Opening video: Exodus – Bondage to Freedom
Series: Mens Seminar Watershed!
Thesis: We are in a cosmic war and for the most part that war is within – in our minds – with our spirit and with our flesh (the soulish realm). The truth is our spirit, or our fleshly appetites and mindsets dictate how we respond to life, to stress, to unexpected situations and to people. We need to have a renewed mind to win the war against the enemy of our spirit, soul and body and we must have a mind like Jesus to live by the spirit for a Breakthrough in our life.
Here are some main Scriptures making the battlefield clear to each of us today:
Philippians 2:1-5: 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like–minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Romans 12:1-2: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Ephesians 6:12: “For 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 in the heavenly realms.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Every one of these Scriptures describes a battlefield in our life! We need to understand this so we Can be free and experience a breakthrough!
Sermon: Breakthrough to Freedom – and "THE GREAT DIVIDE!"
Text: Hebrews 4:12, 13 "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
Thesis: Christians who want a breakthrough – who desire freedom need to realize whether they are being led around by their soul (their fleshly desires) or by their spirit (Jesus desires). They need to realize which way the water of life is flowing in their life! The truth is God knows exactly where you are at and were you are currently flowing!
Introduction:
I use the phrase “The Great Divide” from Hebrews to illustrate that there is a line drawn by the Word of God on living by the Spirit and living by the soulish or fleshly realm of life. This line signifies a great divide and signifies which way your life flows.
It reveals your priorities in life, your focus, it impacts your decisions, it determines your value system, it determines your worldview, and it reveals your attitude toward sin and holiness.
For example, the Continental Divide of the Americas, or the Great Divide of America, runs through much of North and South America. It separates the water that runs toward the Pacific Ocean from the water that runs toward the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. This divide runs from Cape Prince of Wales in western Alaska, through the Rocky Mountains of western Canada and the continental United States, then through the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in Mexico, through Central America and along the Andes Mountains of South America. Note: The Rocky Mountains are part of the continental divide.
A divide is the elevated boundary separating areas that are drained by different river systems. For this reason, the feature is often called a drainage divide. Water flowing on one side of a divide empties into one body of water, while water flowing on the other side empties into another.
The above is from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/divide/?utm_source=BibblioRCM_Row
Point: I use the phrase “The Great Divide” to illustrate that there is a line drawn by the Word of God on living by the Spirit and living by the soulish or fleshly realm. The line signifies a great divide and signifies which way your life flows.
Questions for you to ponder today:
Which way does your life flow?
Does it flow toward the spiritual side of life or the soulish fleshly part of life?
Are you making decisions by the influence of the spiritual realm or influence of the fleshly realm?
Do you even know which way you are draining – or flowing?
Do you know what world-view you live and flow by? Is it a Biblical worldview?
Self -examination is crucial to determine which way you are flowing in life – is your life - spirit-driven or soulishly and fleshly driven? Which stream are you flowing down? Do you want to know which water way you are flowing down too? One water way flows to Heaven and the other to Hell? Do you even care how you flow?
Scripture tells us that “The Word of Truth” can open our eyes to what force guides us in life. The Word of God is the only energy force that shows Christians whether they are living by their spirit or their soulish fleshly realm.
Hebrews 4:12 reveals to us that the Word of God is a living energy that penetrates to the dividing of the soul and spirit. It is the energy force that shows Christians whether they are living or motivated by their soulish fleshly realm or by their spirit realm. The Word of God has the power and the ability to be able split open the soul and spirit to reveal it’s true condition – it can be compared to the splitting of an atom.
I. WHEN YOU SPLIT THE ATOMIC NUCLEI, YOU CREATE ATOMIC ENERGY WHICH IS A POWERFUL FORM OF ENERGY.
a. This nuclear energy is millions of times more powerful than chemical energy, the type of energy associated with the burning of coal or the explosion of T.N.T.
b. A nuclear explosion is so powerful that when it occurs, it immediately creates a luminous fireball consisting of ionized matter. The explosion also creates a powerful blast wave. In an atmospheric explosion, the fireball rapidly rises and forms a mushroom-shaped cloud. The blast wave moves away from the fireball at super sonic speed and can demolish buildings over large areas. Heat emitted by the fireball can cause serious skin burns and even start fires from a great distance. The explosion also produces highly penetrating nuclear radiation that can cause serious illness or death. Radio-active matter created during the explosion can leave a region uninhabitable for some time. It is an awesome and deadly display of energy.
i. For Example: Hiroshima!
