Healthy And Blessed

Sermon No. 8

HEALTHY AND BLESSED

By: Atty. Numeriano P. Galgo, Jr.

June 24, 2018

Tagum City, Philippines

Part I.

A. Greetings

B. Overview of the message

The message this morning is simple but a little bit hard to do. It is about staying healthy and blessed for the glory of the Lord. The physical and spiritual aspects of our lives are closely tied together. They work hand in hand. The purpose of our existence is to worship and glorify God. If we are stressed, weak and sick physically, our spiritual life will be greatly affected. As a result, we cannot go to church; we cannot do our ministry, we doubt God’s love for us; we get distracted and discouraged; we lack the desire to meditate on God’s words; and we are easily tempted. Stress and physical weakness are some of the tools used by Satan to destroy our dedication and faith in God. Unhealthy lifestyle will lead to the destruction of our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit and living sacrifice to God. As Christians, how can we live a healthy and blessed life so we can worship and love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? On our own strength, this is hard to do with all the temptations around us. But with God’s help, self-discipline and prayer for each other, a healthy and blessed life can be achieved. Our main verse is found in 3 John 1:2: Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

C. Prayer

Part II. Discussion

A. We use our body to worship God

We know the song “I’m alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic.” Rightly so because we should be energetic physically and spiritually to worship God. We should be ready and happy to do his will. Worship requires physical effort. We sing and shout praises; clap and raise our hands; dance; read the Bible, meditate and share His words; and we do His will. We use our body parts. Psalm 100:2-5 says, “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Let us take note of the physical activities involved in Psalm 100:2-5:

1) Worship the Lord with gladness;

2) Come before him with joyful songs;

3) Know that the Lord is God;

4) Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

5) Enter his courts with praise;

6) Give thanks to him; and

7) Praise his name.

Psalm 98:4 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst in jubilant song with music.” Psalm 47:1 says, “O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy.” Joshua 1:8 reminds us to “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” Most of us complain when the prayer, message or praise and worship is long because we are tired of standing, singing or listening! We are impatient and lack endurance when we are healthy, how much more when we are suffering physically.

There are many more verses in the bible that involve the use of the parts of our bodies in worship – our hands, feet, lips, heart, and mind. In Luke 10:27, Jesus tells us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Are we giving our all or just a percentage? We use our body not only to express our love and thanksgiving to the Lord but also in caring and loving our neighbors and fellow Christians. We need our bodies when we pray for others; care for the sick and needy; comfort those who are suffering; and provide for the needs of our family and loved ones.

We are God’s creation. He is good to us. It is therefore fitting to praise him every day. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.

Brothers and sisters, don’t get the message wrong. We are not judging each one of us today whether fat or not; whether sick or not; whether poor or rich; whether undisciplined or not. We are only reminding each other that regardless of our status in life, our health is very important in worshiping the Lord. We should do what we can within our means to achieve it. We have brothers and sisters who are now sick, weak and unhealthy because of some valid reasons or genetic conditions that we do not know. We should not judge them, instead, we should love and pray for their wellness and recovery. It does not mean that if we are strong and healthy today, we should judge our brothers and sisters in Christ who are not. That is not right. We are one in the body of Christ, as such, we should uplift, encourage and remind each other so we could function well. So that we would be aware of the subtle works of Satan, our enemy.