On Sunday morning, November 23, we labored together to understand the beautiful proclamation in Ephesians 3:20.

In this glorious doxology (an expression of consummate praise to God), the Apostle Paul expressed the simple, yet profound premise that “God is Able!”

As I tried to demonstrate in this message, every true believer must begin with this simple, powerful concept. Click here to listen to this message.

Here is the message outline with some passages for additional study:

Praise and Exalt the God . . . Who is able.

This is the potential aspect – God’s capacity.

-         to do infinitely more

o       than we ask

o       than we think

Who is at work in us.

This is the practical aspect – God’s conducting

of His Work through us.

-         According to God’s Power

-         Presently working in us

Additional Study: Note the appeals for extravagant blessings: Philippians 1:9; 4:19, Colossians 1:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 3:11-12, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 1:4-5

God is Able!

Matthew 10:28, Acts 20:32, Romans 4:20-22, 2 Cor. 9:8, Philippians 3:21, 2 Timothy 1:12, Hebrews 2:18; 7:25

Click the player here to listen to this message

Many of you can quote what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” or the Lord’s model prayer recorded in Matthew 6:9-13,

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

How To Use Prayer to “Be Healthy Now”

The Lord’s instruction to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” is a reflection of a passage recorded earlier in the Scriptures: Proverbs 30:7-9. Since this passage is also directed to the Lord, it may be viewed as a prayer. But what is especially intriguing about this passage is that it tells you why to pray about your “daily bread.”

Look carefully at verse 9 and think about these questions:

• How can “being full” affect my view of God?
• Another way of asking the same question is to ask, “How does my feeling of fullness affect my faith?“

As I noted in an earlier post, food may be the object of our faith — and we call that idolatry. Anything that we substitute for God is an idol.
So Proverbs 30:9 “connects the dots” for us in this respect. The Message of the Scriptures helps us to see our motives clearly: abundance and overeating can produce feelings that cause us to deny the Lord and question His Message.There are some simple, personal applications to test yourself here.

• Which one means more to you, prayer or pizza?
• Meat or God’s Message?
• Snacks or the Scripture?
• Being full or being faithful?

When you put it in this frame of reference, you can see your life more clearly. But a simple choice here can help you in the “Be Healthy Now” challenge. If you see yourself clearly in the mirror of God’s message — understanding that good food means far more to you than faith in God — then you can have a powerful Ally in God Himself. You see, the One who said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” understands exactly how to overturn idolatry. The Old Testament is full of stories of how He did this. If you and I would tell the truth about our overeating and humble ourselves under the Lord’s Hand, He can become our Ally in winning this battle. Why not pray “The Provision Prayer” of Proverbs 30:7-9 to see how the Lord can help you in your dieting battles?

Pastor Gordon Dickson, Calvary Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio

www.cbcfindlay.org

Tonight is the night, and you are invited. This Special Presentation by Pastor Rick Arrowood begins this evening at 7 p.m. in the Calvary Baptist Church Auditorium. The public is invited and admission is free. Don’t miss this story of a radical transformation that began on January 22, 2007.

The ladies of Calvary Baptist Church have prepared a “Healthy Snacks” meeting after the feature presentation. Come meet our speaker, try the healthy snacks, discuss the recipes and peruse some interesting books that will help you reach your fitness goals.

We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Sufficient Sweetness

That’s right. This is a sermon about “sufficient sweetness.” What do you do when your body sends you the “full” signal? Keep right on eating or call a halt? Part of the problem is that we have come to think of eating as a way to be entertained. Now it is clear in Scripture that good food is a wonderful way to have great fellowship with others. The problem is that we allow ourselves to think of eating primarily as entertainment rather than nourishment. When you view it this way, munching becomes a way to change your moods; cooking becomes your source of comfort.

Those Basic Assumptions

When our most basic assumptions about eating are out of whack, we can’t really expect to draw the right conclusions.

For instance, one summer evening several years ago, my family was enjoying a wonderful campout near Cincinnati. The children were asleep and my wife and I were reading under the dining canopy we had set up. In a short while, I read 50 pages of 1776 by David McCullough, and almost the entire time, I was munching away on pistachios. Those wonderful, salty nuts added real zest to the occasion and I thoughtlessly downed them while I was reading. Suddenly, in a start, I sat up and looked wide-eyed at my wife.

She asked, “what is wrong?”

I replied, “the Lord just spoke to me!”

She responded, “Well, what did He say?”

I answered by quoting Proverbs 25:16! “Have you found honey? Eat only so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled therewith and vomit it up.”

You see, I was just reading a terrific book about the American Revolution, and suddenly the Lord spoke to me through the Scriptures. That kind of thing has happened to me frequently. On this occasion, it brought me up short and I pushed away the bag of pistachios.

What stopped my snacking?

So what was it about Proverbs 25:16 that stopped my snacking?

