🏋 How Do You View Your Body? - Derek Prince

our Proclamation today is taken from first Thessalonians 5 verses 23 and 24 and when we make a proclamation we make it personal so when the scripture says you we say we when it says your we say our hmm this particular Proclamation is right in line with what I'll be talking about in just a few moments now where the God of peace himself sanctify us completely and they our whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ he who calls us is faithful who also will do it can you say amen to that now I just just like to put a question into your mind when Paul says may our whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ what is involved in our body being preserved blameless have you ever given any thought to that question I think some of the answers will come in what I'm going to speak about my theme this morning is how do you view your body many of you probably hardly ever given any consideration to that question and yet you live in a body there's one thing showing about all of us here each of us has a body I want to say right at the beginning that my words are addressed to people who have potentially healthy bodies I say potentially because a lot of you don't have healthy bodies but you could have but there are people here who could not have healthy bodies people who are handicapped my words are not addressed to them but I want to say we appreciate you you are not inferior you are not second-class in fact some of the sweetest spirits I've ever encountered lived in very limited handicapped bodies but so please don't take anything that I say is any kind of condemnation I'm addressing people who could be healthy when we talk about viewing our body there are probably two extremes one is people make their body an idol they worship it they cater to its every need they spend half their time thinking about what to do for their body how to eat or how to clothe themselves or how to make themselves look smart or pretty or important then the other group of people are at the opposite end who view their body as a kind of weight that they're going to have to drag around until they die and many of those people are dragging that weight around because originally it was their Idol if you make anything an idol God will curse it because God curses idols so between those two extremes most of us here today are found I want to turn to a scripture which is very relevant in Psalm 139 verses 13 and 14 these are the words of David he had a revelation about his physical body Psalm 139 verse 13 and 14 for you God have formed my inward parts you have covered me in my mother's womb I will praise you for I am for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works and that my soul was very well David had a revelation about his physical body he said I am fearfully and wonderfully made he was in awe of what he had in his body he said I'm fearfully made I'm wonderfully me and then he said something that most of us probably could not say my soul knows that very well does your soul know just how wonderful is the body that you live in do you have a revelation David saw that his body was a creative miracle of God and he had sensed in a sense that he was personally responsible for that body you know having a body is a tremendous responsibility did you realize that now I am no scientist far from it I used to be a philosopher philosophers and scientists hardly blend but there is information available and I want to give you some simple facts about your body I had a very elaborate education I was 16 years in continuous education always in boarding institutions you could say the last 7 years of my education were what would be called higher education and looking back I realized something amazing I never had one lesson about my body in all those years somehow it was just taken for granted when your body's there and it goes on functioning and you know but let's deal with the important things the philosophical questions and I suppose I suppose today included in education is a certain amount of teaching about the body and how I'm going to share with you some simple scientific facts which could be available to anybody who would do just the minimum of research or who is in the happiest position that I am to have a secretary who does it for me so again the facts and these facts could be multiplied dozens of times millions of light-sensitive nerve cells in the back of each eye relay the information to your brain through a bundle of nerve fibers that form the optic nerve your brain analyzes this information and as a result you see the whole process takes a fraction of a second number two the lens focuses light onto the retina the back wall of your eye to focus the lens changes shape in a single day your lens may change shape 100,000 times did you know that was going on inside did you see you didn't you couldn't say like David I know I'm fearfully and wonderfully made number three compared to other animals and I really don't believe you're an animal but this is the way it was presented you have a big brain for your body the gray part of your brain is folded to fit inside your skull flattened out it would cover an ironing board do you know that and here is a most stupendous statement you have 60,000 miles of blood vessels enough to stretch almost two and a half times around the earth did you know that 60,000 miles of blood vessels inside your body another interesting fact you have about five million hairs on your body but only about 100,000 grow out of your head and you remember Jesus said even the hairs have I had a number so whatever the number maybe God knows exactly how many hairs there are on each head in this place this morning next fact most of the cells that make up your organs are so small that over 200 of them could fit onto a period at the end of this sentence I believe we have almost 1 trillion cells inside our bodies the last of these interesting facts about 50 miles of nerves snaked through your body like a network of telephone wires they relay messages between your brain spinal cord and body again did you know you had about 50 miles of wires inside you so when David said I am fearfully