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.
Summary of Movie: Plot – Bob Whiley decides to undergo the treatment of the psychoanalyst Dr. Leo Marvin, who wants him to read his latest book while he goes on holidays. Bob looks for him and harasses him until Leo, exasperated, tries to kill him in turn. On the other hand, the doctor's family likes Bob so much that Leo's sister decides to marry him. Bob finally heals and wants to study psychology.
Two main actors – Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss
Quote from movie: Bob Wiley: Well, I get dizzy spells, nausea, cold sweats, hot sweats, fever blisters, difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, blurred vision, involuntary trembling, dead hands, numb lips, fingernail sensitivity, pelvic discomfort.
Quote from Movie: Bob Wiley: The simplest way to put it? I have problems. I worry about diseases, so I have trouble touching things. In public places it’s almost impossible. I have a real big problem moving. – Bob Wiley
Quote from Movie: Bob Wiley: Gimme, gimme, gimme. I need. I need. – Bob Wiley
Quote from movie: Bob Wiley: What if my heart stops beating? What if I’m looking for a bathroom, I can’t find it, and… my bladder explodes?
Quote from Movie: Dr. Leo Marvin: So the real question is, what is the crisis, Bob? What is it you’re truly afraid of?
As John Ortberg says our souls are like “Bob” needy – very needy and first and foremost in need of God, if God is not there to impact the soul - they go out of control and get focused on all the wrong things, making them more and more unhealthy and even toxic.
Illustration: The Camel has a weakness
Camels have an Achilles heel …But their vulnerability is hidden by their legendary resilience; these famous “ships of the desert” have been crossing dune seas since before the time of Abraham. The stamina and the strength of camels is truly impressive…But the treacherous thing about camels is that they will walk a thousand miles with seemingly endless endurance, giving you little indication they will collapse. Then it just happens…’Camels are traitorous: they walk thousands of paces and never seem to tire. Then suddenly, they kneel and die. But horses tire bit by bit. You always know how much you can ask of them…Human souls hide an Achille’s heel too. We have an astonishing capacity to rally in the face of calamity and duress. We rally and rally, and then one day we discover there’s nothing left. Our soul simply says, ‘ I’m done; I don’t want to do this anymore, as we collapse into discouragement, depression, or just blankness of soul. You don’t want to push your soul to this point. But everything about the hour we are living is is pushing our souls to that very point” (Eldredge, Resilient, pages ix and x)
Another author Barton puts it this way, “Losing your soul is sort of like losing a credit care. You think it’s in your wallet so you don’t give it much thought until one day you reach for it and can’t find it. The minute you realize it’s gone, you start scrambling to find it, trying to remember when you last used it or least had it in your possession. No matter what is going on in your life , you stop and look for it, because otherwise major damage could be done. Oh, that we would feel the same sense of urgency when we become aware that we have lost our souls!” (Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the soul of your leadership page 13-14)
I think it is time to take our soul health very seriously – it is a matter of life and death!
T.S. – We have learned how our soul needs to be connected to God, be dwelling in His presence daily or our souls will wilt and detach from the life giving vine – But our needy souls also needs rest! A hurried unrested soul is an unhealthy soul heading off a cliff to destruction.
Reminds me of another Bill Murray movie called “Ground Hog Day” were Phil Connors a reporter is stuck in one day until – speaks of a stuck soul in one dysfunctional place - he keeps repeating the same day until he gets it right. But in the process of doing it over and over he finally snaps, he wants to die, he wants it to stop! So he devises a plan to steal a truck and Phil the famous ground hog. He makes his move snatches Phil and speeds away with the police in hot pursuit and eventually Phil so distraught drives off the cliff killing himself and Phil the ground hog – But unfortunately for him he wakes again only to discover he is still alive repeating the same day over and over again. Stuck in an endless cycle of monotony and panic – with no way out!
Our soul needs rest or it will self-destruct and come apart – this why the Bible tells us to rest in the Lord.
1. Your soul needs rest! Hebrews 3:7-4:11 (read)
a. What does the Bible say about rest?
i. Biblical rest is not only something we do for our body, soul, and spirit, but it is a form of worship and a way to experience more of Jesus’ love.
