Are You a Big Loser? Part 2

Last sermon that I gave here, it's been about a month ago now. The question was, are you a big loser? Are you a big loser? It was a reference to a very popular reality show on TV these days that actually has produced some absolutely wonderful, actually amazing results in the lives of literally thousands of people. I didn't realize it had affected so many people, until I went to the internet and I went to Wikipedia. I found out that the biggest loser isn't just a United States phenomenon. It's around the world now. It started in the United States. I don't know if you're aware of this, but the biggest loser is in, I don't know how many countries altogether, but there have been 78 winners of the biggest loser worldwide. It's in Asia. It's called The Biggest Loser Asia there. All of these shows started after the show in the United States began in 2004. In the Arab world, it's interesting, they call it the biggest winner there. The biggest winner, I guess they have to be opposite of what we say, so they went with the biggest winner. In Australia, it's called The Biggest Loser. In fact, I think some of the same judges that we've had in the U.S. went over there, and were judges over there for a few seasons.

In Brazil, they call it The Big Loser. Ogrande Perde- No, I guess that's in Portuguese. Ogrande Perde or something like that. And also, Who Wins Loses. That's another title of another season that they had there. It was called Who Wins Loses. Then, I thought China was kind of interesting. It's called The Biggest Loser Super Diet King. Super Diet King. Then, it's in Finland, it's in Germany, Hungary. In Hungary, they call it a great loss. A great loss. It's in India, it's in Israel, it's even in Latvia. In Latvia, it's simply called XXL. Extra-large, I guess. In Mexico, how much you want to lose? That's what it is in Mexico. Quanto chieras perder. How much you want to lose?

In the Netherlands, it's called The Slimmers. The Slimmers, it's in the Philippines, it's in Poland. In Poland, they call it, What Do You Have to Lose? What do you have to lose? In Portugal, it's simply called Heavyweight. In Puerto Rico, it's called Total Transformation. Romania, the big winner. I guess that was the same as the Arab world. Slovakia, it's called Supertello. I'm not sure exactly what that means. Supertello. It's called The Scale in Spain. They're always getting on the scales, they're weighing themselves all the time. It's in Sweden, it's in Turkey. They call it The New Life in Turkey. And in Ukraine, it's called Weighted. That's W-E-I-G-H-T-E-D. Weighted and Happy. I found that very interesting. A lot of different names bringing out different aspects of this particular show.

I mentioned last time that I don't care if you are the biggest loser, but I do want every single one of us to be a big loser. Because obviously, I'm not talking about losing physical weight. I'm talking about losing the spiritual weight that so easily besets us, or the sinful weight called sin that pulls us down, that hurts us, that harms us, that is something that we really need to shed. And of course, with God's help, with Christ's help, we can shed the sin that so easily does beset us. Now, if you missed the first sermon on this topic, I do strongly recommend you go online and listen to it. And frankly, if I were you, I would go to the Tulsa website instead of the Oklahoma City one, because frankly, I have a lot more energy in the morning than I do when I come here in the afternoon. In fact, you might want to listen to today's sermon, because I was definitely more fired up than I am right now. I'm tired.

But anyway, I would recommend listening to it if you didn't hear it the first time. You might even want to go back and listen to it again, because I think it is a vital subject. And as we approach the Passover, we really do need to be as prepared as possible for observing the Passover, being in the right attitude, understanding what God expects of us, what He wants of us. So are you determined to lose the weight? Are you determined to lose the sin that pulls you down spiritually? And what can you do to help lose the weight? You know, we know that God has to remove the sin from us, that He has to forgive us our sins. But there is something that we can do to overcome sin and to put much of the sin out of our lives, you know, to just put it out to not sin, to become righteous. That's our goal, isn't it? To become righteous, not to have to continually repent and repent and repent because of all the sin we've committed. In fact, repentance is turning and changing. It's putting the sin out. It's not continuing to commit those sins. So this show, The Biggest Loser, as I mentioned before, it's a show where 15 seriously obese people come together at the Biggest Loser Ranch. They put them all on this ranch, and they only feed them things that will help them stay alive but also not tank up. So a lot of the stuff that you and I probably eat most every day, you wouldn't see on the ranch. The cookies that we see out there, not on the ranch. I doubt it. Those things, they're just not healthy when it comes to trying to lose weight. The brownies, they taste good, they look good, but if you seriously want to lose weight, you don't do it by eating lots of brownies. So on the ranch, it's a controlled environment. Also, they exercise like four hours a day. So it's a very controlled environment, and if I had a chance to win a quarter of a million dollars, I think I could probably do most whatever they wanted me to, as long as it wasn't outside of God's law. I could certainly eat less. I could give up brownies for three or four months. That's for sure. Now, in reality, the largest and most valuable prize is not the quarter million dollar prize. It's not the one hundred thousand dollar prize when you get sent home, and you have to continue to lose weight, and then they bring you back, and whoever loses the most weight after they leave the ranch, they get a hundred thousand dollars. If you stay on the ranch, if you're one of the finalists, then you get a quarter of a million dollars if you are the winner there. So everyone is a winner because they're all big losers. They all lose a lot of weight. In fact, Chelsea started at 241 pounds. She's now down to 157. She lost 84 pounds. How many of you watched the program this week? Anybody? Okay, none of you watched it. Okay, I highly recommend you watch next week's because next week's is grand finale.

