Are You a Big Loser? Part 4

Thank you again, Mr. Griffith. Well, Brother, I'm going to ask this question just one more time.

Are you a big loser? How have you been doing the past couple months since I began this series of sermons on becoming a big loser? Have you been losing the sin that so easily besets you? Have you been shedding the weight of sin that drags you down spiritually? Remember, I said before, I don't care if you are the biggest loser—and that is a reference to a TV show that's quite popular, called The Biggest Loser. I don't care if you're the biggest loser, but I do want every one of you to be a big loser when it comes to putting sin out of your life. Now, the contestants on The Biggest Loser program, they all lost a lot of physical weight, some well over 100 pounds. In fact, a lot of them, 100 pounds or more, some lost as much as 188 pounds, I think, lost half themselves.

So, there was a lot of weight being lost. They were big losers. From a spiritual perspective, we also need to be big losers. From a spiritual perspective, in other words, we need to lose the weight, the sin that easily besets us. So, this is a vital subject as we prepare ourselves for taking the Passover this spring, because the Passover is all about realizing that our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus. He is our Passover Lamb. He is the one who died for us. There is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved. So, we have to accept Christ as our Savior. We have to know what that means. And we also have to repent of our sins. And that's why it's for just baptized members, because those are the two questions that we ask people when we baptize them. Have you repented of your sins? And have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your Lord and Master, your high priest, and your soon-coming King? So, it is very, very important that we focus on this as we approach the Passover, that we have the right attitude, the right frame of mind. So, brethren, are you determined to lose the weight, the sin that pulls you down spiritually? What will God the Father and Jesus Christ, your Savior, do to help you? Do you have faith that they will help you overcome? Remember, the Bible says, to heal overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne? So, we have to be overcomers if we're going to sit with Christ on his throne. And what can you do to also aid the losing of weight in your own life, the sin again that besets you? How can you become spiritually lean and fit? Today, I intend to conclude this series on becoming a big loser. Now, we've covered four of the seven principles for losing the weight. I think I took three sermons to cover the first four points, and I'm going to cover all the last three in this one because I've laid the foundation, and it can be done. We did it in Tulsa. We'll do it here. Today, we'll cover the last three principles while first reviewing the first four. We're going to review the first four quickly. Some of you were not here for the entire series. Some of you are here for the first time. So, the first point, and by the way, there are seven principles for losing the weight, the sin that so easily ensnares us and enslaves us. And the first point is we must trust, listen to, and follow our coaches. Ultimately, and most importantly, God the Father and Jesus Christ are your coaches. But also, those God has selected to lead and guide you who are faithful. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. So, you should follow faithful men who will teach you and guide you, and also women because we're told to submit to one another. When I've always said, when my wife is right, that's when I need to submit to her, when she's right.

You know, otherwise I don't have to, but if she's right and I want to do something wrong, or, you know, that's the time to submit to my wife. So, we need to trust, listen to, and follow our coaches. Now, the contestants on the Biggest Loser, they follow the lead of their coaches. I don't know if maybe you haven't all seen even a single program of this, but the contestants there, they follow the lead of their coaches. As a result, they're very successful in losing physical weight. When we follow God and His Son Jesus Christ, as well as those human leaders who love God, and also who love His people, a true Shepherd is to lay His life down for the sheep. So, you can follow someone as they follow Christ. If they're keeping God's commandments, if they're telling you the truth, and living it themselves, and they're directing you to do the right thing, then you should follow your coaches. If you do, you will lose that sin that besets you if you do the right thing, if you make the right choices. So, that is the first point we need to trust, listen to, and follow our coaches. We need to have faith in God the Father and Christ, and we need to realize that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him. John 6, verse 44, if you're here today, undoubtedly God is calling you. He's drawing you to His son Jesus Christ. He wants you to respond. Remember, only those who respond will be in God's Kingdom. You have to be called, chosen, and faithful. That's how you'll be in God's Kingdom. So, again, the first point is to follow God, to follow Christ. Again, we can't earn our salvation. You know, this is not a pull you up by your bootstrap kind of sermon. These are guidelines to help you draw closer to God. God is the one that will save you. You won't save yourself through any law-keeping. You will be saved by grace, by God's gracious forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ. So, that's the first point. You have to follow God. We're to learn to live by every word of God. So, we have to follow God in all things. We have to keep His commandments, do those things that are pleasing in sight. Secondly, you must admit that you have a weight problem, and that weight problem is a sin problem. We're talking spiritually now. Everyone in here is a sinner. There's no perfect people in this room. We're all sinners. We all fall short of God's glory. We fall short of God's grace.

So, we need to be aware of that, and we need to admit that we are sinners, that we do need to repent. We went through a number of scriptures pointing that out in a previous sermon.

