Body Building

Well, I'm going to be following what Rob said about the church. I did not know what you were speaking on, unless you stole my notes three weeks ago. When I put this together, you wouldn't know either. But the title of my sermon today is Bodybuilding. Bodybuilding. Have you ever had a desire to be a bodybuilder? I know some of our younger guys and in my younger days thought, but it just never worked out for me. And looking at some of you, it didn't work out for you either. Only take that personally if you've got a chip on your shoulder about not being as in shape as you need to be. But when we think about bodybuilding, the names that come to mind are Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think he was seven times Mr. Olympia. Lou Ferrigno, who was the hawk, who was Mr. Olympia once or twice. Lee Haney, eight times Mr. Olympia. And also a woman like Rachel McGlitch, who was the first woman to become Olympia. Bodybuilding is a different way of life. Bodybuilding requires discipline. Hours of workouts, strict dieting. It has to be your passion for you to spend hours in a sweaty old gym, lifting and lifting, weight after weight. And as some have called it, it's a type of religion for those who are involved. In South Florida, we have Gold's Gym. We have LA Fitness around the corner from us. We have YouFit. I saw you have a Gold's Gym here. There used to be the Mac. Is still the Mac still around? Murfreesboro Athletic? It is? Okay, somebody obviously knows. The rest of you don't even know, so I guess you're not even thinking about working out. So I understand that. But there used to be the Mac, and I guess there's various places that everyone can go and work out. Well, I'm not here to talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger or Luther Rigno, but because there's another type of bodybuilding taking place in South Florida, but also in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. And it's taking place in this building. This very building. Every week. And we are supposed to, as Bob said today, we are to be building up the body of Christ. And he covered that well, that there's different parts of the body, and they all work together for a purpose.

Like you turn to Romans 12, most of you know that very well. It says, I beseech you, brethren, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. In chapter 12, verse 1 and 2, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. Everyone knows that. As Paul is laying out to the Roman church, churches, as Rob was right, there are many churches that are actually thought to be 12 to 15. Different churches scattered out through Rome at the time, after writing. But he says in chapter 12, verse 5, and I'll read from the New King James Version.

So we being many are one body, one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. So there is a reason we come together, as was said in the sermonette. But we must understand that and decide that we want to be a part of the building of the body in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Ephesians 4 and verse 12. Let's go there. Ephesians 4 and verse 12. Anybody wants to study about what this church is about, what God wants it to be. Ephesians is a wonderful letter to all of us, telling us what God wants from us, what He requires of us.

And then basically ask the question, are we going to do it? Will we do it? Do we care enough about it? This way of life.

And in verse 11, he actually goes through and talks about chapter 4 Ephesians. He talks about there's different structures in the church. You have evangelists, you have pastors, and you have teachers. For one reason, as he says in verse 12, for the equipping of the saints, for the edifying, or, as you might want to say, the empowering of the body of Christ. That's why we have teachers in the church. That's why we have pastors in the church, or shepherds in the church. It's our job, my job as a pastor, to spend my time, my focus, my thoughts. Every day, there's really no day off, as Mary has found out. And you're always on call. But like most pastors, you want to take your church from this level to this level. You want to take the people so they are no longer babes in Christ. You want to teach the people to be teachers.

You must, we must be able to see the big picture. And we haven't been called to be part of the vertical priesthood. We've been called to be part of the Melchizedek priesthood. The one where Christ, kings and priests, will rule in His kingdom. Every one of us have that calling. It's a big calling. And hopefully, you will understand that you play a big part in your own training. But you also come here to be trained.

You read to be trained. You are training to be teachers. And I am teaching teachers. That's it. It's pretty simple, because you will teach this way of life one day, and it is a way. But like well-conditioned athletes in college, and also in prose, as we find out now, you are recruited and called to the body of Christ to perform. Perform. Not just come in, think I'll sit here. Oh, teach me! Good enough. We have teachers in this room. Those who have taught, those who will continue to teach.