Trust me, you'll be glad you watched it. It's very inspiring. I never saw this thing before, but my wife and I have both been inspired by the stories. And when you see somebody that's 430 or 40 pounds come down to to 180, you know, that's pretty impressive. That is a total transformation. You know, it's it's pretty inspiring to see that real human beings, if they go through a certain program, things great things can happen. Marvelous things can happen. Amazing things can happen. Spectacular things can happen. Miraculous in some ways. Although it's not a miracle, it's just good discipline and a regimented environment. So Chelsea lost 84. Rachel lost 110 pounds so far. She went from 260 to 150. She has lost 42.3% of her body weight. 42.3%. Jennifer went from 266 to 182, so she was 84 pounds. These are the five finalists. Well, they're not actually the they were the five finalists this week. And then they they dropped two of them, sent two of them home.

Bobby went from 358 to 231, so he dropped 127 pounds. This is in 14 weeks.

And they're still healthy. In fact, they're a lot healthier after 14 weeks than they were before the 14 weeks. Again, it can be done under certain circumstances. So Bobby went down to 231 pounds. He lost 127 pounds. And then David, David was 409 pounds. And David went from 409 to 243 pounds. He does look like a new man. He lost 166 pounds so far. He actually is behind Rachel a little bit, though, in terms of percentage of body, you know, because he was so large. He's down 40.6%, though. And then there's a period of time between the time this last show this week was taped and the final show that's coming up this next Tuesday between 8 and 10 pm.

If you can't be there, DVR it, record it, listen to it, watch it. So it's pretty amazing, really, in my mind, that I, you know, to lose that much weight. It was hard work, but I know they were grateful that they were selected and they were able to go through it. Now, I mentioned before that the kingdom of God is not of meat and drink. You know, it's not about losing physical weight. It is about losing spiritual weight, however. So how much excess ungodly weight and baggage, otherwise known as sin, have you put on because of being a spiritual couch potato? We talked about that a little bit last week. I admitted that there were times when I would qualify as a spiritual couch potato because, you know, when you're in the church, as long as I've been in the church, as long as many of you have been in the church, you know, it isn't always easy to maintain a high level of zeal all the time. You know, and Satan tries to get in there and mess with you. He tries to get you off the track. He tries to get you involved in other things. You know, maybe good things. Maybe you're working all the time to provide for a family, but you're neglecting your spiritual life. And so you're a spiritual couch potato, even though you're working all the time. You don't have to just be sitting in front of the TV set, vegetating on a couch to be a couch potato spiritually. You can do it all kinds of different ways.

So, again, I ask the question, what sinful junk food and decadent desserts, otherwise known as sins, have you been indulging in that are adding harmful weight and threatening your very spiritual existence? Again, we talk about Hebrews 12.1, where it says, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We're going to talk about seven principles for losing the weight, the sin that so easily ensnares us and enslaves us. Last week we talked about one principle. It took the whole sermon. It is a very, very important principle. Today we're going to cover at least two principles.

So we are going to step it up a little bit. But this is an important topic. It's not a topic we have to rush through. It's one that I think I mentioned last week. I know I did in Tulsa, that if you'll follow these rules, if you'll do all seven principles and really apply them, you will be in God's kingdom. I mean, it's a guarantee.

If you will do these things, if you'll follow these seven principles, you'll be in God's kingdom. So I don't mind taking the time to cover these principles in some detail.

So the first principle, again, to just review last week was trust, listen to, and follow your coaches.

On The Biggest Loser, they have coaches, and the coaches will show them what they need to do to lose the weight, and they will drive them somewhat hard. In fact, they'll turn up the heat at times, as I mentioned before. Now, God isn't a cruel taskmaster, but at the same time, God does sometimes turn up the heat, especially if we're falling short. If we're not doing our part, God has ways to get our attention. And just trials in general just come in this life. And so, sometimes we need to realize that a trial is for our good. You know, everything works together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. So we can learn from all of our trials. It can bring us closer to God. It can help us see our own mortality better. It can humble us. It can help us follow God more faithfully and more completely and more closely.

