Are You a Big Loser? Part 3

And that is, are you a big loser? You've heard that question a few times. Are you a big loser? Remember, I said before, I don't care if you are the biggest loser, but I do want every one of you to be a big loser. If you've never heard this series of sermons, this is maybe new to you, but I've been talking about this for a couple weeks now. A couple different sermons. This show, The Biggest Loser, is a show where fifteen people lose some very serious weight. I think someone said something like, over the years it's been fifteen tons or something like that of weight that's been lost through the Biggest Loser show here in the United States. And they do it largely to win a huge cash prize of a quarter of a million dollars. But in reality, the largest and most valuable prize of all is simply this. It's to lose all the weight. The weight that the winner loses, as well as the weight that every one of the contestants loses, because they're all, in a sense, dying to lose weight. It's really hurting them physically, because they've allowed themselves to get heavy for a variety of reasons. And they all want to be big losers. So, everyone is a winner on the show, because they're all big losers. I don't think there was anyone that lost less than seventy or eighty pounds on the show this past time. Now, we've all been called to be big winners ourselves on the road to eternal life. But in order to be a big winner, we must be overcomers. And that means we must lose the sin that weighs us down spiritually. God has called us at this time because He loves us, for one thing. And He has a job to do. And Mr. Pence talked about the Commission. There's a Commission that needs to be done. And it's the firstfruits that are going to be doing it. So, it is important that we are not only called, but we are chosen and faithful. We're on that road that is narrow and difficult these days. The Bible says, few find it. And that's certainly true from what I've experienced in the forty years I've been in the Church. It's very few that really find the road that leads to eternal life in this day and age. Now, we know that now is not the only day of salvation. We know that God will open up salvation to billions of people eventually. But right now, He isn't calling everyone. And there are very few that are called, chosen, and faithful. Very few that make it down that narrow and difficult path that leads to eternal life. So, we do need to run with patience the race that is set before us if we're going to receive the crown of life at Christ's return. So, this is a vital subject as we prepare ourselves for taking the Passover this spring. Again, are you determined to lose the weight, the sin that pulls you down? What will God the Father and Jesus Christ, your Savior, do to help you out? And what can you do also in losing the weight? Is there anything that you can do? How can you become spiritually lean and fit? Now, this show, The Biggest Loser, as I pointed out last time, is called on around the world. It's in almost every country. It's been instrumental in inspiring thousands of people to make dramatic changes in their lives. You may have heard the expression, if you want to change the world, you must start with yourself. And that's certainly true. If you want to save the world, it has to start with us. God's first fruit, because the Bible shows that if it were not for the elect, then all human life would be wiped off the face of this earth.

So, if you want to change the world, you must start with yourself.

In the grand finale, Rachel was the big winner. Now, you may have seen some pictures of Rachel.

Perhaps she's on the cover of People magazine this month.

She went from 260 pounds to 105.

She frankly may have gone a little overboard, because she didn't look as healthy as she did back at the last show, some several weeks before that, when she was around 140 or 50. She actually looked a lot healthier then. Then she did at 105. You know, she just went a little overboard. I don't know if it was the $250,000 carat or exactly what it was, but I'm hoping that she will actually put on a little weight. I think it'll be a little healthier weight for her. That's been a big controversy if you haven't been listening to what's going on out in the world. It's been a big controversy since then. She lost an incredible 59.62%, almost 60% of her body weight.

She's literally less than half the woman.

Rachel said in the last show that she was, I think it was the last show, she said, I'm sick of hiding. No, she said this earlier when she was much larger. She said, I'm sick of hiding. She said this as she was losing weight. She said, I see the athlete coming out in me again. She was once an Olympic quality type swimmer. And then she blossomed out to 260 pounds. She wasn't doing a whole lot of Olympic swimming at that rate. So she said, I see the athlete coming out in me. I found her. I'm never going to let her go. So I hope that's true. I hope that she will continue to have a healthy weight in the future.

David was one of the crowd's favorites. David started at 409 pounds. He went down to 100. No, he lost 187 pounds, finished at 222 pounds, losing 54.36% of his body weight. He looked really good, too, at 222 pounds. He looked good. He was a big man.

He said, I lost seven buckets of fat. Seven buckets of fat. You have to have a breakdown before you can have a breakthrough.

So he had a breakdown at 400 and some pounds, but he got a breakthrough because of it. He said, I was inspired, but I wasn't really changing because I didn't really think that I could. I didn't really think that I could make these big changes. The winning step was the first one. It's when he really got committed and started moving in the right direction. He said, I'm half the man I used to be, but I'm twice the man in every other way.

David's teenage daughter on one of the shows said, and I get emotional when I read that, she said, I'm crazy proud of my dad. I'm crazy proud of my dad for what he did.

Bobby was one of the finalists.