1. Deep rest is when we completely trust the sovereignty of God and lean into His Holy Spirit even in the midst of the craziest situations like Covid and political unrest and out of control inflation.
b. Got Questions says this about Biblical rest:
i. “Rest” is defined as “peace, ease or refreshment.” “Relax” means “to become loose or less firm, to have a milder manner, to be less stiff.”
ii. The Bible speaks quite highly of rest. It is a repeated theme throughout Scripture, beginning with the creation week (Genesis 2:2-3). God created for six days; then He rested, not because He was tired but to set the standard for mankind to follow. The Ten Commandments made resting on the Sabbath a requirement of the Law (Exodus 20:8-11). Notice that God said, “Remember the Sabbath.” It wasn’t something new; it had been around since creation. All God’s people and their servants and the animals were to have one day in seven to rest. The command to rest was not an excuse to be lazy. You had to work for six days to get to the Sabbath. The land also needed to rest (Leviticus 25:4, 8-12). God is very serious about rest. https://www.gotquestions.org/rest-relaxation.html
iii. Quote from Got Questions: If one of the definitions of “relax” is “to become less firm,” then relaxing our grip on our own lives, careers, families, etc., and giving them over to God in faith is the best way to relax.
1. This is what Scripture encourages us to do – so as to be healthy and whole.
iv. Illustration - Share about the clip from American Pickers you watched this week:
1. Mike is driving around the center of this small town in Nebraska. He actually drives 4 times around the main square int the town – But Robbie his brother is getting impatient, irritated at him and says, “What are you doing – we got to go man! Mike responds calmly something like this, “You have to take in the sights and not miss the beauty of this small town architecture, and see what’s inside the buildings, you get a sense of the life of this town. It takes time to see it and appreciate it, one time through and your miss it.”
2. Our problem is we want to just speed through life and miss it all!
c. What does it mean to have a rested soul?
i. Just look at Jesus life and ministry – He reveals to us the importance of finding rest for the soul in life.
1. I shared a few weeks back how He did this!
ii. 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)
1. Got Questions states: “For the Christian, the ultimate rest is found in Christ. He invites all who are “weary and burdened” to come to Him and cast our cares on Him (Matthew 11:28; 1 Peter 5:7). It is only in Him that we find our complete rest—from the cares of the world, from the sorrows that plague us, and from the need to work to make ourselves acceptable to Him.”
iii. Psalm 23 reminded me of how I find this rest going through the valley of the shadow of death:
1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
a. Have you experienced Jesus’ rest in the calamity of life – through pandemics, through political unrest, through injustice, through attacks on your Biblical family unit and belief system?
d. John Ortberg states this about the importance of soul care and soul rest:
i. “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:
1. Things seem to bother you more than they should. Your spouse’s gum-chewing suddenly reveals to you a massive character flaw.
2. It’s hard to make up your mind about even a simple decision.
3. Impulses to eat or drink or spend or crave are harder to resist than they otherwise would be.
4. 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..
5. Your judgment is suffering.
6. You have less courage.
a. He adds, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all” is a quote so common that it has been attributed to General Patton and Vince Lombardi and Shakespeare. The same disciples who fled in fear when Jesus was crucified eventually sacrificed their lives for him. What changed was not their bodies, but their souls (and Spirit). The soul is not well when we rush so much. If it does not get the rest it needs, it becomes fatigued. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (pp. 131-132). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
7. Everything around you irritates you! People, job, spouse and so one.
8. You are not content about your life!
a. You want more – you don’t see the blessings in your life.
9. You are tossed like a buoy with the waves as James speaks of.
a. Share the story from Strengthening The Soul of Your Leadership – by Ruth Haley Barton.
i. The Story of the soul fatigued minister page 23.
e. Highlight another book for them to read:
i. In the book: The Rest of God, author Mark Buchanan says that the Sabbath is essential to our full humanity and faith. God set forth a rhythm of work and rest that if restored to our lives will bring prolonged life, enriched relationships, increased fruitfulness, and abundant joy. For the majority of us who have endless demands and stifling daily routines, discovering the "rest of God" is the solution to "not enough time."