So it is important that we follow our coaches, and ultimately and most importantly, God the Father and Jesus Christ are... they're our coaches. You know, they're much more than coaches, but using the analogy of the biggest loser, we need to follow what they tell us to do. And they have rules called the Ten Commandments. And we're talking about not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of God's law. All of the Ten Commandments, as well as the statutes and the judgments, you know, the Holy Days, tithing, these principles, they're also laws and commandments and statutes of God that need to be observed.

So we need to surrender ourselves to God and to His guidance and His direction and His standards and His rules in our lives. And it does essentially permeate every part of our lives. You know, everything that we do all day long, God's law should permeate that. It should be ever on our mind so that we can walk more faithfully and become more like God.

I also mentioned that although God and Christ are certainly the ultimate coaches, they're the ones that we answer to, they're the ones that we look to primarily, they have also chosen human beings to lead and guide us. Christ is the head of the church, you know, He is the head. But He has given some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers. You know, and frankly, all of us, we can all learn from each other.

The Bible talks about submitting one to another in love. So we can actually learn from each other. We can be each other's coaches in that sense. Certainly, an elder that rules well is to be considered, the Scripture says, double honor of one who serves in a certain way. They're to be given respect and honor because of the responsibilities that God has given them. It's not necessarily easy to answer to God for those things.

So there should be a mutual respect, one to another, a pastor toward his congregation, a congregation toward the pastor and the elders and so forth, as well as all of us. We need to respect each other. So the first step on the road to salvation and becoming a big loser is to respond to God's call and surrender your life to Him and to His Son. God the Father does the calling of every individual who is a part of His one true church. And Christ, again, is the head of the church. In order to be in God's Kingdom, in order to receive salvation, it is absolutely imperative that we surrender to God's will in our lives, that we listen to our elder brother, that we learn from Him, and that we learn to have faith and trust in both God the Father and in Jesus Christ.

Remember, it is their pleasure to give you the Kingdom. It is God's good pleasure. And just like the coaches on The Big Loser, they really want the people on that show to lose weight because they know how important it is for them to lose the weight because it is really where it's weighing them down.

It's hurting them physically. And also emotionally and mentally and in so many different ways, they really do want to see the people succeed on that show. And you'll find that inspiring if you watch it. It's inspiring because they're working together to accomplish a goal, to do something worthwhile. In this case, it's to lose the physical weight, but it's also to begin to believe in yourself, to some degree, have more proper, godly esteem. He doesn't want us to be all down on ourselves because God doesn't make any junk, remember?

God doesn't. You're worth something. God has given you His Spirit. He's created you in His image. And so we should have a proper, healthy self-esteem, I suppose you'd say, or a godly self-esteem. Some of these people, they get very depressed, and so they eat. And they eat, and they eat.

They don't feel good about themselves, and it's a cyclical thing. One thing leads to the next, and before you know it, they're 400 pounds. But it's God's desire to give us His kingdom. He wants to share His glory with us.

Now, when you stop and think about it, wow, there's nothing better than that to become like God, to be born into His family. We are the very elect of God. The Scripture says that we are the saints of God. We are His saints, the called-out ones, the chosen ones. And again, it isn't to puff us up with pride. It actually should humble us to know that of the billions of people on earth, there are very few, percentage-wise, that are the elect.

Very, very few. There aren't many in Oklahoma City that are called to be the elect. So it is a high and a holy calling. It's not something to take lightly. It is something to consider each and every day of our lives and live accordingly. We should follow human leaders in God's Church only as they follow Christ's lead, an example. If they're not following Christ's lead, an example, then we shouldn't follow them. You know, sometimes people just follow their ministers wherever they go.

They think, well, you know, He certainly wouldn't lead us astray, but He could lead you astray. So you can't blindly follow any man. You should not blindly follow any man. You should follow men only as they follow Christ. And if men are promoting ungodly principles, don't follow them.

If they're dividing the body of Christ, don't follow them.

Now, these are fundamental principles that need to be observed. They need to be etched very strongly in our hearts and in our minds so that we don't fall prey to Satan and his devices. So keep the commandments, the laws and statutes of Almighty God and let them be your standards for living. Again, not just the letter of the law, but the Spirit of God's law. Remember, God is love, and you can trust God. You can place your faith in Him. In order to have your sins forgiven, you must yield and surrender to God, and you must accept Christ as your personal Savior. That's fundamental, isn't it? Repent every one of you. Repent of your sins and accept Christ as your Savior. You'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the laying on of hands. There is no other way. It's only through Christ our Savior that we will be in God's Kingdom. So trust, listen to, and follow your coaches. Ultimately, and most importantly, again, God the Father and Jesus Christ.

