Hey everyone,
 
            A couple of years ago, movie star Mark Wahlberg revealed his typical daily routine.  It included a 2:30am wakeup call, breakfast at 3:15am, two workouts, golf and six meals among other things.  The guy, understandably, is in great physical shape. 
 
            It is amazing what people will do to be physically fit.  But what will Christ’s disciples do to be spiritually fit?
 
            Last week, I started a three-part series on how to be spiritually healthy.  We looked at a verse in 1 Timothy where Paul tells his young protégé, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
 
            I introduced three things that are essential to being a spiritually healthy person.
 
            Here is what they are:
 

• Stop doing what hurts our spiritual health.
• Continue doing what builds our spiritual health
• Rely on the work of Christ in our lives through the Holy Spirit 

 
           Last week, I talked about the first one. Let’s talk about the second one today.
 
            We must continue doing what builds our spiritual health. 
 
            Spiritual disciplines and are meant to strengthen our spiritual health.  It is not religiosity to read your Bible every day.  This is your daily bread.  It is not religiosity to pray regularly.  This is your lifeline to Jesus.  It is not religiosity to fast or to consistently attend a worship service or to observe the Sabbath or to experience solitude and silence.  These are all healthy habits to strengthen your faith and to equip you to face the challenges that may come your way. 
 
            It is true that you can do all these things and still find that your spiritual life is not getting healthier.  After all, these are works and Paul clearly says in Ephesians, “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God; not by works so that no one can boast.”  We need to have the right heart attitude when we do them if we really want to have a healthy spiritual life.  But it is also true that you can’t have a healthy spiritual life without doing these things.  This is the way that we partner with Christ in helping us live the healthiest spiritual lives that we can live.
 
            So, with all the boldness and humility I can muster, I implore you to lean into the spiritual disciplines.  Don’t do them haphazardly; make them a priority.  Life is too unpredictable and difficult to be trying to face it without being healthy spiritually.  This is what Jesus wants for your life.   
 
            This weekend, I will be teaching on Jesus’ fifth I AM statement.  He said, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life!”  What did He mean by that?  How would His hearers have understood what He said?  And why does that matter to us today?  I am looking forward to investigating that this Sunday.
 
            I hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
 
            I love being your pastor.
 
Pastor Tim