Foolproof Health [Part 1]

Alan Wright, pastor, Bible teacher, and author of his latest book, The Power to Bless. You can imagine if we didn't even understand about germs and doctors didn't even wash their hands before they were doing procedures up until near the end of the 19th century, what this was like throughout antiquity.

Nobody in the ancient world washed their hands except for one ethnicity, one strange, peculiar group of people, people known as the Hebrew people. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Foolproof as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper if we're happy to send you today's special offer. Just contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. We'll have more on this special offer later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. OK, beloved, are you ready for some good news? A joyful heart is good healing, literally. I want to turn you today to Proverbs Chapter 17 for this remarkable ancient truth that I hope today and a different kind of message to set in front of you in the midst of the discoveries of modern science of what God has told us 3,500 years ago through the pen of a wise king named Solomon. And we are in a series on the Proverbs called Foolproof and today we come to Proverbs 17 and I want to pick up reading at verse 21, verse 21 of Proverbs 17. He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice. The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of the fool are on the ends of the earth.

A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. Today we all know that one of the most simple but effective preventatives against the spread of disease is washing our hands often. Wash your hands before meals.

Wash your hands when you've been in touch with lots of people. We understand germs, but do you realize that this basic information was not understood until close to the 20th century. In fact, it was in 1847 that a Hungarian doctor, an obstetrician, discovered a correlation between new mother's mortality rate shortly after giving birth and to whether a physician washed his hands before delivering the baby. He noticed it, and so he ordered the doctors to wash their hands before they would deliver babies.

The mortality rate for those new moms dropped from 18% to 2%. 18% of the women were dying after they gave childbirth because they got infectious disease. Nobody washed their hands. In fact, as grotesque as it seems, it was quite commonplace in that particular institution that a doctor would perform an autopsy in one room and walk in the other room and deliver a baby without so much as rinsing his hands off. It's unthinkable to us now, and what's unimaginable is that after he discovered this correlation for a pretty long time, the medical world pretty much ignored the doctors' findings. And it wasn't really until closer to 1900 that really all the germ theory and after Pasteur's work and so forth, people began to accept this. So you can imagine if we didn't even understand about germs, and doctors didn't even wash their hands before they were doing procedures up until near the end of the 19th century, what this was like throughout antiquity, that nobody in the ancient world washed their hands except for one ethnicity, one strange peculiar group of people, this group of people known as the Hebrew people, because their God had instructed them to wash their hands before meals and after touching that which was infectious and so forth. And there were laws about quarantining the infected person and laws against touching a corpse which was so bacterial laden.

And it was one of those revelations that some scholars say helped preserve Israel through all the wars that she faced, because as you know, in ancient warfare, sickness took more lives than the battles themselves. It's just a basic piece of information that washing your hands is one of the best things you could do for your health, right? Very basic, but we didn't know it until recently in science, and yet God had shown it 3500 years ago. Well, I want to show you today something else that's just as basic and simple and may be so important as science is now discovering that it may be, who knows, it may become something as important as the Surgeon General's warning about tobacco use or about our modern move towards better diet and more exercise.

It may be just as important. Science is finding that this particular part of leading to health is so important that it will touch on the most complex issues from the body's complex immune system to the health of our arteries and the longevity of human life itself. And like the mystery of hand washing, it was something that, though we are just now discovering it in modern times through science, it's something that was plainly written down, well, 3500 years ago. I'm talking about a simple scripture. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. A joyful heart is a good, literally, cure, the text says.

It is something that is not merely a figure of speech. And I want to show you today in a very different sort of message that I really believe the Lord has prompted me towards this approach to this message is I want to show you some of the research about the links of health and happiness and what modern science and psychology is suggesting to people about the pathway to happiness, much of which has got a lot of truth in it, because all truth is God's truth. But what I want to show you is how all of this that's being discovered had already been revealed to us in God's word and to show you how important it is and show you from God's word the pathway to living with a more joyful heart, because in many ways our health depends upon it.

