Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore and teach all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ's teachings through Australian and international speakers.
And here is today's presenter, pastor Robert Stankovich. Let's bow our heads, and we'll have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father just want to thank you that even though sometimes we see things upside down or we don't see always the same things the same way.
But Father, we thank you that we can allow your spirit to turn our hearts and to turn our thoughts and our feelings towards you so that we may look from your perspective at people as being upright and someone that we can love. And may you bless us, Lord, as we continue in our last of our three part series on wellness. And may you bless my lips and may the things that we share today, it's about honoring you and glorifying you in our lives.
Thank you. In Jesus name, amen. So I began a couple of months ago with part one, and we looked at the blue zones, how there were five strategic areas that says that people who live together well, eat well, work well, live well and longer, and way over 100 years of age and still don't end up in a nursing home or in a very difficult chronic diseases.
And they end up just heart stopping. They've lived long, and they die almost happy. And then we looked at part two of the China study a couple weeks ago, and we discovered that Colin Campbell was one of the key researchers with a group of other medical institutions that discovered that in a lot.
Of parts of China where there wasn't a concentration of highly processed food and where people ate simple their fruit and veggies and mainly a plant based diet. They lived longer, they lived better and they didn't succumb to some. Of the major diseases of today, primarily heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure those things that are very prevalent in the Western society.
And his influence of his work and study has influenced the modern world in a stronger push towards a more healthy lifestyle, a more plant based diet. Because as a church, we have a health message and we've kind of struggled with it over the last several decades. The world sort of didn't want to listen.
People smoke, people do whatever. Now even people who don't know the Creator God, who gave us these simple lifestyle things for our benefit are beginning to reap some of those benefits, including I'll skip that for a second. Including one of his first videos that he produced, Forks Over Knives, that talked about the benefits of a plant based diet.
And it's influenced people like Bill Clinton to adopt a plant based diet, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger and many who are pro that is very similar not the same, but there's a lot of parallels with what we've been promoting over 120 30 years, including actors, sportspeople. He then went on after Fawkes and Ice, produced a video called Plant Pure Nation in back in 2015. And then just this month they've released another one From Food to Freedom.
And that focus of that one was collecting during COVID lockdowns, I think, six people that had really severe chronic disease, particularly diabetes and a few other things, high blood pressure and all of that. And they came from the first day with all kinds of medication, all kinds of symptoms and issues. And after ten days they lost a bit of weight.
They reduced almost 90% of their medications and some even completely off their type two diabetes and because of lifestyle changes and it was a ten day program. It reminds me something of Daniel chapter one, doesn't it? Ten days could have a significant impact in making changes in our lifestyle. And so in part three of my last one, I want to focus from nutrition and onto the several other lifestyle.
We call it lifestyle medicine these days because food can be your medicine and all these other lifestyle choices can be your medicine to build your immunity and strengthen your capacity to live well above diseases and sickness and even recover quite well from some of these common viruses that we experience. So we're going to look at some of these one by one, just in brief, because one day I really want to encourage a stronger health ministry in the church and do more in that space in reaching out to people to improve their lifestyle, improve their longevity of life, improve their quality of life and all of that. So the next one in that acronym of New Start, the first one is Nutrition.
The next one is exercise. Exercise, unfortunately for me, I hate, I hate it, but I do it. I do it not because I enjoy it, but because it's good for me.
But the positive thing is I'm beginning to enjoy it more since I got into it. Now, I've been sort of sick over the last ten days, just recovering from COVID and a cold and all the rest of it still a little congested, but I'm almost there fully and I'll be getting back into my thing. But it's interesting about exercise.
There's a patient there with a doctor. He says, man, time to exercise. And doctor says, well, what fits your busy schedule better? Exercising 1 hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day? I thought that's a, like in your face question.
He said, oh, I really need to think about that. So what are things that will make me dead 24 hours a day? And of course, all these chronic diseases that are prevalent today. So exercise is very significant.
In fact, they did some research even during the time of the China study within the US. And parts of the world that physical activity and ample vitamin D may help prevent Alzheimer's. So interesting in some of these research and two, sadness may spread like a disease, but exercise could be the remedy.