He went from 358 pounds down to 188. He lost 170 pounds, losing 52.51% of his body weight.

I think, in a way, Toomey looked the best of any of them. She started at 319 pounds.

She went down to 144 pounds. 319 to 144 pounds, and she was looking pretty good. She lost 175 pounds. Really amazing!

That was Toomey. She said, I spent the first 40 years of my life in fear.

I want a second chance so I can live the life that I want to live. This was called the Biggest Loser's Second Chances. They all have a different theme.

She's now making plans to run a marathon.

She went from 319 pounds to running a marathon.

Remember, in Romans 14 and 17, it says, The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it is about righteousness, about peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So, again, this isn't about losing physical weight, but it is all about losing the spiritual weight that besets us. There are so many parallels, because sometimes we don't think we can grow. We don't think we can overcome. We don't think we can put the sin out of our lives, because we've struggled with it, and we haven't done it. That doesn't mean you can't do it. You just haven't been determined enough to put the sin out. Otherwise, it would be out, because God's powerful, and God can work with you in a very powerful way. A lot more powerfully than anything that was going on with these people that lost physical weight.

You can lose the spiritual weight if you put your mind to it, with God's help. It can be done.

We started a series of sermons talking about seven principles for losing the weight. Losing the sin that so easily ensnares us and enslaves us. The first point was to trust, listen to, and follow your coaches. Ultimately, and most importantly, of course, God the Father and Jesus Christ, but also those that God has selected to lead and guide you, because God does work through human beings. This is the commanded assembly, because He wants us to get together and learn from each other. We can learn from each other, and in a sense, those who have an opportunity to come up here and speak, they're coaches. It's not that we can't all be coaches in life, because we are. No matter who you are, we don't have women speaking up here, but they can also be our coaches by the example that they set, by the things that they say. We know the Bible says that the older women are to teach the younger ones. They're also coaches. So we can learn from each other. And in fact, the Bible says that we're to submit one to another.

And when we submit to one another, then we learn from each other.

So trust, listen to, and follow your coaches. Now, Tanya was one of the contestants on here, and she said, My mom was addicted to drugs. I was abused, and she didn't save me. No one saved me.

Not until she got on the Biggest Loser did Dolvett come along, her coach, and he saved her, because the coaches had a save. And she was saved, and she says, I feel better now than I have ever felt in my life.

Dramatic changes in her life. In Ephesians 2, verses 8-10, the Scripture says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith.

We're not going to save ourselves by putting off the spiritual weight, the sin that ensnares us. We're not going to save ourselves. Only God will save us. It's only through His grace and His forgiveness that will save us. But the verse goes on to say, And that not of yourselves. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. See, we are to do good works, though, aren't we? We're to go on and accomplish something. We're to be overcomers and no longer couch potatoes, but people who are fired up and are doing something in their lives. Now, in a sense, God has already saved us countless times because He's granted us forgiveness. He's forgiven us as we've gone to Him and repented repeatedly because of our sins. God is the one who grants us repentance. So God is continually saving us. When we live in a repented heart and mind, God is continually saving us. We should be grateful to God, our Father, and Jesus Christ, the best coaches anyone could ever have because they're always saving us. And in the final analysis, they will give us salvation.

No, we should never take that for granted, though, should we? We should never take it for granted. There will come a time when we will have no time to turn our lives around. It's called the final way in. It's called the day of judgment. That's the final scales, the final way in. So trust, listen to, and follow your coaches. Ultimately, and most importantly, again, God the Father and Jesus Christ. But follow others as they follow Christ. Don't follow them into rebellion. Don't follow them in any other way except as they follow Christ. That's the first step on the road to salvation and to becoming a big loser.

Secondly, you must admit that you have a weight, a sin problem, that is pulling you down and is harming you. If you don't admit it, you certainly will never change. Sin is deceitful and it's not easy. It's not so easy to detect as physical weight. We can see the physical weight. We can feel the physical weight. Sin is more deceitful. It's more subtle. It truly does easily beset us because sin is the transgression and the breaking of God's holy and spiritual law. And we can break God's law not only in the letter, but also in the Spirit. And those of us who have been called and chosen by God and have understood the truth of God, we need to be going beyond the letter to keeping the Spirit of God's law. It's not enough to just keep the letter of the law. We need to keep the Spirit of the law. And whenever we break the Spirit of the law, we've broken God's law. We've broken His commandments. We've sinned against God. So this admission that we are a sinner has to be heartfelt. It has to be genuine. Or you'll never lose the sinful weight that God expects you to lose and, frankly, requires you to lose. You're never going to lose it unless you admit that you are a sinner and that you get serious about putting sin out of your lives.

Last time we went to 2 Corinthians 7 where it shows what true repentance is. It's truly being sorry for our sins in a godly way because we have sinned against God, our Creator.

We owe everything to Him, and when we sin against Him, we dishonor Him.