1. On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 A.M., Hiroshima awoke after a restless night of alarms. At that moment, 9,000 meters above the bomb -- nicknamed "Fat Boy" -- detached itself from the B-29 "Enola Gay" and glided down through a cloudless sky. Forty-three seconds later a purple flash dazzled the city. A 150-meter-wide ball of fire engulfed the center, waves of 9,000 centigrade heat were sent rolling across the city at speed of 4 kilometers per second, and shock waves from an explosion equal to that of 20,000 tons of TNT followed. Then the "atomic mushroom" rose miles above the city, which had already become a desert. Fire engulfed the city, the wind raged, and the "black rain" began to fall. The survivors were soon shaking with cold. Estimates of casualties vary between 100,000 and 200,000 dead in Hiroshima and 30,000 to 70,000 at Nagasaki. Thirty years later, victims of the atomic contamination still fall at the rate of 3,000 per year.
a. The subsequent report from the scientists at Kyushu Imperial University classified the effects of the bomb on the human body under three headings: (1) Instant death; (2) Symptoms like those of dysentery followed by death; (3) Throat ulcers, bleeding gums, falling hair and eventual death.
c. This energy when unleashed creates a powerful effect – but so does God’s Word when it is released into a person’s life – going deep into the soul and spirit and revealing the condition of a person’s inner heart and opens a revelation of where they are at with God.
i. We could call this a nuclear God blast – A Word of God force which splits open the soul and the spirit – to reveal its nature and the driving force for life.
ii. When it starts it breaks forth with a light that surges through the heart, the soul, and the mind – revealing truth and love. It becomes a a chain reaction of one explosion after another revealing and illuminating.
T.S. We see the result of what occurs when you split the atom, let us see what occurs when the Word of God splits the Spirit and the Soul.
II. THE WORD OF GOD IS MORE POWERFUL THAN A NUCLEAR BLAST - did you hear me? – It is AND it IS THE ONLY FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE THAT CAN SPLIT open THE SPIRIT AND SOUL of an individual.
a. The Word of God pierces through the body and lays open the heart of man, exposing its main drive – it reaches into the innermost recesses of the soul, finding out the intents of a person’s innermost being. (Hebrews 4:12)
i. The Word of God is more unmeasurable in power because of its unlimited energy and ability to explode between the spirit and the soul of our life, in its explosion it reveals the will of man and opens a revelation of God's energy and reveals God’s power for those seeking truth from God’s Word.
1. God ‘s Word has the energy force to spit our inner most beings wide open!
a. He sees what you think of others.
b. He knows your secret thoughts.
c. He see’s how you look at the opposite sex.
d. He hears your self-talk and inner talk about others.
e. He sees your heart and knows if you forgive or not.
ii. The Word of God splits the seams of the heart and shows whether a person is soul ruled (fleshly driven) or spirit ruled.
1. The Word reveals to the soul whether it’s controlled by the flesh or spirit.
a. This nuclear God blast exposes lies and deception – and reveals truth and life.
2. The Word of God also tells us we are inadequate to get out of the flow of the flesh on our own wisdom or strength. The Word - The Bible makes it clear that we need to be led by the Spirit to get plucked out of the wrong water way.
a. We need Jesus’ help to be delivered from our soulish fleshly realm.
b. God’s Word can get us out of the flood waters of sin and destruction – no other force can do this in the world.
i. Illustration: Sharks hang at the entrance of a river into the ocean looking for its prey. The Devil has his sharks at the river way into the ocean of life to attack and destroy you.
iii. Scripture John 3:6: "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit."
1. Are you producing spiritual fruit today or are producing fleshly fruit which is spoiling and poisoning?
a. What has your soul in bondage?