So, you have a sin problem, and sin is pulling you down. It is harming you to some degree, and so repentance is absolutely critical. Are you repentant? Do you have a repentant heart and a repentant mind? Because, again, that's what Passover is all about. Every year we come here to renew our covenant with God and with Jesus Christ. Now, the contestants on the Biggest Loser program all know that they have a serious weight problem. When they come here, they realize they have a serious weight problem. In fact, they all applied to be on the program, so it would help them lose the weight that was pulling them down and affecting their lives in negative ways. So, we also need to admit that we have a serious weight problem. We all need to have, again, repentant hearts and minds, and we need to be committed to putting sin out and keeping it out. So, we were told by Paul to examine ourselves at this time of year and to confess our sins, seeking repentance and forgiveness through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, when we drink that wine and we eat that unleavened bread, we realize that we have accepted Christ as our Savior. He shed His blood for us. He was beaten for us. He laid His life down for us. He was crucified for us. And, frankly, we were the ones who killed Him, because we are all sinners and Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins and my sins. So, that is the second point. You must admit that you have a weight problem, a sin problem. In other words, you have to take it seriously. You have to seek repentance. You know, repentance is even a gift that God gives us. God gives us repentance. He grants repentance based on our hearts. What kind of heart do you have? Do you have a soft heart, a malleable heart, or do you have a hard-hearted heart? Do you have a heart that's stiff-necked and is not willing to yield and submit to God? You know, we have to surrender to God and turn our lives over to God.

So, that's the second principle. The third principle is you need to commit fully to losing the weight, the sin, no matter what the cost. There will be a cost. And we all need to commit fully to losing the weight and the sin. The Days of Unleavened Bread picture putting sin out of our lives. You know, putting sin away. That's what God wants us to do. The contestants on The Biggest Loser all need to commit fully to losing their excess physical weight and keeping it off. How much more should we commit fully? How much more? If someone can go to a physical program and commit themselves to a rigorous program of exercising four hours a day and of eating only the things that they're supposed to eat and just learning to start thinking in a way that will enable them to lose physical weight, how much more should we commit ourselves fully to repenting of our sins, truly accepting Christ as our Savior and putting sin out and keeping it out of our lives?

Remember Elisha's complete and total commitment when he sacrifices oxen on his burning plow. Remember he was plowing along and along comes Elijah, and he basically says, God is calling you. You are to be my assistant. You're to follow me. You're going to be God's prophet. Instead of balking at that, he took his plow, a wooden plow, and he sacrificed his oxen on it, showing that he was willing to make that commitment. It wasn't easy being a prophet. Prophets were targets for the King and for others to ridicule, to throw in dungeons in Jeremiah's case, in some cases to be killed. And Christ's disciples were certainly killed the vast majority of them. I believe John was the only one that was not martyred. So to be a prophet or a disciple of Christ means to suffer persecution. It's going to take a complete commitment in the days ahead when we see trouble unlike any other trouble that we've ever seen on the earth before. And there's been a lot of trouble on the earth in the past. This is going to be even worse. So we have to commit fully to putting sin out, no matter what the cost. That's the third point. You need to commit fully to losing the weight and the sin that easily besets you. Now the fourth principle, again, in the process of conversion, you might say, also in putting sin out of your life, this covers a lot of ground. These principles really do cover a great deal of ground. The fourth principle is to exercise spiritually on a daily basis to lose the weight, to lose the sin, and to keep it off. You have to exercise spiritually on a daily basis. Every single day of your life, you have to be exercising spiritually. Just like those who go to the Biggest Loser Ranch and they exercise and they put physical weight off, you need to be exercising spiritually so you can lose the sinful weight that pulls you down. You know, Satan is the god of this world. Satan is the great tempter. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Now, Satan is your adversary. Satan wants to destroy you. So, you have a spiritual what's the right word I'm looking here for? You have an enemy.

Satan is spirit, but he's unholy spirit. He's not composed of holy spirit. His spirit is unholy. It's diabolical, demonic. You know, Satan wants to destroy you, so you have to fight back. One of the ways you fight back is by exercising spiritually.

The contestants on the Biggest Loser exercise, as I mentioned earlier, four hours a day. That's a lot of time to be pumping iron and exercising, jogging, running, walking, swimming, doing all kinds of things throughout the day. I'm sure they go maybe an hour at a time and they spread it out through the day and then they watch what they eat in the meantime. So, they're on a very rigid program. They also do a triathlon when they're there. They run, they bike, and they swim. The last time we talked about the importance of all of us getting on a continual spiritual quadrathlon. That is a real word, a quadrathlon. It means four. So, last time I gave you four areas in which you need to exercise spiritually on a regular basis. The first one being prayer. Prayer is something you should do daily and more than once. Daniel and David pray three times a day. Paul talks about praying without ceasing. It's talking about an attitude of prayer. It's continually having an attitude of prayer, wanting to do the right thing, drawing near to God, drawing close to God. And it actually goes hand in hand with meditating. We meditate with a prayerful attitude and approach as we go through the day. Now, the second part of the quadrathlon was Bible study. The importance of daily Bible study. Read the Bible. If you just read a few chapters a day, you get through the Bible in a year. Just like three or four chapters a day, and you'll be through the Bible in one year. Now, if you've never read the Bible, why not set that as a goal? To get through the Bible, to read the Bible in one year. It's only three or four chapters a day. You know, we're talking 15 minutes a day. Anyone can do that. You know, isn't God important enough to spend 15 minutes of your day studying the Bible? And I'd say that's a bare minimum. I mean, we can obviously spend more time than that. But you have to get started. If you're not spending any time, then 10 or 15 minutes is a whole lot better than zero. The third part of the quadrathalon was meditation. You know, we discussed that briefly already. It goes along with prayer. Learn to pray without ceasing. Learn to meditate on these things. From morning till night, till the minute you wake up in the morning, then, you know, God should be on your mind. Not everything else, but pleasing Him. You know, living daily to please God and to put Him first. You know, we're to be living sacrifices. That's holy, and it's acceptable. It's something God wants us to do, to become a living sacrifice. Christ died for you. You ought to surrender and live for Him. You know, if you want to live for all eternity, then you need to make some sacrifices yourself. God's way is not broad. It's a narrow way that leads to eternal life, and few there be that find it in this day of salvation. You know, this is your day of salvation. God's calling you to be one of the first fruits. This is the best resurrection. The first resurrection is the best one. If God calls you now, by all means, you should respond. I mean, if you're coming here and listening, that's evidence that God is drawing you. God is drawing you, and you need to respond to God. It's up to you. It's up to you. You know, God is the one that's drawing you, but you have to do your part. So, we need to follow the example in the Bible of prayer, of Bible study, of meditation. And then the fourth important aspect of the spiritual quadrathalon, perhaps the most important point of all in some ways, because it is a spiritual power tool. It's called fasting. And God only requires that you fast once out of the year on the day of atonement. However, if you fast more than that, you will be benefited greatly.

