Move Your Body Part 1 | Snakes and Blood Pressures with Rudy

You can have all of me

Every single little peace

You can have it all

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online,

go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message

you feel called to make a change in your life,

text change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

Good morning, good morning, good morning.

Happy St. Goethe-Meier!

Listen, remember the last time I spoke

it was St. Patrick's Day.

And I said, you know how we like to just take

other people's holidays and turn it into a party and holidays.

Like, Chris, are you trying to tell me something?

But we're here to party today, right?

Here to party.

On top of St. Goethe-Meier,

my anniversary to my lovely wife, Carrie, is Tuesday.

May 7th, so, happy anniversary, baby.

I had, listen, every time I speak,

since it's about every two or three months,

I'm really thoughtful about what I'm going to wear.

I am.

I went out and bought this shirt,

because I'm talking about physical health, right?

So I went out and bought this rock shirt

so I could feel good about myself.

And I had these nice new pair of Vans that I bought,

but Carrie showed up with a brand new pair of Jays.

And she was like, ah, you can have them early.

You might want to preach in them.

So there might be red and orange up here and baby blue.

Just ignore that.

So listen, before I start, we need to pray.

We need to pray for a couple things.

We know that Chris, how many of you have been praying

for Chris and Jess all week as they have been,

listen, I purposefully, I made them get prayed over last week

so we could pray for them so you guys could go with them.

Right, I wanted us to be with them,

to pray with them, to be with them,

and maybe for you to hear the Holy Spirit speak

what those missions look like in your heart.

But Jessica sent us a message yesterday.

There's extreme flooding in Kenya.

They have displaced over 180,000 families.

Now, Chris and Jess are still able to go on the safari

that was planned for today,

but we want to be mindful and be prayerful

about the 180,000 families.

She didn't say 180,000 people.

She said 180,000 families.

Okay, and then another thing I want to pray for,

I did not realize this until yesterday.

Next week we're going to celebrate all the moms in the house.

Yes.

If it wasn't for a mom, I wouldn't be here.

If it wasn't for a praying mother, I wouldn't be here.

But today is bereaved mother's day.

So today is a day that we have set aside

for any woman who has lost a child,

whether in childbirth, stillbirth,

a toddler, an adult child.

You are still mothers,

whether your child is with you or not.

And I just want to pause today to say thank you

for being willing to be a mother

and for being a mother that prays for her child,

whether they are with us or they are not.

So come, Holy Spirit.

God, we just thank you.

We thank you for your overwhelming presence in our lives.

God, we thank you for Chris and Jess

in this trip that they've been on.

We thank you for them being able to rest

and just enjoy themselves.

We thank you for the moms,

the moms that we will celebrate next week,

but we mourn with the mothers today.

But we don't live in that mourning.

We celebrate all mothers that have lost a child.

We just pray for comfort.

And I ask God that you just put a beautiful thought

of their child in their minds

before they leave here this morning.

Be with me today, God, as you bring this message.

Anything that you want me to say, God,

whether it's in my notes or not in my notes,

I trust that you're going to say it through my mouth,

and I trust more that the hearts and the ears in front of me

and the seats in online

are going to be touched by what you have to say.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Now, who here is thankful

that the mental and emotional health series is over

and you don't have to deal with that crap anymore?

Phew!

Before I move on, so we're going to transition

from physical into the physical health series

out of the mental and emotional health series,

but before I do that,

I feel like I need to stand here and defend myself

because you guys probably have a misconception

over my life thanks to some of the things

that Chris has talked about over the last month.

There are two huge anacondas

in my front yard,

and you guys want to laugh about it.

I'm here to tell you that my fear and disdain for snakes

is biblical.

John Mueller, biblical.

Genesis 3, 1.

Now, the serpent was the most crafty and cunning

of any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

It's biblical.

They're crafty.

These garter snakes in my front yard,

they're crafty.

And listen, I'm going to keep going with the Scripture.

Genesis 3, 14.

