Sermon Central
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Energizing The Soul Series
Contributed by Marty Baker on May 9, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: This message encourage people to develop spiritual disciplines and plug into the power of God’s active presence.
Energizing Your Soul
Dr. Marty Baker / April 21, 2002
www.stevenscreek.net
In 1989, Energizer Batteries debuted a pink bunny playing a drum and wearing shades and blue sandals as their advertising icon. Ever since then, he has been catching people’s attention beating his drum across our television screens. As his first commercial proved, he’s unstoppable! The battery powering him has so much power that he keeps going and going and going. Since then, he’s made surprise appearances in more than 115 television spots, spreading his message of long-lasting power. POWER!
In our world, there is a great interest in power. Every month we become pen pals with SCE&G or The Southern Company and pay a power bill. We enjoy power lunches. We wear power ties. We take power walks. We eat "power bars". We embrace power selling. We use the net to do power searches. We send our kids to Power Surge. With all of this power around us, why do we often feel "powerless".
That’s what I want to talk about this morning as we focus on Energizing our Souls. Over the last several weeks, we have been in a series called SoulQuest. This series has focused on encouraging the soul. Today, we take the next step in the process as we discover power for living.
The message of long-lasting power did not begin with the Energizer Bunny, it began when God released His presence on this earth.
In the New Testament, we see this promise.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you ...
This verse introduces a new way of living. It is what I call "power living". If we are going to energize our souls, then we need to get plugged into "power living."
Thus far in this series I’ve talked about the importance of restoring the soul and freeing the soul, now it is time to fill the soul. One famous writer in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul. He carried the message of Christ into cities that had not heard and then he encouraged those individuals with letters. Today those letters are a part of the Bible. One such letter is to a group of people living in the town of Ephesus. Listen to his words.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Did you notice Paul’s passion for "power living?" How do we access this power living?
Many of you have a daily routine of exercise. You jog, walk on the treadmill, endure the elliptical trainers, swim and work out with weights so that your muscles can be toned and strengthened. In the same fashion, if you desire to be strong spiritually, you must embrace a spiritual workout routine.
12 . . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
What does a spiritual workout look like? Spiritual toning doesn’t mean a visitation of some special spiritual gift every day of your life. It involves a commitment to a three-step practice that helps keep the power of God’s presence beating strongly in your soul.
How to Engergize Your Soul
1. Daily align your life with God and His presence.
Sunday morning just isn’t enough. Spirit powered living requires that we intentionally seek out God every day. The more we seek to encounter Him in our daily lives, the more we will begin to recognize that God’s presence surrounds us and sustains us whenever we may be.
Too many people look for God’s presence and purpose somewhere "out there." They travel off to some isolated moutaintop or deserted island to find God. If you are looking for God, look close to home.
Jesus spent the bulk of his spiritual journey in the ordinary towns and villages of his native Palestine. He taught and preached and performed miracles in the most humdrum of locations in neighborhoods, at the docks, and in homes filled with noisy kids.
