Sermon- A spiritually satisfied soul
- This morning we are going to have our last sermon in the series about our soul.
- When we first experience the redemption that comes through Christ, it’s a life
changing moment.
- A new chapter in our lives has begun. That’s where the Satisfied soul comes in.
- Instead of trying to redeem ourselves from the destruction of sin. We are finally
relying on Christ who came for that sole purpose, to redeem those that were lost.
- As with any new thing, the glow, beauty, can be forgotten, or wear off.
- I know that sounds bad, or like that’s just not possible. At least not for those who
really accepted Christ as their Redeemer.
- That’s not true though.
- For anyone living the upward sailing soul life, it can become tiring when you come
to grips with your own faults, & the faults of those around you.
- We live in a fallen world. We walk amongst many that are not like us, Christians.
- The crowd that pressures us, pulls us, nags us, & taunts us can not only make
us slip, but also make us lose sight of the joy we have in Christ.
- So, our last message is about having a Spiritually Satisfied Soul.
Psalm 17:15
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
- Imagine the purity of the moment we see Christ face to face!
- There will be no more sin, or corruption upon us!
- We shall be perfect, as God had intended us to be.
Prayer
- When it comes to being a Child of God we strive to be just like dad, & that’s perfect.
- We know that’s not going to happen, but that doesn’t stop us from trying.
- Let me give you an example.
> A Joke Backfires (Author unknown www.christian-jokes.org)
A preacher, who shall we say was "humor impaired," attended a conference to help encourage and better equip pastors for their ministry. Among the speakers were many well known and dynamic speakers.
One such boldly approached the pulpit and, gathering the entire crowd's attention, said, "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman that wasn't my wife!" The crowd was shocked! He followed up by saying, "And that woman was my mother!" - The crowd burst into laughter and delivered the rest of his talk, which went over quite well.
The next week, the pastor decided he'd give this humor thing a try, and use that joke in his sermon. As he surely approached the pulpit that sunny Sunday, he tried to rehearse the joke in his head. It suddenly seemed a bit foggy to him.
Getting to the microphone he said loudly, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of another woman that was not my wife!" The congregation inhaled half the air in the room. After standing there for almost 10 seconds in the stunned silence, trying to recall the second half of the joke, the pastor finally blurted out, "...and I can't remember who she was!"
- The words, Spiritually Satisfied.
- Jesus said, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
- Our weakness, there is not a human being on the face of this earth that can
acclaim they are perfect.
- In the beginning we were created in the image of God. The Latin Words,
Imago Dei.
- What That means is, we were created to live forever, & perfect.
- Now we are created in the image of Adam, imperfect, & will die.
- When God created us, we are the only creation that He physically did something
with.
- He breathed into us!
- God physically put a piece of Himself into us.
Q- With our current state marred by Adam, how can we be Spiritually Satisfied?
- Here’s the answer,
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
- Jesus came to remove the marring Adam put over us, & He has reconciled us back to
righteousness, holiness, God!
- The whole theme of being a Christian is, get out of your head & get into the mind
of Christ.
- Jesus is perfect, pure, & we are now made after His image.
- Listen,
Colossians 3:10
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
- We have returned to purity, Through Christ.
- The outward man, that still bears the marks of sin. Will be put off, but this Soul That
is joined with Jesus lives forever.
- Yes, we’ll receive a new body at the time of the rapture, but what matters is you
are made in the likeness of Jesus (the Creator)!
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- A Spiritually Satisfied Soul is one that is looking for this glorious day!
- It’s not that we hope for it, as the world would laugh at, but we know it’s true &
coming!
-At any moment Jesus could step out from behind a cloud & call His bride home!
Q- Could you imagine if that happened in the next minute?
- Think of the rejoicing, & singing we’d hear!
- He’s come! He’s come!
- The Lamb of God that was slain has come to redeem those He laid down His life for.
- We’ll see Him, face to face! The One that we’ve only imagined of we’ll see!
- The last scripture, verse 58 said
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- Always abounding in the work of the Lord.
- When we read the words, the work of the Lord, That’s the Glory of the Lord.
- Now Here’s the powerful idea that comes from that knowledge.
- At Jesus’ second coming, this isn’t the rapture, because we’re already with
him. Listen to how Jesus comes!
Matthew 16:27
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
- The Lamb, hence the name Son of man, comes as Judge.
Q- By What?
- By The Glory of His Father. By the Work/plan of His Father!
- As we’re walking our path, of being Spiritually Satisfied, the work/plan we’re
living out is the Glory of the Lord that’s shining in this world.
- It’s so important that we move through these phases of our soul, because
each time we move, we’re declaring victory to the One who’s redeemed us.
- That’s Why we’re closing on what we each look forward to, the day we step
into His presence!
- We move from our low to God’s high in life.
- My closing story illustrates the journey of our soul.
> The little boy (Author unknown www.academictips.org)
Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: “How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?”
The surgeon said, “I’m sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t make it.”
Sally said, “Why do little children get cancer? Doesn’t God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?”
The surgeon asked, “Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he’s transported to the university.”
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good-bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair.
“Would you like a lock of his hair?” the nurse asked.
Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy’s hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally. The mother said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to donate his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else. “I said no at first, but Jimmy said, ‘Mom, I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.” She went on, “My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.”
Sally walked out of Children’s mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy’s belongings on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy’s belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son’s room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:
“Dear Mom,
I know you’re going to miss me; but don’t think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just ’cause I’m not around to say I LOVE YOU. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn’t like the same things us boys do. You’ll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know. Don’t be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn’t look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God’s knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That’s when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good-bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn’t allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him ‘Where was He when I needed him?’ “God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.
Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I’ve written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn’t that cool? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I’m, sure the food will be great.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don’t hurt anymore. The cancer is all gone. I’m glad because I couldn’t stand that pain anymore and God couldn’t stand to see me hurt so much, either. That’s when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?
Signed with Love from: God, Jesus & Me.”
- This story, while allegorical, reminds us of what we hope for.
- One day this veil of life will be rolled back, & only the Glory of our Lord will be seen.
- What a day that will be.