So the Lord told the serpent, because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock.

I'm not sure why you guys are laughing.

You will crawl in your belly and eat dust

all the days of your life,

and I will put enmity between you and the woman

and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

It's biblical,

and I know I'm not alone.

But I want to pose a question.

Can two garter snakes in my front yard

cause me physical harm?

I like that answer.

Are they constrictors?

No, they're not constrictors.

Besides, I'm a pretty big boy.

Like, I've measured my arms.

It's like 15, well, I'm a male,

and I like 17-inch arms.

Seriously, 15 and a half, 16-inch arms,

and a regular garter snake's like 18 inches.

They can constrict me if they wanted to.

Are they venomous?

Actually, do your research,

because from what I read, they are venomous.

They just don't have toxins

that they can harm a human with.

They're just like,

I'm going to go to the bathroom.

But can a garter snake hurt me physically?

I like where you guys are going here.

The afternoon that Chris called me out for snakes,

I had to mow.

And I'm not, it's like, you know, the first mow.

Like, it takes me like 45 minutes to do my yard,

but this mow was like, it took me an hour and a half,

because it's the first one.

Because you have like those big patches,

and I didn't want to mow,

but if I waited any longer,

those big patches were going to be too high,

and I was going to have more of an opportunity

to run into a snake.

Right?

So I go out to mow.

The minute I pull the starter cord,

I rip that cord,

guess what happens to my body?

Shivers.

Not from the vibration of the mower.

I start thinking,

I'm probably going to run into a snake.

Listen, the snakes are hanging out in the front yard.

I started in the backyard as far away

from the snakes as I could get.

But my heart rate increased,

and my blood pressure started pounding.

Laugh at me all you want.

And my senses were heightened.

You've all taken a psychology class.

This is fight or flight I'm talking about.

How many guys like take good care of their lawn

and love like what their lawn looks like?

The lines on my front yard

look like a scribble drawing.

Zigzagging back and forth as I'm like...

Not to mention, the next day,

I borrowed a pole chainsaw from Jadaball

so I could cut some limbs out of my tree.

And thank you, John Muller,

for introducing us all to a tree snake.

Never knew that was a thing until now.

So now I have a new fear,

and every time a tree branch falls out of the tree,

I'm now afraid that a tree snake

is going to fall along with it.

From what I hear, they're not indigenous to the area,

but neither are Anacondas,

and there's Anacondas in my yard.

So I rephrased the question.

Do two garter snakes in my yard

have the potential to negatively impact

my physical health?

I considered calling John,

on a serious note, and saying,

John, can I just come hang out

with one of your snakes,

the littlest, non-venomous one,

and you can help me

get over my irrational fear of snakes?

Which brings us to our first point.

All categories of health are interrelated,

so that everyone that raised their hand,

thankful that the mental and emotional health series

is over, guess what?

It's not truly over,

because we can't talk about physical health

without talking about all dimensions of health.

See, and looking forward to this message

over the last month,

I start researching and start studying,

and I come up with these cool little ideas

that I'm going to use, and every week,

Chris talked about the idea that I was going to use.

So I've got to scratch that a new idea.

But why did he keep mentioning things

that I was going to talk about?

Because emotional and mental health

are tied together with physical health.

See, at the beginning of the year,

Chris challenged us,

this year we're going to go deeper.

And based on the series last month,

I'd say we're not in the shallow end anymore, right?

Because Chris, man, did a great job last month.

But please remember, as we go through the year,

we have a plan to help each of us go deeper.

When the pastoral staff sat down

to plan the series for the year,

we do that.

The series don't just pop up randomly.

Rhett and Chris and Jessica and myself,

we sat down and we mapped out the whole year.

I can tell you what November series is,

but I'm not going to tell you.

It's a secret.

But Chris showed up that day with a verse

and an outline for what he envisioned a year.

If you're a goal setter,

you know you don't just set an open-ended goal,

like go deeper, without a plan to get there.

