Times of Refreshing
PPT 3 Series title
PPT 4 Series verse
Ac 3:19 "Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
God made us so that we are in continual need of refreshing. Not only did He make us in need of continual refreshing, He made getting refreshed enjoyable.
Sometimes I get tired of eating, every day I get hungry, every day multiple times of day I get hungry, and sometimes I think, “I wonder how nice it wouild be if I didn’t have to eat.” Have you ever thought that?
But then I eat, and then I realize I like eating, it is pleasurable. God made us need physical refreshing, and He made it enjoyable for us to get refreshed. Could you imagine if you threw up every time you ate? Some people do. Pregnant woman for example. Fortunately very few of us live that way, because for the vast majority of humans God made eating nice.
Give us this day, our daily bread. We need daily bread. We need daily refreshing.
God also made us to desperately need physical sleep, which is another type of daily bread. What happens when we don’t get the sleep we need?
We get grumpy. We need refreshing to be able to laugh and enjoy life.
We get fatigued. We don’t have the energy we need. We need the renewed energy sleep provides.
We get crazy. Go without sleep long enough and you will see things. I have seen some strange things driving a car past the time I should have pulled over and taken a nap.
So we understand we need daily bread, and daily physical rest.
PPT 5 text
Psalms 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
But there is another part of us that needs daily refreshing. That is called the spiritual part of us. The bible teaches that we have a body, a soul, and a spirit.
Body is easy.
Soul is all that part of you, that makes you you. Your mind, your emotions, your character, your disposition.
Spirit is the least understood part of us.
It is the part of us that came from God that comprises what life really is and makes us different and better than the animals. It includes the conscience, and the part of us that relates to God.
PPT 6 text
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Man became a living soul. The difference between us and animals is that the breath of life is actually a plural and should be read as, “the breath of lives.” Animal life and spiritual life.
Adam was told on the day you eat of the tree of life you will die. Did he die when he ate it? Yes, not a physical death a spiritual one that is why Jesus comes along and says you must be born again. He then takes pains to explain in John 3 that He is talking about being reborn spiritually. Natural man is alive physically, but dead spiritually.
Being born again spiritually doesn’t simply mean you have the Holy Spirit in you, it means there is a part of you that was dead and has been resurrected.
PPT 7 text
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Not only is Christ in you but you have been made alive. (Spiritually) There is a part of you that was dead, but now is alive.
Here is an example of the difference between soul and spirit
PPT 8 Text
Psalms 43:5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God—soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’ my God. (MSG)
David is speaking to his soul. His soul was in the dumps, and yet there is another part of him that is encouraging himself. That is the spiritual part of him. When a believer suffers from depression he either has some kind of chemical or other imbalance, or just as likely the spiritual part of him needs refreshing.
Let’s go back to the idea of the need for daily refreshing. We talked about how the body and soul need daily refreshing in the form of food and rest. We also said there are outward and visible effects when we are not getting the refreshment we need. But what about when the spiritual part of us is not being refreshed, what are the resulting effects?.
I think God intended the spiritual part of us to be refreshed at fairly regular intervals also.
Let me illustrate ...
My wife always takes notes when I’m preaching, unless she is bored then she doodles, like many of you. If I really wanted to know what you thought of my preaching I could say, show me your notes. If there are words on your page then you tracked with me, if it is pictures I lost you.
Anyway once I was going through her bible and I saw a short note she had written from a sermon she heard before we had ever men, and it has always stuck with me, here is what it says:
“Temptation is the spirit crying out to be fed.” No food - grumpy. Dry spirit - open to temptation.
So the effects of a spirit needing refreshing are openness to temptation, reduced ability to encourage the soul like David did in Ps. 43:5, and I am going to add one more - doubt and unbelief.
Doubt is faith that is under trial, unbelief is doubt that has hardened and calloused over. We will struggle with doubt the more spiritually famished we are. The bible tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God. If we are not feeding our spirit with the word on a regular basis we will begin to wither spiritually.
I have gone on extended fasts of just liquid, and know first hand what scientests and doctors tell us, that with prolonged lack of food your body begins to eat itself, eat muscle tissue. Faith is your main spiritual muscle, it it is not fed it will seriously degrade. The shield of faith protects us from the enemy, listen to this verse which describes the importance of faith:
PPT 9
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
In Ephesians 6, Paul is teaching on the believers armor and he lists several things, but here in verse 16 he tells us that, “Above All,” taking up the shield of faith. Above all means this is the most important thing in his list. A sword is no defense against fiery darts, no matter how good a sword it is. While all the elements or our armor are meant to work in conjuction, Paul still lists the shield as the most important. If the spiritual part of us isn’t being refreshed you won’t have much of a shield to hold up. It is a living shield subject to malnutrition.
Being spiritually refreshed on the other hand thickens and strengthens your living shield. Now here is the good news, just as food is enjoyable, just as sleep is enjoyable, so God has designed us that spiritual refreshment is enjoyable. In fact spiritual refreshment will sustain you better than any other type of refreshment.
Here are two verses that show NT believers in very difficult circumstances while at the same time their life was full of joy because they were doing well spiritually:
PPT 10
2Co 8:2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
1Th 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
Does anyone here have a yearning for spiritual refreshing? Anyone aware they need more of God?
God wants us to be refreshed spiritually. I believe He is here today to refresh and refill the wells of those who are thirsty.
I have two final verses and then we are going to close with a music video, healing rain by Michael Smith.
PPT 11 text
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
PPT 12 text
Isaiah 55:1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
If you are thirsty come. Just come. Grace gives you what you don’t deserve based on the infinite riches of God’s love.
Close: My spirit man is dead. I need spiritual refreshing
PPT 13 healing rain.