The last thing you want is a student that just goes, okay, I didn't really learn anything. I just sat and listened. That's not why you're here. Because after the calling, you are chosen to be a part of the body of Christ. Let's go to John, in this wonderful message that Christ was giving one day. He wanted to make sure that they got the message, and so also that we would get the message here 1900-something years later. Because in John 6, in verse 44, he says, No one comes to me, unless the Father who sent me... Does what? Draws Him. Draws Him. Calls Him. And as he says in verse 65, a little bit later, he said, And He said, Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it has been granted to him by your recruiter, your Father.

Yes, he recruited you for a purpose. But the Father draws them, invites them, calls them, and Christ, by the Holy Spirit, you are fed, you are led, you are guided. By the Holy Spirit, hopefully you have a passion, a passion for God's Word and His way of life. There is a Holy Day today in the state of Alabama, because in the state of Alabama, football is a religion, and Saturday is their Holy Day, because they get to play football.

And today, Alabama plays all. Did everybody know that? See, you're not from Alabama. Alabama, they mark it down. You can't help. I just spent four days there. And that's all anybody wanted to talk about. Okay? And what's going to happen at 239 today, the kickoff, and how it's going to impact the rest of their lives?

My kiddies, I did. Yes. That's it. That's it. It's a passion. It's a way of life. And there is no middle ground. You're either Alabama or you're Auburn. And Alabama people wouldn't say it with the Auburn people. With us, do we have that passion about God's truth? Paul talks about in Ephesians having a walk worthy of your calling. How do you measure up? I measured myself up a few times and didn't like it.

Did I have a walk worthy of this calling? Because the calling is what? A privilege. It's a privilege. God Himself called you. Unless Christ is lying, then it doesn't matter anyway. He's not the Messiah. But with privilege usually comes what? Responsibility. Responsibility. Being a part of the body of Christ is special. It is precious to God. Whether it is to you or not, only you can decide that. But as Romans 8 verse 30 lays it out so well. Predestined and called. Called. Called by God. Called to the opportunity. To what? To be a part of His family. To be a part of the body.

And then from called to justification. Justified. We can only be justified by Jesus Christ. And then, that's our part. And then, glorified. As He says at the end. That's God's part. Chlorification is a gift. Eternal life is a gift. A gift that He gives. So what about this body here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee? I'd like to go today to another time, a little over 1,900 years ago, and another place to observe and to learn about the body of Christ. From this incredible lesson of only 11 verses. But it teaches us so much about them, God, and us, and what's required.

Have you thought about being that body? Murfreesboro's grown a lot. Over the years, I've seen it. It's grown even more since I've been gone. Maybe that's a sign. Just like this place is not even full. Well, if they knew I was coming. Leon's sick. Neville and Sick. They both know me. They want to make sure. And get sicker. They're going to listen to me. But just think about it. This body is here now. Got to start in the summer of 1978.

In a theater on the other side of town. With a group of people, about 75, if I remember right. Maybe 80 people. That went to this movie theater every afternoon at 2.30 in the afternoon. And the chairs actually rocked. And they were comfortable. But there was cold floors, if I remember the ladies all talking about that. Who was here then? 1978. When that started? 1, 2, 3, 4. Mark was. You weren't even thought about, Jacob. Ah, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8. 8 people. A lot have left. Some have passed on. But, you know, it's interesting because Darris McNeely was the first pastor of the church here in Murfreesboro.

And after him was who? Jim Fritter. That's right. After Jim, well, with Jim Fritter, there came Jim Lichtenstein, who actually oversaw some of this here. And Dr. Kessler, who was here, who lived in Murfreesboro. Then we had Paul Kurtz. We had Fred Kellers. Fred Kellers for decades. Right? And then you had, I want to say Robin Weber, but he's probably the farthest thing from Robin Weber. I know. And then you got back Fred Kellers, and now you have Gary Pitt. Ministers come and go. Forget who? Oh, I forgot about Dave. Yeah. All right, are you sending this out to Dave?

