How many of you are disciplined daily walkers?
There are numerous benefits of walking.
If a daily fitness walk could be put in a pill, it would be one of the most popular prescriptions
in the world. It has so many health benefits. Walking can reduce the risk of many diseases, from
heart attack and stroke to hip fracture and glaucoma. These may sound like claims on a bottle of
snake oil, but they're backed by major research. Walking requires no prescription, the risk of
side effects is very low, and the benefits are numerous:
• Managing your weight: Combined with healthy diet, physical activity is key to any plan for
long-lasting weight control. Keeping your weight within healthy limits can lower your risks of
type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis.
• Controlling your blood pressure: Physical activity strengthens the heart so it can pump more
blood with less effort and with less pressure on the arteries. Staying fit is just as effective
as some medications in keeping down blood pressure levels.
• Decreasing your risk of heart attack: Exercise such as brisk walking for three hours a week, or
just half an hour a day, is associated with a 30% to 40% lower risk of heart disease in women.
(based on the 20-year nurses' health study of 72,000 female nurses.)
• Boosting "good" cholesterol: The level of high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Physical activity
helps reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDL or "bad" cholesterol) in the blood, which can cause
plaque buildup along the artery walls — a major cause of heart attacks.
• Lowering your risk of stroke: Regular, moderate exercise equivalent to brisk walking for an
hour a day, five days a week, can cut the risk of stroke in half, according to a Harvard study
of more than 11,000 men.
• Reducing your risk of breast cancer and type 2 Diabetes: The nurses' health study also links
regular activity to risk reductions for both these diseases. In another study, people at high
risk of diabetes cut their risk in half by combining consistent exercise like walking with lower
fat intake and a 5% to 7% weight loss.
• Avoiding your need for gallstone surgery: Regular walking or other physical activity lowers
the risk of needing gallstone surgery by 20% to 31%, found a Harvard study of more than 60,000
women ages 40 to 65.
• Protecting against hip fracture: Consistent activity diminishes the risk of hip fracture,
concludes a study of more than 30,000 men and women ages 20 to 93.
Jesus was a walker.
1 Peter 2:21
"to this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that you should follow in his steps.
Let’s think of a different type of walking. There are 2 kinds:
1. Night Walkers
I walked in the dark in my garage the other night and fell.
Jesus said in John 11:10 –
“it is when (a man) walks by night - he stumbles, for he has no light.”
Jesus spoke of the danger of walking not in natural darkness, but spiritual darkness.
There are many different definitions of darkness mentioned in The New Testament.
Peter said, “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they
went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
John 13:30
"as soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out, and hung himself and it was
night.
Mt 26:31
then Jesus told them, "this very night you will all fall away on account of me, for
it is written.”Jesus to Peter.
Matthew 26:34
“this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
Mt 27:45
“from the sixth hour until the ninth hour (Jesus was on the cross.) darkness came
over all the land.”
What does it mean to walk in darkness?
John wrote in 1 John 2:11
“but whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness;
he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.”
Jesus spoke of one’s eye being full of Darkness:
Matthew 6:23
“but if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
A man walking in the dark is lost.
John 12:35
then Jesus told them, “the man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.”
So what does night and darkness mean?
Basically, it means, “Walking without Christ in sin in the things of the world.”
Paul wrote.
Ephesians 5:11
"have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Ephesians 6:12
“our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil“
Jesus also spoke of:
2. Light (Day) Walkers
1 John1:5
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
John 8:12
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.”
He is our example!
John 12:46
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should
stay in darkness.""
Sin is deceiving and darkness is deceiving.
If any one of us would get lost in a dark cave or forest, we would readily come to the light to
see. But today, many are in spiritual darkness and continue to stumble around and stay in their
lost condition without even realizing it. Sin is also blinding.
Corinthians 4:4
"the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Ephesians 4:17
"I tell you, you must no longer live as the gentiles do. They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due
to the hardening of their hearts”
The Bible also tells us, we are to be the light.
Ephesians 5:8
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the lord. Live as children of
light."
1 John 2:6
"whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did."
• Fathers - Dads – Grandfathers, we’re called to follow Christ's example.
• Fathers – Dads – Grandfathers, we’re called to be an example to our little ones.
Can you agree with the words to the old hymn of the church?
“Where He Leads Me”
The chorus simply says, “Where He leads me I will follow, where He leads me i will follow,
where he leads me I will follow, I’ll go with Him, with Him, all the way.”
Because we represent God during our children's formative years, we must strive to acquaint our
kids with God's two predominant attributes: His unfathomable love and his perfect justice.
(Dr. James Dobson)
What is a father?
I ask myself this question today as I have asked it throughout my life. "What is a Father?"
Webster's dictionary says: 1. A male parent; a man as he is related to his child.
A six years old said, "he is my friend, he plays with me, takes me to the park and movies,
and teaches me about Jesus."
A four-year-old, and her brother said, "Our dad takes us out and plays with us, he takes us out
to eat and buys us stuff."
Another said, "We read the Bible together about Jesus."
But the thing these children said with the most certainty and conviction is that their dad
loved them.
"What is a Father?"
"A Father is someone that takes you to baseball games, makes you tough, and kisses your mom."
"A Father is somebody that gives you a confidence in yourself."
"A Father is someone who fills in the gaps."
"A Father is someone that passes the Dr. Pepper!"
"A Dad is someone who can beat up everybody else's Dad."
"A Father is someone who is there for you."
"A Father is someone who sacrifices so their child's dreams can be accomplished."
"The greatest gift a Father can give to his children is to love their Mother completely in this
way a child will feel safe and secure."
“A Father is someone who sets an example that was set by Christ.”