and wonderfully made he was simply stating an objective scientific fact now I want to speak about the place of the body in Redemption and it has a much more important place than many spiritual people are aware in Romans chapter 12 all speaks in the light of all preceding 11 but Levin chapters of Romans he starts with R therefore I beseech you therefore brethren and you some of you who are familiar with me will have heard me say when you find it therefore in the Bible you want to find out what it's there for and this therefore is there because of the previous 11 chapters in the most comprehensive and most wonderfully logical presentation Paul has unfolded the whole redemptive purpose of God through faith in Jesus Christ the law redemptions from the law oh the part of the Holy Spirit all this marvelous plan of God has been unfolded and then Paul says therefore in other words in the light of all that I've shared with you how should you respond what should be your response and he tells us very plainly I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God that you present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service so the first response that God requires from us when we hear and respond to the gospel is what we do what we present our body I thought you could say well God I thought my body wasn't that important I know it's my spirit to my soul that really matter why are you worrying about my body God is so wise he says you give me the vessel and I have the contents to give me your body and your spirit and soul over inside it but if you leave out the body you've made an incomplete surrender to me and then he says the next verse do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove that you may find out in experience what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God so what you do with your body determines how much you'll appropriate of God's will if you don't present your body you're not in a situation to find out God's will for your life isn't that amazing some of you struggling saying well I really don't know what God has planned for me I don't understand let me tell you you never will understand until you meet God's condition present your body when you present your body God renews you in your mind and with that renewed mind then you begin to find out the will of God to your life many of you here frankly don't know God's will for your life and you never will until you meet the condition present your body oh you know my background is in Greek philosophy I studied Greek from the age 10 onwards and I've read every word that the philosopher Plato in his own original language I don't select the boast but I came to the Bible with a Greek mindset and I had to adjust because the Bible is a Hebrew mindset the Greeks kind of thought the body wasn't very important like many Oriental philosophies the Hebrews think the body is very important the Jews are such down-to-earth people you can be super spiritual and float about like a disembodied person but the Jew wants to know what about your body and God wants to know what about your body now when Paul says present your body a living sacrifice he's referring to the sacrifices of the Old Testament and under the Old Testament a Hebrew brought his sacrifice a lamb or a goat or whatever it might be placed it on the altar of God and it was killed and after that that lamb or goat did not belong to that man it belonged to God and when you place your body on God's altar from then onwards your body does not belong to you it belongs to God but there's one difference under the Old Covenant they killed the body that they placed on the altar Paul says place your body a living sacrifice don't kill it have you ever done that have you ever realized that God requires them and once once you have given God your body you don't own it you are a steward and you will have to answer to God for the way you've treated your body because it's God's property not yours there's a scripture in Sector Indians 510 which is very very relevant for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ I believe the word appear really means be made manifest in other words when we come before the judgment seat of Christ and we all we Christians not unbelievers this is not a judgment for unbelievers we all must be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad and there are only two categories good or bad whatever is not good is bad and every one of us here who's a believer and continues in the faith to the end of our life will one day have to be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ answering for the things we've done in our body I find sometimes people are embarrassed to confess their sins in public but God says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins there is no promise in the Bible that God will forgive sins we are not willing to confess and so I say to people sometimes when it might be embarrassing to stand up at off before four or five hundred people and confess your sin but think how much more embarrassing it'll be in eternity when you're made manifest before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and the whole universe will understand your sins I'd rather get it over now I make a practice of trying to confess my sins regularly because you may not have any to confess well that's wonderful but improbable now what else does the Bible teach us the New Testament primary about our body well let's turn to first Corinthians chapter 6 verses 19 and 20 do you not know and I have to pause here and say Paul says that several times do you not know my observation is whenever he says it most Christians today don't know what he says do you not know do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own do you see that for you were bought at a price therefore glorify God in your body and what does it say about your body it's a temple of the Holy Spirit now how do we treat a temple do we treat it casually are we careless are we sloppy do we make a lot of garbage mess and not maintain it's repair know the temple is the building that's most cared for in any community that is a temple community so Paul is saying treat your body like a temple