And I think the next bit says, and three, good mood can run a long time after workout. I know that when I go to the gym, I'm not like, yeah, the gym. I'm like carrying my bag and I'm going the gym.
And then I pump it up, work it out. And I come out, I literally because I finish on this, like a bike tread thing and you got to do what do you call it? Rest. And then sprint.
That's the word I was looking for. So you sort of pedal lightly and then after about minute and a half, pedaling normally, then you got to sprint for 30 seconds and the bar goes up and how many I don't know how they do it, but 24 something, I get to 24 and then I rest in a minute and a half. And then the next one, I got to beat 24.
That means I got to pump harder. And I get to 28 and I've got eight levels, and by the time I get to eight, I'm up to about 60 or 70 and my heart's about to jump out of my chest. And then I get off and I feel like I'm floating in the International Space Station.
And I just walk down the steps and I'm afraid to fall because my foot doesn't feel like it's touching the ground. So there's something that stimulated in your body that this happy hormone and all the rest of it where I feel like I come out feeling better than when I was going in. So at the moment, about a month into it, I'm still like Jim, but it's becoming more enjoyable.
So just I need more time. All right, so what sort of exercise shall we do? Because in some of these studies, in some of these studies, like the Blue Zones, they didn't go to the gym. They probably couldn't afford to go to the gym.
Not that they're that expensive these days. You can get them pretty good. But they worked in the garden.
Physical activity, that's the key thing. When we say exercise, we're not meeting doing the 50 kilometer push ride on the bike thing or lifting weights. It's about physical activity exerting the heart and creating some sort of resistance.
It's like walking on the flat or walking uphill, you know what I mean? Does the heart flat and then when you go uphill, it's causing resistance to the whole body to push hard. So the research has said that 20 to 30 minutes a day is very important and essential for your heart and for resistance. Exercise to the rest of your body, to stimulate every organ in your body and to feel at max for your sense of well being.
So it doesn't mean, you got to have all these sneakers on your bike or whatever. Funny ways of thinking. It's about be creative and do something you enjoy that you can be physically active.
Some people love swimming, swim, it's actually one of the best ones. It does every part of your body simultaneously. But I don't like swimming.
But anyway, that's another thing. I don't like the gym. But you know what I like about the gym? And this is honest, I'm just being honest when I pay for my gym, cost me $35 a fortnight, and if I don't use it, I feel like I'm losing out in more ways than one.
I thought, man, but if it's free, it's like tomorrow, it's a bit cold today, a little bit wet, a few drops. Yeah. Now, tomorrow, because I feel like I'm not losing out money, but I'm still losing out on my health.
And then I feel guilty that I'm going to start feeling pretty bad sluggish. But with the gym, I feel like I'm disciplined. So I think so.
I believe so, because I don't want to lose out financially. I better make the most of every dollar. But I'm glad they don't say, you got to go to gym seven days a week.
I thought, no, I wouldn't even sign up. But in fact, the instructor said to me, do one good workout, have rest one day. So I do three a week.
And occasionally on a Sunday I go for a swim or a sauna or something like that. So I make the most of it. So I'm glad, oh, I don't have to do all of it.
I feel better. The fact that they said you got to rest in between hard work, so that's pretty good. So walking is one of your cheapest, efficient way of exercising.
But if you want to work in your garden, that's even better because you get to produce some good fruit and veggies and stuff like that. So, yeah, keeping active, because walking is cheap. You can go leave the outside your house and just walk around the block and whatever, and they cost you nothing if you go to the pool, cost you money to get in there.
If you go to the beach, it's too cold in winter. But yeah, walking is one of your most efficient, cheapest. You can carry your water with you and sip some water.
You can get some nice sunshine, fresh air, and you can even take your dog for a walk. And even better, take someone else with you and walk with them and socialize. So you can see the benefits of walking.
You can do all these things. Now try and juggle a water bottle. You can absorb sunshine, fresh air, and if you got a dog like me that pulls you and you flap in the wind behind it, that's another thing.
