive his car to get his newspaper 50:39 on Sunday morning. He'd turn on the engine, 50:41 drive literally one block, pick up his newspaper, 50:44 get back in the car and drive one block back to his house. 50:48 Walk the block or better... jog the block. 50:51 Or walk briskly down the block. 50:53 Exercise is medicine. 50:56 It releases endorphins; it makes you feel better. 50:59 It makes you look better. 51:00 It will make you live longer. Can you say Amen? 51:03 So the Bible has something to say about what we eat, 51:07 about where we live, about how we live, 51:10 it also has something to say about those kinds of things 51:13 that are there in the sea... there in the sea 51:17 and things that fly. 51:19 My time is slipping away but I want to look at 51:21 let's see... let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 11 51:27 and pick it up at verse... Let's go to Deuteronomy 14:8. 51:32 Let's go to 14:8. 51:34 I'm in Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse 8. 51:36 Give you just a second to find it 51:38 because I'm jumping around just a little bit 51:39 and my time is slipping away from me. 51:41 I want to get John out here in just a little bit. 51:42 Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse 8. Here we go: 51:52 That's not the one that I want. 51:54 Let's go back to... let me get my text... ah! 51:57 Deuteronomy 11:13. Let's try that. 51:58 Deuteronomy the 11th chapter and the 13th verse. 52:02 I think that's the one that I want. 52:08 OK, let's go to the next one. 52:10 Let's go to the next one. OK: 52:20 Again, we are looking now at the promises of God 52:23 for doing His will and for following His will and way. 52:27 This book of Deuteronomy has a number of things to say 52:30 about flying things and about swimming things. 52:34 One of the things you will find in the Word of God 52:37 is that God has enjoined us to eat only those things 52:40 which have fins and scales. 52:43 And you will find that the things that do not 52:47 usually are scavengers. When you look at shrimp, 52:50 and lobsters, and crabs, 52:53 and these things, they are 52:55 anatomically built 52:57 for picking and cleaning. 52:59 They were put there 53:01 to be cleaners. 53:02 I remember once when I got my aquarium 53:05 they asked me to put snails in it. 53:07 And I asked: "Why would I put snails in my aquarium? " 53:09 And the aquarium fellow said: 53:11 "because snails keep the aquarium clean. " 53:13 That's what they're there for. They are there as 53:15 garbage collectors to keep the aquarium clean. 53:19 So if they eat garbage and you eat them, 53:22 what are you eating? 53:24 Um-hmm. You're eating what they eat. 53:26 So when you get sick it is the inevitable result 53:29 of what you ate. 53:32 Amen? Fins and scales. That's tuna and other kinds of 53:35 things that are clean. Those you can eat. 53:39 But if you don't, these kinds of things will happen. 53:42 Now, in the last days there is one other thing I want to 53:46 touch on very quickly. 53:48 The texts that I will give you are I Timothy chapter 2 53:51 verses 9-10; I Peter 3: 1-2. 53:55 I Timothy 2:9-10: 53:58 I Peter 3:1-2. My time is slipping away from me. 54:01 We tend to have so much sometimes we just... 54:03 time just gets away. 54:04 God is not only concerned with what you put in your body 54:08 He is also concerned with what we put on our body. 54:14 And I do want to go to I Timothy chapter 2:9-10. 54:19 I want to go to I Timothy 2:9-10. 54:21 Thank you, gentlemen. 54:42 You will find a pattern in the Word of God 54:45 that when God's people were called before Him 54:48 in holy convocation or called before Him 54:51 in a right relationship, they were told to clean yourself up 54:55 and take off all excess and unnecessary ornamentation. 55:00 Are you going to say Amen on that? 55:03 This is God's will. 55:04 We find it in the Old Testament 55:06 in Isaiah chapter 3. 55:08 We also find it in the New Testament 55:10 in these references that I just gave you. 55:12 If you want to check those out: 55:14 I Timothy 2:9-10. 55:16 I Peter 3:1-2. 55:18 I Peter 3:3. 55:20 Genesis 35:1-3. 55:23 This is very, very crucial 55:25 because it goes to the differences between the 55:28 children of God and the children of men. 55:31 God's people eat differently. 55:34 They dress differently. 55:35 They walk, talk, act, and live differently. 55:38 And their appearance ought to bespeak a relationship with God. 55:42 Not decked out; not trying to draw undue attention 55:46 to themselves so that their clothes 55:49 ought to fit the right way. 55:51 I say you need to dress for your blessing. 55:55 If God has blessed you with a pound or two extra, 55:59 then don't wear something that's a size or two smaller. 56:02 Dress for your blessing. Amen? 56:04 And be careful with what you wear 56:09 and how you wear it and the things you drape yourself with. 56:14 They are not godly. 56:16 They are not God's will for our lives. 56:19 God wants His people to stand out 56:21 as trophies for Him. 56:24 When people see us, they need to know 56:27 we have been with the Father. 56:29 They need to know that our life is hid in Christ Jesus. 56:32 They need to know that it's not about us... 56:35 it's about God. 56:37 And our lives, then, are an emblem of Jesus Christ 56:43 and His abiding sacrifice. 56:45 How many love the Lord? 56:46 How many intend now to conduct themselves 56:50 in such a way that God will get the glory. 56:51 Remember our first text? 56:53 Eat, drink, whatever you do 56:54 do all to the glory of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17