2. Today in our current situation – we see a lot of fleshly mindsets saying they speak truth but they weave webs of deception and lies which are bringing division – violence – fear – hopelessness – helplessness.
T.S. To better understand this nuclear God-blast, let us take a deeper look into what the soul does and what the spirit does in the trichotomy of man.
III. THE SOUL'S FUNCTION and design by God
a. The individual himself (our soul realm) is made up of the soul – it is the part of man that loves and hates in the natural realm. It is the seat of emotions, it impacts and directs – it’s a driving force and it impacts man's self-consciousness. It’s his or her control center! It consists of the senses of man in the natural realm, his/hers natural thinking or reasoning process.
i. Soul diagram – explain it define it.
1. Quote: John Orberg states this about our souls: “If your soul is healthy, no external circumstance can destroy your life. If your soul is unhealthy, no external circumstance can redeem your life (Pg 40, Soul Keeping).
2. Scriptures: Jesus said in Matthew 16:26: “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
3. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37: “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
a. Jesus emphasized the importance of your soul not just in eternity but it’s health in the here and now! Your success spiritually this year depends on the condition of your soul! Your soul is linked to your spirit and will impact your spirit if the soul is unhealthy. Yes, there is a link or a connection between your spirit, your soul and even your body.
ii. See Power Point Slide the Trichotomy of man!
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.”
a. Our whole what: Spirit – Soul – Body!
2. The 3 dimensions of you and I: taken from the New Testament Recovery Version from http://biblesforamerica.org/books:
a. The spirit as our inmost part is the inner organ, possessing God-consciousness, that we may contact God/connect with God. (John 4:24; Romans 1:9)
i. The human spirit is the deepest part of a person. By means of this innermost part, we contact God in the spiritual realm. No other creature was created by God with this third part.
ii. The soul is our very inner self (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25), it’s a medium between our spirit and our body, possessing self-consciousness, that we may have our personality.
1. Our Soul perceives things in the psychological realm. In fact, in Greek-the original language of the NT – the word for soul is psuche, which is also the root word of psychology.
2. Definition of the Soul: You could ask the question: "What is the soul?" How does the Bible describe our souls? What does the Bible say about our souls?
3. John Ortberg describes it this way, “We each have an outer life and an inner one. My outer self is the public, visible me. My accomplishments, my work, and my reputation lie there. But inside is my soul that part of me that speaks in silence to others but yells at me. It's the inside stuff of real life - what is your soul saying to you - how is your soul? (Is it connected to the breath of life the spirit or is it deflated by the things of this world and self?) My inner life is where my secret thoughts and hopes and wishes live. Because my inner life is invisible, it is easy to neglect. No one has direct access to it, so it wins no applause (John Ortberg – Soul Keeping page 37-38).”
iii. The body as our external part it is the outer organ, possessing world-consciousness, that we may contact the material world. The body contains the soul, and the soul is the vessel that contains the spirit.
iii. Let me illustrate - A Case in reason.
1. Reason is a function of the soul; it is of considerable service in all things relating to the present world. The ability to decide about a course of action – it directs us to the use of our talents, gifts and natural abilities.
2. Reason is in a sense the same as understanding. It means the quality of the human soul, that quality which exerts itself in three ways:
a. By simple apprehension
b. By judgment
c. By discourse
3. Reason helps us do carpentry, trades, math, sociology, and the like but it also directs us on how we deal with stress, life situations and others.
4. The natural soul realm has good in it but it is also made up of fleshly elements you can see:
a. Romans 8:6-8 "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
i. Current events and messages being promoted by the dark side:
1. Church is not essential.
2. God is okay with LGBT people they don’t have to repent of their sin – instead they need to be proud of their sin.
b. Question: “What does the soul need to be healthy?” in other words “What is the proper design and function by God of the soul?
i. Your soul – my soul was designed by God to connect with Him: Our souls need a connection to its creator God or they will find another god (idol) to connect too.
