The Needy Soul Part 2: Ownership

The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Soul  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Your freedom in Christ calls you to diligently care for your soul

Notes
Transcript
Introduction
In 1985, I made a life-changing decision. Sometimes God gets your attention in unexpected ways. Our first child was only a few months old…and I joined the Air Force. My father-in-law was ecstatic…I had mixed emotions. But I did it.
I took the ASVAB test, scored really high in Morse Code. Now there’s a marketable skill when you get out of the Air Force…people are beating down the doors to find someone proficient in Morse Code.
I flew to San Antonio TX…was dumped off atLackland AFB, went to check in with the Sgt in charge…got yelled at and called a few names and was sent to meet my T.I. He was nice…for about 5 seconds. His assistant was a female T.I.
I don’t remember the much about the male…but the female’s face is etched in my memory…she was as mean as a…she was just mean…sarcastic, loud…just mean. She didn’t know about social distancing…she got right up in my face a yelled til’ I thought she might pass out.
I was thrown in line with a bunch of other miserable young men, given some drab green uniforms and boots, went and got a beautiful haircut…it was so fun. It seems like yesterday. I will say the food was better than I expected.
For the next 8 weeks I became a cog in the wheel…a part of the collective. Resistance was futile. There was no way out
I had no say in anything…except singing in the shower. I got away with that.
My lovely Tech Sgt didn’t like anything. When I made my bed…she tossed it on the floor and told me to make it again.
Often, if one guy messed up…everyone had to suffer for it.
I could go on…but the point is this. I had made a binding agreement…a covenant, if you will, with Uncle Sam.
Once I took that oath I had no ownership over anything except my own thoughts…which I kept in the dark corners of my mind…I saw what happened to people who decided to express their own opinions…it was really sad (well sort of funny…as long as it wasn’t me).
Even after basic training…military life was pretty regimented. Lots of rules…and orders that had to be obeyed.
When I separated from the Air Force, I did not stop having obligations to fulfill, but now I had a choice about which ones to fulfill and how to fulfill them.
When you serve in the military and get out, you more fully appreciate the freedom of being an American - that freedom is truly not free
The freedom Christ offers all who call upon Him was not free — it was the most expensive sacrifice in history.
Hebrews 10:19–23 NIV
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
In other words…be the keeper of your soul - do what it takes to stay close to God and to walk in the hope and assurance you have through the shed blood of Jesus.
Prayer
Last week, for those who were not able to be here, we established the fact that God’s unlimited love and grace is the only thing that can satisfy our needy souls
The void in our souls demands to be filled with something
If we prioritize anything in our lives ahead of God, we are idolaters…we are worshipping something other than God
Therefore the proper care and feeding of our soul is the most important thing we can do, if we desire to stay close to God and be effective witnesses of His love
Here’s the thing we need to establish today:
Your freedom in Christ clearly calls you to relentlessly care for your soul
Transitional: Whether we like it or not…our freedom in Christ means that we must take ownership of the care and feeding of our soul

SOUL CARE HAS CONSEQUENCES

Some people believe in generational curses — Let me say this: I don’t believe in generational curses for followers of Christ
But what about Exodus 20, verse 5 and Numbers 14, verse 18 that say the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children to the 3rd and 4th generation of those that hate the Lord?
Yes…we sometimes must endure the scars and trials of the bad decisions and actions of our parents or grandparents…this goes all the way back to original sin
It’s bad enough to be accountable for our own sins without having to worry about the sins of our fathers.
Jeremiah 31:29–30 NKJV
In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
In Jeremiah 31, the Lord revealed that the day was coming when He would make a new covenant with the people…one that will be in their minds and in their hearts. He said they would no longer need to explain what it means to “know the Lord” because they will live in intimate relationship with Him...
Yes…our actions…sins…have consequences
On the other side of the coin — Jesus’ voluntary action to die in your place, to take your punishment upon Himself, to be buried, and rise again has consequences — the best consequences the world has ever known
Romans 10:9-13 NLT If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
“Thank you Lord…for the freedom we have in You”
Since you are free in Him...
Your freedom in Christ clearly calls you to relentlessly care for the treasure of your saved soul
…remember, actions come with consequences - the way we care for our soul has consequences
How can you truly care for your soul?
Daily devotions? An hour? Two hours? 5 minutes?
Is 15 minutes the absolute minimum…anything less is a waste of time?
Remember this...

SOUL CARE IS NOT LIMITED

How important is it to have a quiet time with the Lord each day?
The better question is, how does your quiet time with the Lord influence the remainder of your day?
People in churches…have been crushed with guilt over their failure at having regular quiet time or daily devotions. And then, when they do, they find it does not lead to a healthy soul — Dallas Willard
OUCH - been there…done that?
Your problem is not the first fifteen minutes of the day. It is the next twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes. You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing total contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God — Dallas Willard
How in the world can I really have total contentment, joy, and confidence when my life is a mess…my work is a burden, I am not happy with my accomplishments, my kids worry me, people are unhappy with me?
Contentment in the Lord doesn’t happen if we simply work in 15 minutes (or an hour) each day for Bible reading and prayer — it’s more than that
Contentment in the Lord doesn’t depend upon how amazingly well we are doing in life or how competent we are or how well adjusted and successful our children are
Contentment, joy, and confidence must come from our everyday life with God — 24/7 — breathing it, living it, in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty — in other words, in the middle of 2020.
...actions come with consequences - the way we care for our soul has consequences - it is not limited but...

SOUL CARE IS CONSTANT

We will not perfect the proper care and feeding of our souls in this life — but we can do a lot to maintain a close relationship with God — one thing is to simply be consistent - to remember it’s not about the 15 minutes, but about every minute of every day
“I need Thee, Oh I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Bless me now, my Savior. I come to Thee.”
Once way is to maintain constant soul care is to talk to your soul
Talk to your soul
Don’t deny it…you talk to yourself
But you need to talk to your soul
Your soul exists in the presence of God — it is not the same thing as your emotions — God gave us our soul to be the master of our emotions but that won’t happen if we don’t talk to our souls - “Soul, worship God!” “My soul doth magnify the Lord” — True communion with God - true worship - happens in the soul because that is our connection with God
John Ortberg says, “When I speak to my soul, ‘Why are you angry, O my soul?’ it actually changes my brain”
He is correct — try it and you will notice the change in your mental and spiritual state.
Since I must take ownership for the care of my soul, does that mean “I am the master of my own fate: the captain of my soul?”
No! I am the keeper of my soul…not the captain. I didn’t create it and I cannot save it. But I can care for it.
Talk to your soul…and in that place, talk to and listen to God

Truths to Live By

You are the keeper of your soul
Like the keeper of the stream-your soul, it is your responsibility to guard the stream and keep it free of the debris, dirt, and disease that can interfere with your relationship with God
We didn’t create the stream (soul), but we have the responsibility to care for it
The way you feed and care for your soul has Consequences
The way you feed and care for your soul is Not Limited
Feeding and caring for your soul should be Constant
When I was in basic training…I didn’t belong to myself. I had no say in when, what, or where I did anything. It wasn’t uncommon for one airman’s stupidity to cause all of us to get the punishment — we were the Borg…a unit
When I became free of the military…I still had responsibilities in life…but I could now decide when, what, where and how I did things…good or bad.
If I choose not to pay my bills…there are consequences
If I choose to pay my bills and save for the future…there are much better consequences
Your freedom in Christ clearly calls you to relentlessly care for the treasure of your saved soul
The soul is the place where you meet with God
Or you soul can be the place where you do your own thing, against God’s plan
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