And I love to sometimes go for a walk with my son or my wife and we go together just to hang out and encourage one another to exercise. So we try and do that in between our gym work. Except Jasmine's gym work is another whole story that's like, CrossFit type thing.
So that's beyond me. Yeah. So the hardest part about exercise is walking out that front door and putting your mind to it.
And it's important to do that. That is so important. To stimulate all those serotonins and all those happy hormones and all the benefits that comes from that we read about with aging and things like that.
Water is important. We use water for a lot of things. Washing dishes and things like that.
Watering the garden, the radiator in our car. Everything uses water, but our body needs it as well. Yes, hygiene is important.
We need to wash ourselves and be clean and that but drinking water is so important. In fact, I remember reading this article quite a few years ago about water and obesity, the importance of it. And I'm thinking, So if you drink water, you lose weight? Man, I'd drink 100 liters if I could.
But anyway, let me share something. This lady was 112 years old, size 24, and now she's 57 kilos. Now, that's way under my weight, I'm about sort of like 80 and I'm aiming for 70, but I might look too thinny if I go 70.
I'm not sure I'll see how I go. I'll look too bony and not as good looking. So Marina Milovsky, she's a Polish lady, and she says, what was the key secret to losing weight? And she was saying, Plenty of water and eat lots of vegetables.
And then in the article, she extends the importance of exercise and all of those things. And I thought, plenty of water. What's water got to do with losing weight and general health and well being? Well, let me read with you part of this research that was printed in the Herald Sun a few years back, just after September 11.
There you go. September 26. What suppresses the appetite? Sort of water suppresses the appetite and helps metabolize stored fat.
Each cell in your body needs certain concentration of water, as a nutritionist was saying. And when you're in a dehydrated state, your metabolism isn't working properly. If your water intake is adequate, your metabolism works more efficiently.
It also gives you a feeling of fullness. That's something I struggle with. I love my food.
And I know why I love my food. Because I don't drink enough water sometimes. And if I don't drink enough water, I eat more.
And I realize that when I drink more water it neutralizes the sensation of hunger and waters it down in more ways than one waters it down. But anyway, so very important. That water is important in that.
But it controls our appetite. It improves our mental alertness, brings relief to back and joint pain. It decreases the risk of some cancers, particularly colon cancer, bowel cancer because it helps to cleanse and wash and hydrate some of those areas.
Because if it's not moist with water, some of that rubbish in our bowels and intestines actually will begin to decompose and stay in your bowel longer than it needs to be. And of course, things get infected and can turn to cancers. So it's important to drink lots of water to have good movements daily.
It reduces the risk of heart attack, and it increases endurance, the capacity not only to physically keep going, but mentally to not give up. When we are dehydrated, we feel more feverish and we feel more sluggish. And if we drink more water now, it's not only water, remember, it's all of these lifestyle choices combined that improve the well being of the whole being.
Okay? All right. Problems from insufficient water, tiredness, fatigue, kidney stones, urinary infections, kidney and liver work overload dehydration, unregulated body temperature and constipation. So these are some of the things that we experience, and sometimes we don't cognitively or consciously are aware of those things, and we try to treat the symptoms rather than try and make some positive changes.
And water is an important one to get into. So is thirst a reliable guide? I know in my experience it definitely isn't because I could almost go all day without water. I'm so hyper focused on doing things that I forget to.
So I have to carry a bottle with me and remind me, and then when I go visit people, I get an extra glass of water there. And that really pushes my water level in my system. And water is the most important thing to drink.
Drinking drinks. Juices are fine that are pure juice, but it's important that water is the main thing that we drink. Soda water and sodas and things like that with high intake of sugars and stuff like that is bad for the kidney and the liver and stuff like that increases the workload on the liver and kidneys, and it's just no good.
We actually can gain weight from sugars. Sugars store as fat and then the body puts that out throughout the body and we end up with different things around our body hanging there. All right, so when's the best time to drink? Usually I love this is my habit.
I love to get up in the morning and my wife would put me or sometimes I do it, but she does it for me sometimes a big glass of water and then we put about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. And that really I was just reading the other day that it actually stimulates the metabolism to get going in your system and then you just keep topping it up throughout the day. Sometimes I have lemon on cold days if we don't have that.