If you will humble yourself and fast and get yourself in good enough shape to fast, then you will be well rewarded for it. I guarantee you. You know, it is a powerful tool. It is a tool that works. Now, some of us are not in shape, perhaps, and maybe we need to do something to get in better shape so that we can fast more regularly. I mean, that's between you and God. It's something that you should think about, pray about, ask for God's guidance in that regard. But we should be utilizing God's spiritual power tool of fasting. It should be something that we do regularly.

Christ said, you know, once I'm gone, then my disciples will fast. He wasn't talking about just the day of atonement. You know, the Pharisees would fast twice a week, but they were not really fasting properly. They weren't fasting in the right way. I don't know if it was a full 24-hour fast without food or water, but God doesn't tell us how often we're to fast. But we should be fasting, and it's up to you.

But I know one thing. If you don't plan to do it, you won't do it. If you don't plan to do it, you won't do it. You've got to plan to do it. You've got to think ahead, look ahead, and plan to do it. And remember, some things don't happen except through prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting. If you want to make some progress in your life spiritually, if you're not praying and fasting, it won't happen. Guaranteed. Some things don't happen except by prayer and fasting.

That's what your Lord and Savior said in the Bible. He said some things don't happen except through prayer and fasting. So if you really want to make some progress, and you want to be an overcomer, and you want to put sin out of your life, consider the aspect of fasting. That's the fourth part of that spiritual quadrathalon. And that is principle number four, that exercise.

If, again, if people physically can go out and get on a program and lose tons of weight, physical weight, and they weren't able to do it before, the only reason they could do it now is because they got on a program, and they focused, and they got rid of all the distractions out there. And spiritually, that's what we need to do. We need to learn to get rid of the distractions, the things that pull us away from God. Okay, now we have three more principles to cover, and I'm right on time.

It's looking good. Point number five. That is, eat only good, spiritually healthy food. You should be eating only good, spiritually healthy food. At the Biggest Loser Ranch, the contestants are taught to eat good, healthy, nutritious food. Oftentimes, they did not do that, or they wouldn't have gotten as big as they are. You know, they wouldn't have gotten 400 pounds if they're eating vegetables. You've got to eat a lot of vegetables to get 400 pounds. You've got to eat a lot of celery, trust me.

You're not going to be 400 pounds. So they were eating lots of other things that were not really healthy. They learned to eat healthier foods like lean meats, lots of veggies, good healthy carbs, not so many fats, not so much chocolate.

I don't know if they were eating any chocolate. I don't know if I'd hate to give up chocolate altogether. So there is some moderation here, people. But God does want us to learn to eat spiritually healthy food. The physical aspects aren't near as important. This isn't about physical weight. It's about losing the sinful weight and becoming spiritually lean and fit. So let's go to Philippians 4, where we find a very, very important passage of Scripture. A few verses here. And these verses are among my favorites, because I see the power in these verses. And Paul is the author of the book of Philippians.

He's addressing the firstfruits at Philippi, just as I'm addressing the firstfruits in Oklahoma City right now, at this stage of the game. And he's giving some advice here, and he's saying, finally, brethren, he's concluding things, and this is important. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, he's saying if there's truth in it, think about it. Think about it. Dwell on it. Dwell on the truth. What is true? What is reality? What is the truth? You know, God's Word is truth, so we need to think on God's Word and His truth.

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble. You know, God is noble. Christ is—they're noble. They're nobility. They're royalty. They are the supreme sovereigns. You know, they are the ones that we look to. They are noble, and whatever is noble, whether it's someone humanly that does a noble act, we should think about that or God Himself. Whatever things are just, if it's right and just, we should consider that and think about it.

Whatever things are pure. All of us want to have pure hearts, don't we? We want to clean up our hearts and our minds. Well, if you want to have a pure heart, you have to think about pure things.

If your mind's on things that are impure, how are you ever going to have a pure heart?

Think on whatsoever things are of good report. Don't think about slandering people or accusing people. Think of those things that are of good report. If there's any virtue, anything virtuous at all—we're called to live a virtuous life—if there's any virtue and if there's anything that is praiseworthy, then meditate on these things. That's where God wants you to put your mind and your heart on those kinds of things—those things that are true and noble and just and pure. Things that are lovely—I think I skipped over that—things that are lovely, that are beautiful. God wants us to think on these things. Verse 9, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. Paul's saying, look, I'll be your coach. Follow me as I follow Christ. And the God of peace will be with you. God will bless you. He'll be with you. He will give you peace. So eat only good, spiritually healthy food. Now, you may want to remember an acronym, GSI-GSO. You ever heard of that? Probably not, because I think I made it up. GSI and GSO. It's good stuff in, good stuff out. You know, if you put good stuff in, you're going to get the good stuff to come out. If you put the bad stuff in, if you put the BS in, there's a lesson in that. BSI, then BSO. Bad stuff in, bad stuff out. So keep that stuff out, put the good stuff in.