But also, be subject to those who are leading and guiding you in God's truth.

So the first step on the road to salvation and to becoming a big loser is to follow your coaches. The second step is that you must admit that you have a weight problem, that you have a weight problem. I'm here to tell you that every single one of you have a weight problem. It's called sin. Sin is a problem for every one of us. We all have a weight problem. Now, people who are obese and have a serious weight problem, generally they know it. You don't have to go up and tell them.

They know that they have a problem. You don't have to rub it in or tell them or make fun of them or anything like that because they realize that. They can see it, they can feel it, they're aware of it. And remember, too, that everybody's body is different. My body might have a much higher metabolism than someone else's. My body may be functioning better because I don't have a hereditary problem that someone else has, a glandular problem or something that allows them to gain more weight. Now, we don't really know why a person is heavier necessarily than someone else. We don't know the answers to that. We can speculate, but what good is that? Who cares? The point is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

The physical things are not that important, but the spiritual issues are important. Now, the physical things can be important if they weigh us down. If they hurt us, then we shouldn't take it lightly and we should do what we can. A person who is not obese but has a weight problem may not be aware of it. They may think they're doing just fine when, in reality, they aren't doing nearly as well as they thought because they still might be 20 pounds overweight and it may be pulling on all their organs, on their heart, causing strain, causing problems with their joints, causing something that, down the road, as they grow older, will give them fits.

So, even if you don't look like you're overweight, you might be overweight. You might be carrying weight. In fact, I know I am. I've got about 20 extra pounds or 25. I lost them once upon a time, but then I found them. I'm in the process of losing them again.

I guess I can fluctuate and not look too bad. I'm obviously carrying more weight than I should. But again, the physical weight isn't the problem. It's the spiritual. It's the spiritual. It's the sin that I'm concerned about and that you should be mostly concerned about.

Because sin is deceitful. Some people don't think they have much of a sin problem.

But I know I have a serious sin problem. I've had a serious sin problem now since I understood what sin was back about age 18. I had a sin problem before that, but I probably didn't realize it or understand it very well. But when God called me and showed me that sin is a transgression of His law, and by the way, the Sabbath is one of His laws and I hadn't been keeping it, I had to repent of those things. I had to stop doing them. I didn't eat much pork because Mom told me I shouldn't, but I'd eaten a little bit and I had to repent of that and never eat the stuff again. So there are those types of things that once we come to know the problem, then we need to repent of it. We need to stop doing it. Again, sin is deceitful. It's not so easy to detect as physical weight. Now, in Hebrews 3, verse 13, it does speak of the deceitfulness of sin. It says, "...lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." God does not want us to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God wants us to have a soft, malleable heart, a heart that He can work with, a heart that He can move.

It says clearly that we can be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Sin is deceitful, and it can harden us in a number of different ways. In 1 John 1, verse 8, John clearly says, "...if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." Now, how clear is that? If we say we have no sin, if you think you have no sin, I'm here to tell you that you don't know what you're talking about.

Because the Bible says, if we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. You are not living by God's truth if you think you don't have any sin.

1 John 2, verse 4, says, "...he who thinks he has no sin is a liar." Now, that's pretty blunt, isn't it? "...he who thinks he has no sin is a liar, and the truth is not in him." You know, that's another sin, isn't it? Lying. Lying is a sin. So, if you lie about not having sin, that's, you know, you're breaking a couple different commandments right there, because you are a sinner. And again, this is the second point, is that you have to come to admit that you are a sinner and that you need to repent of your sins.

Romans 6, verse 23, says, "...all have sinned." All, that's underlined, all capitalized. It means you, it means me. "...all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." None of us are perfect like God. Christ came in the flesh, and he was tempted in every point as we are, yet he was without sin.

It's not talking about Christ. It's not talking about God the Father. It's talking about everyone else. All have sinned and come short of God's glory. So, right there, some very direct scriptures that should make it very clear that you are a sinner, and that you are in need of repentance. So, let's admit that we have a weight problem. All of us. Let's admit it. Let's not waste any more time and energy denying it.

Sometimes we waste time and energy denying that we're a sinner. It's not smart.

Now, I'm going to go through a whole list of sins, and if it applies to you, fine. Then admit it. If it doesn't, then I'm not talking to you.

But again, remember, sin is deceitful. And you may think it doesn't apply to you, but maybe it does. Okay, so we need, I believe, to admit at times we have taken sin too lightly. Have you ever taken sin too lightly? Have you perhaps not hated it enough? Perhaps a certain kind of sin that you continued indulging in that sin because you didn't hate it enough? Perhaps you need to admit that you are wasting too much time entertaining yourself.