So these are all great stimulants for the metabolism to do that. And then between meals, keep drinking that water. Try not to slush up water through your meals because you're diluting the digestive system.
And then you have some digestive issues when the acids aren't working as they should. And then early evening, and there's nothing wrong with drinking just before bed unless you want to get up at night. So it's up to you if you want interrupted.
And they say that even though our body loses, I don't know, something like maybe Dr. Rob can correct me something like 20 liters a day through water processing in your system and sweating and all that. But our body usually recycles most of it.
But we need about six to eight glasses, about a liter and a half to two liters to replace. That what we lose through sweat and a few other things and toilet and all that stuff. So body recycles most of the liquids in our body, but we still need to top it up daily, and that's an average of one and a half to two liters for an average adult.
A child might be a little less, and sometimes we might need some more if we're really hard on the gym and hard work and stuff like that. Really sweating it out. All right, let's have a look at S in the acronym of New Start Sunlight.
We often hear that sun is no good to go out too much in the sun because you'll get what? Burnt. Yes, skin cancer. That's what they tell you.
All right. But I think there's more to the story because I sort of read quite a few articles about the importance of sunlight as a stimulant for depression, vitamin D for the body, good for the skin and the nutrition it gives to our organs of the body. And all of that fights colds and flus and all of that.
But I truly believe that cancer becomes an issue is what we are eating and what is being extracted through our pores of our skin and in our skin that when sun burns onto skin that is more fatty, particularly animal fat, dairy. It does more damage than if a person eats less of an animal based products and more plant based foods. Because then the animal fats that are around in our body does have more detriment when we burn ourselves out in the sun than if a person who is hydrated and eats well makes a lot of difference.
So it's not just that, yes, we shouldn't go out there and roast ourselves. Definitely not early morning sun, late afternoon sun, when it's less ultraviolet rays than that. That's very important.
But it's not just going out and saying, like, out the door and okay, it's enough not to get skin cancer. It's not like that. There's a lot more to it.
What we eat and how we live in all our other choices that we've been talking about does impact our ability to resist those kinds of things from overexposure to ultraviolet rays. So very important. Now, there's a thing called Sad, which is seasonal affective disorder, and it says when we go without sunshine we can even get this Sad thing.
People who suffer from this disorder get depressed during the times when there's not much sun, although they're typically fine in the warmer, sunnier months of the year. So you can imagine in some of these Scandinavian places where you might have like six months of sun and then zero the other six months, or it's a very short day, and they go to sunbaths and get their exposure and stuff, vitamin D that they need and all of that, to stimulate their serotonin. So we all need serotonin, we all have it, our body creates it, and when we get out in the sun, it stimulates our body to have that sense of happy feeling and feeling great.
Melatonin, on the other hand, is what we call the sleepy hormone that slows us right down, because when the sun sets shortly after a few hours, we begin to get tired because the body is now setting in melatonin to make us rest. And sometimes people need sleeping tablets, isn't it, unfortunately? And sometimes the body's not producing melatonin for whatever various reasons, and they take melatonin tablets to be able to slow right down and rest and actually sleep. And Proverbs says since 1722, a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit SAPS a person's strength.
So it's very important because sunshine is a happy space and being in the dark room with curtains closed and maybe the blue screen glaring for hours can actually be depressing in more ways than one. And it's important to get that essential sunshine daily, at least once or twice a day for at least, they say, 15 to 20 minutes. Very important.
The ultraviolet rays of the sun make our bodies produce vitamin D, which is thought to help protect us from various types of cancer. In addition, vitamin D helps our brains make more serotonin. And if we slather our skin with sunblock every time we step out the door, we're cutting down on vitamin D and its benefits.
We're actually not allowing the sun to come into our body. Yes, if you're at eleven to three and it's 40 degrees and you're out on the beach, yeah, you might need some. But in general we need at least 15 minutes of sunlight exposure at least three times a week.
Very important. So we need to let the sunshine in our rooms. Encourages good moods.