Meditate on the things that are right and good, the things that will strengthen you, spiritually, that will help your faith build. Think on those things. One of the contestants, Holly, said, I can do anything that I put my mind to. She was beginning to realize that she could lose weight. She was dropping 10 pounds a week, something she had never done before. Well, I don't know. I'm ad-living here. Maybe she did once upon a time. I'm not sure. I need to be careful. I'm not misleading here. But she wasn't losing weight like she was now, because now she's on a program at the Biggest Loser Ranch. She said, I can do anything that I put my mind to. And there's some truth in that, especially if it's putting your mind to something that's right and good. Remember, Paul said, about Christ, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Christ who gives me the strength and the power to do that which is right and good.

Now, again, these are physical things, but we have spiritual health. We have Christ living in us. We have the Spirit of God, which is not a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. Jennifer said, I know there's been a change on the outside. She had dropped a lot of weight. You know, you could look in a mirror. You could see she could see that she was changing, but she said, I know there's change on the outside, but there's been even more change on the inside. And that's what we're talking about, changing the inside, changing our hearts, changing our minds. She learned to think differently about the things that she ate and exercise. Some of you hate the thought of exercise. You hate the thought of even walking down to the end of the road. Maybe you need to change your mentality a little bit and realize it's healthy for you. Because if you're not doing any kind of exercise, your body's paying a price for it. Just do what you're able to do. You know, that's all. Just do what you're able to do and push yourself just a little more the next day. And then you'll get stronger. And don't make excuses for yourself, because it's easy to make excuses. But excuses really don't cut it. You know, God does want to see some results. You know, we can't make excuses our whole life. Otherwise, we pay a price for it. It doesn't mean we won't be in God's kingdom.

But there are certain things that we can do that will help us grow spiritually. If you really want to grow, the Bible says we'll be rewarded according to our works. So the greater reward, if we learn to bring our bodies into subjection and learn to do the things that are good for us.

So, good stuff in, good stuff out. Meditate on these things. The fifth step in the process of conversion or in putting sin out and keeping it out is to eat only good, spiritually healthy food. Eat the things that are good. The Bible is good. You can eat all this. You can eat this all day long. It's good for you. You can read it. You can bring it into your heart and into your mind. It's healthy. But the Bible will show you how to live. It will tell you the difference between right and wrong. It will help you choose the right. So read the Bible and stop making excuses for not doing it. So the fifth step in the process of conversion and in putting sin out of your life and keeping it out is to eat only good, spiritually healthy food. Okay, now that brings us to the flip side of point number five. Point number six is to avoid all bad weight-ganging thoughts. The first one is very proactive. It's only think only on the good things. The sixth point is to avoid all the bad stuff because it's out there. Now, you have to train your mind on the good things, but the bad things are going to be coming toward you. And Satan will try to bombard you with bad things. So you have to avoid the bad weight-gaining thoughts and actions. And I'm talking about spiritual weight-gaining, simple thoughts and actions that are unhealthy spiritually. So another acronym, G.I.G.O., you've probably heard it before. This is garbage in, garbage out. You know, if you let the garbage in, that's pretty much the same as bad stuff in, bad stuff out. Garbage in, garbage out. If you're taking garbage in, that's what's going to come out in the way you live your life and your character. You're not going to develop character that way. You're going to tear character down. Character is built by knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing the right. That's basically what character is, knowing the difference and choosing to do what's right. So you're not going to find all the candy bars, the chocolates, the cakes, the pies, the cookies, the cinnamon rolls, the greasy foods, the french fries, the french fries. You know, you're not going to find all that stuff on the Biggest Loser Ranch. You're going to find some lettuce there, some salads, some vegetables. We do need to learn to deny ourselves to a degree. You know, we don't have to be ascetics. Those were people in ancient times and they're around today, monks and other people, that go to extremes. You know, they go to extremes. We don't have to do that, but we do have to practice some moderation and we have to do what's healthy for us. In order, again, to avoid sin, you must really learn to hate sin.

You have to hate it. How else are you going to avoid it if you don't hate it? If you haven't learned to hate it, then you're going to cozy up to it. You've got to learn to see clearly the devastating damage that it is doing to your own personal life and those you love most in life. It's not just hurting you, it's hurting your family. You know, if you are not walking with God, it's hurting your family. So husbands and fathers need to take the lead role and be sure that they are walking with God. Doing that which is right and pleasing to God, setting a good example for the family.

If you love them, then you should learn to deny yourself and do what's right for the family. Let's go to Psalm 97 verse 10. Psalm 97 verse 10.

Now David wrote this Psalm in 97 here. Psalm 97 verse 10. David again was called a man after God's own heart. Not because he was perfect, but because he was repentant. And he was wholehearted in wanting to serve God and obey God and follow him. He loved God's law. He said, It's ever with me. It's my meditation all the day.