So the second step on the road to salvation and to becoming a big loser of the sin that weighs us down is to admit that you are a sinner and then, of course, to receive the repentance that only God can give us. Because repentance is a gift that comes from God. It's not something that we can work up on our own. God grants it when He looks into our heart and He sees what kind of heart we have. You can't play games with God. You can play it. You might play Him with your parents. You might play Him with me. You might play Him with someone else. Frankly, you can't play games with God because God sees right through you.

God knows everything about you. He knows your every thought. He knows everything about you, and you can't pull the law over His eyes. So the second step on the road to salvation is to admit that you are a sinner and that you need to repent of those sins through God's grace.

The third step is that you need to commit fleece to losing the weight, the sin, no matter what the cost. That has to be priority number one in your life to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Nothing else is more important.

Your school education isn't more important than God. Those of you who are in college, your school education isn't more important than your relationship with God. God is more important than anything in your life. If you don't have a right relationship with Him, you're not going to do as well in college anyway.

You won't be as blessed. Things won't go as well. Certainly, putting God first is a lot more important than putting your boyfriend first or putting your girlfriend first, if you happen to have one. Putting your wife first or putting your husband first. Putting anyone before God is a mistake. You have to put God first in your life, and you have to seek Him first with all of your heart, soul, and mind. Committing fully means to be a doer of God's law, not just a hearer, but someone who does something about it.

Remember, no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God. When we think of that, let us always remember the example of Elisha, who sacrificed his oxen by burning his plow. He burnt his oxen on the plow because he answered God's call. He gave up everything. No doubt he was a wealthy farmer. He had money, had things going well for him. Now he was going to be a prophet, disdained by everyone else practically, because all prophets have been disdained by the general public.

Most of them have been killed and martyred along the way or thrown in dungeons. So, remember that once you put that hand to the plow, you need to keep it right there. I also pointed out that God's merciful, he has forgiven people that have gone astray at times, but they always have to come back. And it's not easy to come back once you've gone astray. It's very difficult. It's a very serious gamble that you don't want to take in your life. God expects you to put your head to the plow and leave everything behind you.

He expects you to be an overcomer. He expects you to put sin out your life. And that's what these days of the leavened bread are going to be all about, is putting the sin, putting the leaven out of your lives, out of your homes, out of everything that you come in contact with. One of the contestants talking about the biggest loser, talking about losing weight, they said, lose it fast and lose it forever. There's no time to wait. Lose it fast. Lose it forever. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. So lose it fast, lose it forever.

You know, it doesn't take long to lose it if you just go to God. And you pour your heart out to Him, and you admit that you need Him in your life, and that you need to surrender your life over to God and put Him first. Lose it fast. Lose it forever.

Fernanda, I remember, she said, every step we take gets us closer to our goals. Every step we take in the right direction toward God gets us closer to the Kingdom of God. So the third step on the road to salvation and to becoming a big loser is to commit fully to putting sin out of your life. Now we're going to go into the fourth principle, the fourth step, and it's a very, very important one. It is exercise spiritually on a daily basis to lose the weight. You've got to exercise spiritually every day of your life. If you want to lose the sin and keep it off, your habits, your spiritual habits, will make or break you. They will make or break you.

In Hebrews 12.1, again, we don't need to go there right now. We'll go to it later, but it talks about shedding the weight, shedding the weight because we have a race to run. You can't run a race. You can't run a marathon at 319 pounds. You can't do it. You won't survive. You won't last. You know, I've been on a marathon now for 40 years. I've been running this marathon. Some of you have run it longer than I have. You can't give up now. Now you've been faithful this long. You need to stay faithful to the very end, and God will help you to do that. You need to shed the weight that easily ensnares you, and you need to run with endurance the race that is set before you. Now, Marie, she was a cute little gal on there. She wasn't so little in the beginning. She was 249 pounds. She went down to 138. She said it was mortifying. It was devastating to look in a mirror. That's how she felt. She felt devastated and mortified because she had gone from a small girl to 249 pounds. She did it because of her habits. That's what caused her the big problem. It was her habits. It was the daily habits that allowed her to gain that weight. Daily habits. Eating too much chocolate. Eating too many cinnamon rolls. Too many brownies. Not exercising. It was those physical habits, day to day, that did her in.

She's a whole different person now. Down to 130. She doesn't mind looking in the mirror now. In fact, I think she rather enjoys it. At 138 pounds. It just changed her whole perspective when she went in front of a mirror again. Excess physical weight can harm our physical bodies, but the most serious excess weight that we can carry with us is the sinful weight of sin.

That's the thing that will really destroy you forever, is sin. Christ died for you because of your sins. But you can't take that sacrifice lightly. That's what the Passover is all about, isn't it? When we come here on Passover night, we come here sobered by the fact that we have a Savior who died for us, who laid His life down for us, who shed His blood for us. And if we ever take that lightly, we will not be given the gift of eternal life.

