#2016ChallengeAccepted – Physical Health by Ted Beasley

At Gateway Church in Austin, we began a series called #2016ChallengeAccepted. 

You can work through the Next Steps for this message with your family or in a life group.

Ted Beasley shared a message at Gateway South on 1/10 and at Gateway North Campus on 1/17. His message can be viewed at www.gatewaychurch.com/podcast.

• Join the Daniel Plan Group with Gateway in North Austin
• Join the Daniel Plan Group with Gateway South

Here are notes from the message he shared:

Main Thought: God gave you a body. How you steward it plays a role in how you experience the fullness of faith, joy and relationships. From David’s own journal about how he had been using his body the wrong way (Psalm 51), we see a path toward healing and vitality.

Psalm 51:1-2

• “Lord have mercy” – We all have a moment when we realize we’re stuck and we need God to pull us out.
• 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 – The importance that God places on the body in Scripture. Our body belongs to God. Jesus bought our lives with a price. God’s Spirit dwells within us, and we are to be good stewards.

Reality Is Your Friend – Psalm 51:3-4

• The denial we live in and the story we have come to believe about ourselves: “This is who I am and there’s no changing.”
• Psychologists use the term ‘significant emotional event’ to describe when something happens resulting in an abrupt change. What’s your Significant Emotional Event that will finally shake you?
• Romans 12:1-2 says that we can start to change only once we have come to accept reality and allow God to transform us.

Engaging vs Solving – Psalm 51:7-12

• Most of us never make progress on our problems because we are convinced that we have to solve them. As a result, our feeling of powerlessness leads us to do nothing.
• When we engage, we face the problem and take a small step to chip away at it. One small step builds on another. Momentum gathers, and before long we no longer feel powerless.
• Consider Philippians 2:12-13: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Paul is making the point that there is a partnership in transformation. You engage. God solves. You act in obedience, and God gives you the will and the power.
• Elements of engaging the health issue
  • Faith – Staying connected to God
  • Food – Eating low glycemic foods, eliminating processed foods that hurt your health
  • Fitness – Get moving in a way the fits with your interests and schedule
  • Focus – Pay attention to your thought life (more on this in a moment)
  • Friends – Get encouragement and accountability (more on this in a moment)
• Galatians 5:18, 22-23 – We begin by engaging God and allowing His Spirit control – and the ultimate fruit in the list is self-control.

No Condemnation – Psalm 51:13-17

• One of our biggest hurdles to overcome is our thought life, our beliefs about ourself, and the condemnation we hear.
• Satan wants to destroy our body and our soul in this area – Matthew 10:28.
  Two Tactics:
  1. Masquerading as an angel of light – 2 Corinthians 11:14 – Holding up impossible health images in our society (particularly in Austin) as good.
     John 5:19 tells us, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
  2. Condemning you that you don’t measure up –
     2 Corinthians 7:10-11 – There is a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorry or condemnation.

Nobody Stands Alone – The Daniel Plan

• Daniel 1:11-15 – Daniel maintained his health in community with his three godly friends
• Failure rate of diet and fitness plans is diminished when we are surrounded by supportive relationships. Relationships are the key (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
• Join the Daniel Plan Group with Gateway in North Austin
• Join the Daniel Plan Group with Gateway South

Conclusion

• Where will you be in 5-10 years health-wise if you continue down this path
• Choose life!
  This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  – Deuteronomy 30:19-20