Sermon Central
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Soul Care 103 Series
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Feb 3, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: To achieve the Abundant life Jesus promises requires our souls to be healthy and whole.
Video Transition: A Word from the Lord!
What is your word from the Lord? Our staffs and Creative teams was and is Abundance! John 10:10
Soul Care: Soul Care 103
Thesis for series: To achieve the Abundant life Jesus promises requires our souls to be healthy and whole. But to do this requires soul searching on our part as well as soul care. Soul care is our responsibility, so we need to make sure that we do it daily.
Scriptures:
John 10:7- 11: NASB
7So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8“All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
• Satan ‘s 3 prong attack on you and your family!
o To Steal you identity in Christ, steal you divine purpose and mission from the Lord, Steal your life away!
o To Kill by taking life, infants, babies lives, children’s lives, young people’s lives all the way to adults – to kill you family, church, school and communities – even nation which honors Him.
o To Destroy anything biblical, moral or godly in this world, to destroy the name of Jesus and His Church.
• Jesus came to:
o Bring life – zoe – to add eternal meaning to our existence – eternal purpose to our lives, to make out lives count for eternity.
o Bring life abundantly – a life with significance, with fulfillment and purpose, with the blessings of God, with joy and peace.
11“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
To be able to live life abundantly today in this fast paced hurried, evil, and stress filled world requires that I take care of my body, my spirit and my soul.
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?”
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.”
The Pursuit of the Abundant Life means we need to focus on the three areas of us – the ones created in the image of God: Our us encompasses our Spirit/Soul/Body! We also need to know how they all function and interact with each other – remember these compose all of us!
Summary of Soul Care 102
Question: “What does the soul need to be healthy and whole this year?”
First point: Our souls need a connection to its creator God or it will find another god (idol) to connect too.
• 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.
• Jesus reminds us in this teaching that our connection to the life giving vine is essential or we will die! This teaching describes how people’s souls die – they disconnect from the Lord and all the vital nutrients and minerals are lost and they start a slow death.
• We must stay connected to the vine to have healthy souls that produce spiritual fruit!
• If we don’t we will find something else to replace God with and that is called idolatry.
o Kyle Idleman states: “The problem is that the instant something takes the place of God, the moment it becomes an end in itself rather than something to lay at God’s throne, it becomes an idol. When someone or something replaces the Lord God in the position of glory in our lives, then that person or thing by definition has become our god.”
? Idleman, Kyle (2013-02-19). Gods at War: Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart (Kindle Locations 227-229). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Today we will talk about what else the soul needs to be healthy and whole. The soul is needy – but most of all it needs God – the soul can be unhealthy and be needy in the wrong way – If you have ever seen the movie “What about Bob” we see what an unhealthy soul looks like selfish, toxic, destructive and annoying.