It's that important. It's that serious. We have to take this seriously. It isn't a game.

It isn't...

You know, it's just not... We're not just going through the motions here. A lot of people here have dedicated their lives to God. You know, they've given up a lot. You can look around the room. You can see some very faithful people who've been around a long, long time. And some people that aren't here today, like the Kirk's, who have... You know, they're as faithful today as they've ever been. You know, they're hanging in there. They're enduring to the end. It hasn't been a game for that. They've sacrificed a great deal over the years, but it's all worth it. It's worth every bit of it. Contestants on the Biggest Loser commit themselves to over three months of rigorous training and serious diet changes. They change their habits during that fourteen-week period. But no matter how much they lose at the ranch, they know that when they leave, those filler pounds will go right back on if they go back to the lifestyle that they came out of. Now, Toomey was one of those that left relatively early. I don't know, maybe halfway through. I can't remember exactly when she left, but she was the one who won the $100,000.

And that went to the person who won the most after they left the ranch.

If they continue to lose weight, the winner of that got $100,000. So Toomey won that.

And I think she's probably going to leave it off. Keep that weight off, because she's changed her habits so dramatically. Now she just loves to run. She's been in a lot of other, not marathons, but shorter races. And that's really helped her keep the weight off. There must be a total change, not only for three months, but a complete change of mind, of mindset, of attitude, of heart and focus. And also our habits for the rest of our lives, if we're going to really be a part of God's kingdom. I mean, that's how we need to approach this, because God looks at our attitude. He looks at our heart. I mean, we can make mistakes along the way. We can, you know, we can become lethargic a day or two. You know, we're not cast off when that happens. You know, God looks at our heart. He looks at our overall approach toward life.

But He does want to see someone who's willing to commit themselves and have established some good habits that will keep them in good stead, because we're going to be rewarded according to our works.

And if we have good habits, we're going to accomplish something in this life that will be beneficial to many, many people. Now, on The Greatest Loser, they had a sprint triathlon, where they would swim a half a mile, they would bike 12 miles, and they would run three miles. So, it was a triathlon. Three events, swimming, biking, running. Now, Rachel won this. I think she got a car because of it. I think it was a Ford Focus that gave that she got like 108 miles per gallon on that thing, in a certain mode anyway. 108 miles per gallon. Not a bad vehicle to have, as you do a lot of driving. Anyway, she won that. She was very dedicated, and the whole time she was there, she had good habits. Now, we're also on a, I don't know what the right word is for Ford, a triathlon, a quattroathlon, a quadathlon. I don't know what they call it, but anyway, I'm going to give you four things that you need to be doing.

So, you need to go on this regimen for the rest of your life. It's something you've heard before. It's nothing new. It's very basic, and it's something that will save your life. It's called prayer, daily prayer. It's called Bible study. Daily study the Bible, open up the Bible, read the Bible, study it. It's called meditation. Where is your mind? What do you think about all day long? It's also called fasting. Those are the big four. Praying, studying, meditating, and fasting. If you will establish these habits now, quickly, and don't put them off if you haven't been doing them, but start doing them now and do them for the rest of your life, you're not going to have to worry about entering God's kingdom, because you'll prove that you have the heart that God's looking for. If you will pray and study and meditate and fast, and of course, you know, put God first. I know some people do this in the world that don't really, they do it for different reasons, but if you do it for the right reasons, and that is that you just want to serve God and obey Him and become like Him, then you don't have to worry about entering God's kingdom. You don't have to fear that. Now, I wanted to quote from Mr. Cubic's recent letter in regard to the fast that we went through. He said in the letter, As we strengthen our relationship with our Father in heaven, I would like to ask for a churchwide day of fasting between January 25 and February 8. Of course, it's passed now. He says, We're not in a crisis, nor is there some monumental decision to make.

I'm just asking for us all to humble ourselves before God so that we can grow and bear fruit. We want to grow and bear fruit. Prayer is our lifeblood.

That's what he said. Prayer is our lifeblood. It's what keeps us alive. If we're not talking to God, if we're not praying to God, then where is your heart? It's not where it needs to be. You're not laying up treasures in heaven. You lay up treasures in heaven by getting on your knees. And by praying about the things that God would have you pray about.

He goes on to say that Bible study is our food. If you want to eat right, you've got to study the Bible. You've got to read it. You've got to make it a part of you. If you're not doing that, then you're starving yourself. You're sick. You're sick spiritually if you're not doing it. And he goes on to say that Bible study is our food, but it's fasting that is the catalyst that focuses our spiritual attention upon doing what we should. Fasting helps us stay focused. God tells us to fast once a year. He requires it on the day of atonement. But that's really not enough if you want to really stay on focus the whole year. Now, you need to fast on a regular basis if you really want to make some changes in your life, because fasting is a spiritual power tool. It's like the DeWalt. The DeWalt of the spiritual life. You know, DeWalt is... I don't have any DeWalt because they're expensive.

