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Ghana National Association of Adventist Students-University of Ghana, Legon campus

Eric Walsh

The Power of Habit

Romans 7 verse 8 says, For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.

But how to perform that which is good, I find not.

But the evil which I would not, that I do.

Verse 20 says, now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Verse 21 says, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Verse 24 sums this thing up It says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

A message this Sabbath is entitled, next slide, the power of habit.

Father God we thank you for bringing us together in this place today.

Once again Lord I ask that you make me just a nail upon the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord.

But upon that nail, I ask, Father, that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard today.

Instead, Father God, let us hear a word from the throne of grace.

Our prayer in Jesus' precious and holy name, amen.

This 1 I think will resonate for a lot of you.

In fact, I want to talk first about New Year's resolutions.

The ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.

The Romans began each year by making promises to the God Janus.

Janus, that God, is the God we get the word January from.

So in ancient times, civilizations had this concept that at the beginning of a new year, certain things were supposed to be done and they would make promises.

That's where New Year's resolutions actually come from.

So I'm not huge into New Year's resolutions, but I am into new starts.

So, since most people do this at the beginning of the year, there's all the stuff on Janus, here's a statistic.

Only about 8% of people who make a New Year's resolution will stick to it.

And those who fail, usually abandon their New Year's resolution in 1 week.

Have you ever tried to go to the gym on January 2nd?

Boy, you can't get a machine, a treadmill, you can't get a weight, You got people in there don't know what they doing, just straining themselves, hurting themselves, carrying on like they crazy.

Boy, space everywhere, all over the gym just clear.

Most people can't stick to the resolution.

Well this year, the number 1, diet or eat healthier.

The third 1 really is a combination of the first 2.

But this is a thing that holds like 2, 000 people and this is what they got.

So the person that said this could have said this and this.

Boy, some of us probably need to do that.

Number of smokers in our country has come down a lot, read more, find another job.

That's, I don't know if that's really a resolution, but a lot of people say, look, I want another job, drink less alcohol or stop altogether, spend more time with family and friends is way down at the bottom.

So I want you to see that 1234 of these, 5 of these have to do with health.

Every January, and it's probably because of how bad we start behaving somewhere around October 31st, we realize we need to get healthy.

And I've noticed, people, we talk about a flu season, and we know the flu season has something to do with cold weather and people being inside.

I have a theory that the flu season also has to do with somewhere around October 31st, when all of America and around the world, people just start handing out sugar all over the place for no good reason.

I mean, everywhere at work, everybody's desk is covered with Reese's Pieces, Milky Way, Snickers, you think you in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory come October 31st.

And that doesn't stop because the greatest of all American holidays is in November.

And from there We propel ourselves into a month-long feast, waiting for Christmas and New Year's.

And then on January 1, America wakes up and says, ah, I got to get ready for the summer.

I need to be able to wear a bathing suit this summer and not feel horrible about myself.

And every January we make these promises, but what we don't understand is that God designed us a certain way.

And the way we behave is far more complicated than simply us wanting a different result.

If it was just a matter that I wanted to eat different or smoke less or drink less or exercise more.

If I just wanted it and it happened it would be powerful.

But let me tell you something, when Eve ate of the tree in the garden she placed a curse on mankind Because it allows the devil to hijack neuroanatomical and neurochemical systems in the brain so that the devil can manipulate us by our environment.

This week and next week, next week I still think Dr.

Columbus Batese is coming and I talked to him this week but I forgot to actually confirm, if not I'll do it myself, but we are going to be talking about health in a lot of ways and we're gonna be looking at how do we actually get healthier and why is it so hard to be healthy?

So, number 1, where our habits live in our brain, they live in a place in our brain.

Alon, there's some other specialists that can talk about this a lot better than me.

Any questions on this, talk to him after church.

This is where your emotions sit, this is where your pattern of recognition and memories, right?

So the basal ganglia is this part of the brain down in here, it's the lower part of the brain.

In the sermon I gave you on the mark of the beast and on the seal of God, we talked about the importance of the frontal lobe of the brain.

The frontal lobe, and I'm gonna do that sermon this afternoon at 03:00, 3.15 at Hillcrest.

So you want a further understanding of this, come back then.

But look at what happens is, this is the emotional part of the brain.

And so a lot of times we form habits out of what has happened to us.

Where you actually make decisions is further forward in your brain, the prefrontal cortex.

This is the part of your brain, remember it's 33% of the human brain, only 13% of a dog's brain or of a porpoise's or chimpanzee's brain, 7% of a dog's brain.

So you have a lot more of this prefrontal cortex to work with and it's so that you can worship God and so that you can make decisions it's so that you can choose things.

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The Power of Habit

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