temple of the Holy Spirit treat it reverently treat it with respect because it's God's temple and then in Philippians 3 verses 18 and 19 and I'm sure Jeff is counting how many scriptures I quote he said last night and I quoted 28 scriptures in my previous message so Philippians 3 18 and 19 this is how not to treat your body would you notice this for many walk and it's obvious that they're Christians because Paul speaks about them weeping of whom I have told you often often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ they're not the enemies of Christ what they're the enemies of is the cross it's the cross they don't want they want Christ but without the cross now listen what it says about them this is a fearful statement whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things does that describe you frankly does that describe you it describes multitudes of professing Christians today they set their mind on earthly things and their God is their belly and then in little further on in Philippians Paul speaks about the destiny of the believers body in verses 20 and 21 of Philippians 3 for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus is coming back for those who are eagerly waiting for him are you in that category I hope so now Jesus Christ will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself so when Jesus comes there's going to be a great dramatic and instantaneous change in a moment in the twinkling of an eye this body that I have or you have is going to be supernaturally transformed into a glorious body now the English translation doesn't exactly express it but it's the body of our humiliation which will be transformed into the body of his glory so the body we live in today is a body of humiliation why we humiliated because of our sin the whole Adamic race is humiliated by the body that it lives in how are we humiliate it well our body does things and makes demands which are humiliating you may eat the finest food and drink the finest drink but sooner or later you're going to - empty your belly and your bladder and how many people can do that with dignity it brings you right down to the fact you're living in a body of humiliation or you may wear the most elegant clothing expensive but you run a little or you get a little hot and what happens you perspire in other words you sweat and you're reminded you're living in a body of humiliation it's a continual reminder we we're sinful creatures we're paying the penalty for Adam's sin and for our sins but thank God that's not the end we're going to get a glorious body a body of glory like the body of Jesus can you conceive of that your body has a wonderful destiny and then I'd like to go back in Philippians 3 to verses 10 and 11 which is just part of a sentence but it describes Paul's motivation for living that I may know him Jesus and the power of his resurrection the Fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead notice that if by any means Paul did not take it for granted even Paul the great apostle he said my aim is to attain the resurrection the out resurrection the Greek means the first resurrection only the believers the righteous Paul did not take it for granted he said I seek to live in such a way that I may partake of that first resurrection if Paul didn't take for granted neither can you not if you're taking it for granted you're taking a big risk then I'll turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 27 verse 27 chapter 2 chapter 9 verse 27 first Corinthians 9 verse 27 again this is Paul's own statement but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection that when I have preached to others i myself should become disqualified so with all his revelations and his wonderful gifts and his knowledge Paul said I treat my body with severity actually that greek word originally means to give somebody a black eye so i give my body a black eye i think some of the under translations say i beat my body i bring it into subjection lest by any means after i've preached to others i myself should be disqualified preachers that applies to us i'll tell you in a little later how god made that so clear to me we can preach to others and still be disqualified ourselves if we do not control our bodies now how should we treat our bodies because there are lots of different factors in treating our bodies but one of the most essential is what we should eat and drink because that's so simple and basic that we don't discuss it in church but the fact of the matter is people who go to church eat and drink and god has got some advice to all of us Isaiah 55 this is a beautiful scripture verse 2 this is an advice from God on how to eat and drink why do you spend money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy why do you go out for all that fast food which doesn't do you any good at all and waste a lot of money on things that don't nourish you and don't make you healthy it's very up-to-date then God sends listen diligently to me and eat what is good how simple eat things that are good for you that nourish you that strengthen you that don't contribute to cancer which many things we do today and let your soul delight itself in abundance God says care for your soul by the way you eat eat one is good I'm stupid to eat what is not good and how unfortunate if we don't even know what is not good now 1st Corinthians 10:31 you see as a lot of this is from first Corinthians first Corinthians 10:31 very simple struck instruction therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it to the glory of God so whether we're eating or drinking we're going to do it to the glory of God do you sit do you think about that when you sit down at a meal table and let me ask you a question which I will not offer an answer is it possible to over eat to the glory of God I'll leave you to think that one oh now you say brother Prince well people don't talk about this kind of thing in church I know they don't but they should we're very I'm illogical when a new convert comes if he's smoking we say got to give it up he's an alcoholic you've got to give it up if he's on drugs you've got to give it up all those things can be very unpleasant