Scripture References

The following references have been taken from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

GEN 1:28 “Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness....” (this is the first example of teamwork - something that will help you attain higher levels of fitness if you do it with someone.)

Gen 2:1-3 “…and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day…” (Shows the need for rest and recovery)

GEN 3:15 God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it - a physical exercise.

Judges 6:11 Just before Gideon was called to defend Israel against the Midianites who were “like a swarm of locusts” devouring crops that were just planted every year. So do your lifestyle habits “eat up” the better ways of living.

Psalm 25:9 “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way”. (Attitude)

PS 127:1 “Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it...” (Build your house (body) with the Lord guiding your reasons. i.e. become more fit to serve Him better.)

PS 139: “I will praise you for I am fearfully (with reverence) and wonderfully made” (Basis for the exercise physiology presentation and evolution sidelight.)

Prov 3:8 “… fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.” (The evil that we do to our bodies?)

Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding…” (of the “fitness facts”.)

Proverbs 24:5 (NIV) “A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength..”

Isaiah 40:29-31 “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Malachi 3:10 tithes and offerings. (Tithe 2% of your life and receive a 10% return in benefits.)

MAT 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you…” (ask for help in changing behaviors; look for information to depend on; and take action -knock- to make changes in your lifestyle)

MAT 7:24 “..the wise man ..builds a house on a rock ... floods, winds beat on the house and it did not fall.” (Can your house (body) withstand the stresses of worldly life?)

MAT 13:3 – 9 Parable of the sower (Illustrates the “sowing” of facts to the minds of an audience.)

MAT 14:22-33 Jesus walks on water - John Ortberg book If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat. (Don’t die with your potential meter on zero. - Is that a sin of ommission???)

MAT 21:12-13 Jesus cleanses the temple. (Cleanse your temple of poor health habits.)

MAT 25:14-30 Parable of the talents and stewardship. (We need to be better stewards of God’s holy temple.)

MAT 26:41 (NIV) “Watch and pray so that you will not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (So - strengthen it. – the physical is temporary but it limits the spirit; mind controls the body. See YMCA Spirit, Mind and Body approach.)

MK 3:25 “..a house divided against itself cannot stand....” (Have a oneness of purpose in your reason for exercise.)

MK 10:27 (KJV) “...with God all things are possible.” (Even changing your lifestyle habits.)

Mk 10:48 People told blind Bartimaeus to be quiet – (Is that like the others in the boat when Peter walked on water? Is that like others telling you that you can’t make good lifestyle changes?)

Lk 5:37 “..no one puts new wine into old wineskins....” (It’s like putting new lifestyle habits into old lifestyles - you need to create new lifestyles to hold the new habits.)

Jn 4:6 “…Jesus, therefore being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.” (Shows even Christ had a need for rest and recovery from exercise.)

ACT 17:28 “..for in him we live and move and have our being...”

ACT 24:16 (AMP) “...I always exercise and discipline myself, mortifying my body, deadening my carnal affections, bodily appetites, and worldly desires...” (control urges that do harm to the body..)

ROM 12:1-2 (LB) “ ... give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy - the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you (BELIEF) ... don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, be a new and different person (BEHAVE) with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.” (BECOME).

I COR 3:16, 17 “...you are God’s temple.. If anyone does hurt to God’s temple, God will do hurt to him...and destroy him.” (a good reason to not indulge in destructive lifestyle habits.)

I COR 6:19 “...do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 ... so then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.” (Care for it so the Holy Spirit has a good base of operations – that is good stewardship.)

I COR 6:20 (LB) “...use every part of your body to give glory back to God.”

I COR 6:20 (LB) “...honor God with your body.”

I COR 9:24 - 27 (LB) “In a race, everyone runs...so run your race to win… Like an athlete, I punish my body... Training it to do what it should, not what it wants to do...”

I COR 12:12- “... Unity and diversity in one body...” (body parts working together to accomplish a goal.)

I Cor 15 discourse of “natural” body vs Spiritual body

II COR 5:17 “…therefore if anyone be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things are new.”

II COR 6:16 “...for you are the temple of the living God.... For God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God and they shall be my people.”

GAL 5:17 “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh...” (a probable reason more people do not give attention to the body and it’s development.)

GAL 6:7 “...whatever a man sows that he will also reap.” (Sow energy, get energy.)

GAL 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart.”

Eph 5:29 “..for no one ever hated is own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”

Phil 2:4 “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (you need companionship to be more successful in changing lifestyle behaviors.)

Phil 3:13-14 “...forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal” (lifestyle change – move on.)

Philippians 4:13(KJV) “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

I Thes 5:23 “..and now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless...” (integration of all 3 - reciprocal interrelationships.)

I TIM 4:8 (AMP) “For physical training is of some value” (useful for a little)

______ NEW ENG B. “... does bring limited benefits”
______ JERUSALEM B. “Physical exercises are useful enough ..”

II TIM 1:7 (NLT) “…for God has not given us a spirit of fear... but of power, love and self-discipline.” (to make lifestyle changes - some are fearful.)

HEB 9:27 “…and it is appointed for men to die once….” (“we choose to die early” Dr. Koop, Surgeon General.)

Heb 12:1 “…lay aside every weight that ensnares us and run the race with endurance…”

Heb 12:11(NLT) “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Stick with your exercise and diet programs now, so you can benefit later.)

Heb 12:12 (NLT) “… strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees..”

JAS 2:14-26 “Faith without works is dead...”

JAS 2:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only...”

3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (Integrated with body and mind see I Thes 5:23.)