But ministers come and go. Teachers come and go. But it's the body. It's the body that counts. It's what matters. I'd like you to go back with me now to the book of Acts. I'll be reading from the New Living Translation as we cover those 11 verses that I think are so important. They stand out to me as we hopefully can touch base on a few things. Boy, I love your lecture. It is so big. Mine is just so small, and you can barely get a Bible on it. But, Marfreesboro's, you know, got money and Fort Lauderdale doesn't, I guess. That's where we stand. And I guess Gary Petty's here. Was this here before? Yeah. I get no respect.

Yes, I could. Yes. I've got a guy in construction, and I think I'm going to bring him back some measurements. Here we find in the book of Acts the story of the body of Christ, the history of the church. You find in chapter 2, we all know what, about Pentecost. And now 120 followers of the thousands and thousands who followed Jesus Christ for His three and a half year ministry, it ended up with 120 on that day. But you find at the end of that day, 3,000 more people were asked. 3,120 people. Pretty good start for church, wouldn't you say?

And as you go on from chapter 3 to chapter 4, you find in chapter 4 that another 5,000, another 5,000 men were added to the church. Over 8,000 people in the church!

And you find that Satan decided to use a Sanhedrin to try to stop this growth! He got to stop it! And he tried to persecute the leaders, arrest them, threaten them. Didn't work. Didn't work. The church just kept brewing.

They were being fed by the ministry. The ministry was on fire. Fired up! As you can imagine, this growth. Didn't know what to do with them. So many people.

So Satan found that, well, guess what? I can't take the leaders. Let me go after the body. Let me go after the sheep.

Let's see if I can cause problems.

Because he despises his church.

It's our future in his end. That's how he looks at it.

And so he decided to go after the church.

And so at the end of chapter 4, we come to verse 36, chapter 4 in Acts. And as I say, I'll be reading from the New Living Translation.

And he said, for instance, there was Joseph, one of the apostles, nicknamed, what? Barnabas. Which means son of encouragement.

He was from the tribe of Levi. He was a Levite coming into the church. That was news. A Levite coming into the church? Yes. Not only was he a Levite, he was from the island of Cyprus. And it said he sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles. Or as your Bible knew, King James says he laid it at the feet of Peter.

So being Levites couldn't own land in Israel. Obviously, he sold a piece of land in Cyprus.

And he brought the money and said, here, for the church.

And can you imagine all the people going, Wow! A Levite? And he has money and he's giving it away. Because that's not what Levites and the Pharisees and the Sadducees did.

And his name, they nicknamed him because he's Joseph, but they named him Demodimus. Because he was not only a giver, he was a giver of encouragement. Who said, here, you can do this.

You're not limited.

Perhaps the first motivational speaker in the church. And it made an impact.

And Satan then goes, Now, it's my time.

So we come to chapter 5. In the next 11 verses, we will end. And most of you know the story of Ananias and Sufiber.

But have you ever thought about it as Ananias and Sufiber sitting on the front seat of this church?

And as Satan decides, well, I can't destroy the church by the ministry, I'll do it this way.

So let's read.

Chapter 5, verse 1. But there was a certain man named Ananias. Ananias. Ananias actually means blessed or cloud of the Lord. Blessed or cloud of the Lord. So it was an Amen. So, well, how does that? How is it cloud? Well, if you've been in high weather, you want to come down in July or August in Miami, you'll see that a cloud is a blessing.

And it was over there. You can also see if you hadn't had rain in quite a while, there's a cloud.

So Ananias' name actually meant blessed of the Lord or cloud of the Lord. It says, who with his wife, Sufiber? What do you think that word means? Anybody? Sufiber means special gem. Sapphire. She was named after the beautiful stone, Sapphire. It was a special gem. So here, these two people had names that were like, wow, we're glad they're sitting on the front row. Boy, we have a blessing, a beautiful jewel. Here.

And said they sold some of the property. And Ananias brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was a full amount. With his wife's consent, he kept the rest.

So he sold his lamb.

And he kept some of the money.

