Michigan Camp Meeting 2019: As a Witness, Matthew 24:14

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Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

From Wanting to Winning

Vicki Griffin

Evelyn Kissinger

From Wanting to Winning - Best Weight Plan

Father in heaven, I just thank you so much for this wonderful group of people, for the time that we have together.

And I just pray that while Evelyn and I attempt to present information that inspires, and motivates, and educates, that Your Holy Spirit will work to illuminate each individual heart because people are here, Father, in heaven because they want You.

And I pray that you would answer that deepest prayer that we all have, and that's why we're here together.

As I begin, I want to share a quote that I think is, I carry it in my Bible.

And I think it's gonna mean a lot to you too.

This is found in volume 5 of the testimonies.

And it says, the forgiveness of sin is not the sole result of the death of Jesus.

He made the infinite sacrifice, not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, re-beautified, reconstructed from its ruins.

Reconstructed from its ruins and made fit for the presence of God.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

Old things are passed away and behold, all things are new.

Looking upon the people in their suffering, do we suffer in this world?

You know, the book of Job helps us to understand that there comes a place where cause and effect relationships just fall apart.

Really terrible things happen to innocent people and really amazing good things happen to evil people.

But would you agree with me that we bring a lot of needless suffering upon ourselves?

And how many of you would like to dial that down by God's grace in every area of our lives?

So this is a beautiful promise I want to share with you as we begin today.

Looking upon the people in their suffering and degradation.

Have you ever felt like you're just a mess?

Well, the Lord is in the business of turning messes into miracles.

Looking upon the people in their suffering and degradation, Christ perceived ground for hope, where there appeared only despair and ruin.

Wherever there existed a sense of need, he saw opportunity for uplifting.

The full-time job is to bring courage and strength to the people we come in contact with, to add value to their lives.

Isn't that a wonderful goal every day, to add value to someone else's life?

In every human being, he discerned infinite possibilities.

He saw men and women as they might be, transfigured by his grace in the beauty of the Lord our God.

Looking upon them with hope, he inspired hope.

So the heart of health is not getting a 100% bullseye on everything.

Hope in our hindrances, and hope for heaven.

And God wants you to be inspired with hope today, but also with some practical tools because he's engineered you and me for renewal, recovery, and restoration.

And if that were not true, I would just say, let's just give it up and go to Chuck E.

But fortunately, he knows all about you and he knew what he was getting into with you when he called you.

He knows how long you've been stuck in a rut, and he wants you to get out of it.

So today, we're gonna take a look at some really basic lifestyle principles that I believe will heal brain-body connections, which is very, very important, and we want to learn how to fight smart.

Because it really is a war zone out there, would you agree with me?

You know, the Bible says that we're fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The flesh is what is in us that tries to break out of that old cage sometimes.

But the Lord says that he's come that we might have the victory over all of those things, but it's a process, isn't it?

It's a process that takes place over time.

So these are the battlegrounds that we've identified.

So first of all, there is the environment, and that is what surrounds us.

You can go and get an angioplasty and get some burger and fries on the way out through the hospital cafeteria.

So would you agree with me that creating an environment around you is a really important piece for long-term success?

And there's something called exposure effect that is really important for us to understand.

So how many of you have ever purchased a car, maybe it's a certain color or a certain model, and then all of a sudden, what do you see everywhere you look?

That's what you see, is you see that car.

And so this exposure effect is really important because when you decide that you're gonna start noticing something different.

So for instance, I've learned when I'm going on long trips, I now notice healthy food options in gas stations.

There's an exposure effect but it's really easy to be overwhelmed and notice just what's in front of the counter.

And so as we start to create new ideas of what we are deciding to notice.

You know, we can decide to notice all the flaws and everything we don't have and everybody else's mistakes, or we can decide to notice what's hopeful, what we're grateful for, amen?

And Charles Spurgeon said that some people are so constituted that if there were only 1 bog in the desert They would soon be up to their neck in it And so we have to decide what we're going to notice And we have to be very intentional about it because most of the decisions that we make are really about what we're thinking.

Because as the mind thinks, the mouth speaks, and the man moves.

So there's not just the external environment of what is around us, but it's also the internal environment that needs cultivating.

How many of you would like to cultivate a more wholesome internal environment.

Yeah, we got to get rid of the nobody likes me, everybody hates me, think I'll go eat worms kind of thing that's going on sometimes.

So there's your environment, that's what surrounds you.

There's your culture, that's what pressures you.

It might be your ethnic culture, it might be a work or school culture, it might be some social group at the office.

So what pressures you, it's not only what other people think about your habits, but it's what you think about your habits.

So culture does pressure, create pressure.

So what might begin as an emotional problem or a comfort, a comfort habit, a comfort food, or some some conditioned response to stress, very soon it shifts from an emotional basis to an actual condition.

So metabolic shifts, functional shifts, genetic shifts actually begin to take place.

So now we've got to treat that thing not just like an emotional or spiritual problem, but now we have to look at it as a condition.

And so it takes time and perseverance to change.

You know, we really want things to happen fast, amen?

I mean, we're Christians, we're gonna pray about it, we're gonna get it.