So consider with me the wonder of this ancient verse that is being proven out by modern science. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever feel like something's holding you back, as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them, but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive, faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now, the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales, but this month, Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month, you'll not only receive the bestselling book, but you'll also receive a free five-session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Let's start with this, that joy is one of the most pervasive themes throughout Scripture. It's a story of God's own joy because God is joyful. God created the world out of joy, not despair. God didn't create you because He was sad and incomplete and needed your fellowship. God created you and all that exists because God is complete in and of Himself in perfectly sublime joy and the expression and beauty of this world is an expression of His own delighted inner being.

God is joyful. And He created the world in such a way that He celebrated each step of the process. He created the light and He saw that it was good. He created each day and then stopped.

And He said that's good. What was He doing? He was celebrating in the midst of creation. Even though the process was not yet complete, He didn't wait until He had perfected His creation until He celebrated. Because God rejoices. God is a God of joy. I always loved what G.K. Chesterton said about God being maybe the only childlike person left in the universe. That God is delighted and doesn't get bored with His own delightful creativity. And Chesterton said that it's possible that God says every morning, do it again to the sun. And every evening, do it again to the moon.

And it may be that God makes every daisy separately but has never got tired of making them. Tony Campolo later elaborated on this idea and said this is the way little children do. Do it again. Do it again. I was playing with my little nephew Wesley this week and we found a ball and there was a big hill. And he found out he threw the ball down the hill. It would roll about 50 yards down the hill.

And Uncle Allen would go get it. And then what did he want to do? Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Something so childlike about something that is delightful once being delightful again.

And so Campolo said in keeping with Chesterton, wonder if it was that what God did when He made the first daisy. He went, wow, do it again. Wow, do it again.

Do it again. There is an ongoing stream of joy in the heart of God. And you know what makes God's heart gladder than anything?

What Jesus said in Luke 15, I tell you there'll be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. God's a God of joy and He built the world to run on joy. He built it for celebration. He wove into the very fabric of the week that there would be a day of celebration, rest and joy called the Sabbath. It was designed for His people to be able to enjoy relationship rather than performance.

To be able to rest in His love rather than work for His love. And to celebrate every good thing and think on every good thing. In ancient Israel, even if you were poor, you'd scrounge around and find a bony chicken to serve up on Sabbath day because it was Sabbath. The day before Sabbath was the day of preparation because everything built and revolved around Sabbath. Sabbath was the most important day. It's the highest day. It was the holiest day. It was the most beautiful day. It was what Abraham Heschel has called a palace in time. And he not only gave them a Sabbath each week but he instituted seven feasts throughout the year.

Three in the spring, one in the summer, three in the fall. There was never a time if you were in Israel in which there either wasn't a feast or preparation for a feast or just laughing and remembering how good the feast just was. It's the way of God. The Psalms are just full of the joy of the Lord. That's where we learn this is the day the Lord has made and we'll rejoice and be glad in it. And the Psalms end with let everything that have breath praise the Lord. Nehemiah told his weary workers and when they heard the book of the law and began to weep, he said no this is not a time to weep. He said go enjoy choice food and celebrate because the joy of the Lord will be your strength.

Paul, the apostle understood it so well that he said while he was in prison, here's what you do. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Have joy over and over and over again, he said. And he taught us in Romans 14 that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but it is a kingdom that consists of righteousness, joy and peace and the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit himself when he abides in your life produces fruit, love and joy, peace and patience and goodness. Joy is one of the great themes of the scripture and our text today interestingly most scholars agree is set within these five verses that I read that begins with this sad report but true. That one who has a son who's bound up in folly, a foolish son that it causes great grief to the parent and it ends with the same thing. The father of the fool has no joy and so it's said in that context our passage about a joyful heart as good like a medicine. It's put into the context of how a parent feels according to whether their child is acting foolish or wise.

And it's very intriguing that this is where this verse falls and I just want to highlight this for you at this moment and we're going to come back to it later in the message. But for now just take note of this that it is a paradox parenting itself is because most people even though people are delaying marriage now in America and delaying parenthood. Still most people want to get married and most people want to have kids and some people and maybe there's some in this room and you've wanted to have biological children and not been able to conceive.

