Living as Temples: Honoring God with Our Bodies

1) "So, if my body is a temple of God, it means I need to care for my body. Yes? And I want to just talk quickly about three things. And I'll stop at a time. I can expand in a second service. So, if my body is God's temple, I want you to think of an analogy. There are many analogies the Bible uses about us as God's people. But one of the things he talks about is an atleth. Yes? Like an atleth. We're running a race. There is a prize at the end of the race. And he says it's the person that runs in accordance with the rules of the race that will receive the prize. It's not the person that crosses the finish line only. Yes, you do need to cross the finish line. But if you don't run in accordance with the rules of the race, for example, if you're doing a 100 meters race and you don't run in your lane, you go on to another person's lane and you cross the finishing line first, are you going to win? No. It will be wasted. You might as well not have bothered. You might as well not have bothered stressing yourself to run that race." [01:15:30] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Because in that race, the rules are important. This is God's rule book for us as athletes in the kingdom of God. And we live in a world where the authenticity of Scripture is contested. Yeah? We live in a world where people will say all manner of things about the Bible to try to make us believe. But we don't doubt if this is truly the Word of God. What does the Bible tell us? Is it 1 Peter? It says all Scripture is God -breathed. That doesn't sound like 1 Peter. It sounds like Timothy, doesn't it? Yeah. All Scripture is God -breathed. And then it starts listing what the Bible is useful for. Correction, instruction, and righteousness. So that the man of God will be complete, fully furnished unto every good work. So, I go to the Bible. So, I'm an athlete. The rules are in the Word of God. If I don't train, I know the rules, but I don't train, will I run a good race? No." [01:15:30] (67 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Okay. So, we need to be physically fit. We need to... We need to have a good image of this temple. Remember, it's the temple of the Holy Spirit. You've been created, and God said, you are good. Yes? He says, everything he made, he said, it was good. We start first from thanksgiving. Lord, I thank you once I'm 139, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I don't have to look like somebody else. I am fearful. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. My job is in my own lane, as you've made me. How do I keep myself fit for purpose? It's not to try to be like the other person. If you have no exercise regime, nothing. You don't walk. You don't swim. You don't run. You don't bike. You don't fence. I don't know. You can list all the things we can do for exercise. I want you today to reconsider that way of life, because the Bible tells us there is value in that." [01:18:22] (85 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "So just as an athlete treats their body with discipline and care, we are called to honor God with our bodies as part of our spiritual race. We can't treat our bodies carelessly because they are the vessels through which we serve God in this life. By caring for our physical health and exercising self -control, because gluttony is a sin. You do know that that's in the Bible. I'm not just making that up. Gluttony is a sin. So we can't binge on anything because it's a sin in the Word. When we exercise control, we prepare ourselves for God. Okay. I wouldn't be able to go into the other two properly, and I'll hopefully have more time in the second service to do them, but I'm just going to mention them." [01:23:58] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "The second thing is being spiritually fit. Go back to 1 Timothy 4, 7 to 8. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales. Rather, train yourself. Train yourself to be godly. Train yourself to be godly. From physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. When it comes to our bodies, and we think of being spiritually fit, there's so many things you can talk about. But in 1 Corinthians 6, 18, it says, flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits. Outside the body, but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body. I believe God wants to purge even his own house from sexual immorality." [01:26:42] (61 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Why am I saying this? Say, Rachel, what's the issue? Because God is coming for a bride that is without sin. Without spot or wrinkle. He's not coming for a British bride. There are no British values in the kingdom. He's coming for the kingdom bride. It doesn't matter what is happening. He's not British. He's not American. He's not Zimbabwean. He is God and he has his principles. But we have a choice. And that's why I love God. He says, choose you this day who you will serve. Whether you will serve the gods of this world or you will serve the Lord. But for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord. If you have decided to follow Jesus, why are you putting your leg with all this stuff? Why? You are deceiving yourself. If I do it, I am deceiving myself. Because even if I run to the end, because I didn't run in line with the rules, I miss out on the prize. So what's the point? Why would I do all that running? And be panting? And in the end, I have nothing. All our works will be brought before him. And they'll be tried by fire. We must keep fit spiritually. Flee sexual immorality." [01:30:24] (85 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "And even in that situation, he still has a word for you. He still has a plan. There's still redemption in Jesus. You don't have to live under the bondage of that yoke and stronghold. So, be physically fit. Be spiritually fit. Mentally fit. And I won't be able to say anything about that because I'll look at that in the second service just because of our time. But he talks about renewing our mind. We use the word of God, we renew our mind. We fix our eyes on Jesus. And he brings transformation to us. So, where are we? Where are you today? Is your body the temple of God? And I said, the only way it can be the temple of God is if God lives in you. If you've responded to Jesus, have you made that decision? Are you a child of God? Are you just a Christian because your parents are Christians? You live a nice life. You're a good person and all of that. Or have you actually committed to Christ?" [01:32:49] (61 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)