1. He states in his book after talking about growing up with cats and watching them take cat naps in the sunlight coming through their bay window on cold winter days this:
a. “That image (cats napping) comes to mind when I think of Sabbath: a patch of sunlight falling through a window on a winter’s day. It’s a small yet ample chunk of space, a narrow yet full segment of time. In it, you can lie down and rest. From it, you can rise up and go—stronger, lighter, ready to work again with vigor and a clear mind. It is room enough, time enough, in which to relinquish all encumbrances, to act as though their existence has nothing whatsoever to do with your own. It is an invitation, at one and the same time, to empty yourself and fill yourself.”
i. “And look! Here’s a patch of sunlight. Why shouldn’t you stop and rest?”
ii. Buchanan, Mark. The Rest of God. Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
f. Our souls need scheduled times of rest: I go on a soul/spiritual care retreat yearly which really opens my eyes to my need to find these times of rest and restoration. Places of rest need to be scheduled in our lives for the health of our soul.
i. John Ortberg states, “Your soul needs rest. It is not always the “world” that squeezes us into its mold. We all too often distract ourselves. Being completely alone with nothing but our thoughts can be frightening, so we will use anything to distract us from experiencing the soul-healing that comes in solitude.”
1. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 137). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
a. Share the story by Gary Haugen in the foreword for Ruth Barton’s book! Pages 9-11.
g. Mark in His book The Rest of God speaks about what happened to his hurried and worn out soul:
i. Mark states, “The inmost places suffered most. I was losing perspective. Fissures in my character worked themselves here and there into cracks. Some widened into ruptures. I grew easily irritable, paranoid, bitter, self-righteous, gloomy. I was often argumentative: I preferred rightness to intimacy. I avoided and I withdrew. I had a few people I confided in, but few friends. I didn’t understand friendship. I had a habit of turning people, good people who genuinely cared for me, into extensions of myself: still water for me to gaze at the way Narcissus did, dark caves for me to boom my voice into and bask in the echoes. I didn’t let anyone get too near. And then I came to my senses. I wish I could say this happened in one blazing, dazzling vision—a voice from heaven, a light that blinded and wounded and healed—but it didn’t. It was more a slow dawning.”
1. Buchanan, Mark. The Rest of God (p. 2). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
ii. Marks adds and talks about the importance of Sabbath Rest:
1. Quote: ”In a culture where busyness is a fetish and stillness is laziness, rest is sloth. But without rest, we miss the rest of God: the rest he invites us to enter more fully so that we might know him more deeply. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Some knowing is never pursued, only received. And for that, you need to be still.”
2. “I hope to convince you otherwise: that Sabbath, in the long run, is as essential to your well-being as food and water, and as good as a wood fire on a cold day.”
a. Buchanan, Mark. The Rest of God (p. 2- 3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
h. So, the point is you must schedule in times of rest to refresh and renew your soul or it will one day just fall over and die without notice!
T.S. – Our souls need rest to be healthy and whole and if we can get our soul to also understand how the soul finds true freedom we will be able to meet any challenge that comes our way.
2. Your soul needs to be free, or it will shrivel up in a corner broken and depressed!
a. So, the statement or point here says our souls need to be free – free from what? Does it mean free to do whatever we want to do? Does this bring true freedom, or does it mean something else? Free spirited souls – what does that look like?
i. Running around with flowers in our hair?
ii. Living in a commune?
iii. Not working and living at the beach in a VW bus?
iv. Meditating all day?
v. Going to India or another exotic place to find myself?
vi. Running around naked in the woods or on a beach?
1. Share about the National Geographic show you watched: The naked church in Appalachia – is that freedom?
2. Share about another church where the Pastor is handling rattle snakes in church is that freedom?
vii. Is it Smoking Marijuana? Doing drugs? Partying?
viii. Is it living in the woods in a cabin isolated from others and being off the grid?
ix. Is it believing what ever I want to believe?
x. Is it getting others to convince me my sin is not sin but a choice, a lifestyle?
b. The Bible says in 2 Cor. 3:17: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
i. Freedom does not come by me doing whatever I want to do!
1. Instead, this usually leads me into bondage, addictions, deception, guilt, conviction, turmoil and existing in a toxic life. It will take away my freedom.
ii. Freedom comes from the Holy Spirit. It’s internal! It’s soul related!
iii. The Bible also reminds me what freedom is and is not:
1. Gal. 5:13-17: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”
c. Many young people think that they will be free when they flee the rules of their parents, the church, their school, etc – but they soon discover that freedom is not associated with doing whatever you want to do in society.
i. You are not free by external circumstances or lawless living – this brings bondage – freedom of the soul is an internal reality.
ii. I think of the underground Chinese church lives in a very oppressive society but they have total freedom in their Spirits.