We all need that in the family, don't we? Especially as we prepare the kids for school and as we prepare the kids for bed. We want kids to be happy and the family and leave that room without fighting and killing each other. So encourages good moods, therefore managing depression, anxiety keeps household germs at bay.
So germs get killed when there's plenty of sunlight that kills. And they did experiments of these little round glass. What do you call those things? Pardon? Yeah.
Anyway, those little glass things, and they put some stuff in it and they put one in the sun and one in a dark container and one week later there was all these bacteria and mold and germs in the dark one and in the light one, there was nothing. It's like the sun was just killing the germs. So very important for germs in your body, because every day we touch germs.
I also read a research paper that's not good. Unfortunately, we had to do it during COVID But using that what do you call it? Pardon? Oh, sanitizer. Sorry.
My brain. I'm thinking 50 million mile ahead, sanitizer. Because we constantly kill the germs, kill the germs and then our body doesn't get used to accustomed to germs that should be there in our body to build natural immunity.
And then we actually get in sick with other things. So it's very important to give your body exposure to the sun in order for the sun to kill the germs on you. And that's the best thing, especially for children.
Air out the bathroom. It will control molds and things like that. All right, let's look at temperance.
And we're almost there. Temperance is a term that in one way to define it. Is it's the what's the I'm just trying to just jump my brain.
That's what happens when you don't have notes. Should have written it down. It's the moderation in all good things and the abstinence of all things harmful.
That's what I was trying to get. It just hit me in the head. Sorry, I had a moment to think.
So it's not saying being moderate in bad things. It means abstain from bad things that are detrimental to your body, but even be moderate in good things. My weakness is I eat too much because I love my food.
Maybe I don't drink enough water, I don't know. But I'm slowly increasing a lot more water. There's one there and I'm feeling a bit dry, but that's okay, we'll get there.
And so there's a lot of things that the Lord wants us to be moderate and balanced in all the good things of life. I don't think God wants us to be moderate in harmful things that increase our body's cholesterol and weaken our immune system. When I grew up, as a kid, I hated this thing with passion.
Maybe because it was the way my mum made them. I don't know. Maybe by the time I got my fork through it, it just went through it.
I couldn't pick it up, so it was pretty slush. But we've learned to make it. And our kids, we trained our kids.
We put crushed garlic, bit of lemon juice and a bit of olive oil and just put a lot into it and they ate it, anything green. Just put garlic and olive oil and lemon juice and they'll eat it with everything else. So that cured us from the Broccoli syndrome, so it was all fixed up for us.
So sorry, I just wanted to mention real quickly, part of temperance is making conscious choices of things that are harmful to us. There are certain drugs, there are prescribed medication that we do need at times, but there are lethal and or illegal drugs that hurt us. And we know about drug abuse in our society, but at the same time, it's a good thing.
Society has been clamping down on smoking and even alcohol. Not as much as smoking, but I think they're working more and more on the alcohol and the thing. Now, I'm not going to spend here, I can spend an hour in debating about this alcohol.
Should we drink a little bit? Is it good for the stomach? I'm not going to touch it, all right, because I could spend hours talking about it. But anything that will harm our perception or sense being drunk is not a good thing. Anything that will burn our insides and destroy the linings of our stomach and our gut is not a good thing.
So anything that's extreme one way or the other is not a good thing. So it's always best. There's so many great beverages to drink that you don't need alcohol to try and find pleasure and happiness.
You won't find it anyway. But it's in the good things that God's made and for us that we need to drink that even not only the things we drink and eat, but the things that we look at. Does that destroy our sense of wellness and emotional health and happiness? Or does it lead us towards God more or does it lead us further away from God? That is something we need to be serious in the choices we make every day.
Very important. All right, air. What can you do without air? What's air made of? Well, it's actually more hydrogen, I think there is, than the natural oxygen.
But air is very important. It's important like sunshine. Let the sunshine in and let the fresh air in.
Don't close your windows all the time unless you're freezing to death, but not 24 hours. Your body needs to breathe fresh air. It doesn't need stale air.
