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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Allen Lloyd

Christ’s Secret Weapon

It's good to be here this morning and always good to be at Advent Hope whenever we're in Loma Linda.

We actually came today because of the depression recovery seminar this afternoon at 3 30 and although Dr.

Toledo who's with us today he was the 1 that arranged all of this is is offering it free it had to be by reservation only but I know how it is sometimes when it's reservation only and it's free.

So you might have an opportunity, if you talk to Dr.

Toledo down here, to be able to sign up for the seminar.

And as a result of us being here, I think Advent Hope heard about it and asked us to speak here this morning.

Today, I'm going to be talking about Christ's secret weapon.

And this secret weapon has something to do with the season that is in front of us today.

I'm gonna see if my remote works, and I thought it may not.

All right, throughout his earthly ministry, Christ magnified his Father, true?

And it was 1 of the primary emphasis of his message.

The way Jesus conducted his life revealed the Father's true character.

And it was quite different from what they were used to in his era.

His life showed the power of getting things done with love and forgiveness, rather than through coercion, political influence, or force.

And you don't see him really exemplifying any of those latter 3 methods that are still very prominent today in a lot of people in regards to their attempt to get things done, quotes for humanity.

Let me just show you some examples of this.

There's no denying whenever Jesus faced a seemingly overwhelming problem or obstacle, he would first thank his father for the solution.

The problem, 5, 000 famished men plus women and children with no significant food supply in sight.

The solution, acting with complete faith in his father, Jesus pressed forward.

He organized the disciples for a huge food distribution program as if a great quantity of food were already available.

And with this in place, Jesus then thanked his father.

The miracle that followed astounded the crowd and disciples alike, thanking him when there was indeed a great need.

We see this powerful paradigm again and again in the Bible, sometimes in even more amazing ways.

For instance, Lazarus died, But Jesus spoke a prayer of thanksgiving and Lazarus came forth.

Now in the peer-reviewed literature, medical literature, this is 1 subject that has not been studied extensively.

In fact, in my review of the literature recently, I could only find 10 peer-reviewed trials, either clinical trials or comparison types of studies, epidemiological studies, actually studying the attribute of thanksgiving and gratitude.

However, those 10 peer-reviewed trials are quite powerful in what they tell us about it.

McCullough has actually written about 3 out of those 10.

A gratitude intervention and psychological and physical well-being were looked at.

And this is, Let's see, I may need some help from up top because I think I'm at the verge of the, thank you.

An experimental comparison looked at those who kept gratitude journals on how often a time?

Those who recorded hassles on a weekly basis were also looked at.

And those who recorded neutral life events.

And so this was the way that they were taking a look at the comparison and quotes the control group with those with the neutral life events.

Those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis actually exercised more regularly.

They felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the upcoming week.

Just 1 simple remedy, and that is a weekly gratitude journal.

A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, the Bible says, but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken.

He who is of a merry heart has a continual feast, says Proverbs.

And you know, we like it, you know, speaking of Thanksgiving, often there's a feast associated with it.

And some people wish they could eat like that all the time and get by with it.

But actually, you can experience the joys of continual feasting just by the simple remedy of habitual gratitude.

A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones, says Proverbs.

Related benefit was observed in the realm of personal goal attainment.

Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals, either academic, interpersonal, or health-based, over a two-month period compared to subjects in other experimental conditions.

Ministry of Healing, 1 of those classic books that teaches us a lot about health, has some things to say about this as well.

Gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, trust, and God's love and care, These are health's greatest safeguards.

Now, this is from an individual who told us what we eat is critically important in regards to our health.

How much sunlight we're getting is important.

All of these things having to do with health, but she mentions these 4 as being the greatest safeguards.

Now, another study was done with not a weekly gratitude journal, but a daily gratitude intervention program.

By an intervention, it was self-guided exercise, but they were told as part of this intervention group.

And by the way, this is lifestyle medicine.

Lifestyle medicine is different from preventive medicine because lifestyle medicine, there's a disease process and then there's an intervention that occurs and then we look at the outcome in regards to that intervention.

And we know lifestyle medicine is very powerful, often more powerful than medicines.

In fact, my afternoon seminar is going to be about this.

The lifestyle intervention therapy for depression and anxiety is far better than any combination of drugs on the planet taken together or singly or whatever.

And the evidence is pretty overwhelming for this.

But this is just a simple lifestyle intervention.

And That intervention is just instructing them to produce a daily gratitude journal.

And those who did this reported levels of positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy that the control group did not have as a result of the intervention.

We actually found that those who wrote in their gratitude journals daily got more benefits than those who did so weakly, said the study's authors.

Gratitude deepens as we give it expression, and the joy it brings is life to soul and body, that great book Christian Service.

So when we have gratitude, not only write it down and record it, but also express it.

Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report...

Having helped someone with a personal problem.

More likely, having offered emotional support to another relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.

In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted." And again, you see a disease process and now a lifestyle intervention therapy.

Greater amounts of high energy and positive moods, greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one's life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality relative to a control group.

Then another study, primary author on this 1, McCullough.

Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism, and lower levels of depression and stress.

The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feelings, and it states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions.

In other words, you can have unpleasant emotions even though you're a gracious person that expresses a lot of things.

And What they found in their study is gratitude actually enhanced the pleasant states more than it diminished the unpleasant emotions, although it did indeed diminish the unpleasant emotions.

Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others.

In their discussion, they also reported how grateful people tend to be far more spiritual and religious in particular.

They tend to have a belief system such as the Bible, et cetera.

So it positively affects well-being even in individuals who have diseased states.

Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods.

They are less likely to judge their own and other success in terms of possessions accumulated.

They are less envious of wealthy persons.

They are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

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Christ’s Secret Weapon

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