Why do you think he did that? Because actually, I think yours actually said, if you knew King James, that he brought it like Barnabas did and laid it at the disciples' feet. Boy, he was like, wait a minute, you see how everybody... Hey, Sufiber! Beautiful gem here. Hey, hey, babe. You see what happened last week? You see Barnabas? Oh, everybody made over Barnabas! Oh, look at that!

You know, we've been here a lot longer than him. He's been hanging outside with us. We've been here all along. How about showing low respect to Ananias and Sufiber?

Envy, the green-eyed monster, entered the game, didn't it?

Why else would they do this?

Why else would that come into play?

When you...

When you look at the New King James Version, actually the Greek... The New King James says, he kept some of it back. The actual Greek word, therefore, kept back, actually means to steal, to pilfer, to embezzle. Not a very good word. Oh, I'm just going to keep a little bit myself.

No, this is a powerful Greek word. He's a thief, as they might say.

In verse 3, Then Peter said, Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart?

Uh-oh, got up that morning, didn't have Ephesians 6 like we do. Did he? Ephesians 6, put on the armor of God. Why? So you can stand against the wiles of Satan, the strategies, the scheming of Satan. That's what it's about, because Satan was coming after him. So obviously, Ananias and Phyrra, they had land to sell. They were pretty well off.

But it wasn't enough.

They needed to be praised.

Why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not to sell, as you wish. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away, however you wanted it.

Hmm. How? Now, would you like these words from Peter? Because everybody here knows Peter, right? You know his personality? Do you think he goes, Oh, how could you do that? Do you think Peter did that? How could you do that? He didn't do anything halfway, did he? He had passion, he had zeal, and he's just like, Oh, what are you doing?

How? How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us, but to God. How do you think Ananias felt at that time when he first strutted up there with that money? You know? Can I come in in Peter's presence and knowing you were called out, can imagine it's worse than going to any principal's office, you know, where you know you're going to be in trouble? He knew it! He knew it! How you can see that in your heart, and the Satan filled your heart, which means what?

Satan got to him! When's the last time he got to you? He got to me a couple weeks ago. He'll probably get to me again, another week or two. When I leave the house and forget to put on my armor. Happens! Why? Satan never stops trying to destroy the church. Let's go down to verse 5. As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and... What?

Died! Everyone who heard was terrified. It's a great fear! Isn't that what you knew King James says? Fear? Can you imagine? Tim Hagan standing here, dropped over dead! Wouldn't you be like, Wow, he's just talking to Peter.

Tim must have really said something to tick Peter off. What happened? No! It wasn't like that. It was public! Everybody knew! They could see it happening! They saw what happened. Oh, he brought this money and everybody's like this, and then all of a sudden Peter calls him out! You're dead! Boom! Whoo! Would that not make everybody sit up and listen in church? Anybody sitting on the back seat? Oh, yeah, what happened? No! What was happening? God was building His church!

The body was being built! This was an example that was going to live for 1970-something years. It gets us, doesn't it? It's still with us today. What a powerful, powerful lesson! And then it said in verse 6, Then some young men got up from where? Where were they at? Were they at church? Well, 8,000 people of church, 10,000 people of church, and the people of church didn't really happen. We know from later on in verse 12 or 13, the same chapter that they met generally for services at the Solomon's colony. These big pillars that were set up, that's where everybody came for services.

But was this at the house where they met for Pentecost? Was this at Rhoda and John Mark's house? Mother's house? We don't know! We don't know! But somebody, they were in somewhere. That's all it says. Then some young men got up, wrapped him and Ananias in a sheet, and took him out and buried him. No funeral? No? Oh, wait a minute! Why don't we contact his relatives? No! Wrap him up in a sheet! Get him out! And go bury him. He said, this doesn't sound normal. Larry Parriman goes out here.

I think you'll give him a funeral. Right, Larry? You hope they do. Right? And they all were like, oh! You know, just carry him and go. Just wrap him up in a sheet and take him out and throw him in the back of the truck. Right? I mean, this sounds kind of strange. Well, wait a minute. What about like Christ was in the tomb? You know, and he was in a tomb that no one had been in.