Your rooms and your bedrooms need fresh air. Breathing well is important. They say there are certain breathing exercises, not sort of like going, but more like, oh, sorry, you want me to do it sideways? So it's letting your abdominal muscles work to bring in so your lungs feel up to 80% capacity rather than 30.
You know what I mean? The way we breathe brings in the importance of that. All right, let's go further in. Rest.
This is really important. One thing that I know, that when I get sick, your body just says, I need a sleep, I need a rest. And your body's telling you that.
And sometimes we can resist that. And we lower our capacity to fight disease. And get better and get well sooner.
And so it's very important that we do rest not only when we're sick, but that we have adequate amounts of rest. Now, I know my wife always criticizes me on I'm more of a late night person, and she's more of an early bird, early rise. And usually my sleep time is anywhere between 1011.
Hers is anytime between 05:00 a.m. No, sort of around the 09:00 ish. It's very important to get that rest.
And there's research that shows that's quite restful, isn't it? Who wouldn't want to be lying on top of a bull or a cattle and just reading the Bible with that kind of a view? I mean, that's super happy space. Love it. We talked about melatonin as sleeping hormone.
Let me go for time. Okay. Got a few more minutes.
And so the hours this is the key thing. The hours before midnight is where we get the more deeper sleep. And there's five levels of restfulness, and we want to get down to the fourth and the fifth level where your eyes are twitching and your foot is like doing that.
That's when you know you're sleeping really deep and well. All right? If you're just lying there and going and nothing's happening, you're probably at level two or three. So in order to do that, the amount of darkness and earliness that we go before midnight with the time after sunset right in the middle between there is the time we begin to get the deepest sense of Rejuvenation that our body looks for.
Most emotional processing occurs during sleep. Okay? So if you have dreams that doesn't make sense, it's okay. It means your body's trying to store it into different compartments because it's just stuff everywhere.
And sometimes our stress during the day or our working too hard does affect our capacity to store those emotional things in the different areas. And we do feel very tired at times. Cleansing and rebuilding of the body and mind requires energy.
You need an average of around eight to 9 hours of sleep every night. And when you're sick, you need to get more adequate rest. In fact, two to three times more healing happens during sleep.
And in fact, if you want to convince your kids that you need to get plenty of rest is where they grow the most. If they want to grow and be a big boy and a big girl, you got to sleep more. And so all your growth happens at sleep.
When you're in the day, there's compression of your body. But when you're asleep, your body seems to expand more. And the kids do a lot of their growing periods during their rest at night.
Lack of adequate rest for a long period of time will negatively impact the chemical balances of the brain that affects our mental health, mood swings, and weakens our immune system. So very essential rest, all of them are essential when we combine them together in our lifestyle choices that we make every day. Another aspect of rest I believe is very important is the kind of rest that we have that God created us to break the cycle of activity and to slow us down, to get emotional, spiritual and physical rest where we slow down a little.
It doesn't always mean stopping from paid work, but it might be changing the focus of our mind from work that pays our bills to maybe activities that enjoys fellowship and community, where we don't have the responsibility and stresses of our mortgage and things like that. Where we can just be at rest and serve God and do good to others. That all is still activity, but it's a productive, healthy activity for us.
Now, work is important. If we don't work, we stress because we don't know if we're going to pay the next bill or not. Yeah, we need to do that, but we also need that cycle where God's given us that one day in seven.
That's both a spiritual blessing and an emotional blessing and a physical blessing. It's a holistic healing experience that we experience through that rest in that 24 hours period. And finally, that was a marathon hey, because I didn't want to make it a ten part series, so I just wanted to just the big picture, trust in God.
Did we leave the best till last? Is it the foundational? What would happen if we chose? Eat whatever, don't be too active, don't drink enough water, sit inside in the dark all the time, don't get much fresh air, doesn't matter. I'll just drink alcohol, smoke and then our capacity to trust God. What's going to happen? Because I don't know about you, when I'm sick, I even struggle to open my Bible.
I lie there and I say, Lord, not that I feel guilty that I'm not studying the Bible because I can't enjoy it. I can't be at rest and at peace and enjoy reading because I'm feeling miserable. I just want to die.
