Hartland Summer Conference 2018: Prepared for the Final Crisis

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

David Emerson

The Endurance Advantage

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season for strength and not for drunkenness.

So the question is, do we eat to live or are we living to eat?

And we're talking about motivation today.

The question is what is it that can motivate someone to make a lifestyle change?

The physician was once struggling with a women's group.

He was trying to help them stop smoking and motivate them to quit.

And so he talked to them about lung cancer, emphysema, heart attacks, strokes, bladder cancers, things that you could get from smoking.

But they kept chatting in the background.

He couldn't get their attention until he'd said something that gripped their hearts with fear.

He had just told them that smoking caused wrinkles.

So What is it that would motivate you to stop smoking?

Well, Dean Ornish, he's a physician that did 1 of the first controlled trials showing reversal of heart disease on a plant-based diet.

They did before and after angiograms showing arteries opening.

And because of that, Medicare was willing to pay for his program.

Well, he has trouble motivating patients as well because they complain, oh, this is so hard.

And he asks them, he says, well, how many of you have 1 child?

And they raise their hands and he says, how many of you have, and he said, then was that hard?

He said, oh yeah, it was the most difficult thing we've done.

And he says, how many of you have 2 or more children?

And they raise their hands and he says, didn't you learn your lesson the first time?" Okay, well they say, well yes it was hard, but it was worth it.

And we're hoping that if you're making that change or transition to a plant-based diet, you may say, yeah it's a challenge, but we're hoping you're going to find it's worth it.

The Adventist Health Study found that vegetarians live 7 to 10 years longer.

However, these long-lived Adventists can be a problem.

I was covering for some partners of mine at the hospital on a weekend, and I saw 1 of the patients in the intensive care unit.

Sometimes they get confused, they get claustrophobic.

He kept asking, oh, he was in his 80s, he was at 1 of our churches up there, so I understood his spiritual background.

He said, oh where's my mother, how's she doing?

Well, sir, you know, I'm sorry, she's waiting, she's resting, she's waiting for Jesus to come, she'll be resurrected when they come.

He says, oh she passed away and they didn't tell me.

And then on Monday, his physician, regular physician, came back and said, any problem with the patients?

And he said, oh, no, just the guy in the intensive care unit is asking about his mother.

And I told him, she's waiting for Jesus to come.

So I had to backtrack and assure him that his mother was OK in the nursing home.

Now, this can be a motivation for many people.

However, vegetarians also have less disease and this can be a motivation for older adults.

However, younger adults, this usually isn't a motivation for them, because they're never going to get old.

They're never going to have these problems.

And so I have to say something that can get their attention.

And so I usually talk about strength and endurance because that's what the guys are concerned about.

And then I talk about weight control, that's what many of the girls are concerned about.

And we're going to talk more about endurance today and we're going to talk about weight control tomorrow.

And I don't want to scare anybody off, but when we talk about weight control, we'll be talking about a group of people that is no more active than the office worker in the United States, yet they weigh 20% less and they eat 30% more.

Now there are spiritual reasons also that can be motivation.

And these are some that Christians can understand.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have of God?

You are not your own, for you are bought with a price.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit.

Now, many of you may have borrowed somebody's car before, a friend's car.

And you get on the accelerator, and it just kind of chugs along and it doesn't really do very well.

But on the other hand, sometimes you get in a new rental car and it smells like it's clean and fresh and brand new and you put in the accelerator and zoom, you're off and running.

Well, the Holy Spirit is driving you like a car.

He's got many things he wants to accomplish through you.

You want to give him a clean car that can respond to what he's asking you to do.

It says, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Now, I guess I can't call them kids anymore.

When they're up there playing their violins, I think, yeah, that's my kids.

But when they do something that's maybe not so nice, I say, honey, your kids are doing something.

There was once a group of young people arguing about what the best translation of the Bible was.

And they talked about this, King James, the New King James, and living translations, and paraphrasing.

And finally, 1 guy wasn't saying anything, he was just kind of sitting and listening, and they said, well, What do you think?

You know, what do you think the best translation is?" And he just said simply, my mother.

Well, we may be the only translation people see of the Bible and so we want to be able to translate it correctly and our health gives a message of our creator and our respect for him in keeping our temples clean.

And also, you know, God in the beginning, He created us for joy.

He wanted to experience joy in the relationship and he wanted us to experience joy.

And he promises, as his beloved, I pray above all things that you may prosper and be in health just as your soul prospers.

So how do you motivate people to make a change?

Many times I'll see a patient comes in the office and I share with him about a healthier lifestyle that can improve his health.

He says, I'm too old for it to make a difference.

I'm going to talk about that a little bit toward the end of this talk.

He was in such poor health, his doctors had plans for him, you know, let's get you in a nursing home so you can pass out your days in peace.

His life insurance company had plans for him, we're not selling you any life insurance, you're not going to live long enough to make it worth our while.

Back to Menu

The Endurance Advantage

Transcript

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine