Family Fitness | Part 2

It's a sobering thought to think we don't value good health and give all of his wealth to get his health back.

But he doesn't think about that health. We are responsible for maintaining what we don't value. We are responsible for maintaining what we don't value, just as your spirit rules your soul. Your body really is a servant. But if you abuse that servant, if you abuse your servant, that is your body, your body may rise up and smite you for it.

Your body is very unforgiving. Now, most folks value money more than they value health. Isn't that true? They value money more than they value health. We value things more than we value health until we lose our health. So many people spend the first half of their lives accumulating their wealth by wasting their health. Then they spend the last half of their life spending their wealth trying to get their health back.

And they're unhappy in both halves of their lives. Now, it's a funny thing about health. We value money more than health. Money is the most envied.

But it is the least enjoyed. That is, until you lose it. When the wealthy man loses his health, then he would give all of his wealth to get his health back. But he doesn't think about that health.

I'm talking about the simple principles of family fitness. Now, I'm not a doctor. And I thank God for doctors. I believe in doctors. I have a personal physician. I have a physician that I love very much. And Jesus said, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

Luke was called the beloved physician. And I thank God for what doctors can do. But you know what many of us are trying to do? We're trying to break God's natural laws and then go to the doctor and try to get him to put the scrambled eggs back in the shell.

We're trying to get him to undo what we have done. And that's not the purpose of medicine. Now, let me give you four principles for family fitness.

Are you ready for these? Number one, family fitness is a matter of discipline. Now, we call ourselves disciples. Well, the word disciple and the word discipline are linked together.

We cannot call ourselves a disciple if we're not disciplined. For example, we need to be disciplined in matters of diet and the things that we eat. Many of us fail to understand that we are breaking God's natural laws. We have laws concerning what we eat. Now, you may think that the Bible doesn't say much about what we eat. But the Bible has much to say about what we eat. And also, the Bible gives us an injunction in I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31, which says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. That ought to be put in our kitchens.

Maybe on your refrigerator. Whatever we eat, whatever we drink, do all to the glory of God. The Bible says if your man given to gluttony, put a knife to your throat, if your man given to appetite. But not only do we need to be disciplined in what we eat, we need to be disciplined in our exercise.

Put down I Timothy chapter 4, verse 8. The Bible says, for bodily exercise profiteth little. Now, some people have taken that as an excuse not to exercise. But that's not what he's saying. He's saying there is profit in exercise.

He's saying that godliness is more profitable. But he's not saying that exercise is not profitable. Walking is the perfect exercise.

And if you want to do more, fine. But there needs to be a discipline in the matter of diet, a discipline in the matter of exercise. You need to get your kids out.

You need to get out yourself, Daddy. There needs to be a discipline in the matter of rest. You need to be disciplined while you sleep.

That is, you are taking care of business while you are asleep. Just think of those simple things. Diet, exercise, and rest.

That's just the ABCs. We need to be disciplined in all of these things. Now, here's the second thing. Family fitness is a matter of discipline. Number two, family fitness is a matter of disposition.

That's the second thing. It's a matter of disposition. Hardening of the attitudes is just as bad as hardening of the arteries. Listen to Proverbs 15, verse 17. Better is a dinner of herbs, that is a vegetable plate, where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

A vegetable plate is better than a filet mignon, if you have that vegetable plate with love, rather than that hefty steak where there's hatefulness there. Disposition, emotions, emotional health. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your soul is your psyche. The Greek word for soul is psyche.

It's the word we get psychology from, psychiatric, psychic from. You see, it's the seed of your emotions. And there are two kinds of emotions, positive and negative, healthy and unhealthy. Well, you say, I can't help my emotions.

Yes, you can. You can choose your emotions like you can choose your friends. Listen to what the Bible says in Philippians chapter 4, verses 7 and following. He speaks of the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Literally, guard your hearts. Guard your minds. God's peace.

And then he says this, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. You can choose your thoughts like you choose your friends. I woke up the other night with a negative thought. I said, I refuse that in the name of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, I praise you and went back to sleep. Why let the devil mess with your mind? Why let the devil mess with your body? You're going to reduce your efficiency.

