Soul Care 104 Series

Soul Care: Soul Care 104

Thesis for series: To achieve the “Abundant Life” Jesus promised, will require our souls to be healthy and whole. So to experience a healthy soul will require soul evaluation on our part as well as intentional 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.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, deceived, evil, and stress filled world requires that I take care of my whole being, which includes 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” – we are 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”!

So first question: “How is your soul?”

Summary of Soul Care 101-103

Question: “What does the soul need to be healthy and whole this year?”

1. We are responsible for the care of our soul!

2. 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.

3. Our soul needs to be in God’s presence on a regular basis to be healthy and whole!

4. Our soul needs rest to be healthy and whole.

T.S. – Since the beginning of the New Year we have been learning to take responsibility for our soul! We are now into February (can you believe it?) We have learned that our soul needs to be connected to God, we had the revelation that dwelling in God’s presence is a must for the health of our soul! We received the warning that if we fail to connect with God our souls will wilt and detach from the life giving vine of life! Last week we realized how needy our souls are and how they must have times of rest! A hurried, frenzied, unrested soul is an unhealthy soul heading off the cliff of detachment and to destruction.

Introduction:

Last Thursday February 2 was “Groundhog Day.” I grew up in Pittsburgh, Penna and Groundhog day was a big deal for this once steel mill city.

Ground Hog Day: PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Every year on Feb. 2, many towns across America celebrate Groundhog Day, where a weather-predicting groundhog determines if there will be six more weeks of winter or if there will be an early spring.

According to tradition, when a groundhog leaves its burrow, if it sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If it doesn't see its shadow, there will be an early spring.

The first Groundhog Day celebration was held on Feb. 2, 1877, at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. However, the tradition of using rodents to predict the weather dates back much earlier and was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants.

The Groundhog Day celebration was created by a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney named Clymer Freas, who was part of a groundhog hunting club called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Together, the group designated Punxsutawney Phil as the nation's official groundhog meteorologist.

Today, the celebration is led by a group called the Inner Circle, who wear top hats and speak in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. Every year, they trek to Gobbler's Knob to get Phil's weather prediction.