How love thy law. In Psalm 97 verse 10, David says, You who love the Lord, hate evil! If you love the Lord, if you claim to, then you have to hate evil because they're opposites. If you love God, then you have to learn to hate evil. He preserves the soul of his saints. So he's talking about the first fruits, the saints of God. You are to be a saint. You are a saint of God. If you have God's Spirit dwelling in you, you are one of the first fruits. You are a saint.

Don't let that go to your head, because when you're not careful, remember, take heed lest you fall.

Pride comes before a fall. It's not because of anything you've done. It's because of God's calling and Christ living in you and working in you. God gets the glory. We don't get the glory for that because it's God doing the works. So he preserves the soul of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Again, God will deliver us out of the hands of the wicked. We don't have to fear those who can destroy our physical bodies, but we do need to respect and have a proper godly fear of God who could cast us in the lake of fire if we choose to disobey him and not surrender ourselves to him. Light is sown for the righteous, it says in verse 11, Christ is the light of the world, and light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright and heart. So rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holy name.

Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous. That's where we should get our joys and obeying and following God. In Amos chapter 5 verse 15, the prophet Amos tells us to hate evil and to love good.

Amos chapter 5 verse 15, hate evil, love good, establish justice in the gate. You know, the elders were to be at the gate of the city. They were to set the example. They were to make the decisions that would be good for the city. We need to establish justice in the gate. We need to establish justice in our homes. As head of the household, we men need to establish justice in the gate of our homes. We need to be right and just and set a good example for the family.

Second Corinthians 10 verse 5, this is a very, very powerful and important scripture. As we approach the Passover, we need to think about this scripture. We need to dwell on it, meditate on it, consider it. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5.

Actually, I'd like to go up to verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, okay, we're all flesh, right? You can do the pinprick. You'll bleed. It'll hurt. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. We're talking about spiritual warfare. We don't war in the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly. They're not carnal, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Okay, we're talking about faith in God. You know, that's powerful. Trusting in God, believing in Him, and then stepping out in faith, doing what is right, making the right choices, obeying God. These are the things that are powerful. That are powerful. They are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Prayer is mighty. When you pray, you get spiritual strength. When you study the Bible, you get spiritual strength. When you meditate, you get spiritual strength. And when you fast, you're given spiritual strength.

These things are mighty in pulling down strongholds. Now, what is a stronghold? Has Satan ever had a stronghold in your life?

Satan is the God of this world, and he's the one that sets up strongholds. And he wants to bring you into subjection. He wants to imprison you. He wants to take you into bondage.

So pornography is a stronghold, for example. Those who are addicted to pornography, there's a stronghold there. They're addicted to it. Alcoholism, that's a stronghold.

Any kind of addiction, whatever it is, gambling, could be an addiction.

These are strongholds that are set up in people's lives, and you have to war against those addictions. You have to war against. They could be a mental state of just discouragement and depression. You know, God isn't that way. God is a God of joy. God is a God of love. Those are the things that we have to think about and dwell upon. So we have to pull down these strongholds. You know, pornography, billions of dollars, multiple billions and billions of dollars are spent every year on pornography, and now you can get it on your phone. You can go on the Internet, a personal device, and you can have it right there at all times, and people do it. And they become consumed with this.

And if you put that garbage in, you're going to get garbage out.

So pornography is a stronghold, and if you are caught in that stronghold, you have to fight back.

You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, but if you're not calling upon Christ to give you strength, you're not going to get it. You have to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, or you will continue to be enslaved to Satan the devil, and He will continue to have these strongholds in your lives. You have to fight back with power, and power comes from God, and it comes through the Spirit of God. And that's the only way you'll ever overcome these things. But you have to admit them and take them seriously, and you have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go to Romans... well, listen, we didn't read all this. Casting down arguments, it says in verse 5. Casting down arguments in every high thing that exhausts itself against the knowledge of God. Satan is a high thing that exhausts himself against the knowledge of God, and pride is a high thing that exhausts itself against the knowledge of God. But bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. So you have to actively imprison these evil thoughts.

Now, if Satan puts a thought in there to look at pornography, you have to grab that thought, you have to imprison that thought, and you have to cast it off, or you have to cast it into outer darkness. You have to get rid of it. If you dwell on it, then you're going to end up there.

Because the flesh is weak, and those things are powerful strongholds. You can't win without God's help and without the Spirit of God working in you. So put on the Lord Jesus Christ as you do this. Bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ. That's every single thought that comes into your mind. If it's not godly, then you need to reject it. You have to bring every thought into captivity. You have to imprison it, and you have to learn to restrain yourself, and deny yourself. And don't make excuses, because God has the strength and God has the power. And you have to call upon God to get that strength and that power. Now let's go to Romans 13, verse 14. Romans chapter 13, verse 14.

Romans 13, verse 14, where it says that we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what we need to put on. We know that we need to put leaven out, right?

But are we not to eat unleavened bread during the days of unleavened bread? Are we not to eat the manna that comes from heaven? Jesus Christ is that manna that comes from heaven. We need to eat Jesus Christ in that sense. You know, Christ said, you're going to have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And that offended many of those who were following Christ at the time. They were not true followers because the true followers understood. There weren't many, though, were there? 120 on the day of Pentecost after he had spoken to thousands upon thousands upon thousands and healed people left and right. And yet very few became true followers.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. Let's go up and read verse 11, and then we'll get back to verse 14. And do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Now is not the time to sleep. Church isn't the time to sleep. Now is not a good time to sleep. You have to put a prod on yourself. Hey, it's tough having church at four o'clock in the afternoon. Three o'clock. Now is not the optimum time. Trust me. It's not for me either. Look, I've been up since about four o'clock this morning and I've driven 100 plus miles.