Have you ever felt that sick? Have you got to had a really bad flu? That you say, Lord, please save me? I've had that experience and it's not a good thing. And in the same way, how we take care of our bodies will give us this greater capacity in our other daily challenges to trust God more and to also have the healthy, vulnerable risk to be able to trust people, not judge people. You should be eating that or you should be doing more exercise.
No, says brother. God made us with an amazing body and God wants us to preserve it, protect it for his honor and glory that we may serve God to the fullest capacity and feel good about life. It's very important.
The power of faith and hope and love, the power of prayer, bible nurture, fellowship building, loving relationships with God and others. This is so important. Bible says, it is so sad to see that some are neglecting their fellowship.
They're coming together. And it's important that we fellowship not just here as a know in our Sabbath schools in different ways in connecting and building community. Because the blue zones, one of the most powerful ones was community.
In fact, a lot of these areas, grandpa and grandma and kids and grandkids and great grandkids and great great grandkids would live in a close area where that strengthened the community. It brought health and healing. It helped them to have a great sense of community and wellness.
Mental health very important for some of us. We have loved ones that are a long way away, or maybe we've lost a loved one, but we have a church, family, praise God, that can love one another and support one another, encourage one another and heal one another and all these other 50 61 another's that the Bible talks about. Community is so important and that's where we get inspired and encouraged when things aren't working well.
We get inspired in groups. Group motivation. When I go to the gym, do I go by myself? No.
I either go with my son or with my daughter or sometimes the three of us, sometimes the two of us, it's like we might be doing a slight different exercise program, but we're in each other's presence and it's just motivation. If I go by myself, I don't know anyone there and I want to try and get to know people, but I'm just pushing uphill, feels like I'm pushing uphill. And when my son's there or my daughter's there, I feel like I'm not going uphill, I'm getting through there.
And that's the motivation we need to be able to support each other. And God's love and power is branched through each of us to empower us. This is a beautiful realization.
In closing, god owns the whole world. Do you believe that? Do you believe he owns everything that's in the sea and everything in it? He owns the land and everything on it? Do you believe he owns our bodies? It's the temple of the Holy Spirit. He owns all the silver and the gold on the earth.
So how much of us is ours? What about your house? Oh, it's mostly the banks, but besides that, nothing. We have. My gift and ability that God's put in my heart and life to do what I do is a gift from God.
It's not my wisdom, it's not my abilities. It's my trusting connection with God as he's leading me in my life to find usefulness and purpose that he gives me. And that's why he says whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, he could have had ten pages of whether you eat or drink or this, this or or this or this or this or this or this, this is or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
Why? Because of that came with nothing, we leave with nothing. A billionaire. Guess what? He might have a little bit more expensive coffin, but that's about it.
He'll rot and look rotten like us. The same in the earth. Sorry to say that in a negative way, but I hope it didn't come out negative.
But that's the reality. We're born as a simple little child that knows nothing and depends on the parents. And we leave this world and we die.
Our thoughts have gone and nothing. And it's what we do between those two is what makes all the difference in the purpose of our lives, whether we honor God or honor ourselves. And we suffer for it.
If we don't honor God, whether we choose to or not, we brought nothing into the world and certainly we can carry nothing out. For all things come from you, and of your own have we given, everything we have, we give back to Him. The gift of our time, the gift of our talents, our treasures and our body temple.
All our health and happiness and all our assets and money comes from God. And God is really saying, trust me with your money, trust me with your health, trust me with your family, trust me with your work. When you lose a job, don't worry, god's got another job coming.
Because if we worry and anxious about it, we suffer in our health, but God will bring a better way out. So these are all the building blocks of wellness and well being. Very important.
We make these decisions. You know, what was Rome ever built in a day? God just asks us. Put one brick in front of you and a bit of mortar.
I call love and willingness to follow God's ways and add one brick at a time and build that up in your life, all these different building blocks and grow in that process of change. And we begin to feel better along the way, physically, mentally and spiritually. I want to encourage and promote something that I believe is a great thing that Shalom are doing.
