Participants: Tom Shepherd & Deyvy Rodriguez
Series Code: PBOTB
Program Code: PBOTB00015A
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00:21 Hello and welcom to "Books of the Book."
00:23 This is a very exciting moment for me and for Dr. Shepherd 00:26 for you to join us in this Bible study. 00:29 We're studying the books of 1 and 2 Peter. 00:32 And Dr. Shepherd comes from Andrew's University, 00:35 he is a professor at the Theological Institute 00:38 or Seminary at Andrew's University. 00:41 Dr. Shepherd, you have a doctorate in religion? 00:45 And also you have another doctorate 00:46 in public health, is that right? 00:49 Yes, correct. 00:50 Before I did my training in New Testament years before, 00:55 I was a student at the school of Public Health 00:58 at Loma Linda University, 01:01 got my masters at Public Health and Public Health Nutrition. 01:03 And at that time they called it a Doctor of Health Science, 01:06 later it was gone further into be renamed 01:10 Doctor of Public Health and Preventive Care. 01:12 Has that been of any help in your career? 01:14 Well, yes I-- when I was in Africa 01:16 and my wife and I were there as missionaries for 6 years 01:19 and I was ADRA's Health and Temperance Director 01:22 for the Malawi Union. 01:24 And, so, made use of my health training a lot then 01:27 and it's still you know, 01:29 it still comes in from time to time and understanding. 01:31 So it just takes in-- talking about health, 01:33 in fact we'll talk a little bit about that today 01:35 as we talk about 1 Peter. 01:36 And we're talking about why I go to church? 01:41 Yes. Why do we go to church? 01:42 Well, let's read the passage it's in 1 Peter 4:7-11. 01:47 And this is what it says, 1 Peter 4:7-11, 01:51 "The end of all things is at hand, 01:55 therefore, be self controlled and sober minded 01:58 for the sake of your prayers. 02:00 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly 02:04 since love covers a multitude of sins. 02:08 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 02:11 As each has received a gift, 02:13 use it to serve one another 02:15 as good stewards of God's varied grace. 02:18 Whoever speaks, is one who speaks oracles of God, 02:22 whoever serves is one who serves 02:24 by the strength that God supplies, 02:27 in order that in everything 02:28 God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, 02:31 to Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." 02:36 The end of all things is at hand, 02:39 and what does Peter mean by this, 02:41 the end of all things is at hand? 02:43 Well, you know, Peter wrote about 2,000 years ago, 02:47 so some people raise the question, 02:50 wait a minute, he said, 02:51 "the end of all things is at hand." 02:53 He must have been wrong because 2, 000 years 02:55 have gone by since that time. 02:58 Well, there's two things to help us 02:59 understand this little better. 03:01 First is what does he mean by the word, end. 03:05 The word is telos in Greek and that word means end 03:10 but it also means goal. 03:13 The same word is interestingly used in Romans 10:4 03:17 when Christ--he says, Christ is the end of law. 03:20 That's not that he is the termination of the law 03:23 but he is the goal of the law 03:25 to which the law is headed, okay. 03:27 So, in one sense, one of the commentators says that, 03:32 when he talks about the end is nearing, 03:34 he's talking about the end stage of God's redemptive plan. 03:38 You can think of this is happening 03:40 since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 03:43 That as Christ resurrection is the affirmation 03:47 and the assurance of our resurrection 03:50 if we should die before our Lord returns. 03:52 So that resurrection of Jesus is an end time event. 03:57 It's a eschatological event 03:59 that has implications for the end of time. 04:01 But there's another thing we will study again 04:04 when we come to 2 Peter Chapter 3 04:07 where he talks about the second coming of Jesus. 04:08 But I brought a little illustration with me 04:10 and I'll just hold up here, 04:11 you can probably see this is a ruler 04:14 maybe if I hold it down next to--yeah, 04:16 maybe that's little better, you can see my ruler. 04:19 And this ruler is a foot long, okay. 04:23 And as you look at that you can see just how long it is. 04:27 Now, if I'm to turn, 04:28 if I take and turn this ruler on edge like this, 04:32 it looks a whole lot shorter, doesn't it? 04:34 It does. 04:36 It seems like an optical illusion. 04:38 Maybe just a couple inches or something long 04:41 instead of being actually a foot long, okay. 04:45 Over in 2 Peter Chapter 3, we are told that 04:49 for the Lord a thousand years is as one day, all right. 04:55 In God's perspective how long it's been 04:57 since Christ died and rose again? 