1. Orberg states: Our soul’s problem, however, is not its neediness; it’s our fallenness. Our need was meant to point us to God. Instead, we fasten our minds and bodies and wills on other sources of ultimate devotion, which the Bible calls idolatry.
a. Idols – man made object which we worship!
i. Money
ii. Cars
iii. Sports
iv. Pleasure
v. Sex
vi. Recreation
vii. Sin
viii. Porn
ix. Gambling
x. Greed
xi. LGBT
2. The OT repeatedly warns and reveals to us when we disconnect from God we will connect to idols and sin.
a. Disconnection from God and His Word brings death and cursing’s to our life – disconnection from God with your soul will not produce life and blessings.
b. Jesus said John 15:5-8: 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
i. We must stay connected to the vine to have healthy souls that produce spiritual fruit and bring life!
ii. The soul needs God’s presence to be healthy and whole! Say it with me!
3. Our souls crave God – they want His presence dwelling in us – our soul has a longing for God’s presence because we were designed by Him that way.
a. Ortberg notes: “If you read through the Bible, you get the sense that the soul was designed to search for God. The Hebrew Scriptures — which might be thought of as the Great Soul-Book of human literature — are almost obsessed with this thought.”
b. Listen to these few verses from the Bible:
i. The soul thirsts for the Mighty One (Ps. 63: 1).
ii. It thirsts for him like parched land thirsts for water (Ps. 143: 6).
iii. Like a laser it focuses the full intensity of its desire on him (Ps. 33: 20).
iv. It lifts itself up to him (Ps. 25: 1)
v. It blesses him (Ps. 103: 1 – 2, 22)
vi. It clings to him (Ps. 63: 8)
vii. It waits for him in silence (Ps. 62: 1).
1. Ortberg notes: “Indeed, the soul lives in God.” The soul seeks God with its whole being. Because it is desperate to be whole, the soul is God-smitten and God-crazy and God-obsessed. My mind may be obsessed with idols; my will may be enslaved to habits; my body may be consumed with appetites. But my soul will never find rest until it rests in God.”
a. Above from Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
4. Bottom line - Our souls need to be connected to God’s presence!
a. What changed and transformed the disciples in Acts two – a connection of their soul with the Spirit of God – it was an internal connection not and external one – it changed their perceptions – it drove out their fears of the future.
i. It empowered them!
b. God wants to make every moment of my life glorious with His presence.
i. Ortberg states, “Every day is a collection of moments, 86,400 seconds in a day. How many of them can you live with God? Start where you are and grow from there. God wants to be with you every moment.”
ii. Ortberg adds, “As soon as I became aware of my self-centeredness, I surrendered my thoughts back to God and enjoyed his presence again.”
1. The best place to start doing life with God is in the quiet moments of your day – the car-the bathroom-the?
2. The truth is if I let the Holy Spirit live in me I will look at my day different – I will look at people different – the Holy Spirits presence changes what I see when I see them as God does I change.
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 122). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
iii. Point: Your soul needs the presence of God to keep it healthy and whole but you also must guard your soul from the disease of “Hurry” you must ruthlessly eliminate the spirit of hurry from your life.
ii. Your soul needs rest – God designed it that way - see Hebrews 4:1-13!
1. What does it mean to have a rested soul? Just look at Jesus life and ministry – He reveals to us the importance of finding rest for the soul in life.
a. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)
b. God rests – Jesus rested and we need to do so too.
i. John Ortberg notes this observation about the Lord and rest:
1. He states, “In the Bible, God never gives anyone an easy job. God never comes to Abraham, or Moses, or Esther and says, “I’d like you to do me a favor, but it really shouldn’t take much time. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” God does not recruit like someone from the PTA. He is always intrusive, demanding, exhausting. He says we should expect that the world will be hard, and that our assignments will be hard.”
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 126). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
c. A stressed out soul – a soul filled with the spirit of hurry and busyness is a soul that has lost the ability to rest in God and connect with God!
i. John states, “When we carry around mental lists of errands not yet done and bills not yet paid and emails not yet replied to . . . When we try to push unpleasant emotions under the surface like holding beach balls under the water at a swimming pool . . . our minds grow weary.”
1. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 128). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. There is a kind of fatigue that attacks the will.
d. John states this about the importance of soul care and soul rest: “The soul was not made to run on empty. But the soul doesn’t come with a gauge. The indicators of soul-fatigue are more subtle”:
i. Things seem to bother you more than they should. Your spouse’s gum-chewing suddenly reveals to you a massive character flaw.
ii. It’s hard to make up your mind about even a simple decision.
iii. Impulses to eat or drink or spend or crave are harder to resist than they otherwise would be.
iv. You are more likely to favor short-term gains in ways that leave you with high long-term costs. Israel ended up worshiping a golden calf simply because they grew tired of having to wait on Moses and God.
1. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (pp. 131-132). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
iii. You are responsible for your own soul? No one else is!
1. Your pastor is not responsible for your soul.
2. Your spouse is not responsible for your soul.
3. Your mom and dad are not responsible for your soul.
4. Your church is not responsible for you soul.
5. You are!
a. Apparently we believe that by some magic, the law of consequences doesn’t apply to us.
i. I can spend without getting into debt.
ii. I can lie without getting caught.
iii. I can let my temper fly without damaging my relational life.
iv. I can have a bad attitude at work and get away with it.
v. I can avoid disciplining my children without their getting spoiled.
vi. I can neglect the Bible and still know God.
1. Our capacity to live in denial about the law of consequences is huge and is damaging to the soul. In the Bible it takes God a long time to teach the human race about this!
a. Above from Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (pp. 90-91). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
6. What do we need to know from this point in the sermon?
a. Answer: We need to know that our souls will be unhealthy without proper care and the infilling and connection to the Holy Spirit and God. We need to know this so that we make it a priority to care of our souls (resting in God on the Sabbath) and connecting with the spirit. We need that connection with the Holy Spirit to infill us and empower us in our life.
iv. Our souls need to experience the freedom of the spirit by dying to self.
1. 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
T.S. We have learned a little about our souls – their God design – their problem – if disconnected from the Spirit – we see that our soul is connected to reason, man's thinking, it’s valuable to the trichotomy of man but what happens when man moves to the higher realm, the spirit and allows the spirit to lead us in life.
IV. THE FUNCTION and design OF THE SPIRIT.
a. The spirit is to be the highest part of man. It is the spirit that makes man God-conscious.
i. It is the part of man that trusts God and steps out in faith.
ii. Hebrews 4: 2: “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”
iii. The spiritual part of us is not natural (fleshly) but spiritual. (John 3:6)
b. The Word of God penetrates the deepest and most hidden parts of a man's or women’s life and dissects his lower animal life with its desires, interests and affections. It penetrates his higher spiritual life with its aspirations for spiritual communion with God.
i. The Word is like a two-edged sword which cuts through the bone and marrow of a physical body.
1. Marrow - the soft, vascular fatty tissue that fills the cavities of most bones it is the innermost essential, or choicest part. It gives the bone its strength. Without it the bone would break or rot away.
a. Same with the body w/o the spirit.
2. The Word does not look upon the outward appearances but is skilled in judging the thoughts and intentions of the inside.
a. The Word knows what is on the inside. God knows why you want to be a deacon, pastor, elder, teacher. He knows why you do what you do.
b. Brandt states, "Bitter envying and selfish ambition in the heart does not show. You can be very hostile toward a man and walk up to him and put your arm around him and say, Hi, friend." You can hide the inner thought of your soul by developing your acting ability. If you practice looking like a Christian, you will look a lot more like one a year from now than you do now. But your spirit may not have changed. The Christian life does not depend on your ability to act right but to "be" right. You may kid the world, but you will not fool yourself or God" (52).
i. James 3:14-16 " But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."
ii. Note I. Cor. 3:11-15:
ii. This is where reason has its limits, and the spirit is to take over. The soul will always tell you that you’re justified and correct even when you’re dead wrong. It's called the act of denial – it’s easily deceived without the Spirit!
1. I Cor. 2:14 states, "But the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."
a. The Bible reveals to us that reason has its limits – knowledge without wisdom is not good – wisdom and its connection to the spirit is what gives us the ability to use knowledge and reason rightly and correctly.
i. Reason cannot produce faith, only the spirit can in man.
ii. Reason is thinking it out while the dimension of faith is the faith - evidence of things not seen and still trusting God.
