Healthy New Year Panel Discussion

Kick off the new year with WHPC's Adult Sunday School series, Healthy New Year! This first session features a dynamic panel of doctors, nurses, and health enthusiasts from our congregation sharing their personal health practices and how these practices deepen their spiritual lives and connection with God. The discussion was led by Pastor Stacy Ikard. Don’t miss the opportunity to grow in body, mind, and spirit.

Watch the class video below:

And Stacy's 10 slides are shown below:

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Healthy New Year 2025 -1 The Text

A Healthy New Year.  January 5, 2024

What do you think it means to be healthy?

•       The WHO   “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

•       A state of physical, mental and emotional well-being.

•       Today, three types of definition of health seem to be possible and are used. The first is that health is the absence of any disease or impairment. The second is that health is a state that allows the individual to adequately cope with all demands of daily life (implying also the absence of disease and impairment). The third definition states that health is a state of balance, an equilibrium that an individual has established within himself and between himself and his social and physical environment.

Discuss With Your Group:

•       What do you think most hampers health in the United States today?

•       What is one thing you would like to do to create a healthier 2025 for you or for your family?

Scripture and Health

•       The physical body matters

•       The physical body is God’s vessel

•       I Corinthians 10:31 

 So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

God Cares about Health and Desires that We Care

Psalm 147

•       Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
    for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

James 5:14-16

•       14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Our Bodies, Minds and Spirits are Connected

  • A woman with an issue of blood: In Matthew 9:22, Jesus said, "Your faith has healed you".
  • A daughter: In Mark 5:34, Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease".
  • A leper: In Luke 17:19, Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well".
  • A blind beggar: In Luke 18:42, Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well".
  • Proverbs 17:22 
  • A Joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones
  • Proverbs 16:24
  • Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body

Our Panel

•       John and Gwenn Hurst

•       Physical health and the benefits spiritually…

•       Cathy and Jim Little

•       The perspective of physicians

•       Diana Stoller

Evidence of mind, body, spirit connection.

God, Faith and Health by Larry Dossey, M.D.

•       Health benefits of the behavioral and social functions of religious expression

•       Health benefits of the psychological functions of religious expression.

Discussion Questions

•       What keeps people from prioritizing their health?

•       Do you believe health to be a spiritual issue?

•       How do you measure health holistically?

•       What is it hat you want to do for a healthier 2025?

•       What obstacles do you foresee?

•       Who or what will support you?

•       What or who might be a hindrance?