and traumatic experiences giving up drugs giving up alcohol giving up smoking we don't hold back and say well that's too unpleasant we won't go into that unpleasant subject that's asking too much why do we never talk to new converts about the way that they eat in Hosea 4 verse 6 the prophets the God says through the Prophet my people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge that is absolutely the truth today in America God's people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge I want you to know this is not just an ordinary Church service this is a battlefield here this morning and we are fighting a battle for the lives of men and women and some of them are right here this morning and if you don't give heed to what the Bible and common sense have to say you'll regret it it's your body that's at stake it's your well-being that's at stake now my one of my good secretaries has provided me with a little sampling of significant scientific statements about eating and drinking and how to treat our body these are taken from such places as the United States Department of Health and human life the United States Department of Agriculture the American Cancer Society they're very reputable distinguished people they're not freaks they're not far-out they may be wrong but at least they're in so here I'm coming up with a series of statements scientists have estimated that forty to sixty percent of all cancers are linked to our dietary choices the US government's National Cancer Institute now estimates that 35 percent of cancer deaths are linked to diet what that means is that we have the potential in our daily food choices to make a major impact on the cancer risk we face each day does that register with you now going on according to Consumer Reports food has been implicated in six out of ten leading causes of death heart disease cancer stroke diabetes atherosclerosis which is hardening of the arteries chronic liver disease as well as other non fat related diseases such as osteoporosis and diverticulosis all these are selections today forty percent of Americans are overweight 25 percent of American adults are critically obese and you know what I've observed there's no difference between people in the church and people out of the church the same statistics apply 25 percent of US children are 20 percent or more above ideal weight shame on you parents you are sacrificing the well-being of your children through ignorance or laziness because those children run a far greater risk of ill health and other problems later in life I believe one of the most serious responsibilities of a mother is to train her children in right eating habits I've dealt with so many men later in live life who couldn't recover from the impact of the bad habits that their mother had inculcated in them as children there's a strange silence now let's go on to soft drinks we I'm sorry to say that in our office here when it was in Fort Lauderdale we had a great big red coke dispenser I always used to call it the altar of bail and Ruth and I said nothing to anybody which we prayed that it would be taken away and it has all right here is about soft drinks by 1900 Americans drank 12 bottles of glasses of soft drinks a year by 1980 they rose to 359 bottles or glasses of soft drinks for every man woman and child in the nation and since then 1980 undoubtedly it has gone higher let me say with a rub - I'll come to that in a minute in 1821 the average American whoever that may be consumed 10 pounds of sugar per year in the 1970s it was over 100 pounds per year which is four point four ounces a day and by 1996 it had risen to 142 pounds per year which is almost seven ounces a day you say well I don't take that much sugar well let me tell you in a can on a bottle of coke there are nine T spoonfuls of sugar and most of the processed and packaged food that you take is saturated with sucrose and you don't know and you'll go on not knowing unless the Lord wakes you up during a corresponding period from 1960 to 1980 that's a very short period water consumption dropped by 70 gallons a year to 42 gallons per person you say does that matter because I get plenty of fluid it does matter because water will do things for you that no other fluid will do all other fluids put some kind of strain on your kidneys water does them good now listen this is the most astonishing statement we're all excited about 2080 on V and getting the gospel to everybody but the rather facts about 2080 that we don't speak about by 2080 two out of five people in America will develop cancer two out of five these are all sober statements from medical sources now if in a nation two out of five people had cholera we'd call it a cholera epidemic wouldn't we you know what we have a cancer epidemic and who who's doing anything about it who cares who knows how much we ever hear in church about the cancer epidemic if there were a cholera epidemic in Fort Lauderdale you mean all the churches would be praying but this is we haven't opened our eyes we've been blinded by Satan to the real situation all right there's a few recommendations about how to prevent cancer and basically they all deal with what we eat or drink there are seven of them avoid obesity number one to reduce fat intake number three eat more high-fiber foods and if you don't know what they are find out number four eat more vitamin A and C enriched foods number five eat more citrus vegetables number six moderate salt cured smoked and nitrate cured foods number seven moderate consumption of alcohol basically it's not a complete presentation because exercise is not dealt with but basically everything concerns what we eat or drink you can eat yourself or drink yourself to death with cancer heart attack causes mainly through diet heredity and heavy ah heredity we can't change our diet and our habits we can change and most of us need to change our habits of exercise Ruth and I were away for 11 months till we returned recently and when we came back to our condo here in Fort Lauderdale our disposal what do you call them garbage disposal didn't work properly so we have a contract with the maintenance firm and he came and fixed it he