Times Of Refreshing

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?.