Some entertainment is fine. We all need it. We need some time out. We need to relax a little bit. We need to laugh. We need to enjoy our lives. Watching the Super Bowl, I don't think God's going to hold that against me. I'm planning on watching it. Of course, I am going to watch it with brethren, so maybe that's... But we have to have a balance in all this.

But again, don't say you aren't wasting your time sometime when you are. You know, when you're taking too much time, you're watching too much TV, you're not redeeming the time, are you? The Bible says we're supposed to redeem the time. That means use the time wisely. Use it circumspectly. Don't fritter it away in pursuits that amount to nothing except selfish pursuits. You might have to admit that you indulge in trashy entertainment at times.

You may have to admit that you gossip too much. How much gossip is too much?

Any gossip is too much. So if you have a problem with gossiping at all, that's something to repent of. How about, are you ever lazy? That couch potato that we're talking about? You know, it's not that hard to get a little bit burned out, I think, at times.

I think I've done that at times. I've been 18 and a half years right here. I probably have been burned out at times in my ministry. I probably wasted some time and did some things that I shouldn't have done in those times because I got lazy. How about, is there anyone here that loves money a little too much? Maybe it's a little too important to them at times. How about, have you ever been a little too selfish? How about, are you ever envious of other people? Do you have to struggle with that sometimes? Or jealousy? How about, have you ever loved alcohol a bit too much? How about cigarettes? You know, have you loved cigarettes? Have you found it hard to give up cigarettes or something else, whatever it might be? Anything? Perhaps you've been covetous and greedy at times. Perhaps you need to admit that you've catered to your lustful nature at times. You've catered to it. Instead of fleeing fornication, you've solved it at times. Now, these are, these are, this is actually a small list of sins. There's lots more. I smile about that. It's really not a laughing matter. But there are many, many ways to break God's law, to sin against God. We could go on and on. Actually, I've got seven or eight more here. I didn't realize that. You could admit, you know, one thing that you might have to admit once you start getting your act together is that you're self-righteous. See, that's the problem I'm going to have. If I ever get my act together, then I'm going to have to worry about feeling good about finally getting my, my, my things together. You might need to admit that you are a liar at times and may even still lie on occasion, even after being in the church a long time. You may have to admit that you haven't always observed God's holy Sabbath day properly from sunset to sunset. Maybe you didn't prepare for it properly. Maybe you weren't ready when it came. Maybe you pushed the limits a little much. Maybe you just flat out got lazy on the Sabbath and perhaps you broke God's Sabbath. Maybe you didn't keep your festival tied faithfully. Maybe you didn't tie it faithfully.

Maybe you have to admit being lax in a number of things. So this point number two is you have to admit that you are a sinner. Every last one of you is a sinner. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners. We have to admit it. And this admission has to be heartfelt. It has to be genuine, or you're not going to lose the sinful weight that God expects you and requires you to lose. Now, all the contestants on the Biggest Loser, they sought to be on that program. They knew they had a weight problem. It was pretty obvious.

You know, they were heavy, and they knew they needed to lose weight. Sin is more deceitful than that. We need to be circumspect. We're supposed to examine ourselves prior to Passover, so let's begin to do that. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Let's go there for a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 9. Now, this is a situation in Corinth.

There was a sinner, a blatant sinner, that they were allowing in the congregation. They were allowing it to go on. They weren't dealing with the problem. They were corrected for it. Finally, they did repent. The congregation repented, and even the person who was guilty of the sin repented. So, it was a victory for God's church. It was a good thing. Notice what Paul says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 9. He says, Now I rejoice not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. There's a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. For you were made sorry after a godly manner. In other words, you were sorry in a godly way because you broke God's laws, because you did not take everything as seriously as you should have in regard to God and His ways. So, you were truly sorrowful because of that. Not that you were sorry that you got caught, or some other worldly type of sorrow, that you might be punished for it. Maybe you were sorry because of that. Verse 10, notice it says, For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation. It leads to salvation. Godly sorrow does. It doesn't have to be repented of. It's a good thing, but the sorrow of the world, it works death. It does have to be repented of. If you just have a worldly sorrow, you need to repent of that and have a godly sorrow. For behold, this self-same thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yes, what clearing of yourselves, yes, what indignation, yes, what fear, yet, what yes, what vehement desire, what zeal, what revenge, or vindication. And all these things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. So what it's saying here is that when a person truly repents, they're going to feel so much better about themselves and about life and about everything. If they repent, there's going to be a clearing of the self. We're going to feel much better about that because there's a guilt that hangs over us when we have not repented of our sins. So true sorrow and true repentance leads to a clearing of oneself. It leads to an indignation because we are righteously indignant against sin. We hate sin because it harms us, it hurts us, it's trying to destroy us. Satan is the author of sin, the author of lies, and so forth. He's trying to destroy us. He's the adversary. So it's important that we repent. It should help us become indignant against sin. It produces a proper godly fear because we know that God holds our lives in the balance. He's the one that decides whether or not we have truly repented of our sins and had our sins forgiven, or if we've rebelled against Him and committed the unpardonable sin and have rejected Him and have turned against His holy ways, and then God will cast us into the lake of fire.