So the Scripture that we use as the basis for the year

and the Scripture that we keep going back to

as we prepare messages and other things

around the church is Luke 2, 52.

And it says this,

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature

and in favor with God and man.

In that short passage,

Jesus is growing in all dimensions of his health.

He's growing in all aspects of his health.

See, there are five core dimensions of health,

physical, mental, emotional,

spiritual, and social.

Of course, we can add a whole bunch more to that,

but these five dimensions provide a full picture

of your health.

As we set out to go deeper this year,

we are and we encourage you to set smaller goals

to help you get there.

So again, from that one verse,

the Holy Spirit created four message series

that we laid out for this year.

Last month, Jesus grew in wisdom.

So Chris talked about stretch thin

and the emotional and mental aspects of our health.

And again, thank you, Chris,

because my life was altered,

not just for last month,

but probably for my life because of that series.

And I encourage you,

there are probably things from that series

that we didn't catch

because we were not mentally ready to catch it.

So in a couple months,

I want you to like, bookmark,

save it to your screens,

like your home screen,

and go back and watch those four messages again

because God will probably tell you something else

in a couple months.

Jesus grew in stature.

So this month, this series,

we're going to challenge you to go deeper

into your physical health.

Jesus grew in favor,

speaks for our spiritual health.

Sorry, Jesus grew in favor with God

is our spiritual health,

and Jesus grew in favor with man,

speaks to our social health.

Both of those last two will happen in the fall.

So keep coming back.

While we separated up into different series,

we know that each of these areas are related,

and there's no way that we can attack them

without understanding that a change

in any of these dimensions

changes all of these dimensions.

Many of you know that before I became a pastor,

I was a math teacher.

But what many of you don't know

is my degree is not in math education.

My degree is in health and physical education.

Years ago, I taught high school PE.

There's at least a number of you sitting in this auditorium

that I taught that would know that.

They knew Knucklehead Rudy.

Physical education is teaching cognitive skills,

teaching mental acuity through a physical means.

And during this series, we will speak biblical truth

with physical health as the underlying basis

of our discussions.

You with me?

Which leads us to point two.

Negative mental health impairs our physical health.

Negative emotional health impairs our physical health.

Mental health problems come with physical symptoms.

They come with signals

that Chris talked about so much last month.

See, many of us live with high levels of stress

that creates the same effect

that I have with the snakes in my front yard.

Side note, I have not seen a snake since that message.

So you know when Chris said,

nine out of ten things we worry about never come to fruition?

I know they're still there.

Messing with my head.

But we live our lives in a fight or flight response

that is meant for the animal kingdom to use

and then let go of.

But we're smarter than them, so we never let go of it.

And the stress never leaves.

And the anxiety never leaves.

And therefore the physical symptoms never leave.

Jesus even speaks to this when he asked us in Luke 12,

and which of you, by being anxious,

can add a single hour to his lifespan?

If you are then not able to do such a small thing as that,

why are you anxious about the rest?

Jesus says it won't add a single hour, but I would add,

being anxious actually takes hours off of your life.

I didn't add that, God added that.

Depression is typically partnered with headaches, fatigue,

digestive issues, physical health.

Anxiety causes symptoms such as upset stomach, insomnia, restlessness.

Difficulty concentrating.

We all have physical responses to emotional health.

But how do we combat that?

Paul tells us in Philippians 4-6, you've heard this.

I've done messages about this.

People put it on bumper stickers and shorten it.

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your requests be known by God.

We tend to focus on the first part of that verse.

We're anxious.

And with absolute thinking and cynicism and negative thought loops,

we stick on the anxiety and forget about the rest of the verse.

Yeah, right, I'm going to just pray about it, and it's going to go away.

Anyone else ever have that thought?

So I just pray harder and it will go away.

How about change your prayers and focus on the end of that verse

where Paul tells us to be full of thanksgiving.

Because something tells me that the Holy Spirit knew what he was talking about

when he threw that word, be thankful, in there.

Because what happens when you start with thankfulness?