I probably should have. Always go quality whenever you can. But anyway, DeWalt is a power tool. It's one of the best known... at least I think it is. There may be something a lot better than DeWalt. I don't know, but that's because I don't have tons of money. I haven't really checked it out. But fasting is that spiritual power tool, and really, you need to fast more often. I think I can safely say that. There might be a few of you that are fasting enough. Some of you are fasting enough, perhaps. You know, you've learned the power of fasting. You've learned that you actually feel a lot better when you fast. And so, you discipline yourself and you do it. But most of us realize that we haven't always done that. I haven't always done that. Sometimes I've done better than others. When it comes to fasting, I've fasted more. Sometimes I have it other times. I know I can do better. But you have to answer that for yourself. Can you do better? Fasting is very, very important. He said, we went on to say that we are fasting basically to ask God for the kind of genuine growth that He is looking for in all of us. Now, I was really glad He called it fast, and it wasn't because we need money. There was no hint of money. It wasn't about so we can have more money come in. That's not what it was all about. It wasn't because we're about to split. It's because we need to get our minds right. We need to get our hearts right. Because when we do that, then God will surely bless us. Not only God can provide spiritual growth to His Church, it was exciting for me that this week I wanted to visit with a family of seven. The kids were aged fourteen down to aged five. The parents were pretty fired up.

They live in Tulsa, I'm sorry to say. I mean, it would be nice if it was Oklahoma City, but Tulsa is good, too. Right anywhere is good. I hope they come around. I hope they come along. They know a lot. They've been studying their Bibles. They were a part of the Messianic movement. They've been keeping Sabbath for a year and a half. They came out of the Pentecostal Church, and it was really very, very inspiring. Whenever God wants to turn the spigot on, we're going to get inundated if God does it again. In the sixties, it was like that.

People like that were being called left and right. God was drawing people. We've gone through a lot since then. I think God wanted us to learn some lessons. If we've learned them, perhaps we'll do better with the growth that we get the next time. We didn't do so well with the growth that we got the first time back in the sixties. Maybe that wasn't the first time. Maybe it had been repeated a number of times, for all I know, and throughout history. But maybe we as a church are more spiritually ready now, and perhaps something great can happen before Christ returns. Something dramatic, something very exciting, like the early church back in 31, 23 A.D., 34, 35. People were being called, and their miraculous things were happening. God was working miraculously. God's the same today as He was then. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13.8. Christ is the same. These things can happen again. I'm looking forward to that. I don't know how I'm going to stay up with it, but I know God will provide. In Dallas, that's the second largest church in United, according to Big Cubic, anyway. It's a good-sized church, and they've got seven million people to draw from.

There's a lot of people around there. It'll be interesting to see how things go.

I believe things will go very well here, as well. God can work in miraculous ways everywhere, when He's ready to do that, and when we're ready for that to happen. In Hebrews 5, let's go to Hebrews 5. Again, we're talking about exercising spiritually, so that we can grow and overcome, setting good habits, spiritual habits, so that we can make progress in our lives, and that we can put the sin out that we've struggled with for years. Hebrews 5, now I have no doubt that had I applied myself better these past 40 years, that I would be much more spiritually oriented. I would be stronger spiritually.

It's sad, in a way, that I have to say that, but I'm being honest. I'm being honest. Being honest. You know, I could have done better. Hebrews 5, verse 11.

It's in the context of Melchizedek, who was actually the one who became Jesus Christ, our High Priest, of whom we have much to say and hard to explain, since you have become dull at hearing. You see, that's part of the problem, isn't it? Some of us have become dull at hearing. We're not as excited. We're not as zealous as we ought to be. We're dull at hearing. Life has taken its toll. This is a difficult life. Making a living, just getting in an automobile and driving around sometimes is hard. When the traffic's rough, wait until you get to Dallas. I don't even know what I'm talking about. Rush Hour in Tulsa is a breeze. Rush Hour in Oklahoma City is worse than Tulsa, but it's a breeze compared to down there. So, some of us have become dull at hearing.

So, we need to become more zealous. We need to wake up. Verse 12. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. You know, they had the same problem back in those days. Maybe they were zealous for a while, but then they lost focus. And you have come to need milk and not solid food. So, this is talking about someone who once did better, but was now doing worse. Someone who was once zealous but got beat down by life, got beat down and gave up. You know, you can't give up.

You can get beat down, but you can't give up. You've got to rise up if you've been beaten down. And I know that you've been beaten down. This is a hard world. You know, and Satan has his way. He's the God of this world. So, he beats us down in many, many ways. And we just have to rise back up so that we can take in solid food. You know, that we can eat spiritual, solid, good food.