So, wait a minute. What did you do? I don't understand this for the church. Well, I don't know if you don't realize that historically, just like the tomb of Jesus Christ was in, that was a family tomb. Okay? And one of the things that they did, and you can find this through history, I want to go back and tell you where you can go get it.

You can find it yourself, just like I did. When someone died, and they had respect to a little bit of money, they were actually put in there as they were wrapped up, and they were put with spices and all these things around their body. It was cleaned as they did Christ and so forth. And the body actually stayed in for one year, till it had basically dissolved into just bones. And at the one year mark, that was an anniversary, they actually went in and took a box. They have a special name for this box, this metal box. They found it over in Israel now. And here is bones in this actual box. And so they would take the box, then, and go bury it in the ground.

And as you see, you typically don't bury somebody very shallow because dogs or anything else will dig them up. That's why they have typical six-foot deep, right? Because that's the depth at which animals can't smell. Rotted flesh at that time, that's why it's six-foot deep. But there were a lot of places over there, very rocky and so forth, that they couldn't get that deep.

Okay, so then they made this. If you had money, then you didn't have to worry about a dog coming over there or animals coming up and digging up your bones.

So, you could actually, one year later, have your bones, then, taken out of this tomb and gone and take them out and buried. Remember Jesus Christ, a young man, said, Wait, I want to follow you! And he said, well, come along. He said, well, wait a minute, I have to bury my father. Remember where he said that? And he said, no, let the dead bury the dead. Exactly what he's talking about. The good guy's father was already dead, but he had not been buried in the ground yet. He was dead, and they were waiting for that year to come out. And so that was your typical. I mean, you see various people's death in the Bible, and you see it was a big deal. Well, there was also something called a dishonorable burial that they did over there at this time. And at the dishonorable burial, if you were a lowlife or you did something terrible, and you can look the dishonorable burial up, and basically they laid you in a sheet, covered you up, and took you out and buried you. No spices, no anything. You're just there. And a lot of times they didn't even put a marker, because it was called a dishonorable burial. No mourning, no anything. So this is what happened here, which was kind of odd for the church in one way. In verse 7, they said, about three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.

And Peter asked her, was this the price you and your husband received for your land? Yes. Yes. That was the price. She had no idea her husband was dead. She went out shopping, you know, I mean, commentaries might tell you it's about three hours. Most ladies like to shop. So she must have been out to mall shopping. So she came back, about three hours later, said, well, yes, that's the price.

And what did Peter say?

The liar, liar, pants on fire.

No, he didn't. And Peter said, how, how could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the spirit of the Lord like this?

You didn't think about that. You not only thought about it, you, it was premeditated. You thought about it, you were going, yes, yes, let's do this. Together. He said, how could you do that? Wasn't there a check?

Sometimes I say, Mary, what do you think about this? No, don't say that.

No, don't go there.

And it helps. Wouldn't it be nice if the fire would go, no, let's go ahead and give all the money.

All it took was a little bodybuilding in the family.

You think he would have gone, well, no, I'll go up in front of Peter.

What about us? Is there bodybuilding in the family?

They agreed together. Isn't that interesting here?

That he says, the young men who buried your husband are just outside the door.

Which she would have said, what? My husband? Where is he?

But she didn't have time to run that much in her mind, did she?

And they will carry you out, too. Peter brought the same.

Peter, tell her in the future, right here. Guess what? You're about to die.

She didn't even have time to think.

Because it actually says, instantly she fell to the floor and died.

What did yours say? Immediately? What else? Anything else?

Breathe to last.

They had been right on the money that they had given.

They laid it at their feet like they said they did. Do you think of the parallels of Nadab and Abihu?

Do you remember the sons of Aaron? Who did what they weren't supposed to do?

They went in and gave profane fire in the temple.

And actually it talks a few verses after that about when you come in, don't drink alcohol. Which makes me think. They came at another time because you were only supposed to go in there in Holy Holies on top.

But they came in, they were drinking. They were like, hey! Where's Bruce? Aaron's at that end.

You know? Let's go, let's go light a fire. Oh, they lit a fire.

