5 Spiritual Needs (020925)

David Hale

Celebration of Life Service will be next Saturday, February 15. Time will be announced, via email, early this coming week.

Everyone - please plan to attend.

Everyone - please help with a meal, after the service, for the family. See Mrs. Litchfield to help.

Text: Hebrews 13:8-9.

Title: Let’s Go Shopping or 5 Basic Spiritual Needs

Before we begin, I must ask, Did you come prepared this morning to learn? Did you come prepared to write things down? To take notes? For most of us, that’s the only way we are going to remember things and learn what God has for us.

Both God and Satan know the importance of focus.

Satan seeks to keep our minds preoccupied with/focused on anything else other than what we should have our minds preoccupied with/focused on.

Hebrews 13:8–9 KJV 1900

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines…

The phrase, Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, shows just how difficult it can be to keep our focus where it needs to be.

But, verse 8, shows us just how “simple” this matter of focus can be/should be.

Again…

Hebrews 12:2 KJV 1900

Looking unto Jesus…

Question: Where do we turn to focus on Christ?

Answer: God’s Word

But, here’s another question…When we do look into God’s Word, do we know what we are looking for? Do we have a “plan” for when we open up God’s Word or are we simply doing it - reading God’s Word - out of shear duty because we know we are supposed to?

This morning, let’s consider our focus in terms of our spiritual needs much in the same way that men go shopping. Before they ever enter a store, they know exactly what it is that they are looking for. They enter the store, get what they need and then leave.

So, when you open God’s Word, what do you need?

(Note: This is a compilation of things that I have been teaching the teens on Sunday mornings over the course of the past couple of months but it fits very well to help give a practical application of this matter of focus.)

Christians have 5 basic spiritual needs. Therefore, when we go “shopping” in God’s Word, we should be looking for/focusing on what it is that will meet those needs.

I’ll give all five of them to you and then I’ll go back and “fill in the blanks.”

Spiritual Need #1: Victory Over Sin

Spiritual Need #2: Wisdom in Decision Making

Spiritual Need #3: Live Above Our Circumstances

Spiritual Need #4: Conquering Faith

Spiritual Need #5: Godly Character

Here’s all five of them again…

#1: Victory Over Sin

#2: Wisdom in Decision Making

#3: Live Above Our Circumstances

#4: Conquering Faith

#5: Godly Character

We Need Victory Over Sin

How do we overcome sin and temptation?

Psalm 119:9 KJV 1900

BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Psalm 119:11 KJV 1900

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.

How did Jesus Christ overcome the temptations of Satan in Matthew chapter 4? With the Word of God!

After each of Satan’s temptations, Christ said, “It is written,” and then He quoted Scripture.

Notice what our “offensive” weapon is in Ephesians chapter 6:

Ephesians 6:17 KJV 1900

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

However, not just any verse in the Bible will give me victory over sin.

For example, John 3:16, while a great verse on salvation, doesn’t offer me much help in overcoming a bad temper.

There are special verses that deal with specific sins in our lives.

These verses we call “weapons verses.”

There are different weapons verses for different sins.

Challenge: Think of a sin that you possibly struggle with. This week “look” for a weapon verse that you can use to defeat that temptation.

Sooner or later the Devil is going to tempt you with a specific sin — maybe the specific sin that you are currently thinking of.

If you have been diligent to look for “weapons verses” what will happen at that moment?

The Lord will do His part.

The Bible specifically teaches that this will happen. Note the following verses.

Psalm 119:49 KJV 1900

ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, Upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

David asks God to cause him to remember the portions of the Word he had memorized.

Thus, David realizes that when temptation comes, if God does not help him remember, he probably won’t.

He will be so enamored and overcome by the desire to sin, that his mind will not be thinking about Scripture.

Only God can cause him to remember.

Remember Ephesians 6:17? The Sword of the Spirit? When we are tempted to sin, the Spirit looks in our arsenal of weapons verses, chooses the right one and immediately takes it off the wall, pops it into our minds and then uses it to chop down the enemy.

But if we haven’t put the right weapon in our arsenal, or if we have not kept it polished and well-oiled through meditation and re­view, it will not be used; and we will succumb to the sin.

We Need Victory Over Sin

We Need Wisdom In Decision-Making

Question: Stop and think about some of the “life-altering” decisions that you have made in your life. Consider some of the “life-altering” decisions that you still may be required to make in your life.

If we make the wrong decision, it will send us down a road to defeat.

If we make the right decision, it will give us lifelong happi­ness.

Question: What problem/difficulty do we have at the point of the decision?

The problem is that at the time we make the decision, we have no idea what the end result will be.

For example, In Genesis chapter 13, Lot had to decide between keeping his flocks in Canaan or moving to the fertile plain of Jordan.

Lot surveyed the land, made what he thought was the smart choice . . . and lived to regret it.

His decision was unwise, although he thought it to be the very best deci­sion. It ruined his life.

How do we make wise choices when we can’t see the end from the beginning?