1. For instance, people who are agnostics. They believe that the human mind (the soul) cannot know whether there is a God, or anything beyond material phenomena.
2. For them this is true it takes the Spirit to understand God's plan.
3. This is why many today is totally blind to truth – they cannot see it – it will take a Nuclear God blast to break off the web of deception over their minds and hearts.
a. This is what God’s word is designed to do – break open truth!
iii. The spirit of man is capable of faith. Faith is believing in divine evidence through the spirit and through God’s Word – this ignites a full conviction of an invisible eternal word and world – which cannot be seen or understood in the soul realm of life.
1. II Cor. 4: 6 & 7 "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."
a. Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
i. Point: The natural man and some born-again Christians are soul controlled and soul ruled. But they should be spirit controlled and ruled!
b. (Illustration with hands.)
Conclusion:
What do we need to know from this message?
The Word of God is to be actively energized in the Christian's life through their spirit. It is time for Christians to be spirit controlled and not soul controlled.
Christians need to recognize that the devil is still our enemy, and if he cannot devour and damn our souls, he will do his best to destroy our testimony and render us useless in the service of the Lord. He will help get wrapped up in bondage!
We must walk each day by faith, yielding soul, spirit and body sanctified wholly to Him. (I Corinthians 10:10-11; II Peter 1:5-10).
QUESTIONS TO PONDER!
Are you still clinging to the soul? Do you enjoy it? Do you live in denial?
I believe even now the HS is convicting you, but you are not sure that you want to give up.
Hebrews addressed this dilemma in 4:7 “…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Is your soul ruled and controlled by the flesh – is it under the influence of the fleas and or evil spirits?
All I can do is reveal to you the truth today.
I can promise you that there is a power available from above that can set you free and give you the breakthrough you are seeking. All you need to do is receive it. YOU HOLD THE KEY---- IT"S YOUR CHOICE!
Who will drive your life?
Soul and fleshly thoughts?
Or the Spirt – specifically the Holy Spirit and your connection to the Holy Spirit?
Don't forget a lesson from Jesus to the Pharisee's. Let’s make this message personal even more direct! A divine warning from Jesus to all:
"Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisee's make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?" (Luke 11:39-40).
"He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)
LET ME REVEAL SOME INWARD WICKED THOUGHTS OF THE SOUL!
o If they do not do it my way, I will not use my gift then!
o If she does not promote me, I will not help anymore!
o They did not help me so I will tell everyone how bad they were!
o I hope he fails then I can say I told you so!
o I disagree with him so therefore I will work behind the scenes to undermine him!
o They hurt me so every chance I get I will remind them what they did!
o I know more than they do!
o He deserved to fall and get hurt!
o I told them this needs to be done but they will not listen so I will talk to others to force them to do it!
o I will not stop causing problems and complaining until they do what I told them!
o I am not responsible for my rotten life or financial condition, it’s their fault!
The Spirit thoughts
• I do all to the glory of God and do not have to have my way!
• I forgive because they know not what they do, turn the other cheek!
• I will speak well of all people or not speak at all!
• Even though I would do it different I help them succeed so God gets the glory!
• I will forgive their past sins just like God forgave mine and did not hold it over my head!
• I don't know it all and God may have given them that plan or vision!
• I pray for Joe falling Lord help him be successful!
• I will be a faithful servant not a rebellious rebel causing chaos!
• I will choose to lose!
• It's my fault Lord this happened please forgive me and help me do it right!
Brandt states,” WE must accept our behavior (our soulish behavior) for what it is and confess it to God. Then that behavior needs to be forsaken. We must admit to God, ‘Yes, I am sorry.' People who approach God on this basis will find the peace and joy available only from God" (pg., 56).
WHEN WE DECIDE TO BE SPIRIT RULED AND NOT SOUL RULED, WE WILL see breakthrough in our live’s and we will TRUELY PROSPER IN GOD – our church – school and society will too!
Closing video: Song Breakthrough
