SOUL - Is It Well?
SOUL - Is It Well? • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsThis series will deeply stir you to consider and chase after the spiritual implications of your soul’s deepest longings. So the question has to be asked, "Is It Well?"
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Intro: (Me)
Intro: (Me)
Every weekend for the next four weekends we are going to have a conversation about the soul. I want our weekend experience to be the beginning of a conversation. Welcome to BCC we are a small church with a lot of people. I hope you feel welcomed and loved. You belong here. We are passionate about your moving into a more dynamic relationship with God.
This four week journey is a conversation that you should join. That you would turn this from a monologue to a dialogue. You can GRAB a TIO Guide and GATHER some people, and GROW in your understanding of the SOUL. Today is the beginning of that journey. We do this so you can MOVE with others.
3 john
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
BELOVED = you be loved
I love you!
John’s pastoral prayer…
AS IT GOES WILL WITH YOUR SOUL
You can only be as well as your soul. Inside not the outside. The next four weeks we are going to focus on the inside not the outside.
Ill: My soul needs a home. Cheryl is nomadic. There is nothing like home/your bed
Your soul desires to come home! Is it well? How are we doing on the inside? Why is our insides so nomadic? Challenges socially, emotionally and relationally result from a non settled soul. People are struggling on the outside as a result of the soul not having a home.
We: We need to value what God values. We need to value what is most important. What is the most important part of you? IT IS YOUR SOUL Do we protect it? Do we understand it?
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.
BREATHED/SOUL
The ancient Hebrews form their whole belief system on this verse. Notice, Adam is not alive until God breathed into him. There is no other living thing that borrowed the breath of God. This is why a Christian worldview emphasizes human life more than animals or trees. We are living on borrowed breath. This verses reveals just how involved God is in your life. Your soul is the BREATH of God.
The word SOUL is used 900 times in the Bible. Over 750 times in the OT and 150 times in the NT.
To de-emphasize and devalue the soul is not a new problem...
God: Moses, a leader in the OT, had to remind the people he was leading the value of the SOUL.
God: Moses, a leader in the OT, had to remind the people he was leading the value of the SOUL.
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—
Deuteronomy 4:9
Be diligent with your SOUL...
If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
GAIN WHOLE WORLD | LOSE YOUR OWN SOUL
Jesus is emphasiving more than just eternity. He is emphasiving your life on earth.
Trans: Because the SOUL is the most important part of us I desire to - Emphasis the SOUL, Explain the SOUL and Examine the SOUL.
1. Emphasis The SOUL
Nothing is more important than the inside of you.
“What is running your life at any given moment is your soul. Not external circumstances, not your thoughts, not your intentions, not even your feeling, but your soul.” - Dallas Willard
“The soul is the aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of the self. The soul is the life center of human beings.” - Dallas Willard
Have you ever thought of your soul being that important - correlates, integrates and enlivens.
I can’t take care of something that I don’t understand.
Two sides of life. Outside & Inside - people will applaud our outer life.
Ill - Steering wheel. What is the most important part of a car?
Tendency is to think that if the outer life get’s better then the inner life will be OK
“You’re a soul made by God, made for God, and made to need God, which means you were not made to be self-sufficient.” - Dallas Willard
Our lives need to revolve around our souls NOT our selves. We take selfies when we need to take an xray of our souls.
We are not OK - people are 3 times more likely to get depressed in this generation than previous.
Stressed out - take care of yourSELF
Job interview/date - be yourSELF
Work trouble - stick up for yourSELF
Tattoo - express yourSELF
What happens if SELF is a wreck and broken and not strong?
The SOUL reminds us that - made by God, made for God, made to need God.
“If you soul is healthy, no external circumstance scan destroy your life. If you soul is unhealthy, no external circumstance can redeem it.” - Dallas Willard
Trans: Because the SOUL is the most important part of us I desire to - Emphasis the SOUL, Explain the SOUL and Examine the SOUL.
2. Explain The SOUL
What Is A Soul? This soul is important so we need to examine it...
(please use format in basecamp SOUL Content)
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.
WILL - your capacity to choose. You can say, “Yes,” and you can say, “No.” The will is what makes you a person and not a thing. It’s what the Bible is talking about when it says God made people to “exercise dominion.”
WILL - your capacity to choose. You can say, “Yes,” and you can say, “No.” The will is what makes you a person and not a thing. It’s what the Bible is talking about when it says God made people to “exercise dominion.”
The will is something we treasure greatly in ourselves and others. “The will is very good at making simple and large commitments like getting married, or deciding to move someplace,” “But it is very bad at trying to override habits and patterns and attitudes that are deeply rooted in us. If you try to improve your soul by willpower, you will exhaust yourself and everyone around you.”
“The will is very good at making simple and large commitments like getting married, or deciding to move someplace,”
Ill - First Word Out Of Babies Mouth? NO! Second, MINE!
Ill - Will v/s Body Sleep - I’m not going to nod off...
Where I WILL live, who I WILL marry, where I WILL work. The WILL makes big decisions but in terrible at managing life’s little nuances.