1. 1 Peter 2:16-17: “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.”
d. This next verse describes for us what freedom really looks like!
i. Romans 8:18-21: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
1. Freedom comes from being a child of God who is empowered by the Holy Spirit and living for Him.
2. John Ortberg states this about freedom of the soul: The old masters of the life of the soul used to warn about the dangers of dis-ordered attachment. Desire is good, but when you want something too much, it threatens to take God’s place in your life. It will lead you to make bad decisions. It will put you on an emotional roller coaster. The ability to have anything you want actually can cost you your freedom. Samson had an unquenchable desire for Delilah; the rich young ruler was consumed by his desire for money; Saul coveted the power that came with his throne; Cain gave in to his desire for revenge. How did that work for them? Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 141). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
a. The Bible is filled with stories of individuals who had freedom to choose but they choose the wrong things which actually took their freedoms away.
i. The cost of choosing unwisely with your freedom:
1. Like Samson
2. Like King Saul
3. Like King David
ii. Story from Ortberg: In the movie A Christmas Story, one of the kids is given a double-dog dare to touch his tongue to a frozen flagpole on a December morning. Instantly, his tongue is frozen fast to the icy metal, and from that moment he isn’t going anywhere. He is stuck. A slave to his tongue. Freedom will come, if it comes at all, only with enormous pain. We get double-dog dared all the time. Make it about sex. Make it about money. Make it about security. That tender object stuck frozen to the flagpole is your soul. It craves to be free, but we’re not sure what that means. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 142). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
e. How free is really free? Some examples to think about!
i. What if anyone could choose for the sake of their freedom the speed limits in our society! What would happen? Would others be free because you go as fast or as slow as you want? You could make stop lights optional. Would that bring more freedom to our society?
ii. What if you could choose to pay your taxes or not – for the sake of freedom – would that bring a truly freed country to live in?
iii. What if for the sake of freedom a person who is married decides he wants to be married but sleep with whoever he wants – does that bring freedom?
iv. Our souls want to be free but an unhealthy soul – detached from God will choose what they think are freedoms but in actuality are bondages.
1. John Ortberg adds, “The soul cries out to be free, but the common perception is that Christianity stands in the way of freedom. It’s all about obeying someone or something that tries to tell you how to live your life. As a Christian, according to this perception, you’re not free at all, but submissive, dependent, and enslaved by your religion. So people wonder — does God infringe on your soul’s need for freedom? Does becoming a Christian mean somebody dictates what you do, what you think, how you live? Even Christians sometimes adopt this view. They may affirm their belief in Jesus as the Son of God and accept his gift of salvation, but retain their “freedom” to decide for themselves how they should live. The soul needs freedom, but what exactly does that mean? That I can do whatever I want? Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 143). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
f. Philip Yancey’s wonderful book: What’s So Amazing about Grace? Describes the pain he experienced over his church’s legalism: “I came out of a Southern fundamentalist culture that frowned on co-ed swimming, wearing shorts, jewelry or makeup, dancing, bowling, and reading the Sunday newspaper. Alcohol was a sin of a different order, with the sulfurous stench of hellfire about it. . . . No short skirts for women, no longer hair for men, no polka dots on dresses for women because they might draw attention to suggestive body parts, no kissing, no holding hands, no rock music, no facial hair . . . it all calls to mind the dog who thought his name was ‘No’ because that’s the only word he ever heard from his master.”
i. I read this book years ago and he reveals how Christianity in certain sects of it have missed the point of what true freedom is!
ii. Freedom comes from the Holy Spirit! From the spirit of God. A person who has a healthy soul and the Holy Spirit could even be free in prison – like the apostle was when he wrote the prison epistles.