said the problem is you haven't been using it and that's the problem with a lot of our muscles they were made to be used not to be sat on listen you're laughing but isn't what I'm saying true then about stroke prevention wait control number one exercise number two a mountain type of fats ingested and potassium calcium and magnesium intake high-fiber foods how many of you know what high-fiber foods are a few it's important to find out now I have a rather penetrating analysis by an American internal medicine specialist this takes a few moments to read hmm one of the most glaring errors in healthcare in this country and perhaps the world is the lack of attention to the concept of prevention it seems that part of human nature is to deny the possibility of illness until it occurs once it occurs we will do and pay just about anything to regain what we lost if our families schools and media would focus on a few of these areas we would reduce pain and suffering and reduce billions of dollars spent after the fact on health occur now it says our families schools and media why leave out our churches wouldn't be something for our churches to deal do we care about all care about the total person that's in our church or do we just care about their souls somebody said sarcastically about the Christian Church they don't care about people's bodies they just with deal with souls prepackaged for eternity I think it's a reproach on the church that we don't face this issue incidentally you know that the largest industry in the United States today it's not manufacturing its health its the largest industry in the nation today it really isn't a health industry it's the ill health industry because health doesn't cost much ill health costs a lot and then this this entire amended medical medical specialist goes on and he's speaking as an American to Americans first of all we are a country of excess the average American is obese and under exercised we already enter our selves around the TV and with the watching of the TV comes the eating that really I'm afraid is probably true most professing church members we don't orient ourselves around the Bible and prayer the really important times of the day or when we watch television seen a recent article in Prevention magazine noted that one easy way to reduce weight is to reduce television time to one hour a day the people of this country in general eat to the point of being stopped rather than content we also eat our biggest meal at dinner when our activity and caloric needs are the least so here's a suggestion dietary now needs for Americans eat a variety of foods maintain healthy weight choose a diet low in fat saturated fat and cholesterol choose a diet with plenty of vegetables fruits and grain products use sugars only in moderation use salt and sodium only in moderation if you drink alcoholic beverages do so in moderation that comes from the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Health and Human Services now we're going to use our overhead if somebody's ready this is a little diagram called a food pyramid I've been presented with thing called a laser pointer I hope I know what to do with it there we are you see the bottom biggest section is bread cereals rice and pasta and we should have about 6 to 11 servings of those ok then we go up to a second section which is divided in two on the left is the vegetable group three to four servings a day on the right the fruit group so the two main items of diet should be brain pasta cereals rice the next two should be vegetables and fruit then we go up to the higher level and on the Left we have milk yogurt and cheese and on the right we have meat poultry fish and so on thank you appreciate that and then right at the top we have sweets and awe and fans a very minimal pot let me ask you do some of you have the pyramid the wrong way up no I mean this is your life that's at stake I hope I can get you serious I don't mind your laughing not the nice bit but your life can well be at stake there are people here this day who will either live or die in the next few years according to how you respond to what I'm telling you today I hope you love me I love you that's why I'm telling you this now I think we can dispense with that now thank you very much that was very nice with you I've never used one of those before but it was exciting now I want to speak about responsibilities of parents I've already said the mother as a tremendous responsibility to train her family in good eating habits then you need to encourage exercise you want one way to do that is set an example then I want to ask you this question do you treat your car or your house better than your body are you actually better informed about the care of your car or your house when you aren't about your body do you devote more time and thought to the care of your car or your house than your body see if your car wears out which it will do sometimes another one is available even if your house burns down another one is available but when your body wears out there's no replacement that's it it's the end then I want to say dieting is not a remedy just settle that in your mind you can go on 15 different diets and you'll be worse off than you were before there's only one suitable remedy that is change your lifestyle did you hear that change your life style then I want to ask you a question just to think about it the people who sell you your food are they more interested in your health or your money they're not primarily concerned with doing you good they're primarily concerned with getting dollars from you and some of some of them are very ethical and wonderful people but some are very unscrupulous they'll do anything they can to make you spend more money on food and a large part of the advertising industry is devoted to them incidentally that pyramid that I put up was brought out by the US Department of Agriculture and health and human life and for three months it was held up it wasn't published you know why because the meat industry lobbied against it intensively were they concerned with your health or were they concerned with your money eventually the government decided no matter what they