MIND - Thoughts and feelings are flowing through us all the time, mostly flowing in habitual patterns that willpower alone cannot sustainably redirect. When I think thoughts that are false or unworthy, when I entertain desires that are in opposition to what God wants for my life, I damage my soul.
You cannot act inconsistently with how you think. When it is well with my soul my mind is thinking good thoughts...
We judge people. Misguided notions and wrong desires - drive my behavior.
BODY - “The body is our little kingdom. That’s the one place in all the universe where our tiny wills have a chance to be in charge. Imagine for a moment you had a will and a mind but no body.” Huh? “Our bodies are like our little ‘power packs.’ We couldn’t be us without them. They are filled with all kinds of appetites and all kinds of habits. In a way, we ‘outsource’ behaviors from tying our shoelaces, to driving a car, to our bodies, so that our wills and our minds don’t have to worry about them. Our bodies are amazing. But they are not the whole story. I am not just the stuff my body is made of.”
If it feels good do it!
These three parts make up the SOUL. These are parts of the car and the SOUL is the stirring wheel.
Will = Choice | Mind = Thoughts | Body = Appetites / SOUL integrates and aligns.
The SOUL is the most important part of you!
“A healthy soul is an integrated soul, and an unhealthy soul is a ‘disintegrated’ one.” - Dallas Willard
Your soul is what integrates your will (your intentions), your mind (your thoughts and feelings, your values and conscience), and your body (your face, body language, and actions) into a single life. A soul is healthy — well-ordered — when there is harmony between these three entities and God’s intent for all creation. When you are connected with God and other people in life, you have a healthy soul.
Trans: Because the SOUL is the most important part of us I desire to - Emphasis the SOUL, Explain the SOUL and Examine the SOUL.
3. Examine The SOUL
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
SOUL Solutions
Surrender Your WILL
Renew Your MIND
Deny Your BODY
25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
Matthew 16:
I have always thought this verse meant that in the long run it won’t do you any good to acquire a lot of money and have a lot of sex and other sensual pleasures if you end up going to hell.
Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 43). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 43). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 44). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Jesus is talking about a diagnosis and not a destination. If we think of hell as a torture chamber and heaven as a pleasure factory, we will never understand Jesus’ point. For the ruined soul — that is, where the will and the mind and the body are disintegrated, disconnected from God, and living at odds with the way God made life in the universe to run — acquiring the whole world could not even produce satisfaction, let alone meaning and goodness. To lose my soul means I no longer have a healthy center that organizes and guides my life. I am a car without a steering wheel. It doesn’t matter how fast I can go, because I am a crash waiting to happen.
SYMPTOMS OF AN UNHEALTHY SOUL:
SYMPTOMS OF AN UNHEALTHY SOUL:
Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (pp. 44-45). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Inferiority - I can’t cut it. I’m not as good.
Insecurity - Doubts about self. Uneasy with self.
Inadequacy - I’m not enough. I’m not able to meet the demands of life.
Guilt - Past. Haven’t accepted God forgiveness.
Anxiety - Worried about everything. No peace.
An unhealthy soul is...
Disorganized - confused, chase our tail, I can’t get it together
Disconnected - you don’t feel connected to God or others
Disintegrated
“When the soul is not centered, one is never sure what temptations are worth resisting or what sacrifices are worth making.” - John Ortberg
When you soul is unhealthy you have no confidence.
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
SOUL Solutions
Surrender Your WILL
Renew Your MIND
Deny Your BODY
Trans: Because the SOUL is the most important part of us I desire to - Emphasis the SOUL, Explain the SOUL and Examine the SOUL.
Conc:
My question for you today is, how is it with your soul?
Sir, I’m not asking you - how is your business? How is your finances? How is your relationship with your kids?
Wife, I’m not asking you - how is your marriage? How is your husband? How are your kids?
Just look around… look at people. Look at me! Our SOULs need to come home. Let’s allow the teachings and our conversations over the next weeks to draw our souls home so they can rest.
I’M ASKING - HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL? it is the most important part of us!
Next Move Prayer: Will you commit to a NEXT MOVE today. I desire to see you move into a more dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. I want to challenge you to pray this prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I’ve come to realize that my soul needs attention. I admit that I have not been intentional when it comes to caring for the most important part of me. I’m asking you to begin restoring my soul. I surrender my will. I ask you to renew my mind. And I deny my body. Help me to pay better attention to the part of me that needs the most attention. Thank you for loving me enough to remind me of it today. I Jesus’ name, amen.
If you commit to praying this BOLD prayer everyday this week would you lift your hand up. I’m thankful for you.
Prayer for those that made this commitment. Pray through the four request.
First Move Prayer: For some of you your NEXT MOVE into a more dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ will be a FIRST MOVE. If you’ve never asked Jesus to be the forgiver of your sins and the leader of your life I want to give you that opportunity today. Sinner’s prayer. Repeat.
Would you lift your hand right now and say, “I asked Jesus to be the forgiver of my sins and the leader of my life.”
Let’s celebrate these NEXT MOVES and these FIRST MOVES.
Conc:
O
Ortberg, John. Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 41). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.