HOW YOU DOIN'?
Notes
Transcript
SETUP
P90X VS. APPALACHIAN TRAIL
P90X VS. APPALACHIAN TRAIL
Had done P90X for several months, and decided to go on a hike with my friend David
HAVE YOU EVER SURPRISED YOURSELF?
HAVE YOU EVER SURPRISED YOURSELF?
Thought you had conquered something you hadn’t, better than you were, more mature than you thought you were.
The challenges of the last several months did the same thing to me that hiking trip did…
The challenges didn’t change me...
It changed a lot of things I do, the way I do them, and the way I see them…
They revealed me. (the same way boiling water reveals the inside of a tea bag)
It revealed weakness, false securities, and errors in my way of thinking, living, and leading.
HOW YOU DOIN’?
HOW YOU DOIN’?
We are 1 month into 2021… How are you?
Fine - Good - Making it - Blessed and highly favored.
But how are you really?
Not your job, finances, marriage, kids... (even though these are often great indicators of health, they often aren’t the root of our health).
How are YOU? How is your SOUL? How is your HEART?
SCRIPTURE
23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Guard = Watch over, take care of… determines your whole life… wow…
Heart, soul, mind… Not your cardiovascular health…
BUT — Who you are on the inside?
Humanity was perfect before sin/fall, and part of the work of Jesus isn’t just saving us from sin but restoring to us what was lost!
A healthy soul
SUBSTANCE
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO A HEALTHY SOUL
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO A HEALTHY SOUL
FOUND IN THE CREATION STORY
1. RECEIVE FROM GOD
1. RECEIVE FROM GOD
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
I need what He has… His breath, His Spirit, His life!
Without his breath, I’m just a form with no life
I can’t receive from Him if I’m not spending time with Him, conversing with Him, and enjoying Him!
How is your relationship with God? Really?
2. REST IN GOD
2. REST IN GOD
27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” 29 Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. 31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. 1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
On the 6th day God created humanity and their very first job to do was to join God in resting on the 7th day…
His last day of creation (sabbath) was their first day of living and it was spent resting...
Resting from what? They hadn’t done anything...
Resting = Not from work...
but IN… In Him and what He had done.
No from something, but in someone...
When you rest don’t rest from what you’ve done, but in what He’s done.
God created Adam and Eve to enjoy life!
God created you to enjoy life!
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
A restless soul is a sign that you believe you are in control, and have forgotten that God is really the One in control.
A restless soul is a sign that you believe you are in control, and have forgotten that God is really the One in control.
To rest in God means to trust Him, to depend on Him, and to understand you’re His child...
That He is responsible for you!
3. EMBRACE RESTRICTION
3. EMBRACE RESTRICTION
16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil there?
There had to be a choice - otherwise Adam and Eve were slaves not a son and daughter…
The odds were stacked in their favor!
Restrictions are good for the soul
My amazon wish list is full of stuff I can afford but don’t buy myself
Why? Because I don’t need everything I want.
If I did, bought, and ate everything I wanted can you imagine how awful my life would be?
The longer I live the more I realize that my “No’s” are far more important than my “Yes’s”
You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.
4. ACCEPT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
4. ACCEPT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
Many people think that heaven/perfection/utopia means that you never work…
Chris Hodges = “The opposite of depression isn’t happiness, it’s purpose.”
Tend the Garden = Serve
Serving benefits the server far more than the “servee”
35 And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
We’ve been all tasked with the responsibility of tending our garden = serving our world!
Responsibility must flow from rest…
My worth to God is never found in what I accomplish for God but rather in my relationship with God.
God doesn’t need me. God wants me.
5. INVEST IN INTENTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
5. INVEST IN INTENTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
The first “not good” wasn’t sin… it was isolation
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
I love the intentionality in God making Eve (just right for him)
We must be intentional in forming and stewarding friendships with others
The first word of the Lord’s Prayer is “our”
It is impossible to be a healthy human in isolation.
SHUTDOWN (Worship Team)
Fall of last year a friend said “I don’t think you’re doing okay.”
That sucked… Because I really want to be the guy that has his life together…
But it helped lead to the realization that my soul was struggling...
And that the only way things would get better is if I became serious about investing in my inner health…
I grew up with ponds and creeks all over our property
In the front of our house we had a pond that would dry up or flood depending on the weather...
Behind our house we had a much smaller one that flowed into a little creek…
No matter drought or rain, it was always relatively steady… flowing into the creek
The difference:
One was controlled by external circumstances while the other was controlled by a spring deep underneath.
I want to be healthy on the outside because I’m healthy on the inside.
HOW ARE YOU DOING?
HOW ARE YOU DOING?
How is your relationship with God?
Are you resting? In Him?
Are you enjoying life?
Are you living within healthy boundaries?
Do you feel like your life has purpose and meaning?
Are you friendships healthy?
29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.