And boo! They were gone.

Why? Why did God strike these two? They were the sons of Aaron.

They were going to be the ones that did all the work.

Remember the Scripture where much is given, much is required?

Did we think about that?

Do you think perhaps Ananias and Sapphiber would like to read that a few times before they brought this?

Much is given, much is required.

And they will carry you out, too.

In verse 10, Instantly, she fell to the floor and she died.

When the young man came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

When I was growing up in Milton, Tennessee, we used to have Albert Rhodes.

We used to call him Goat.

We didn't know why they called him Goat.

The mother of you didn't know why they called Albert Rhodes Goat.

We never knew either.

But Goat was known because we had a couple of cemeteries out there.

He would dig the graves. They would pay him to dig the graves.

And I remember being a kid, I was talking to him after he dug one.

And it took him and his helper a half a day for five hours to dig this grave six foot deep.

And then, of course, he would be there as a lowered body and then he would cover that back up.

You imagine those guys, wait a minute, we just dug this, we just spent three hours digging this grave.

Peter, if you could prophesy, why didn't you tell us we'd go ahead and dig it out?

Because now they've got to pick that body up after they dug it and it tired, which means this day wasn't a Sabbath.

Because they wouldn't have done that much work on the Sabbath, was it?

So, here they had to take her body out and bury it.

Verse 11, as we wrap this sermon up.

It says, Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

This is the first time in the New Testament where the word church is actually used.

And the word is ekklesia in Greek. Ekklesia! And it actually means what? Anybody know?

Called out ones? Or it also means, can also mean called together ones.

That's two different meanings, called out from the world, but called together, to meet together. This is the first time.

The word ekklesia is used.

And you know, the interesting thing, it says fear. Great fear gripped.

And we know from the Old Testament, even from the New Testament, where it says fear, fear of the Lord God, and so forth, which actually means reverence. Can mean reverence. But this Greek word for fear isn't that way. It meant trembling.

Trembling.

Very afraid.

The entire church. Because now they realized, this is serious.

Can you imagine them getting together the next Sabbath, making sure that they didn't say anything wrong?

Can you imagine? Or talking to a neighbor, hey, why don't you join our church? Oh, I heard what happened down there last week. Not for me.

But it was serious. This work, what does it teach us? This work is serious. This bodybuilding that God is doing, that Christ is doing through His Holy Spirit in this church, in this building, in your lives, is serious.

Very, very serious. Very important to Him. Perhaps a reason Paul even talks and tells the church of Colossae. In 3 verse 9, he said, Don't lie to one another. He's talking to the church. He said, Don't lie to one another. You think he said that because nobody lied? He said it because people were lying to each other. And this is one way of lying. This is what happened.

So is he saying, Don't compete with one another. You don't have to compete. You don't have to, Barnabas comes up against Mike. You don't have to do that.

What he's really saying is, Please don't do that.

Please.

Build this body.

Build it with love and build it with the Holy Spirit.

Where much is given, much is required.

When it comes to bodybuilding, God's type of bodybuilding, what does he want from us?

How many reps do you do?

Now, Mary can tell you how many reps you do.

How many reps do you do?

How many reps do you do?

Now, Mary can know because we belong to, even though you may say, Don't look like you've worked that much. We belong to a gym. You fit. And we will go try to when we were disciplined before the feast and add all that food.

And Mary didn't want to go.

When we got back, we were going there, we were always these guys. You see them in there. You belong to a gym. You've seen them, right? You may have been one of them.

You know? Right?

And, H.C., how many reps? I've got 300 pounds on.

Right? You've seen them. They wanted to be seen. Right? That's not what God says. He wants us to do some bodybuilding. But how many reps, how many sets do you do? Instead of curls.

Instead of curling this, how many times are you curling this? Opening this. And not just reading the Bible. Oh, I read the Bible 12 times.

And you don't know anything about it.

But do we study? Do we study the Bible? Don't worry about reading how much you read. But what you read, take that in and know it.

But God said, my word, these are God-breathed.

God-breathed words.