Let's read a little further here, verse 13. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby, just a babe. The solid food belongs to those who are of full age. That is, those who are by reason of use, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now, God wants us to be able to discern good and evil. We've eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, haven't we? We followed our mother, Eve, our father Adam, who ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You've been eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Are you discerning? No, you're supposed to sort that stuff out. When you sort it out, then you eat of the tree of life. When you choose right, when you choose the good. No, that's when you eat of the tree of life. You can't continue to eat the bad fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But it's all out here, isn't it? It's all out there for you. You can still eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and you can eat the bad stuff. It's your choice. What are you going to eat? Are you going to eat just the good stuff?

Are you going to continue to eat the bad stuff? Exercise is also resisting sin and doing what's right. That's part of our exercise. There's isometrics. I forget all the isometrics it's pulling against. The one is pulling back, and another is pushing, and one's isometrics. It's been a while. I don't have it in my notes. I didn't look it up. Just a brainchild that came to my mind here. But you've got to be able to do both. You've got to resist things that are going on in your life. You've got to fight back. You can't give in. You can't give up. You also have to be proactive, too. You have to lift those weights, pump that iron, go up and down, get excited. That's what we need to do. I'm so excited. I just can't stand it. However that song goes, I won't sing it to you.

We have our senses exercised by doing God's law, by keeping God's law. That's how we exercise.

Every day you exercise, and you make the right choice. When you do the right thing, you're exercising. Now, use, that's used here, is the Greek word hexis. H-E-X-I-S. It means habit or practice. So, let's go back and look at it. That is, those who by reason of use or habit. It's by your habits, by the things that you do each and every day. You have to be a doer of God's law. Not just a hearer. You have to be a doer of God's law. The word for exercise in the Greek, here again, this word, the word exercised here in verse 14, is the Greek word gumnazo. I don't know if gymnasium comes from this or not. I didn't have time to look that up. That's a good thing I should look up before I give the sermon again. So, I know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the word for exercise is gumnazo. It means to practice naked in the games. That's what they did in the old days. They would practice naked in the games. They wanted to get all that anything. They would slow them down. I don't really think that's the best way to exercise.

I mean, you've got to have a little something on. But that's what it meant back then. The word for exercise, it means to practice naked in the games. It's talking about training.

Training, that's all it's talking about. Training. Exercising is training.

Strong meat is referring to being able to apply and use godly principles in your everyday life choices. That's what strong meat is all about. It's making the right choices. Those who are eating strong meat know evil when they see it. They know evil. They know what's out there on the tree of good and evil. They can tell what's good and what's bad, and they choose what's good. And they refuse what's bad. That's eating strong meat. You have to be active. You have to get out in the gym of life. Now, this whole life is a gymnasium. You've got to train out there. You're being tested every day of your life. You're being exercised. But is it good exercise? Is it something that's going to help you? Or will it harm you? No, there is a certain thing as a bad exercise. You can hurt yourself. You know, if you try to lift too much weight, you can dump the thing on your head. And then you're in a real fix. So, it has to be practice. What is it? Perfect practice makes perfect. Not just practice. Perfect practice.

You have to do it right. So, you have to be discerning.

So, get out in the gym of life. Exercise. Use wisdom. Practice the fruits of life. Stop being the same person you used to be. I don't want to hear a lot of excuses about, this is the way I am because I grew up this way. You know, I'm sick of that. I'm tired of hearing that. Now's the time to change. If you had a bad life, I'm sorry for that. You know, I wish that wasn't the case. My life wasn't perfect either. But you have to rise above that. And you can make changes in your life. So, let's try to stop making excuses for bad behavior. I mean, we still might make some mistakes, and we can forgive you for that, but try to make some progress, too. You know, don't repeat the same thing over and over again. You know, hopefully that's why you're here today because you want to change. Hopefully, you're here for the right reason. You're here to change and to grow and to overcome, to be a better person, to be a different person.

So, you have to be active. Get out there. Practice the fruits of God's Spirit in your life. What are they? Do you know the fruits of God's Spirit? Can you tell me what they are? If I had called someone up here right now and stuck them right here, would you be able to tell me what they are? You should be able to by now, most of you. I mean, they're fundamental. The fruits of God's Holy Spirit. If you can't, I'm not going to call anyone up. So, rest easy. I'm not that crazy. But really, these are things that we probably ought to be able to do. Back in the old days, they'd have them memorize the whole Old Testament. Or the Torah. By age 12, or shortly after age 12, so it really isn't expecting too much of you to know the fruits of God's Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience. You know what they are.

So, we need to be active. We need to turn on the heat.

We need to turn on the heat. It's a beautiful day today, 70 degrees out in February. That's not bad. We need to get fired up. We need to begin taking strong measures to ensure that we will make changes in our lives.