05:01 Two days. Okay. 05:03 Two days. 2000 years-- 05:04 That was a true question there. 05:06 Hasn't been very long at all just a very short time. 05:09 So the end of all things is near. 05:11 Now, some people might not be satisfied with that so much. 05:14 But think in terms of Christ resurrection 05:16 as assuring our resurrection as beginning, 05:19 you could say the end days 05:21 or being a marker of the end of days. 05:24 And in God's perspective it's only short time till He returns. 05:28 Of course we have to talk more about this 05:30 and we'll talk about that when we talk about 2 Peter Chapter 3. 05:33 But now we're talking about 1 Peter Chapter 4. 05:36 So, what can man's flow from the nearness of the end? 05:40 Okay, he says, the end of all things is at hand, therefore. 05:44 Then he says, two things be self controlled and sober minded 05:49 for the sake of your prayers. 05:51 All right, these two words, 05:53 the first one means to be of sound mind, 05:56 to be in your right mind, to be reasonable, 05:59 to be sensible, to be serious, okay. 06:01 So just as we've already seen 06:03 Peter making emphasis on staying awake 06:06 and being active in your perspective 06:09 as you look at things. 06:10 So here he tells us to have a sound mind 06:14 to have our senses awake. 06:16 You remember how we talked about 06:18 girding up the lions of the mind, 06:19 being ready for action. 06:20 And sure enough he repeats the word that he used before, 06:25 he says that you should be sober. 06:27 Be well balanced, be self controlled. 06:30 Now that word actually means to abstain 06:34 from wine and interestingly Peter uses this word, 06:37 this word three times in Chapter 1 verse 13, 06:41 Chapter 4 verse 7 and again in Chapter 5 verse 8. 06:45 In each of these places he combines the term 06:48 with words of thoughtful wakefulness being, 06:52 you know, being awake and not going to sleep. 06:54 So these are quite focused on clarity of thought 06:59 and on life outlook how you think of things. 07:02 I mentioned before and I'll mention here again 07:05 the idea of what we call eschatological temperance. 07:09 I'm thankful that my church teaches 07:11 that we should stay away from alcohol. 07:13 It's a poison from the top of your head 07:15 to the tip of your toes. 07:17 And it's just not a good thing to make use of it all. 07:20 In fact, alcohol, so I'll now take off my religion hat 07:23 and put on my public health hat here little bit. 07:26 Alcohol kills 100,000 people in the United States every year. 07:30 Tobacco kills 400,000 people in the United States every year. 07:34 500,000 people die in this country every year 07:39 because of these two plagues. 07:41 If there were some red dye number 5 07:45 or some additive to some food 07:47 that was killing so many people 07:48 he would been out lot long, long, long ago. 07:52 The Adventist health message 07:53 is such been a wonderful blessing in my life. 07:57 I just like to mention very briefly 07:59 the something that Ellen White says 08:02 that just lays out for us a very simple and beautiful lifestyle. 08:06 She calls it the eight natural remedies. 08:09 They are easy to remember if you think of them in groups, 08:12 fresh air, sunlight and water. 08:15 Those three just kind of, 08:17 I don't know they seem to hang together, 08:18 fresh air, being out in fresh air, 08:20 getting enough sunlight and drinking lots of water. 08:24 I actually recommend that people drink 08:26 a minimal of 10 cups a water, 8 ounce cups of water everyday. 08:29 And it's actually better I think if you drink more 08:32 unless you have kidney failure 08:33 but for most of us you know, 08:35 that's a good amount of water to have 08:37 10, 15 cups of water everyday. 08:40 And so far these remedies apparently are not very costly. 08:43 They are not costly, you know, fresh air free, sunlight free, 08:46 water you know, that not costly at all. 08:49 Then we have rest and exercise, they seem to go together 08:54 because one is the opposite of the other, 08:56 rest and exercise, okay. 08:58 And rest, scientists have found that most people will do best 09:04 if they get 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. 09:08 This means going to bed early enough, 09:11 turning off the television set even if it's 3ABN, oops sorry. 09:16 But getting to bed at an early enough hour, 09:18 so that you can have a good night sleep. 09:20 The real secret of getting enough sleep 09:23 is going to bed early. 09:24 Most people go to bed way too late, 09:26 you know, 10, 11, 12 o' clock at night. 09:28 Would be much better 09:30 if we're going to bed at 9, 9:30 at night. 09:32 You get more restful sleep 09:34 and you need like 7 hours of sleep. 