So there should be a proper godly fear and respect of God. What vehement desire, what zeal. We are to become more zealous. We are to be fired up. You know, I was fired up this morning. I'm not nearly as fired up now. You know, I can try, but I'm just flat-out tired right now. But I guarantee you, you know, I am fired up about this subject. It is something that we all need to take seriously, and we all need to strive to do. We need to repent with a godly sorrow.

It's going to create good things in us when we repent of these things that we've committed, these sins that we've talked about, and there are many, many other things that we could have talked about. So the second step on the road to salvation in the God's kingdom is to admit that you are a sinner. Admit it, repent of it. Admit it, and repent of it. The second step in becoming a big loser is to admit that you have a serious weight problem, a problem called sin.

Now, the third step on the road to salvation in the God's kingdom is that you need to commit fully to losing the weight. The second point was to admit that you're a sinner, but the third point is every bit as important. You have to commit fully to losing the weight. You can't just admit that you're a sinner and then do nothing about it. You've got to admit it, and then you have to commit fully to losing the weight, to putting the sin out no matter what the cost. So, this must become priority number one in your life. Matthew 6, verse 33, what does it say? It says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. It's talking about the necessities of life that will be added to us. It doesn't mean that God's going to give us a million dollars or 10 million or 50 billion, but the things that are most important, the necessities of life, God will always provide. And you won't have to be worried about that. You won't have to be concerned about it. You don't have to lose any time thinking about it, even, because God has promised it. If you'll put Him first, He's going to take care of you. In James chapter 1, it talks about committing fully to be a doer and not just a hearer of God's law. Now, you're here listening today, which is fine.

That's a good start, but the next step is to commit fully by becoming a true doer of God's law, not just a hearer of God's law, but a doer of God's law, not just one who admits that He is a sinner, but one who actively puts sin out of his life. James chapter 1, verse 23, For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, then he's like a man that beholds his natural face in a glass. He looks in a mirror, for he beholds himself, and he goes his way, and straight away, he forgets what manner of man he was. Now, supposedly, he's supposed to see the true self when he looks in the mirror. But the problem is, a lot of us don't see the true self.

And we see a distorted image of who we truly are.

And so it's very easy to forget who we are when we don't even see clearly who we are.

A doer of the law is someone who sees who he is and does something about it. A doer of the law goes beyond just lip service or hearing, and he does something about it. Verse 25, but whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein. In other words, keeps it, observes it, does it. He being not a forgetful hearer, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This man shall be blessed in his deed. He's going to be blessed. You know, there are so many blessings that come along with faithfulness and obedience. There's promise after promise of blessing.

If we are obedient, if we're faithful, and again, it doesn't mean we're not going to have trials. It doesn't mean there aren't going to be thorns in the roses. We're going to have problems and trials that come along regardless. But committing fully means to be a doer and not just a hearer of the law.

Now, I suppose many of you have memorized Luke 9. It says, No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Now, Jesus Christ said that. He said, No man having put his hand to the plow. You know, to me, that means if you're here, you put your hand to the plow, right? Certainly, if you're baptized, you put your hand to the plow. If you look back, you're not fit for God's kingdom. Now, God is very, very merciful in this because I know people who put the hand to the plow, and then they went off for 30 years. And God was gracious and merciful and allowed them back in.

Because they didn't completely give it up. You know, they still had God's Spirit there, perhaps dormant for the most part. But something, it was God's Spirit, was leading them back. And thankfully, they repented and they came back. But that's a very dangerous thing to do. I don't know very many that come back, frankly. There aren't many. Most of them don't come back.

So, God's serious about this. If you put your hand to the plow, if you, you know, you need to keep your hand on the plow. Looking back, you show that you're not fit for God's kingdom. It's talking about a complete total commitment. That's what we're talking about here in step number three. This is on the road to salvation.

Now, perhaps you've heard this, perhaps you haven't, but when Christ used this expression about putting the hand to the plow, undoubtedly it brought up certain thoughts in people's minds. Because there's an incident in the Old Testament regarding a plow. It has to do with Elijah and Elisha. Elijah was a prophet, and God had told Elijah that he was to go to Elisha, and that he was basically to tell Elisha that God was calling him. God was calling Elisha to go prophesy with Elijah for a time, and then eventually he would become his successor.