Now, Rachel, she said during the course of the program this year, she said, I can't believe I'm seeing this day. This was actually the last day before the finale. It was the last show before the grand finale. She says, I can't believe I'm seeing this day. That I made it. She's talking about herself. She says, Rachel, in week one, would be absolutely floored at how much progress has been made in 14 weeks. 260 pounds to 150. She lost 110 pounds in 14 weeks. Now, that's significant. 14 weeks. Just think of yourself. A little over three months from now. What have you lost? That much weight. I'm not recommending that. That's a tough regimen. It might not be healthy for some of us. Some of us don't have that much to lose. But the point is Rachel, in week one, would be absolutely floored at how much progress has been made in 14 weeks. I have come so far on my journey, and I have arrived at who I love. She's feeling a lot better about herself, because she's made some big changes. I guarantee you'll feel a lot better about yourself if you know you're growing spiritually, and you're not just spinning your wheels out there in life. You're going to feel a whole lot better if you feel some traction, and you know that you're burning some rubber, and you're making an impact in the world and in your life. Keep pushing hard because it's worth it. That's what she said. Keep pushing hard because it's worth it.

I think that's right after she won the Ford Fusion energy, the 108 miles per gallon little machine. Now, Dole Vette, he's one of the coaches, he said, what a journey we've been on these 14 weeks. You came here, you showed up, you find yourself. That's awesome. See, he was seeing people dramatically find themselves and get some purpose in their lives because they were all depressed. A lot of them were. I don't know that all of them were, but they were being weighed down by the physical weight. Some of us have been going through some spiritual depression, frankly, because we're not doing the things that we need to do every day. No wonder we're depressed. We're not praying like we should. We're not studying the Bible like we should. We're not fasting like we ought to. We're not meditating. Things are more important. So, we're paying a price for it. We've been spiritually depressed. I know I've gone through some of that in the 40 years I've lived in the church. In the 18 and a half years I've been here, I've gone through some of that.

I don't know who it was at the time, but she says, Get up there! Get up there on the Get up there! Let's go! You want it! Show me how bad!

Now, how bad do you want it? Show me how bad you want it! Show God how bad you want it! David, I don't know if I mentioned here about David where he talked about the warrior that was within him. Does anyone remember hearing that? You don't mind hearing it again. You forget everything anyway. All right, David, whose first wife died of cancer, promised her that he would lose weight for their four children's sake. I told my family I was going to finish strong. Here I am in the last week working out with Dolvett here in the final week. I'm looking back to week one where defeat was part of my vocabulary. That was something that he, it was in his vocabulary, he's four hundred and some pounds, and he'd been defeated for a long time. Defeat was in my vocabulary, defeat was part of my vocabulary, where going home was an option. When he first started, going home was an option. But things grew on him. He really wanted it. After a while, after he started doing those things that he knew he ought to do, he revived. He became a new person. His heart came back. He was inspired. He had something going on in his life now that to live for. He was excited about his life. His wife had died. He was depressed. He loved his wife. She got cancer. He needed something to live for, and this helped him. He had children to live for, but he was losing sight of his responsibilities as a father. He had to go on. He had to keep living. Right in that particular time, the dolvet says, breathe, because he's about to pass out as he's lifting weights. They flash back to when he first started, and the guy's sweating bullets, and he's 409 pounds trying to lift weights and stuff. He says in week 14, but look at me now. Look at how strong I am. Look at me now. There was something deep down inside me, and it was that part of a warrior. That's what he found. He found that there was a warrior inside him. He said, I found that warrior that I knew was in me, and I've been able to reveal that guy a little bit more each week. Each week, let's find the warrior in us. Let's find the spiritual warrior. Let's get out there and find him, because you'll be amazed. You can be different. You can be a different person if you find the warrior that God put in you, because God, again, doesn't make any junk. You're created in God's image. You can be a better person. You can be a different person, but you've got to change your mindset and stop making excuses and start getting down to business. He went on to say, he finished by saying, how do you light me now?

You've heard that expression, how do you light me now? You know, I mean, it was a positive thing.

