(outline for Sunday evening January 18)
Introduction:
1. Maintaining your personal health is a part of your stewardship of life.
2. When I talk with couples who are getting married I typically explain that caring for your health is a part of the marriage vows they will affirm to each other during the ceremony.
3. No matter how negligent you have been in the past, it is not too late to begin taking care of your health.
Outline:
1. If your body is the primary residence of God’s Spirit, do good housekeeping.
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. I Corinthians
2. Adopt a diet and exercise program compatible with your stature and lifestyle.
GENESIS 1:29 "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
From LEVITICUS 11:1-30 "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'Speak to the children of
(MAMMALS) Among the beasts, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud that you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.
(FISH) These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers that you may eat. But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. (This would include oysters, shrimp, clams, lobster, turtle, and catfish.) Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales - that shall be an abomination to you.
(FOWL) And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
(INSECTS) All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.
(RODENTS, REPTILES) These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind; The gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.'"
3. Schedule regular physical examinations.
4. Recognize the connectivity between physical health and emotional health.
5. Practice Sabbath rest.
To regular cease from your usual labor and enjoy a change of pace and change of place.
Summary: Caring for your personal health is one of the ways you can maximize your capacity to serve.