I'm thankful I woke up this morning.

I'm thankful I had toothpaste for my toothbrush.

I'm thankful my toaster oven works.

I'm thankful that the percolator percolates coffee.

Yeah, that deserves a clap.

And once we start stacking thankfulness after thankfulness after thankfulness,

we don't have room for anxiety.

And that clears our minds of negative thoughts.

And thankfulness disrupts our negative thought loops.

How many of you have a plate that is way too full in your life right now?

Just me?

Yeah, those of you who aren't raising your hands, liars.

God has his own.

Here's a challenge for you this morning.

If your plate is too full, look at what you have on your plate.

And I will guarantee you that there are things on your plate

that God did not put on your plate.

There are things on my plate that are caries.

And while I do need to tend to my wife, her needs,

and the things that are on my plate,

I need to tend to them and scrape it back onto the caries plate.

And there are things on my plate that belong to Kingston.

And as his father, I'm going to tend to it.

But I need to tend to what's on my plate

and scrape the rest off that belongs to Kingston.

So I challenge you today, take a look at your plate.

And if it's not in God's will, get it off your plate.

Put it back on the person whose plate it belongs on

or give it to the dog.

Because they don't care.

They love you no matter what.

They'll eat it.

Luke 12, 31.

But seek first his kingdom.

And these things will be given to you as well.

I want you to consider his kingdom.

And I want you to consider his will and his call on your life.

And I want you to filter the rest of this discussion

by determining if what I'm saying, what's in your life,

falls within God's will for you.

And ask him and yourself, should this be on my plate?

And if he says no, trash.

Which leads us to our third point.

Physical activity is important to improve our health.

Becoming more physically active can improve your brain health.

It can help you manage weight to reduce the risk of disease,

to strengthen bones and muscles,

and improve your ability to do everyday activities.

The benefits of physical activity include,

for children 6 to 12, improved cognitive thinking,

cognitive condition.

And adults, it reduces short-term feelings of anxiety.

Regular physical activity can keep your thinking,

your learning, your judgment skills sharp as you age.

It can also reduce your risk of depression

and help you sleep better.

We're not done with emotional and mental health.

So let's get back to Sunday school for a second.

Remember you had to memorize verses.

Anyone have to memorize all the books of the Bible?

I'm not going to make us do all of them.

Let's start in the New Testament.

Because I know you all don't remember all the Hoseyas

and the Amayas.

It's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.

Stop right there.

You can go memorize the rest.

What's the fifth book called?

Acts.

What's it called?

Acts.

See, we call the name of the book Acts,

but we have shortened it.

Because the name of the book is the Acts of the Apostles.

We like to shorten things

because it's like part of what's in there.

What does that imply?

The Acts of the Apostles.

That they were doing things.

That they were in action.

That they were moving.

It's not called the thoughts and prayers of the Apostles.

We do have lamentations for that.

It's not called the theology of the Apostles.

Though I'm not telling you not to read your Bible.

It's called the Acts of the Apostles.

Because they were doing the stuff.

They did the stuff and recorded it later.

Listen, you know how, listen to my notes,

you know how people have like tattoos like Philippians 4.13.

I can do all things.

Or John, anyone have a tattoo of a scripture on them?

No one's admitting it.

You're in God's house.

Okay, thank you.

I have not gotten this tattoo yet.

But I want to get a tattoo that says Acts 29.

Acts 29.

Everyone's like, what's Acts 29?

What's Acts 29?

There is no Acts 29.

There is no Acts 29.

So why don't I want to get Acts 29 on my wrist?

Because I'm keeping the story going.

It's our responsibility to continue what the Apostles started.

We need to be active.

We need to do the stuff.

Acts 29, baby, are you with me?

Anyone want to get matching tattoos?

I may be the first pastor ever to encourage people to get tattoos.

But I want to read to you one of my favorite passages.

Because it's a beautiful story of what the early church did

and a beautiful way for us to model what they did in our lives.