So, Elijah went to Elisha, and Elisha ends up burning his plow.

Why did he burn his plow? Because he sacrificed his oxen on that plow.

Here was a man, a successful farmer, who had 12 teams of oxen out there. If we understand the scripture clearly, he had 12 teams of oxen in the field. He was probably a prominent landowner. He was a wealthy man in some respects, I would think.

God was calling him, and he had to make a choice. Are you going to leave it behind?

Are you going to go on? In this case, what he did was burn up the plow and sacrifice his oxen on it, showing a complete and a full commitment to God's call. Now, we have to be willing to do that. We have to be willing to give up anything. We have to walk away from it all and be willing to give up everything.

So, God does expect you to put your hand to the plow and leave everything else behind. He expects you to be an overcomer. Again, overcoming is losing sinful weight. It's putting sin out. Overcoming is doing something. It's being a doer of the law. It's not just a hearer of the law. Being here today to hear this message is not enough. It's not enough just to come here. It's great that you're here. It's great that you're listening.

But we need to be doers of the law. We need to keep the law as best we can.

We need to strive to keep God's law as perfectly as we can. So, again, it's more important to do what I'm telling you today than just to show up and hear it. You have to go on and do it for the rest of your life. It's a battle that goes on for the rest of your life. Now, at their time on the ranch, the biggest loser ranch, contestants must not only change their habits, but they actually learn to have a different perspective on such things as exercise. Now, some of them didn't think they could exercise. They didn't think there was any way they could do what they ended up doing at the greatest, the biggest loser ranch. They didn't think it was humanly possible for them to do the things that they ended up doing. They had to change their perspective on food. They didn't think they could give up certain foods. They never could before. How could they possibly ever do it now? They didn't think it was possible. They found out it was possible. Under certain circumstances, it's possible to do most anything. And they had to change their perspective on themselves. They had to come to believe they could reach a goal. They had to believe that they could be a winner, that they didn't have to be a loser.

They had to be a big loser when it came to losing weight, but not a loser in life, not one who gave up easily and just went along with the flow.

Now, their journey was a short one to some degree, 14 weeks. That's not really very long, is it? That goes by pretty quickly. Now, that was a rigorous 14 weeks. And after that, they had to go home, and they still had to regiment themselves and so forth so that they could come back for the great grand finale this Tuesday. Don't forget, Tuesday evening, the grand finale. This coming Tuesday, they're going to come back. And I don't know how many weeks have gone on since this show. I don't know how much time lapses there. I'm sure they'll tell us. But I'm looking forward to seeing even further progress than what has already been made. You know, I know they said something about being shocked when we come back for the finale.

I'm looking forward to being shocked. There have been some shocking things on that program.

After 13 weeks, there was one guy that lost 17 pounds the last week. After all these weeks, he lost 17. Another one lost 16 in one week. You know, pretty amazing.

Again, these are ordinary people, but they are incredible people. Because we're all incredible people. Every last one of us is an incredible person. We're made in the image of God. We shouldn't sell ourselves short. Sometimes we just have to get in the groove.

Sometimes we have to get in the groove, and maybe you've never been in the groove.

Maybe there's a groove out there that you've never been in.

Maybe you've been in some grooves, but not in the ultimate groove.

Something to think about. Now, some of these people had to lose huge amounts. All of them lost huge amounts of weight. Some over 200 pounds or more. You know, if I lost 200 pounds, you wouldn't see me. I'd be gone!

I've never reached 200 pounds, by the way. I've got up to 190. That's pretty high for a guy my size. As short as I am, that's getting up there. I'm a big boy!

But 200 pounds, that's what some of them have lost. I think the guy that weighed the most was 500 and some pounds in a different country. He weighed over 500 pounds.

There were a few people that lost over 50% of their body weight once it was all over. You know, really incredible stories.

Now, generally, if you're dieting, the first pounds come off a lot quickly and more easily with proper diet and exercise. Then it gets tougher. You hit certain plateaus, and you've got to just keep going for it. You've got to just keep working at it to stay with it. A lot of people quit then. Then they end up losing it and gaining it all back. Now, these are, again, they're ordinary people, but they're incredible people with determination to turn their lives around. Many have sad stories and emotional baggage that they carry with them. And they need to shed it in order to lose the weight. They have to shed it. They have to change their thinking. They have to change their mindset. They need to heal emotionally, and they need to find better ways of coping with stress rather than eating. That's not the best way to cope with stress. They need to reach their goal of becoming a physically healthier and stronger person. Now, you personally need to be able to recognize when you are gaining sinful weight. You need to be able to see it. You need to get on the scales on a regular basis.