And you know, it's not all that easy either on my part. I didn't have the chance to take a nap today. I did get to go back to sleep. I was up at 330 or 230, I think it was. And I did get a little bit more of a nap. But I get tired too. We all do. But we have to put a prod on ourselves not to sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than we first believed. This is what Paul said.

And look, this is 2,000 years later. I mean, we're much closer now, much, much closer now than Paul, than at the time of Paul. He didn't understand it was going to take him 2,000 years. He said, the night is far spent. The day is at hand. And for them it was. You know, Paul was imprisoned. You know, Paul ended up being martyred himself. The day was near at hand for Paul. We don't know when our day is coming. It could happen tonight. We just don't know. So this is true for all of us, no matter what age we're living in. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness. Satan is the prince of darkness. Let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Ephesians 6 talks about the armor of God. There are many weapons that we can use to help us in defense against Satan the devil. So let us walk properly, verse 13, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness. Now, we're talking about some of those strongholds that I mentioned earlier. Revelry, partying, and drunkenness. Alcoholism, not in lewdness. Pornography, not in those types of things. Not in fornication or adultery. Christ said, if you look at a woman, if you've looked at a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery with her. That's what pornography is all about, isn't it? It's lusting. It's committing fornication or adultery. Not in strife and envy. That's another thing that gets a lot of people. They strive with one another. They don't have the peace with one another that they need to have.

It hurts them. It hurts their relationships. And envy is another thing in jealousy. We have envy toward one another. In verse 14, again, these are all strongholds. Envy could be a stronghold. If you're an envious person, if you're a covetous person, if you're a jealous person, these are all strongholds. I've known some people that were very jealous. It hurt their marriage. It was a stronghold that Satan had set up, and they allowed it to continue. And it hurt their marriage and in some cases even destroyed their marriage. Verse 14, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. So we're to put on Christ. We're to eat that unleavened bread daily. We're to put Christ into our lives so we will not fulfill these things. We won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. If we put Christ into our lives, we will make no provision for the flesh. So you have to, if you bring every thought into captivity, there's no provision for the flesh in that. If you take those thoughts captive and you reject the impure, the evil, the wrong, and you only accept the good in, then you'll be in very good shape spiritually. So we're not to make provision for the flesh. We're not to provide for the flesh. Again, pornography provides for the flesh, doesn't it? You start looking at it, you want to look at it more. You know, it's the way it goes. So you don't want to look at it in the first place. You want to overcome that. Are you still working hard these days? Are you eating right spiritually since we first started the series on becoming a big loser? Are you eating right spiritually? Are you putting negative selfish thoughts on healthy junk food entertainment? A lot of junk food entertainment out there. I mean, there are comics out there that make a living on vulgarity, you know, making people laugh about vulgar things, ungodly things. You know, I was, I used to like Robin Williams in Mork and Mindy. Then I heard him once in some stand-up comedy thing, and he was really vulgar and crass. And you know, that isn't what God wants us to, He doesn't want us to fill our minds with that kind of stuff. You know, He wants us to, if there's a good comic out there that's good, clean, fun, I like a good laugh as much as anyone, but there aren't too many that are worth listening to. We have to make choices in our lives. Are you eating spiritual weight-gaining food? In other words, sinful foods. Again, you need to reject that stuff. Put it out. Don't meditate on spiritually harmful things. Keep your thoughts out of the gutter, out of the cesspool of life. You know, Satan wants you to wallow down in the cesspool, in the gutter. One of the contestants said, I lost more than weight. They were looking back, they'd lost a lot of weight. I also lost emotional and mental baggage. The thinking was wrong.

They had to change their thinking. They had to think more positively and have pure thoughts. So the sixth step on the road to eternal life and to becoming a big loser is to avoid and to resist. Again, that's a part of exercising. When we resist things, we build muscle. So we're to resist all bad, sinful thoughts and actions. So the fifth point was to seek that which is good, to think on those things that are good. The sixth point was to actively reject that which is bad. Now let's go on to the last point. And that is, the seventh principle is to draw strength from your spiritual family. Now this goes hand in hand with the very first point. Draw strength from your spiritual family. Benefit from friends of like mind. You know, we're here today because we have like minds in many respects. You know, we believe in the Sabbath, for example. We don't believe that Sunday is the day of worship. We believe that's the day of the sun. That's when the pagans would worship the sun. That's why they call it Sunday.

The sun was the biggest idol of all. You know, the people, especially if they lived in northern climates, where it was, or in climates where it was cold, at South climate too, the South Pole, North Pole, depends on where you're living. But if you're freezing to death, you know, it's real easy to want to go pray to the sun and say, come on back, sun. We need some warmth here. And that was those were pagan thoughts. They worshiped the creation rather than the Creator.

So that's where Sunday worship came from. It's pagan. It's ungodly. You know, we're to worship 24-7. We know that. But God sanctified the seventh day, not the first day of the week. He sanctified and set it apart, and only God can make it holy. The Catholic Church can't.