I'm talking about you're going to have a greater opportunity for a heart attack. What's a type A person? Well, he's ambitious, aggressive, self-demanding, competitive, constantly striving for success, driven by the clock. He doesn't have to be a man. He can be a woman. One man said, I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

When I came back, my wife had made up the bed. Type A people are seven times more likely to have a heart attack than type B individuals. Now, if you're a type A person, that's good because you'll achieve a whole lot, and you'll learn how to rest in the Lord. Physicians have long suspected that stress brings on some cancers, and the mind is the center of stress. My former doctor told me one day, he said, Pastor, all stress is self-imposed. All stress is self-imposed.

I mean, you have to agree to it in order to have it. The doctors talk about a psychosomatic illness. Psycho is the mind, soma is the body. It is the mind making the body self-imposed. You say, well, I don't believe my mind really affects my body.

Oh, yes, it does. What you think affects the amount of blood that flows to any organ? What you think affects the secretions of the glands in your body? What you think affects the tension in the muscles?

Let me illustrate what I'm talking about. Have you ever seen someone blush? What causes a person to blush because of what they've thought about? Embarrassment causes the blood vessels in the face and the neck to open up, and the face turns red.

What they think has affected their bodies. If you have anxiety, you're going to cause blood to rush to your head, and your skull is very hard, and it doesn't give, and you've got a headache there. Fear. It causes salivary glands to dry up. Have you ever seen a speaker get up and put a glass of water there, and talk and drink and talk and drink, and his mouth gets dry?

Kind of like a windmill pumping up a mountain over a dry hole, and he's just drinking and talking. Why? Because he's terrified of standing up there to speak. The mind is controlling the body. The muscles tighten when you are filled with fear or frightened or angry, and that causes pain. If you just take your fist and just clench it, you won't feel any pain, but just clench it and keep it there long enough, and you won't be able to keep it clench very long. You're going to have to let it go because it's going to begin to hurt. You have a pain in the neck? Well, so often that's because you have a problem in your mind.

Worried, they tell us, can cause arthritis. You can worry yourself stiff. Listen, it is a matter not only of discipline, it is a matter of disposition. Douglas MacArthur. Boy, give us some more men like Douglas MacArthur.

Douglas MacArthur had this hanging on the wall of his office. Youth is not a time of life. It is a state of mind. It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips, and supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotion.

It is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear, and despair, these are the long, long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. And then the great general said, you are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. Why do we have stress?

Stress is that gap between our strength and the demands that are put upon us. And we all feel that. That's the reason the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 40, verses 28 and following, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not. God never passes out, neither is weary. God never gets tired. There is no searching of his understanding.

God is never perplexed. He giveth power to the youth that faint, and to them that have no might. He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. The word literally means they shall exchange their strength, their weakness for his strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.

They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. I believe that what you need to do is to take your family. You need to sit down and say, are we a family living under stress?

What is the disposition of our family? And you need to find those things that are stressing your family. Those things that you're doing that are wrong, repent of them. Turn your life over to the Lord. Wait upon the Lord. That may sound simplistic, but friend, it'll work. Now here's the third thing.

Now watch. Family fitness is a matter of discipline. Family fitness is a matter of disposition. Thirdly, family fitness is a matter of devotion. Devotion. It is a matter of devotion. That is when you love God, when you serve God, you're going to be healthier. You know, we've been told in the Bible that the fear of the Lord adds years to life, and we need to understand that. I was reading an article by Mary Ann Herring, the title of the article, Believe Well and Live Well. I want to quote. It says, That's just a scientific fact.

They're telling us now the secret is out. Faith, religion is good for your health. But science is just verifying what the scriptures have told us for years.

In a 1987 review by Levin and Vanderpool, Social Science Medicine, that's the title of the review. Reported that in 22 of 27 studies, the more often a person went to church, the better his or her health. That's just devotion. Just coming to church. Just praising God.

Loving God. Make your family fit. That's an amazing thing, but that's what the Bible has told us. That faith is good for family fitness. God wants your family fit. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You are a fearfully and wonderfully made machine.

There are some reasons why you may be sick that you can't control, but there are other things that you can control and you should control. Now, here's the final thing. Family fitness is a matter of decision. Now, here, I left this to last, because if you get these facts down and you don't make any decisions, so what?

I don't want you just to get these facts down. I want them to get in your head and in your heart, and there has to be a decision. And I believe that you need to have a family council. Those of you who are parents with little children, you need to sit down, and if there's a father in the family, he needs to take charge.