Acts 2, starting in verse 42, this is what we read.

They, the disciples, the followers,

devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs

performed by the Apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their numbers every day those who were being saved.

Circle that and go back this week and read it.

Because there's no less than ten physical actions that the early church was doing.

And as you read through it, you will see that it keeps going back and forth

between engaging in God and doing the stuff of God's kingdom

and engaging in God and doing the stuff of God's kingdom.

I'm not telling you not to have thoughts and prayers.

I'm not telling you not to read your Bible.

But I'm telling you to get up and move your butt.

I love football.

Now, if you're not a Steelers fan, I will say you probably don't also love football.

But some of you just stop listening to me right now.

Think about a huddle. I'll tell you about a holy huddle.

The holy huddle.

What happens in a football game?

After the kickoff, the offense takes the ball

and they run out on the field.

Do they pick up the ball and throw it or run with it right away?

No, what do they do?

They huddle up.

And the whole team listens to their leader tell them what to do.

And then they line up and then do what their leader told them what to do.

Then after they do what he told them to do, now what do they do?

They huddle up again.

And what do they do in the huddle?

The leader tell them what to do.

And if they're the Steelers, they keep going down the field and score a touchdown.

If they're the Ravens, they're not connected to their leader.

But anyone know how long the shot clock is?

Or the play clock is? Any NFL?

40 seconds.

How many of you would pay hundreds of dollars to go watch a football game

and they sat in the huddle the whole time?

There's a reason there's only 40 seconds.

Because they're not supposed to be in the huddle all day.

They're supposed to get in the huddle, hear from their leader, and then go do the thing.

So I'm not telling you not to huddle up with God.

I'm telling you to have a sense of urgency and go do the thing.

You say, Rudy, that sounds more like spiritual health than social health than physical health.

Well, kind of it is because it's all of them.

Because all of our dimensions of health are related.

You work on your spiritual health, the way physical means,

and it affects your emotional and mental health.

And as in the case of NACS, it provides and improves your social health.

And your anxiety starts to fall away.

And your blood pressure goes down.

And your physical health improves.

Which then helps with your self-image, and your mental health improves.

And all these things keep looping back and forth between all the dimensions in a positive way.

And your overall general health improves.

I've been doing sessions, counseling sessions, but dag on it, I'm not a therapist or a counselor.

So I just really two dudes just hanging out in my office talking, right?

And I'm hanging out with this guy who's been dealing with some personal, some family issues,

and just having good discussions about, you know, what to do.

And a few months ago, he told me he'd joined a gym.

And he's been working on his physical fitness.

And in our conversation this past week, this is what he told me.

He's like, you know, Rudy, I'm going to have to deal with those situations from my family.

If I had to do that right after work, I tend to stress and react negatively when I have to deal with it.

But if those same situations come up an hour later after I've been in a gym,

and worked on my physical health, and let some stress out, I tend to respond positively instead of react negatively.

Is there a correlation?

As the passage in Acts 42 teaches us, we should devote ourselves to the breaking of bread into prayer.

And this morning, I'm going to present you with a number of opportunities.

Ann Cully and Dave Stepnick lead a group called Prayer on the Move.

Each month, Ann and Bob and Charlie Mandrake, they take a group of folks,

and they go to like rest areas or city parks or national parks, and they set up a tent,

and they serve water and coffee and just talk to people passing through.

The very first time we did it, we did it to Rest Stop on 81 South in West Virginia.

Before we even had set up, a man came, asked for, he already had his coffee and his truck,

and he asked for cream and sugar and conversation.

And we were able to pray with him because he was in recovery.

His wife was inactive addiction, so we prayed with him, and he walked away a little bit better.

The second month, they were in Pennsylvania at the Rest Stop on 81 North, and a man showed up.

And this isn't my story, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

They were pounding the prayer sign or coffee sign, something, into the ground, and he had a hammer.

Hey, can I help you hammer that in? And they talked to him.

And he proceeds to say to them, I was ready to take my life this morning.