No man can. Only God can make a day holy. That's why we observe the Sabbath. The contestants on the Biggest Loser grow close to the other contestants, even those on opposite teams, knowing that they all have something that goes beyond the team that they're on, they have many things in common. They're trying to lose physical weight. They've all seen how much suffering this kind of physical weight can cause. And so they have a camaraderie. It's built in. It's always there. It was there from the beginning. Not only do they grow close to each other, but also to their trainers, as they all have the common goal of helping these people lose weight. Now, in Mark chapter 10, let's go to Mark chapter 10, and Peter began to say to Christ, in Mark chapter 10, verse 28, Peter began to say to him, see, we have left all and we have followed you. We've left everything. We've left it all. So Jesus answered and said, assuredly I say to you, I'm in Mark 10, verse 28, assuredly I say to you, there is no one who's left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel's sake, the gospel of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time. So there will be blessings for making the right choices. There have been great blessings for anyone who makes the right choice to obey God and get on that narrow path that leads to eternal life. There will be blessings a hundredfold in this life, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions. No, he adds that, yeah, you're going to have a lot of blessings. You're going to have people who care for you and love you, people in this room that hopefully would lay their lives down for you, a shepherd that would lay his life down for you and one another that we would lay it down for each other. But there will be persecutions along the way. It isn't a rose garden. It's not just it is thorns along with the roses, you know, that it happens. And in the age to come, the gift will be eternal life. It will be salvation in our Savior Jesus Christ. It will be eternal life. So, brethren, we come together with others of like mind, each Sabbath. There shouldn't be a Sabbath that goes by that you're not fellowshiping together unless you're ill or have a family emergency or something important. This is a commanded assembly. It's something that you should do. This is where you need to be. And sorry, it has to be this late in the day, but sleep all morning if you need to and come here refreshed. Take a nap before you come.

So, we come together with others of like mind. We have camaraderie. We support one another. We encourage one another because we're all in training. We're all on a training program together. We're at the big ranch. This is God's spiritual ranch. We're supposed to lose sinful weight that pulls us down here. We help each other. We encourage each other. And just like those on the Biggest Loser Ranch, most of us would never have known each other if it had not been for God's calling and our common goal. No, we just wouldn't have. We come from all different walks of life. You know, when I look around, I see people from various different walks of life. Chances are, you know, we wouldn't be together if it weren't for God's calling. That's why we're together today. That's why we're here. God called us together. Now, we all have a common goal, but we need to be careful. And there's a principle in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, that we need to consider now.

2 Corinthians 6, 14. Again, we're talking about a spiritual family. Having a spiritual family drawing close to each other. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14 says that we should not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. You know, if someone doesn't believe in the truth of God, we should not yoke ourselves to them. You know, whether it be husband and wife, we shouldn't make those commitments if we haven't already made those commitments. Some of you are in relationships. You know, you have married someone, and actually the Bible commands those who are faithful in those kinds of relationships. You know, if you are married to someone who is not faithful in terms of not a believer, the Bible talks about winning them through your love and through your example and your compassion. They may never come into God's church, but they will see God in you. That's a very important relationship. It says, you know, we need to learn to be pleased to dwell with someone who is pleased to dwell with us. If your mate is pleased to dwell with you, and if they're trying to meet you part way, at least, and they're trying to make changes in their lives, and they're trying to please you, then we need to turn ourselves over to God's love and treat these people right. You know, treat them properly as God would have us to do. But if we're not already involved, then certainly don't become unequally yoked together with someone who doesn't believe in the truth of God, in the commandments of God, because it will cause problems in a relationship. If anyone has any questions about that, please talk to me about it. But it is a very important principle. Do not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. So the seventh step in the process of conversion and in losing weight is to continually draw strength from your spiritual family and be loyal to your spiritual family. You know, God wants you to learn loyalty to one another. Now, and by the way, I believe there are other converted people not in the United Church of God. I believe that, you know, we know that. There are other associations, other groups out there.

So I think we should certainly love those who have light mind. You know, if they believe the same way we do, you know, we would wish they would all come to United, of course, because we are the United Church of God, and that's what we encourage. We want people to be united. Now, we started in 1995 when the Worldwide Church of God was no longer God's true church. You know, they had given up the commandments of God. I could no longer be a minister and teach the truth. I got suspended. I got disfellowshipped finally, and I got suspended because I kept the Sabbath. And I, you know, I said it was a sin to work on the Sabbath. So I got suspended from speaking. So that's when we needed to pull out of the Worldwide Church of God when it got to that point.

And there were hundreds of ministers who realized that and thousands of brethren who realized it at that time. Now, some of you have taken a different route. I understand that. You know, you don't have to. United Church of God is not the only true church. There's other people out there and other associations. God loves them. They're firstfruits. They're going to be in God's Kingdom.

We would welcome any of them to come here. This is a good family. It's a good home. You know, we would love for more and more people to fellowship with us because we'll have more power to preach the gospel. And the United Church of God is committed to preaching the gospel. And we need warriors. We need people working together to make this happen. So, it's not that we... I mean, I love all the people who left us in the latest split, and there's been many splits over the years. I would love to see all of them come back. And, you know, if they had a right heart and a right attitude, if they wanted to come back, chances are they probably, you know, had a bit of a lot of soul-searching. And, you know, we should be welcome to have them back.

So, again, the seventh step is draw strength from your spiritual family and learn to be loyal to your spiritual family. So, in closing, let's go back to Hebrews 12. We've covered seven principles, seven points. I'm not going to go through all of them now. I spent four sermons doing that. If you missed some of these sermons, you can go back and listen to them. They're all online.