09:36 And then exercise, exercise everyday. 09:41 I used to do long distance running, now I do walking. 09:44 And I walk everyday, I don't miss a day. 09:47 And so walking is exercise also? I tell--oh, absolutely. 09:50 I tell people that they need to talk 09:52 to their two doctors everyday, 09:54 their right leg and their left leg, 09:56 the two doctors. 09:57 And, actually when it comes to exercise 10:01 scientists have found that the people 10:02 who are most likely to continue in an exercise program 10:06 are those who do it first thing in the morning, 10:10 first thing in the morning that's the best time 10:13 for doing exercise because nothing else is going on, 10:15 so if you go to bed early enough, 10:16 you can get up early enough, 10:18 you can go for a walk, you can go swimming. 10:19 People will ask, well, what's the best exercise? 10:21 And I say, I'll tell you exactly what the best exercise is. 10:24 The best exercise is the one that you will keep on doing. 10:29 If you don't like walking, go bicycle riding, go swimming, 10:32 find something you enjoy. 10:34 There are when they take and divide 10:36 fitness levels of people into five levels, 10:39 zero or one being, zero being, 10:42 you know, completely sedentary 10:43 and five being a person who is one of this 10:45 ultra marathon people or something that. 10:47 They've found that the biggest difference, 10:50 the biggest jump in healthfulness 10:53 and you're decreasing your risk of heart disease 10:55 was going from step zero to step one, 10:58 like cut your heart attack rate in half. 11:02 Going from zero to one, what's one? 11:04 20 minutes of exercise, mild exercise, 11:07 three times a week, it's 20 minutes, 11:11 it's one hour a week, you know, 11:13 doing from zero to one, that if people could just do that. 11:16 Then the next group is abstemiousness of avoiding 11:19 totally that which is harmful 11:21 and using it in moderation that which is good. 11:23 And then last of all trust in divine aid, oh, proper diet, 11:26 we have proper diet in there too. 11:27 A proper diet is low in fat, 11:29 low in sugar, vegan or vegetarian 11:33 and simple foods, simply prepared. 11:36 These eight natural remedies help to bring us great health. 11:40 Good thoughts, Dr. Shepherd. 11:41 Why does Peter here link being watchful with prayers? 11:47 Okay, it's just though prayer 11:49 is that which keeps us spiritually awake. 11:52 You see it lifts us up above the doldrums of everyday life. 11:56 When we do not see where things are headed. 11:59 Prayer changes your outlook on life. 12:03 I used to give my students at-- 12:06 when I taught at Union College, 12:08 I gave them what I called a prayer assignment. 12:10 I told you before I was cellist 12:11 and I took I would take a string quartet on tour to churches. 12:15 And we would miss one class period, 12:17 one day per semester being away 12:20 on a Friday to go for the distances. 12:23 And while I was gone, 12:25 I would give the students this assignment that they had, 12:27 they could either read two chapters on prayer, 12:30 one in the book ministry, 12:31 if you're in the other in the book, 12:33 Steps to Christ and write a one page report 12:34 on it of the five great ideas that they found 12:37 and that they liked or they could spend 30 minutes in prayer 12:41 connected minutes in prayer 12:43 and write a one page report on what happened. 12:45 An assignment to pray for 30 minutes? 12:47 Yes, 30 minutes connected, 12:48 they had to like use a alarm clock 12:51 or something and I told them, 12:53 look if you think this is legalism 12:55 please do the other assignment. 12:56 So they would take and have amazing experiences, 13:01 sometimes they would pray for 10 minutes, 13:03 look at the clock and say oh, no, what I'm gonna do now. 13:07 And it seems like sometimes that was when the real prayer began. 13:10 Because of most of us will pray for 5 minutes or less 13:13 and then we sort of run out of things to do. 13:16 Many people found that they were praying for people 13:18 they had not prayed for long time. 13:20 They found when they finished, they had great peace. 13:24 They said, why do we have to have 13:25 an assignment to do this, you know. 13:27 And I would tell to them, I say, you know, 13:29 if you--your prayers are mostly about yourself, 13:33 you're probably not praying long enough, 13:35 not spending enough time in prayer. 13:37 And I said I know some of you will go through 13:39 some hard experiences in the future. 13:42 And I remember this experience of prayer 13:45 and what it's done for you. 13:47 Well, we still got lot to talk about, 1 Peter and so. 13:50 We're gonna take a little break at this time 13:52 and then we'll back to talk more about 1 Peter 4:7-11. |
Revised 2014-12-17