And I said, God, I'm going to go out, and if you show me a reason why I shouldn't, then I won't.

You may or may not be comfortable with praying for people, but can you talk to them? Can you listen?

And if it comes to prayer, they know what they're doing to people that lead the group,

so just stand next to them and listen.

Steal what they say for the next person.

On May 18th, they're going to go to the city park and it's birthdays in May.

So she's going to buy cupcakes. She's going to hand out cupcakes and water to the kids on the playground.

I encourage you to get your butt out of bed on May 18th and go hang out at the city park.

If you have any questions about that ministry and in Charlie, Bob will be here.

They'll be out next to the Welcome Hub sitting down.

Can you do that?

I'm not going to ask again. I'm going to move on.

We have what I like to coin, what I've coined, HCV at HHC.

Every Sunday morning at 10 a.m., we have a watch party at Hagerstown Health Care Center.

There are people there right now watching this service with the residents of Hagerstown Health Care Center.

Now, the members of our church that live there for various reasons can't come here, so we go there.

My encouragement for you is take one Sunday a month, and instead of listening to Chris in person,

go there and sit with them. Take communion with them. Worship with them. Love on them.

There's two dudes there named Wayne and Zane. They're sick of looking at each other's faces.

So will you be a different face that they can break bread with on a Sunday morning, once a month?

Email me. Don't worry. They have coffee.

We also have a pool team. Chris asked me to lead this pool team because he knows I shoot pool. Shoot pool.

We go to breakaways on Pennsylvania Avenue and shoot pool on Thursday nights.

And we just show people that it's fun to be a Christian. Right?

Now, sometimes they see Joey or Rudy miss a shot and be human and want to say words that pastors and church people shouldn't say.

But we do sometimes. And they see that we're real people with the same real issues.

And they see how we react. And they see that when Joey walks away from the table pounded his pool stick,

that Jason or Lucy say, ah, man, you're fine. Get him next shot.

And it encourages not just our own team, but the people that we shoot pool with.

Is there something, a hobby that you have that we can turn into a ministry?

You like to throw darts? Create a dart team.

Anyone here like to bowl? Create a bowling team.

Anyone here ride a bike? We have that.

Tennis. Anyone play pickleball?

Chris has committed to buy a couple portable pickleball nets.

If somebody in here will commit to leading up the pickleball club, as long as you don't sprain your achilles while you're doing it.

Sorry.

This is connecting to people through a physical means. Which leads us to our action steps.

I decided to make this message shorter, by the way, so we could do some ministry time at the end.

It may not be shorter. Sorry.

The action steps today, I want to give you three challenges.

Now, these are general challenges that the Lord has spoken to me.

My desire is that you take these general challenges and you speak with God to make them specific goals and how it looks in your life to complete them.

Keeping in mind that whatever you hear, if it's going on your plate, where does it need to come from?

That wasn't rhetorical. If it's going on your plate, who's the one who puts it there?

Thank you. I will also accept Holy Spirit in Jesus.

Romans 12, 2. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

And that by testing you may discern the will of God and put that on your plate.

Because that is what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So, number one, I wish I could command you to do this, but I'm not Jesus.

Do a personal health inventory. Do a personal health inventory.

John, 3 John 1, 2. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and it all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting well.

How do you know that your soul is getting well?

How do you know you are in good health?

Pull your toes back, because this is going to apply to some of you.

When's the last time you went to see your doctor?

Some of you want to leave right now.

I don't mean, oh, I was sick, so I went to urgent care.

Talk about a checkup, because we tend to put these things off.

We take our kids, but we don't take ourselves.

We need to do preventative maintenance to our bodies.

My blood pressure has always been great.

Back in October, November, thankfully in November, I went to urgent care.

And they released me with no medication, but they said, hey, you know your blood pressure?

Listen, my blood pressure historically has been 120 over like 70s.

My blood pressure was close to 150, top number.

I don't remember what the bottom number is, because I remember 150 and that was enough.