Jennifer said, the feelings I am having today are so much different than the ones I had in week one, when I first started. I was nervous. I was apprehensive. I was scared, but today I'm excited about working out. I've been chipping away and busting through my safe zone since I came here. A lot of us are in our comfort zones, and we've been there for years. That's where we're at, and that's where we've been. She says, this has become my life now. She came out of that comfort zone. Chelsea said, it's been six years since I have been in the 100s, since you weighed under 200 pounds. It's been six years. Chelsea, week one, would not even believe the Chelsea of today. I knew that Chelsea could do it, but I didn't believe she knew just how. She didn't know how far she could come. She had no idea. I realized how much I neglected myself. Have you neglected yourself? I've neglected myself. Now I am so much stronger and more positive, I'm happy I want to live life. Jillian to Bobby said she was talking to me. See, Bobby was one of these guys that really wasn't working all that hard, but amazingly, the pounds were coming off anyway. It was kind of surprising, because people were looking at him and thinking, man, that guy's not working that hard. How did he lose more weight than me? Bobby was starting to get a different attitude as the weeks went by, and Jillian at one point said to him, it's yours. Take it. You can do it. She was surprised to see that he had a shot at it. He didn't win it, but he lost a lot of poundage. He said it's nice to feel strong for once. It's nice to feel strong. It is nice to feel strong. It's a good feeling. If you're strong spiritually, you're feeling good, because God is strong in you. The Force is strong in you. The right Force, not the dark Force or the other Force. God is with you. Our journey is a much longer and more arduous one than just a few months of intense physical exercise. The spiritual journey is not 14 weeks, is it? It would be very difficult to keep the exercise regimen their entire lives. They couldn't do it. They'd waste away to nothing.

They'd hurt themselves. Four hours of exercise every day, eating less and less, that kind of thing. It would kill them eventually.

Unless there was some balance brought into it, it would kill them.

The nice thing is, they don't have to keep that regimen their whole life. They just have to get a good start. You don't have to kill yourself the rest of your life. You just have to kill yourself for a little while to make some changes. Maybe you need to make some drastic changes and jumpstart yourself and then maintain. Pray, Bible study, maybe you have to do a little bit more of it. Maybe you have to stop watching TV altogether for a while. Just stop watching TV. Instead, pull the Bible out. Instead of watching TV, read the Bible. Or go exercise physically. Do something good for your physical body. Don't be a couch potato. Make some hard choices.

There's something in the Bible, I think, in the Sermon on the Mount about making some hard choices, some drastic choices. Isn't that what Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount?

Sometimes we need to make some drastic hard choices in our lives. We need to jumpstart ourselves. Then we have to be diligent in maintaining those habits.

Daily Bible study. It doesn't have to be ours, but it has to be.

Daily Bible study. Daily prayer. It doesn't have to be ours on our knees, but it has to be. David and Daniel and others, they prayed three times a day.

And they did it fervently, and it made a big difference in their lives. In this life, it can be discouraging at times because it seems we're growing very slowly.

We can become impatient, and we can stop trying because the spiritual weight isn't coming off so fast. The sins are there to easily beset us. They can get us off the track, and there's nothing that Satan loves more than that. To see someone that's finally starting to get their act together, and then something de-reals them. I've seen that happen in my life. There have been times when I felt like I'm really finally starting to really do well spiritually, I mean, better than ever. And then something comes along, and the next thing I know, I'm not as focused. I'm not as driven.

Satan gets in there. He'll mess you up. He'll mess up your exercise plan. Trust me, he'll try his very best. The process of conversion is not instantaneous. I mean, it does happen when we receive God's Holy Spirit. We are sanctified and set apart, but it begins a process of overcoming and growing and putting sin out.

We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged by how little we may seem to look like God right now. God is very patient. God is loving. But he wants to see your heart. He wants to see what you're doing with your time. He says, redeem the time. What are your priorities? What are you doing in your life? That tells you what your priorities are and how you spend your time. That's your priorities. Analyze your time sometime. Maybe you could do better.

Now, in closing, let's go back to Hebrews 12 for a moment.

Let's read verse 2, because we read verse 1 a whole lot about that sin that easily ensnares us. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Christ is the author. He's the beginning of our faith. He is the finisher. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Creator. He's shaped and formed in His image, in the Father's image as well. Then He died for us, gave His life for us. The Father resurrected Him. He's now at the right hand of God. He's our high priest. So, let's look unto Jesus, who's the author and the finisher of our faith, who will grant us salvation at His return, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He sees all that you do. He's going to see everything that you do this week, everything that you're going to do the rest of today and tomorrow and the rest of your life. You can't hide from God. So, brethren, as we approach the Passover season, let us be extremely grateful to God and to Christ for our calling and for God's wonderful plan of salvation for us and for all of mankind. Let us continue to examine ourselves and to repent of our sins. Let us put sin out of our lives. And as Jennifer said, this is what life is all about right here, losing weight and looking good. That's what she said. This is what it's all about, losing weight and looking good. Getting the sin out will help you look good spiritually and you'll feel better about yourself. God's Spirit will be strong in you. Chelsea said this as she was crying, I like being able to look in a mirror now. I like what I see.

Matthew postponed his wedding to be on the Biggest Loser. He said, I can't put it in words. This has changed my life. I want to present the best version of myself to my fiance.

Does that remind you of something? What about you? Do you want to present the best version of yourself to your fiance? Are you not the bride of Christ? Are you not to marry him at his return? Don't you want to present the very best self to him that you possibly can?

So, brethren, as those preparing to be the bride of Christ, let us present our best selves. Let us all be big losers in this life.