say we've got to do it we owe it to the people to put to publish this truth now I want to give a little word of personal testimony because I'm a speaking from experience not from theory in 1986 Ruth and I were on holiday in a hotel in Austria and the food was just one delicious and one day we were sitting in front of a big piece of deep-fried fish with french fries somewhere on the side and we've been drinking strong coffee not without cream and we usually ended with an ice cream not always Ruth but myself and as we looked at that fish on that plate and all the fat we said to ourselves this really is not good for us and we decided to pray a very simple prayer included in our great everyday we've prayed this prayer help us to eat wisely and we had no idea of the ramifications of that prayer it has changed our lifestyle not instantly but step by step by step now in 1991 I was theoretically having a sabbatical with Ruth in Hawaii and it turned out to be anything but a sabbatical and I became critically ill with a heart condition which is called bacterial endocarditis which means an infection causing inflammation of the lining of the heart and it is normally fatal until antibiotics were discovered there was no remedy God was gracious to me I was I think 17 days in hospital six weeks on intravenous antibiotics and Here I am Alive I thank God to the doctors I thank God for all medical personnel that took care of me but right at the beginning of that I think the day before I went into hospital I don't remember I was awake about 2:00 a.m. and I began to talk to the Lord and I said Lord I've preached healing I believe in healing I've been healed myself I've seen many people healed why am I not being healed and I can't describe all that followed but it was like I had a personal interview with Jesus I didn't see him I think in a way it was a little bit like being before the judgment seat of Christ and very gently and kindly without ever being condemned natori he gave me a view of my previous way of living up to that time I had a series of little scenes and you know where most of them were located in restaurants somebody said if you want to know the best restaurant in town ask a preacher and that is a pretty perceptive remark I gotta the Jesus didn't condemn me he just showed me this is the way you've been living now I was a preacher a moderately successful preacher accepted by my fellow preachers accepted by the body of Christ just one person didn't accept me Jesus I think about Paul he said lest I become disqualified I could have easily died then I wouldn't have been a lost soul as far as I understand but I would have been a disqualified preacher my dear preacher friends you better consider that series if Paul could be disqualified you mean you can't be he said he could be disqualified because he hadn't brought his body under control you would say well brother Prince what were you doing wrong really basically I was not obeying the Bible it was not what I was doing wrong it was not what I was not doing let me give you just one scripture in Colossians chapter 3 verse two Colossians three verse to set your mind on things above not on things on the earth now I was preaching I was active in ministry but I'd have to say to a large extent my mind was set on things below my house my food all sorts of material issues in a way I had lost the vision of eternity I just say that the matter of personal experience Jesus convicted me of it and as a result I made a u-turn I looking back I was like somebody driving a car who was arrested a few feet from a precipice and being arrested I made a u-turn turn round and started driving the opposite way that's one of the best pictures of repentance I know it's making a u-turn you've been going one way you turn around and go the opposite way there's another scripture that I'd like to turn to first Corinthians 15 verse 19 you see I've been Pentecostal longer than most if you've been born I never knew what it wants to be anything but Pentecostals are physically then I became charismatic you know that makes you more respectable but it doesn't change my shelves and I don't think I'm too respectable I have to say out of my fairly broad exposure to Pentecostals and charismatics most of us are not living with eternity in view we are preoccupied with all sorts of down-to-earth material issues I want to read the words of Paul because I think they apply to most of us first Corinthians 15 verse 19 if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men the most pitiable another translation says the most to be pitied if all we expect from God in salvation is something here in this line if all our interest is focused on this line if all our concerns are taken up with this line Paul says we are of all people the most to be pitied you don't see that we don't see that but many of us Pentecostals and charismatics are pitiable and we're so proud of the fact that we speak in tongues and dance and all sorts of things all of which I've done one time or another and I'm in favor of all of them but it doesn't change our spiritual condition well I told you in 1986 we started to pray that prayer help us to eat wise we had no idea what we were stepping into I mean I look back and it's like being in another world but he didn't all happen at once in 1987 I had some medical examination and my cholesterol was 280 now those of you who know anything about cholesterol anything over 200 is graded unsafe and actually I think that's much too high a level I think 200 is not safe the doctor said to me do you want diet or medication and I said diet and I got some counsel on diet which helped a little but I've had to find out most of it myself and through Ruth but I just want to report you just last year 1996 my cholesterol level was 140 came down exactly 50% you say well God could have done that that's true but he didn't do it till I did something about it see God says if you do this I'll do that if you don't do this God won't do that some of us are just lazy I want to say again I'm so grateful to the doctor's I think some doctors are more conscientious than some preachers I'll tell you why it's not because preachers are bad