Again, we're told to examine ourselves spiritually. What kind of weight have you put on? What do you need to get rid of? So, you need to be able to recognize when you're gaining sinful weight and get on the scales on a regular basis. So, the third step on the road to salvation is to commit fully to putting sin out of your life. That's the third step, is to commit fully to putting sin out of your life, to make certain choices that will help you get in the groove.

We all need to get in the groove. So, the third step is to becoming a big loser, is to commit fully to putting the sin out of your life and no longer making excuses for yourself. Now, there's an interesting aspect that I haven't mentioned about this particular program.

In The Biggest Loser, they have what they call the trainer safe.

In the very beginning, these people who are obese, who have not worked out, you know, they haven't exercised, they haven't watched their diet very well, you know, it's really incredibly tough on them, especially the first week.

The first three or four weeks, well, these trainers, they each have one save.

In every case, the trainer saved the very first person. So, what that means is, when you go behind the red line, go below the red line, that's, in other words, you've lost the least amount of weight that week, you know, percentage-wise, you've lost the least, you're headed home. But the coach can save you if he thinks you're worth it.

If he thinks you're worth it. In other words, if he thinks you're trying, if he thinks you've got the determination, you know, you can do this, he will save you. I suppose if someone showed up and they just were puny and they wouldn't do anything and they were rebellious and nasty and they'd send them home. I wouldn't save them, would you? I wouldn't.

You know, God even saves those people sometimes, at least for a while. You know, our coaches are the most merciful and loving that you'll find.

So when you get discouraged because life is hard and striving against sin is difficult, and you're not making the spiritual progress that you hope you should be, that you know you should be making, and you get discouraged and you want to quit, some people stop coming to church when they get like that. You know, they stop coming to the most important place they need to be.

You know, that's sad and that's a bad, bad decision. Instead, you need to look to God who gives you strength and you need to look to God's church who will help you and encourage you and lift you up. This is the ranch, remember? This is the Biggest Loser Ranch right here. This is where you need to come to lose the sin that so easily besets you. This is where God has placed you in the body. This is where He set His name in Oklahoma City. This is where we need to be. We need to be on the ranch, working together to put sin out.

So I find that very encouraging that a human being, and by the way, two out of the three trainers are homosexuals. Two out of the three. Now, I believe that homosexuality is a sin. You know, I believe that the Bible describes it as a sin. Sodom and Gomorrah. God was not happy with Sodom and Gomorrah. God rained fire and brimstone down about Sodom and Gomorrah because they were homosexuals. They were not repentant of their sins. Now, the two trainers that I'm talking about, they have some very good qualities about themselves.

You know, I have no doubt of that. I have not condemned them. It's not my job to condemn anyone.

I believe one day they will repent. I hope they will. You know, I don't know. It's up to them. It's their choice. It's their decision. God hasn't called them right now. God hasn't opened their mind. They think it's just fine.

One of the three finalists is homosexual as well.

Now, I think it tells you that the world, they've got to put a little of this in there. That's just the way the world is. But I don't know. Maybe percentage-wise, it's not much different.

You've got 15 contestants, and I don't know how many of them are homosexuals. But, you know, unfortunately, there is a percentage out there in the populace. So, I don't know if it was random. I don't know why they decided to pick who they did.

But I do know that, again, they have some good qualities about them, those trainers. They did care, and they did save those people. It meant a lot to those people who were saved. You know, they, in one case, Tanya said, no one was ever there to save me. No one in my whole life was ever there to save me. She just got heavier and heavier and heavier. She couldn't count on anybody to save her. She couldn't count on anyone humanly. People would abandon her. They would leave her.

They would walk away from her. And this man was the first one to ever save her.

And she said, Dauvet, he's one of the trainers, Dauvet changed that. Knowing that someone had thought her worth saving changed her life. It changed her mindset. You know, God knows you're worth saving. God knows that.

God created you in His image. He called you out. He chose you. You're one of the elect.

There's no doubt you're worth saving. So I hope that we will all learn as we go through life that God is our best supporter.

He's the one that we need to turn to when we need help. You know, He's the best coach out there. He's the one that's going to save us. He's the one that's going to give us eternal life. So we talked so far about what three principles so far. First one was to trust, listen to, and follow your coaches. The second one was to admit that you have a weight problem. You have a sin problem. Admit it. Make no excuses for it. And the third one is you need to commit fully to losing the weight. Commit fully to losing the sin that so easily besets you no matter what the cost. Be willing to do whatever you have to do to put the sin out of your life. Now next week, or next time we talk, we're going to talk about some of those things that you need to do.

Some things that are very, very important that you need to do that will help you in your spiritual walk. So again, I've said it before, you're a big loser.