I was crunching away for contentment. I felt as if pistachios were giving me peace! And in a moment’s time, the Word of God helped me to arrest my impulses. My faith interrupted my feelings. Proverbs 25:16 emphasizes “sufficiency” instead of saturation. When I reach “full,” there is no need to go farther. Now if you begin to think in these terms, you will begin to re-interpret the signals your body sends you. You can begin to discern the difference between “hunger pings” and “hunger pangs.” But, as the verse warns, if you snack right on past sufficiency, be prepared to feel sick. I recommend that you memorize this proverb to see if the Lord doesn’t bring it to your mind as well. God’s Word has a marvelous ability to reign in our feelings and impulses.

In this proverb, honey can represent any and all food. (Have you found pizza??) We were created by God to live for His Glory and enjoy His Creation. We were not created to sicken ourselves with a saturation of sweetness.

So ends this sermon on “sufficient sweetness.” Hope you enjoyed this “Honey Homily.”

–Pastor Gordon Dickson, Calvary Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio

www.cbcfindlay.org

This Wednesday evening, January 30 at 7 p.m., Rev. Rick Arrowood will tell us his remarkable story. Beginning on January 22, 2007, Pastor Arrowood launched his own personal fitness campaign. By paying closer attention to his diet and getting regular exercise, he has lost 116 pounds! He accomplished this feat without surgery, medication, or a specific program.

Rev. Arrowood, pastor of Troy Baptist Temple in Troy, Ohio, has made excellent preparations for this presentation. By the excitement in his voice, I can tell that he is prepared to motivate you to help you reach your fitness goals. He was so excited about this message that he delivered it to his own congregation on Sunday, January 28. He has prepared a free 12 page booklet for all attendees.

We encourage you to join us for this remarkable presentation. The public is invited and admission is free.

61% of Americans are obese. Here is a brief summary from the Journal of Nutrition about some practical changes we could all make immediately. This study was done by Tufts University.

Little things, such as calorie-laden beverages, food portions, eating out and the way you snack can make a big difference. And don’t miss the follow-up article about candy. Did you know that Americans consume 6.3 million pounds of candy and chocolate each year? That’s 22.5 pounds of candy per person!!

Love Your Neighbor

The “Be Healthy Now” discussion is now going strong. I believe that most of the casual conversations I had in this last week involved health and fitness. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is a marvelous opportunity to obey Jesus’ command: Love your neighbor!

An Acquired Taste

For instance, after my post about salty snacks, three people pointed out that our appetite for salt is an acquired taste. That “good point!” has really stayed in my thinking. Thank you! With that good point in mind, I’d like to share this excerpt from a January 4, 2001 study cited in the New England Journal of Medicine. This footnote really gives you practical advice with a reminder of how many people are affected.

Fifty Million People

“Hypertension affects almost 50 million people in the United States and places them at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases.1,2 Furthermore, this risk increases with progressive elevations in blood pressure, beginning at even normal levels of blood pressure.3 The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) trial demonstrated that a diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products, that includes whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts, that contains only small amounts of red meat, sweets, and sugar-containing beverages, and that contains decreased amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol lowers blood pressure substantially both in people with hypertension and those without hypertension, as compared with a typical diet in the United States.4 The DASH diet is now recommended in national guidelines.1,5 Clinical trials have shown that reducing the sodium chloride content of typical diets in the United States or northern Europe lowers blood pressure,6,7,8 and guidelines recommend reducing the daily dietary sodium intake to 100 mmol (equivalent to 2.3 g of sodium or 5.8 g of sodium chloride) or less.1″

Here is a puzzle for you:

         Before you stand a big Hittite and a little Hittite. The little Hittite is the big Hittite’s son, but the big Hittite is not the little Hittite’s father. Who is the big Hittite? Read the rest of this entry »

The “Be Healthy Now” packet that we received at weigh-in stressed the importance of a change in diet, such as th D.A.S.H. approach.   ”D.A.S.H.” stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (high blood pressure).

Check It Out

The National Institute of Health has posted helpful information about this practical diet online.  In the links below, you will a brief explanation of the D.A.S.H. approach, weekly planning,  recipes and how to get started.

• Explanation of the D.A.S.H. diet

• Weekly planning

• Recipes

• Tips on healthier meals

• Getting Started

• Recommendations for Physical Activity

  and don’t miss that 3 Minute Quiz to keep you motivated.

In 1 John 5:21, we learn that it is necessary for you to keep yourself from idols. This raises two fundamental questions:

1. How do you recognize an idol? That question was answered in the audio link posted yesterday in “American Idol: Food?!?” Part 1

1. 2. How do you resist idolatry? That question is answered in another message posted here. If food has become your idol, there is real help here.

Tomorrow, I will be posting a message that outlines 3 Steps to Personal Change. It is not enough to restrain a bad habit. You have to learn how to reinforce that restraint and replace that habit. The Bible lays out this exciting pattern for personal change and I will discuss this in that upcoming post. In the meantime, listen to this message from James chapter 1.