You know it's a very unique it's a unique pain. There's a great great longing to become parents and it's odd thing because we want to do the things that make us happy. There's longings for that and yet so much of what you sign up for when you become a parent is the stuff that if you were make a list of things that you think those are things that would take away from your happiness. I like what one author in Time Magazine's recent special edition The Science of Happiness said about how we congratulate someone who's had a baby. Why then all the champagne and cigars and back slapping and high fiving. It's because parents are undertaking a different is it because parents are undertaking a difficult new venture fraught with peril and the potential of scant reward. Do they deserve congratulations in the way say that people who quit their jobs to build orphanages on the are on the Antarctic shelf might.

What a really honest new baby card. Say something like hey good for you. You're propagating the species. Now you're going to be more afraid frustrated tired unwashed and fed up than you've ever been before. Also they leave. Also you can't go back to where you were before.

Whoa you're awesome. It's a paradox isn't it. And it's a paradox many people remember the day of the birth of their child as the happiest moment of their life. But you really remember that day.

I mean it was a labor and loss of dignity maybe a little screaming thrown in there. But it's kind of a paradox is what I'm saying. When our children are in trouble there's a unique heart ache to a parent. When our children are wise there's a unique joy. Just saying this is the context of our passage.

And so we're going to come back to this theme later. Well let's just talk about the health benefits of a joyful heart. And I want to be clear about this that I'm going to give you some of the science because I've been very fascinated researching that this week.

If you're very interested in this one of the best synopses of all of this research is in Time magazine at a recent special edition on the science of health and happiness. And I want to be clear about this that don't think for a moment that this gospel preacher is all of a sudden turning to science for our good news. I'm not. And don't think that this is like headed towards some Eastern mysticism some by no means. What I just want to show you today and it might seem backwards at first is that I'm almost going to start with the science and then show you how we've always known that. But understand that I'm doing this so that you could come to a great place of delight in the Word of God and understand that anything that our modern science is learning.

What I'm suggesting to you is that you have it far better already in Christ. Let me just mention a few of the things first the benefit of a joyful heart of happiness is a benefit to your immune system. It's an astounding thing. I think the most interesting of all the studies done in this regard is when participants first tested whether they were basically positive thinking people or more negative where they're happy on a scale. And they exposed them then to the common cold virus. They just sprayed a mist of common cold up their nose. How do you get people to do that?

I don't know. But the people the participants that had reported earlier being happier were significantly less likely to develop a cold. So you got to be happy in order to ward off colds. Second thing a benefit it lessens chronic pain. Psychologists found that when women suffering from osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia had more positive emotions the happier they were the lower their pain levels and vice versa.

It affects your longevity. One 2011 study found that unhappy older adults were twice as likely as their happier peers to die within five years. And this massive Norwegian study that researched a lot of people over a 15-year period showed this is dramatic should women who scored higher on having a sense of humor. So women with a good sense of humor had a 48% less risk of death from all causes and a 73% less risk of death from heart disease and 83% lower risk of death from infection.

Men had similar little bit different results. Just having a good sense of humor. Less chance you get a disease and die from it. It helps brain function. Laughter stimulates both sides of the brain and studies have shown that people think better. The intellect works better and creativity is better. In fact there's been some very interesting studies where people just watch something serious and some people watch something silly and funny and then take a test to challenge their brain.

The people who would watch something funny did better. I was always that foolish person I would cram right up to the exam and just run in there all tense. But what the study shows is you do better just do your study and then spend about a half hour before you take your heart exam just laughing. Just watch I Love Lucy or something and then go take your exam.

Alan Wright. A lot of college kids taking notes right now. This is today's teaching. It's Foolproof Health and that's going to go a long way here as we bring the conclusion on our next broadcast in the series Foolproof.

Alan is back with us in the studio here in just a moment sharing a part in good news thought for the day. Stay with us. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book The Power to Bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month you'll not only receive the bestselling book but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastoralan.org. Back here in the studio Alan our parting good news thought for the day as it relates to foolproof health. You know sometimes Daniel we find that science confirms scriptures more literally than we might have imagined in the first place. And Proverbs 17 22 is one of those instances. A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. And what we are finding out is we're learning today and we're learning more tomorrow.

This is literally true. Joy is the foundation of so much of our good health. Our joy actually produces physical reactions in our body. But there's so much more power to joy in there. Joy fills us with life. And so there's spiritual, emotional and physical health. The joy of the Lord in Jesus Christ is part of the inheritance for every Christian. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.