A few weeks later, I went to give blood.

I give blood transfusions for a reason every six months, a double rep count.

When I went to give blood, it was still in the, she had to test it twice to make sure I wasn't in 160s.

I was still in the high 140s.

However, I went and got checked.

Now, if I didn't have those things, I wouldn't have known.

I've been taking meds and drinking an herbal tea blend since December.

And while I hate medication, and I know that I can fix it by eating better,

I have to do something for a healthier heart.

Call your family practitioner.

My grandfather had Alzheimer's.

When he passed, my mom currently is in the midst of the same battle.

I want to do all I can now in my 40s.

I'm still 49, so I get to say 40s.

To all set the same fate for myself.

I wear a CPAP machine every night.

I hate it.

I look like Bane from Batman.

I was born in the darkness.

But I want oxygen going to my brain while I sleep.

I've had high cholesterol.

I refuse to take a statin drug because there's a correlation with memory loss.

So I keep my cholesterol in check.

I want to do all I can now in my 40s so I can fight off the effects.

I owe it to Carrie.

I owe it to Kingston to be healthy.

I owe it to God.

Get some type of personal health inventory done on your body.

If I ignore it, it will go away.

It is not.

The way to deal with your physical health.

Which leads us to our second challenge.

Change your level of physical activity.

Hebrews 12.

Get a grip.

Oh, that's not what it says.

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.

Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame

will not fall but become strong.

Get up and move.

When you're moving your feet, improve your health.

My challenge to hear everyone is to walk 20 minutes a day for the entire month of May.

At least three times a week.

I challenged the staff last week to get up out of their seats in the middle of the day.

Chris wasn't here so I could play balls.

And go for a 20-minute walk.

I encourage you guys, you all have a lunch break.

Or if you work for yourself, you can do whatever you want.

Get up and go for a walk.

Walk with a coworker and talk with them.

Walk with your spouse after dinner.

Some of you barely talk to your spouse all night.

Take your kids to the park and walk with them.

Chris talked about cortisol a couple weeks ago.

If you have heightened levels of cortisol, it will negatively impact you.

It has proven that if your cortisol is high, you will not lose weight.

Or you will struggle to lose weight.

But if you go for a walk, guess what that does to your cortisol levels?

Brings them down.

Get up and go for a walk.

Did you know that we have a group here at HCV called Walking in the Spirit that meets twice a month?

You can join Billie Jean Bickle and her group, do a little devotional, and then walk.

Then you'll have a reason to get up off your butts.

Coming up on May 18th, you saw Duane out there in an orange shirt.

We're doing a global walk for water where we raise money for clean water for people in the entire world.

That's kind of close to our heart.

Go walk in that walk.

It's six kilometers.

Because the average person in Africa has to walk three miles, sorry, three kilometers to the clean water source and three kilometers back.

So we'll walk.

And if you can't walk, go pray for somebody there.

You saw Lance wearing a spiritually fit.

He meets twice a month.

Join that.

You heard Lance say they have Open Gym.

See Stephen or Lance, Open Gym.

Who likes to play basketball?

Get here this Tuesday.

7 o'clock.

Did you know there's a basketball net over there we park under?

Get active.

Finally, brothers, sorry.

Next point first.

Improve your self-image.

And this is where we slow it down.

Improve your self-image physically and mentally and emotionally.

How many of you here love your body?

How many of you here tell yourself you love your body every single day?

Now, Philippians, for you.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable.

You hear any negativity in any of those words?

If there is any excellence, if there is any worthy of praise, think about those things.

Improve your thinking by meditating on this verse.

And improve the image you have of yourself.

I want to tell you, I know I'm running late, but I've got to tell you three stories.

Three stories.

One is about a girl that I used to teach math.

She taught me a couple years.

I taught her a couple.

Most of the students taught me more than I taught them.

Let's get that straight.

I ran into her a couple years later at the high school, at the high school during a football game.

And she came up to me and she was like, Rudy, man, you look really good, Mr. Rudy.