They've been in recent times bringing in some great programs. And if you feel like you're going through some chronic diseases and diabetes and high blood pressure and things like that, and you want a Kickstart, a new start to come out for a ten day or a twelve day or 21 day program, there is something there for you and it's quite affordable. They tailor make the costs according to where you're at financially.
They don't just have a one off payment. The same for everybody and they're worth talking to. If you feel like you need something a little bit bigger to help you get out of a deeper situation, maybe in your health situation and it's a beautiful environment, it's been developing a lot better over time and it's just about 30 k's out of manjam up, so it's not too far from here.
Great place to visit, and it's beautiful and just mentally relaxing. Just half my problems already fixed just being there. So it's a beautiful place.
And the Bible says, Paul says I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. It's not about that I have not achieved it. But I focus on this one thing forgetting the past, looking forward to what lies ahead.
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Everything we do, our lifestyle choices, my choice in how God's going to use me to be a missionary for Him in my neighborhood, all of these is a calling to prepare our body, mind and spirit, to work the most effective for God and feel good about life at the same time. Yeah.
Amen. Father, we just want to thank you that you save you save us from the penalty of sin, you save us from some dumb choices we make in life, whatever that looks like for any of us. Father, we just want to come to you for help, for strength, for forgiveness.
Lord, we want to renew our focus. We want to serve you with all our hearts and mind and body and strength. And Lord, may we serve you with the fullest capacity that we may serve you with joy and health and encourage people to know you better.
And Father in Heaven, I pray that you will take us from this place renewed, and may we seek Your face and learn more about how to take care of ourselves in Jesus name. Amen.
This is Jesus Saves by the Calvary Quartet hear the heart of heaven beat me jesus save Jesus save and a hush of mercy breathing jesus save, Jesus save hear the host of angel see glory to the newborn and resounding joy repeating jesus, save he will live our sorrow sherry jesus save Jesus save he will die our burden mary jesus save Jesus save see the sky alive with praise melting darkness in its place there is life forever more we have heard we have heard the joyful sound.
Jesus, save me with the tide. Jesus. Jesus.
It is done. The shelter christ has made redemption while we Jesus save all to grace. How great a tether.
Jesus, save. Jesus save all the saints shout together jesus rising up so fast and strong lifting up salvation song the Redeem will sing forever the Redeem will sing forever the Redeem will sing forever you Jesus Jesus, Jesus let's listen to William Ackland as he shares a psalm from his paraphrase of the Bible called the Gift. It might surprise some people that Moses has written one of the psalms.
This is Psalm 90 and is concerning god is eternal and man is mortal. Great God, you have been our eternal home in all our generations. Before you made the mountains, before you created this wonderful world from unending years in the past to eternity in the future.
You are God. You send mankind to his destiny in the grave and say return to the earth from which you came, you children of the dust. For you, thousands of years are merely a few days.
Or like a watch in the night, people are washed away in the waters. Their lives are like asleep when time stops. Still.
When they awake each day, they grow up like the grass warmed by the sun. They sprout and flourish. But then in the evening, they are cut down with a scythe and wither on the ground.
For your anger is what consumes us. We are frightened by Your wrath. Our evil deeds are spread out before you, and our secret sins are seen in the harsh light of day.
For the days of our lives are lived under Your searching gaze. And we come to our end with a sigh of regret. We can only hope to live for 70 years, and even if we live another ten, yet the pride of reaching 80 is undone by labor and sorrow.
For it ends soon enough and we are gone. Who can bear the full power of Your anger? For Your wrath more than matches the fear of reproof. So teach us to make each day count.
And each day may we earnestly seek wisdom. Have pity on us, O Lord. How long will it be? Have compassion on Your frail servants.
May we feast on Your mercy early each day, that every day may be a day of gladness and joy. May the happiness that comes from you measure up to the wrath you send and the years when troubles have overwhelmed us. May the things you have done be known to Your servants and the splendor of your being be known to their children.
May God's special blessing be upon us and make what we have done to be of value. Yes, may it be something that will last when we are gone. This program has been brought to you by three ABN Australia Radio.