If not a father, then mother, you need to take charge. But listen to Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15. Joshua is talking to the children of Israel, and he says this, It's a matter of decision.

It is a matter of decision. And how do you serve the Lord? I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved in the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It deals with the body in discipline. It deals with the soul in disposition. It deals with the spirit in devotion.

But you have to make a choice. You have to say, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Now, there were other gods who were calling upon the Israelites. There were the gods that they knew back in Egypt.

Then there were gods of the Amorites in whose land they dwelt. And what Joshua is saying, look around. Look at these other gods. Look at these other philosophies.

Look at them. Then look at Jehovah God. You know what God is saying? He said, You bring your best gods out. I'll beat them all.

I'll beat them all. You bring all these philosophies, all these other people around there, and he says, Now look, here's what they believe. Here's what they do.

Here's what they're like. But he says, Listen, you're going to have to choose. Choose who you're going to serve. You're free to choose. But you're not free not to choose. Not to choose is a choice. You're free to choose. You're not free not to choose, and you're not free to choose the consequences of your choice.

That's very important. You're free to choose. You're not free not to choose. But you're not free to choose the consequences of your choice.

Once you make a choice, then your choice chooses you. Now what you need to do is to look at your family and say, listen, what is this we're eating? What is this we're doing?

What is this we're thinking? Are we going to continue to live this way? Are we going to make a decision as a family, some family fitness, so that we might be a testimony to our neighbors and those around us? We ought to be different. Our families ought to stand out in matters of faith, in matters of fun, in matters of finance, and in matters of fitness.

Our families ought to be different. Don't you believe that? I do. But you see, if you just hear this and don't make a decision, what good is it going to do you whatever? Now, if you think that I'm just talking to you about being healthy and physically strong and that's all, you missed it a thousand miles. What difference would it make if you lived to be a serene old man or woman with the bloom of health on you and then you died? What difference would it make if you died in a modern hospital with the aid of drugs, no pain at all, and died with a smile on your face? What difference would it make if they had a big funeral and all of the high muck and the mucks of society came to your funeral and there you are in a beautiful bronze casket and the undertaker's done such a good job on you?

What difference would it make if they carry you out and put you in a grave as beautiful as any park and festoon that grave with flowers? I say what difference would it make if you rise in the judgment and meet a God that you do not know with your sins unconfessed and unforgiven? I am not talking about mere physical health and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God wants you saved so much that he sent his darling son to pay for your sin with his blood on that cross and I promise you on the authority of the Word of God if you will trust Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior he will forgive your sin. I promise you he will and he'll save you today if you'll ask him. I invite you to pray this way out of your heart sincerely, fervently, dear God, I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you.

I do trust you Jesus. Right now this moment with all of my heart, come into my heart, I invite you in, take control of my life, I turn it over to you. Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. Save me, Lord Jesus.

I turn it over to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray, amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now we would love to celebrate you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page. There at the website you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. There's a response section, you can reach out to us, share your testimony or how this message impacted you.

Just go to lwf.org slash radio and click on the tab at the top that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's forever family. Let us hear from you today. Now if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Mention the title Family Fitness. This message is also part of the powerful and convicting series It Takes a Family. For the complete collection, all seven powerful messages, you can call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD or order online at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for studying with us in God's word today. Do you recognize any areas in your health or your family's health that could improve?

Make the decision to maintain your family's health physically and spiritually. We hope you'll join us tomorrow for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding. Recently a listener wrote a note of encouragement to us on Facebook.

Here's what they said. I'm so very thankful to be able to listen to God's word preached by Adrian Rogers. It has been a blessing to me and I never get tired of it. He has enriched my Bible knowledge and I consider him my all-time favorite. But we are so blessed to hear how these messages have impacted your walk with Christ. At Love Worth Finding, we believe it's crucial that Christians keep Christ at the center of our lives and in our homes as the days grow gloriously dark. That's why when you donate to the ministry right now, we want to send you our It Takes a Family booklet collection. This bundle features four powerful booklets that deal with a wide range of family matters through the lens of scripture so that you and yours can honor God in the home. Request this bundle when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD OR GIVE ONLINE AT LWF.ORG SLASH RADIO.