They're on our website. Or you can talk to Mr. Irons, and I'm sure you'll get a CD or whatever for you. In closing, let's go back to Hebrews 12. And let's read verses 1 and 2 again. And these few verses, you might say, was the theme for this series of sermons. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Now, who is the cloud of witnesses that they're talking about here? This is chapter 12. I mean, obviously, they're referring back to chapter 11, where it goes through the faith of Abel and Enoch and Joseph and Samuel and David. And it talks about the faith of Jephthah and even Rahab, the harlot. And Samson, who wasn't exactly always a godly character either. But evidently, these people repented of their sins because they are in Hebrews 11. And it says, by faith they overcame. This is the cloud of witnesses that we're talking about. Therefore, we also, speaking Paul, speaking to the church that was scattered at this time. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. Let's remember the examples that have gone before us of these men and women of faith. Sarah was mentioned there, Rahab, another woman. There were a number of women, there were a number of men who are mentioned. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. If you don't think sin easily ensnares you, you don't understand yourself.

Sin is there. We have to battle sin. Christ showed us on the Sermon on the Mount that our thoughts, envy and jealousy and lust, this is sin. You have to repent of that gossip. Those are things that you have to repent of. It's sin that ensnares us. Let us therefore run with endurance the race that is set before us. We're all in a race. It's a marathon. We're running, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. What joy was it? It was the joy of the Kingdom of God. It was the joy of seeing you and me change to spirit. That was the joy that Christ saw. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, being crucified, despising the shame and had sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Christ is the living High Priest who's at the throne of God. He makes intercession for us when we sin. If we are repentant, He goes before God. He intercedes on our behalf. Our sins are forgiven through our Savior, Jesus Christ. So, brethren, it's important that we realize that we have a cloud of witnesses around us. And there's a parallel, even on the Biggest Loser, because it's interesting that when the 15 contestants enter the gate of the Biggest Loser Ranch for the very first time, they walk down a street that has walls. And covering the walls that line the street on both sides are banners with the names and the total weight loss of all the Biggest Losers that have come before them for years. This program has been going on, and people have been losing tremendous amounts of weight. And those past contestants stand as light and inspiration that the goal before these new people, these new contestants, it is attainable. They really can lose the weight. They can put it off. Those banners represent their lives. They represent their examples. They represent the toil that they went through. The stories of their battles, their struggles, their setbacks, and their ultimate success would come into the minds of the present contestants as they would walk down that road. And they would look at that wall of greats, that great cloud of witnesses that went before them. You can sense their admiration and their excitement as they realize that they have the same opportunity to accomplish great changes in their lives. Looking at the people that have become their heroes as they vicariously watch them on TV, lose pound after pound, hundreds of pounds, thousands of pounds, tons of weight over the years.

They were inspired to walk forward and start their journey laying aside the weight that ensnared them and running with endurance to accomplish their goal. So the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12 is referring to our Christian wall of greats, those people that are listed there. And you can go read verses 33 through 40 because it shows what they went through. Some of them wandering in caves, hiding because people were out to kill them. People were out to persecute them to kill them. They were in dens and caves of the earth. It says in verse 39, and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, they didn't receive the promise. And why was it? Why did they not receive the promise then? Notice verse 40, God having provided something better for us, those that Paul was addressing then, and those through the last 2000 years that God has called and God has chosen and have remained faithful and died in the faith, and are alive now in the faith. He's saying that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

He's talking about you and me. God's plan is not yet complete. God is still calling people. That's why we need to get the gospel out because God is still calling some. And we need to go to the uttermost parts of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ and God's kingdom.

So they are not made perfect apart from us. We're all going to come up in the first resurrection together. Abel and Enoch and Joseph. What a wonderful example Joseph set. We're all going to come up together. No, Joseph would not have looked at pornography, would he? Joseph fled Potiphar's wife. That's the strength that Joseph had, and she was after him big time.

This is the kind of strength that we can have if we allow Christ to live in us. Now, the ups and downs of the lives of those revealed in the Bible and their eventual victory through Christ should inspire us to shed our sinful weight so that we can run with endurance the race that is set before us. The goal is ultimately becoming like the glorified Christ at His resurrection. That is our goal, to become like Christ. And it is He who we must fix our eyes on as we focus on Him in order to arrive at the finish line. He is our Savior. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. We can all become big winners in the first resurrection.

We will be the first fruits of God. Brethren, as we approach the Passover season, let us be extremely grateful to God and to Christ for our calling and for this wonderful plan of salvation for us and for all mankind. We know fully that we are indeed saved by grace, not by our own efforts, not by our law-keeping. We know that. It is not because we keep the Sabbath that will be saved, but we'll be saved because we keep every word of God. And we live by every word of God, and that is our goal. And we have repentant hearts and minds. Christ is our Passover. He is our perfect sacrifice. He is the Passover Lamb that enables us to escape death. Just as they escaped death back in ancient Israel when the blood of the Lamb was on the lintels in the doorpost, we too are coming out of sin, and we're coming out of slavery, and we're coming out of brutal bondage to Satan the Devil. It's brutal. We need to come out of it. We need to hate it and come out of it. Let us continue to examine ourselves. Let us continue to repent of our sins and let us put sin out of our lives and let us all be big losers when it comes to losing the sin that so easily besets us.