g. I like what John says about the misperception of the Ten Commandments:
i. The Ten Commandments were never designed to be a stand-alone list of rules. They come within a relational context. They describe what living up to a certain value and a certain identity and a certain destiny looks like. In fact, in Judaism, they are not called the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew term is aseret hadevarim, which literally means “ten utterances” or “ten statements” because they were rooted in things that are meant to be in God’s kingdom. They flow out of how we were designed, who we were meant to be. We read them as “this is what you have to do,” but God was saying, “this is who you are.” That’s why we don’t so much break the Ten Commandments as we break ourselves when we violate them… When we bind ourselves to God, to a code of morality that transcends our own particular opinions, do we lose freedom, or do we gain freedom? If my soul needs freedom, what does the law have to do with it? I believe the soul is actually revived by law. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 145). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
1. Did you hear what John said – wow how we have misperceived what freedom is and is not in our world!
h. John highlights more the misperception of what is freedom:
i. Freedom from external restraints appeals to all of us, but I do not believe that it’s the freedom the soul needs. For example, you generally can drink as much alcohol as you want, restricted only by laws prohibiting drinking and driving and public drunkenness. But if you want to get loaded every night in the privacy of your home, you’re free to have at it. Eventually, however, your drinking will begin to cause problems for you. It damages your health. It embarrasses your kids. It hurts your marriage. It threatens your job. You get to a point where you want to quit but you can’t. You discover that you are not free to enjoy sobriety. You’re free to drink as much as you want, but you’re not free to not drink. “I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Your freedom is not restricted simply by external constraints. There’s another odd kind of restriction. Your freedom gets limited by an internal reality that is a kind of brokenness or weakness or dividedness inside you. You want to stop drinking, but you can’t. You want to live with a happy, cheerful, optimistic attitude, but you don’t. You want to quit yelling at your kids, but you fail. You want to be the kind of person who manages anger really, really well, but you aren’t. You’d like to think you have become unselfish, but you haven’t. You are not free. The freedom you lack is an internal freedom, and this inner lack of freedom is much more dehumanizing, much more tragic than external constraints. This kind of freedom is internal, and it is precious. It is “soul-freedom.” Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
i. Our soul and its health is what dictates whether we are free or not.
i. John reminds us this, “Remember that the soul is what integrates our parts. If our will is enslaved to our appetites, if our thoughts are obsessed with unfulfilled desires, if our emotions are slaves to our circumstances, if our bodily habits contradict our professed values, the soul is not free. The only way for the soul to be free is for all the parts of our personhood to be rightly ordered.” Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
ii. He adds, “True freedom comes when you embrace God’s overall design for the world and your place in it. This is why in the Bible you see this strong connection between God’s law and soul-freedom.”
j. Quote Brother Lawrence “Do not be discouraged by the resistance you will encounter from your human nature; you must go against your human inclinations.”
i. Recall what Jesus said in Luke 9:23-25: 23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
T.S. - Your soul needs to be free by the Holy Spirit and the best way to keep your spirit and soul free is by cultivating an attitude of gratitude in your soul.
3. Your soul needs gratitude! (Contentment in life produces a attitude of gratitude!) Philippians 4:8-13.
a. The health of your soul is attached to the attitude you carry each day.
i. Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
ii. Philippians 4:11-13: “11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
iii. Are you a complainer or are you a positive person?
1. Homework: Try an experiment this week when you meet others throughout the day say hi then go right into complaining about something – notice how it makes you feel by the end of the day. Then the next day when you meet others say hi then say positive things about the day and others and see how you feel by the end of the day.
2. Which day will be healthy for your soul and which day unhealthy?
a. Scripture exhorts to be thankful – to rejoice always – why because it good for our souls!
b. Christian are challenged through Scripture to practice the soul care of the soul by being filled with an attitude of gratitude.
b. John Ortberg notes, “More gratitude will not come from acquiring more things or experiences, but from more of an awareness of God’s presence and his goodness. It’s a way of looking at life, always perceiving the good. Gratitude is a by-product of a way of seeing things, and it always involves three factors:
i. First, the benefit. In order to be grateful, you have to receive and recognize a gift that you believe is good. God has given you all good things it says in James and we need to be thankful for these things.
1. James 1:16-17: Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
2. We need to have a heart of gratitude for all the good things that come our way each and every day
ii. Second, gratitude requires that there be a benefactor.
1. Ortberg states, A benefactor is one who does good, a little factory that produces good. To be truly grateful you must not only recognize the benefits or gifts that come your way, but that they are not just random acts; they are not accidents. They are coming from Someone who has good intentions for you. To be grateful as a Christian, you must believe that the good that is in your life comes from God. Not from your own efforts or merit.
iii. In addition to the benefit and the benefactor, there is the beneficiary: the one who receives the good gifts of God. And that’s you.