For instruction. For us. That's the kind of curls He wants to see.

Wants to see us picking this Bible up.

Not just, oh, it's Friday night. Where's my Bible?

I always love it when somebody loses their Bible at church, and I'm one of the last ones to leave, and I've got it.

And you go, huh, I wonder if we're going to come.

I wonder if we're going to know. And one guy left it, and I actually picked it up, and I just wanted to see it. Next week he came in, and I said, oh, did you lose this? He goes, I don't know. I've got so many Bibles, I don't know.

Ruined my whole pitch.

I don't know the whole thing. But I'm glad because he does. He's reading all different Bibles.

How about instead of squats, everybody hates squats, if you've ever been in, oh, I hated squats. You hate squats? Or you put them in, you go, dah, dah, dah, dah!

How about instead of working your legs out, how about prostrating yourself on the ground in prayer? How many reps did we have in prayer this week? How many sets? You see, this is all part of it. And you know, sometimes we need a partner. We need a partner that can help us out.

I have one I've had for 32 years.

And almost every day at home, she's doing a Bible study at 8 o'clock, whatever it is in the morning, and I'll walk through, and she goes, oh, I've got a question for you. I've got a question for you. I've got another question for you. Oh, explain this. You know what it does? It makes me have to make sure that I'm studying my Bible.

I'd hate to be up here and go, well, I don't know where it's at. Mary, where's this show in the Bible?

I don't think I'd keep my job very long.

I don't think you'd want me to.

Right? So are we doing that? How about, you know, what's so important in the body of me is dieting. You want to make sure what? They don't have too much fat. They can't eat this. They can't eat that. They've got to get that protein. They've got to do this. Instead of dieting, what about fasting? How many reps we did this past year in fasting?

Atonement?

Atonement?

And fasting is not something that the body just goes, oh boy, I don't want to eat today.

Like my mother says, oh, I sometimes forget to eat. I don't.

I very seldom forget to eat. I'm like, ho ho!

How about us? I get calls because so many people scattered out through the Caribbean, and somebody's always got issues, and they're like, well, I'm going fast. Well, if they tell me they're going fast, I usually try to fast with them or say, okay, I'll fast if I can make the time.

You know what that's done? That has really helped me.

Helped me.

They didn't realize it, but it's part of bodybuilding that has helped me.

So, Brother, come some special iron, some spiritual special iron this week.

Work this body, and you don't have to be alone.

I have people in here I talk to. I talk to Clark. What? Whenever I'm in town, every couple of weeks. Stir something up. He stirs something up in me. Hopefully, I stir it up in him. I have other people that I need sometimes.

We've got two old... well, I don't want to say that word. No, I'm going to be good. I'm not going to say the word. But in Yuffit, there are two guys that work out, and they're mister and mister and mister steroids, and they've got these big... and they will work out with each other, and they'll do, oh, yeah, come on!

Come on! Come on! You can do it! Come on! Come on! You know, they go through all these motions, and that fires them up so they can pick the extra weight. Well, does God want us going, hey, Clark, get in that bottle! Get in that bottle! No! But is this something we can do to help each other? You know, when iron sharpened iron? You know, what did you study this week? I remember Mr. Cullors. It was 15 years ago. And he said something. He said, well, I may not make it this week. Something may happen. Can you put a sermon together? I said, well, I really don't have anything to gather. And he said, well, what have you been studying this week?

He said, you should be able to tell that.

So you can bet my Bible study took a whole different turn at that time.

And sometimes, of course, Mr. Cullors, I loved him. My greatest mentor, he would actually say, well, Chuck, you know, I'm scheduled to come, but I may have to speak a day that I just tell you to go up and give the sermon. I said, really? What was he doing? He was building. I never had any intention of becoming a minister. I just said, hey, but all this helps you to build this spiritual body and the body out there.

So, brethren, there is bodybuilding in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Was, is, and has been since the summer of 1978. It's God's desire, brethren, that you build yourself. You build this body.

Because that's His desire. That's the reason He called you. So, brethren, have a great workout this next week.