By meditating on certain specific types of verses in the Bible.

Again, not all of God’s Word was written to tell me what to do in a particular situation, but some of God’s Word does give me special advice.

Psalm 119:24 tells us that God’s “testimonies” are our “counselors.”

Psalm 119:24 KJV 1900

Thy testimonies also are my delight And my counsellers.

Turn to and read Proverbs 1:20-33.

Turn to and read Proverbs 3:13-17.

What is Biblical wisdom?

The accumulation; the assimilation; and the application of Biblical truth.

How do we begin to accumulate Biblical truth? By looking for principles in the Word.

Principles are found throughout the Bible and provide wisdom for deci­sion-making.

What is a principle?

Principles (Biblical truths) are universal laws based upon the character of God by which we govern our lives.

We Need Wisdom In Decision-Making

We Need To Be Able To Live Above Our Circumstances

Some people are controlled by their circumstances.

They have not learned, as Paul did, to be content no matter what their situation.

If things are going well, they are happy. If things are not going smoothly, they are sad and ready to quit.

They can’t seem to rise above their circumstances.

Psalm 119:71 and 81 relate to this.

Psalm 119:71 KJV 1900

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:81 KJV 1900

CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: But I hope in thy word.

David faced “affliction.”

What it was, we don’t know.

Maybe he was sick.

Perhaps he is referring to the problem with his son, Absalom.

Maybe it was the death of one of his sons or the constant threat on his life from Saul.

Whatever it was, it didn’t get David down.

He actually thanked God for the affliction. Why?

Because

(1) it drove him to the Word (verse 71) and

(2) it made him hope in (depend on) the Word (verse 81).

What do you do when you face a difficult situation?

Do you go to the Word?

And if you wanted to, would you know how to go to the Word to get what you needed to lift you over the difficult situation?

Do you fall down and cry, give up, get mad, worry and fret over your problems; or do you have joy and victory over them?

How do I overcome my circumstances?

By meditating on promises in the Bible.

Promises, unlike principles and weapons, are designed for difficult situations.

Illustration: Job, in the Old Testament, is an example of someone who needed to “live above his circumstances.”

He had lost his children.

He had lost his wealth.

He had lost his health.

Even his wife was encouraging him to commit suicide - to end his life.

All Job could cling to were the promises of God.

Notice…

Job 23:10 KJV 1900

But he knoweth the way that I take: When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

We also, at times, must cling to the promises of God.

Isaiah 40:28–31 KJV 1900

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, That the everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; And to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; And they shall walk, and not faint.

We Need To Be Able To Live Above Our Circumstances

We Need Conquering Faith

Question: What, in life, requires faith?

Life requires faith.

It takes faith to tithe,

faith to trust God when we can’t understand our circumstances,

faith to make decisions that will affect our future,

faith to choose a college and

faith to say “no” when we know we will be mocked or rejected.

But how do we get such faith?

Turn to and read Psalm 77:2-3, 5-6, and 10-12.

Asaph tells us that his faith comes from

his trust in God,

his remembering what God had done in times past (verse 5) and

his remembering the miracles and mighty deeds of God in his own life and in the lives of others in the past (verses 10-12).

What are these deeds Asaph is remembering?

They are what we call providences.

Providences are every event and circumstance in our lives, designed and controlled by God, for His glory and our good.

Asaph, through meditation, had discovered many great providences of God in the lives of others and in his own life; and when hard times came, he had faith to continue because he knew how God had saved in the past and that the God of the past was the God of the present.

Thus, his meditation on providences had given him conquering faith.

An example of this is young David against Goliath.

King Saul says to David, “You can’t fight Goliath.”

1 Samuel 17:36 KJV 1900

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

We Need Conquering Faith

We Need Godly Character

Romans 8:29 KJV 1900

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Question: Are you more like Christ today, than you were yesterday?

So, how do we develop godly character? How do we become more like Christ?

The answer is simple.

We develop godly character by meditating on the person of God.

How do we meditate on God in His Word?

We are not to focus on the Word of God, but we are to focus on the God of the Word.

There is a differ­ence.

We can read the story of David and Goliath and learn all the facts in the story and miss the whole point.

The Bible was not written to tell us about David and Goliath, but to tell us about David’s God.

Have you ever read that story and concentrated just on God in the story? That’s what we mean by focusing on God.

But exactly how do we do that? As we read God’s Word, we consider:

(1) what God does/how He acts,

(2) what He is/His character and attributes and

As we do that…

2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV 1900

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

A Christian’s 5 Basic Spiritual Needs:

#1: Victory Over Sin

#2: Wisdom in Decision Making

#3: Live Above Our Circumstances

#4: Conquering Faith

#5: Godly Character

We all know that we, as Christians, should be in God’s Word.

We all know that we must have the right focus - even as we are in God’s Word.

Now you know what you should be focusing - looking for - when you are in God’s Word.

What are you going to do about that tomorrow morning?