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2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
Mike Slaughter  |
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Your Joyometer  Good Evening Church. I want to ask
you a question.This is going to take a little bit of
thought, but I want you to be honest. Don't skip over
this question too quickly. How would people who know you
well describe you on the joyometer? Where would you fall
on the continuum, somewhere between tense and uptight or
loose and laughter? Where would the people who know you
well, who have been with you this week, tell me you would
be?Duke University just
released a report last week. It's the end of a four-year
study that was in last Sunday's Dayton paper. It was a
study on the relationship between stress and heart
disease. Heart disease is still the number one killer in
this country. Psychological stress releases stress
hormones in the body, and these stress hormones literally
bombard the heart, forcing it to beat at a constant pace
of 'fight or flight.'Duke University just released a
report last week. It's the end of a four-year study that
was in last Sunday's Dayton paper. It was a study on the
relationship between stress and heart disease. Heart
disease is still the number one killer in this country.
Psychological stress releases stress hormones in the
body, and these stress hormones literally bombard the
heart, forcing it to beat at a constant pace of 'fight or
flight.'This is what the study
proves: psychological stress really has physical effects
throughout the body. It fights against your immune
system, it increases the blood pressure, and it makes all
those platelets sticky which in turn will gum up your
pipes. Now as we've been talking just last Sunday and as
Duke's study points out: acts of generosity and laughter
release beta endorphins, and these endorphins. The body's
natural defense system against stress.Now
isn't that something about how God created us? We are
fearfully and wonderfully made! There are literally
hormones that are released to battle stress in our body.
It is no accident that the people of God are a
celebrating people. That is why we have psalms or songs. You and I are created to dance. I
love what the psalms say. We're to shout for joy. You
like that? It says beat the drum. Pound that sucker! Blow
the horn! Clash the symbols! Praise the Lord with dance,
the scripture says. Bang the drum, blow the horn, shout
for joy! Dance! We're created to dance! |
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| Psalm 126:1-4 1: A Song of Ascents. When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2: Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." 3: The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. 4: Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negev! |
 Today's
psalm deals with joy. Go there with me. Psalm 126. It's
no accident that there are psalms, because we are created
to be a party people, a celebrating people. "When
the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, (or brought back
the captives to Zion, that's what it says literally) we
were like those who could dream. Then our mouths were
filled with laughter and our tongues with shouts of
joy." Now the word there should be shouts, but you
know what Westerners that came out of Europe did. They
got quiet when they went to church. We translated that
down a little, but the Hebrew word says shouts of joy.
"Then it was said amongst the nation, (man, look at
those folks) the Lord has done great things for
them." It's a God thing that the Lord has done in
those people. The Lord has done great things for us, and
we are filled with joy. |
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