And I said, I was down to 218, now I'm back to 240 something.

She was like, but I'm telling you, Mr. Rudy, you look good.

What did I do?

Absolute thinking, negative cognitive thinking.

And I robbed her of blessing me with a beautiful comment.

And the Holy Spirit spoke to me after she walked away and said, Rudy, you may not be.

When I taught her, I was approaching 270.

And the Holy Spirit said, you may not be 270.

Or sorry, you may not be 218, but you sure as heck aren't 270.

Another girl that I taught PE years ago has two daughters.

And if you're friends with this girl, this is a beautiful story.

She's posted on Facebook.

Two daughters.

Maddie and Lexi, they're both in elementary school.

They are gymnasts.

A couple months ago, they had a meet.

And Maddie had a great day.

Best day ever.

She PR'd, she set a personal record in several events.

She was killing it.

Her younger sister, Lexi, struggled most of the day.

Maddie, best day ever.

Lexi, what am I doing?

Worst day of my life.

But in that moment, two things happened.

While Maddie was on the platform accepting her medal,

Lexi runs over and celebrates with Maddie.

Lexi then congratulates her and gives her a hug.

And in the other instance, Maddie saw her sister down on the mat.

And she went over to her and she lifted her up.

And she spoke life into her little sister.

And that's a beautiful picture of what we could say to ourselves when we're down or when we're up.

And what we could say to others when they're experiencing something similar.

My students teach me more than I've ever taught them.

And then the last one.

You put the picture up there.

Some of you have seen this picture before, this graphic.

Which of those two women do you think God loves more?

This one, the strung out addict who found herself living in the streets?

Or this beautiful, healthy, vibrant woman here?

Which one does God love more?

Guess what?

That's both, Kathy.

Leave it there.

When God sees Kathy, who does he see?

Does he see Kathy or does he see Kathy?

He sees Kathy not heroin addict, not beautiful woman.

He sees Kathy as daughter.

Daughter.

Leave it there.

What if she could lift her up?

And what if she could speak life into her?

Because I don't think we do that to ourselves as much as we claim we do.

I may not be where I want to be, but I sure as hell am not where I was.

And listen, I used the word, I debated whether I wanted to use the H word.

I used it for a reason.

Because the enemy thought he had her.

She was destined for hell, so the enemy thought.

But Jesus, Jesus said, girl, you are mine.

And Jesus created you in his image.

So you just take a moment today to transform your own self-image to the one that's closer to what God sees.

1 Thessalonians 5, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely,

and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.

You are blameless because Jesus bought your body with a price.

He purchased it on the cross.

Your identity is in Jesus.

You may have ADHD, but that is not your identity.

That's a prognosis.

Your identity is in Jesus.

You may be manic-depressive, but that's not your identity.

That's a diagnosis.

Your identity is in Jesus.

You may be overweight, but that is not your identity.

That's a false label that you or the world has put on yourself.

You are a child of Jesus.

You may be fill in the blank.

That is not your identity.

That's a lie.

Everyone say this.

I am a child of Jesus.

Repeat it after me.

Sorry.

You got the idea.

I want to slow things down for a minute.

I believe God wants to spend some time with you.

I understand we are running a little late, but we are going to take communion.

If you didn't get your elements when you came in, will you raise your hand?

I want you to stay seated.

Raise your hand.

We have a bunch of people in front.

If you need gluten-free, raise both hands.

While they are passing around, I want you to stay quiet.

Stay silent.

They will find you.

Keep your hands high.

God wants to spend some time with you today.

While they are passing, I want you to reflect.

Am I living in unforgiveness with myself and with others?

1 Corinthians 11 says this.

Starting in verse 27, right after the Lord's prayer.

So then whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.

Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat the bread and drink the cup.

Please examine yourself for a moment.

Sit for a moment and reflect on that passage.

We say, no man can have me one.

Can't win against your sins.

Surrender everything you have.

You can't have me one.