1. Ortberg states, “You are the beneficiary of the benefits of a God who has your best interests at heart, and this is going on all the time. When we take that for granted or believe we deserve his gifts, then we are no longer grateful; you can’t be grateful for something you believe you are entitled to, and without a grateful heart the soul suffers. Because the soul needs gratitude.”
2. John adds, “The default mode of the sinful human race is entitlement, the belief that this gift or that experience that God placed in my path is rightfully mine. I am owed. Here’s the deal: The more you think you’re entitled to, the less you will be grateful for. The bigger the sense of entitlement, the smaller the sense of gratitude… My sinful mind can convince me that anything I want I’m entitled to, and if I’m not getting something I want, somebody in the universe must be messing up, and they owe me, and they ought to pay for it. In fact, this has led to a proliferation of lawsuits, because when we don’t get something we really want, we want to sue somebody.”
a. Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 172). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
3. Paul says it’s the hallmark of a life opposed to God. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile . . .” This connection is so interesting. Their thinking was futile. They perceived themselves to be entitled, to be owed, not as grateful receivers of grace every moment. “. . . forget not all his benefits . . .”
a. Entitlement says “They owe me! The church owes me! God owes me! My wife owes me! My kids owe me!”
i. By the way this mindset of the soul is called sin!
1. It’s totally self-centered and self-consumed with pride of self!
ii. Ortberg adds, “Whatever I have, I deserve. Entitlement grows deep within us. This is why, for the soul, ingratitude is not just a psychological problem. It’s not just an impoverishment of our emotional experience. It’s a sin.” Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 173). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
4. I sometimes think we need to be intentional about showing gratitude to others.
a. Like writing others letters of gratitude and thanking people for what they do for you!
b. When you do you learn to be more thankful.
5. John Ortberg adds to this idea of doing gratitude experiments by doing the following:
a. The next gratitude experiment is to pray your own benedictions — brief statements that recognize the good that comes from God. You don’t have to start with eighteen. That might be overwhelming. The best way to do this is to first make a list of all that you are truly grateful to God for providing. Then go back through this list and begin with the words, “Blessed are you, O Lord.”
i. Blessed are you, O Lord, for giving me my children.
ii. Blessed are you, O Lord, who gave me life and good health today.
iii. Blessed are you, O Lord, for helping me get through this difficult day.
iv. Blessed are you, O Lord, who forgives me when I sin.
v. Blessed are you, O Lord, for the great sunset you let me enjoy.
1. “Is it really necessary to use those words, “Blessed are you”? While the point of this exercise is to feed your soul with gratitude, there really is something special about these words that is worth considering. To bless someone means to offer happiness or praise to them. When you say “Blessed are you, O Lord,” you are not only expressing gratitude, but you are saying, “I want to make you happy and praise you, God, with my gratitude for what you have done.” It’s a subtle reminder that gratitude is good for both the person expressing it and the one receiving it.”
2. The above from Ortberg, John (2014-04-22). Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 175). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
b. Gratitude and the intentionally of it is a soul care practice that we do each and every day to keep our souls healthy and whole and in connection with the Holy Spirit.
T.S. - We need to make sure we are doing soul care and part of soul care is to cultivate a soul with the attitude of gratitude – we are the ones that must do this because no one else will.
Conclusion:
What do we need to know from this message?
1. We are responsible to care for our souls no one else!
2. We are to care for our soul by getting adequate times of rest and refreshment and part of this is done by honoring the Sabbath!
a. Hurried souls are sick souls which start pulling a part at the seams.
3. We need to die to our self, so our souls are free! Were the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.
4. Our souls need to have an attitude of gratitude or they will become unhealthy and scarred.
Answer:
Why do we need to know this truth?
Answer: So, we have healthy and whole souls!
What do we need to do?
Answer: Care for our souls by connecting them with God, by scheduling time to be in His presence, by taking responsibility for our soul, by making sure our soul is rested and not hurried and busy all the time, and by finding the freedom that comes to the soul by dying to self.
Why do they need to do this?
Answer: If we do these things we will have healthy souls, healthy spirits and a healthy body!
