Know Ye Not That Your Body Is…

• The Science world has been marveling over this wonderful universe that God has created

• The Astrological world has been marveling over the stars and galaxies God created

• The animal lovers have marveled over these beautiful creatures God created

• The religious world has been marveling over this wonderful Bible that God created for us read

• The medical world has been marveling over these wonderful bodies God created for us

Just consider our wonderful bodies that God gave us, for a moment.

Illus: The body is a masterpiece of exquisite design. Beautifully "engineered," it is governed by several hundred systems of control -- each interacting with and affecting the other.

• Our brain has 10 billion nerve cells to record what we see and hear

• Our skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands -about 3000 per square inch -- all part of the intricate system which keeps our body at an even temperature

• Our heart is a "pump" that makes our blood travel 168 million miles a day -- equivalent of 6720 times around the world

• The lining of our stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices which aid the process of our digestion

And these are but a few of the involved processes and chemical wonders which operate to sustain our life.

Illus: A young student had been impressed with the fact that most new products have some "bugs" that must be ironed out before they can operate efficiently.

As he stood gazing at a chart showing the organs, nerves, arteries, and glands in the human body, he suddenly exclaimed, "Just think, the first time God put it together, it worked!"

Illus: God placed within every person, five senses that are absolutely amazing in how they function. For example:

• WE HAVE THE SENSE OF SIGHT

We can see a candle’s flame 30 miles away on a dark, clear night

• WE HAVE THE SENSE OF SMELL

We can smell a single drop of perfume diffused in a three room apartment

• WE HAVE THE SENSE OF TASTE

We can taste .04 ounce of table salt in 530 quarts of water

• WE HAVE THE SENSE OF TOUCH

Our sense of touch can detect a pressure that depresses the skin .00004 (four hundred thousandths) inch on the face or fingertips

• WE HAVE THE SENSE OF SOUND

We can tell where a sound is coming from, even when it arrives at one ear just .0003 second before its arrival at the other ear. (Information came from “Today in the Word”, November, 1996, p. 28)

The Psalmist was fascinated with the human body. He said in Psalm 139:14 “I will praise thee; for I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Our bodies are a gift from God, but with that gift comes the responsibility to take care of them. We do this in many ways:

• PROPER SLEEP

• PROPER EXERCISE

• PROPER NUTRITION

One of the popular ways we take care of our bodies is through dieting.

Illus:

• Someone said, “Some people are not good at counting calories and they have the figures to prove it.”

• Someone else said, “I am in shape. Round is a shape.”

• But everyone is trying to figure out how a two pound box of candy can make you gain five pounds

• But we all know this, brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells seem to stay forever

We often make jokes about diet and exercise, but we understand that taking care of these bodies is a serious thing.

As we consider the body, notice in our text Paul talks about the human body in two ways:

I. MY BODY IS A TEMPLE

Paul said, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you...”

When we hear of a temple in the old testament, we immediately think of two things:

• WE THINK OF A "HOLY PLACE"

• WE THINK OF A PLACE WHERE GOD DWELT

Today most Christians think of churches as a HOLY PLACE or a place where GOD DWELLS.

Because we recognize church to be such a place, we ask people to respect it as such.

For example:

• We ask people not to bring food into church, because it is God's House

• We ask children to be quiet and respectful in church, because it is God's House

• We raise our children not to run in church, because it is God's house

• We would be shocked if someone used foul language in church, because it is God's house

• We would be furious if someone committed adultery or another form of immorality in this building, because it is God's house.