people it's because the doctor feels he's got the answer and vinay many times the preacher doesn't I know too much about preachers I've been one for more than 50 years I'm letting you into some of the secrets of the trade so what are we to do as Christians now we come to very simple down-to-earth answer let's go back to Romans chapter 12 I could quote this but I prefer to read it Romans 12 verse 1 I beseech you that's Paul pleading out of a deep sense of concern I beseech you the owners saying I'm going down on my knees to you please please please do something by the mercies have gone present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service the first thing that God requires of us when we have comprehended the gospel in this message is present our bodies living sacrifice and your body over to God put it on God's altar after that as I've said it doesn't belong to you it belongs to God you live in it you're a steward you'll be accountable at the end of your life for the way you've treated your body which is God's temple then it says and this is something that very important to bear in mind Romans 8:11 the greatest single contributor to physical health is the holy spirit Romans 8:11 but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you so the greatest single factor in a healthy body is the holy spirit and he can make up for a lot of our deficiencies which he probably is doing for many of you but there's a limit turn the Galatians chapter fine this is 16 and 17 I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh in other words the holy spirit can can keep us from being enslaved by our fleshly lusts but there's a warning in the next verse for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish so you have two forces inside you if you're a spirit-filled Christian you have the Holy Spirit and you have the flesh which is your old carnal nature and they are in opposition to one another so whenever you yield to the Holy Spirit you put the flesh down but whenever you use the flesh you put the Holy Spirit now these are contrary one to the other if you gratify your flesh you are if I may say so snubbing the Holy Spirit you're saying that I only spent well you're there you're important but this is what I'm really interested in you can't have it both ways you have to make your mind up now I finished what I'm going to say but I think it's the only fair to give you an opportunity if you so desire to respond to what I'm saying I'm not pressing you I'm not urging oh yes there's a list of suitable books not suitable helpful books which will be up on the overhead I want to say I don't know any of the authors personally I stand to gain nothing financially from their books being purged but we have Ruth and I being through it I could say we've been through it the hard way and here's a list of publications that have helped us now are you here this morning and you've never actually really presented your body as a living sacrifice to Jesus or if you did once present your body but you've compromised and not gone through with your commitment and you want to make a fresh commitment today let's just wait in the presence of the Lord a few moments I want you to think this over and I say seriously for some of you it's a life or death question we're not playing religious games here this morning your life may well be at stake in the next 2 3 4 5 years you may either live or die according to the way you treat your body ok I'm going to pray for your lord I just pray for these dear people your people that you you press through with this truth that I'm proclaimed today it's unfamiliar it's not often discussed in church but it is vital it concerns the well-being of the people whom you love Lord will you give grace to many who are in the valley of decision right now to make a real wholehearted sensible decision to place their body on your altar now if you had never done that and you intend to do it I want to warn you once you place your body on the older it isn't yours I'm going to can send that body anywhere you may send you to China his body not yours he may give you a kind of occupational job you don't enjoy but it's his body Nanyang so if in the light of what I'm saying you really want to place your body on God's altar with a firm decision of your will then I invite you just to stand to your feet wherever you are don't do it if you're not going to go through with it I'm glad for the people who are standing who as many but I'm also bad for the people who are not standing I'm glad that you're taking it seriously because it's a serious decision now there are so many people standing that I couldn't call you forward Jennifer you somewhere around I always like to have the pastor with me some of these are your sheep and some of them have been grazing on forbidden pasture now I'm going to lead you in this prayer say these words after me Lord Jesus Christ I believe that you are the son of God and the only way to go on that you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead now in the light of what I've heard this morning I have made a decision Lord Jesus to present my body to you on your altar I do it now in these simple words I present my body to you I realize from now on I will only be a steward I will be accountable for the way I treat my body but I depend on your grace if I am sincere and wholehearted you will give me the grace to go through with this commitment so Lord Jesus I submit myself and I commit myself to you as my savior and my lord I trust you with the outworking of this in the name of Jesus god bless you Jeff will you take

Channel: Derek Prince

Views: 159,149

Rating: 4.8529844 out of 5

Keywords: is there life after death the big questions, when we die where do we go, when we die do we go straight to heaven, if theres an afterlife, preaching easter resurrection, resurrection day preaching, derek prince sermons, preaching about resurrection, sermon on resurrection and life, sermon on resurrection of jesus, sermon on resurrection power, salvation after death scripture, bible says about death penalty

Id: jjR1wqCxq-0

Length: 68min 5sec (4085 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 20 2015