In fact, the Bible says here is the perseverance.

And the Bible talks in the book of John about bringing forth fruit with perseverance.

So perseverance is really the miracle that we need to pray for today, amen?

We need to learn how to feel wrong and do right.

Perseverance is a miracle in a brown wrapper.

And as a person that started running away from home at 5 years old, becoming a chronic runaway, drugs, you name it, Trust me, perseverance is a gift from God for some of us.

Some people have that gene and some don't, but I'm so thankful that God can change our wishbone into backbone.

So you're gonna see ads on TV for raspberry, you know, go get these raspberry drops, you know, and in 30 days you just take these raspberry drops, it's going to burn the mid-belly fat.

Understanding Food Cravings & Addictions - Brain-Gut Connection

Father in Heaven, thank you Lord Jesus for this time that we can have together to commune with you.

Lord, Evelyn and I are going to do our best to share motivation, inspiration, and education, but Lord Jesus, you are in charge of illumination.

So I pray that you would illuminate each heart.

Every person here has a will and a desire to move forward.

And so we pray for the presence of your Holy Spirit, that you would come and be our teacher.

You know, the Bible says that we were created in God's image.

I mean, let's land on that for just a moment.

I know our time is short, but what does that actually mean?

It's the ability, yeah, the Bible says, ponder the path of your feet, let all your ways be established.

To be able to walk yourself in the direction that you want to go.

It's the part of you that monitors yourself.

Yeah, it's like it's learning from stuff.

But do you know that all of those faculties are actually viewable under imaging?

So when we pray for those things, we're praying for a good thing.

But if we don't act upon the impulses that are going to bring about those brain changes, that's really where the miracle takes place.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean that God isn't in it.

Perseverance, the ability to feel wrong and do right, that's the miracle.

So how many of you want the miracle of endurance today?

Perseverance, patience, being able to be pulled this way but go that way.

That's where the miracle of change is going to end.

Your brain's going to get more beautiful under imaging.

How many of you would like to have a more attractive brain?

Evelyn, do you want a more beautiful brain?

She's got beautiful hair, but we want a beautiful brain, too.

So it is a war zone out there and there are 5 battleground areas and my personal belief is that you cannot leave 1 of them out and win a successful battle.

No rocket ship takes off unless it's all systems go.

But for some of it, it's all systems went and so the addicted brain is fighting hard But we need to learn how to fight smart What do you say as a person that was a runaway started running away from home when I was 5?

Bulimic by the age of 11 drugs crazy lifestyle for many years.

I am so thankful that you and I are designed by God for renewal, restoration, and recovery.

The Lord is in the business of taking messes and making miracles out of them.

He knew what he was getting into when he got hold of you.

So let's look at those 5 battleground areas.

You can go and get an angioplasty and get some fries and a burger on the way out of the hospital.

So not only is your environment what is around you, but it's also what is inside of you, how you think.

Because you are going to do what you tell yourself to do.

You're going to listen to what that tape is in your head.

There's a saying that as the mind thinks, the mouth speaks, and the man moves.

How many of you would like to form some better habits of thinking?

How many of you would like to have habitual good behavior?

Do you think that the pilot in a crisis, in a storm, has to look at a manual?

Knowing, hope not, she's always got something to say.

So, you know, when I, we all brush our teeth, right?

You brush your teeth on a bad day, you brush your teeth whether everything's going good or going bad.

How many of you would like to have habits that are in the right course no matter how the day is?

The Bible says they will keep you Because what we learn in the light, we're going to take in the darkness.

So your environment is what surrounds you.

You have an ethnic culture, so a social culture.

We have to understand it and deal with it wisely and understandingly.

Ellen White says in Ministry of Healing, what begins as a moral fall or what begins as curiosity can soon become a condition.

So now you're not just dealing with a mental health issue, you're not just dealing with emotional and spiritual, although all of those things have physical ramifications.

But over time, now you're developing biologic changes, even genetic expression changes, that coexist with that change.

What begins as an emotional thing becomes a condition.

So when we are fighting, when we're fighting for change, do we have to address conditions as well as spiritual things and as well as all of the other aspects?

All right, so your biology is what changes you, your brain is what drives you, and the spiritual is who leads you.

The Bible says we do not even wrestle with flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in high places, with principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world.

Series

From Wanting to Winning

Understanding Food Cravings & Addictions - Brain-Gut Connection

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Family Health

A More Beautiful Story- Christ Our Editor

48m

Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2024: Psalms

05 Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land

22m

Quick Cuisine: Health Solutions in a Fast Food World

2. Make it Spiritual

1h 3m

Plenary

“Good” Can be Enemy to “Best”

39m

Talking Points 3rd Quarter 2024: The Book of Mark

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

30m

A Call To Greatness

26m

How to See Through God’s Eyes

54m

Hebrews 11- Faith

06 The Faith of Abraham Part 2

43m

Plenary

Baptism and the Temptations

35m

Got Thinking Problems?

Are You Uptight Instead of Alright? - Part 3

1h 14m

Probabilities

54m

Youth Asks, God Answers

6-Our Delivering Lord

27m

Sound Doctrine